The Ramsey Show - App - My Sister Stole $1 Million From Our Parents (Hour 3)
Episode Date: February 6, 2020Taxes, Insurance, Home Buying Tools to get you started: Debt Calculator: http://bit.ly/2QIoSPV Insurance Coverage Checkup: http://bit.ly/2BrqEuo Complete Guide to Budgeting: http://bit.ly/...2QEyonc Interview Guide: http://bit.ly/2BuGnZE Check out other podcasts in the Ramsey Network: http://bit.ly/2JgzaQR
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live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios,
it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king,
and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice.
I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. This is your show.
It's a show about your life and your money. It's a free call at 888-825-5225.
That's 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Starting off this hour is going to be Cassie in Buffalo, New York. Hey, Cassie, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. What's
up in your world? Thank you. I was wondering, you always hear people say, get a job under the table.
Is there a benefit to that, or is it better to get a job on the books and claim everything so that you can invest into an ira who are people like you hear people like when you're working
and things don't get to get a job under the table get a job on a table but isn't that better to get
a job on the books and be able to invest your money yeah um let's let's just start with this basic idea, okay? In the United States of America, we have a federal law that charges us an income tax on our income.
To not pay tax on any income that we have made would be breaking the law.
Okay?
Did you know that? no i do but i'm just saying i mean i hear people
say to do this i hear people say to break the law all the time i hear people say rob banks i hear
people say a lot of stupid butt stuff but that doesn't mean it's a path to success okay so here's
the thing as we have studied uh for instance tom Tom Stanley, who did the book Millionaire Next Door,
did another book called The Millionaire Mind.
And in that book, he studied deca-millionaires, people with $10 million or more.
You know what their number one correlating, what the number one statistical correlation among all the deca-millionaires was?
It was unbelievable fanatical levels of integrity.
People with integrity have a very high tendency towards success.
It is a necessary building block to becoming successful.
And so I pay taxes.
I get paid cash for a lot of different things that we do here.
People come up at the book tables, and they pay us cash for books. It would be very easy to not report all of our cash transactions. I report every
single dime, not because I'm patriotic and I think the income tax system is just. I'm sure it's
unjust. I just filled out the forms this morning and I'm still pissed. So it's unbelievably unjust.
It's a horrible system.
It's ridiculous that I pay the taxes that I pay.
Absolutely moronic.
But I pay every penny, not because it's about taxes
and not because it's about the federal government
or my belief in them as a system,
but it's because my integrity is on the line.
And so regardless of whether you can report it or not, I would challenge you to say your integrity is on the line. And so regardless of whether you can report it or not,
I would challenge you to say your integrity is on the line.
Let's just start with that.
Well, my argument was to them that I did want to invest my money for the long run,
for my future, and they were saying, well, the government's going to charge you 30%,
and what if you only make 5% on your IRAs?
And I said, well, in the long run, when it rolls over,
isn't that going to be more beneficial in the long run?
Well, what I'm saying, what I'm telling you trumps all of that.
Everything here is a trump card that I just said over all that.
Because if you don't have integrity, you're going to struggle to be successful.
It's not about percentages.
Okay.
It's about telling the truth and doing the right thing and abiding by the law.
And if you run around your whole life trying to be a scam artist, you're going to die a broke scam
artist. And so that's what these people you're running with. None of these people you're talking
to that have these ridiculous opinions are multimillionaires. They're all losers. Very true.
They're all losers. And so you don't want to model your
life after losers and so you know on the short term you know to start with they're not paying
30 percent anything okay if you got two kids and your household income is thirty thousand dollars
or less you don't pay federal income tax at all anyway even if you report it all as a matter of
fact if you file you get money from the government called an earned
income tax credit.
OK, you know, you get money from the government, even though you didn't pay anything in.
And so they're missing out because they're so stupid to start with.
But aside from that, it's just a lack of integrity.
And so model your life after people that are noble, people that have a high calling on their life,
people that are successful, people that end up where you want to end up.
You ever meet an old person and go, I want to be them when I grow up?
And I've met some old people.
And I've met some old people.
That would be you.
Well, thank you.
I'm not that old.
Shut up.
But that's great.
Now I'm that guy. Now I'm that guy. i'm that guy oh gosh let's start the calls
when i'm out shopping he'll be with dave ramsey buy that i'm like nick shut up
yeah really be quiet conscience yeah the uh but you know i mean i i've met some old people i don't
want to be like them when i grow up they're old they're mean they're angry they're bitter they're
broke i've met them too.
And so you've just got to decide where you're going and what your goals are and let that kind of thing set your table for you.
And sometimes in the short term, the math doesn't work.
Actually, in this situation you're talking about, the math does work to your benefit
to go ahead and not only be on the books, but you actually file your tax returns.
If you're not making some pretty serious money,
you need to keep in mind 49% of Americans last year paid zero federal income tax.
So this idea that one of these characters you're talking to is actually in a 30% tax bracket
is probably statistically impossible.
So it's just, you don't meet people that are making $100,000 a year running around going, let's do everything off the books.
You know, there's just not many of them.
So a few Coke dealers maybe, but other than that, I mean,
the only reason they want off the books is for other reasons.
But there you go.
So integrity.
Integrity is important.
It's more important than the math because it will lead you into the math,
not the math into the integrity.
Karen is with us.
Karen's in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Hi, Karen.
How are you?
I'm doing very well.
Thank you for taking my call.
Sure.
What's up?
Okay.
I am 47 years old, and I have long-term disability under my employer, which pays out 65 and two-thirds.
Perfect.
They furnish that to you free
um pins on the dollar awesome it's like two dollars something out of a paycheck that's
it's very inexpensive that's amazing great now the issue is that some years ago you know sitting
down with a financial planner they said well you're only going to have 66% of your income, so you need some extra insurance, disability insurance to cover the gaps.
And I started paying on the premium of $55 a month. And now I'm trying to think,
do I really need it? Because I haven't yet gotten your baby steps. I've already ordered it.
Do you have any money?
Do I have any money?
I have a little bit of savings, and it's like less than $1,000.
Okay.
Well, take your income, your gross income, before taxes are taken out,
and multiply that times.667, and see if you don't think you can live on that because
you're getting home with not much more than that already after taxes are taken out other stuff's
taken out of your check social security fica all that stuff taken out right so um you're not getting
home with a lot more than that anyway uh And unless you're making some serious money, like up over $100,000, I think you're being
overcharged for this gap insurance.
It sounds like a gimmick, and it sounds like it's a very expensive gimmick.
So I'm probably not going to do that one.
Thanks for the call. I heard a statistic recently that absolutely blew my mind.
In the U.S. alone, over 3,000 people die every day without life insurance.
Now, I don't want to sound unsympathetic, but this drives me crazy.
What are people thinking?
I don't understand how taking care of your family is not a top priority.
Most of you probably just spent a bundle on Christmas on things you really didn't even need.
And now you're making New Year's resolutions that are focused on yourself.
But if you want to use the New Year as a reason to do something right, like protecting your family,
then take care of it right now before it's too late. Term life insurance is something every family needs, and that's why I talk about it every day. It's not complicated, it's not
expensive, and Zander Insurance is the only place I recommend. Go to zander.com or call them at
800-356-4282.
Please learn from other people's mistakes and get this taken care of.
That's Zander.com or 800-356-4282. Thank you for joining us, America.
We're glad you're here.
This is the Dave Ramsey Show.
Common sense for your dollars and cents.
Erica is in Chicago.
Hi, Erica.
How are you?
Hi, I'm great.
Thanks, Dave.
How are you doing?
Better than I deserve.
What's up?
I have a question. So my grandma bought a whole life insurance policy for me when I was just two years old.
Oh, that's sweet.
I know.
I know you prefer term insurance.
So the reason why I'm calling is because I'm looking at the statement now, and it says the paid-up insurance is about $4,500,
and the cash surrender value is a little over $4,000.
So if I cancel this account and go towards the term, how much?
So would I be getting that cash surrender value?
Yes.
Okay.
So even though the death benefit is $30,000 right now, I'd be only getting $4,000, correct?
Correct.
Okay.
And so when I cancel, what happens to the death benefit?
That just immediately goes away?
Yes.
Okay.
Okay.
So then when I cancel and I take that $4,000, do you recommend
just putting that into good growth stock mutual funds? Yes. Or wherever you are in your baby steps.
Okay. Yeah. I'm on baby step four, five, and six. So when I do the term insurance, so I'm 27 years
old. I don't have any kids. And my income, I expect it to change
over the next few years. Are you married? So I am not. No. Do you have any money saved at all?
I do. I have a fully funded emergency fund and I'm just beginning to invest right now. Okay.
Do you need life insurance? I don't know that's kind of why is there anyone
going to be harmed financially when you pass if you were to pass away this year no okay then i
don't think you need life insurance okay you have enough to bury you in the emergency fund so mom
and dad don't have to bear that cost right you're Correct. You're a single 27-year-old lady, and you don't need life insurance.
Okay, so then once my life kind of changes and I either get a husband or children, then that's the time that I do the term?
Yes, because then he would be left to raise those kids without your income, and the household would have come to count on your income.
Right, okay.
And then you would get about 10 times your income,
10 to 12 times your income in 15 to 20-year level term.
Okay, not 30?
No.
Okay, interesting.
Because you're not going to need insurance for 30 years.
Let's say you're 32 and you have a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old.
Okay, we'll just pretend like this happened fast or something.
Okay, but anyway, all right, and 20 years later, you would have a 22 and a 24-year-old.
20 years later, your house would be paid for, if you listen to us,
because you're never on more than
a 15-year mortgage 20 years later the kids are grown and gone the house is paid for and you
would have been investing in your 401k and you'd have 500 000 to a million dollars in your 401k
so at that point you're 52 years old the kids are grown and gone there's a 700 000 in a 401k
and the house is paid for if you die die, I think your husband could struggle through.
So your need for life insurance only is dependent upon whether someone is left behind struggling because your income's not there.
And if you're debt-free millionaires and the kids aren't at home, you don't have any issue with somebody being left behind struggling.
That's why you only need a 15 to a 20-year level term.
Okay, and in the event that income changes, that amount...
You just bump it up and around.
I see.
Yeah.
I mean, I've changed mine 10 times as my kids were growing up,
and then I let it lapse as we didn't need it,
and then Sharon just decided she wanted some.
I have some life insurance that's absolutely stupid
financially because I like my wife is going to struggle I mean we've got tens of millions of
dollars she's not going to struggle okay but she would rather have some more millions of dollars
than she would another ring upon my death and so instead of a diamond she gets a life insurance
policy because it's what she wants it's SWI it makes no gets a life insurance policy because it's what she wants. It's SWI.
It makes no sense, though.
It's just because it's what she wanted.
Okay.
And so should I skip baby step five then since I don't have children?
Okay.
So then as soon as that's in the plans, then I should start a 529.
And let's stop for a second and go back to the early part of our conversation.
You have paid up insurance, which means they're not charging you monthly for this thirty thousand dollar policy with a four thousand
dollar cash value correct correct okay let's understand that that is an industry term that
is a lie okay there's no such thing as yeah i'm going to. I can't resist. There's no such thing as paid-up insurance because here's what happens.
As long as you're breathing, there's a statistical probability of your death.
And as long as there's a statistical probability of your death, there is a cost to cover you.
It's only a matter of where that cost is being covered.
Your life insurance didn't become free. It's the
fact that they are paying you almost nothing on your $4,000. And had that $4,000 been invested,
well, it would have bought you a bazillion times more than $30,000 worth of term. So the fact that
if you took $4,000 and you made 400 bucks on it instead of $4 on it, then you easily buy $30,000, $300,000 worth of term at your age.
Okay?
And so it's just coming out of the fact that your $4,000 is invested with them so poorly,
and they're making bank off your $4,000 and tossing you some crumbs called a $30,000 life insurance policy
and acting like they did you a favor.
It's not paid up.
It's just coming out of a very poor return on investment,
and they're making the spread on your money.
That's where it comes from.
There's no such thing as insurance having no cost.
As long as there's a probability of the event, the insurance statistically has a cost.
It's just a matter of where it's being paid for so paid up is bs is
what it amounts to for you people around the life insurance world that's just absolutely a misnomer
it's a lie it's a branding lie and it's you're taking the money out of your savings you know
and so it's like your bank if you put $100,000 in your bank and they pay you 1% on it, but they give you a free toaster, you think a toaster was free?
No, you missed out on all the returns of the $100,000 while you're getting 1% over at the bank.
But you got a toaster.
You know, that's about how stupid this is.
And not you, Erica,ica but i mean this the industry
and and they run around acting like they're doing something for you but you just have to remember
where your money is parked and what they're making on you while you're parking your money somewhere
a very very important part of this conversation so good question thank you for joining us matt's
in orange county hi. How are you?
I'm doing great, Dave. Thanks for taking my call.
Certainly. How can I help?
So my wife and I are on Baby Step 2, and my question really doesn't revolve around Baby Step 2.
It involves us paying our mortgage.
So right now we are on a 30-year note, but we are paying the mortgage as if it were a 15-year note.
Since we have about $50,000 in our baby step two to pay off,
should I go back to paying the house on a 30-year note?
How long is it going to take you if you stop?
If you pay it like a 30, how long is it going to take you to pay it off?
The debt?
Yeah.
Right now we're about two years.
If I go back to paying it, I'm sorry, yeah.
Right now, I'm paying it at 15.
I'm at about a year and a half.
If I go back to the 30, I'm about two years.
No, that would be the other way around.
I'm sorry, I said that the wrong way.
Yeah, you're correct.
Okay, got you. Okay, so we're the other way around. I'm sorry. I said that the wrong way. Yeah, you're correct. Okay. Got you.
Okay.
So we're only discussing six months.
Correct.
Doesn't matter.
Okay.
Not that big a deal, whichever one you want to do.
I mean, you figured out the problem is, it's a math problem, is that, you know, you're basically, by not paying down your mortgage,
you're using some of that to get out of debt a little faster.
But then you'll catch up on the other side when you don't have any debts and you start working your baby steps four, five, six,
you're going to knock out the mortgage that much faster because you're getting there six months sooner.
So the math will work out at the end of 10 years exactly the same either way,
plus or minus a little bit of interest rate during this six-month period of time we're discussing. So it's just whichever one you prefer to do. I'm good either way. Plus or minus a little bit of interest rate during this six-month period of time we're discussing.
So it's just whichever one you prefer to do.
I'm good either way.
I'm probably going to go back to a 30 and knock it out and then go back to a 15 minimum at baby step 6, 4, 5, 6.
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at grip6.com Renee is in Chicago.
Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show, Renee.
Hi, thank you.
Well, I'm in Lexington, Kentucky, going to Chicago.
Dave, my question is, how do I let my mother and father that are 89 and 91, how did they retire financially secure?
My dear sister stole a million to a million and a half dollars from them over the last 20 to 30 years.
My brother-in-law scammed my parents.
My sister was there to take money every week.
My two brothers and I found out about this about two years ago.
We knew my father was giving my sister money, but not totally wiping him out.
So technically speaking, she didn't steal it.
They gave it to her.
Basically, Dad gave her quite a bit.
However, she opened 29 charge cards, you know, 10 years ago, 0% interest, maxed each
one out.
In her name or his name?
In my mother's name and in her, in his name without his knowledge and in my mother's name, and in his name without his knowledge,
and in my mother's name without her knowledge.
That's identity theft, and yes, that is theft, and yes, you go to jail for that.
That's a federal crime.
How long ago did she do that?
She's been doing this for about 20 years.
Has it stopped?
I'm sorry?
Has she done it recently?
Oh, up until two years ago, until we caught her.
Okay, so you've stopped it now.
We've totally stopped it.
Is she going to jail?
But in the meantime, sir.
Is she going to jail?
Well, I had elder abuse, Georgia elder abuse come out.
The next day they called the sheriff.
The sheriff said, let's put her in jail.
My dad, who does have a little bit of dementia, said, no way.
My mother, who knew nothing about this, all of a sudden said, I can't put my daughter in jail.
Now, two years later, after my mother knows what extent that have left her broke, she said, let's
put her in jail.
Probably too late now.
It's too late, yeah.
My brother-in-law's a scammer, got my dad hooked up into a scammer, gave him a loan
I got all that, but the bottom line is that the money's gone, and nobody was willing to
prosecute while you could, so now we just have two broke old people that gave their money away.
Yes.
Now, they make a good salary.
They make about $55,000 a year, and then they have assets that are about $65,000.
$65,000 worth of assets?
No, no, just income coming in.
Oh, I see.
What assets do they have?
She took them all.
Okay, so what's creating the $65,000?
Pension, annuities.
My dad...
Okay, an annuity is an asset.
How much is in the annuity?
Oh, you know, it's through the state.
I don't know that.
Okay, so they don't own anything now.
Oh, no, it gets better.
They had a home equity loan, and she went through $300,000 of that.
I'm done with her.
Okay, I'm done with her.
She's gone.
They didn't prosecute her.
Let's move on, okay?
All I want to talk about is them.
How much money do they have now?
Cash? None. Okay. want to talk about is them how much money do they have now cash um none okay do they own any real estate yes okay they own they own a home worth about 300,000 good is it paid for no because
what is owed on it it there is only i have paid off quite a bit there was 123 125 000 key locks on it home equity loans
i have paid all of them well we have all together my brothers and i paid most of them off and it's
about 64 000 left okay good and um do they have and they have no cash and they have and they have
65 000 coming in in pensions and 55 000 from something else so they have no cash, and they have $65,000 coming in in pensions and $55,000 from something else.
So they have $110,000 a year coming in.
No, no, no, no.
$65,000 total.
Oh, total coming in.
Okay.
Correct.
So they have a $65,000 income, and they have a $65,000 mortgage on a $300,000 house,
and that's their total financial picture.
Correct.
Okay.
Can they live on $65,000?
Well, he had his dementia.
Sure.
They can live on $65,000.
They need help.
They can live on $65,000.
Okay.
I mean, he may end up in a nursing home, and you all may be funding some of that,
or you may have to pay for some in-home care to come care for him,
or you may sell the house and move them
in with one of you all but they can definitely make it on 65 000 and it's just a horrid shame
that your sisters and her husband are crook and that no one was willing to put them in where they
belong in jail but that's just gone that's water under the bridge now you can't live in that anger
because no one was willing to do anything about it at the time the people that were necessary to but that's just gone. That's water under the bridge. Now you can't live in that anger because
no one was willing to do anything about it at the time. The people that were necessary to sign the
arrest warrants were not willing to sign the arrest warrants. And I understand that. I mean,
it's heartbreaking for your own kid to be a crook. I get that. Or your own sister to be a crook. I
get that, but that's all in the past. Now we're down to pretty simply two old people, one with dementia,
that make $65,000 a year income,
and they have a $65,000 mortgage on a $300,000 house.
That's it.
And so you've either got to downsize them in-house and get rid of the mortgage,
and then they can afford to bring in help in that situation to take care of him,
or we've got to find different living arrangements for him
if he's unable to care for himself.
And that's the process you go through.
But I'm sorry.
What a horrible, horrible thing that you guys have been through.
And I don't blame you for being angry, but I will tell you this.
I would suggest just putting it behind you because it's done.
It's done.
It's over.
I mean, I wouldn't be in the same room with her uh i certainly don't want her near anything near anything that has a number on it that
regarding anybody's finances and if she comes anywhere near your parents again for god's sakes
put her in jail immediately um she's got to stay she and her scam artist husband have to stay away
from them because they don't have enough they don't have any more money to get i mean she's got to stay. She and her scam artist husband have to stay away from them because they don't have enough.
They don't have any more money to get.
I mean, she's bled them dry, like you said.
And so, and they're obviously scum.
Unbelievable.
So it's just, man, uh, thanks for calling in.
You know, a large percentage of identity theft is by someone you know.
I mean, there's two kinds of identity theft. There's the crooks, you know, the people scamming the Internet, phishing the Internet.
You know, they're in Russia or something or wherever they are, right?
And they're scamming the Internet, and they're just cleaning out people's social security numbers and identity issues.
You know, they clean out, you know, Equifax and they get the information.
They hack Equifax, right, and get the information and they use that.
That's a classic Internet crook.
And when we think of identity theft, that's who we like to think of,
this mysterious person in a basement somewhere pecking on a computer.
But truthfully, it's usually your sister or your parents or your kids or your cousin. Truthfully, it's somebody that
was your roommate. And that's the two types of identity theft that are out there. And some
identity theft protection things do not cover familial, meaning family, identity theft.
It's one of the things that we like about endorsing Zander's identity theft.
And the reason we all have Zander's identity theft on all of us here at Ramsey is because it covers that.
And, you know, then you wouldn't go and pay off the credit cards in the mother's name that the sister opened.
You would simply turn it over to Xander's identity theft people, and they would pursue the whole thing and get that wiped out rather than wiping out the money.
Same thing with the HELOCs.
If the HELOCs were illegally signed without power of attorney, you can't sign someone else's name.
That's called identity theft.
Even if it's your mother.
Even if it's your child.
Even if it's your wife.
You can't sign anyone else's name other than yours unless you have a power of attorney.
That's called identity theft.
It's a federal crime, you guys.
It's stealing.
And when you do that to your parents or you do that to your own kids, you're what's known as scum.
Unbelievable bottom feeders.
Wow.
Renee, I'm so sorry.
Sorry you guys are facing this.
I'm mad with you.
But let's move on and go help mom and dad.
This is the Dave Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. our scripture of the day proverbs 13 4 the soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing,
while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.
Wayne Gretzky said,
Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases, and its toll on success and happiness is heavy.
Spoken like a philosopher there, Mr player well done carol said and our carol's calling from milwaukee wisconsin hi carol how are you
i'm pretty fine thank you for taking the call dave sure how can i help well uh my husband and I have been dairy farmers for over 40 years,
and my husband passed away earlier this year,
and we have the farm to do something with,
and I would like to do smart rather than stupid.
I hear you.
We have been thinking about the possibility of utilizing a farm trust of some type,
and we were wondering what you might think of something like that,
if that's a wise idea.
Okay.
I'm sorry for your loss.
How old are you?
I am 82.
Okay.
All right.
And what's the farm worth?
Right now we just had an initial appraisal,
and it's up to about $900,000.
Okay.
All right.
Do you still live on the farm?
Yes.
There are two homes on the farm.
All right.
And you intend to stay there?
I would like to, yes.
Okay.
All right.
And have you guys saved money in addition to this?
Nope.
That's it?
Okay. Okay.
Yeah.
Well, we have a small investment fund, but it's rapidly disappearing.
So how would you do something like just pay your property taxes?
Well, we have a son who is interested in possibly purchasing the land,
and a grandson who is also interested in a portion of the land.
But I would like to protect the land to stay within the family somehow.
That's my major objective.
Okay.
Well, the problem is I don't know how you can do that
unless there's money to take care of the expenses.
And so if in the future the family decided not to work the farm,
then there would be no way to maintain the farm, maybe two generations from now,
that kind of a thing.
And so I don't know of a way to do that unless you had a substantial sum of cash
to leave in a fund to cover the expenses of the farm,
and then it can just sit there and be idle and stay in the family if no one's working it.
I know enough about dairy farming to know that you guys have worked very, very hard for 40 years.
Yes.
Those cows don't take a day off, do they?
I've noticed.
So given all of that, I don't know that you'd want to leave this to someone that wasn't working.
Well, that's part of my problem. I have one son who thinks he is able to come up with a loan for the property that's left.
If that cash were to come in, would not that be able to be utilized within a trust?
Well, but somebody's got to pay the mortgage.
Now you've got a piece of property that's in debt when you do that and that's not going to be sustainable that makes it
even harder to sustain long term so um now the grandson that's wanting to buy a portion of it
what would that portion be worth uh somewhere in the facility vicinity of five hundred thousand oh he
wants to buy half of it well approximately yes okay all right i mean you could take that cash
and use that to leave the rest of it in trust that would work and you would leave you know some money
to maintain the trust and then the other and, and then you can dictate whatever behaviors you want for the people involved after that.
I mean, what you probably need to do is sit down with an estate planning,
I know you need to sit down with an estate planning attorney
to help you piece this together and work through your wishes and how to structure it.
But, I mean, you could probably sell off a portion of it,
use the money from that sale to support the other portion
that you want to leave in the family in perpetuation.
But the first portion that's sold wouldn't be protected, so to speak.
Yeah, that's my problem.
I don't want to sell it off.
Yeah.
Now, if a son were to...
Let me ask you this.
I'm curious, okay?
Why?
Why?
Yeah, why do you not want to sell it off?
Because there's blood, sweat, and tears into that ground for over 125 years.
Oh, 125 years.
So you're third generation.
Yes.
Okay.
So when they left it to you all, they didn't leave it in trust.
No.
But they left it with blood, sweat, and tears and tradition.
But if you had chosen to do something else with your life, you were free to do that.
Right.
I do a lot of estate planning with my family and thinking about it,
and one of my goals is not to trap my kids or my grandkids i don't want them trapped well but i thought uh possibly something like that
could be built into the uh trust um structure yeah i mean it could be i think you need to sit
down with somebody and talk it through that's really good at estate planning. I'm always leery of something being done forever and ever on a piece of ground,
and the family looks back four generations or three generations or two generations later and goes,
we are so stuck because she just wanted to make sure it stayed in the family,
and we're in a corner.
We can't get out of this mess.
It's a mess. And because you didn't leave my options you had an option
you worked it it worked for you i'd rather you leave it to one of the kids that wants to work it
and let them work it don't even charge them for it just give it to them that death and let them
work it and uh leave you a life estate on it you stay there until you pass away let the grandkid
and the son want to work it let them come in there and work it and just teach them that what you know
you'd like to see your wishes are granny's wishes are i want it to stay in the family but then you
know if the world completely changes uh 50 60 another 100 years from now i don't know what
dairy farming is going to look like i mean you guys didn't know what it was going to look like.
And you may, you know, they may not, there may not be in the family,
anybody that wants it.
And then they're stuck with it because it's stuck in this trust.
So I'm not a fan of that idea.
But it's okay if you want to do it.
It's your land.
You've worked it.
I mean, I'm not telling you you can't do it.
I'm just saying that's what I always think about.
Like with a building I've got, if I'm putting it in a trust, I go, well, it always has to be there.
It always has to be there and can't ever sell it.
And if you ever sell it, you know, it just, man.
So you got to be real careful doing stuff and trying to think out 100 years from now because that's what you're doing.
So sit down with an estate planning attorney and
they'll walk you through how to do it your issue on the financial front is going to be how the
property is maintained if none of your family's milking cows on it how's it going to stay there
how you're going to keep the insurance paid the electricity turned on the property taxes paid
and so on,
and you're going to need some money to do that.
So you're going to have to sell off something to have the money to work that,
to create this in perpetuation.
That's what you're facing.
So it could be wrong, but that's how I understand it,
and I would tell you to sit down with a good estate planning attorney
and be prepared to spend $10,000, $20,000 to get this right
because you've got a million-dollar asset here and you better spend some legal fees
to get your wishes buckled down in good legal documents.
And if you're doing something that's complicated enough, you're going to spend a little bit
of money with a lawyer.
And that's okay.
You got it.
It's what you do.
It's why you've done all of this.
Good question. Good question.
Interesting question.
Obviously good hardworking folk there.
Man, 120 years in the family.
That's something to think about, isn't it?
Something to think about.
Well, that puts this particular hour of the Dave Ramsey Show in the books.
Our thanks to James Childs, our producer.
Blake Thompson is our senior executive producer. Kelly Daniel is our associate producer and phone screener. I am Dave
Ramsey, your host. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's
ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace,
Christ Jesus. downloaded podcasts last year. To get your daily dose of motivation and inspiration,
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