The Ramsey Show - App - Should I Put Money Into a CD? (Hour 2)

Episode Date: August 31, 2020

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is the Dave Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. I'm Chris Hogan, and hosting along with me this hour is Dr. John Deloney, and we are very excited to be with you. We can't wait to talk to you to find out what's on your mind. But here's the deal. We can't talk to you if you don't call us. So I don't want you to be shy.

I don't want you to be reserved. I want to make this a day of boldness where you pick up the phone and call us. The number to call is 888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225. Call us. Kelly is ready, standing by. She's properly caffeinated and ready to go. And you can also find us on social media.

You've got me at ChrisHogan360. You've got John at John Deloney or at Ramsey Show. John, are you ready? I'm ready, man. People are sending in their social questions. This day and age right now with so much going on, with kids being at home, with people working from home, there's a lot of stress right now. What's a tip that you have?

I know you're talking to people. You've got your new show, the Dr. John Deloney Show. I know you're getting this right now with stress levels being high. What are some tips you have for people? Oh, that's a great question. I think the first one is to double down on intentionality and intentionally separate intentionally go for a walk by yourself intentionally give your partner some space intentionally have conversations the

second thing and people hear me say this all the time but communication is not connection and what you find yourself is you're stuck in a room and you're seeing your kids all the time. You're seeing your husband, your wife all the time. And you are passing along information. I need you to do this. We've got to do this. We've got to move on to math. But you're not connecting.

So you get to the end of the day and you feel like we've said all we need to say to one another. I've seen you plenty. But our brains, our hearts don't register that as connection with, right? So it becomes very transactional. And what happens is you end up feeling alone in a crowded room. You get lonely, surrounded by people who love you. And it's a dark place. And then if you're like me, you just start retreating then.

And then you realize I've been having a lot of interactions with my wife, but nothing meaningful, just a lot of business decisions, a lot of who takes the trash out and how did you get this and that. And so you've got to be intentional about connecting. Okay, that's good. So be intentional. The reality is, you all, you're going to have questions. John's got his show that is newly launched and exciting and ready to take your questions.

You can email him at askjohn at ramsaysolutions.com or put this number down. It's 844-693-3291. It's a way for you to call in, leave a voicemail about your question, and he'd love to talk with you. He's going to be dealing with life, relationships, mental health challenges, learning how to deal with difficult people, which can be stressful and irritating. I get a lot of practice while I'm on the show with Dave. You do, when you're on with Dave.

When you're on with Dave, and it's okay, but I'm here for you today. But we want to hear from you all. We want to talk with you. We're going to get to the phones. We've got Tyrell. He's in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Tyrell, how can John and I help you? Hi, how are you guys doing today?

Oh, we're focused and not finished, my friend. What's on your mind? So I am 26 years old, and I am on babysit 2. And I've been looking into my future about what I want to do as far as my career is concerned. I've been a junior Olympic gymnastics instructor for about 10 years now. And I want to own my own gym, but I know that it's going to cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars. And I'm just not sure where to start or what to do.

Do you currently work at a gym now? I do. It's actually the gym that trained me as a kid. Are you a part owner there? Are you just an hourly employee? What's your role there? Are you a part owner there are you just a an hourly employee what's your role there you a head coach i'm just an hourly employee okay uh tyrell talk to me about your your income right now what's your how your household income so i am single uh i work two jobs jobs. I make $1,600 a month. Okay.

And talk to me about what debts do you have? I have my student loan. It's just under $6,000. And my vehicle, which is $8,600. Okay. And those are the only two debts you have? That's it.

Okay. Well, see, here's... Dude, if I'm you, I'm going to get so intentional about getting my money freed up that I'm going to double down, take on extra jobs, be in a waiter, whatever it is I've got to do to attack the student loan debt of $6,000, and you said your car loan is just under $8,000? Yeah, I've been thinking about selling it. I'm able to ride my bike to work. Okay. Well, I mean, and I would put all options on the table, but I like what John was asking.

You working at a gym and being connected there, I think what you do, Tyrell, like for you, what was the highest level you competed in the gymnastics? Level 10. Out of how many? 10. Good. Oh, okay. You just had to go there.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, okay. You're not going to believe this, Tyrell. All you had to do was tell me you were great. Chris Hogan also was a level 10 gymnast at one point. In lifting, okay? You don't want to see me on the parallel bars now uh tyrell but here's the thing man i the idea of you setting that goal and really being able to know

hey this is what it's going to take and as you said there's a lot involved in it but you looking and you being connected you taking on ways of even tutoring, doing some more training. I would have this as a goal for me, for you in the next three to five years, but I would work intentionally. You may have an opportunity to buy into a gym. You may have an opportunity to buy one, but I want you to financially put yourself in that position. Let me hop in here. Tyrell, why do you want to open a gym?

Why do you want to open a gym why do you have your own gym um well um i come from a family of 10 and uh most of my siblings have uh severe special needs anything from a uh seizure every day to a trick and um i've always wanted to um teach i actually went to college for a short period of time that I was there to be a secondary education teacher. So I've always loved kids, and there's not many opportunities for kids that have special needs to be in an environment where they can express themselves and just have fun. That's right. So that's really what I wanted to do. So I want you to back out for a second of this focus, this laser beam on a gym, and here's why. I don't like the fact that you've been training for 10 years.

You've been training other people, and the gym that knows you better than anybody is letting you hang around as a minimum wage employee. And if you step back, owning a gym, running a gym is part passion, part loving kids, part really knowing how to work with special needs men and women, which is its own education field, its own practice. Dealing with special education, special need parents is a whole other challenge. And then just running the business, keeping the lights on. I want you to get some experience working at all different kinds of gyms. If you can, work with special needs

kids in your community. If you can, go back to school at a local community college there in Harrisburg and get some training on how to work with special needs kids. I love it. There's a point when passion, just like in gymnast, I love gymnastics, but dude, you've got to put the hours, hours, hours in.

So for me, you're asking multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars questions too soon. I want you to get to training. I want you to get some different expertise outside of your home gym and see what opportunities fall your way, man. Hey, you've got an incredible opportunity, my friend. I love your heart, brother. To be a blessing to special needs kids, and I love this. You've got options.

Start working. As John said, get connected, network, but gain that experience. friends to be a blessing to special needs kids and i love this and you've got options start working as john said get connected network but gain that experience this is the dave ramsey show did you know statistically when it comes to life insurance and protecting your family that women are more likely to be uninsured or underinsured than men. This doesn't make any sense. Women make up half the workforce, contribute mightily to family incomes, and in many cases are the breadwinners and take care of their families 24 hours a day. This is one of the most overlooked areas when it comes to financial planning. Maybe it's a relic of the past, but a loss of income or the need to replace family care is equally important for women as it is for men.

Single moms, working moms, and stay-at-home moms all need term life insurance. Rates are actually lower for women, which is why I send you to Zander Insurance. They shop the top term life companies to find the lowest rates available. You can compare rates online at zander.com or call 800-356-4282 this is something every family has to deal with that's zander.com or 800-356-4282 hello everyone you are listening to The Dave Ramsey Show. I'm Chris Hogan, and hosting along with me is John Deloney. We are excited to take your calls. You may not know, but we are growing here.

Imagine walking into a job and seeing the work that you do, creating real-life change for millions of people that it touches. Now more than ever, people need our message of hope. Ramsey Solutions is currently on the hunt for several key developers with expertise in Ruby on Rails, Java, C Sharp, and front-end technologies. Heck, if you're a top-notch developer who wants to work with over 150 other tech gurus, this is the place for you to be. We hire only the truly dedicated, the best of the best. If you've been impacted by our mission and want to spread the message, we want you to apply today. Find out about all the jobs available at DaveRamsey.com.

Just click on Dave's hiring tab on the right side of the homepage. We are doing work that matters and having a lot of fun along the way. Spread the word that Dave is hiring. Visit DaveRamsey.com and check out our opportunities. We are definitely growing and looking for the right people to help us continue to spread the message of hope. I told you to send in questions. You all have been sending them in. Very, very grateful for you for these social questions.

A big deal. Men, very, very grateful for you for these social questions. A big deal. Someone asked from Aiden on YouTube says, Do you consider being on a contract with your cell phone company a form of debt? We basically owe them our business for two years. I don't like being locked into their contract. Well, Aiden, I mean, as you look at this, this is a service agreement. So looking, you know, as long as it's for the phone service, right, that you're paying,

just like a cable bill or a water bill or electric bill, I'm going to look at this as a bill. This is something you have. If you finance the phone along inside of that, well, now, yes, you are talking about debt. And a lot of companies are having people be able to do that. So be intentional intentional my friend you know if you owe on a credit card or a personal loan or anything like that get intentional get it attacked and pay it off i'll tell you this um this is an interesting question from aiden um that i've wrestled with and i actually switched phone companies i won't say the company that i use now but it's a month-to-month company, and I pay my bills way, way in advance. And it's a psychological thing to me.

I don't like owing people money to the point that I will pay them way up, and I like getting a bill every month with a credit on it. A negative. A negative. It makes my heart feel good just to think, this time the electric company's in hock to Brother Deloney. I love that feeling and it's just it's purely psychological it's stupid it's probably a good use of my money but um i

don't like owing people money to the point that i have a phone a month-to-month phone carrier service and i prepay some of my bills so um i i like that question i appreciate your answer there chris yeah absolutely and listen if you're out there, especially the people on YouTube, I've got to give them a shout out. They are fantastic. They are plugged in there now. They are talking to us, giving us feedback, and really cheering people on. If you're not plugged in to one of our communities, we've got the Baby Steps community that is available that you can plug into. I've got my Everyday Millionaire group. Go to Facebook.com slash ChrisHogan360, and you can connect there.

Life's not meant to be done alone. So get connected so you can communicate. Talk about the things that are on your mind. Sometimes we get connected with people too much, like him, Maloney, that's sitting here. I tried to lock him out. He knows the code. He Kims in anyway. It just happens.

But, hey, it's good to be here. We want to lock him out. He knows the code. He Kims in anyway. It just happens. But, hey, it's good to be here. We want to hear from you. Call us, 888-825-5225. All right, let's see what Kyle's talking about. Kyle, I have actually been, my friend, to Bozeman, Montana. How are you? Good. How are you guys doing?

I'll focus and not finish, my friend. What's on your mind? So my wife and I own a home here um we bought it uh we owe about 370 on it uh it's worth probably 450 now we've done some renovations and that um but we're about 40 to 45 000 in debt so my question is um do we sell that house, rent for a couple of years, pay off all that debt, and basically start on baby step three? Or do we keep in this house and pay towards that debt, keeping this asset that we already have? Gotcha. What's your all's household income, buddy?

My wife stays at home, and I bring home about $80,000 to $100,000, depending how this fall goes. Okay. And what do you mean, depending on the fall? You mean the weather? Contracting. Okay. Into your finished carpenter. Typically in a fall, you fall into what? Is it $80,000? Yeah, probably. Okay. And what's the mortgage payment on this home?

About $2,300. Okay. So was your wife working at the time you all bought this home? Yes. Uh-huh. So you qualified off of both incomes. How much was she making back then? About $30,000.

Okay. So things are tight with her at home, huh? Yeah. You have to know we have two kids. Okay. So things are tight with her at home, huh? Yeah. You have to know we have two kids. Okay. So child care in this area is about what she would make every month. Right. Okay.

So this $45,000 in debt you have, break it down for me. What do you got? Two vehicles, student loans, and then a little bit of medical. How much of it is student loan? About $23,000. Okay. And that's mine. And then talk to me, vehicle one, yours, how much is owed on it?

They're both right at about $8,000. $8,000? How much is the payment on the cars, each of them? One is $160,000 and one is $245,000. Okay. of them uh one is 160 and one is 245 okay so you guys all right so you you were doing a whole lot of normal right um and the reason i say this because typical average homes in your area are how much i can't remember that market i know i'd looked at some land out there as i was driving around but you guys bought on the higher end of the housing market, didn't you? No, I mean, we bought on the lower end, and we appraised $15,000 higher than we bought.

Okay. But it is skyrocketing. The average home price here is $4,000 to $4,500. Okay. For a medium, we have a four-bedroom, but that's for a three-bedroom. What's the square footage on this home? About 2,400 square feet. Okay.

All right. So it's not a massive home. Here's the thing. When people start asking me about selling the house to be able to attack debt, there's a couple things that immediately jump out at me. You know, number one, what are we doing? And I mean that meaning are we just trying to clean up and wipe it away or are we fixing the behavior that's behind it? You guys have an appetite for debt, right? And so you're starting to go, boy, this doesn't taste good.

It doesn't feel good. And you're starting to undo it. I don't think you necessarily need to sell the house. What you need to do is sell some cars. You look at this. I mean, you've got almost almost 400 just tied into vehicles here um that'll give you some breathing room uh but it's the behavior so i don't think necessarily selling the house is the answer i think you guys getting on board getting on a budget getting more

intentional and then looking at selling these cars is probably the answer yeah see and we we are um my wife she has an older honda pilot uh-huh which she um doesn't drive too much right now right but we we booked it and it's only worth about four thousand so we'd have to have a bridge loan there anyways to pay that off right um and then mine mine we got a it's a 2016 and we got a good deal on it. We saved about $6,000 doing that, going through a friend. Well, so Kyle, I'm going to hop in here. You're doing exactly what Chris is warning you about, which is you're always going to have a plan, but we had this when it was a good deal.

And so you're looking for a quick fix and brother, you're going to have to get in and change the heart around this. And the only way we've seen this work time and time and time again, is that when people start selling stuff, they start unloading. I don't care about how good of a deal it is that where they're your wife will say, you cannot sell our dog and you cannot sell the plates and the in the knives and the forks in the drawer and y'all aren't there yet and so selling your house is just going to be punting your behavior down the road it's going to be a big band-aid over a wound that's not going to heal and you're going to find yourself in the same mess

you're going to rent for a year you're both going to be like well you know you're going to have a good fall you're going to feel good about the future and you're going to rent for a year. You're both going to be like, well, you know, you're going to have a good fall. You're going to feel good about the future. And you're going to go do something silly financially. You got to get to the root and the heart of this thing before you sell any type of house. Yeah, no, I really would. And it's just, you're, you're on the, you're on the tip of it. You know, you're getting there now. It's a matter of just really driving into it and looking at them little people at the house and going, I want something different for you. I want you to be raised different. And mom and dad are going to work together to do that. You start to stare at them and see them in that way and start to think about

the power in your hands. Then you wake up a little bit, you start to grow up and you do what grownups do, which is called sacrifice. This is the Dave Ramsey show. Hello, everyone. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. I'm Chris Hogan, and hosting along with me this hour is John Deloney. We are excited to be able to talk to you and take your calls. You all have been fired up on social. I got one in. William from Twitter asks, do I close my credit cards before they're paid off, or do I wait and close them as they're paid off?

Then he hits me with, is there ever a time where you recommend less than $1,000 start an emergency fund? Okay, William, first of all, stop being greedy and trying to get two questions in. You're supposed to ask one, okay? Just one. But here's the reality. You can close it and then attack it and pay it off. Again, I know people that they know if they leave it open, they're more apt to do things. So, you know, cutting up the credit card as well as causing and shutting it down, you can still pay it and attack it and pay it off and get it out of your life.

So I would close it, attack it, and then get it out of your life. Is there ever a time you recommend less than $1,000 starter emergency fund? If your income is less than $24,000 a year, then you would have a $500 emergency fund. That's the approach to go with that. So, William, you got your twofer in, my friend. But those of you out there, if you've got a question, hunt us down at ChrisHogan360 or at JohnDeloney. We'd love to take your questions.

This reminds me of back in the day. Some of the young folks don't remember this. We had to call collect, and you'd get out of the movies, and you'd say, your parents would get a collect call from, hey, mom, the movie's over. Come pick me up. Do you accept the charges? And they'd be like, nope, hang up.

Try to talk real fast. Real fast, yeah. To get it in. You're so old, Deloney. All right, listen. If you're out there and you've got a question, call us. The number is 888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225. We've got Rudy on the line.

Rudy, what can John and I do for you? Hi, Chris and John. It's a pleasure to talk to you both. I had a quick question on how to approach the baby step. I think it would be 3B. I'm 24 years old. I'll be 25 in just a few months. Thanks to Ramsey Solutions and everything,

I was able to graduate debt-free from college, cash flow and everything. Ooh, way to go, Rudy. I have a funded emergency fund. Well, thank you. I have an emergency fund of about four and a half months of expenses, which I think is probably sufficient. And so I'm curious what your thoughts on how to approach baby step four,

saving for a down payment on a house, but then also investing, if I should be doing the combination of the two things. Gotcha. I want to sit on this for a second. You're 24, Rudy? Yes, sir. And you graduated college with no debt. You got four months in an emergency fund.

What? That's correct. And you live in Houston, which is one of the greatest cities on planet Earth. All three of those things, Rudy, you're getting it, man. Congratulations. Here we go. It's awesome. Well, I really appreciate it.

You know, it started when I was 18. You know, when I graduated high school, I realized that, you know, my parents wouldn't have anything to contribute, and they're in debt. And I swore that I wouldn't, you know, love them to death, but I swore I would not repeat that, and I changed the family tree. Whoa, whoa. And all of y'all, and so that's what started it. Now you're talking about all this nonsense about personal responsibility

and changing your future and all that kind of stuff. What got you – where did you connect with Ramsey? What got you into this crazy ecosystem that we've got going over here? Yeah, so a family member actually put me onto the Ramsey Solutions, or Dave, when I was 18, right when I graduated, just because, you know, my next question was, hey, you know, I'm starting college. To my parents, you know, what can you contribute?

And I learned about their situation. They were in a little bit of debt and stuff like that. And so I decided to go to Lone Star, which is a community college over here. Yeah, it's a great school system. Of course, here at Dave's, no debt, no debt, no debt. I decided I'd cash flow college. I went to the University of Houston. Great university. Go Cougs.

A semester ahead on cash flowing. And then also I did have a car note, which by the way, in June, I went ahead and swallowed the gulp and I went ahead and just paid it off with my emergency fund. And since then I've rebuilt my emergency fund, but paid everything off. Well, Rudy, I'm going to tell you, buddy, you are a unicorn. Being young and being willing to listen, and not just listen but doing it, my friend. You changed that tree. Tell me this. When are you thinking of buying a home and how long? How many years?

Well, I'm thinking probably in the next maybe two to four years. It would take me at least two years to save a 20% down payment on like about a $140,000 house. Okay. Now, I would tell you this. As you're looking to do that, Baby Step 3B, once you have that emergency fund and you have that, for you to be able to look at that and to say, hey, that's the time frame, I think you would do this probably closer into two years just the way you're wired. And I'm going to tell you right now, that's not going to be anything that's going to cost

you becoming an everyday millionaire or anything to that level. The way you're dialed in and seeing it, you're going to get there. I would just add that money to the money market account, your emergency fund, your fully funded emergency fund. Sit that money over there until you're ready. And when the time comes, you stroke the check, the down payment. You do a 15-year fixed rate mortgage. You're going to do what all the everyday millionaires have done.

And you're going to pay off the home in under 11 years. And boom, there you are. You're going to own your home outright at the age of 34, 35. Now your income is going to be growing. You're going to be investing more. You're going to make an incredible impact in the area that you decide to live in. And right now he's living in a great area, which is Houston, Texas, where I was born and raised.

Here we go. Rudy, man. You and this Texas stuff. We need more Rudys in H-Town. I love Texas, though. I love to go down there. When I get down there, my voice gets deeper. This is Texas.

See how I said it? It gets a little bit slower. It does. The Mexican food gets a little more delicious. I wear my boots. I bet I have more cowboy boots than you. 100% chance you do. And you're from Texas. 100% chance. I don't even know if they claim you. Alright, listen here. If you're out there and you've got a question we want to hear from you, 888-825-5325.

Call us. Kelly is in there and she's ready to take your questions. We're ready to talk with you about the things that are on your mind. John, I got another social question for you. All right, here it is. Adam, from the Ramsey Baby Steps community. I know what failure feels like. So how would I overcome my fear of success?

And what steps should I take to push past that uncertainty? Most people fear success because they don't have a picture of what it looks like other than some media figure. It's when people want to change their family tree. They see what they don't want. Right. And they don't have someone living and breathing next to them that is living into what they do want. And so it's easy to see Michael Jordan or some famous movie star or something and see what they have and say, I want that. But as you start getting closer to it, you realize those haves come with a cost, right?

They come with a reduced time with your kids or reduced time with your wife or husband. So what I strongly recommend, Adam, find somebody who is quote unquote there. What you think is there. And I'm going to promise you two things. Number one, their life is not as carefree and wonderful and great as you think it is. Number two, if they are a good mentor and somebody that is trustworthy and is big on investing in other people, they're going to give you some ideas and tips on how to succeed inside of you on your way to whatever you think success looks like externally right no that's good and i would say this as opposed to just having this thing of success out there which can become this nebulous it moves on weird moving thing i would

say adam what is the thing that you can do where you can make an impact right like that's where you're impacting other people that's something you can measure you can do where you can make an impact right like that's where you're impacting other people that's something you can measure you can begin to have a feel for but this success thing i'm going to tell you i've worked with pro athletes entertainers musicians actors actresses people that the world would deem as successful and some of them are beyond lonely they don't sleep they don't have real friends around them because everybody just wants something from them. A void of real relationship and real connection. It was eye opening for me. I've been with Dave now 15 years. I think it was year three or four that I went out

to LA and spent some time with some people that were quote famous, and the loneliness that I could feel in that. So don't go for success. Go for impact. And if you're making an impact, that's on people. And so that's what I would tell you. And just, you know, don't fear it. Focus on what can you do to help other people become better. And Adam snuck in a second question like William did.

What steps can I push past the uncertainty? Here's the deal, Adam. Go scared. I'm stealing that from our friend Christy Wright. Go scared, man. You're never going to feel totally plugged in. You're never going to feel like you got it all together. You're never going to feel like, okay, I know exactly what to do

next. Just get in the ring and hit the biggest guy there. And he may just fall down. Hit him hard. Or not. It all depends on what he ate for breakfast. Hashtag Wheaties. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Hello, everyone.

You are listening to The Dave Ramsey Show. We are excited to talk to you about your life and your money, so don't hesitate to call us. The number to call is 888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225. John and I are ready to take your call. Chime in to try to help you. So we've got Josiah is on the line. How are you, my friend?

Good. How are y'all doing? Oh, we're focused and not finished. What's on your mind? Yes, sir. So my grandmother passed away back in February, and she'll be leaving me and my wife an inheritance, and we were wondering if it would actually be okay to put that money into a CD,

use it to pay off college, and then just pay that back, or would that be like any other normal debt? Gotcha. I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your grandparent. How much is it that you're planning to get, Josiah? It'll be right around $25,000. Okay. And you're saying you're planning to use it to pay off college?

To pay for college. I'll be going back in January. Okay, you're going to be going back in January. So you're going to plan to – how much of that will you think you need for college? Right about, if my plan worked out right, right around $15,000 probably. Okay, okay. I mean, here's the deal, and you're planning to do that here in the next few months? Yes, sir.

Okay. I don't know if I'd necessarily put it in a CD, just because if you want to get to it, I mean, we call them certificates of depreciation, right? Because they didn't keep up with inflation. I'd be more apt to just put it in a money market account. I mean, if you told me you were four or five years away from going back to school, we could talk about investing it. I would just park it in a money market account, let it sit there as you pay for college.

Now that you've got it, when you have it paid for, you've got the other 10 or whatever that's there that you can use to start life off on the right foot. Does that make sense? Yes, sir, it does. Yeah, that's what I do, my friend. But don't lock it away in a CD just because when you get ready to get it, you've got to wait for the CD to mature. And I don't like other people having that control over you. I don't either. Not for a quarter of a percent.

Yeah, and they say you can't get to it yet or you've got to pay a penalty. Just put it in your money market account and let it sit there. And by the way, people out there, if you come into some money, right, like whether it's inheritance or larger bonus, things of that nature, move that money out of your checking account. Have that over in the money market account. Because if it's sitting there, there's a name for it. It's called spent. And so you want to be intentional. You want to be in control of it and make the right steps.

I want to honor Josiah too here, man. What a great way to remember his grandma by investing in education, something that nobody could take away from you that could have longstanding legacy benefits, man. Good for you, brother. And you know what? It's good you bring that up. I talk about in the first book, Retire Inspired, a gentleman that was left a home by his grandparents.

And he went and got a credit line on it. It was free and clear, and started day trading. And listen to me. He ran up about $150,000 in just that mindset. And for him, it was that feeling of he had squandered this blessing from his grandparents. And so it's so important for us to be clear in what we're doing, take a deep breath, and just work a path that's going to move you in the right direction. All right, we've got another caller.

We've got Tara on the line in Modesta, California. Tara, how are you? Great. And my husband and I are in our mid-70s, and we both have birthdays this week, and talking to you is a wonderful birthday gift. Oh, well, aren't you sweet. Well, happy early birthday to you and your husband. So I have a financial question.

We don't owe any money, and we only have about $150,000 saved up, and obviously we're at retirement age. And so we're not sure what to do with that that would be safe and also in embedded in that question is the fact that we would like to buy a car that we don't really need that we want to go off-roading and camping and doing some things that are fun before we get too old and they send us off to the nursing home. But we're not sure that was a good financial decision based on the fact that we don't have a lot of money saved up for retirement. So you tell me you guys have $150,000 saved?

Yes. Okay. The home you're living in, are you renting or do you own it? We own it. So you own it outright, correct? Yes. And how much is it worth? We think it might be worth $325,000.

Okay. And what's the long-term plan for that house, Tara? Well, we would move after we got too old to maintain all the stuff you have to do with a home. And we also own a tiny rental that's only worth $180. But we could move there being a lot cheaper to live in and more accessible. Okay. That's it. That's the whole thing.

Well, here's the reality. As you look at this, the rental is paid for as well, correct? Everything's paid for. Okay. Well, young lady, so you got a net worth of close to around $700,000. Okay. Yeah, potentially. Potentially, yeah.

But that's looking at it. So you're asking what about this, you're wanting to buy a vehicle to off-road. How often do you all go off-roading well we live we live out in the country where we can do that okay we just you know we we enjoy going out in nature but we're getting too old to you know climb mountains and things like that well are you say you're seven you're in your 70s tara yeah we're turning 75 this week and you're buying off-road vehicle you are you have absolutely made my day i don't know the finances of this but the fact that i've got 75 year old tara buying off-road vehicles tells me things are going to be okay chris hogan things are gonna be

okay okay tara happy birthday tara first of all stop listening to john all right for we got to talk on the financial side of this thing how How much do you think this is going to cost? The car? About $15,000. About $20,000. Have you all saved up for this purchase? Just the money that we just mentioned.

That's all we really have. How many other vehicles do you all have? have. All right. And so how many other vehicles do you all have? We have a 2016. Okay. That's all you have? Yeah. Okay.

What's y'all's income coming in right now? We have Social Security, a small pension, and I work a little bit. So we're keeping up. We don't spend more than we earn. Okay. All right. Well, you know, again, I'm one of those people that I'm thinking, you guys, as you're targeting this and looking at it, I think a couple things need to be in this decision, right?

Obviously, you're celebrating birthdays, 75 years young. We've got to talk about the feasibility of this. Are you going to use it? If so, how much? And then the saving up for it. I mean, that's just going to be what I'm going to advise you to do is to save up toward this purchase because you don't have a lot that's liquid. And so we've got to be intentional here.

And so, you know, being smart, thinking about it, there's a couple things you could do. You've got a 2015 vehicle that you said is paid for outright do you sell it and get downgrade in vehicle and then use the other money left to be able to buy the the the eight is she talking atvs i don't know tara what kind of care what kind of car are you talking about go ahead we just want a car that's a little higher off the ground, that's a little bigger that we might be able to recline in and just, you know, the car we want. I thought you were buying a dune buggy or something, man.

I thought you were about to take the wheels off. You just want like a taller, like an F-150 or something. Yeah, we've been looking at the cars that are higher up and have a bigger area in the back where you might put a sleeping bag if you had to take a rest okay tara thank you for clarifying because in my mind i'm thinking doom buggy or atv and i'm like i don't i don't know how long y'all you're gonna want to be bothered with this so anyway don't be hating on tara i am not hating on tara i want them to think to be bothered with this. Chris, don't be hating on Tara. I am not hating on Tara. I want them to think about it. So sell this

vehicle. Find out what it's worth on Kelly Blue Book. Let's get this thing sold. Then you can upgrade vehicle. I don't think there's anything wrong with getting a bigger vehicle. That's a great idea. That they can camp in and do some stuff. Okay. Wow, I was confused. I love that. Okay, it's good to get clear.

Alright, listen. I want to thank producer James Childs, associate producer Kelly Daniel. I want to thank all of the callers for taking the time to call in, and I want to thank all of you for tuning in. This has been The Dave Ramsey Show. This episode is over, but if you heard about an event, product, or service and didn't have a chance to write it down, don't worry. We list everything you've heard about during this episode in the podcast show notes section or head over to DaveRamsey.com and click Dave recommends.

Thanks for listening.