The Ramsey Show - App - Quit Spending & Get Your Stupid Butt Out of Debt! (Hour 1)

Episode Date: January 31, 2023

Dave Ramsey & Kristina Ellis answer your questions and discuss:   How to maximize your retirement options, Wins from Kristina's #NoSpendChallenge, from the blog: How to Crush a No-Spend Month "...Can we pull from our 401(k) to get our dream home?" Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: 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

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Pods Moving and Storage Studios, it's the 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. We help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. Christina Ellis, number one best-selling author, Ramsey Personality,
Starting point is 00:00:55 is my co-host today as we answer your questions about your life and your money. The phone number is a free call, and some say the advice is worth exactly what you pay for it the phone number is 888-825-5225 that's 888-825-5225 bill is in harrisburg virginia harrisonburg virginia to start off this hour hey bill how are you i'm doing well how are you better than i deserve what's up hey so i'm 41 years old. My wife and I, we entered Baby Step 7 one year ago when we paid our house off. Way to go.
Starting point is 00:01:31 Net worth is about $900K. Income is about $210K per year. Whoop, whoop. And thanks to your teachings, we have moved forward in our financial lives, and we are just loving it. We have a new baby at home. That brings the grand total to two. Our investments, I'm maxing out my Roth 401K and my HSA,
Starting point is 00:01:56 and I'm also investing in my 529 for my two children. So my question is this. I want to get into some bridge investing that will give me some income ahead of the typical retirement age. I think I want to get into investing in rental properties. So my question is, should I be maxing out all Roth IRA accounts for my wife and I before I do any type of bridge investing?
Starting point is 00:02:24 Because I think there's a little bit of room to do all of it. I did when I was at your stage, and what we're talking about is a $14,000 swing with a $200,000 income, so it doesn't matter. I mean, if $14,000 keeps you from your bridge thing winning, it probably wasn't going to win true yeah that's very true yeah so it's not enough that it matters if it was a hundred thousand that we're talking about then yeah it might i might say don't do it and let's work on the bridge because you're smart to do the bridge so what i did is just maxed out everything just because i hate freaking taxes and i put as much money in anything i can put in that the government keeps their hands
Starting point is 00:03:06 off of what you're doing you got your roth 401k you got your hsa you got all that going and then once i had all that mac and you know you do your backdoor roths in your case to do individual roths and um then that would get you another 14 in there but then our 13 anyway but the um uh and then i dumped money into an s&p 500 until there was enough in there to buy a piece of real estate. Yeah, so I can do that, and with my employer, I can do, within my retirement plan, I can do a Roth, backdoor Roth, all the way up to like 50 grand a year. So there's a lot of options, but I really want to get into that rental real estate area. So I think what I'm going to do is... How are you getting to 50?
Starting point is 00:03:49 Well, so with the account, so basically I think I can do 20, 22, 22,000 a year. Once I hit that max, I can, I can, it's through Fidelity, my company allows 50,000 a year total. So what I can do after I hit that $22,000, I call Fidelity and say, hey, it's an after-tax input into the 401k. But then you call them and tell them before anything's invested, they flip it right into the Roth. So it's essentially a backdoor Roth. I would not do that much if real estate and bridge is your goal if you were only doing traditional individual backdoors that's only 14k probably do that but i would not max i
Starting point is 00:04:31 would not do that extra 25k i would use that towards your bridge i think i got the answer to my question thank you so much for your teachings you have incredibly changed my life you're a 40 year old millionaire making 200k with a brand new baby. I'm so proud of you. Right. When did you start this, Bill? When did you start this journey? I bought my first house in 2009. That's about when I found Dave on the AM radio in Virginia, where I live. And I just became a student of the game. I discovered the podcast and been living it ever since. We paid off our house. It's worth about $475 last year. And it is true. The grass feels different under your feet once you pay that thing off.
Starting point is 00:05:09 So it's incredible. We're loving it. I'm proud of you. Well done. You're why we come down here and do this every day. That's very, very cool. That's amazing. And such a great testimony for all the young people out there who, you know,
Starting point is 00:05:22 we're sitting here saying, get started now. Be consistent over time. This is what your life could look like in your early 40s it's a testimony and an inspiration for those of you who do positive thinking those of you who are whiners it's a mic drop in your face okay so uh you can't do it america's dead and my college professor was carl marx and i think capitalism is evil and yeah I mean I can't help you with that but uh Bill can he just dropped a mic on you so there you go uh it's good that's impressive and I think that message needs to be out there because we do hear so much negativity in the press well here's the thing we are all I mean this this culture there's so much room to be a complete screw-up and still become wealthy.
Starting point is 00:06:08 Because we just spend so much money. You just did no spend January. I'm so proud of you. Thank you. No spend for a whole month. No spending for a whole month. Explain what you did, because it was inspiring. Well, we only spent on essentials, so no discretionary spending, and we made sure to stay under $100 a week on groceries.
Starting point is 00:06:27 No eating out. No eating out. No money for entertainment. No purchases on Amazon. No Prime. No Prime Flix. That was hard for me. Yeah, it was an Amazon fast.
Starting point is 00:06:36 It was an Amazon fast. I did not realize how mindless I was getting with Amazon, and it's ridiculous. I'm embarrassed. So what was the result of doing this? We saved kind of an embarrassing amount we saved a few thousand dollars beyond what we normally say oh own it can i share it on there you need to say it brag it okay beyond our normal 15 percent hsa normal savings for the house we saved 2400 this month that's a brag two thousand four hundred
Starting point is 00:07:05 in one month in one month and people emailed you that were doing following you on instagram doing it and a lot of them did more than that oh i had people saying they saved over six thousand dollars and you know what's really cool if you don't eat out and you don't spend on crap that you don't have to live right and you limit your grocery budget to a reasonable amount uh you can save two to six thousand dollars a month in a lot of households which is what we tell people to do when they're in baby step two anyway right hair on fire scorched earth drop an atomic bomb on your lifestyle no eating out no vacationing stop your whining get your stupid butt out of debt and this is what we tell people and you did it for you not you're already out of debt obviously but you you
Starting point is 00:07:52 did it just to prove what spending does to you and your husband yeah well i was telling people that you know i feel like our budget got fluffy kind of like i did over christmas with all those cookies and it was time to cut it back and america just tell you, America is the definition of fluffy. We're out of shape, and we spin like we're in Congress, and then we whine because we can't get ahead. It's ridiculous. Unless you did the no spend with me, then you are crushing it now, and we are winning.
Starting point is 00:08:19 This is CrossFit right here. You just busted up into it. I like that. Way to go. I'm so proud of you. Thank you. I'm proud of you leading a whole bunch of people on Instagram to do that, too. All it is is a nice little wake-up call.
Starting point is 00:08:31 It's like a fast. You realize, maybe I do eat too much all the time. This is The Ramsey Show. so well you should have gotten your w2s by now your 1099 by now. They're supposed to be to you in the month of January, which means you're saying, oh, taxes. I love taxes, said no one ever. If you do, you're just strange and you should see a
Starting point is 00:09:36 counselor. But anyway, so I know taxes can be stressful. We all hate them and we've all heard that 16% of you would rather get a root canal than file taxes what well that's pretty bad i'm pretty close though if i had to do my own man i'm telling you hey if you want to take the stress off of filing out off your shoulders we can help you connect with a ramsey trusted tax professional these guys and gals are cpas or enrolled agents
Starting point is 00:10:03 they're not part-timers who swoop in just during tax season. They're actually professionals, and they live and breathe taxes. Oh, that's weird. But they're available for year-round support of all kinds. They have the heart of a teacher, and they'll get your taxes done for you. If you want to find out who we recommend as a Ramsey-trusted tax pro in your area, go to ramseysolutions.com slash tax pro and get connected today. ramseysolutions.com slash tax pro and get connected today.
Starting point is 00:10:34 Pretty simple stuff. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Thank you for joining us. So let's continue on the no spendspend January thing that you did. It's pretty impressive. You saved over $2,000, almost $3,000, $2,400 you said, right? $2,400. And it was not eating out, not clicking on Amazon, and limiting your grocery budget,
Starting point is 00:10:58 and not buying anything that really you didn't need to do life. Yeah, nothing discretionary, nothing unnecessary. And a lot of people following you on Instagram had even better results. There's a lot of fluff in our fluffiness out there. We're fluffy, fluffy, fluffy, fluffy. Fluffy, fluffy. So what are some of the responses you got? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:11:15 We had a whole bunch of people following you on Instagram. Gosh, so many wins. I literally was going through my Instagram before this and was like, you can't cry, Christina. You're about to go on the show. But I just wanted to tear up because y'all killed it. It is so inspiring to see this. So one person said, I stuck to no spend challenge with you. I just look at my balance. I'm ending the month with $2,942 extra. Oh my gosh, just wow. I've done a no spend before, but I obviously must have cheated or something because my income hasn't changed in the past year. And I do have to say, I'm a little embarrassed. I've got so much money left over.
Starting point is 00:11:48 Clearly, I was not doing a good job at managing my money. Makes you want to do your budget. Right. I know. That was what I was thinking. I was like, this is good motivation. Another person said on the debt snowball, we have paid off $3,000 in credit card debt this past month. Wow. In one month. In one month. Somebody said we've saved $6,200 this January. Bad gum. Right? Another person said they paid off $550. Another person said we're on baby step six and we were able to pay an extra $3,000 towards our mortgage on no spend. Wow. Another person said we saved $5,000 during no spend January. We're currently in stork mode
Starting point is 00:12:28 because we're adopting twins in June and we saw just how much we don't need right now. Wow. Loved it. Somebody else said, I reduced over $1,200 in expenses, grocery subscriptions, Amazon, and mani-pedis. Well, that's not, yeah, okay.
Starting point is 00:12:43 Yeah, we've saved over $900 from not eating out and ate a bunch of food at home that would have gone to waste otherwise. And the list just goes on and on. It's just incredible. Y'all crushed it. And I just want to say, I am so stinking proud of you. Like, this is just so inspiring to me. And, ah, my heart's on fire. So, good job, everybody who did this with me. You have just proved that you could win. And so many people said, I was embarrassed. I thought I was doing a good job saving. That's me and my husband. We save aggressively. And it's like we save quite a bit. We still had twenty four hundred dollars that was going to garbage, like just Amazon purchases
Starting point is 00:13:19 that I'm not going to remember in five years. Like I'm not going to care about those purchases. And that's where our money was going. It's ridiculous. I was eating. I was eating memories that could have been made. I was eating savings. And so it's like all this stuff with inflation, groceries, the world's getting harder. Everything's expensive. We can still control our finances. We can still buckle down. If you feel like you don't have room in your budget to get to the next baby step, I challenge you to do a no spend month. You will probably be surprised at the margin that you do have. But first, you have to commit to getting control of your money. And I'm just so ridiculously proud of all the people who did it. Yeah, it's very cool. Me too. So here's the message out of this whole thing. Not that you live cheap, never buy anything,
Starting point is 00:14:06 and never go out to eat your whole life. That is not what we're suggesting. The beautiful thing about doing a no-spend month or getting on to baby step two and just buckling down and doing essentially the same thing and throwing it all at debt, which is what we've been teaching for 30 years, the beautiful thing about that is it tells you you can. Absolutely.
Starting point is 00:14:27 And then you have the ability to choose at that point to live like no one else so that later you can live and give and spend like no one else. If you have $8 million, you can spend more than if you're broke. Okay? And you can enjoy and do spend more than if you're broke. Okay? And you can enjoy and do some things than if you're broke. And you can – we met a couple at the break here. They're driven all over the United States. They're out on a massive road trip because they can.
Starting point is 00:14:56 Okay? Why? Because they got out of debt because they did no spend. And they realized that, you know – but what we're trying to break here is the mentality among a group of people in america you might be among them i don't know if you listening are among them i'm sure someone out there is that thinks that it's impossible to get ahead in america today and our answer is you fluffy you fluffy you fluffy you got fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff get rid of the fluffy and you can do this well you got you have margin if you quit whining and
Starting point is 00:15:36 playing the victim absolutely and it's about getting intentional with your spending like i said i was fluffy and it's like i don't want want to get. And you teach this for a living. You work here. We can all get fluffy, y'all, especially when you get in baby step six. It's easy to be like, I'm saving 15 percent. I'm I'm doing a lot of stuff. I'm paying off a house and it's easy to get fluffy. But I also want to go on vacation this summer. I want to do really great things with my kids that I'll remember. I don't want to go, man, we really need to buckle back on vacation and memories that our kids will cherish because I bought extra stuff on Amazon that I'm not going to remember. Yeah. See, what you never want to do again, ever with your money, you need to be one of two things. You need to be intense while you're
Starting point is 00:16:21 trying to achieve a certain goal and you're buckling down to where your broke friends are making fun of you like you joined a cult. Oh, you're doing that Ramsey stuff, aren't you? Yep. Shut up, you're broke. And you're so intense that you're freaking people out and that's like a no spend a month, right? No eating out, no vacations, right?
Starting point is 00:16:44 That's for a period of time it's not a life if you're not intense what you have to do is you have to be intentional every dollar leaves under my command i make enough money today and I have enough money to do almost anything I want to do. But I have to make, I still have to leave no dollars, leave Dave and Sharon's house without being under our command. So it's not fluffy. Now it's, it's doing some things that we never dreamed when we were little kids that we would be able to do.
Starting point is 00:17:22 We just hoped, but we've been, we've been doing these principles for 30 years. It put us in a position to give and to live like no one else. But still, it's intentional. We're going to lay this out. We're not going to go, oh, I don't know where that went. We're not going to ever have that moment. I have no idea where that money went. We're just out of control. We're just going to ever have that moment. I have no idea where that money went. We're just out of control.
Starting point is 00:17:46 We're just bleeding. Right. Well, even if you know where it went to, especially in this inflationary environment, if you're saving, it's easy to go, you know what? We're going to add a little bit more to the grocery budget this month, and we're going to add a little bit more to this time. That's intentional. But at the same time, you also need to go, do I really need to spend more on groceries,
Starting point is 00:18:02 or do I need to meal plan better? You know what I mean? Do I need to really up my Amazon budget, or do I need to go, oh I really need to spend more on groceries or do I need to meal plan better? Or do I, you know what I mean? Like, do I need to really up my Amazon budget or do I need to go, oh, it's better if I eliminate stuff and just decide I don't need as much stuff. Yeah. Do you want to eat out every night or do you want to go on a nice vacation this summer? I don't care which one you do, but you ought to do it on purpose. Don't say, I can't afford to go on vacation when you eat out every night. You can't afford. You just chose to do something else. Or we can't afford to eat out. No, you chose to go on vacation.
Starting point is 00:18:29 Instead, you put the money in that pile. And so that's intentionality. No whining. No victim. You're in control. Tell your freaking money what to do. This is the Ramsey Personality is our co-host today we appreciate you guys being with us hey if you didn't know this show started as a talk radio show and it still is we're the second largest talk
Starting point is 00:19:36 radio show in America 680 radio stations carry the show thank you for that and thank you for those of you that listen on talk radio you're how this whole thing started of course when they uh came out with a podcast a guy came in my office and said we need a podcast and i said what's that and we were one of the first people to start podcasting we put an hour of this show on podcast and later on added the other two hours a day to the podcast um without commercials it is more like 38 minutes on a podcast. And so a lot of you listen on podcasts now. And then, of course, we've added YouTube and it's exploded and millions of you are there. All told, between those three, there's about 25 million of you in a week. Thank you. We appreciate you very, very much. Leave a five-star review, if you would, if you're in one
Starting point is 00:20:24 of those technologies where you can leave a review. You don't need to bother Leave a five-star review, if you would, if you're in one of those technologies where you can leave a review. You don't need to bother with a one-star review. Mama said if you ain't got nothing good to say, don't say nothing at all, and that's a good plan right there. We don't need that help. We need the help, though, because it helps the algorithms if you punch on the Internet that way. So leave a nice review.
Starting point is 00:20:43 Share it. If you're listening on talk radio, sharing, it means tell your friends to listen to that talk radio station. If you, uh, click on it, if it's,
Starting point is 00:20:51 uh, one of the Spotify or Apple or somebody, you can send it around, right? We appreciate that. YouTube allows you to share. Thank you for sharing something else. Your mother taught you to do.
Starting point is 00:21:01 There's a lot of mamas, a lot of mama lessons here. And, uh, so do that and just help us spread the word. The best way this show, if you listen, Something else your mother taught you to do. There's a lot of mama lessons here. And so do that and just help us spread the word. The best way this show, listen, you're listening for free. You're getting great world-class advice for free. The way you can say thank you is help us spread the word. Thank you for that.
Starting point is 00:21:18 We appreciate it. I just got a report in that is very, very interesting. For the first time in history, more people are listening on a mobile device than on a radio in the nation onto this type of product, okay? Some of the radio, some of the broadcast industry stuff. And so the lines crossed in 2022 for the first time ever. Now, our lines crossed. We actually have a few more of you on podcasts than we do on radio right now. Our lines crossed about three years ago with this product.
Starting point is 00:21:52 But we don't care where you listen. That's why we're everywhere. We're on SiriusXM. You can listen on satellite. Jump in there. And next week, we're coming on TBN for an hour a day. And so you can jump in there. TBN has done a whole new set of programming that is much more mainstream than the old days.
Starting point is 00:22:14 And it's much more like regular stuff than the old days. And they approached us, and we were able to work a deal with them, non-exclusive, obviously, because we're on everything. So now you can watch there's 70 million households uh get you know cable and uh dish and all that that have tbn and so not everybody that doesn't mean 70 million people are turning it on but i'm giving you the opportunity to turn it on it's like five to six in the afternoon five six in the evenings uh eastern time i believe it is so you can find it on there, though. It's pretty easy. And it's starting on February the 6th. So thank you guys for all of that.
Starting point is 00:22:49 The success breeds success. And you guys letting people know is the number one thing. The number one thing. So thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Natasha is with us in Virginia Beach. Hey, Natasha, how are you? Hi, Dave. Thanks for having me on the show.
Starting point is 00:23:06 We're honored. How can we help? All right. Okay. So my husband and I, we got married last year, anniversary coming up on the 5th of February. And since then, we've paid off all of our debt. We didn't have no debt, no car payment. Get them.
Starting point is 00:23:23 We both owned homes. So we paid off the mortgage of the home that I was living in. I had two children prior to the marriage. So I wanted to keep their life kind of stable. And we rented out his property, which is about two hours away. So we have some income coming in from that., we've also looked at a property and we've started the process of building a home in North Carolina. So the prices are cheaper, taxes are cheaper. We wanted to sell the house because there's no mortgage on this house. Sell this house, take all of the money from this house and put it on to the new house and we will come out with
Starting point is 00:24:07 a mortgage about $100,000. Why don't you sell the other one and be debt free? Well, the thing is this house has a lot more attached to it. Sell both of them. Oh, well, that's an option.
Starting point is 00:24:23 And you pay cash for your North Carolina house, right? Yeah. Why not? Yeah. Well, that's what we were trying to do. Like, what's the smart decision? Because he was saying we could pay off the other house and then move into it. But with the mortgage rate being almost 6%, it didn't make sense to try and you know hold on to that the new mortgage like
Starting point is 00:24:47 paying that off as quick as possible was the strategy that i was thinking to do so i thought you were keeping the kids stable but now you're moving them to north carolina i'm confused well at the time because it was in the middle of the school year so now it's like it's right at the summer um we could move within the summertime and then everything would move smoothly. You know what I mean? I didn't want to transition, but I have one son who's about to start high school. I got you. How much is the other house worth? The rental house is a, the one I'm sorry, the rental house, the rental house is 121 000 what's owed on it oh how much is how much is the word sorry 220 oh it's worth 220 and it's we owe 121 so you had 100 000 equity okay
Starting point is 00:25:36 and how much mortgage are you talking about taking out north carolina if you keep that rental 150 oddly enough you keep that rental? A hundred and fifty. Oddly enough. So I'll tell you what old Dave and Sharon would do. We'd be debt free in North Carolina with a grin on our face. All those other properties are going to be sold. Okay. And then use the fact that you have no payments in the world of any kind to start saving up some money.
Starting point is 00:26:05 And if you pile up a little money, you can buy you a little rental there in North Carolina where you can lay hands on it. Right. Long-distance landlording is dangerous. And you didn't set out to be a long-distance landlord. It happened by default. Right. It was never your plan. It was because he already had the house, and then you got married, and he decided living with you is a better idea.
Starting point is 00:26:23 And I like his idea. Okay. Well, in talking about stability for your kids, being in baby step seven, having no payments in the world, that is a beautiful level of stability. And like Dave said. Yeah, that's the scary part because we're in the midst of it. It's like we don't have a mortgage right now. We're about to walk into a mortgage.
Starting point is 00:26:44 Well, you do have a mortgage. You've got a mortgage on the rental. Or a mortgage right now we're about to walk into a mortgage well you do have a mortgage you got a mortgage on the rental or a rental but we're not feeling it right now but here's the thing here's the thing you're gonna have no mortgage anywhere yeah if you do this this is cool what do y'all make what's your household income about 70 000 i'm not working he's working where are you moving in north carolina uh molyak what where's that yeah molyak is right when you uh at the border of virginia and north carolina it's like new development it's like it's going towards naghead okay okay i know where that is okay that's a beautiful area oh my god it know where that is. Okay. That's a beautiful area. Oh, my God, it's stellar. That is the mountains. That's something incredible.
Starting point is 00:27:30 Are y'all going there for work? No. No, we can still get to work. Like, we're only 30 minutes away from the house we're in now. It's not really. Just over the line. Yeah. I thought you were going deep down.
Starting point is 00:27:42 We won't feel it. We won't feel it at all and we're and it's two acres of land out there and it's pretty that's a beautiful area am i right yes it really is a stellar yeah sell everything and pay cash for your new house that's what i would do if i woke up in your shoes and that's what you were asking what would you do yeah same that's so exciting that you have the second house that you have the equity yeah all of that and talk about a way to start off your marriage celebrate anniversary all of that good stuff baby step seven here you come that's amazing ding ding ding ding ding ding ding i love it so proud of y'all well done natasha well done the house yeah this is good
Starting point is 00:28:22 this is very good this is very good. This is The Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. Christina Ellis Ramsey, personality number one, best-selling author, is my co-host today. We appreciate you joining us. Hey, a lot of you are brand-new listeners because a lot of you are joining us on all those formats we were talking about the other day. And if you're a new listener and you want to figure out what this is, it's kind of like, you know, you're jumping into all this Ramsey speak like baby steps and debt snowballs and all these things. You don't know where you are. And it's kind of like trying to join somebody in the middle of skipping rope or something, right? So where do we do this? Well, let me help you. If you're brand new, go to RamseySolutions.com, click on the Get Started button.
Starting point is 00:29:48 It costs absolutely nothing. We'll help you figure out your next best step based on where you are today. It's a little quick survey on getting started, and then we will show you exactly what to do. So it's completely free, and if you you're going i don't know what they're talking about half the time they speak in code because we kind of do we've got such a large tribe of people doing this stuff that we all have our own uh thing i was funny thing christine i was walking through an airport the other day with one of my buddies we're going this thing and a guy
Starting point is 00:30:22 yells all the way across the airport. I mean, across the – I'm coming to see you in March, Dave! And my buddy's like, who is that? And I'm like, I don't know. And he said, what are you – I said, he's coming to do his debt-free scream. And he goes, how do you know that? And I said, because that's who yells through an airport that says they're coming to see me in March when I've never met them. It's code. You're like, that's our tribe. I mean, that's who yells to an airport that says they're coming to see me in March when I've never met them. It's code.
Starting point is 00:30:46 You're like, that's our tribe. I mean, that's it. And so the other thing, you know, stuff like that. So if the Domino's pizza guy delivers your pizza and you say, how you doing? He says, better than I deserve. That's code. He's working an extra job to get out of debt. Double his tip.
Starting point is 00:31:04 Don't be cheap. So it's code. You need to get out of debt. Double his tip. Don't be cheap. So it's code. You need to know the tribe speak. You need to know the code around here, and we'll help you with it, right? Yep. I'm coming to see you in March, Dave. Because how intense. That's it.
Starting point is 00:31:17 Yeah. It's like some people will be going, I'll have my gun. You know what I mean? Stalker, stalker. No, I know exactly what the guy's talking about. And he knew I would know. Right. You know, I mean, stalker, stalker. No, I knew exactly what the guy was talking about. And he knew I would know. Right. You know, I mean, that's it.
Starting point is 00:31:29 And also, like, the enthusiasm level. I feel like that's, like, signature for our tribe. Yelling across the airport. Right. And everybody stops and looks. They all got their heads down on their phones, right? Like, whack-a-mole, all these heads pop up. But it's like, yeah, we're having this conversation.
Starting point is 00:31:44 My buddy's confused. He's like, what is we're having this conversation. My buddy's confused. He's like, what is he talking about? So, but that's it. We do do a little bit of that on here. You talk about FPU. We have all these lingo. What's FPU? Financial Peace University.
Starting point is 00:31:57 You know, it's like being in the military. They've got all these letters, and you have to know what all that stuff means. And I was never in the military, so they start talking that stuff, and I'm like, okay, you have to tell me what the acronym is. don't get it all right jan is with us jan's in winston salem north carolina hi jan welcome to the ramsey show hi dave thanks for taking my call um my husband and i have been part of your tribe since 2014 we are debt-free baby step seven um he is retired already He retired about a year ago. I'm planning to retire from the federal government in October at age 60.
Starting point is 00:32:32 I'm wanting to know if my TSP is fluffy enough, I guess, as you would say, to take some out of that to help pay for our retirement home. Okay. How much do you want to take out, and how much is in your total nest egg? Okay. Well, right now, our income when I retire will be all pensions. We will have about $8,400 a month coming in in his pension and Social Security, and that will be my federal government pension without touching the TSP.
Starting point is 00:33:06 Gotcha. And how much is in your total nest egg, his and yours combined? Our total nest egg right now is about $900,000. We would sell our existing home, and I think we would probably get around $200,000 for it. Mm-hmm. So the TSP has $660,000. Okay, so you've got $900,000,
Starting point is 00:33:30 and you want to spend how much of the $900,000 on the upgrade house? About $100,000. Of course! This is what you do! I counted up and we're babysits millionaires. You definitely are millionaires. And you're going to drop $100,000 out of your million dollars almost that you have in mutual funds in your retirement
Starting point is 00:33:52 to add to your other house when it sells to move up into your dream house after you've worked your butt off your whole life. Yes, this is what you do. Absolutely. That makes me feel good. We're only thinking a $500,000 house. So if we can pull $100,000 out of the thrift savings, then we can buy it all debt-free. That's the only way I'm going to tell you to do it, debt-free, pay cash, because you don't want to go back in debt.
Starting point is 00:34:19 My God, you got out. And we're hoping to not really touch the principle on the thrift savings. Like I said, we're hoping for a long time at least to the thrift savings like i said we're hoping for a long time at least to be able to just live off the pension oh i think you can eighty four hundred dollars with no debt good lord and of course you can't leave a legacy for kids yeah you're well that's fine and or spend it i don't care what you do or give it away but you you're in good shape so and here's the thing you guys are how old? He is 61. I am 60.
Starting point is 00:34:46 I will be 60 in October when I retire. Okay, so when you guys are 68, you're $800,000 if you don't touch it and you leave it in good mutual funds will be 1.6. Okay. When you're 75, it'll be 3.2. Sounds good. See, I'll be 3.2. Sounds good. See, I think your 100's okay.
Starting point is 00:35:10 Y'all are going to live a good life. I'm hoping to. I'm hoping to travel, move a little closer to a grandbaby that's coming. There you go. There you go. Game on. Hey, girl, I'm so proud of you. So did y'all inherit any of this?
Starting point is 00:35:26 Maybe 100,000 total between our two parents. We did have my husband's home place as a rental home for a while. So are you millionaires because of an inheritance or because of your saving? We're millionaires because of the savings. Yeah, I think mathematically that's an accurate statement. Yeah. I'm proud of y'all. Well done.
Starting point is 00:35:52 Thank you. Thank you. Because we started your plan in 2014, and as a result, we've sent one son to school totally debt-free. He went to in-state school. We have a daughter who is still in college, but she has a fully funded college fund. She'll be going debt-free, even if we spend the extra $100,000 on our retirement house. So the plan works. It does work, and you worked it.
Starting point is 00:36:15 So what did you all do for a living when you were working? My husband was actually our county fire marshal, and I work for the Department of Veterans Affairs, so I kind of tune out a little bit sometimes when you talk bad about us but yeah he's he worked for local government for 40 years i have worked for uh federal government will be 28 years so government workers and you're millionaires and we are just barely but we got there i love it way to go so proud of y'all that is so cool and i love that they found you in 2014.
Starting point is 00:36:47 So this is eight years. Eight years. So for people in your 50s that are thinking like, oh, it's too late. They already had a head start, though. They didn't do the whole thing in eight years. Right. But people can still do this, even if it takes another 10 years. I just feel like we talk to people sometimes who are a little bit older and they're like, oh, man, I wish I would have found this in my 20s or 30s. And they feel like they missed the boat. didn't you didn't miss the boat i've been teaching this stuff for 30 plus years now and i always get the question am i too old to save money and i always say no not if you're sucking wind you can always save money uh now
Starting point is 00:37:19 can you is it as easy when you if you start when you're 58 no it's harder because you don't have the power of compound interest over time working for you the math doesn't work as easy if you start when you're 58? No, it's harder. Because you don't have the power of compound interest over time working for you. The math doesn't work as easy. But you can still do it. And I've met lots of people that became millionaires in 10 years. And a lot of them did it starting in their late 50s. And so it can be done. It's wild that like either end of the spectrum, you could make an excuse.
Starting point is 00:37:44 You could be young and say, you know, Gen Z is never going to be able to become millionaires because of the system being set up bad. Or you could be old and saying it's too late. And it's like, no, either end of the spectrum. There's systemic problems with the economy. I love when they can say the word systemic at 21. Sounds so smart. Systemic.
Starting point is 00:37:59 They're so smart. They have a systemic problem with the economy. It's you. You're the systemic problem. You have a systemic problem with the economy. It's you. You're the systemic problem. You're a virus. I love the new words that people are coming up with. I saw one the other day that I was like, is that really a word? Like what? I don't even remember. It was something about gender and race and mixing them together. And I was like, I have never heard that word before. I, yeah, there's a lot, a lot of things that people are coming up with there, that's for sure. It's a lot. If you need a new word, just go to Tic Tac.
Starting point is 00:38:28 They got one on there, I'm sure. All the best education coming from Tic Tac. Well, I'm on Tic Tac now. I heard. I'm not, but our people here in the building have put me on there. Apparently I'm a big deal. Times are changing, y'all. I'm a big deal on Tic Tac, if y'all didn't
Starting point is 00:38:44 know. I'm just saying, I'm a really big deal. Dave is on Tic Tac. I'm a big deal. Times are changing. I'm a big deal on TikTok if y'all didn't know. I'm just saying I'm a really big deal. Dave is on TikTok. I'm a big deal on TikTok. Check it out. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Christina Ellis. If you love the show and want to dive deeper on your money journey, we have a weekly newsletter that gives you trending and helpful articles and tips on following the Ramsey way. Just go to ramseysolutions.com today to sign up for our newsletter. Again, that's ramseysolutions.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.