The Ramsey Show - App - Should I Look Into a New Career Field After a Layoff?

Episode Date: May 19, 2022

Dave Ramsey & George Kamel discuss: Purchasing a family-owned farm, Buying your first home, Navigating a layoff. Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. You jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. It's a free call at 888-825-5225. George Campbell, Ramsey personality, host of the Entree Leadership Podcast, the Fine Print Podcast, and many other things around Ramsey, is my co-host as we answer your questions. We help people build wealth, do work that they love and create real high quality relationships it's your life and it's right here on the radio ray is with us ray is in cincinnati hi ray welcome to the show

thanks uh thanks for taking my call guys sure what's my question is i'm looking for the best way to purchase a family farm from a trust uh my in-law offered to sell us the farm at about half its value because he just no longer can really maintain it. He wants to make sure he can. He'd like to see something done with it while he has the ability to make the decisions while he's got his health. Like I said, it's already in a family trust where my wife and four kids make up half the trustees. And it's like a dream opportunity, but we have about 90,000 left on our current mortgage. And we're hoping that in

about two and a half years, we were going to be completely debt free, but it's a dream for us to have the farm. So we didn't know if any ideas, how to make this happen, any special transfers or anything we can do, just trying to come up with a way to make this happen any special transfers or anything we can do just trying to come up with a way to make this happen okay who owns who has the beneficial interest in the trust who's the owner of the farm today not your wife just this one in-law yes okay so this one person is going to be the only benefit correct okay. Okay, and what are they selling it to you for? What is the dollar amount? $300,000. It will be about half the actual value.

And what is your, I heard that part earlier, what is your house worth? I would say probably $400,000. And you owe $90,000. Can you not live on the farm uh well uh sorry i left that part out they would love to stay they want to stay on the farm until they pass so and no the farmhouse is not big enough to hold our family they live in the farmhouse now correct how many acres is the farm

uh roughly 90 acres would you farm it well it's cash lease right now and that farm income covers a tax as an insurance and i would continue to do that and then have some recreational property there also. So when the person passes, what will happen to the farmhouse? Will you live in it? At that point, we don't know if it would be a home park. Would you build on another portion of the farm? I don't believe so. I'm confused, Ray. this doesn't even make sense you're saying this is your dream but it also has no feasibility for your family to live there

well is uh just the location the recreation the uh owning owning the dirt is the dream not living on Correct. house and one acre not to the entire property okay i would sell your house and move into a rental and buy this property now you own it okay then you've got two options one is start saving like crazy for a good strong down payment on a house or uh start talking about building on this property and getting a construction loan to do that. How far is it from your work? 30 miles. How far are you from your work now? 25. No, okay, that's a break even.

So I'm going to challenge you to find a corner of the property, not right square in the middle of the stinking thing and look for a building site all right okay so really then you're you're gonna you're you're only going to be in debt what it takes to build a house because you're gonna pay cash for the property when you sell your property yes okay how old is the people living in the farmhouse uh late 70s do you want to rent until they leave no okay probably not okay so what i'm what i'm saying is okay how big here's your trade-off okay i always look at things that

are trade-off like one hand two hands right the the old tipping of the scales kind of a thing if you visualize the scales of justice a little bit okay you want to own this how bad do you want to own it how much inconvenience are you willing to go to to get to own it and do it in a wise way paying cash for it from the sale of your property sounds okay. That leaves you homeless, however, and we've got to figure out a place for you to park, right? Yes. And so the tradeoff is do you go into debt to build you a house and put it on a 15-year fixed or less and build you a pretty nice property equal to the one you've got now in the corner of the farm somewhere,

leaving the rest of it open for farming and recreation? You've maybe turned the little farmhouse into a rental when the people pass the uncle passes or whatever um or you just go rent and start piling up some cash and reassess your options but now your dream is so are you willing to on the the negative side to rent or be inconvenienced in order to live this dream or you want your cake and eat it too if you want your cake and eat it too you're going to break yourself you don't have enough money yeah the thing is that when they pass my wife and the kids become 50 owners in it at that point anyway but then i think things get messy and that's what i kind of worry about i agree go ahead and close on it i'd sell the one you live in i'd do the deal okay you can buy a six

hundred thousand dollar property for three hundred thousand and basically they're advancing you her half is what they're doing they're not really discounting it they're just advancing you her half right and then and but you own the dirt and then i'm gonna figure out some way to live on that dirt if i'm you and how desperate do you want to be on that i mean people have done some crazy things that i wouldn't do that have called this show like roll a roll a uh a trailer you know a five thousand dollar trailer up on there and park it or something i'm not living in that but because i'm a snob but um but you know you you figure out what you're coming out of four hundred thousand dollar house so I'm not making that as a viable suggestion. Okay. But what would Ramsey's do?

I like dirt. You know, I got a 250 acre farm just over the hill over is one of my favorite places on the planet. And so I believe in owning some dirt to keep the planet held together. We don't want to come apart or anything. So and I like this. It's in the family. You got you got you you like it it's in your wife's family it's pretty cool i think it's got a cool vibe on the thing but don't go over

there and go three hundred thousand dollars in debt keep your four hundred thousand dollar house and then try to figure out why you're broke because we will all know multiple mortgages because you had this dream yeah we will all know why you're broke because you did stupid butt stuff because you got all caught up in the dream of this thing and thought it was all just going to work out. It ain't going to work out. You've got to make it work out, dude. You've got to force it through the mold. And that means you put stuff on the other side of the scales, the inconvenient, bad stuff,

living in a rental building, waiting, something uncomfortable in order to make this happen today and keep the messiness of family out of it later. This is The Ramsey Show. You know, we did a survey recently looking for ways that we could serve you better. One of the top things we learned is that people need help when it comes to life insurance. Most people know it's a top priority, and oftentimes money's not even the issue, since term life is really just cheap. Some feel guilty for not taking action.

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Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282 and let them help. George Campbell Ramsey personality is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Garrett is in Phoenix, Arizona. Hi, Garrett. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. How are you doing today? Better than I deserve.

What's up? Well, I was calling because I was just laid off on Thursday. I'm in the mortgage. What happened? I'm 12 years old. Yeah, good question. My whole department was let go, so a little over 100 of us. So they're not doing enough mortgages?

Yeah, correct. So we do direct-to-consumer, and they're just refi's off the market. Yeah, refi's are gone because the rates are up, and people have slowed down on the refi's. And the purchases have slowed down because people can't get houses. There's no inventory, right? Exactly. Yep, exactly. So they laid 100 people off.

What were you doing in the mortgage business? I ran a processing team. You were a processor, okay. Operation, yep. Okay. So where I'm at is, um, thanks to you guys.

Um, I, my dad as well. I started, I never had that really. Um, I got about a year of reserves to the side. Um,

so I don't have that stress. I'm working on getting back into the workplace, you know, interviewing, applying, but for the last few months I've been working on starting my own processing company, a contract processing firm. I'm pretty dang close. I have my test in a couple days to get my license for that.

So you saw the writing on the wall. Yeah. I've been preparing since about November. I stopped investing everything and just started packing money away in my six-month reserve account and just loaded it up since I had a feeling things were going to start turning. Okay. If they laid off 100 people because there's no mortgages to process, how are you going to make money running a contract processing firm?

Well, and so that's part of my, that's part of the, so I have two contracts already with brokers that I've worked with in the past that are ready to execute on those contracts that 15 loans a month for both of them. So 30 loans right out the gate, which would then replace my salary and money pretty much instantaneously. And I guess my real question is, so should I still kind of go that route since I have the money to do so? And the security is there. I mean, I don't have that concern necessarily. Or should I just be trying to get back into the corporate side and keep interviewing, apply, get a job there, and then kind of postpone this plan until things kind of shimmer down maybe a bit. I guess I'm just trying to clarify or figure out, should I take this self-employed style role

or go back into corporate America? Sounds like you got enough of the pipeline self-employed to make it sweet. What's wrong with it? What's wrong with it? I would say the biggest thing is we just, my wife and I just had a baby in December. And the fear is more there, so she just stopped working two weeks ago, ironically. But you have enough to replace your salary in the pipeline. Correct. So my big concern is that as things continue to, I guess, be unsteady in a way, you know, with inventory and there were rates, my fear is that the sales teams are not going to be producing the same they were.

They're confident and they're telling me they're good. Yeah. Could you go get more contracts other than these two? Yeah, so that's kind of what I'm working on. But the problem with that currently is I need to get, you know, licensed and actually operational first, which I have the test tomorrow. So that will be happening in the next couple of days, obviously. So how quickly could you be running this business and producing an income?

Six weeks or less. Okay. I mean, it sounds like there's some fear that this may not work. And so if you want to do something, you know, part-time for now, just to make sure that you've got the income there, but you said you have a year of reserves. You've got a year emergency fund sitting there? Yeah, I've got $39,000 sitting in my reserve account. And you've got no debt. And so I feel like your risk is pretty low. Yeah. So, I mean, we live on about $2,700 a month.

I have my mortgage on a 15-year and got my payment to about $1,200. So, got a low mortgage payment, low housing cost in general. How old are you? Old car, 22. 22? Wow. Yes, sir. Wow.

Okay. I thought I was talking to a 32-year-old. Way to go, dude. You're poised. Sharp young guy. You carry yourself well. All right. Can I just tell you what I think I'm hearing, and then you tell me if I'm wrong, okay? Yes, sir.

I think I'm hearing, this is why I mistake that a corporate job is secure and self-employment is not. 100%. I would agree with that. That is a mistake. You've just discovered last Thursday that corporate is not safe. No, you're 100% right. As a matter of fact, it is less safe than self-employed, because self-employed is you have to get up, my man, leave the cave, kill something, and drag it home every day.

You're under no illusions of who's in charge of your destiny. When you're waiting on corporate America to just keep writing you a check, meanwhile they can't even balance their checkbook in the back room, so they just swoop in one Thursday and go, 100 of you go home with no more heart than an armadillo has, which has a very small heart, by the way. And so, you know, there you go. So, no, I do not want to be beholden to corporate America for anything if I can help it.

If you want to, it's okay, but don't do it under the name under the heading of uh security because it's not secure right okay that doesn't make sense and you're right you're a human which means when you bring another human onto the planet in your early 20s it scares the crap out of you which means you're going to be a great dad. All right. Because you're actually a responsible guy. So what did you make before? How much money were you making? So my base pay was $80,000, and bonuses were between $60,000 to like $120,000 a year.

Okay. You can go make that kind of money again, doing a lot of different things as sharp as you are fairly quickly if this processing thing goes belly up on you. Okay. Don't lose your entire everything holding on too tightly to the processing idea. But if you can get it out there and get it running and make a living doing it, keep it open and keep poking around the edges of it until you get enough contracts that get stable.

Because, see, when you were working for that other company, you had one customer. If you had 10 customers, you'd be more stable. Yeah, that's very true, actually. Yeah. That's actually a good way to look at that. But with your work ethic, you can go anywhere in the financial industry, and I'm not worried about you producing an income if this self-employment doesn't work out. Yeah, you'll be able to land something before your money runs out,

and you're the kind of guy that will go deliver pizzas at night if you had to or do whatever until you landed the paying, quote, J-O-B again, job, career, whatever direction you're going there. But if I'm in your shoes, dude, I'm just going to, as an act of my will, not in a rash way or an unwise way but i'm gonna override my security gland here my my insecurity because i have a brand new baby and i just got fired and i didn't see it coming and i didn't do anything wrong and that's enough to scare anybody any age but you're a young dude with a young family and it not just not it kicks you in the

kneecap emotionally which just means that you're a guy that cares. You're a person of honor. You're a good husband. You're a good dad. You're going to be awesome. Man, we need more sharp 22-year-olds like Garrett out there. They'd give me a lot of faith in the economy. We have them.

They're there. But obviously, corporate America doesn't appreciate them. So there you go. But you can't pay the bill. You can't pay the bill, I guess, so you lay the people off. That's how some of the best businesses are started. Something like this goes, I'm going to do it on my own. That's exactly right.

Never again am I going to be put in a situation where I'm dependent on someone else to feed my family. I'm going to get up, leave the cave, kill something, and drag it home every day. And you're right. That's exactly how a lot of the entree leadership people that we meet with, they're sometimes what we call accidental entrepreneurs. They find themselves unemployed. They go, well, I've just been making this thing in the basement, so let's go make a bunch of them. And suddenly they're millionaires making a bunch of them. They solved a problem, made some customers happy.

Didn't have an intention of being in business, but there they were and found it to be much more secure and much more rewarding than working for corporate America. That's the American spirit. There we go. I love it. As long as there are garages, there will be small business, and as long as there is small business, there will always be capitalism. This is the Ramsey personality is my co-host today thank you for joining us America in the

lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage DRC and Alan are with us hey guys how are you hi Dave hi so excited to meet you both you too where do you guys live we're in St. Augustine Florida oh beautiful area very cool welcome to Nashville and all the way here to do a debt-free Excited to meet you both. You too. Where do you guys live? We're in St. Augustine, Florida. Oh, beautiful area. Very cool. Welcome to Nashville. And all the way here to do a debt-free scream. How much did you pay off?

$306,586.66. Love it. Might be the nerd. Love it. Might be. Might be, yeah. And how long did this take? This took 42 months.

Okay. And your range did this take? This took 42 months. Okay. And your range of income during that time? We started at $194,000 and went up to $247,000. Wow. Very cool. What do you all do for a living? I'm a pharmacist. And I'm a painting contractor.

Very good. Good. Okay. What kind of debt was this? Was this the house? No. No. No. No.

It was from a failed business from a failed business yes okay tell us the story what happened yes so actually this is the second time we've gone through um your baby steps so we had completely paid off everything including the house in 2017 and we apparently did not learn our lesson hard enough. Oh. We thought a business was different, so we ended up getting some business loans and doing a business that ended up failing in about a year and a half. Which is when you find out that business is not different.

Yes, business is not different, and you need to listen to your Uncle Dave. Debt is debt is debt is debt is debt. Yes. So what kind of business was it yes it was a hormone weight loss business okay and what happened what caused it to fail well we had it was a brick and mortar so i would first advise nobody to do brick and mortar if you can at all help it and to um like we really had a marketing um issue so lots of expense and then it was hard getting

people in the door. Okay. Not enough customers. Not enough customers, yes. So do you still have a paid-for house? No. So this is all the business debt that we paid off, so we still have the house left.

But we are keeping our expenses very, very low. So it's very, very manageable. We should be able to have that paid off. Right now the house is the only debt that we have. Right and so what was this like sba loans or um no we had taken like the equity from a house that we had paid off and used a lot of that and then on top of that we were we were trying to support the marketing so we were getting a bunch of different um loans and credit cards for that so okay all right cool so the thing crashes you close it up and then you go okay now i gotta clean this up yes yes and that was 42 months ago

yes yes wow so we were that's a hard debt to pay off emotionally yeah i mean it's one thing to go buy something stupid at the store and then have that on a credit card but the the the failed business breaks your heart yes and you know it just makes you beat yourself up and now i gotta pay payments on it oh my gosh it's like a it's like paying alimony it's awful it's on the old marriage you know it's like absolutely it was like one of the darkest times of life that i've ever been through and uh you know i just it's hard so grateful that you know we were able to do it together and walk through it together and and kind of make progress forward and and um just

just grateful to be out of that dark place yeah well you guys you guys did a lot of hustling and grinding okay and so the business closed um were one of you already were you you're already a pharmacist i'm sure okay and were you already doing you were already a pharmacist, I'm sure. Okay. And were you already doing painting? Yes. Okay. So you just took those and made them the full-time gig and beefed it up and went on.

Yes. Okay. And then just roll up your sleeves and get after it. Yes. Yes. Just we had a huge Excel sheet of all the little things and just took them one by one through the snowball. I gave your debt snowball app a workout. Throwing snowballs. That's what it's there for.

That's awesome. So what was the hardest part for you guys? I mean, 42 months is a long time, and that's a whole big pile of debt. What was the hardest part? I think just the emotional part of it. You know, a lot of self-doubt and, you know, pain. Yeah, sleepless nights and just wondering if, you know, can we really do this?

Like, can we get through it? And, yeah, I mean, God willing, we were, and we had a lot of support. Yeah. Well, as dark as it is, too, as you start approaching the light at the end of it, it gets really, really super exciting. It's just like, I'm just about done with this crap. Right? I mean, I remember this. I remember this exact set of emotions.

Yeah. Every two weeks, our daughter would help us with the little chart that we had going. So she'd take out her little pink highlighter and help us along. So it was so satisfying as you see the debt snowball grow and you see you're making these like huge chunks on your debt, you know, which you never thought were possible. And so now we're seeing the glimmer, you know, on the horizon and we see how we can flip it. And then, you know, that's going to be start to be our savings and really make some major progress here in the next couple of years. Most of us that have closed a small business that have experienced a certain amount, if not a lot of shame for the goof up that is associated with it

and the further you got down the debt snowball the more that was in your rearview mirror the thing i experienced was i was more and more and more free of not just the debt and the the arithmetic but that shame was further back there it's like oh, oh, that's back there. That's back there. I'm not that guy anymore. I learned it. I got it. It's back there. Last little bit.

I got to sweep up this one more corner, and we're done. Yes. But what was hard was even preparing for today. We were putting together our little placard of saying how much we paid off, and just looking at the number. I mean, I know the number because I'm the nerd, but just looking at the number on the placard of how much we paid off is like, oh, it just hits you in the gut.

And it's done. But it's done. It's done. It's done. It's finished. We're here. This is our celebration. Never again.

Never again. Again. Never again. For anything. For anything. Never again. Yeah, this lesson is now seared. That was a hot stove with a lot of zeros at the end of it.

Yes. Yes. Wow. Well, you guys are inspiring. And you said you with a lot of zeros at the end of it. Yes, yes, yes. Wow, well, you guys are inspiring. And you said you had a lot of support. Who were your biggest cheerleaders? Oh, so many people really, really helped us. We did go through Financial Peace University a couple different times and are so glad for all of the sets of families that went through that with us. They actually co-led it, and we co-led it at Pneuma Life Church, so I just want to give

a shout out to our church, and also to our Ramsey Preferred coach, Heather Seymour, who has been along for the ride with us. She really helped us, especially with the business finances and getting that dialed in and the debt there, so we can't- To the point, she actually comes dialed in and the debt there. So we can't. To the point she actually comes up here and does the debt-free screen with you. Yes. That's ultimate support right there.

That's awesome. Absolutely. And I also want to thank a close friend of mine, Chris Larson, for all the support he gave me. Yeah. Yeah. You got to have friends in your corner when you're going through this. It's a big deal. I mean, it's a big deal.

What y'all have been through is incredible.'m proud of you for work walking through it because it's a tough tough slog uh getting out of debt's one thing getting out of this kind of debt in this situation with all the emotions and things around it it's um it's a big deal very well done very very very well done what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is now you've been through for an fpu a couple times and now you did the hard stuff what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? Now you've been through an FPU a couple times, and now you did the hard stuff. What do you tell them? Well, I was going to say the biggest thing that I learned from going through this is from my wife and I getting on the same page and just coming to an agreement with every decision that we made.

And we haven't had a – even going through all of this, we haven't had a fight over finances since 2009. Wow. That's a big deal. Yeah. Because all along together, we made the financial decisions. It had to be like two thumbs up or we weren't doing it. So we were in it together and we fought through it together. And, you know, having your steps to really have a framework of like, okay, this is how we're going to do it.

We're going to agree on this framework, and we're going to solution and move forward. Love it. Love it. Well done. We got a copy of Baby Steps Millionaires for you. That's the next chapter. You're on your way.

Thank you. I love it. And a copy of Total Money Makeover for you to give away to somebody in your FPU group or somebody you want to stir up a ruckus with. I love it. And have to say hello to Genevieve and Campbell, our kids that are at home. You got it. Very cool.

Hi, guys. All right. D.R.C. and Allen, St. Augustine, Florida. $307,000 paid off in 42 months, making $199,000 to $247,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free!

Yeah! Whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop. I felt that one deep down. Yeah. Wow. Real. Real stuff going on there. Never gets old. This is the Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. George Campbell Ramsey personality is my co-host today open phones at 888-825-5225 our question of the day comes from Blinds.com. They have a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

It means even if you mismeasure, you pick the wrong color, they'll remake your blinds for free. Free samples, free shipping, new promos all the time. You'll save even more. Always use the promo code, the magic word, Ramsey. Today's question comes from Evan in Michigan. He says, I'm 34 years old and i earn over three hundred thousand dollars a year working in software engineering i've always thought that

roth 401ks are the way to go for retirement savings however due to my income amount wouldn't it be better to defer the taxes until retirement when income is more likely to be lower or pay the taxes at my current rate my thought process is that my wife and I will likely live on significantly less in retirement, so wouldn't it make more sense to pay the taxes then? It's a good question. Well, it is. The problem is that the tax rates are not stable. They change with the political winds, and so you can't use that set of assumptions to work because they might just look up and go oh anybody who saved a million dollars or more gets taxed double because they're evil and they must be punished and there is that

whole group of people out there that want that kind of tax law enacted i don't think it'll happen i hope it doesn't happen but it could happen that's the problem number one with that theory uh the other thing that happens is when you have everything in a roth it's 100 tax free under current law you do not have to deal with the required minimum distributions you're not required to pull the money out and so it can just sit there continue to grow and grow you've got a lot more flexibility you can pull the money out. And so it can just sit there. Continue to grow and grow. You've got a lot more flexibility. You can pull it all out.

You can pull none of it out. It's tax-free. And so you don't have to touch it. So it gives you a lot more flexibility. My tax rate could go down, hypothetically, were I to quit working. I don't know if it would or not really but it could and um yet i have 100 of mine in a roth i've can what traditional stuff i had from the old days i've converted it to roth and paid the taxes because of the flexibility because likely in my

case and maybe even in your case evan a lot of it because you're making so much money you've done so well congratulations is you're probably not going to touch this money i doubt i'll ever touch my roths they'll probably become part of an inheritance i don't need i won't need them i've got real estate income that i'd have i'd have other types of other sources other things going on so i probably would just let all of that sit there and grow and grow and grow and grow and grow and grow. Where if it's in a traditional, it has required minimum distribution. They're forcing you to take certain amounts out per year. Yeah. And there's a lot of assumptions here that 30 years from now, the tax brackets won't change or they won't go significantly higher.

And I just don't like that having to assume all of those things. I like the guaranteed, when I put my after-tax dollars in today, it's going to grow tax-free. If I've got $2 million sitting in that Roth when I retire, I can pull $2 million out tax-free. Exactly. Let's me sleep at night. So I'm still doing what I'm saying.

I personally do a Roth. Same. And I'm in the same situation, and George is in the same situation as well. So he's probably in a closer situation to you than I am because age is similar, that kind of a thing. So well done, Evan. Well done, man. We appreciate you writing in and being part of our Blinds.com question of the day. Matt is in Pittsburgh.

Hey, Matt, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. It's an honor to be speaking with you today. You too. It's an honor to be speaking with you today. You too. What's up? Well, I'm currently a 22-year-old college student. I'll be graduating here in the next couple months, and I'm looking to get out of my renting situation

and purchase a home within the next year. I'm kind of lost on how to really save up for it, if I should be keeping all my income that I'm going to be having in cash, or if I should be investing it, and how much you recommend to put down on my first home purchase. I'm just kind of looking for some guidance here. Cool. So what's your income, Matt? Well, currently I don't have any, but I'll be starting a job in June that I'll be making $70,000 in my first year, plus $10,000 in stock, but I'm pretty

sure I don't get paid that until like a year, year and a half. Okay. And do you have any debt right now? I have a good amount of savings and personal investments, but I do have $9,000 left on a car for me. Okay. And that's all the debt. That's all the debt. So what's stopping you from paying off the car today and freeing up that payment? Well, I was fortunate enough not to have to pay for my college because I got an athletic scholarship. So because of that, my dad, we bought a car together. Well, it's in my name, but we bought it together during COVID, so there's no interest on it.

It was like one of those deals. I know you probably won't like hearing that, but I don't know. I just haven't put it as a first priority just because I don't really want to use my – I have about like $11,000 in savings right now, and I kind of don't have an income these next couple months, so I've just been avoiding it, I guess. How much have you gotten personal investments? Around 17. Okay, and is that in a retirement account? No, it's actually in individual stocks, and yeah, basically all stocks and a little bit

of cryptocurrency. Okay, well, Matt, I'll tell you what we teach, and this is the process I followed to get through all the baby steps and now with a paid-for house. Baby step one is a $1,000 emergency fund. Baby step two, we pay off all of our debt using the debt snowball method, and that includes the car. Baby step three, we get three to six months of expenses in an emergency fund, and then baby step three B, we start saving up for the house. And so that's where that would fall in. And so you're not quite there yet. You could be if we released these investments, cashed out, and started doing things a different way. But it sounds like you're good with Matt's

plan, which is fine. But if you're going to buy a house, here's our parameters for it in that 3B. I want you to save up 10% to 20% for your down payment on a 15-year fixed mortgage. That should be your only option when it comes to mortgages. And your payment on that should be no more than a quarter of your take-home pay. And so you can jump onto our mortgage calculator at ramseysolutions.com and start playing around with those numbers to see, hey, in the Pittsburgh area, for a reasonable house for me, for my first house, what do I need to do? Okay, I need to save up $70,000 in order to get this house on a 15-year fixed rate where the payment's no more than a quarter of my take-home pay. Gotcha. So once I pay off the car, sorry, what was that? Go ahead, go ahead.

So once I pay off the car and save enough to put 20% down in my take-home pay, my monthly payment's a quarter of my take-home pay, then I'm good to go. On a 15-year. Yeah, and you could, I mean, today, if you paid off the car, you'd still have money left over for your emergency fund, and then you can start to save up for this down payment. We just got to start doing things in the right order so that you feel this progress. Gotcha. Okay. So here's the thing. you've listened to this show i can tell by the way you're responding to some of these things and you kind of knew what we were going to say didn't you yeah a little bit all right and so here opinion, but the actual facts. We did the largest study of millionaires ever done in North America, 10,167 of them.

The number of them that became million stocks playing a day trader game was under 5%. In other words, 95% of them did not use your plan. Right. So you need to decide if your plan sucks as bad as I think it does. Well, would you recommend cashing out of my individual stocks in crypto and keeping that apparently apparently that's what i just told you so don't invest that in anything else keep it sitting in cash you need an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses and you need to be debt free

paying off that stupid car by the end of the day. And then you start building in cash your down payment on your house. And then when you get your house, you start putting 15% of your income away into good growth stock mutual funds in your 401k at your new great job. And you're going to be a millionaire doing that by the time you're 35. And you're going to be a millionaire doing that by the time you're 35. And you're going to have your house paid off by the time you're 35. If you follow what we teach that is a proven process, a proven plan that data backs up. It's not doing what your broke friends all think is sexy

while you guys are playing beer pong. This is what is really done by real millionaires. This is The Ramsey Show. Do you love a good day, friends? Want to see the latest Ramsey Show videos going viral? Check out your favorite moments from the Ramsey Show on YouTube. Go watch and subscribe to the Ramsey Show channel on YouTube.