The Ramsey Show - App - Should I Buy a House When I Go to College? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: July 2, 2021

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🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental 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 the choice. Christy Wright, Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author, is my co-host today as we take your questions about your life and your money.

It's a free call at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Stephen in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, off this hour. Hey Stephen, what's up? Hey David, how are you doing? Better than I deserve, sir. How can we help? Thank you. I am 21 years old and I have about $20,000

in cash that I saved up. I'm going to be going off to college in the fall and I'm planning on buying real estate, about a three-bedroom home that I can rent out the rooms and help me pay my mortgage so I don't have to pay rent when I go up to college. I also have about a $4,000 car loan that I have yet to pay off,

and my uncle has been advising me to buy a house, so my mom is kind of hesitant about me doing it. So I'd just like to get your advice. Well, I love real estate, and I love the fact that you're putting some thought into this. I like all of that. I think it's good on your part. Where did you get $20,000 at 21 years old? Way to go.

Well, I was a general manager for a QSR restaurant making pizzas. And I did that for about a year. And I was fortunate enough to save up good money while I was living with my mom. I still am, actually, right now. Okay. So where are you going to college? I'm going to Orlando at UCF. Good for you.

It's a great school. I went there for a year and a half. That's awesome. It's the largest school in America right now, and it's a great school. We've done events there on campus and gotten to know a lot of their administration. It's a solid choice. Okay. Well, while I love real estate, I would advise you against your plan.

I'm not sure I can talk you out of it it but here is the downsides of your plan you are trying to go to school and learn and graduate the distraction of running a business dealing with freaking roommates could really be devastating it sounds like it's like it sounds like a hot knife through butter and it's not you're going to deal with so much freaking drama over this four years with roommates and collecting rent and whose ketchup that is in the refrigerator and all this other bs that you're going to get distracted from your studies and you're worried about real estate instead of being worried about getting your degree you have one freaking job for the next four years and that's graduate on time with your degree

with no debt. And I would use the $20,000 towards that end, and I would be a renter, and I would have very little going on in my life except going to school and graduating on time or early. This is such a transitional time in your life too, Stephen, while that seems like a great idea right now. And like Dave said, I don't think it's a bad idea in general. I think it's just a bad idea right now because you have no idea what the next three years holds.

You have no idea what type of expenses you're going to have. You need to pay off that debt with some of the money that you have. Keep saving up, cash flow your way through college. And then when you're out of college, you know you want to put down roots there. You know where you want to be, all that good stuff. You have your degree behind you, some more money in the bank,

three to six months of expenses, you're debt free, then save up and put that money down on a house. I'll give you an example, Dave. I went to UCF for a year and a half and I loved it, but I realized after living there a year and a half, I didn't want to put down roots there. I didn't want to get married, get a job, live there forever. I wanted to go back to Tennessee. And so I decided to transfer to UT Knoxville to get in-state tuition to save my mom the money

since I wasn't going to live there forever. But when I went as a freshman, I didn't know that. And you just don't know a lot at 18. You think you know, but you're going to learn a lot about yourself, your dreams, your plans in the next four years. And so save that money before you make any long-term commitments like that, especially with the cash that you have. And then after college, make some of those decisions. So I'll even one-up that. I went to school to get a degree in finance and real estate. I was selling real estate for a living while I was in school.

I love real estate. I almost bought a home in school. I love real estate. I almost bought a home in Maryville, Tennessee, outside of Knoxville. I was going to the University of Tennessee, a little cheap, but little nothing house because I didn't because I wanted to be a real estate investor like you do. And if I had done that, when Sharon and I got married and decided to move across the state after graduation, we would have been stuck with this stinky butt little house in Maryville, Tennessee. And it would have been an anchor to our plans instead of a blessing. Yeah.

And that's what Christy's referring to with this level of transition in your life. So it's a good idea at the wrong time, which makes it a bad idea for all of those reasons. Please don't do it. Please take $4,000 and pay off your car today. Bank the rest of it and invest in the highest possible investment on the planet. His name is Matt. Invest in yourself, making sure you graduate debt-free. Steven.

Steven. Yep. You can invest in Matt, too, but you're Steven. Matt or Steven, but I want to make sure Steven knows we're talking here. Steven's like, who's Matt? I missed that. Well, it'sven's like who's matt i missed that what's the next call that's up and that's how it shows how bad this show really is i want steven to make sure he knew we were talking to him thank you thank you yeah oh that was bad okay i don't

know i don't know how you recover from that we go to matt that's how we recover that's next hey matt steven's gonna be investing in you i hope hope you like that. What's up, man? That sounds good to me. So what's up? How can we help? So I just have a general question related to budgeting. I always have an argument with my wife exactly how much we're able to spend on, you know, things to enjoy our lives like vacations and, like, you know, I like to golf.

And I like to, you know, I'm more of a spender. We're going out to see things like that. So we're pretty well off. Are you out of debt? No debt, yeah. Okay. And you have an emergency fund. Yeah, we have.

And what's your household income? Maybe about, like, $220 to $230. And what are you wanting to budget for entertainment and golf, and what is she saying she wants to? So, I guess, I mean, it kind of varies, obviously. I don't golf in the... Okay, there's your problem. You're making this crap up as you go. You're not agreeing to anything, and she sees this as an infinite

bottomless pit. You just want to spend what you want when you want to, right? Yeah. No, you can't be a child. You have to put it on paper. I don't care what the amount is, but you've got to put it on paper. The fact that you're not willing to put a number down and stick to it, that's what's scaring her. It's not the number.

It's scaring me, too, by the way. Steven, too, because he's investing in you. Yeah, I mean, again, I'm not irrational about it, but I guess you're right. Yeah, you are, because you're not willing to put a limit on it. You're not in Congress. You have to put a limit on it. You feel like a budget is restrictive, yes or no? I mean, a little bit,

considering that, again, I don't you know, the way I feel I spend my money, I don't overdo it, but I guess Dave's right. I don't really care. All you gotta do is put a number on it. I don't care. You see the plan. You might be surprised at what she would agree to in terms of the number if you put a number to it, and't care you might be surprised that what she would agree to in the in terms of the number if you put a number to it and you agree that there is a point at which you look at yourself

in the mirror and you say no enough already this month we're limiting this i don't care what the number is i really don't as long as you're not going into debt to do it you just but you can't just be going i'll just be okay i'll okay. No, you have to have a number. Then we're both in agreement. You'll be fine. That's all you've got to do to fix this. It's not how much you're spending. It's the fact that you're not willing to put any limit on it at all.

This is the Ramsey Show. What's up? Dr. John Deloney here. Life is nuts, right? Between work, your side hustle, summer camps, awkward vacations, family drama, and what? Little League has more games? Our marriages often get put in the back seat and not in the good way, and we lose connection with our spouse without even meaning to. But listen, you can bring back the romance and actually have fun together again. You can learn to love and even like each other again. To help you get

started, I'm inviting you to join me and Rachel Cruz for a special summer edition of Money and Marriage on Friday, July 16th. This is a one-night digital event. We'll talk about how to tackle two of today's biggest relationship hurdles, money and intimacy. You'll learn how to reconnect and re-engage with your spouse, and you'll laugh a lot along the way. You'll get clear on where you are today so you can work together to create a tomorrow you're excited about. Get ready for summer date night. Text marriage to 33789 to learn more. Again, text marriage to 33789. Christy Wright Ramsey personality is my co-host today here on the air. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

You jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. Miles is with us. Miles is in Wichita, Kansas. Hey, Miles. How can we help? Hi, Mr. Ramsey. It's an honor and pleasure to speak with you today.

You too. What's up? Well, I would like some advice from you on some purchase opportunities that I've got to buy a home. And with some aspects to my life, I'm wondering if I should pay cash for it or if I should try and get a mortgage or get a loan. I've pretty much got the cash to pay for it. But as a Christian, I'm wondering if I should, because I've got the chance to do that, if I should go ahead and do it, or because of the convenience, if I should just go ahead and get a mortgage on it. I'm the biggest stickler to my life aspect is I'm 20 years old,

and I go to school part-time. I work full-time with my dad and I've got two or three businesses besides that. And I'm wondering is, is freeing up some of the cash for capital for what I do smart, or should I try and, um, to, to keep it, um, available for my businesses or should I just put all of that capital into that house and keep it there? How much money do you have saved? Right around $100,000. And you're 20 years old? Yes, sir. How'd you do that?

Worked hard. I've been extremely blessed. My parents are very wise in raising me in a way to be debt-free, work hard. I took your Ramsey course through high school, and just as a general attitude to life, knowing everything is God's and knowing everything that I've got is not mine and just managing it as well as just keeping my expenses low and saving where I can. You're amazing. That's incredible. So what kind of income are you earning a year between all these things you're doing?

So I don't specifically have a lot of income. Like I said, I work with my dad full-time. My first real heavy year of work and income that I got from him was pretty much just last year, a year and a half. I took home about $30,000. And then probably between all the other stuff I do, it's around $10,000. So where did $100,000 come from again? Because that doesn't get to a hundred pretty much just saving i mean ever since ever since i've been young um i i mow lawns i've been doing that since i was 12

or 13 um you know like i said just being very blessed and just i i don't spend a lot of money do you live with your mom and dad still yes i do I do. And that's another aspect of it. I'm 20 years old. I'm going to school part-time as well. So I'm looking to buy this house as a rental, and then when I graduate in a couple years, try and move into it as my own house. No, I would not buy a house. Do you think that's the wise place to be?

I think the wise thing to do is for you to finish school before you worry about before you worry i would not get in the rental business this is the don't get in the rental business while you're in college theme yeah we didn't know it was but it is yeah i wouldn't i wouldn't put you in the rental business while you're making thirty thousand dollars a year and trying to go through school i I don't mind you getting there, and you are an overachiever. You're an incredible young man, but let's not get confused about what got us here. It wasn't real estate. I love real estate, and I want you to own some real estate someday.

I thought you were buying this house to move into, so that might have changed the answer, but I don't think it does um i think you're going to continue to pile up money and you go ahead and get in school and get your button gear and get finished and when you graduate and you leave home and you start your own life and you have a pile of cash pay cash for your first home that you're going to live in then start talking about buying rental property that you pay cash for but i wouldn't get this out of order i wouldn't get it backwards it's so tempting too sure, Miles, because you have this pile of cash. You have $100,000 so you can rationalize in your head, well, I have this money so I should buy a house.

You're living at home. You're fine. Finish out school. Just because you have the money doesn't mean you have to spend it. Just like we were saying earlier, you're in a transitional time in your life. What you need today is not necessarily what you'll need or want in a year or three years. Finish out school and then make a decision about your housing situation and your money. Yeah. So with rare exceptions, if you never buy a piece of real estate before you're 25 years old, it's not the end of the world, including your home. Yeah.

I mean, you can just move out and rent a little apartment and get your life started yeah uh this idea that you have to move out into a furnished home with a skylight and a jacuzzi um at 24 years old or 23 years old is just guys there's it's not talking down to you because you're young all i'm saying is just have a little freaking patience well and one of the things i heard the most out of college dave and i've heard it a million times because you're young. All I'm saying is just have a little freaking patience. Well, and one of the things I heard the most out of college, Dave, and I've heard it a million times is you're throwing money away on rent. You're throwing money away on rent. You hear it again and again. That is an oversimplified statement on the situation. What you're buying is time, peace of mind. Someone else is dealing with all the maintenance of the home. There's so

much more that goes into home ownership than just the purchase price of the house and i think a lot of young people don't consider that they don't think about a new ac unit or you need a new roof or something goes wrong and all the headache that goes with it whether you're living in it or not that you may not want to take on being a renter for 15 or 20 years is a bad idea being a renter for 36 months while you're going through some transitional periods in your life like leaving home for the first time, those kinds of things, is not dumb at all. It's not dumb at all. Renters don't go to hell. It's not a salvation issue.

Okay? I mean, you're not, like, done something completely stupid where you've ruined your whole life because you're a renter for a little while. Yeah. I've rented, you know, and I own a bunch of real estate, and I believe in real estate, and I want you to get some real estate. But real estate purchases as an investment is very unwise and will set you back in your whole wealth building process. It will set you back, not push you forward, if you do it before you've done some of these other things. And so it is a late in the game, late in the baby steps idea that you invest in real estate because otherwise real estate will kick you in the teeth and will move you backwards in your wealth building and so no you don't need to buy a rental house when you don't have a house

that's paid for that you live in no you don't need to buy a rental house until you have graduated from college no you don't need to buy a rental house until you can pay cash for it no you don't need to buy a rental house until you have graduated from college. No, you don't need to buy a rental house until you can pay cash for it. No, you don't need to buy a rental house until you're out of debt, own a home, have an emergency fund in place, and it paid off your home. No, you don't need to buy a rental house before you're 25 unless you're in a very, very unusual situation. Now, this young man here is pretty incredible. He's done some really cool stuff. But here's the thing, dude. You buy a house right now with all that money, and you're not making but $30,000.

You don't have any money. You gave up all your money. I thought you were going to tell me in this business you're making $100,000 a year or something. I didn't know where this money. But this has been from 12 years old. He saved every penny. You've been yard cutting money, and that's how you got here. So you're a tremendous saver.

You are not yet a tremendous earner. You will be, I think, just listening to you got here so you're a tremendous saver you are not yet a tremendous earner you will be i think just listening to you i think you're incredible i think you're going to be a big place when you're but when you're making 60 or 80 000 or 180 000 it makes the this equation completely different and that's where you're going to be when you graduate with your four-year degree and you have your full-on career and you're doing stuff because you're a dude that gets stuff done yeah but just be it's okay just take it just breathe just breathe you you're you're not gonna you're not you're not gonna die you're not you're not stupid you're not um throwing money away to rent for 36 months from your 22nd birthday to your 25th birthday it's not it's just not the end of the freaking world. And that includes those of you getting married.

She wants to buy a house or he wants to buy a house. I don't give a crap. You're broke. When broke people buy houses, you get broker. And that's why they call them real estate brokers. That's where that comes from. And I've done that and lots of people have done that. And we've seen the strain and the coaching over the years.

You know, you and I have both seen it over and over and over again. Yep. This is the Ramsey Show. Thank you. Christy Wright Ramsey personality is my co-host today as we talk about your life and your money. It's a free call at 888-825-5225. Kendra is with us. Kendra is in San Antonio, Texas. Kendra, it says on my screen you are debt-free. Congratulations.

Thank you, Dave. I'm very happy to be making this phone call right now. That's awesome. How much have you paid off? Well, I paid off $59,139 in about five years. Good for you. And your range of income during that five years? It ranged from about $32,000 to $52,000.

Wow. What do you do for a living? I'm an environmental scientist. Okay. Very good. What kind of debt was the $59,000? Well, I had about 38 of school loans and 21 of my car payment. Okay.

All right. So this was a struggle for you, wasn't it? It was. Yeah, I just kept working hard and putting as much as I could towards that. I got a good chunk of change from some recent hail damage storm. So it made about 8K of cosmetic damage, and i put it towards my car loan instead so and that cleaned it up the rest of the way huh oh yeah it definitely helped so it's got some but i haven't paid off and that matters more to me so that's the big next step yeah well done

well done thank you so what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? Well, just keep working hard and putting as much as you can afford to those loans and stay motivated. I had a great support system. My brother and his wife are debt-free. They paid off a huge chunk. They went through a financial piece, they they really helped me along the way yeah i mean you pay off ten thousand dollars a year for five years making 32 that's impressive that's a marathon like that's a long haul what was the hardest part um i guess just making sacrifices, seeing that pair of shoes that you really wanted, and just all control and just really putting everything towards those loans.

Yeah, staying motivated. That's good. How does it feel now that you're there? It feels incredible. Was it worth the sacrifice? Absolutely. now that you're there it feels incredible was it worth the sacrifice absolutely and i didn't think i'd be here at my age making this phone call right now how old are you i'm 28 28 years old and you did this over five years so you started when you were 23 yes sir wow very impressive very impressive thank you well done definitely helped me a lot so appreciate it so your brother Yes, sir. Wow. Very impressive. Very impressive. Thank you. Well done.

It definitely helped me a lot, so I appreciate it. So your brother and sister-in-law were cheerleaders because they had been through Financial Peace University. Who else was cheering you on? Definitely my mom and my dad. Okay, that's good news. She had good family support because sometimes family goes, you're crazy. You're always going to be in there. Some people have family that are losers, right? And you've got winners that are encouraging you and lifting you up.

That's very, very cool. Well, congratulations, Kendra. Well done. Thank you. Thank you. We've got a copy of Rachel Cruz's latest New York Times bestseller. It's called Know Yourself, Know Your Money. Kelly will send that out to you to say thanks for being on and doing your debt-free scream.

I'm so proud of you. You're a rock star. Well done. Thank you, Dave. All right. Kendra in San Antonio, Texas. $59,000 paid off in five years, making $32,000 to $52,000. Count it down.

Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. I'm debt-free. Yeah! Woo-hoo! That is how it works right there. That is impressive. Over five years, that's a long time to there. That is impressive.

Over five years. That's a long time to sacrifice. That's a long time to stay motivated. That's a long time to stay focused. Like, two years is long, but five years, man, that's impressive that she stuck with it. That's awesome. And, you know, the good news when you're working this stuff and you're single is you don't have to talk anybody else into it. The bad news is there's nobody there to kick your butt.

No accountability, yeah. Nobody there to encourage you when you're down. Yeah. And nobody to hold you in there and i mean she did that over five years and her only accountability encouragement was her family walking with her but i mean it's easier to cheat when you're single yes and to just give up on the plan you're like oh this is too hard i've i've done it for a period of time i've made progress but gosh it's just I just want to buy the shoes. Like she said, and she just stuck with it. That's just so awesome. That's very well done.

Very, very well done. That is awesome stuff. Zach is with us. Zach is in Rockford, Illinois. Hi, Zach. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Thank you, Dave. Christine, nice to be talking with you.

How are you guys doing? Better than we deserve. What's up? Well, I am on baby step two, and I am debating on whether or not I should refinance my house or sell it and move back into an apartment so I don't have to worry about any home repairs. Do you have home repairs? Do you expect? Are there things, your maintenance issues right now?

So right now, not really anything like major. I mean, my furnace is about 15 years, water heater's five. I just had to pay for a chimney flashing repair, but it's an older house. So that's kind of where I'm currently debating. I mean, I've been in it for two years. If I would have taken Financial Peace University before I bought the home, I wouldn't have bought the home, but I took it four months after. But now with the market... Why would you have not bought the home after Financial Peace? Because of where you were in the baby steps or because it's a bad buy?

Where I was in the baby steps. It was actually a pretty decent buy at the current time. I'm saying, why would you have not bought the home? You said if you took Financial Peace University first, you would not have bought it. Did I understand you right? I wouldn't have bought it because I was in debt. Oh, I see. He's in Baby Step 2, yeah.

Yeah, okay, that's what I meant. Yeah, all right, cool. All right, so, but now you're out and you're working on the house, right? No, no, I'm still in Baby Step 2. So I got $72 thousand dollars in student loans um and with the market the way it is i have twenty thousand dollars of equity in the house just because of the market so i'm trying to figure out if i should sell or refinance why would you refinance so i am currently in a 30 year. So, you know, I would have did that differently back

then, but it's at 4.25. And after talking to mortgage broker, I could probably get a 2.8 to a 3% interest rate. Yeah. If you're going to stay in the house, if you're going to stay in the house, get in touch with Churchill Mortgage and do a refi because you can. You can get down under three right now on a 15-year fixed. While you're at it, put it on a 15. How old are you? I am 27. And what do you make a year? Did you tell me already?

I have not. I'm currently on pace for 60 to 65, so I'm in sales. How much is your house payment? Right now, it's $646. It wouldn't move a lot off of that because you're going to drop 2% down, but you're going to kick from a 30 to a 15. It'll move up a little, but not much. Yeah, it's only about $100 more.

Yeah. The house is the last thing we sell. I'll sell your car in a heartbeat, your boat in a heartbeat, your motorcycle in a heartbeat. They're easier to get out of and into. Moving is emotionally and financially very expensive. It just takes up a lot of your head space to move. And so it's the last thing I would do. And I have a sense that you're just starting your financial peace journey.

Am I right? I started about two years ago, but you guys were just mentioning the single part, so I slowed down a little bit, but I re-kicked everything into gear. I'm now throwing $2,000 a month towards debt. Are you asking about selling because you just want to make a big huge dent in your debt like is that where the question's coming

from yeah and just not having any stress with like the repairs would be on the apartment complex i mean i did the math of you know also considering the water bill and the electricity yeah well let me tell you over the scope of your life, you can do the math. Renting does not keep up with owning. Owning is better even with the chimney flashing, okay, over the scope of your life. Now, in a short-term situation, sometimes owning will be more expensive than renting. So I think you've just had a repair and you've got a rejuvenated desire to get out, and those two things are combining to push you to sell it.

I'm going to tell you to keep it for now, uh, in the spring next year, if you're still limping with this thing a little bit, you may want to sell it, but I think you're going to refinance it to keep it. Thank you. Christy Wright, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today as we answer your questions about your life and your money. Dawn is in Indianapolis.

Hi, Dawn, how are you? I'm blessed, Dave, thank you. Thank you, how can we help i called because my four children just inherited 187 000 each from a life insurance policy that i took out on their dad when i was married to him 13 years ago and i need to thank you dave because we feel so blessed today that i did what you said in the financial peace class that I took back then. We put policies in place and their dad just died a month ago. And now my kids have this money in hand from the life insurance company. It's a lot of money per kid. And we want to know how you would

advise them. What should they do if they're only 25 years old 2018 and 16 and you can only put like a 6 000 in a ross every year so i just we're here to ask you your advice and we want to just thank you you've blessed us i'm sorry for your loss all of you so it was your ex right yeah yeah we did divorce eight years ago but 13 years ago when we were together, we did this. Right, that's what I thought I understood you to say. Okay. Well, I think different age kids will have different needs. A 16-year-old has a different need than a 30-year-old.

The 30-year-old, we're just going to apply it on the baby steps wherever they are. Okay. So if they have any debt, you apply it to debt. If they don't have any debt, apply it to debt if they don't have if they got no any debt make sure the emergency fund's in place 15 of your income going towards retirement kids college is five and six is pay off the house so we roll that money up that list until it runs out okay does that make sense yes yes okay and really I would do that. You said 16 was the youngest, and there was an 18, 25 maybe? It was 25, 20, 18, and 16.

What's the 20-year-old doing? The 20-year-old. What is he doing? Well, yeah. We don't know yet, other than I've advised them that they need to set up. I mean, what's he doing with his life? Is he in school? Is he working?

He spent the past year and a half taking care of his sick dad, so now he has to find his life. He does have a two-year degree, but, yeah, he's been taking care of his dad while he was terminally ill. Okay, well, I would put him and the 16-year-old, you know, make sure they're reading through Ken Coleman's stuff on career and Christy's stuff and, you know, just get a handle on who they are. And so some of this money, there's a probability, will be used for education. As a matter of fact, I might park it all just to the side in something really simple for the two youngest ones until we ascertain what educational needs they have.

And so if a 16-year-old says, I want to go to college, I want to go to a four-year school, then we make sure that the four-year school, room, board, books, tuition is under $187,000 for four years. Otherwise, you pick the wrong school. Sure. Okay. Yeah, they're community college kids.

Yeah, and, you know, get the first two years out of the way and then go move and take two more years at the at the you know in-state university and he'll have some money left over uh but i would just make sure we use this money to get them the education to start their lives the other older ones have already started their lives and you just apply it to the baby steps i think do you think see something else yeah i was just wondering dave when you're going through that type of a loss for these kids they've lost their dad is there any type of waiting period it may be different because they're kids or even if someone's older is there any kind of waiting periods like let's not decide to do anything with it for a period until a little bit of the initial grieving is over where it's like i don't know i

just can you think clearly when you lost your dad a month ago, you know? Well, exactly. Yeah. I mean, it's good to park it for a little while and let it sit. The 16 and 18-year-old are going to have to let it sit anyway. Yeah. Because they're going to have to make some decisions that are going to take more than 30 seconds. I mean, you're going to have to sit down and think about what you want to do, what studies are involved in, what it is you want to do, where you're going to get your education. And then you map out what that's going to cost and begin to apply the 187 towards that uh as far as the baby

steps goes yeah before you start paying off but i mean i don't know that a 30 year old losing their dad can't uh decide to pay off their car with his money 25 is the oldest right dawn knows yes she's 25 25 is the oldest okay so even that i'm like so is she married or kids or she is married and they just had their first baby two weeks ago okay so that one's yeah they probably have a pretty traditional set of baby steps to walk right and i probably can't give them much advice because they're married right yeah yeah well it's completely up to them but if they were to call me and ask me what i would tell them to do would be to work up the baby steps in other words pay off your debts make sure you have an emergency fund in place make sure you got 15

going into retirement make sure the new baby has a college fund uh and you know then pay off your house do they own a house they do okay yeah and i suspect that those steps will use up 187 okay what about so the 18 year old college is already taken care of so she wants to know what to do with it besides put some in a rough how's her college taken care of um we've already fully funded that and she's got three years left it's fully funded uh yeah i mean she we she she drives back and forth to school it's a four-year school and she drives she lives at home with me still okay all right um you know that you do not have to get fancy uh you know what i would do is keep it very simple and very calm until you get out of school.

And to Christy's point, let's not try to be professional investors at 18 years old when you just lost your dad. So you don't have to, you haven't done something wrong if you don't suddenly become a highly seasoned professional investing person. You know, so if she wants to sit down in the next few weeks as her as your all's brains start to some of the fog of grief starts to clear, if she wants to sit down with a smart investor pro and begin to look at what she could do with investing, that's fine. But when she finishes school, 16 year old finishes school with whatever money is invested, whatever money is's left over that's probably going to set up their adult life really well they might pay cash for a house in indianapolis in indianapolis

for that if they're careful uh or they might you know move to another city or they might do a lot of different things it gives it gives them some flexibility it's not a million eight it's 187 and that's a lot of money in one way. But in another way, you can kind of go, whoa, like it's all over. It's not over. This just gives you a boost. This is not the rocket. It's a booster shot. But for those younger ones, especially the ones that don't own homes yet, I mean, you make a great point because that could buy them a house in cash out of the gate. They never have a mortgage. They are completely set up for the rest of their lives. They never owe debt of any kind.

And that would drastically change their financial lives if they started on that foot. That would be a great legacy for their dad. You know, that the dad literally, with his life insurance money, changed the family tree. What a cool side note to a horrible situation. And that's what life insurance always is. It's always a cool side note to a horrible situation. We had a young lady out of South Carolina that we videoed for some of the financial peace classes that, you know, had a brand new baby, and they're in their 20s. And he just, it was just a freak thing.

He had a stroke or something and just died. I mean, but they had, you know, he had a bazillion dollars in life insurance. And, you know, obviously, it's a young mother that had lost her husband. It's horrible. And this baby never really knew his dad. And, you know, it's a horrible, horrible thing. But the good side note is that she never has to work. Well, I'm curious about this life insurance topic.

What do you think keeps people from getting it? Is it fear of talking about such a horrible thing like death? Is it just they're too busy? They never get around to it. Like, it's not a fun thing like death is it just they're too busy they never get around to it like it's not a fun thing to talk about we can all acknowledge that yeah but in a situation like this it's one of those things that like you have to have it well it's in the category of smart things to do that give you no immediate feedback yeah and you know if it's if i'm doing something retirement why don't people say for retirement? Why don't they say for the kids' college?

Because it's 20 years off. Right. And, you know, thank God it's Friday. Oh, God, it's Monday. Right. You know, and people have short-term vision windows. Yeah. And so they don't have any vision, in other words.

And where there is no vision, the people perish. And so when you look out in the future and you see, you know, this is what's coming and I got to get ready for it. That's called maturity. Yeah. But we have a vastly immature culture. And yeah you need wills you need life insurance you need retirement planning you need kids college but these delayed pleasure things are all that they're all a sign of maturity so it amounts to that puts this hour of the ramsey show in the books toward Mount Strait. That puts this hour of The Ramsey Show in the books.

Hey guys, this is Kelly, associate producer for The Ramsey Show. Did you know that over 16 million people listen to The Ramsey Show every week? And a lot of those people listen on one of our 600-plus radio stations across the country. To find a station near you, head to DaveRamsey.com slash show.