The Ramsey Show - App - Our Investments Keep Losing Money… What Should We Do? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: March 27, 2023

Ken Coleman & George Kamel answer your questions and discuss: Investing at a young age to take advantage of compound interest, from the blog: How Teens Can Become Millionaires, "Our investments keep losing money... what should we do?" from the blog: How to Avoid Costly Mistakes When the Market Is Down, Putting your financial "oxygen mask" on first before saving for the kids, "How should I pay taxes that I owe?" Saving for a home repair while expecting a baby. Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Want a plan for your money? Take our FREE 3 minute assessment: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6 Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Pods Moving and Storage Studio, this is The Ramsey Show, where we help you win in your life, specifically your money, and as it relates to your money, your work, and your relationships that are tied to that money. We want you to win. My name is Ken Coleman. I'm joined by my colleague, fellow Ramsey personality, George Camel.

We're here for you this hour. The phone number is 888-825-5225. There's no easy way to say this. Our hearts are heavy. In the Nashville area this morning It's now national news Another school shooting Lives have been lost

I'm not going to get into the reporting game Because if I've learned anything, George It's that the details are changing fast And suffice it to say Another senseless, senseless shooting, and life is precious, and life has evil in it. And it's hard to square those two. My daughter is being picked up right now by my wife because her school stopped to pray.

Some of the students in her school know some students over there. So, again, details continually coming out and unfortunately another story, but this time it's in our backyard. So hearts are heavy. Absolutely. Yeah. It's one thing for this to happen in the nation, another one for it to happen down the street. It becomes extra real. And I know you as a parent, it hits differently when you've got kids in school and this stuff's just happening. And it's sadly, oh, it's another week, another shooting. And it just breaks our heart. So our thoughts and prayers, obviously with everyone affected and all the parents out there who are

just dealing with this idea of your kid not being safe in a school in today's world. So God forgive us. But we take your calls today because uh unfortunately uh life does move on i'm glad i'm not in the news ken i'll tell you that i am too tough gig um but we're here to help and uh so here we go let's go to rico in milwaukee wisconsin rico how can we help hey yeah thanks for taking my call you You bet. I got a simple question. So I have twin boys. They just turned 14, and they've been working for the past two, three years, just saving up money, shoveling snow, mowing lawns, and just working, hustling.

And they're about to go into the actual workforce, and they've saved up a pretty good nest egg each one of them. They have about $2,200 each saved in the savings account. Awesome. And so they watch Financial Peace with us, because me and my wife are going to the university, and so they watch the videos, and they're asking where should they invest their money in,

because they see the video where Randy talks about the two brothers where one invested when he was younger and the other one did later. And they say they don't want to be the other brother. They want to invest sooner. And so they kind of, they both, you know, want to know where should they put the money other than just the savings account they have. That's incredible. Well, you've done an incredible job as a parent steering them towards this.

I assume these guys are living debt-free. They want to continue to live debt-free. Yep. They joke around. They're like, Dad, we already got an emergency fund, so we just want to know where we can start saving up. I'm like, I don't have an emergency fund, but in case you did, I guess y'all are already set up.

Sure. They want their goals to be millionaires at an early age and i tell them all the time they will be parents i tell them don't be like your parents are being dead at 40 years old so like this way you don't have to worry about it when you're our age so well here's the thing mathematically speaking investing right now is not going to cause them to be a millionaire anytime soon but that muscle is what's really important. So you could open up a custodial Roth IRA, and they can put their earned income into that.

And you said they're entering the workforce. These kids are 14. Tell me about what workforce looks like at 14. Where we live, they actually could work at the Piggly Wiggly or like the or like the local uh restaurants here they can like work as a work there so it's not like nothing too strenuous but they can actually start actually have a natural job are they in school as well full-time yeah they do full-time school and then like during the winter time here they shovel snow

around the neighborhood and in summertime they cut lawns around the neighborhood. So that's how they kind of make their money. I love it. So a high yield savings account is a great place to park all that money. And I personally, if it was my kid or I was the kid, I would not invest into the stock market right now. And here's why. They've got a lot of life coming at them in the next four to six years. When you think about buying a car, going to college, there's so many variables we don't know. And I don't want that money tied up in the stock market because they want it to be millionaires. They're going to be millionaires. As soon as they figure out what's next and they start investing at 21 years old up through 50, they're going to be multi-millionaires.

But right now, there's just a lot of variables at play and I'd be cautious about going all in on investing. All right. Well, thank you for the call, Rico. And why the caution? Well, because at 14 years old, you're about to get your driver's permit, and you're excited. And so what happens when you have all your money in the stock market? You go, I've got to get a car loan.

I don't have any money. Yeah, you save up for prom, George. That worries me. That's what I'm facing this week. Prom. Prom. I forgot about prom. Yeah, it's like you've got to save up for just fun life things is the idea, right? Yes.

I want them to still be kids. And so while it's great to invest a little bit of money, it's easy to turn that dial too far. Yep. And at 14, you don't have a dollar to your name because you're busy investing. I love that. What sharp kids. I love it. Jackson is up next in Tampa, Florida.

Jackson, how can we help? Hey, guys. Thanks for taking the call. I'm basically wondering if my wife and I are in a position financially to go ahead and pull the trigger on a second vehicle. We currently have one and an electric bike. We got about two minutes, so give George the numbers pretty quick. Net worth is about $800,000. Bring home about $150,000 annually.

And basically, I'm wondering if it's okay to jump into a nicer vehicle. I'm thinking like a Toyota Tacoma for maybe $30,000 or so. Or if I should purchase something a little more hoopy and then upgrade that. What's your other car? At a certain time. It's a Honda Odyssey. We got a family upgrade that. What's your other car? At a certain time. It's a Honda Odyssey. We got a family of five. What's that worth?

$16,000 maybe. So what's wrong with paying $30,000 cash for a Tacoma? Well, I would have to pull it out of a brokerage fund, but I don't know if there's anything wrong with it. That's why I'm asking. If you've got the cash and you're not going into debt, as long as all of these toys, things with motors in them, don't add up to more than half of your income,

which you just said you're pulling $150,000? Yeah. And so that would be $75,000 is your upper limit for that, and it sounds like you're not even close to that. Okay. Yeah, so even if I have to pull it out of brokerage, it wouldn't be a big deal. Yeah, that's not retirement funds. That's just a taxable brokerage account.

Yeah. What were you investing for in that brokerage account? It's just mutual funds, S&P. You know what's fun? Having a Tacoma you paid cash for. Yeah. I would do it. Yeah, definitely no hoopty, but if you're feeling like, I don't want to spend 30, then what can you get? What kind of truck can you get for 20? I mean, you got options is what we're hearing. I mean, you guys are debt-free with an emergency fund? Yeah. Yep. Dude, get the Tacoma. This is what this plan is all about. You got freedom. You got options. You're doing it without debt. You're not setting yourselves back financially. And this is what investing is for, so you can enjoy your life now and later. And you're doing it, man. Proud of you. Yeah. go get your one.

I love a Tacoma. Do you like the Tacoma? If I was a truck guy, it'd be a Tacoma. Yeah? Really? You know I love a Toyota, Ken. You do. You do.

I think I would get an American made. Just me. Because I'm a patriot. America. I want that thing to run until I run. Easy. Easy. All right.

Hey, we're not going anywhere. Your call's coming up next. This is the Ramsey Show. to see your doctor are longer, and it's harder than ever to get anything approved through the bureaucracy. So if you feel like the system is working against you, try a biblically-based alternative to health insurance, Christian Healthcare Ministries. CHM is a health cost-sharing ministry that's helped hundreds of thousands of families like yours take care of over $11 billion in medical bills since 1981. And CHM has also helped them stay true to their values and avoid miles of red tape. And CHM support goes far beyond meeting financial needs.

They'll also help meet spiritual needs. Members become part of a family who will pray with them and for them when they experience a medical event. So listen, y'all, there's no better way to take care of health care costs. CHM programs start as low as $98 a month. So learn more today and join at chministries.org slash budget at chministries.org slash budgets. The Ramsey Show continues. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by George Camel, with a K, by the way. It's Coleman and Camel today. What are we covering? It sounds like a law firm that I would not hire. I know, it really does. Yeah, like bad suits, you know, like one of those like injury lawyer commercials. Double lapel. Yeah, there's an actual camel in the

commercial. That's what you do. Now we're talking. Yeah. We're here to answer your money questions, of course, but I'm here. I'm the work personality. And so for decades, Dave has said that your income is your greatest wealth building tool. And I specialize in helping people make money because, George, they're doing something they're good at and they love. And we saw in our millionaire study, the largest millionaire study of all time, that 96% of millionaires loved their work. And that's what I do. So it plays into the money. So I'll take your work questions. You're feeling stuck. You got a really crappy leader. You're in a toxic environment. You feel stuck, not a ladder to grow. I'm here to help so that you're making more money and moving through the baby steps faster. So the bigger shovel guy, can we say that?

I like that. I need a shovel when I host the show. I'll just bring it here like a big snow shovel. It feels aggressive. Is it a little aggressive? Yeah, we'll workshop that. Kind of lean it up again. Maybe a little tiny tool, you know, just for digging some mulch.

That's great. Well, tiny, tiny shovel for a tiny co-host. That's perfect. That's wonderful. Oh, that's terrible. I like to see you as the purpose guy. Thank you very much. They are craving purpose, and it's a luxury in today's world we didn't have 100 years ago. That's perfect. That's wonderful. Oh, that's terrible. I like to see you as the purpose guy. Thank you very much. Because people, they are craving purpose, and it's a luxury in today's

world we didn't have 100 years ago. That's the truth. We went from survival to now we want to thrive. That's right. And you help them do that. That's right. And the money thing works with that. So let's go. Lori is in Cookville, Tennessee, not too far away from us. Lori, how can we help? Yes. I'm just wondering how we can not continue to lose money so we can stay retired. Ooh. Okay. Walk us through this. How old are you guys? I will next month be 62. My husband the month after will be 61. Okay. And are you both working? Are you both fully retired? No, no. We've been fully retired since we, 54 and 55. Wow. And I will, yes, yes. And we want to stay that way. Have you been bringing any income at all? No. No, no. So you're just pulling from your nest egg? Well, when we first started for the first year, we had some,

but yes, but just from our nest egg, from investing. What was the total nest egg when you retired and what is it today? It was a little over a million when we started and we're at 1,020,000 right now. We've lost like 300,000 in the last few years. Okay. Yeah. You said we keep losing money. What did you mean by that? Our investments keep going down. What are they currently allocated in? Stocks, mutual funds, January, we just got each 100,000 annuity, but that's all part of the

total. Okay. And are you working with a financial advisor right now? Yes, absolutely. And we have an appointment to see what one that was recommended by Dave Ramsey on April 6th to see what his plan is. Yeah, my guess is one of our SmartVestor pros, which is our financial advisors we recommend across the country, they probably wouldn't have put you in an annuity. Now, most of them are just junk. There's only one very specific scenario that would make sense for that. But as far as you losing money

what is a percentage that you've lost because everyone has lost money 23 okay 23 that's about right i mean the s&p 500 lost 18 in 2023 and so everyone across the board has seen about a 20 25 percent dip in their retirement accounts which hurts okay so Okay. So we're not, I mean, I know other people have lost money, but yeah. Okay. Well, that's not outrageous. Yeah. It's not outrageous. You're not alone. And then remember, we're telling other people who are not in retirement age, who aren't drawing from it, just hang on. You know, it's a roller coaster. Don't get off the ride. That's when you really get hurt in your situation. The question that I've got is what, what is your fixed budget budget do you have a fixed budget you guys are really disciplined with and what are you essentially drawing what are you

drawing in order to live a year um 65 000 we are completely debt free and have been for years we only have one vehicle um so you're drawing 65 000 from the retirement account. About 6.5% a year. What is your Social Security? Mine will be $812, and that will be basically our cost of living raised for everything that's gone up. That's right. You haven't even started drawing that yet, correct? Not until June. My first check comes in June. And my husband's the following year, which will be $1,400. Okay. So that's good perspective to have. My parents are in a very similar situation.

They have no debt, and they can truly live off of Social Security. And so their retirement is just great. Yeah. And you guys have no debt, I assume? None. Love it. I'm going to throw something out here, George. I just think that retirement is overrated. And what I mean by that is, I said this on my show today, I say it all the time, I think we were created to work. And I think that you can slow down, yes. Have a lot of freedom, yes. But I wonder in a situation like this where they go, you know, what could we do for 15, 20, 30 hours a week? They get to choose. They don't have to go to work.

But if there's something that they enjoy doing that can actually make some money, I like going back to work at your pace, at your choice, Lori. I really do, to offset some of this. Well, we live far away from family for a long time, and we have a camper we bought for $9,000. So we camp a lot near family, with friends, and the things we enjoy doing is just building things and hiking. So we don't just sit. No. And I know. We're healthy. Yeah. But my point is, if you like building things, maybe I'd make a little money on the side building things. And Ken's point is to alleviate some of the stress because the key when the market is down is you want to take out as little as possible. Yes. Because what you're dealing with here is something called the sequence of returns risk. What that means is if you take the same chunk out this year while the market's down, it's going to hurt your ability to grow that money that would have grown in the future with compound interest. And so it'll shorten your time span to live off that million if you take the same amount. And so what you want to do is be as conservative as possible while the markets are down like this. So only take out what you need.

If you don't need all $65,000, take out $40,000. And that will help this money to live longer as you live longer. And so that's what Ken's saying. If you can bring in $20,000 this year from part-time work that you love, that allows you to take out $40,000 from retirement instead of 60. Do we, and I guess our other, our question is, should we be more in mutual funds? Do we have too many stocks in mutual funds? I would stick to mutual funds personally, which are highly allocated towards, you know, equities and stocks.

And so within that, yes, but I would not be investing in any single stocks at your stage of the game. Okay. Or for anyone's stage of the game. I just, I don't do any single stocks at your stage of the game. Okay. Or for anyone's stage of the game. I don't do any single stocks personally. I don't do any crypto. I'm all mutual funds, index funds, giant piles of stocks with the top companies. That's what you're looking for.

Yeah. Okay. And our SmartVestor pros, and we want you to interview two or three of them, okay? And you want to find the one where you've got a good connection with them. You want them to be able to explain things where you understand, so you are making decisions, not them. But they're going to walk you through our investment strategy, and I think you guys are going to be in good shape.

And again, I don't want to beat a dead horse here, George, but I gave Lori the advice I'd give my mom and dad. And that is, in fact, my dad, I'll give you an example. So my dad's actually doing this. He's a retired pastor, never made a lot of money. They paid their house off probably 20 some years ago. My mom and dad's household expenses is really low. Okay. It's less than a thousand bucks. Okay. And social security more than covers them, but he's out filling pulpits, getting paid 500 bucks a week, you know, just preaching. And it's not a lot, but I mean, that's more than enough for them. And so he's staying active and he was just telling me on the phone the other day. Uh, I love it. My mind is fresh. Uh, he's

still engaged. And the science shows that that actually allows you to live longer. Yeah, listen, if you want to die quicker, I got two words for you. Stop working and you'll go downhill faster. So there you go. You get to choose. But there really is something. I mean, I'm not joking around. There really is the data here on this.

So I think retirement's overrated. Slow down. Well, I think the idea here is have a plan beyond, I'm going to stop working. Yeah, I like financial planning for your future, freedom in your future long term. But not working? I don't like that. Neither does your body. Don't move.

More of The Ramsey Show coming up. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. I'm joined by my colleague, George Camel. We're here for you this hour, 888-825-5225, taking your money questions and then your work-related questions that may be affecting your money. I'll be here to help out on those. By the way, if you're new to the program, whether you're listening or watching,

George and I want to say a big welcome. Secondly, you're hearing jargon, baby steps, and advice and philosophy, and you're trying to figure out how does this all work. We've got a wonderful tool for you to get started into this conversation, see where you are on this journey to having financial peace by going to RamseySolutions.com and click on Get Started. It's the Get Started button at ramseysolutions.com. Just take a few minutes and we'll get you started and plugged in to the resources that fit you for your journey. 888-825-5225 is the number. Anna is on the line in Asheville, North Carolina. Anna, how can we help? Hi. So my question is more honestly for my children, but it does relate to me.

Thank you for your honesty. I want to know how or are we saving enough money right now for our children for a more secure financial future when they become adults. How much are you saving? Right. So comfortably, we're able to put away between $200 to $400 between the two children. We, again, we're not completely debt-free. My husband and I are working towards that. We'll be fine. It's just that I don't want our children to be in the same position by the time they reach our age currently.

How old are the kids? They're only two and three. But I want to start now. Or is that silly? Oh, it makes you a really amazing mama bear. You know, there's no shame in that. Now, George has got a process that we teach here that I'm sure he wants to dive into. But I love her heart, George.

Yeah, you're thinking the right way. And I love that you want better for your kids. And you don't want them to experience any financial pain like you guys have. But the truth is, just like on an airplane, they tell you to put your mask on first. And that's what I want you guys to do for yourselves is put yourselves in a better financial position by getting out of debt and having a fully funded emergency fund and investing for your own retirement before worrying about the kids. The kids got time on their side. They're two years old. I just don't want to get to the place where they're now 18 years old and now we're just thinking about putting something.

Like you said, we're okay. I want you to be better than okay. Right. Okay. I don't want you to just be okay for the next 16 years. We don't know what the future holds. What if your kids don't go to college? There is a 100% chance Anna needs to retire one day.

There is a 50-50 chance the kids go to college and graduate. Yeah, that may be changing even as we speak. And the data is showing that that's even getting skewed. So how much debt do you guys have? So mortgage is $330,000. Between the two cars is 35 000 credit cards is 18 000 um and then between my husband and i student loan 40 000 okay what's your household income uh right now 145 awesome What do you guys do? So I'm a health advisor, and my husband's a network engineer.

And again, we're both stable, no fear of losing our jobs. Honestly, we just got busier in the pandemic, both of us. So I really don't foresee any troubles in the near future. And we do have some questions saved up for our monthly bills. We're at like three months. Okay. Right now. Um, again,

it's just these debts or like the, the car payment, the car loans and stuff are, are something that we've accrued honestly in the last two years, just because we bought a minivan because now we have two children. Um, you know, things like that.

So it's, it's not, what's the not what's the what's the interest rate on those credit cards uh we have one that's 5.99 i think there's one that is the amazon is the 17 but that's 2000 okay yeah let me lay this out for you anna to make it real it'll be much more digestible for you so we're going to ignore the mortgage right now. You guys have $1,000 in the bank. Anything outside of that, let's start throwing at this debt. You have $93,000 in consumer debt.

You guys make $145,000. Based on some napkin math, how quickly could you pay off $93,000, making $145,000 if you were super focused? Very quick. Two years or less? Yeah, two years. I was going to say we can do it. Okay. So think about this future though. You now have a four-year-old, but you have no debt and you're working towards that fully funded emergency fund. You still have 14 years to help them cashflow college, but here's the difference. You don't have any payments anymore.

So how much more could we invest two years from now? Hundreds, if not $1,000, right? Chills. Honestly, it makes so much sense. It's just that, yeah, I guess that is, I didn't want to wait any longer. You're doing it from a beautiful place. You have a wonderful motivation to help your children.

My worry is that they have to help you because mom and dad didn't prepare for retirement because they were busy helping us go to college debt-free. And so we're talking two, two and a half years from now, you're in a different place, Anna. And I'm so proud for where you guys are going. I know those kids are going to go to college debt-free if they choose to go at all. Yeah. Anna, so the answer to your first question is no, you're going to stop that. In fact, whatever you've put aside, you're going to pull all of that. And you're going to start attacking this debt with our debt snowball, the smallest debt

first, knock that out, take the minimum payment on that that you've been paying or whatever, and you're just rolling it, rolling it, rolling it. And, George, have you guys taken financial peace, or have you read Total Money Makeover, or are you just listening or watching the program? What's your exposure to us? Honestly, I just saw a couple videos on YouTube today, and I saw the phone number. So I called, and I wrote down Baby Steps by Dave Ramsey. I was thinking of buying the book so I could read it.

Well, you don't have to buy them today because you're the greatest mom that is on the planet. We're going to give it to you. So, George, what are we giving her? Financial Peace University? I think Financial Peace University, yeah. 100%. Let's get her in a community of people that are walking through the same journey. You'll find that community is huge when you start a journey like this,

because here's what you're going to do. You're going to run into some people who try to talk you out of this stuff because it makes just too much sense. Your words to George moments ago, it just makes so much sense. But because it's making so much sense, you'll find that this world is full of uncommon sense and very little common sense. So that's why people are like, it just makes too much sense, George. What's wrong with the picture? I love that it's so simple because then even a dummy like me can understand it. Oh, George, you're no dummy. I appreciate that. I'm excited. Thank you so much.

You're so welcome. So hang on the line. Austin's going to pick up. We'll get you that. But Ken, I want to do some math for Anna real quick on the college savings side. Let's do that. Because she's worried there's not going to be enough. Love it. Break it down. But we just told her two years from now, she's going to be debt free. That's right.

The kid's four years old, which means you still have 14 years until they turn 18. Yeah. If you just invest $400 a month, that's $4,800 a year. Tracking with me? I'm still with you. For 14 years. Uh-huh. With the average rate of return of 10 percent uh-huh which is what we've seen with the s&p 500s actually been closer to 11 11 and a

half i like what you're doing you're being conservative here's how much you'll have 14 years later 135 000 now tell me if the kids work in a part-time job has got some scholarships and you have 135 bucks a thousand dollars can these kids go to college debt-free if they choose the right college and the right major? Yeah. Maybe stay in state? And what if your kid doesn't want to be a lawyer or doctor, and by that time I'm predicting that higher education

is going to be largely irrelevant. Oh, the next decade of higher ed is going to see a lot of things. Now they're going to have a lot of money to get trained, whatever that means, to do what they really want to do. So you win in the end, regardless of college or not college. You're going to be able to use that money that you've invested in their future training and education very wisely. So that gives me a lot of hope.

But the problem is, Ken, we're trying to do 17 things at once. We never get out of debt. We never have a fully funded emergency fund. We're trying to invest for retirement, throw a little for the kids' college. And 20 years later, we're exhausted. We're exhausted well before that. Goodness. That's why we're wasting so much money at Friday happy hour, drinking our faces off.

Wow. I didn't get the invite, Ken. Well, because you and I don't do that. You and I? No. We play spades with our wives and have popcorn. We're playing cricket. Yeah.

What? Really? Crickish? It just felt like a Ken Coleman sport. It's more your speed. I'll tell you what's my speed. More calls from real people who want to win. How about that, my friend?

You ready for that? Quick commercial break. He's George Camel. I'm Ken Coleman. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back, America. You've joined the conversation here about your life, specifically your money, your work, and your relationships

as they all come together for you to live the life that you desire to live. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by George Camel. This is The Ramsey Show. The phone number is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. And, George, it's that time of year again. I'm going to recuse myself from this because I say the word tax and I start to seethe and I start to think bad thoughts, and then I don't want to say anything bad.

Have you filed your taxes yet, Ken? Oh, yeah. I file them as soon as possible. Me too. To get them over with. Because it looms in my life, and I like to get it over with. I don't like thinking about the government taking my hard-earned money. Don't get Ken started.

Well, we do get a lot of questions about taxes, and it's confusing. And so to help you get a better handle on them, let's unpack one of these questions from our listeners. Are there penalties for filing a tax extension? Well, here's the deal. There is no penalty for filing a tax extension. It gives you six extra months to submit your tax return as long as you file your extension by tax day. But here's the deal. Even if you file an extension and you owe taxes, you still have to pay your taxes by the deadline on tax day. If you don't, you will get hit with late fees and penalties. So avoid that. So here's how that works, Ken. When you request an extension, you've got to estimate

your total taxes owed and compare that to how much you paid in federal taxes during the year to see if you have a tax bill. But look, if you're going through all that hassle, you might as well just go ahead and file your tax return. You've done half the work already. Why not? It's figuring out what you owe. And you can file your taxes or file an extension through tax software like our very own Ramsey Smart Tax. So if you want to do that, go to ramseysolutions.com slash smart tax. It's easy to use. There's upfront pricing, no hidden fees like the other guys. And it's only $24.95 right now to file your federal return. Again, ramseysolutions.com slash SmartTax. If you're watching on YouTube or television, wherever this might be,

look at the face you got there on that little lower third. Yeah, they've been using my image. You look really happy to talk about taxes. I guess they thought, how do we get more people to file their taxes? George's face. Look at that face. It's a face only a mother could love. I'll tell you that much.

Well, I love the Oshkosh Bagosh denim jacket. That looks fantastic on you. Thank you for noticing. Yeah, that's well played. Well played. Where do you shop these days? Can the AARP store? I didn't know they had.

There it is. Folks, we're wide awake now. We're moving. We really do love each other, but it takes us a few segments to get snarky. Now we're ready. We're like the old guys on Sesame Street up in the balcony, just commiserating. Well, that's the Muppets, George. Same thing.

Thanks for playing. Same thing. All right. Back to the show. Courtney is in Chicago, Illinois. Courtney, rescue us. Save us. How can we help you?

Hello. I have a question. My question is, I just filed my taxes. We couldn't have planned that any better. George, did you set this call up? No. All right. Happenstance. Courtney, you just filed your taxes. How are you feeling?

Yes. I'm not feeling too great. I owe the IRS about $6,500. And that's about the exact amount I have in my savings right now. So I'm trying to figure out how I should pay that off. Okay. Well, the good news is we don't owe this money quite yet. We've got a little bit of time, right? Right. Until tax day. Are you getting any paychecks from now until then? Yes, I am. Okay. What will that amount be? Do you have any idea? I get around like $1,900 per check every two weeks after taxes.

So we'll have two more paychecks until through tax day? Yes. Great. So can we use that money and still get by? On April 18th, $5,500 comes out and you still have $1,000 to your name and some money in checking? Yes. Well, I have a separate account for that a thousand dollars because I was reading one of the books and my mom told me about the show. So I actually have a thousand dollars in a completely separate account that I haven't touched. And then you have 5,500 in another account. Yes. That's perfect. So we're going to go ahead and just use that money. And it stinks because you worked hard to get that $5,500, didn't you? Yes. But think about it this way. You owed that money. It would have come out of your paycheck if we had our withholdings correct. And so it was just some math that wasn't finagled quite right. So don't get down on yourself.

Just adjust your withholdings if you want to avoid the giant tax bill next year. And you can do that with your W-4 form through your employer. Now, I want to add something here, George, because this type of thing has happened to me before, years and years ago. And even though I had it set aside and I was able to make it happen and you just walked her through the options. Courtney, I got to tell you, I'm the type of person, I hear something like this and I go, all right, what can I sell? How can I make some extra money? How do I avoid dipping into this? How do I avoid, that's right, dipping into my current accounts? If I can offset it even 500 bucks, a thousand bucks, 2,000 bucks. Courtney,

I just want to at least challenge you to consider what can you sell? How can you make some extra money between now and tax day so that you're not taking as big a hit that's what i would be thinking right okay you know and then just cutting expenses hey what can we cut in the next few weeks that's coming up maybe a subscription a thing we were going to do our grocery bills let's shop what's on sale let's eat the leftovers hey we have a neighborhood yard sale coming up courtney and my neighbor if you want to make the drive down to frank and you could set up a little table. I'm pretty sure Stacey and I. The gas money she would spend driving from Chicago to Nashville wouldn't be worth it. I didn't think about that, but I'm trying to be innovative here, George.

I would go to your yard sale. Well, I wouldn't let you in there because you'd be criticizing all my prices. You'd be walking up to people going, that's overpriced. I would haggle the heck out of you. I got a George Camel hack here that'll save you five bucks or so i'm gonna wear a fake mustache and show up to your yard sale ken as opposed to a beard yeah well it's not really great i could i could do better okay all right i like to see that uh let's go to leo now uh wow we're staying in the windy city area chicago's popular today let's go to leo leo how can we help? Yeah, thank you for taking my call, gentlemen. I actually had a question in regards to a, I have a major home repair that I have to do for the house, and I'm just looking to see how do I go about that? If I take out a loan, do I?

What's the repair? What's the repair, and how much is it going to cost? Sure. The repair is going to be for our septic tank system. And, yeah, those are a little bit pricier. I'm getting quoted around $20,000 to $30,000 for the first two or three that I've called. I do have two more estimates coming up. And we're on baby step two. Me and my wife are expecting our first child in a month and a half. So we do have around 6,000 saved up so far.

But do we take out a loan? I have no idea. How urgent is this? Well, it is quite urgent because the more we put it off, the more damage we could do to the home with the sub pump and everything in the basement. So right now, for example, without getting into too much detail, but the toilets won't even flush that well. Oh, well, you handled that way better than I would have.

I'd have been like, it's a four-alarm emergency. Can't flush the toilets. Yeah, so I have a system right now set up that's kind of a Band-Aid, but it's not really that awesome. Have you asked these companies if there's a temporary fix that can get you by for six months? Yeah, I actually spent around close to $3,000 already for a discovery for them to dig it up and jet the pipes and all that, and nothing helps. Oh, boy.

So they have to actually just really replace it. And you said this has to happen soon. Are we talking a month from now, two months from now, six months from now? Or like next week? Toilets won't flush, George. I'm going to go with tomorrow. Yeah, yesterday, honestly. Yeah.

What money do you guys have access to that is not debt? So do you have $6,000 in savings? Yep. Anything you can sell? I mean, we do have two Hoopties, and my wife's car is really nice, but all three of those are paid off. I mean, I could let one of those go, but... Do you need three cars right now?

Oh, I'll use one for door dashing on the side as a side hustle, and I keep my... They're both very not valued cars, so I probably only get about $1,000 for either of them. And then how about health care? What are we looking for as far as the bill for the baby? You guys give us good healthcare? Yeah, we have great healthcare through my job. So we'll be okay as far as I feel like we'll be okay. So right now with our bills and everything, we're able to save close to $3,000 a month. I'm probably selling mama's nice car in order

to get this thing taken care of and we'll get her another nice car later. But right now we got two emergencies. We got a baby on the way and a septic to replace. And so we're gonna have to get real drastic, real drastic. Wow. Tough situation. That's tough stuff. Thank you for the call, Leo. And George Goodhour, I want to say thanks to James and the crew keeping us on the air. And to you, America, thank you for listening. This is your show. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Ken.

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