The Ramsey Show - App - Should I Invest in Gold in Case the Economy Collapses? (Hour 2)

Episode Date: March 22, 2023

Dave Ramsey & Rachel Cruze answer your questions and discuss: Buying a replacement vehicle after a wreck, Investing in gold in case of an economic collapse, from the blog: Why Investing in Precious... Metals Is a Bad Idea, "Should we sell some of our rentals?" Buying a family business, Why personal finance is more personal than finance. Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Want a plan for your money? Take our FREE 3 minute assessment: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6 Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

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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 we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author multiple times. My daughter is my co-host today as we answer your questions about your life and your money. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Valerie is in Oakland, California.
Starting point is 00:01:01 Hi, Valerie. How are you? I'm doing well, Dave. Thank you for taking my call. It's a? I'm doing well, Dave. Thank you for taking my call. It's a pleasure to be on with you today. Thank you. How can we help? So I was recently in a car accident that totaled my car or they're writing it off. Wow. Are you okay? Yes, I'm fine and grateful just to be alive. So they're writing my car off and offering me $15,000. So I use my car for work, and I'm a physical therapist that does home care,
Starting point is 00:01:37 so I need a really reliable car. And, of course, my car was paid for. I'm on baby step number four. I have no debt. I was working on my emergency fund. I have about $11,000 in it, trying to get to $25,000. And I don't know what to do about a vehicle now. Of course, I have a rental until the end of the month, but just feeling pressured to make a decision. Well, you were driving a $15,000 car, and you have
Starting point is 00:02:07 a $15,000 check. You go buy a $15,000 car. Yeah, it's not going to have all the bills in with it. It's the same car. That car should have a market value that was totaled of $15,000 if you're getting a $15,000 check.
Starting point is 00:02:23 You should be able to buy that car again. Right. I can't find that car again. It was a 2014 Toyota Camry fully loaded. There's millions of 2014 Toyota Camrys. If there's anything in the United States, it's Toyota Camrys. This is not exactly a rare vehicle. Okay.
Starting point is 00:02:47 But I've only got like two weeks to find one, and I've been searching. I just haven't been able to find one. Okay, but I mean, you can find a car for $15,000 that is comparable in equipment, reliability, quality, miles to the one that was totaled. All right. We know that because they gave you a market value. They have to pay you by the terms of the auto policy market value for the car.
Starting point is 00:03:15 So if you had sold your car, you would have sold for $15,000. Okay. But I was working a plan Though I don't know it's just an inconvenience I guess It is it's a huge inconvenience It is Valerie is the timelines what's stressing You out because you're like I'm researching but I have
Starting point is 00:03:36 Two more weeks I'm assuming Until your rental is up Right I've got two more weeks for my Rental how about this Valerie what if You paid one more weeks for my rental how about this valerie what if you paid one more month of a rental and you said or two or another an extra week of that just to give you some breathing room to be able to find this because you should be able to find it yeah so valerie let me tell you what's happening okay and what i'm pushing against and this is why it's messing
Starting point is 00:04:03 with you i've not been fair i'm gonna be fair now i'm gonna tell you what's going on okay almost every time for 30 years i've talked to someone in your situation for some reason the human brain says we need to move up in car we need to celebrate the fact that our car was totaled by getting a much better car and so you've been out looking at new cars. Well, I wasn't intending to look at new cars. No, but they jumped in front of you when you were going down the road. That car dealer lot, it swung around at the traffic light, and there it was in front of you. Right.
Starting point is 00:04:41 But I was looking for a used car on that car lot and today they're telling me that the used cars are costing more than the new car yeah this would be who that told you that the new car dealer that's a bunch of crap okay that was true for about five months during the back end of the pandemic when the mississippi ran backward and used cars went up in value it's the only time in history those two things have happened in one year it's absolutely a miracle the red sea parted that year too so but no it's not used cars are not more of do not cost as much as new cars that's not true anymore it was true for 20 seconds and it's not true anymore so you know i mean if you ask a new car dealer if you need a new car, that's like asking a dog if it's hungry.
Starting point is 00:05:29 Okay. So, no, you need to go look for used cars. You need to jump on AutoTrader, some of these other things. And I wouldn't even go to a dealership. Like, I mean, I would just look online. I mean, you know what I mean? Just to be able to not have the emotion of being there on the car lot. Just go do some research online.
Starting point is 00:05:47 I want you to fight with yourself about the idea of an upgrade. Because there's something about the human brain that says when we total our car, we have to get an upgrade. And that's why I was wearing you out about the value of your car a while ago. Because I was trying to break through that in your brain. Because all human brains seem to do it. I've noticed it. But it's like, okay, time to get another get another car oh let's get a better one you know and so there's something about the the trauma that you've been through with the car wreck there's something about this i didn't want to deal with all this now i gotta deal with it so while i'm at it now
Starting point is 00:06:18 it's an emergency for me to have a twenty thousand dollar car instead of a fifteen thousand dollar car so i'm gonna pull five000 out of my emergency fund, which you should never use your emergency fund for something that is not an emergency. That's why we call it an emergency fund. And so, yeah, this is what, but there's something about that. So I'm just pushing. That's a good point. I'm just trying to rattle you a little bit, Valerie, and say, hey, go find a $15,000 car.
Starting point is 00:06:41 And then you're right back on track. Yeah, because I was sensing a little bit of this urgency and panic and frozenness of the timeline of like i only have two more weeks so giving her that extra week might come her but i think you're but yeah you're you're spot on because especially if she's already looked at new cars she said the bells well yeah the the bells and the whistles like she said and and not that you can never have a nice car too, but make that a goal. That's part of this plan.
Starting point is 00:07:08 Once you get your emergency fund and you move on to baby steps four through six and you do some stuff, you could step up and car then. I mean, it's not like you'll always have to drive a $15,000 car, but for now, it's going to be the wisest move to continue to go down the baby steps. And let's just say out loud
Starting point is 00:07:24 that a $15 000 dollar car today is so much better than anything i drove for the first 30 years of my life i mean the quality of the vehicle yeah the amount of life left in the vehicle was more than a new car in 1974 hadley i mean it was you know i mean so they they don't make them like they used to thank god you know i've got a 1960 corvette and it is cute and it's a frame-up restaurant we put a new engine and drivetrain in it so it's got a good engine and drivetrain in it but you can't stop the thing in a 10-acre field with those dadgum horrible 1960 brakes. They don't make them like they used to. Thank God.
Starting point is 00:08:12 Every time I go around a corner, it corners three times. You know, it's a marshmallow, and it's supposed to be a sports car. So it's cute, and it's an antique. But a $15, dollar car in today's world is amazing dad gum nice car i mean it's it's you're gonna be okay everybody you too valerie but everybody out there just this idea i gotta have a forty thousand dollar car to be like be subsisting or something is it's america. This is the Ramsey show. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality.
Starting point is 00:08:52 Number one, bestselling author is my cohost today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. You jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. It is a free call. Hey guys, if you want to help us out, we can use the help. And some of you have been your life and your money it is a free call hey guys if you want to help us out we can use the help and some of you have been doing that and we appreciate it number one you can share the show if by telling somebody that you listen to it on the radio or watch it on television
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Starting point is 00:09:50 If you want to do a one-star review, there's other shows I can direct you to, because if you can't say nothing nice, don't say nothing at all. That's what Mama said, so there you go. And, of course, we also want you to follow the show. Subscribe if you're in a digital format like a podcast or YouTube. If you subscribe or you follow, it helps the algorithm and drives it as well. So we're moving on up. The marketing team, the radio guys, the broadcast guys,
Starting point is 00:10:17 their goal is for us to be in the top 10 of all Apple podcasts. We are at lucky 13 today. Lucky 13 of all podcasts in the world there's two and a half three million of them and we're number 13 lucky 13 so we but really i mean we shouldn't probably hover there i'd probably rather be 15 than 13 and i'd really rather be i'd really rather be five there you go so So let's get back. Let's get in the top 10. I mean, it's working for us.
Starting point is 00:10:48 It's good. But you guys spreading the word. This is what does it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for that. Our question of the day comes from our sponsor, Neighborly. Great company.
Starting point is 00:10:57 They're your hub for home services. When you need to make repairs, schedule routine maintenance, or find local help on improvement projects, Neighborly is your source for reliable home service providers in your area. Things like Mr. Electric or Mr. Reuter or Molly Maid. Go to Neighborly.com and start your search. So today's question comes from Jonathan in Kansas. We have some money that we are waiting to invest in silver or gold some people are saying that the centralized banking may fall apart and gold might actually become the standard again
Starting point is 00:11:32 what do you think of that I think some people spend too much time on the internet everything is on the internet is true Abraham Lincoln said that it's every uh oh my gosh every conspiracy theory in the world no but seriously though it is uh it's always there though i mean like gold is all it's that's all it's been a fear type of idea you need to invest in it you need to get it because of the fear of everything is going to crash yeah and let's let's let's address two different subjects here okay one is we have some money we're waiting to invest in gold or silver. OK, first, we'll address that one.
Starting point is 00:12:08 OK, never invest in gold or silver. OK, the way you pick an investment. As you look at the track record of the rate of return of the investment. So if you're going to buy a house for investment and the area around the house is blighted, crime-ridden, full of trash, and the values are going down because the neighborhood sucks, that's the track record of the neighborhood. Common sense would tell you don't buy a house there. Right? Yep. You look and see, are the homes well kept or are the cars up on blocks you know you look and see you know is every other house foreclosed on on the
Starting point is 00:12:55 street and boarded up and codes and rat infested you don't buy on that street you look at the track record you look at the track record of a mutual fund it It's been open 30 years. It's averaged 12.2%. That's a good track record, right? But I look at the track record of cryptocurrency. Full of fraud, sucks. Most everybody lost everything. You look at the track record of Bernie Madoff. Really bad idea. Everybody lost all of their money. You got conned. You look at the track record of gold. For the last 60 years, it has averaged around 2% a year. That sucks. It's not magic because it's gold.
Starting point is 00:13:36 It's an investment. Silver the same way. Horrible rates of return over a lifespan of investing. Yeah, there's been little blips based on fear or greed, but gold sucks as an investment. Well, what if the central bank? The central bank's not coming back, you conspiracy bozos. If the central bank collapses in America,
Starting point is 00:14:00 you need bullets. You don't need gold. Because all hell's going to break loose. I was going to say bottled water. Bottled water and bullets. And I'll take your bottled water if I've got bullets. So, I mean, it's unbelievable. I mean, it's going to be anarchy, right?
Starting point is 00:14:17 I was going to say. If the central bank collapses, every business that you can name right now that you're familiar with will have gone away simultaneously. I mean, it's similar to a nuclear winter. Right. Okay, you're going to have a whole new government. You're going to have a whole reset of the property rights and economy. This is not like gold is going to help you in that.
Starting point is 00:14:40 No, it's not. So the central bank is not going to collapse. Oh, my God. Just because one bunch of duber venture capitalists and startup tech guys ran their little San Francisco bank into the bay does not mean the central bank is in trouble because it's not, boys and girls. It's not. So two things. Don't get into conspiracy theories because it leads you into stupid butt investments like gold. You can get into them, but just listen and be entertained, but don't make your financial decisions based on them.
Starting point is 00:15:15 Okay. Okay. But these were all about decisions. These are all about financial decisions. That's right. We don't want to do financial decisions. For those of you that are new to the show, Rachel is our resident conspiracy theory queen. She believes things that most normal humans don't believe.
Starting point is 00:15:30 But she loves discussing them. What I said two or three years ago is now fact. So I'm just telling you. Well, when it comes to COVID conspiracy theories, they've all turned out to be fact. No, it's not just that. It's a bunch of other stuff. They've all turned out to be fact. It's a bunch of other stuff. Yeah. A bunch of other stuff a bunch of other stuff okay there we go we could have a whole show
Starting point is 00:15:49 dave let us have a podcast please we have been people have been begging for as long as you don't do it on this show you can have a podcast you go do your own little podcast and you can do that over there in the corner i don't we're not gonna do that to this show this show works hey hey all of you that want rachel to do it with the train what's the stranger things by rachel no weird stuff by rachel weird stuff conspiracy theories by rachel and have george on because george don't listen don't listen look at them look how many of y'all would listen bunch of the weird people in the lobby that'll listen. Raise your hand. God, there's a bunch of weird people in the lobby. No, it's because some of it is true.
Starting point is 00:16:29 Some of it is very true. It's true. It is. It's true. It is. Area 51. This is so great. That's like amateur.
Starting point is 00:16:37 Welcome to Thanksgiving at the Ramsey's. That is amateur. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Brandon is in Milwaukee. Hey, Brandon, how are you? Hey, thanks for taking my call. Sure. How can we help?
Starting point is 00:16:50 So I got a little bit of a debate with my wife. So I'm kind of new to the Ramsey life. She is a Ramsey. She listens to the podcast. So she doesn't know I'm calling in case I'm wrong. So we own our primary residence outright and then we have five duplexes and our principal interest tax insurance everything is 2300 a month for all of them what are the what are the debt how much debt on the five duplexes total debt
Starting point is 00:17:21 uh like 280 i believe what's the total value on the five duplexes total debt uh like 280 i believe what's the total value on the five duplexes uh 600 ish okay so you got about 50 you got a little over a 50 equity position well done how can we help yeah so she she says that you say we should only buy rentals in cash. Absolutely. But I thought I heard you say that as long as our mortgage is under 25% of our take-home. That would not be your rental. That would be your home. You should only buy rentals in cash.
Starting point is 00:18:02 I own several hundred million worth of real estate. Should I keep them and pay them off? Yeah, as far as these things go, I'd get them paid off in three years or I'd sell one to be able to do that. But pick out one you don't like and sell it and get yourself out of debt. You get out of debt, dude, you're going to make more money in real estate than you ever made in your life. It'll be the best thing ever happened to you. Well, you guys, I can't even explain how excited I am for the new Money and Marriage Getaway event here in Nashville, Tennessee on October 19th through the 21st. So we have a full weekend planned for you and your spouse, and it's going to be so much fun. You don't want to miss it. And here's the thing, that life is crazy, and it's really hard to find time for just
Starting point is 00:18:46 you and your spouse. So we wanted to give you a chance to unplug from your day-to-day life, come to Nashville, have a little weekend getaway, and focus on your marriage. So Dr. John Deloney and myself are going to coach you on all different things around your marriage, including your money and budgeting with your spouse. You're going to learn new ways to communicate that will make better connection, and you'll get realigned on the stuff that really matters so that you have a stronger future going forward in your marriage. So this isn't just a typical marriage conference. We have an amazing date night experience planned for you, plus time
Starting point is 00:19:20 to reflect with your spouse and apply everything that you are learning to your marriage. So we've got a lot planned for you, a lot of good food, fun surprises, and you can get early bird pricing on all of it for just $699 a couple. So you guys, that is a deal for the entire weekend. That's the price. So talk to your spouse and then go to RamseySolutions.com slash events to get your tickets to the Money and Marriage Getaway here in Nashville, Tennessee in October. This will be held at the brand new Ramsey Events Center, which we opened this week. Today, yeah. Yeah, we had a big kickoff. Today was our first big meeting up there.
Starting point is 00:19:59 We had a family, a Ramsey family, Ramsey team, devotional up there, and it was pretty incredible. Michael W. Smith hung out with us and led us in some praise and worship, and Dr. Michael Easley spoke, and it was a pretty special morning, thanks to some of our really good friends here in the area. So come out, make sure if you're in town, we're doing one of these events at the Ramsey Event Center, you're going to want to see it. It's a pretty extraordinary building, and we're really, really proud of it. And it's just a fun place to host these events, so you're going to enjoy it.
Starting point is 00:20:29 This marriage and money thing is going to be great there. It's perfect for that. All right, up next is going to be Elizabeth in Grand Rapids. Hi, Elizabeth. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave and Rachel. Thanks for taking my call. Sure.
Starting point is 00:20:40 What's up? So my husband and I right now own our home and our own business, a construction business that we do seasonally. And this is our first year owning our own company. We made about $150 net income. Wow. And now my dad has asked us if we want to buy the family business, which is about an hour and a half away.
Starting point is 00:21:03 We haven't ever had any debt, and the business would be to buy that about a million, and then eventually to buy the property is about 3.1 million. And we're not sure if we should do it or not. I think the business, the family business, is something my husband would enjoy doing, and it's definitely a lot less physically demanding right now with our construction business. It is a physical job, so it could get harder long term. How old are you guys? We're 34. Okay.
Starting point is 00:21:39 What kind of business is it? They sell, like, industrial equipment, like forklifts. Okay. One of my best friends is in that business okay um and that business the past two years has made about 500 net income on like a low year 200 okay and um on average of the last three years well the last three years are weird but um a normal world, the average of the last three years times about four is about what it's worth, so that's probably not a bad valuation on it. And so how much do you guys know about the inner workings of the business? We know quite a bit. Like once our job's only seasonal, during the winter,
Starting point is 00:22:26 sometimes my husband will go like step in for my dad so he can go on vacation. So he's able to do that. Am I right? I think I remember hearing that most of the money is made on the service and the ongoing maintenance and issues around the equipment more than it is on the actual sale of the equipment. The margins on the actual sale aren't that great. He makes most of his on the sale, I would say, because he's more in the refurbishing and reselling.
Starting point is 00:22:58 Okay, so he's reselling used stuff instead of new. Okay. Yep. All right. A lot of it. Some new, too. New and used. All right. Well, I think the things you guys have to ask yourself first the reason i'm asking these questions are the questions
Starting point is 00:23:10 you need to be asking yourself a do you want to do this for the rest of your life just because it's available doesn't mean it's the right thing okay and do you want to live in that town what i mean hour and a half away is that where you want to live is that where you want to have your life because the answer until today was no you wanted to live in Grand Rapids and you wanted to run a construction business until today yeah and be careful that uh you know it's something that your dad wants you do it for that reason you don't want to do it at all for that reason dumb reason we work on that around Ramsey all the time don't do something just because Dave wants you to do it for that reason you don't want to do it at all for that reason dumb reason we work on that around ramsey all the time don't do something just because dave wants you to do it you gotta do something because god calls you to do it it's because it's what you're supposed to do
Starting point is 00:23:52 it's what you're wired to do it's what you're designed to do you're going to love doing it um because business is too dadgum hard would your dad still be in the business elizabeth no he would like to retire but my my brother does work there, and he would still. Why doesn't he buy it? Too much responsibility for him. Your brother's not reliable? Not really, no. Not as reliable as he is.
Starting point is 00:24:17 So what's going to happen to your family when you fire him? Because it doesn't sound like he needs to be working there. He does sales right now and works on commission. Yeah, but he's not reliable. He's reliable and he can do that. He does that well. But owning the business and doing... Okay, so now we've got another thing you've got to work through
Starting point is 00:24:39 is A, what are we going to do with him, and B, how are we going to manage that relationship as you're his new boss? Yes, I agree. That's a thing. One of my concerns. That's a thing, okay? Yeah. But now, let's back up then.
Starting point is 00:24:56 So the valuation doesn't sound bad. The real estate's a separate transaction. That doesn't sound bad. You can sign a lease guaranteeing that your father-in-law or your father doesn't lose his mind on rent and run you out of business with that so you lock down the property like you would if if if it was a different landlord you'd have a long-term lease on the property so you could have a stabilized business right yes and at least with an option to purchase so at least with an option to purchase on the real estate. No, I'm not going into debt a million dollars to buy this under no circumstances.
Starting point is 00:25:29 What I would do is this. I would work for pennies in the business as little as your family can get by on and give your dad. In other words, if we figure out that the thing's making a half a million and you guys are going to take $50,000 out of it and live on $50,000 a year and give him everything over that until we get to a million. And he said we can pay him. No, no, no, no, no. I don't care what he said. I'm setting the deal up.
Starting point is 00:26:00 And it's going to be on paper in writing that all of his income up to a million dollars for the valuation of the business comes to him from profit above 50 grand, and you live on 50 grand, or whatever number you set. And so if there is no profit above 50 grand, he gets nothing that year. That's this deal. Because otherwise you are in debt to him him and you are going to mess this up it's going to be a problem it's not going to be run like he wants it he's going to want to put his hands back on it and you're going to have a former owner walking back through the place with his muddy boots while you're trying to take over leadership can you tell i've done this before yeah no i'm worried about that yeah because your dad started this, didn't he?
Starting point is 00:26:47 No, he didn't. Second generation? He bought it in, say, his late 40s. Okay. All right. So we have to have some clear boundaries, and the deal has to be in writing as if it wasn't family. Mm-hmm. to be in writing as if it wasn't family.
Starting point is 00:27:12 And don't half-butt do your business dealings because it's family, because you end up destroying family. So you should understand the structure of what I'm saying. He can have all the profits above X until we get to a million dollars. It sounds like you could pay him out in about three or four years. That's what I'm thinking. If you did that. But if there's no profits because there's like, I don't know, a pandemic or something,
Starting point is 00:27:39 then you're not out of business and your father's not foreclosing on you. Because, well, I worked my whole life and I deserve my money. I don't want to hear this crap, okay? I don't want to hear it at all, because this is our deal. Profits is where you get your money from. No profits, no money. And that includes if the ne'er-do-well brother doesn't do his job, so we don't have profits. Doesn't make any sales.
Starting point is 00:28:00 By the way, you're a sales guy. This is The Ramsey Show. Thanks for joining us, America. Rachel Cruz, number one bestselling author, and my daughter is my co-host today. Elise is with us in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hi, Elise. How are you? Hey, Dave.
Starting point is 00:28:22 Hey, Rachel. Thank you so much for taking my call. I appreciate it. Sure. What's up? So I'm kind of in an interesting situation. I recently finalized a divorce. I have about $150,000 cash on hand as a result from the sale of our home.
Starting point is 00:28:44 And I am not sure if I should put it into retirement. I only have about $7,000 in a rollover IRA. Or do I put all that towards the down payment of the house in the somewhat near future? I kind of don't really know what to do or where to start. How old are you? I will be 33 this year. How long were you married? It would have been six years last week.
Starting point is 00:29:12 What happened? Infidelity, unfortunately. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Okay, thank you. Okay, generally speaking, you're in a position right now because you've been through hell, traumatized. Traumatized would be the technical term, right?
Starting point is 00:29:50 And Dr. John Deloney would say that when you have your trust and your confidence violated, it takes some of your self-confidence away. The ability to believe in yourself, to trust, you know, I trusted him, so I must not know how to do this right, kind of. It takes some of your confidence away. Does that sound right? Yeah, that sounds about right. I've been sitting with this money for about almost a year now, and I've really just, I haven't, I've been kind of scared of it. You don't trust yourself like you used to before the garbage. And that would be like a normal human thing, by the way. Okay.
Starting point is 00:30:22 The good news is you'll heal from that, and you will begin to to trust yourself and you'll begin to discover that actually you are very trustworthy it's him that wasn't but it'll occur to you and you'll start the emotional healing i'm quoting dr deloney now okay this is not i'm not a an expert on this but it's also kind of common relational sense and it's stuff you've been living in so i'm so sorry for your heartbroken that's just that's just an awful thing you've been through so um for sure so no it is not a retirement thing if you want to own a house right now yeah that'd be okay buy you a house but that is your down payment but there's not a law that says you have to buy a house right now. I mean, you can put the money in a simple, if you want to say, I'm going to take three years and I'm going to put it in a mutual fund and I'm going to go backpack Europe.
Starting point is 00:31:15 I don't know. I don't know what you're going to do, but you know what I'm saying? I don't care. I'm not doing that, but it sounds like a lot of work to me, but people do that thing, I've heard. So, you know, what do you do for a living? I'm an account manager for a tech startup. Okay.
Starting point is 00:31:33 Have you got family in your area? Yeah. I'm really blessed to have my parents about 45 minutes up the road. I've got great friends here. Love Charlotte. Never leaving. So you've got a good environment to work through this, shovel this garbage out, right?
Starting point is 00:31:48 Oh, yeah. I've been very well supported, and I've listened to probably 10,000 hours of Dr. Deloney to get me through the past two years. Okay. Well, you knew what I was going to say then. Look at that. Okay.
Starting point is 00:31:58 Did I quote him right? No, you did. You did perfect. Okay, good, because you probably listen to him as much as i do then okay all right so um yeah i just don't want you to feel forced to do something like by some financial rule that doesn't exist in your head like if i if i don't invest this i'm a horrible person and i'm stupid no that's just not true you're in a transition period and parking money in a transition period is a normal thing so if you want to buy a house
Starting point is 00:32:29 i'd probably buy a house but if you don't if you want to just put it in a cd and say you know i'm going to just kind of coast for a little while longer and enjoy the ride a little bit and then i'll buy a house i don't know rachel what are you yeah how long have you guys been separated at least how long have you been on your own i've been on my own for almost two years now. Almost, okay. So the divorce took that long, and then it's been finalized. So now you're ready to make that next step. So, yeah, I mean, is owning a home something that,
Starting point is 00:32:56 is that a goal for you here soon? Is it something that you would love to do? Yeah, I think with rent in Charlotte, and I'm sure anybody that's in Charlotte listening right now can attest to it. Rent's just so crazy, and I think after being a homeowner for so long, I can't stand it. I feel like I'm throwing my money away. Here's what I would suggest, though. I would suggest buying a home that is not unique.
Starting point is 00:33:23 It's not special. It's not weird it's three bedroom two bath on a street with houses with three and four bedrooms and two baths you know i mean it's a house that's very predictable and the reason for that is you can sell it if you want to move on with another stage of your life five years from now. But for now, you can scratch the home ownership itch, get back in the game, so to speak, and just go buy something on a nice, you know, even a condo. But something that's very predictable that it's going to be easy to sell because it's good market but if you get this weird little thing that's special and there's only four people on the planet that like it and you're you're one of them you know then you got a hard time getting out of it later you see what i'm saying yeah no actually you you called me pretty well okay yeah that sounds good yeah just get something that's kind of a little bit generic
Starting point is 00:34:21 and you put paint colors or decorating that gives your personality, but it doesn't have to be weird to show off or something right now because that's the other thing is I predict that five years from today, your life is going to be completely different, and you're probably not going to be living in this house. Yeah, it is. I want to give you a way out of this house that's very predictable, and you will have enjoyed the investment of real estate because you can sell it for a profit. Yeah, and I think making a move, Elise, since it's been two years, you've been on your own for two years, there is a confidence boost there that I think is great.
Starting point is 00:35:00 I mean, I think putting this down on a home of something that you love that's yours, there's a sense of dignity that's kind of restored in that and so I yeah I mean I'm a huge fan I wouldn't rush into it if there's something that you don't absolutely love if you want to buy it because you want to own a house fine but not because like I feel this social pressure that I'm wasting money or I'm dumb if I don't get this money invested or something. I don't want you to do that. I don't want you to feel pressured. But if you want to go take your time, select a good house that is marketable when you get ready to resell it so you can make a good profit and you're not trapped in the silly thing, then yeah, I definitely would do that. No question about it. Open phones at 888-825-5225.
Starting point is 00:35:47 You jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. Rachel, it's good to remember for everyone out there, and her case illustrates that, that personal finance is more personal than it is finance. And what that means is not that you get to customize the law of gravity. You don't. Principles are principles. But it means that your given situation right now might dictate a different angle on a traditional financial situation.
Starting point is 00:36:16 Yeah. You know, and so if you've lost a spouse, you don't need to rush out and be suddenly a great mutual fund investor. If you're brand new out of college and you're getting married in five months and you want to go buy a house and she's never seen it, dumb idea. So that personal situation changes what normally would be a good idea to buy a home for a young couple if you can afford it, you're in good faith. But it changes its situational. Yeah, absolutely.
Starting point is 00:36:49 Because as well, seasons change so fast in life. And I feel like that's even something that I'm running into with our season of life with kids. And we have friends that are now upgrading homes because they've finalized their family. And now they're like, hey, we need some more space and some more room. So just how quickly things change as well, just keeping that in mind, I think allows you to make decisions with a little bit more of that flexibility.
Starting point is 00:37:13 So even in her case. You call it finalizing your family. I didn't know that's what you called it. I don't know. I've had some family I wanted to finalize. Ours is finalized. I can tell you that. We're having three kids.
Starting point is 00:37:25 And we're done. That puts this hour of the Ramsey Show in the books. Hey, it's Rachel Cruz. If you love the show and want a deeper dive 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 ramsesolutions.com today to sign up for our newsletter. Again, that's ramsesolutions.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

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