The Ramsey Show - App - Should I Loan My Girlfriend Money? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: June 13, 2024

from Ramsey Network it's the Ramsey Show where we help people build wealth do work that they love and create amazing relationships I'm Jade Warshaw next to me is the magnificent Kenneth Coleman wow magnificent and Kenneth in the same sentence it's going to be a day it's going to be a good relationships. I'm Jade Warshaw. Next to me is the magnificent Kenneth Coleman. Wow. Magnificent and Kenneth in the same sentence. It's going to be a day. It's going to be a good day. We're taking calls all afternoon long. Your life, your money. Hit us with all the questions that you have and we will hit you with an answer, a solution, a way forward, or we'll just spitball creative ideas with you. Whatever it takes. The phone lines are open. 888-825-5225.

Let's get involved. All right, let's go straight to the phone lines. We got Joe. He's in Anaheim, California. What's going on, Joe? Hey, how you guys doing? Doing great. How are you?

Doing good, doing good. I've been watching you guys for a while, and I got a quick question. I'm just looking for a little bit of affirmation here. Okay. I have a girlfriend of about a year and a half, and we do live together. And she asked me, actually, last night, if I could loan her money to pay off a debt that she has on a credit card. So, about $12,000. About? About $12,000 in in debt that's not a little bit that's a lot well yeah yeah oh yeah yeah it's not yeah not a little bit

um but yeah she had asked me that and um i gave her i told her i would call you guys i kind of know the answer i'll get back to you on that babe let's put it on jade and kenneth to see what sure um okay so it's twelve thousand dollars did you say it's for a credit card yeah yeah for a credit card yeah and just to clarify this is a loan so when you say the word loan that makes me sound that makes it sound like somebody's got to pay it back got to pay it back yeah absolutely absolutely she had gotten to a yeah she had gotten to a little situation i guess with her uh last partner um he ended up using it uh without her uh permission and um yeah that's how she ended up being in that situation can i ask you this how do you feel how would you feel being in a position where your girlfriend owes you $12,000? That's the thing too, because I've been looking to you

guys for a while. And I remember one thing Ramsey says is, you know, you know, dinner tastes a little different, you know, when you're sitting across from somebody that owes you. And I know I wouldn't be the one owing anyone, but like just the fact that, you know, that that kind of tension would be there i wouldn't necessarily feel too comfortable with that yeah joe how's that gonna feel when she starts missing payments that she owes you that's gotta be weird hey we're going to red lobster tonight how's that payment plan coming along but she still got her nails done and still got her hair done oh yeah joe yeah all right so can i jake can i joe listen i appreciate that you told your girlfriend you and still got her hair done. Oh. Yeah, yeah. Joe. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Joe, listen, I appreciate that you told your girlfriend

you were going to call us, but what was your gut reaction when she hit you with this idea? My gut reaction was, I'll be honest, I was like, okay, like, am I in a position to do so? Like, yes. Like, yes. Can I help her like that? Yes.

But I just think, like, just like character-wise, I really feel like, you know, attacking debt is, you know, a character builder, too. And, you know, I definitely want us to grow in that regard. I want her to take her finances serious, too, as well. Joe, Joe, Joe, listen to me. Joe. Jade and I are on team Joe, okay? Why don't you stop spinning and just tell us

how did you feel when she hit you with that did you want to do it yes or no I got you I got no no there we go there we go I'm with you Joe and there's nothing wrong with that yeah you're not a bad guy she you know I do have more questions just because I want to know and I want the people to also get a clear picture of this. You know, first off, we're not big on loaning money here, you know, to a friend, to a family member, somebody loaning money to you. Debt in general is just we're anti-debt here. So now if you called and said, hey, she's asking me if I can give her this money, that might be a different conversation. And you're like, I have it to give. And if I don't ever receive it back, it's no big deal.

Like that might be a totally different conversation. But the aspect of loaning it, you're right. It does put a different taste in your mouth. And it's going to make the whole relationship, the power shifts, right? You become the lender and she becomes not the lender. I got to ask a question, Joe, because Jade's here and I love getting the female perspective on this. Are you worried about her reaction if you tell her? Because I think you called us to get us to go, well, this guy and this gal said this.

Are you worried about what her reaction is going to be if you tell her no? Be honest. She can be definitely emotional when it comes down to things like that. Emotional like crying or emotional like I'm going to hit you with this cast iron pan. Maybe a sandal. I don't know about the cast iron, but she'd probably do something like that. a sandal. I don't know about the cast. But she'd probably do something like that. I love it.

Yeah. But I think that's important. Yeah. Yeah. No, no, it definitely is. I know. Like, she's not the type to, like, flare up if you tell her no. But I just wanted to.

Yeah. I just want to get, like, affirmation on that. Just to say, like, you know, like, Hey, you know, I mean, me being in the position I'm in is because I've listened to these, you know, I've listened to these people and, um,

you know, I really want to, you know, I'll call, I'll like, I'll call them and maybe they can give you some more clarity too, on my standpoint. Are you going to marry her?

Um, that's my question. Oh yeah. That's, that's definitely, that's definitely the plan for sure. Okay. Does she know that? Yeah. Does she know that?

Yeah. Does she know that? I wouldn't say that. I mean, we've talked about it, but as far as like a time frame on when we're going to get married, that hasn't been. All right, so here's the deal. So since you called us and I know where this is going, you need to give her a legitimate explanation as to why we think what we think and if you agree with us. So the reason that we want to keep this separate is you two are not married. Now, if you go down to the courthouse tonight, and I'm not trying to get you to do that,

but all of a sudden this debt becomes your debt, but right now it's her debt, and the relationship needs boundaries. And this is because you believe in a healthy relationship, and so you need to explain to her that that is your debt, not my debt. And the minute that I give you money, it changes our relationship. And I don't want that because I'm looking long term. Did I miss anything on that? I agree exactly with Ken.

There's a protection for both of you, legal speaking, when you become married. And so if nothing else, this is a great time to start that conversation of what, you know, when you become married. And so if nothing else, this is a great time to start that conversation of what, you know, the define the relationship. Now's the great time to start talking about that. And I think it will reassure her to say, you know, if the time comes and you agree that we should be married, as I believe that we should be married, then I am happy to take on your debt. It would never be alone. It would be us working together. And, you know, I look forward to that day, but unfortunately we're not there today. I have a question for you, Jade. And she's, this is for you, Joe, but it's to Jade. I overthink everything. So the giant

asterisk here is I overanalyze everything. My brain right now is going, if he says that, which you and I are on the same page, she put pressure on him to to to get married and does this fast forward a marriage proposal I'm a little nervous about that not uh do you see what would you say he needs to guard himself with I hope not if you sense that if you sense that now all of a sudden she's trying to you know rush you then I think that could be a bit of a red flag that's good now that's what I want him looking. Now, let me then ask you this question. How long have you been dating? Because if you've been taking her for a ride for five years,

then she might... It's been a year and a half. Okay. I mean, in my mind, now's a good time to start talking about it. If she does say, well, you know, Joe, I've been trying to get married for the past, you know, six months and you're the one stalling.

Like if she starts saying stuff like that, then you have to be open to the things that she's saying as well. At the end of the day, if you both want to be in a married relationship, make steps towards that. And then to Ken's point, that's when things become one. French. Oui, oui. That's what Dave Ramsey would say. This is The Ramsey Show. You're listening to The Ramsey Show. I am your host, Jade Warshaw, joined by Ken Coleman, author of the best-selling book, Find the Work You're Wired to Do. Inside of it is what, Ken? The assessment called the Get Clear Assessment, and it measures three things. What you're good

at doing, what you enjoy doing, and what results motivate you. And it's a self-awareness tool. You cannot grow who you are until you know who you are, and that's what it does. Sets you up for, what's my professional path where I have the opportunity to make the most money? That's what this audience needs to know. You want to make the most money, you got to be in the right seat of the bus doing work you're wired to do. But it started with the tool and I love that. The tool leads to being able to have the outcome. And it's the same thing with every dollar, guys. We talk about every dollar all the time. It's the best budgeting tool out there. So look no further. It's here. It's the best way to make the most of your money. And it does that by helping you create and stick to a monthly budget. Out of all the things that

we talk about here on The Ramsey Show, the baby steps, all of those things, the budget is the crux of all of that. It is the chief cornerstone, if you will. And so every dollar makes it simple to plan your spending. In there, you can track your transactions. You can do your saving. It's all in one and it's easy to use. It's an app that fits into your lifestyle.

And better than that, it fits into your pocket because it's on your phone. So if you don't have every dollar, get into that. And if you don't have the premium version, I'd advise you to look into that, too. It'll help you keep a pulse on your spending. It'll help you make progress with all of your money goals. So if you haven't already, be sure to download every dollar for free. You can do that in the App Store or Google Play today. All right. Let's go to Chris, who's in Houston, Texas.

What's going on, Chris? Good afternoon. I was calling just for some career-type advice. I was 11 years in the military before I was asked not to reenlist because I did not take the COVID shot. I'm calling because I was trained to do a job, and that job doesn't really translate into the civilian world very well. So I've been doing entry-level jobs.

I've got three kids I'm marrying who are going to be at nine years next week, and I'm tired of scratching by. Tell me what you did in the military, and I want you to lay out the skills and experience that you had, that you got. Yeah. So a big aspect of what I did was just boat driving. I was in the Coast Guard. I did search and rescue, and I did ace the navigation, which is all the little buoys and signs that you see going up and down rivers, bays, channels. My job was to fix those. I've got a myriad of random little skills

that have tied into that with electrical, even hydraulic construction type work. But none of it really translates directly over. I've done odd jobs fixing elevators and pest control. I've done a little bit with merchant marine work. What were you making in the military? At the time that I got out, I was making just shy of $5,000 each month. Okay, so $60,000 was the top. And you said you drove boats and you also did some mechanical work on these same boats.

Is that what I'm hearing? More maintenance for those. My job didn't do the mechanical. I had to help with it. I got a little bit of mechanical knowledge um i've never been trained mechanically sure anyway i'm just tinkering all right let's go back let's go back go ahead before you got into the military if i were to meet you on the side of the road or at a coffee shop because nobody meets on the side of the road i'm not sure why i said that but if we met at a coffee shop and i said i on the side of the road. I'm not sure why I said that. But if we met at a coffee shop and I said, tell me, Chris, what you do naturally really well.

Your whole life has just come easy to you. People compliment you on this type of thing. This is pre-military. What would you have said to me? Pre-military? I was in high school. So my answer, I don't honestly know what my answer would have been. That's part of the reason I go in the military.

Yeah, I think that's because you don't have a lot of self-confidence. Is that a true or false statement? I'd say that's probably a true statement. What's going on there? Where do you think that comes from, the lack of self-confidence? Honestly, that probably goes back to a childhood issue, which I've been working on that. Okay, so Chris, I I've been working on that. So, Chris, I'm not going to do that with you here on the show.

We don't have time. But I do. Yeah, yeah, yeah, relax. I could tell you were like, please don't go there. We won't go there. The goal in asking that question, Chris, was not to make you cry or to try to do therapy. I love that you're working on that. I would really recommend that when you get a little bit of financial space, and we're going to talk about that a lot here, that you finish that job and get there. Because when I ask someone to tell me what has come easy for them in their life,

what people complimented them on, and they can't give me an answer right away, what that tells me is you actually know an answer, but don't believe it does that sound about right and i'll leave it at that but i want to know does that describe you well yeah probably okay so why don't you just for a heck of it tell your brain to shut up and why don't you just tell me one or two talents that even as a high schooler your whole life you can look back and go i was able to do these things a lot easier than other people. Can I just interject one? Can I please get his answer?

Okay. All right. Go ahead. I actually really enjoy studying. Okay. Learning. Learning, okay, and doing what with the learning? What kind of stuff did you enjoy learning the most about?

I've got several answers to that, actually me the first one okay um i really enjoy uh aviation okay all right so uh go ahead jay i'll come back to this i didn't want i just wanted to get that from him well but i'm going somewhere the weird thing is what you said was exactly what i was thinking in my head when you when you listed out all the jobs you've done, I'm like, oh, he's a quick study. He sees something, you see something, and you pick it up very quickly, which is really of high value. That's right. So where I'm driving, Chris, is the reason I'm going back is I'm trying to get you to a point where you see some patterns.

And driving a boat and flying a plane, a lot of similarities, true or false? Yeah, true. Okay. So there's something there. Let me tell you something, Chris, you, because of your Coast Guard training and background, if I were you, I'd be looking into in the Houston, Texas area, the opportunity to operate large machines, because you're going to be very attractive in a job application, somebody who learned how to drive a boat, right? Somebody who learned how to do all those things and do it for the Coast Guard of all organizations.

I think there's something to the precision. There's something to the efficiency of the driving a boat and flying a plane that make you get a little excitement. Am I right? Absolutely. My friend, you have so much from your experience that's transferable, it's not even funny. And Jay just hit something that I thought was very profound. The quick study.

You figured out how to turn a wrench and do some stuff on the boat just by paying attention. If you did some type of mechanical school, you could make really good money. Listen, you could go into welding. Let me tell you about guys that are welding right now. Welding is a do as much as you want, and you could be making $60 an hour. Chris, I'm just ideating. I'm not putting any of those things on you to wear today like that's your future, but I'm trying to drive this message home that you don't believe you have anything to offer, and that comes from your childhood, but here are two strangers who've only known you for a couple of minutes. We both see evidence that you have a ton

of skill that is very transferable, and maybe your greatest skill is the fact that you for a couple of minutes, we both see evidence that you have a ton of skill that is very transferable. And maybe your greatest skill is the fact that you're a quick learner. 100%. Yeah. Before we get off this call, I definitely want to get you set up with Dr. John Deloney's book, Own Your Past, Change Your Future. I think that's going to be great. And I agree with what Ken said. I hear very clearly you're a quick study. You're a person who's not afraid to get their hands dirty and learn a new task or learn a new skill. And I think, you know, other than what Ken said, I don't have anything else to add. Well, I do want to give him the book, Find the Work You're Wired to Do.

Chris, that's our gift to you. So hang on the line. This assessment is going to take you about 20 minutes. And what it's going to do is give you a self-awareness that you've not had maybe in a long time, if ever. Okay? And it's literally going to help you see, this is what I do best. This is the kind of work I enjoy doing. I'm motivated by this. We got a lot of it out on this. But then the book is going to help you see where these opportunities are in the world of work to do the stuff you're wired to do. So hang

on the line. We're going to get that to you. But Chris, it's time for you to start thinking highly of yourself and seeing I'm really good at operating big things, and that's a skill set that's in high demand and, oh, by the way, high income. Come on, Chris. Stand up straight. Believe and go do. You're listening to The Ramsey Show. If you are at home or at work or in your car and you've got a burning career question,

if you've got a burning money question that you want answers to, we can help with that. The number is 888-825-5225. And myself and Ken Coleman will do our best to give you some good advice uh karen in columbia south carolina has chosen to call the line so let's see what she's talking about what's going on karen well i have uh received an email quite recently that um my personally identifiable information has been compromised. And it came from a well-known utility company. And in inquiring further, not taking the number on the email seriously, but going back through past receipts and invoices, I found a number and I called them and it has been confirmed.

Um, my name, my previous address, my phone number, uh, my social security number, um, my banking information. And so, yeah, I'm not sure what to do next. Is it just you or was it like, you know, every once in a while I'll get one of those emails that's like, you know, we had a data breach in your name, you know, your information may have been part of some of the information that was leaked out is it is it something like that or yes and then um after the utility company said to to um to call up the experion am i saying that correctly? Yeah. And that they would, um, offer free protection for, for a year, which I did. Um, but then after doing that, I received an email stating that my phone number was visible on the dark web. And that kind of freaks me out.

I just want to make sure that you're, I just want to make sure that you're following valid information. The way that, and it may just be the way that you're saying it, so I don't mean any harm, but the way that you're saying it, it sounds a little bit scammy.

And I'm not, it might not be a scam. However, I will say this. If you haven't seen any, if you haven't seen any evidence of this, if you haven't had any fraud take place, if you haven't had anybody'd probably call my bank and say, hey, I got this notification, just reporting it, being on alert. I'd probably keep an eye on my credit to make sure no one's opening any accounts. And then what I would suggest, I would not do anything through Experian because they're a credit monitoring, like they're a credit agency. They sell you a lot of debt. I would go through Zander Insurance and I would do the Zander Identity Protection Insurance. I do it. Zander insurance and I would do the Zander identity protection insurance. I do it. It's super cheap and they monitor everything for you. And here's the thing,

Karen, if something does happen, they'll go to bat for you and they'll help you to recover anything that, you know, may get stolen. But nothing like that's happened yet. So I think you're kind of worried about the future. And I'm not going to lie. This sounds scammy to me. I don't like that's happened yet. So I think you're kind of worried about the future. And I'm not going to lie. This sounds scammy to me. I don't like that. They're like telling you who to call and telling you what to do. And it's just you. It feels it feels off to me.

Yeah. Well, that was my first inclination. And then that's why I didn't do anything for several weeks. But it then it just kept haunting me. me you know what if this isn't a scam here's the thing even if you're not I mean I'm not trying to I'm not trying to make light of your frustration but I do want you to see that how how big of a deal this may or may not be if you just google someone's name you can usually find their phone number so whether or not it's on the the dark web or not it's on the real

web it's on the light web so it's in many ways it's not as huge of a deal you know what I mean I just I don't want you to lose sleep about it but what I do want you to do I want you to call up Xander because that is going to help you sleep and feel good that someone's monitoring it you don't have to do the hard work and it's like 12 bucks a month it's so cheap okay um i did um prior prior to getting that email for uh for over for over a year i've had because of other personal and from um uh personal situations i've had've had my credit frozen at all three credit people. Okay, then nobody's going to be able to do anything. So just call Xander. That's all you got to do. She gave you two clear checklist items. That's all you got to do and you're going to sleep really well.

Love it. Yeah. For anybody, if you're afraid of identity protection, Xander offers a really good product. Everybody here at Ramsey has it. And like I said before, it'll monitor all of your accounts for you. And every couple of months, I think once a month, they send me an email to say, hey, you're all in the clear, or we saw this and we're going to monitor it. And if someone were to steal my ID, I don't have to be the one to hunt them down and track them down. Xander will do all of that for me, which is really great to have. So let's take another call. We've got Ryan, who's in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. What's going on, Ryan? Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my call. A little bit real quick about my finances. I make about $2,500 a week after tax. And I'm looking for

some green flags and some red flags when looking to set up a Roth IRA. Okay. What do you mean by that? Green flags and red flags? Just like, you know, what are like some things that I can look for that may set one company apart from another as far as like returns or like how I should invest my money and stuff like that. Okay. Well, first, the first thing I'd want to look for is if you're ready to start investing. So what we would teach here is the person who's ready to invest is the person who has paid off all of their debt except their mortgage. You don't need to have paid off your mortgage. And the person who's ready to invest would also have around three or six months of expenses saved. And then at that point, the purpose of that is to just make sure that when

you do start investing, your investment is protected because it's not riddled by the risk of debt and it's protected by the fact that you have savings in case something were to happen so you don't have to dip into those investments. So do you have those boxes checked? So I don't have any current debt right now. We don't have our three to six months nest egg saved up quite yet. But other than that, I don't have any outstanding debts. Okay, good. I'm glad you don't have any debt. What would it look like? I mean, you're making 10,000 bucks a month, right? Yes. So how quickly could you save up three to six months of expenses? And I mean, when I say that, I mean basic expenses. It doesn't have to be your full bells and whistles budget. I'm going to say probably within six to seven weeks,

I could probably have that comfortably tucked away. Love it. So at that point, once you get that stacked away, the next thing is the amount, right? So we would say 15% of your gross monthly payment since you're going to be doing this monthly, yeah? Okay. And then what we're looking for, you said Roth IRA. I'm guessing at your work, there's no 401k with a match. So I'm a union employee. I have a structured annuity plan and I have a regular retirement and I also have 401k. Okay. And the 401k, there's not a match towards it. It's just you put in what you put in. There is a match from my contractors, but I don't know what it is off the top of my head. Okay. So what we would say is to take the match first. So with 15% of your income,

go over and meet that match. And then after that, you go to the Roth IRA. Now we get to your question. So I just wanted to set all that up for the folks listening. So for you, what you're looking for is you want to invest across four different types of mutual funds, growth, growth and income, aggressive growth, and international. And what you're looking for, you want to take a look at their track record. I look back sometimes, I want to, I'm looking for funds that have been around for a long time. I want a long track record, a long history, and I'm looking for the annualized rate of return. I want to see that this has been making money over a long period of time. And we usually find just the S&P 500 has had an annualized rate of return of above 10%. So that's what we're looking for. And that's what I want you to be looking for.

And if you're finding that you're not able to do this or you're confused, get with one of our SmartVestor pros. They're not going to tell you what to invest in, but they are going to help teach you. And I think that's what you're looking for. And once you get on the right track, you'll be off to the races. This is The Ramsey Show. You're listening to the Ramsey show hey if this show has provided any value for you if you just like listening for entertainment or maybe we've helped you pay off some debt do us a favor it's

totally free we would love it if you were to like this show subscribe to the show if you're watching on YouTube if you would share the show or you, head over and check out our Ramsey Network app, you can watch some of the episodes in there and share them through there. That would be great. It's totally free and it's a way for you to kick up, you know, this show and other people's algorithms. So they'll begin to see it in that life change can just spread like wildfire. Like I said, it takes two seconds. It's absolutely free. And it's a way to kind of get involved in this life change movement that we're doing around here, Ken. Yeah, it does. it's a very important message. Dr. John Deloney is talking about relationships and these are voices that need to be heard and they have the ability to change lives and you can be

a very, very big part of that for a very small portion of your time, a very small portion of your day. So we would love it if you got involved. All right, thank you so much for doing that. Let's go to the phone lines. We've got Jared. He's in Little Rock, Arkansas. What's going on, Jared? Hey, guys. Thank y'all so much for taking my call. How are y'all today? I'm very good. I'm holding myself back because I want to go, ask Jared. Oh, I see what you're doing. It can only be Jared. He's only heard that a few million times. I know. I'm sorry. I can't resist. What can we do for you besides sing to you? Yes, that's right. I'll take it. Okay. So my dad passed away towards the end of last year. And so I've got an inheritance from him that he left me. And the short of it is I'm wanting to know

the best financial plan going forward for my family to to be able to handle this to not make a irresponsible decision to be able to um take care of us in the future or we've got two kids uh young kids and um also to be able to uh bless others in the process as well how much was it um so total total between 401k life insurance and checking account that he had, it is after paying off the little bit of debt that we have, it is 539, 539,000. Ooh, okay. That's juicy. What a gift. Wow. 539,000. Okay, so clearly you're wanting to be really good stewards of this. Can you give us a little picture of your current financial situation, aside from the inheritance?

Besides the inheritance, my wife and I both work for a ministry here in Arkansas. Household income is right around $69,000. That's not bring home. That's before taxes and stuff. So, I mean, we, we have no,

no mortgage or anything. We are looking at possibly buying or building a house in the future. That's kind of part of the question here on when that the proper time would be and how to do that. But other than that, we have about a little bit of medical bills. Total debt and all is right around $6,000. So we've got everything else paid off. That's all we have left. No car notes, nothing. Excellent. So the $6,000 in debt you're

renting right now, and do you guys have any other money saved? Yes, we have savings. We've got right under $32,000 there. Good. Okay, and would you call that three months of expenses, six months of expenses? What would you call that? I haven't figured that 100%. I'm going to say three to be on the safe side. It could be six.

It's closer to six. I mean, you said your gross income is 60. So after taxes, I mean, that's a big chunk of your income. That may be close to 75% of your income, correct? Okay. Yeah, yes, sir. I mean, it's up there, just rough math. So you're already at the three- to six-month level, I'm pretty confident of that, at $32,000.

So what are the big-ticket items besides building a house that you guys have on your list? Really, that's the biggest one. Anything else I can't really think of right off the top of my head. I mean, we're pretty good as far as vehicles go. We were able to buy a newer vehicle, 2013 model, last year, pay cash for it. Nice. And I'm good. I inherited my dad's truck, which is a 14 model, and we're good there.

So there's not really any other big expenses moving forward that we can think of. And we're okay where we're at right now. As far as the house, the ministry has actually provided a place for us to be able to stay. Oh, cool. So you're not spending any expense? You're not spending any renting expense? Correct. Okay, that's great. So, I mean, if you were looking to buy a house, which I think is, I mean, that's the

point that you're at right so you're right in line what would you want to spend what are you looking to spend and uh are you are is your goal to 100 cash flow it well that's kind of the question um because here's here's the thing with the 401k side of the inheritance that that had it goes into a non-spousal beneficiary account so from my understanding i have to take distributions on there and exhaust the account within 10 years so the biggest question is what i can do with that because of the taxes that are going to hit and everything so i don't know how much i'll have left and to be able to work with uh so i don't even know if I'm able to cash flow it. How much is in the 401k versus the life insurance?

I should have asked that. The 401k, as of today, had just over $453,000. Ah, so the bulk of it was there, and then you've got less than $100,000 in the life insurance. Correct. What is it, $80,000 or $90,000? Yeah. Okay. That does change things greatly.

And then what was the other component of it? You said it was a 401k life insurance. What was the third component? Out of his checking account, it was right at $29,000. But after we pay off that $6,000, it's $8,000. I figured $8,000. So it's going to be $21,000 in that. Okay. So we'll say that six, it's, it's, uh, eight, I figured eight. So it's going to be 21 in that. Okay. We'll say 21. So really accessible cash that's not tied to a 401k is really like a hundred

thousand. Is that right? Yeah, that would be, yes. Okay. Um, I would want you to get with a smart Vester pro to find out what the stipulations are on this 401k. Cause to be honest with you, I can't sit and tell you on the phone, um, whether you can get to that and even if you could it would be in like you said distributions it wouldn't be you going in and take all this taking all this money and honestly i wouldn't advise you to so the question is what is a what does a 100 000 down payment do for you because i think that's a pretty good gift. And then even if you allow this 401k to continue to grow, I mean, that's pretty awesome.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I mean, either way, I mean, it would work out great. It's just trying to make the smartest decision that we possibly can, you know, while not being selfish about it, because we are a big passion of both of ours is we want to get to a point to where we can bless other people as well. And we're already there to where we can and in moderation, we want to get to where we can do even more, you know, so we want to make the best decision to where we can still do that as well. We don't want to be selfish with it. Yeah, I think that I love that. I think for you,

the next step is to get with one of the smart investor pros. Christian will pick up and give you that information. But I don't want you to do anything that's going to cause you to be penalized or for there to be extra fees because you pulled out money earlier because you took a greater, you know, distribution than what you could. It sounds to me, I may be wrong and I'm likely, well, maybe, but it sounds like only that you've only got really safe access to this 100K right now. And I mean, that's a pretty sweet down payment depending on what you were hoping to spend on a house. Yeah, which we never got an answer to that. Let's circle back to that. So you said early in the call that you wanted to build. What size, excuse me, what price were you looking at building it?

I mean, realistically, somewhere between $150,000 to $200,000 is what we would be, you know. Okay then, so there's a massive down payment, so I don't see why you couldn't move forward on that with the $100,000 in cash. Correct. But again, this is up to you. I mean, we can't give you what you should do with this, but based on what I'm hearing, Jade, I think they should take a percentage of this $100,000 and give it to something that they really believe in. Not a massive percentage, but more than they could normally do. Yeah. believe in. Not a massive percentage, but more than they could normally do. And then they still have a massive down payment and they have no rent right now, so they can take their time. They can take their time. And it sounds like there's no bad choice here. As long as you're

not being penalized or doing anything out of order, there's no bad choice here. And that's what's great about this. What a great blessing that was left to you. This is The Ramsey Show. We'll see you next time.