The Ramsey Show - App - Say "No" Right Now so You Can Say "Yes" Later! (Hour 1)

Episode Date: January 26, 2022

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🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's The Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. I'm your host, George Campbell, and we are taking your calls today about whatever you want to talk about, whatever's going on in your life, in your mind. Maybe you're worried about inflation. Maybe you've got a pile of debt you want to clean up. Maybe you're investing for the future and you're not sure how to move forward. I am here for you, and I'm flying solo today.

No co-host, so we're going to either watch the world burn or we're going to have a fun show today, and I'm hoping, hoping for the latter. Kelly has her hands up high. She's encouraging me, which is rare if you know Kelly in the booth. So give us a call. If you're one of those millennials or you're Gen Z and you're going, hold on, give us a call. How do I do that? Does Snapchat have that feature? Is that a TikTok? No. You have to actually, there's an app on your phone that says phone, and if you tap on that, you can dial this number. Write it down, folks. 888-825-5225. Jenna will pick up. And if you're nice to her, she'll let you through and we will talk about money. Now, the boomers out there, you know how this works. You've been using this thing

for centuries. So if you're my mom or dad, you want to call in with some encouragement. If you're Dave, wherever Dave is, who knows? He's probably on a beach somewhere sipping on a fancy drink with an umbrella. If he's listening in, Dave can call in too. It's a free show and that's how we like it. So give us a call, 888-825-5225. Jay starts off this hour in Phoenix, Arizona. Jay, welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hey, thanks for having me. Sure. How can I help? So I just wanted to know if we should still be making minimum payments to our non-bient loans if we think that the settlement might forgive those loans, potentially. Well, that's a great question, first of all, Jay. Speak directly on your phone for me just so we can hear you nice and clear.

So what are the terms of the settlement that you've heard so far? So the reason why I think it might apply to us is the school that my wife went to, the Art Institute in Minnesota, they have since closed. And they were part of a Justice Department class action suit for predatory recruiting practices. And then obviously we fall in line with the denobiance, predatory loan, what have you. So we're hopeful that we'll fall in line with that. But it's still saying that we have minimum payments due. And my concern is some of the stipulations

that I read into said that some of the loans that would be forgiven would be the ones that haven't been paid in the last seven months or something like that. So I'm like, should we be making payments on these? Well, what happens if you don't make the payment? I don't know. I don't like that. I don't like that option. I mean, if I'm in your shoes,

I'm getting a lot of clarity about who this is for, if I'm going to get approved, but I'm not going to sit around for a year and not make payments or make minimum payments. I want this thing out of your life, whether or not the settlement happens and whether it applies to your situation. So yes, I would continue making minimum payments until you get more information. But in the meantime, I mean, you should know the results of this pretty soon, right? It says I will be notified by July. Oh, that is a long time. Yeah. Here's my thing. We do have other debt that we're going to pay down in the meantime. It's just going to rearrange our snowball a little bit, so we could pay the car.

We also have federal student loans that we could be paying. What's the total amount of your student loans? It is $16,000 is what's on the end, and $25,000 is with the Fed. Okay. So the only ones that could be forgiven are those Navient ones, right? Yeah, from that settlement. And where does that fall in your debt snowball currently? It's our top two.

Okay. So number three is our car. We owe about a little over $11,000 on that. So we were thinking of just throwing everything at the car, I suppose, until we figure out, see what shakes out in the next six months. Yeah. So the car is your smallest debt currently? No.

We have two private Navient loans. One is $5,000, one is $10,000. The car is private Navient loans. One is five, one is 10, the car is 11. Well, I mean, if you want to go ahead and attack the car, that's fine. What I don't want is for this debt just to sit around and we don't have a resolution and they kick the can down the road, and now it's August, October, and you waited all this time and they said, no, we're not going to forgive the loans. And if I'm you, I just want to take control. I want to be done. It's not a major amount of debt. If this was $100,000 that could be forgiven, I might say, all right, well, let's wait and see how this shakes down. But with your snowball and you guys attacking this thing, it's only going to be a few extra months, right? How

much, what's your income, household? We just got it up to about $150,000. Heck yeah. So with $150,000, how quickly are you going to pay off all your debt total? We could probably do it by the end of this year, but my wife is in a wedding party in Hawaii, so that potentially is another three months maybe I tacked on to the end. Whoa. How expensive is this situation going to be for her?

The Hawaii trip? It's like 5K? Probably. We kind of budgeted it at like $3,500-ish. We're putting a couple hundred bucks aside. Okay. Well, making $150, you guys should be able to cash flow this, and honestly, you could clean up the Navient debt really quickly and not have to wait and hope for a settlement.

So that's what I would do personally if I was in your shoes. If you want to start paying off the car first, I mean, that's fine. But again, I just don't want this thing getting kicked down the road, and then you end up in the same situation you were back at square one. Right. end up in the same situation you were back at square one right but get the details i mean i would get some real clarity if yes 100 chance this is going to be part of the settlement and it will be paid in july and my loans are a part of that get some clarity on that because i do think it could help the debt snowball and that's what your question is is you know could this help our situation if we just wait and let this be forgiven. But I just, I have very little faith in the forgiveness system. And I understand this is a settlement. This was predatory.

And I hope that happens more because the, as you know, there's so many scam situations out there where colleges are, you know, price gouging and hurting the students out there and saddling them with student loan debt. And you guys happen to be a victim of that. So if I'm you, I just want to take control and I don't want to put my future in someone else's hands or even in a settlement's hands and hope for that situation. Right. Yeah. But thanks for the call, Jay.

I hope it works out for you guys. I do hope that you get this thing figured out. This is beyond just a general student loan forgiveness thing. This is predatory colleges. This is scam colleges that promise one thing and became another, and they're shutting down. And a lot of people are in a lurch. And you're one of those people, unfortunately, you and your wife. But it's a great question. And I just always choose to be in the boat of taking control. And making $150,000, I mean, this is a blip in your life,

paying off $16,000000 whether it's forgiven or not so I just don't want you to be stuck in paralysis mode going well should we? I guess we shouldn't make these payments I guess we should move on to the other debt follow the plan. The plan works every time you work it use the debt snowball, list your debts from smallest to largest regardless of the interest rate and start to attack it and feel the progress

and feel the freedom as you free up payment after payment. Give us a call, 888-825-5225. This is The important than ever. While some circumstances can't be controlled, there are items within your budget you can take charge of, such as your health care costs. For nearly 40 years, Christian Health Care Ministries, or CHM, has provided a budget-friendly means of sharing for medical bills when our members need it. Learn more by visiting chministries.org slash budget. That's chministries.org slash budget. Christian Health Care Ministries is a Ramsey-trusted provider.

Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm George Camel, Ramsey personality and host of the Fine Print and Entree Leadership Podcast, all of which you can find on The Ramsey Network along with The Ramsey Show. Open phones this hour. The number to call is 888-825-5225. You call us up. We'll talk about your life and your money. James joins us in St. Louis.

James, welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hi. Hey, how are you? Doing well, thank you. How can I help today? Yes, I have a question regarding medical bill debt. My wife and I have recently incurred about $10,000 in medical bills that were due to an unplanned emergency operation for her delivering our baby. And my question is, what is the best way for us to go about paying that off without going into debt to pay it off? So you've got a $10,000 bill from the hospital. Correct. Have you contacted them to let them know that you can't pay this in full? We are in the process of contacting them trying to get that reduced. Currently, the first option we were given is to pay it off $500 a month,

and we don't have that kind of money currently to pay $500 a month on medical bills. Okay, so that's what they were willing to do is put you on a payment plan of $500 a month. Yes, but we are going to contact them again to try to get the bill reduced further down than $10,000. Okay. And with this $10,000, how recent was it? November the 18th was when the baby was born. Okay. Well, you may have a hard time trying to negotiate this bill down because of how recent it is. If it was really old or if it was in collections, you may have a hard time trying to negotiate this bill down because of how recent it is. If it was really old or if it was in collections, you may have an easier time trying to negotiate it. So it sounds like at this point you need to negotiate down the payment plan and attack this thing with a vengeance.

Do you guys have any other debt? Yes, very little. We have about $35 in credit card debt, and then we have one car that we're currently leasing, but I can't get out of it currently. Okay. You said $75 in credit card debt. Correct. Okay, so we can get rid of that thing this month.

Yeah, no problem at all. What's your household income? $2,500 a month. I'm the only income earner currently. And is that take-home pay or is that gross? Take-home pay. Okay. So we're bringing in about $30,000, and you said your wife isn't working.

She's with the baby at home? Correct. Okay. What do you do for a living? I work at a warehouse. A warehouse. A warehouse. Are there any opportunities to put an overtime at the warehouse?

Not anymore. Okay. That went away. That's been cut out. Yes. Well, it sounds like you're about to pick up some side jobs. Are you open to that? Yes, if I can get a side job or a different full-time job that has better hours than my current schedule.

Currently, I work 12-hour days. 12-hour days, and you're taking home $2,500 a month? Yes. Ooh. I mean, you may need a career change. I mean, you could go deliver pizzas and make more than that right now. If I'm you, I'm going to be on the hunt for a different job. I mean, do you love your job? It has its pros and cons, but I don't see myself there forever as a career.

Yeah. Well, on the career side, we don't need to get into that today, but I want to hook you up with Ken Coleman's Get Clear assessment. So I'll have Jenna pick up after we're done here, and she'll get you plugged in with that assessment. That will walk you through exactly what you were created to do, how you're wired, what you will love doing. And the truth is you're going to make good money doing it once you figure that out because right now you have an income problem. This debt is not insurmountable total. I mean obviously there are some decisions made. We're going to cut up the credit card. We're going to get out of this car lease when we can, and we're never going to look back and never do debt again.

Right. That's our plan. So if that's the plan going forward, this is a temporary situation where we need to get your income up so that you can afford monthly payments, afford to put food on the table and support your family because that's really hard to do at $2,500 a month when you have a pile of debt. So this is going to look like a lot of long nights for you, and that's why I'm going, man, if you can work a job where you're working 40 hours a week instead of 12-hour days and make more money and have time to do a side job to bring in even more money, that changes this whole situation. Okay.

So I would be looking around the St. Louis area and seeing who's hiring, what are they paying, what skill set do I have that I can bring to the table, and what can I contribute in order to clean up this mess? And you can continue to try to push on the negotiation, but at the end of the day, you're $10,000 in debt, and we've got to clean up the $10,000. The credit card's going to come first, and you said the only other kind of debt is your car lease? Correct. I got 13 payments left on that. Okay. I would look into the buyout amount for that and see if it's worth doing that to get out of this lease. Because that is, man, I mean, we call it a fleece for a reason. You just get screwed on those car leases.

And making $30,000 a year, I don't know what kind of car this is, but I bet it's worth a pretty penny, right? The sticker price on it when I got it was $26,000. Oof. Man, that is a large percentage of your world. So it sounds like we're going to get to work, and I know that that may not be fun, but right now you've got to take care of your family, you've got to take care of this debt, and then you're going to look back and say never again.

Never again am I going to have to work 16-hour days worrying about this pile of debt, worrying about my baby and my wife at home, and that's going to change everything for you. Are you willing to do that? Definitely. Okay. I'm rooting for you, man. I know you sound deflated like, more work. I'm doing 12-hour days, man. I had to take a break just to call into the show. But I'm telling you, dude, you're going to look back at this, and you're going to say it was so worth it. It was so worth it to change my family tree. Thanks for the call. Stephanie joins us in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Stephanie, welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hi, how are you today?

Doing great. How can I help? Thank you. I have a question about caring for my father ongoing. He has to mention he just went into memory care. He has some cash that would probably last for about a year. However, he also has a house and two acres that's probably worth about $150,000 that has a Lady Bird deed on it. And if he passes away, the Lady Bird keeps it out of probate and it will go to myself and my siblings. And it's my understanding that that would shield it from Medicare, or Medicaid, I mean,

because I think he's going to run out of money if he lasts longer than a year. And he would either have to pursue the Medicaid or sell the house, and I just was curious about your opinion on that. Well, what is the house doing currently? Just sitting there? Well, he just went in a couple weeks ago, so my sister's living there until we can get it either ready for rental or sale. And now that your sister's involved here, have you guys had an honest conversation about what you guys want to do? Like, are you on the same page?

Yes, we're all just kind of trying to figure out what will happen with it. I think we could all go either way. We all get along very well, and we can come to a consensus pretty easily. Yeah. Well, if no one's going to live there as their primary residence and it's just sitting there and no one really wants to hassle with it, I would sell it personally. Okay. I mean, if it doesn't have like this big sentimental value and we have big plans for this, you, how much would it sell for? Probably somewhere around $150,000 or just a little bit more. And it's paid for? It is paid for debt-free. It is my dad's only other asset since we sold some other property. And it's just the question of if, I believe it

cannot be claimed by Medicaid and would transfer to us as an inheritance since it doesn't go to probate. Yeah, I would make sure to look into that, work with an estate attorney or a tax pro to make sure that your plan is going to work out the way you think it will. Right. But outside of that, it doesn't sound like there's much need to keep this house. It doesn't sound like it's going to appreciate in value or anything like that. You're not going to rent it out. So if I'm you guys, you're going to take the $150,000 and split the money at that point? Well, if my father dies, that's definitely what we'll do with it.

But we're just curious whether we should try and keep it as an inheritance or whether we should sell it for his care. Well, right now it sounds like there's some things in flux with not knowing what's going to happen with dad. So I don't think you need to be in a rush to make this move. But I think once the dust has settled and we figure out what's happening here, I would sell it and use that money to either help take care of him or use it as a blessing of an inheritance, you know, if and when he does pass. I appreciate the call. This is The Ramsey Show. Hang off debt is smart. Saving and investing is smart.

But there's one key to winning with money that people overlook all the time, and that is protecting your finances from emergencies. That's where insurance comes into play. Now, there are 10 kinds of insurance coverage you might need based on what your life looks like today. And so we built a tool called the Coverage Checkup to show you exactly which types you need to add, drop, or adjust. We'll even rank your coverage list by importance. We'll email it to you and connect you with a Ramsey-trusted insurance provider so that you can get your plan in place fast. Seriously, this could be the most important five minutes you spend today.

One of our fans, Donald, wrote in, and I like how he put this. For anyone who has not completed this checkup, do it now. You never know when something will happen, and you never want to leave your family in a bad situation. Visit ramseysolutions.com slash checkup to take our quick coverage checkup. That's ramseysolutions.com slash checkup. Do not let an emergency sneak up on you. Protect your family now. Sarah joins us on the line from Calgary, Alberta. Sarah, I see on my screen it says you are debt-free. Yes. Hi, George. It's a pleasure to be speaking with you today.

You as well. Congratulations. Thank you so much. How much debt did you pay off? $63,000. All right. And how long did this take? 18 months of gazelle intensity. Woo! Crushed it. Okay. And what was your range of income during that time? So I started off just graduating from university. I was making about $25K in Canadian dollars,

obviously, and now I'm up to about $75K. Wow. Way to go. What do you do for a living? So I do still work at a retail store, so I do sales, but then I got a full-time job working a nine-to-five as an executive recruiter. Oh, that's fantastic. And how old are you? I'm 24. Oh my goodness. You got a hold of this stuff at the right time. Good for you. Yeah. So what kind of debt was the $63,000? A mix of everything. I had my student loans, I had a car loan, credit cards, line of credit, really anything I could get my hands on. Wow. So this is interesting. You were very normal.

You had all kinds of debt. You were collecting it like it was Beanie Babies back in the 90s. What happened 18 months ago where you said, you know what? No more debt, no more games. Yeah. So I graduated university in April of 2020. And that was in, you know, COVID is kind of taking off. And I had really wanted to move out of my parents' house. And when I started to think about how I couldn't afford rent, I really couldn't afford to do anything. I needed to make a plan, get a job and really buckle down. And luckily in Canada, we got a bit of financial support as I was somebody who was affected by COVID in terms of being a frontline worker, dare I say, and not a healthcare worker, but in retail. And so they allowed us to kind of take some time away. And

with that help from the government and then finding Dave Ramsey, I really just realized how step three is the way to go. Wow. So how'd you get connected to us? What was the thing where you went, oh, I didn't know about this plan? Yeah, I heard about Dave Ramsey growing up a little bit, but my parents are not people who talk about money a bunch. So I remember, you know, in April of 2020 being so stressed and every day I'm waking up thinking like, where am I, how am I going to pay these bills? How am I going to shuffle debt around?

And then I was looking on YouTube like,, hey, advice to get debt free. And obviously Dave Ramsey is one of the top. And so I probably went days on end watching almost every video I could, every podcast, and just really being like, wow, listen to all these stories and the changes it's made. And so honestly, yeah, just YouTube and social media connected. Wow. You just went all in. Our YouTube guy in the booth, Zach, he's going crazy. He loves it. That's what we like to see, life change. See, YouTube can be used for good if it's in the right hands. Yes. Way to go. So what were the sacrifices you made? You said you were gazelle intense. What did that look like for you?

Well, one, staying at home. I'm lucky that my parents didn't make me pay rent, but it comes at a different cost of, you know, situation and then feeling like I'm an adult, but I still live with my parents. And I started to do a lot of free stuff. So my boyfriend and I would go disc golfing or just go for walks. And so I had to miss out on some plans. I didn't take a grad trip because I couldn't afford it. And it was also COVID. So that helped as well. But really just kind of, you know, missing out on dinners and not ordering big stuff

when I did go out and staying at home. Wow. And I see your list here, if you're watching on YouTube, you have things to look forward to if I save. Was that, did you kind of have that as your why? You kind of dangled that in front of you saying, hey, I want dogs. I want to go to Hawaii. I want to own a house.

I have dreams here. Yeah, exactly that. And so I just had that posted right beside my bedroom door. So every time I left and came in, it was right there. And one day, you know, this door frame is going to be yours. One day you get to have a dog running with you. And one day you do that grad trip to Hawaii and it's going to feel so much better debt-free. Wow.

That's a mature place to be when you realize, you know what? I'm just saying no right now. Because a lot of people your age, they go, well, Dave doesn't want me to have stuff. He doesn't want me to eat out. He doesn't want me to go on trips. He's just a fuddy-duddy. And you realized, no, I'm saying no right now so I can say yes to the next. Exactly. Exactly. I'm so proud of you. Way to go. How does it feel to be debt free? It is incredible. Like I kind of mentioned, I honestly used to wake up every day and think about like, how am I going to move debt around to pay my insurance or pay my car note or my student

loans are now, you know, adding to my budget or air quotes around budget at the time. But it was so stressful and at such a young age. And now I wake up and even a couple weeks ago, I had a car emergency that cost me two grand, but because I have savings and because I have a good job, it was just like, okay, fix the car and pay the bill and you're okay. You just yawned and moved on. Yeah. Wow. That's incredible. So did people think you were crazy for doing this stuff? I don't know

what Canada's vibe is on the Ramsey plan, but do you have people who are like, what are you doing? Why are you paying that off? I mean, it'll get forgiven eventually. Yeah. So I'm not aware that we have like as much as a forgiveness program as, you know, people talk about in America, but I definitely had family who is like, well, everybody's in debt. Like there's no, that's just the way it is. Like, you have to have a bill. You have to do this. And yeah, there's definitely people who just thought it was strange.

And luckily I was able to, you know, my boyfriend was a huge support to me and my dad was a huge support to me. He was really operational and making sure I didn't have to pay rent while I was going through this. But a lot of other people in my life were like, okay, well, good luck. Like, you're probably going to go into debt again anyway. And I'm like, no, I'm not.

Man, they must be real fun at parties. Yeah, exactly right. So you've done this stuff. You're 24, you paid off $63,000 in 18 months. What do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? I would definitely say one, having a support. I know I used to emotionally shop and that's what added to a lot of my debt but kind of talking about that and especially with my partner he's been so supportive through this and and saying like listen I'm having a tough day and I I want to go shopping I want to do this and he would be able to find different ways for us to do fun

things and kind of help me feel better and so a a good support system, I think, is a huge part of it. And then the other part is that, you know, if you can work two or three jobs, like, that's what I had to do. And it's only for a moment. A season is what I love to hear from you guys. And once the season is done, then you get to live and give like nobody else. And so I'm really looking forward to that time in my life. And yeah, just work when you can, however you can, wherever you can. It's going to be a lot, but it's going to be so worth it. Man, well said. Well, it's amazing what happens when you get a fire in your belly and you're not afraid to work and you're not afraid to create some discipline in your life and you say no to things. And I saw on my screen, you said you cannot afford another shirt. You have that at

the bottom of your debt list to encourage yourself that you can't afford this. You can't afford to be broke. It's very expensive to be broke. Exactly. And no matter how many shirts you have in your closet, you're still broke. Wow. That was a personal attack on many of our listeners. I love it. Well, we're so proud of you. We've got a copy of Baby Steps Millionaires for you, a number one national bestseller. That is absolutely the next step in your journey at 24 years old with no payments. You're going to do so unbelievably well and be so wealthy and so generous. We also have a copy of the Total Money Makeover to send to you. You can pass that along to one of those people who said you're crazy and that you're always going to have payments. You can pass that to them to go, no, it can be different for you.

We're so proud of you. Are you ready for this? Yes. Okay. It's Sarah from Calgary, Alberta. $63,000 paid off. Student loans, the car loan, the credit cards, the line of credit, you name it, she had it. Paid it off in 18 months, making $25,000 to $75,000. Count it down, Sarah.

Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. I'm debt-free! Woo! There it is. There it is. Wow. If Sarah can do it, you can too, America.

It's not too late for you. I don't care if you're 24, 44, 64. You can take control. This is The Ramsey personality. You are listening to The Ramsey Show. Open phones this hour, 888-825-5225. Steve joins us in Kansas City. Steve, welcome to The Ramsey Show.

Well, thank you, George. Good talking to you. I was looking for the better than I deserve. Oh, man, if I tried that, Steve, you wouldn't understand the hate mail that would come my way, you know? But one of these days, I'll risk it. Well, hey, George, I i got a quick question for you so here's my scenario i i'm in my early 50s okay and so i've got a home with a 95 000 home payoff i've got right at seven years left to pay on the home. I have about $85,000 in savings. My question really is, the friends I have that are into big-intent investing,

I have one friend that says, pay the house off, don't even question it. I have four other guys that say, oh, no, you want to use their money at 2.5% to pay the home off and then use the $80,000 and invest it because you can double that in seven years, and that's about the time I've got my house to pay off. So when I do the math, and if I just completely pay it off by each payment, I'm at $145,000. So if I look at that, I pay an extra $45,000 or $50,000 basically.

You see what I'm saying? I do the math, and then I have at that, I pay an extra $45 or $50 basically. You see what I'm saying? I do the math, and then I have $85 in there. Yeah. No, this is – But then the market – yeah. They're not geniuses. They just are looking strictly at math, and that's the problem here. You can't detach the emotion out of this, of the emotion of not having a payment in the world, having zero risk because you own your home outright. So what's your mortgage payment? It's right at $1,952 a month.

$1,952. So let me give you some more math for your buddies if they're listening. You are paying currently almost $24,000 in mortgage payments, and that does not count the interest. So the question is, if you had an extra $24,000 plus to invest, how wealthy could you become? I'm right there with you. That's how I feel about it. I mean, I'm just saying if we want to talk strictly math, that's not even talking about the emotional freedom of having not a payment in the world. So I understand what your buddies are saying, and they're really into investing. And so, of course, they think, well, why wouldn't you borrow as much money as possible and invest it into the market? That's what they're saying.

But as we're seeing with the stock market, I don't – I mean, do you want that level of anxiety? Would you – if you paid off your house, you can always go remortgage it and invest it into the market if you really, really miss having a payment. Right. And in the way the market is right now, that's kind of how I'm feeling. Get debt-free first, and then I can invest as much as I can afford at that point. Exactly. I want you to free up this money in your life so that you can really build wealth, so that you don't have to worry about a payment at night. And what's your household income?

So give or take, we're right at $200,000 to take home. Woo! Man, are you guys Baby Steps millionaires? Well, it's funny you say that. I have my brand-new book sitting here. Now, we've always been pretty smart with our money. We have zero debt other than the mortgage. Fantastic. So I just got the book, though, and I'm going, I'm getting into this. So we have, oh, I'm going to say it's right on $750 in retirement. Awesome.

Right now. So I'm thinking if I pay this off this year, which I think is very doable, then I just invest like crazy, right? And then if I can't afford to, then yeah. I'm already putting in 15% of our tax deferred income as well. Yeah, you're already doing the 15%. So let's focus on the house payoff. And do you have kids that you're saving for college for? Well, we have one, and unfortunately, she says she does not want to do college. So I do have some money. I have some money saved for her. And we have some other ideas as far as starting a business and that. So, you know, I have mixed emotions, but that's where that's at. All right. Well, hey, if I'm you, you've got $85,000 in savings, and we need to make sure we're setting aside our fully funded emergency fund.

Is that part of the $85,000? No. We've got about $20,000 in an emergency fund. So you could today get down to $10,000 on the mortgage and then clean this thing up within a month or two with your income? That's what I'm thinking. Yeah, and I've got some commissions. I've got a lot of equipment on order, and gosh, I've got in the neighborhood of $175,000 of commissions coming this year without selling one more thing. So I think it's a no-brainer.

It absolutely is. Don't listen to your buddies, man. They, of course, are going to look at the market and go, dude, you're an idiot. Why would you pay off your 2% mortgage when you could make 10, 12, 18% of the market? Exactly. Yeah. Well, you can follow their plan or you could be debt-free, including your mortgage. And personally, I like that plan better as a guy who paid his off a month ago. Okay. Let me ask you this. If I put in, and I'm just going to do some simple math, but if I put in, oh my gosh, and just invest like crazy, because I really like to do something a little different when I'm 60 and I'm 54 now, could I get to that million dollar mark? I would think so if I'm 750 in now already. Oh, absolutely. Plus the home. You're going to be there in no time making $200,000.

I mean, think about how much you can save and the catch-up amounts with your age as you head into your retirement. You're going to be unbelievably wealthy. I think so too within seven years. Yeah, so I'm not worried about can we make an extra $50,000 by investing in the market. You're going to do fine in retirement if you guys have no payment in the world, including your mortgage, and you've got a million dollars in retirement. You're going to be all right. Thank God. Listen to your heart, Steve. I appreciate the call, man. Good stuff. All right. Trey joins us in Pittsburgh. Trey, welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hey, George. Thanks for taking my call. How are you doing?

Absolutely. Doing great. How can I help today? I have a question about 529s. I have two kids. Ages are five and two. When my first kid was born, probably about six months after she was born, we went to the bank and started a 529 account. We've put $250 a month in it since then. At the birth of our second child, my wife and I had a conversation about starting a second 529 for him. We went to the bank, and they kind of advised us to keep it at just a single 529 and get the compounding interest off of what's being put in that. It's always been like a conversation between my wife and I. Should we or shouldn't we have started a second 529 for him as well? Just trying to get your thoughts on it.

Yeah, I would not look to my bank to be my financial advisor. And so in this case, they're wrong. I mean, there's nothing wrong with keeping one, but it does complicate things a little bit. Because when you have one plan, you're going to have to go through some administrative legwork of changing beneficiaries, because you can only have one beneficiary on that 529. And so as the five-year-old gets older, you're going to have to switch it over to the two-year-old and make sure there's enough money in there to regulate how much money is needed per child. And on top of that, there could be some state tax deductions and credits that increase when you have multiple accounts.

So no, the bank is wrong. They don't understand compound interest, which really frightens me that a bank doesn't understand that that $100 over here versus in your other account is going to grow at the same rate. And so if I have two Roth IRAs and I put $5,000 in each, it makes no difference if I had a Roth IRA that had $10,001. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And my wife had brought up a good point. She had said with the ages of the kids, they're both going to be in college at the same time,

if they choose to go to college. Yeah, and that creates a hassle. Yes, yep. Okay. Yeah, that was my question, and she was right. I hate to tell her that, but she was right. You know what? That is a sign of maturity and a healthy marriage.

I appreciate the call, Trey. Pump for those kids to go to college debt-free. That is what we like to see around here. And if you guys haven't tuned into the Borrowed Future documentary, we did a world-class documentary that released back in the fall around the student loan crisis and how it is absolutely crushing the American dream. One of my passions is helping millennials and Gen Z figure out that, man, you are going to be saddled with debt. Don't listen to the lies. Don't fall for the peer pressure for society. You can go to college debt-free, and you're living proof of that,

Trey. Way to go. Saving up for them. That puts this hour of The Ramsey Show in the books. Our thanks to Ben Hill running the board today, Kelly Daniel, our associate producer, and Jenna Sears running the screening of the phones. We appreciate you and appreciate you, America. We'll be back with you before you know it. Have a friend or family member that needs a daily dose of Ramsey advice in their life? Let them know about the Ramsey Call of the Day podcast. It's a quick hit of advice about life and money in under 10 minutes. Check out the Ramsey Call of the Day podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.