The Ramsey Show - App - Pursue Your Dream, but Don't Create a Nightmare (Hour 1)

Episode Date: June 19, 2020

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is the Dave Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. I'm Chris Hogan, and joining me as a co-host this hour is Mr. Anthony O'Neill, and we are excited to be with you, and we are ready, wide awake, to take your questions that you have. So I want you to call us. We're here sitting ready for you. That number to call is 888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225.

Anthony, I'm excited to be here. Are you ready to roll? Man, I'm ready, Chris. Every time I jump on here with you, man, I'm excited because two strong brothers over here about to help out a lot of people, man. Well, we got one young one, one old one. That's all right. Hold up. Wait, wait. I'm the old one. Oh, okay. I just had to make sure, man.

Don't get it twisted. You know what I'm saying? But I'll tell you what I get excited about. I look out here in the lobby and we got some good looking folks out here. It's good to see people. It is. It is. It's good to see people and hopefully they're happy to see us. We'll come out there and take some photos. So, by the way, if you are near Nashville, come see us.

We are at Reams Fleming Boulevard. You can come down. We've got Baker Street Cafe. Melissa Wilson will take care of you over there. You can get coffee and cookies and all the stuff that Anthony and I have baked for you. That is a lie. That's a lie. We do not bake.

We grill is what we do. But, yeah, it's over there. We'd love to have you come visit us and see the new office. And we keep calling it new because it's new to us. But, Anthony, here in just a matter of weeks, it's coming up on a year. Yeah. A year. Does it seem like it to you?

No, sir, it doesn't. When Dave sent that email, I was like, man, I thought we just got here like three or four months ago. Wait a minute. You know, but it's just a great opportunity, man, just to be in this building, seeing our second building go up. And we're about to celebrate that. And then just everything that God is doing here in the city of Franklin. So we would love for you all to come by, especially if you're young like me, like these young guys out here drinking this good milk out here. Old people, y'all can stay with Hogan and just stay away.

But young people, please come and check us out. Okay, whippersnapper. But listen, if you're out there and you've got a question, call us. That number to call is 888-825-5225. We are going to the phone. And first up, we've got Alisa on the line here in Tennessee. Alisa, how can Anthony and I help you? Hey, yeah, so I have a decision to make about school.

I was recently attending an art school in Nashville, and it got bought out by Belmont University. And so I have the opportunity to finish at Belmont at a cheaper rate. They said they were going to keep our art school rate the same, even though like you'll be cheaper than Belmont. Anyway, but I am familiar with Dave Ramsey's advice. And so I've looked at state schools for my degree that I would like to pursue and they just don't have it and so I don't really have any money for school but I just don't know what to do so I was just wanting to get some advice about it. How old are you Lisa? I'm 21. 21 years old all right and what does the Belmont, what would it cost you?

I believe it would be like $25,000 a year. $25,000. Yeah. And I have like two and a half years left. Two and a half years left. And you say you don't have money to pay for school, so I'm assuming you already have some form of student loans already. Yes. I have one student loan that is $6,000. Okay, so you have $6,000.

And are you working right now? I am, yes. Okay, how much are you making a year? I believe it's like $23,000 a year. $23,000 a year. What's the degree you're going in for again? I'm sorry. You're good. It's the degree you're going in for again? I'm sorry. You're good.

It's creative industry and entertainment. Creative industry and entertainment. What will you be able to do with that degree? I will be able to do a lot of different things. Mainly just be able to work with the designing things or just anything having

to do in the creative field. Okay. And what's your potential income? That's my last question for you. I don't know. Okay. Okay. Okay.

So here's going to be my suggestion, Alisa and Hogan, I want you to chime in too. You're young. You're already with $6,000 in debt. $50,000 over the next two years is a lot of money. Okay. And so I don't want to push you away from your dreams, but what I do want to do is help you avoid a nightmare. Okay.

And so my suggestion is going to be that we need to find somewhere else to go, at least for right now, to one, you can get your income up, you can get some scholarships to maybe transfer back into this program at Belmont, okay? But right now, I want you to step back. You're in the summer months right now. A lot of programs are offering

some amazing online process where you can get this degree for probably at about a quarter of the price, about $5,000 to $8,000 online a year. But you gotta be willing to step back and do the research. So that's going to be my very first suggestion to you is let's avoid a nightmare. OK, let's not go back to twenty five thousand dollars a year. Let's jump online and do the research.

Now, I'm not telling you not to go after your dream because I want you to go after what you're passionate about. But I do not want you to go after that. And it's costing you 50 grand and you graduate with about 65 in debt. Now you're struggling. Elisa, right now with the two years that you are in, have you knocked out all the prerequisites so far? I have, yes. Okay. So now it's time for you to do things inside of your major, correct? Yes. Okay. Here's it's time for you to do things inside of your major, correct? Yes. Okay.

Here's the thing. The crazy thing, and I like Anthony's statement, wanting you to pursue your dream but don't create a nightmare. See, a lot of people go on remote control, and you haven't. And they would have taken on that $25,000 without even thinking of it. Yeah. And the next thing you know, you graduate, and you've got a payment of $500, $550 waiting on you over the next 20 years. So what I suggest, I agree with Anthony, I'm going to pause here. I'm going to start to look and think, what can I do? How, what field can I get in and start working inside of this design and this creative that you're wanting to do and start to get some experience as you work,

right? And then saving up money to go back to be able to pay cash for school. Now, it may take you another year or two longer to graduate, but I promise you this, young lady, when you graduate and you don't have that memoir, that souvenir called a student loan hung around your neck, you're going to be very, very happy. So it's okay if it takes a little bit longer, but I want you to be clear on what you want, but be crystal clear on what you don't want. And Anthony, it is right now, this student loan, and I know you've dug into this, but we've got $1.7 trillion in student loans in America today, affecting almost 46 million Americans. And on top of that, Hogan, we have 4 million

college graduates who will graduate this year going into the workforce. And they're a little nervous. You know, they're a little nervous because they understand already before this pandemic, the average student would graduate about thirty five thousand dollars in student loan debt. But then here's this dive deeper. Hogan, a fifth of these young people will graduate with about one hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand dollars in student loan debt. So they're graduating with a mortgage payment but don't have real estate. This is why I wrote the book, Debt-Free Degree in America. If you do not have it, I want you to get that book.

Go to my website, anthonyneal.com, and check that out. Well, and the crazy thing is, is not only are they graduating with that payment, they don't have steady income yet. Come on, man. So parents, no more allowing young people to walk inside a financial aid office to sign documents they don't understand for payments they can't afford. It's time for us to step out and let's help these young people out. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Most people's money problems come from not paying attention.

That's why before I spend a dime of my money on something, I do the research and make sure it's going to live up to what it claims. Recently, I got a great pair of sunglasses from a company called Shady Rays. When you're looking for sunglasses, it feels like your options are limited. Name brand sunglasses cost too much and the cheap knockoffs are ugly and really don't protect your eyes. Discovering Shady Rays is a game changer. With Shady Rays, you can count on premium sunglasses that protect your eyes and are affordable they give people the best overall value in sunglasses

they also replace your shades with a brand new pair if you lose or break them from day one of your purchase and they guarantee your sunglasses for life plus they offer an exclusive for Ramsey Show listeners. Go to ShadyRays.com and use the code RAMSEY for 50% off two or more pairs. That's ShadyRays.com, code RAMSEY. Hello, everyone. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. I'm Chris Hogan, joined with co-host Anthony O'Neill for this hour. And we are excited to take your questions about life and money. In our last call, we were talking to a young lady who was trying to give her some guidance, Elisa, about the direction to go, especially in dealing with the student loan situation. And Anthony let her know

about his book that he's got out, Destroy Your Student Loan, that he's got that book out. You need to know about it. You need to check it out. Go to anthioneal.com. And it's going to give you some serious guidance. This is a major financial situation. And Anthony and I actually work hand in hand because he's trying to have young people avoid the student loan debt. And I'm trying to help young people and all people build wealth for the future. And so it's just it's good to be a one to punch to be able to hit this. But Anthony, you're also very involved on YouTube. Yes.

So what are you doing on there? You know, we're having a conversation. And every time I say this, I'm glad you're here. And I'm glad you said we're partnering together because I get a lot of people say, well, you know, I'm not in that twenties and thirties year old bracket. Um, but I'm really, I created a show to where I'm teaching young people how to avoid debt, um, how to pay off debt if they have debt and how to start the process of building wealth while we introduce them to you and your brand. And so, man, it's been amazing over the last, um, I say about three months, we've grown by close to 80,000 new family members, AKA subscribers. I mean, the, the, man, it's been amazing over the last, I say, about three months. We've grown by close to 80,000 new family members, a.k.a. subscribers.

I mean, the show is just going viral because I'm specifically attacking that 18 to 38, 39 year old individual. And we're just having real relevant and relatable conversations around money, around relationships, around what we should be doing during this youngful season of our life. Not saying that you older people are not youngful, but I'm just really trying to be specific. Okay. I'm just trying to be specific and make sure that the 20s and 30s are speaking correctly. Because here's the thing, Hogan, you know, there's a lot of things. You have a lot of people who go after that older bracket.

Then we have a lot of people who focus on that teenage bracket. But we tend to forget that middle age bracket. And that's where I made a lot of my mistakes in my young 20s. And so I said, you know what? I'm going to attack those people and really help them make better decisions where they can start businesses early

to where they can pay off debt, build homes at an early age. So I want to suggest to anyone and everyone listening right now, join me on youtube.com forward slash Anthony O'Neill. It's a different type of show, but America's loving it. I mean, we're getting hundreds of thousands of views, hundreds of thousands of subscribers. And I just thank you for the opportunity to share.

Yeah, no, no, that's good. And I really appreciate you letting me know that I'm not youthful anymore. I was tending to forget that, Mr. Anthony. I hope you don't have mic problems later on in this show. Or you don't fall out of that chair at some point because I may help you. Alright, America, listen to me. Anthony, I'm just messing with you.

But if you're out there and you've got a question, call us. The number is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Also, don't forget, we're on social. You know, people say there's a lot of negatives on social media. Well, listen, you need to follow us. We've got positive messages. You can find Anthony at Anthony O'Neill on all the social media platforms. You can find me at Chris Hogan 360 as well, as long as with the rest of the gang, with

Christy and Rachel and Ken, we were all on there trying to be proactive and productive. All right, we're going to get back to the phone. We've got Wes on the line in California. Wes, how can Anthony and I help you? Hello. Hello, guys. I really appreciate taking the call. Sure.

See, I've got a question. I am going to be attending a medical school in the late summer, fall this year. And I have a family, a wife, and a one-year-old son. I fortunately have received a full tuition and fees scholarship to the school I'll be going for all four years. Fantastic. Yeah, very grateful for that. The thing that we're wondering about is taking care of the other items as far as living expenses, taking care of our house payment. We do own a home. I do have an emergency fund saved up. We also have a retirement account that has about $30,000 right now. And so we're just wondering, like, you know, my wife is staying with our son at this point. I'll be in school pretty much as locked down full time. Wondering, you know, there's obviously the availability to take on loans for our living expenses. I'm just trying to figure

out what the best plan of action would be just to drain our emergency fund, drain our retirement account. You know, I'm not sure what the best strategy would be. Hold on a second, Wes, and I'm curious here, and just bear with me because I'm going to play a little bit of devil's advocate. Obviously, when you make a decision to go to med school, you know this is a commitment. So what were you all thinking the plan was going to be before you applied? Before I applied? Yeah. Well, I applied to, yeah, I applied to schools specifically looking for scholarships,

schools that had opportunities for the entire class to get a full year scholarship for their education. Right. So my plan was to apply to a school that I could get a scholarship at, and then to, you know, if I needed to take long, to take long if I had to. Okay. scholarship at and then to to you know if i need to take loans to take a look if i had to okay um i do feel i do feel a calling to go to medical school like god bless in this direction okay and so i am committed to that no no no and and what my point was is that your intention and plan all along was student loans if if the if the scholarship did not work out yet okay but you got a scholarship

but it only takes care of the tuition, right? It doesn't take care of the board and all that. You've still got a mortgage and bills to pay. Correct. Okay. Are you able to work while going to medical school? I know the answer to this, but I know people are out there listening, and I know that's going to be their initial thing,

but are you able to work while you're in medical school? No, I'm not. I probably could do something maybe like Uber on one day a week in the evening but the only other thing is it's very challenging in medical school to stay up with all the studies

and if I do poorly I lose a scholarship. No, I understand. That's a quarter million dollars. Right. How many years in are you right now? Have you started? I have not. I'll be starting my million dollars. Right. How many years in are you right now? Have you started? I have not. I'll be starting my first year. Okay. All right.

I got a couple more questions, and I'm going to turn it over to Anthony. How much is your mortgage right now? Our mortgage is $1,700 right now. Okay. And how much is the home worth, would you say? It's worth around $290. Okay. And how much do you owe on it? $290. Okay, and how much do you owe on it?

$270. Okay, so there's not a lot of equity in there. And so, you know, talking about this and looking at it, you've got how many years of commitment in med school? Four years. Okay, see, this is not a season or one-year thing. This is going to be a several-year thing. And so you guys are going to really have to look. If you're going to avoid student loans, which I'm encouraging you to,

if you had a lot of equity, we could talk about selling the home. There's not a lot there. And even if you sell the home, instead of a mortgage, you're going to have rent. So you guys, from a lifestyle standpoint, you know, push come to shove. I wish you were better prepared. At least you do have an emergency fund. But, you know, I'm not going to advise that you take on the student loan. Now, if you end up going that route because you're not able to work, job one is going to have to be as you come out of med school and begin residency, job one is you got to hold lifestyle tight and attack that debt.

Anthony, what's your thought? You know, Wes, man, you're not really going to like my thought. And here's why. Because I teach this for a living, so hear my heart clearly. You're too young to take on student loan debt. And there's no reason. I feel you when you say this is your calling. But this is not something that you have to do right now. I knew I was called into ministry.

I knew I was called into helping people, but I had to do it in the right season at the right time. So that way it really impacts my life. And so what I'm going to tell you to do is I'm going to say maybe pause a little bit, stack up some more cash and do this for me. I forgot the states. I want you to go out there and Google. There are some states out there right now that if you transfer to their state because they're low on in the medical field, they will actually help pay for your medical experience. So before you jump on it in California, go out and do the research. And if you're willing to move, if being a medical and being a medical physician is truly your passion and your calling, look at all of the do all the research before you make this decision. But I'm going to tell you, do not go to school and do not borrow a dime. Wait until you can pay cash for it.

Yeah. I mean, because this is one of those things, Anthony, like you mentioned, you know, there's a good time. There's a better time and a best time. And right now, just having a newborn and wanting your wife to be able to stay at home to take care of the kid, you've got to make some decisions. And so, you know, it's going to be a car you guys go low and slow and think this through. This is the Dave

Ramsey Show. Thank you. I heard a statistic recently that absolutely blew my mind. 43% of Americans are not protecting their loved ones with life insurance. This drives me crazy, people. What are you thinking? Taking care of your family has to be a top priority. Think about it. If you died today, would you be the hero by making sure that your family had the money necessary to carry on their life without struggle and hardship? Would they be able to pay the bills and plan for the future? That's what term life insurance is all about.

Regardless of where you are in the baby steps, you've got to make this a top priority. Have I gotten my point across yet? That's why I talk about Zander Insurance every day. They keep it simple and make sure they find you the best rates out there. Zander will do their job to find you the best rates and make sure you're served like I expect. But you have to take the first step. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. Hello, America. You are listening to The Dave Ramsey Show. I'm Chris Hogan, joined in with my co-host, Anthony O'Neill, and we are excited to take your calls.

Listen, during this time of all this hectic pandemic and all the things going on, I want to make sure that we're not letting some things slip. And I'm talking about from an insurance perspective. Our country is going through some hard times right now. A lot of y'all have lost some jobs this year, which means a lot of you are no longer covered by your employer's health insurance. And that's a scary thought because in this climate of fear, we've got a lot of things going on. But folks, listen up. No matter what, don't lose hope. There are health care options out there that will still cover you. The option you'll probably encounter first is COBRA. And with COBRA, you can stay on your previous employer's health coverage for at least 18 months. The downside is that you have to pay the full premium, which can be very expensive, especially if you don't have the income.

Because COBRA is probably going to drain your emergency fund, I recommend that you get private insurance with a high deductible. Getting insurance with a high deductible would really benefit you right now because your monthly premiums will be low. It makes even more sense if you have an HSA, which is a health savings account. You'll save more money on taxes at that time. So, folks, hear me out. Never again should you go without health insurance. If you're feeling scared right now, connect with an insurance-endorsed local provider. They're experts at this stuff, and they can point you in the right direction.

Go to DaveRamsey.com slash ELP. Again, that's DaveRamsey.com slash ELP, and click on health insurance to get started. It's really important that you make sure that you're not only protecting yourself, but you're also protecting your family. All right, we're going to go back to the phones. If you're out there, we want you to give us a call. The number to call is 888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225. Matter of fact, go ahead and put us as a contact in your phone, right? Just go on and slap it in there. That way you could just hit the button and call and just get right in, and Kelly is there ready to help you.

All right, we've got Maria is on the line. We are going to Florida, AO. Maria, how can Anthony and I help you? Hi, Chris. Hi, Anthony. Thank you so much for taking my call. You're welcome. How can we help you?

So my situation is I am currently four months pregnant. I'm not married. I have no savings. Thank the Lord I do have a job, but I am $18,000 in debt. I give birth in November and I probably won't work for the first six months. A friend recommended I file for bankruptcy, but I'm not sure that's the right thing to do. What advice can you give me in this situation? Because I'm feeling very overwhelmed. Yeah, I can imagine. Tell me the $18,000 in debt that you have.

What kind of debt is it? So $11,000 is from my car. Okay. I have about almost $6,000 in credit card debt. And, um, I have personal, I owe my boss and my dad some money. And the total of that is around $1,400. Okay. You owe your boss and your dad.

So you borrowed some money from them? Yes. Okay. All right. And what line of work are you in, young lady? I work for a farm here in Florida. Okay. I just kind of do a little bit of everything, really.

Everyone plays different roles in the farm. Okay. All right. Do you have family near you? Yes. I'm currently living with my parents right now. All right. Do you have family near you? Yes. I'm currently living with my parents right now. All right. So you do have some support of the parents.

I'm going to tell you, you're having the baby in November. I'm going to absolutely tell you, you are not in a position that you need to file bankruptcy. Okay? Your friend, whoever told you that, bless their hearts. That's what we say here in the South. They didn't know what you're talking about. And the reality is, and let me just make it clear, Maria, because I don't want that idea to keep percolating in your head. To file for bankruptcy, you not only have to qualify based on state regulations, but it also costs money, okay?

So it can be $1,500 and up to be able to do that. A lot of people aren't aware. So you're not in that position, but you are in a position of having understanding your timeframe of what you'd like to do, right. Versus what you now understand what you need to do. And so if I'm you, these credit cards that you have been charging and doing things, the worst thing you could do is keep using those to add to, okay? Babies are small. They don't care what they come home in. Trust me, they're little.

They're just small. But we magnify it and we think we got to have a $500 stroller and a $600 car carrier and all these things, and you don't, okay? Babies need love and they need you. And so what I would do is get serious about a budget, get serious about a plan, figure out ways to bring in some extra income. This car that you have, right, I would look at selling it because what's the car payment? How much is it on this $11,000 car? So my car, I got it two years ago. The car payment is $258,000 and I pay $160,000 for insurance. Okay. And so you look at it, $11,000 of this $18,000 can be fixed with selling it. And then you get a different car. So you've got some things

you can do. It's not going to be comfortable, but it's going to be worthwhile. Yeah. And Maria, let me tell you this too. Congrats on your baby. Thank you. Bringing into human life what you ladies can do is just absolutely amazing. And I just want to congratulate you on that. And then here would be my advice, too, is I would pause right now. I would go ahead and pause on paying off stuff and pause. Just pay your minimum and everything. And just really like what Hogan said, get on a clear budget today and you need to start piling cash up because i think your stress is i'm i'm hurting a little bit now on my own and then now i'm about to bring in another life

and and that's that's scary and that's a fair feeling to have so what i want you to do is to pause and then stack up as much cash as you possibly can right now. Then once you have the baby, then I'm like, I'm like Hogan here. I want you to start looking at selling that car, get you a cash car, free up some of your stuff there. But bankruptcy, you're too young, you're too bright, you're too smart to be going down that road. You can sit there and get a good job and pay off. I agree. Maria, how do you get along? How's your relationship with your parents? It's great. My parents have been married for 30 years.

The example I have is amazing. I am with my boyfriend. We are together. So I know that he's going to be around for the baby and he's going to be, you know, supporting. Oh, well, good. You know, a good conversation you all need to have is what time you're going down to the Justice of the Peace.

No, yeah, no, that's what you do right there. That's one of them quick drives. That's not far. And just have that conversation, and then, yeah, then y'all can start to plan stuff and do stuff together. Right now you're talking about it, and so you can be about it by just getting that little piece of paper and move on forward. That's what I'd suggest you do. But be intentional here. Have the conversation with your family. But I'm going to

be serious with you with the credit card. The worst thing you could do is keep adding to that. That is not going to help you. It's not going to put you in the right footing at all. If anything, it's going to add more stress to you and your life right now. Debt is not your friend. And A.O., I've told people this. Debt's like a frenemy.

You know what a frenemy is? Nah. You don't. I'm too young for that. You're too young for that. I know. Alright, listen to me, young'un. I'm going to school you a little bit here. School me, man. A frenemy is somebody you think is your friend, but they turn out to be your enemy. And think about it. We just call that, my generation, we call that

a hater, man. A what? A hater. You know what a hater means? Yeah, I know what that is. Alright, but listen, hush. I went first. Alright, frenemy. So that's exactly what a credit card is. Think back when you were young and you got that credit card. Yes. You thought you had found a best friend. Yes.

And in reality, what you realize is that, wait a minute. He hates you. This thing just takes. All it does is take. It doesn't give you anything. And that's exactly how I want people to see it. Don't think that they're giving you status or clout or anything in life. No, it just takes.

Because in the middle of this pandemic, when we had all this stuff going on in life, we had shutdowns, lockdowns, and jobs were gone. Did the statement stop showing up in your mailbox? No. Did they call you and try to act like they cared? Probably not. See, you got to see it for what it is. It's not your friend.

It's one-sided. So let's deal with these debts. We teach the debt snowball here. List the debts out smallest to biggest. And listen to me. Don't you tell me about interest rate. I don't care about it. Getting out of debt's not about math, my friends.

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This is the Dave Ramsey Show. I tell you, they limit how much they let A.O. and I do this together because we get rowdy and we have fun, but we appreciate the calls so far. We've had some amazing calls. People being real and upfront about where they are and what they need. So we're here for you. We're going to get back to the phone. We've got Amanda is on line three. Amanda, how can Anthony and I help you?

Hi, so happy to talk to you guys today. So my husband and I have just recently received a $36,000 inheritance. And the question that I have is we have paid off our debt except for a mortgage, and we have about $91,000 left to pay on the mortgage. And we were wondering if we should take all of the inheritance and put that towards the mortgage, or if we should put some in retirement, if we should put some in our daughter's college fund, you know, what you guys would advise to do with that. Very good, Amanda.

I appreciate you calling in and trusting us with your question. May I ask, where did this money come from? It was from my husband's grandfather who had passed. Okay. All right. And so, you know, whenever you're dealing with an inheritance, what you have is a situation where someone thought of you all. They intentionally left it to you. And so, you know, it's important to really be clear with those funds because, you know, it was a blessing for it to be left to you.

And so you do want to do some things that allow you to make some progress. And believe it or not, and I'm going to turn it over to Anthony. I want to hear his thoughts. But typically in that type of situation, what I would do is once the money comes in, I would park those funds in a money market account and let it sit for a couple of months. And that way you can be clear on what it is you want to do. You said something, though, that I absolutely agree with, and that's what I advise people. If they have debt, then you want to definitely use it toward debt. But you mentioned you've got the mortgage, you've got some college, and you also were talking about retirement.

And believe it or not, I literally, as I would coach high net worth people, a lot of pro athletes, entertainers, musicians, whenever they would get bonus money in or things like that, I would actually operate from a pie graph approach, meaning I'm going to look at this dollar amount, and I'm actually going to split it up like a pie, so I'm making some progress in multiple areas. Does that make sense,

Amanda? Yes. And see, that's what you were literally speaking as you were talking. And so if it's $36,000, you've got an opportunity to decide, okay, how much are we going to send toward the mortgage? How much are we sending toward college? How much toward retirement? But there's another category I'm actually going to tell you as well. And this is going to shock you, Amanda, but it's also something to enjoy. And that might look like you all taking a trip or something and really taking some time to really think back and remember the grandfather and honor them. But that's a viable option as well once you're out of debt, and you guys are. So that's something you could totally do. Yeah, and Amanda, I want to commend you. You know, I believe that people perish for the lack of knowledge and gaining of wisdom.

And the fact that you are calling on to the show to get some knowledge and wisdom on what to do and how to be a good steward of this inheritance. I want to commend you of that. I really do. And I want to echo everything that Hogan says. So I won't repeat that. But specifically, when you get it, park it. And here's why I say park it as well. So this way, you can just sit, think, process and see what comes up, you know, and just stick to the baby steps. That's one thing I love about baby steps four through seven, specifically, specifically four through six. You can do all three of those, four of those at the same time. And so do the pie chart, invest. I'm a huge fan of investing into your son or daughter's college fund,

a Baby Steps 5, but also I'm a huge fan of making sure that you be a good steward investing into your future because that's why you have the inheritance, because they wanted to invest into you and to your future. Amanda, do you and your husband tend to think the same about money? Yes. Okay. Here's what I would do because you're the one that called in with this. I'd sit down and have a conversation with him. Um, you know, whatever it comes, when you're dealing with inheritance, uh, you know, I'd always like to defer a little bit to the side of the family where it came,

but then gain agreement on the direction to go. So I'd have a conversation about this pie graph approach and begin to let him work. Excuse me? He's working. He's working. He told me to call and see what they would say. Okay. Well, you can replay it for him later.

Yes. And I like how you guys are working together, but just wait until you're in agreement. And that fund category is totally acceptable. Now, A.O., I'm sure the YouTube channel over there, you probably got some people chirping, getting riled up. They're like, Hogan, what do you mean they can have some fun with it? Listen to me, people.

Okay, they're out of debt. They got the mortgage. Okay, so they're paying some toward it. If they had credit card debt, we're having a different conversation. If they had car loans, we're having a different conversation. But they're just having their mortgage. So they're on baby step number six, wanting to know what to do with some extra money. So that's why I suggested the pie graph approach of sending some money in multiple areas, or they may decide that they want it all in another area. Again, once you get yourself out of debt, you give yourself some options.

Hogan, the YouTube channel is asking, well, why not pay off the mortgage? So that's still some form of debt. Well, okay, so they're getting $36,000 coming in. They owe $91,000. So they could decide to make a big chunk toward the mortgage. If they were getting in $120,000 and they could have wiped out the mortgage, then that's where I would have encouraged them to go that route. But they could decide to make a chunk. I'm just saying you give yourself some freedom.

See, people often think that we don't let people to have fun. What? They think we don't want people to take a vacation. We don't want people to have a nice car. See, that's not true. I remember a little lady rolled up on me at an event, and she had flip-flops on, and I could hear her coming. She had attitude.

It was like pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. And she goes, Mr. Chris, you and Dave don't want people to have no stuff. And I just looked at her and laughed. I said, no, ma'am, that's not true. We don't want stuff to have you. And when it's attached to debt, that's exactly what ends up happening. I want you to have nice stuff. I just want you to have it with cash, right, and do it the right way.

Okay, see, you got me riled up. Yeah, he got you riled up. Also, I do want to call out to all the listeners out there, since Anthony has called me old and he's young. He did at one point in his answer say, I agree with everything that Hogan said. So wisdom prevails. Hush your mouth. We're going to the phones. All right. Next up, we got Muhammad on the line. How can we help you, sir? Hey, how you doing? I focused and not finished my friend. What's on your mind? Yeah. So, uh, I just

recently graduated college, uh, and, uh, just started my full-time job. And I just had a couple of questions about like investment ideas. So, uh, basically with my job, uh, I get like some benefits, which include, um, so I get $175,000 in stock vested over four years. So 25% every single year. And as well as like a 401k and employee purchase plan for more additional stock. Now I was was wondering, in terms of the RSU, which is the $175,000, do you think that I should keep that or try and, like, move that towards, like, a real estate investment or some other investment idea? What do you think?

Man, you know, here's my first thing. What are your long-term goals, man, right now? Uh, well right now is, um, I want to end up, uh, just starting to own some real estate, uh, that way that like I could start having, uh, additional money outside of my work. So, uh, and then just start saving from there. All right. So do you have the basics covered, though? Do you have your 401ks and your Roth IRAs already invested into? So I just started working. So it was my first job. Yep.

I haven't really set up a 401k or a Roth IRA. Okay, cool. So before you even do anything else, man, I want you to start there, okay, because that's the foundation. That's going to really set you up for success. Now, what you just started your job right now, you may not be able to go ahead and enter into the 401k program right now, but go ahead and talk to HR and see when are you eligible to do that. But right now you can open up a Roth IRA and invest into that. So that's the very first thing that I'm going to do. Could you sound like

you're a young, sharp man. I love the way you think thinking, and I love how you want to get into real estate, and I want you to get into real estate, but I want you to start with a solid foundation first, which is max out your 401k and your Roth IRAs. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, Muhammad. I think that Roth IRA is the way to go. Typically, with a 401k, you've got to be there nine months, maybe a year before you can do that, so just get started on the Roth IRA. Do me a favor.

Go over to ChrisHogan360.com. Click on the Dream Team button. You can find a smart investor pro in your area that you can sit down and begin to talk to and walk through on these things. The key is you want to get some guidance. All right, listen, this hour blew by fast, A.O. Yes, it did. But we had a blast.

Listen, I want to thank Kelly Daniel, associate producer, Zach Bennett, filling in for James Child as our producer, and all of you, America, for tuning in. This has been The Dave Ramsey Show. Hey guys, it's George Camel, host of The Dave Ramsey Show video channel. You can now listen to the show on your smart speaker. Just tell your Alexa or Google device to play the Dave Ramsey Show

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