The Ramsey Show - App - Should I Sell My House in Order To Start Over?

Episode Date: September 10, 2021

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Thank you very much. Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is The Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. I'm George Campbell, and I'm joined today by Ramsey personality, Dr. John Deloney, host of The Dr. John Deloney Show, bestselling author. He's a dad. He's a father. A friend to many. John, good to have you. I think I'm a friend to about four. I'm your friend. I used to be friends with James, and I think he broke up with me yesterday.

It's hard when it's your producer. It's a different relationship. I got a text from him, and he said, we used to be friends and coworkers. We're just now coworkers. James never texts you. Let's be honest. That is true. All right. Well, hey, it's a free call, 888-825-5225.

We can talk money, life, relationships, mental health, anxiety, what you're stressed about, what you're excited about. We are happy to take really any calls on this Friday. We're having a good time. That's right. Let's do this. We are happy to take really any calls on this Friday. We're having a good time. That's right. Let's do this. We've got Kyle in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Kyle, welcome to The Ramsey Show.

Hey, guys. How's it going? Great. How can we help? Yeah, so I actually just had a question. I'm fairly new to the whole death snowball method and everything like that. Welcome to the crazy gang, brother. Yeah, I know, right?

So I kind of just had a question of how I should get started. I guess a little back story is I recently just purchased a new car, well, a fairly new car, a 2017 Mazda back in January of 2020 right before everything happened of course so I was actually living with parents my rent was like $250 but then I got kicked out so

why'd they kick you out? just bad relationship with stepmom what'd you do Kyle? nothing to do with anything Kyle what'd you do? you're on the radio you might as well just tell us it was just arguments all the time i wasn't the nicest person um so now that i'm paying rent um honestly the second biggest expense i have is my car um and i'm in a unique situation where my car is valued at what I owe.

The problem is, is I've been doing the debt snowball. So I don't have any leftover money. I'm on baby step two. So I already have an emergency fund. Everything else I had, I dumped into debt. So I'm trying to figure out how to, like, if I should sell my car and then, um, like pretty much save up money to be able to buy a new car, then sell my car or like, yeah, that's why I'm calling you guys. I'm kind of just trying to figure out my situation. That's about for me. What do you owe? Uh, so I owe 12, five and my

car value is, is higher than 12, five, but I have, uh, I was involved in a hit and run. So with the damage, my car is valued at $12,500. Okay. And is that your only debt? No, I have credit card debt. Pretty much everything together is by about, I got maybe like just under five grand in credit card debt. Okay. And what do you make? So I make about, no, I'm bad at math. I would say maybe $38,000, maybe $39,000. You can be really bad at math, but you know your salary.

Yeah, true. What do you do for a living? I work in a financial institution. You're a financial advisor and you don't know how much money you make, Kyle? He never said he was an advisor. What do you do? I wasn't an advisor. I'm a banker.

Ah, see, they're opposite sides. You're a banker that doesn't know how much money he makes. You are reinstilling confidence in America. Don't name the bank. I don't know that people are going to want to go there. Kyle. Okay, well, let's help Kyle out. Let's help this guy out.

So you've got a $1,000 emergency fund, and you're saying, if I can sell the car, I'll be kind of at zero with the car. I'll zero out that debt. I'll still have $5,000 in credit card debt, right? Correct. Okay, and then you still need a car. Exactly, I still need a car. That's my problem.

Yeah. How quickly could you save up $4,000, $3,000 to go get a cheap car? Yeah, and that's the second biggest issue. So let's just say I make like $2,400 a month. I have about two grand with the bills. How are the bills two grand? Just everything all together. I mean, I'm also explaining like I put in my gas, my groceries.

Oh, okay, you're saying your total expenses are two grand? Yeah, everything, every month, two grand. Okay. And you're saying you have $400 left to throw at the debt snowball? Pretty much. Sometimes a little less if I work less hours or anything like that. Can you work more hours? Can you pick up side jobs?

I can't work more. So the problem is, it's really weird, but the bank I work at doesn't allow us to have a second job. I don't know why. Kyle, that's not even a thing. I've never heard of that policy. They can't tell you what you can do off hours. You can go drive Uber. You can go work at Starbucks or McDonald's. McDonald's is paying like $111 an hour now because there's no workers.

They're desperate. You can go stock shelves at a grocery store. And you're making $38,000 a year. You're not making a million. And so if they're going to cap you at under $40,000 a year and not let you get other work, you need to go find another job today. Here's what I'm hearing. I'm hearing a dude who is pretty smart, who's got an attitude

problem, and who thinks he's got stuff figured out, and he wants to change stuff, but not really. Am I fair? Yeah. Here's what we do. On this show, we love you, and we tell the truth to you, okay? Is that cool? That works.

Brother, you're a banker. You're smart. I know you are. And you're a hustler. Are you a hustler? Yes, I believe I am. I agree with you. Okay, so by the time this weekend is over, that car is sold, and you've bought a $1,000 hunk of junk that's going to get you to and fro,

and no one's going to want to date you, you're not going to want to be seen, and I don't care because you're broke. You're a broke banker, my brother, right? Yes, I am. And you're going. You're a broke banker, my brother, right? Yes, I am. And you're going to write your mom, your stepmom a letter and say, I'm sorry for being a jerk and I'm working on it. And then you're going to get a second and a third job and you're not going to go inside of a restaurant. You're not going to go to a movie. You're not going to go on a date. You're going to get this crap paid off ASAP. And that's the kind of

intensity and that's the kind of swagger you're going to have to have to get this stuff knocked out. And you're going to have to say never, ever again. Kyle, how old are you? 25. What do you want to be doing at 30? What kind of life do you want to have? I want to be debt-free, definitely. No, that's like six months from now.

What do you want to do in five years? That's a question I still haven't figured out yet. I kind of want to be a teacher, I'll be honest with you. But then I go with student loan debt. That's my big problem there, too. You don't have to do it that way. No, but you're already capping yourself, brother. You're like, hey, I really want to do this thing. But I can't.

I've already got a car. I'm hearing a lot of, well, my situation is unique. And what you've got to understand is I'm hearing a lot of excuses. You're not a snowflake, Kyle. Go get it, brother. I think you need to get some mojo, and you need to go get the second and third job. You need to clean up your life. You need to follow the baby steps.

Get rid of the credit card debt. Sell the car. Get as much money as you can for it. Go to Vroom and Carvana and CarMax and every site on the planet to see if you can maybe make some money off this thing to then pay for that car in cash. And they go to night school and take a couple of classes a semester towards your dream of becoming a teacher, which is an extraordinary profession. My whole family is made up of teachers and be a part of changing the next generation of folks so they don't have to live the life that you're living right now. But, man, already coming up with a dream and an excuse,

and a dream and an excuse. Kyle, today you're 25. Today it stops. Today you paid us nothing, and your life's going to be different. The air's going to taste a little sweeter tomorrow because you're going to make some major, major changes, starting with number one, sell your stupid car. There it is.

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If you've been paying attention to the real estate market, you've noticed that competition between buyers out there is intense, in part because the inventory of available housing has been hitting all-time lows. Now, when the inventory is low, it simply means there are more buyers buying than sellers selling. And that turns up the pressure on everyone. And buyers want to snag the right house. Sellers want to accept the right offer. But this is an amateur hour. Low inventory is here to stay. So to win in this market, you need a pro by your side.

That's why we find, vet, and endorse top real estate agents across the country called endorsed local providers to help you buy or sell. Our agents have years of industry success and refuse to compromise your financial goals, no matter how tough the competition is. And the good news is, you can instantly connect with an endorsed local provider in your area today. All you have to do is go to ramseysolutions.com slash agent to find a Ramsey trusted agent near you. That's ramseysolutions.com slash agent. We've got Bianca on the phone in Trenton, New Jersey. Bianca, welcome to the Ram deferred. So in February, I'll start paying them again. My question is, would it be best to pay the student loan in full once it opens up again, or should I pay, like, let's say half the student loan and then wait a couple months, save some more money, and then pay the rest off? Are you saying you have the cash to pay it off?

Yes. By February, I will have the cash to pay it off, yes. And I already paid off, I think, 31 grand of my 51 grand student loan. That's awesome. Well, hey, if you were in prison today and I said, hey, you could get out today or you could get out in four months, which one would you take? I would say if I had the cash on me, I would say today. I only need a couple more grand to have it all. That's wonderful. As soon as you have that money, pay it off. There's nothing to wait for.

You don't have to wait to wait for the deferment to stop until February 1st when people start making their payments again. You can pay it as soon as you have the money. So let me make sure that we've got your financial picture straight here. Do you have any other debt? I do have a car loan, which is 18 grand, which I am paying every single month, so that is no problem there. And I was going to focus on doing that one next after my student loan is paid. And you have 31,000 in student loans? I have 21 now. I did pay off 31 a couple months ago. Okay. Well, what we teach around here is the baby steps. And so that starts with a thousand dollar emergency

fund. Do you have a thousand dollars currently? Yes, I do. Okay. So then baby step two, what we're going to do is attack the smallest debt. So we're paying minimum payments on everything, but that smallest debt we are attacking with a vengeance. So you're saying you have two debts right now? You have 21K in student loan debt, 18K in car debt? Yes. Okay. So I want you attacking that car debt first because you're going to feel the progress. I mean, I'm guessing you could pay that car off today. I'll need, yeah, a couple more on that. So it's either like the student loan first or the car first. So I'll just need like a couple more grand to do either or.

Yeah, I would get rid of that car first if I were you. I'm guessing that car has an interest rate on there. Do you know what that is? It's a 3.5% interest rate. Yeah. So, I mean, the car debt is lower, so that's already going to the debt snowball, but you're paying interest on this car

and you're not paying interest on the student loans right now. So I would get rid of that car as soon as you can, leaving that $1,000 in your emergency fund. And hey, if you want to speed this process up, I don't know what your car is worth, but is it worth selling the car to get out of this mess even faster? Right. I'm not positive.

I'll have to look into it. I didn't look into that yet, so I'll have to look into that some more, if it is. How much do you make a year? I make $43,000 a year. Okay. Yeah, I mean, this car is almost half of your yearly income, and so I don't know how much you love it. I'm totally okay with you keeping it because you're about to pay this thing off. But me and John, we drive crappy cars and we're okay

with it. We like cars, but they're not our life and they're depreciating assets. So if you're not going to be underwater on this car and you can make 18, 20 grand on it and then get something to get you around, well, you can clean up the student loan mess a whole lot quicker. All right. All right. Does that sound good to you? It works for me. All right.

John's happy. Bianca's happy. Everyone is happy. And I'm excited for Bianca to become debt-free. I know. Bianca, are you ready to do this? It sounds like you're kind of thinking about it and you're feeling it. There's some hesitancy.

Yeah. What's the hesitancy here? There is a little hesitancy because I'm usually, I'm like a driver, so I did have a car where I wasn't making like anything with my aunt's car, and then when that car went,

I opted to go for a car that was a loaner car for my dealership, so I already had like 10 grand off it, and I actually coach on the side as well as a volunteer work so i'm usually the one that drives around so i'd need more of like a reliable car the hesitancy isn't on the car the hesitancy is you love control you save up all this money and then you put it on a debt all at the same time

and what you're doing is you're trying to have the best of both worlds which is you're trying to run away from this lion which is debt which is out of control which is a bank owning you a couple of banks owning you right now you're trying to get away from them

very gently and kindly and slowly and with you still in charge. And what I want you to do is I want you to take every bit of money you have except for that $1,000 emergency fund and pay off something today. Pay it off. And then as you get paid next month, pay it off. And if you get paid the month after that, pay it off. Because you like the security of having this cash.

It's like you're a gazelle and you're walking away from the lion, and eventually it's going to catch you, right? So just get this stuff out of your life, and it's going to encourage you to work and get a second job and a third job because it's going to feel scary only having $1,000 in there. It's going to feel real scary, and it's supposed to. It's not supposed to be long-term, but it's going to propel you forward to get this crap out of your life

and stop hanging on to your student loan because I love it and it's cute. And keep your car, keep your car. Great, but get that sucker paid off, man. Yeah. And Bianca, you said you're a driver. Are you a professional driver? Is this how you make your living? No, it's not.

Okay. When I go away in coaching, I'm usually one that drives there. So I'll drive to New York, to Maryland. I will drive everywhere because I'm a horrible taxi driver. Well, I grew up in a house where it was very scary. We got to get new cars. We got to get good, reliable cars. But my 09 Honda Civic, she purrs, John, and she was six grand, and she'll take me anywhere I want to go.

In my 06 Toyota, it is still going. We're going places. Still going. So, Bianca, you can do this. But, again, like John's saying, it's going to have to take a shift in your paradigm where you decide, I've got to let go of some of this control. I'm going to submit myself to a proven plan that, by the way, millions of people have done, John, because this is the proven path

to get to where I want to go, to get to wealth, to get to where I'm not owned by lenders anymore. And your income gets to stay with you. When you pay off that car debt, you know where that payment goes? Into your pocket. When you pay off those student loans,

you know where that goes? Into your pocket. And now you can really start to build a life where you are in control instead of the illusion of control. I love it, man. That's what it's all about. Well, John, this has been fun. I'm having a good time And now you can really start to build a life where you are in control instead of the illusion of control. I love it, man. That's what it's all about.

Well, John, this has been fun. I'm having a good time, and I want to let people know about your show because your show might be the only show that's maybe an even better time. You have some fun on your show. You cover some serious topics, but you do it with levity. So give us the elevator pitch here. If no one's listened to the Dr. John Deloney show, what are they going to hear? Man, they're going to hear real calls from real people. It's very similar to this show, except instead of calling about their debt, they're calling about their marriages and their parenting and workplace challenges and their communities

and their mental health. And just walking alongside folks whose wheels are coming off on the side or they want to love people in their life better. They want to heal broken marriages. They want to heal their parent relationships. They want to talk through trauma. They want to know what to do next. Today on the show, we talked to some folks who were just recovering from Ida, just recovering

from a tragic car accident with somebody's family and some of the stepbrother of one of the 13 servicemen that was killed. And what do we do next, right? And so we get into some hard and heavy topics, and we do it with grace and with dignity. But we're in the messiness of people's lives, helping them figure out what to do next. Yeah. Well, hey, go check out the Dr. John Deloney Show podcast, YouTube, wherever you want to find it, RamseySolutions.com. It's all there.

This is The Ramsey Show. I'm George Campbell, host of the Fine Print and Entree Leadership Podcast. And besides me is Dr. John Deloney, host of the Dr. John Deloney Show. Give us a call, 888-825-5225. Talk about how unfair things are. You've got a podcast called The Fine Print. Yep. And you host the Entree Leadership Podcast. That's correct.

And we went through about 1,000 hours of discovery to land on The John Deloney Show. Well, you know, I try to be a little more creative. Trust me. I try, too. Man. George is the big winner here. Clearly more compelling than me. Congratulations.

It is what it is. Okay. You can find all of these shows on the Ramsey Network along with The Ramsey Show, The Rachel Cruze Show, The Ken Coleman Show. See, you've got a pattern. I know. You're in good hands. You're a pattern breaker.

Congratulations. You're doing all right. All right, it's open phones, and we are going to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to talk to Gary Gary. Welcome to The Ramsey Show. Thank you. Quick question for you. I have saved up about $10,000 to take my wife in two and a half years

on our 30th anniversary trip. And I'm just wondering, what can I do with that money between now and when I start planning the trip and paying for the trip so I can make a little bit more money on it and maybe protect a little bit against inflation if the prices start to go up over the next couple of years. Gary, back in middle school, were you the curve buster? A few times.

Were you the kid when everyone got a C, you got a 97, and the teacher was like, C? Once or twice, yeah. I felt that. That's yeah. I felt that. I felt that, man. Hey, the world needs more husbands like you who are thinking ahead and saving thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars for an extraordinary trip a couple years out. Good for you. That's amazing. That's really incredible.

Where are you planning on going? Wherever she wants. I'm going to leave that part to her. Oh, my gosh. You're killing me, man. This is incredible. Gary, if you were single, people would be lining up right now. Funruiner.com.net.

Gentlemen across the country. Let's all be Gary. Way to go, man. Wherever she wants to go. You're incredible. I love it. Okay, so you have $10,000 in cash saved right now. Yes.

And when is this trip happening? It will happen in 20, I think, 24, sorry. Oh, wow. Two and a half years from now. Kelly is literally texting her husband right now to turn on the radio. Wow. Men across America have not thought about date night this month. He's thinking about a trip three years away.

That's incredible. Well, we're going to do date night in a few hours. Gary, stop talking. You're ruining this. This man is not real. This is a prank call, John. I'm convinced. I know it is. Okay. Well, Gary, here to do Nate Knight in a few hours. Gary, stop talking. You're ruining this. This man is not real. This is a prank call, John. I'm convinced. I know it is.

Okay. Well, Gary, here's the short answer. I don't have a long one, so I'm just going to give you the short one. I would sock away that money in a high-yield savings account. I use one. I get about half a percent, maybe a little bit more than that, and it's not going to be the sexiest investment vehicle but what i don't want is uh three years from now that ten thousand dollars is four thousand dollars because we have the next pandemic right and the market's crashed and now you can't go on the trip so i want to

keep that money safe um is that the budget you guys have set or is this kind of like hey it may be more than this well that was my goal of what to save up. So I was saving a little bit each month past several, you know, seven or eight years. And you're already at 10K. Wow. Yeah. That's fantastic. Yeah, I think the goal here, I mean, you can, this is not going to work out mathematically. This is more of a psychological and a spiritual answer here.

You can make yourself absolutely bananas by trying to match the or come out an eyelash ahead of the fluctuating inflation rates or the – dude, you're a planner. You are such an incredible, extraordinary planner. You are one in a million, brother. And so I want to take that burden from your soul, put that in a high-yield savings account or a money market account, and just let it be.

This is earmarked. You've got this for a very specific purpose. If you were running around and you wanted to gamble on it, you're going to be gambling on hundreds of dollars, not thousands, right? You're going to be gambling on a couple hundred bucks here, and it's just not worth the tax on your soul that it would be to check it and move it and market it. Man, you are so far ahead of the game, brother.

Put that in an account and let it roll off. Absolutely. And, you know, at a half a percent, John, he's probably going to make $50 a year on that money. And that's okay. It's $150. That'll cover a nice dinner on one of those nights. But he could save up as much as he wants at this point. He's crushing it.

And we're giving Gary a hard time. But this is what intentionality looks like, George. Relational intentionality. Financial intentionality. This is somebody who said, hey, in 30 years, I'm going to want to take my wife somewhere special. I mean, and we're 10 years out,

so why not just reverse engineer that and put 30 bucks in an account and suddenly over the next X number of years, it's going to pop up and it's going to be this much money. That's what intentionality looks like and it's not hard, right? The reverse is, oh, crap, I haven't planned a vacation for my wife.

We'll just swipe the card and go tomorrow. And we'll get three credit cards, and we'll try to figure it out later. And then my wife, after we get on from this trip, is going to have to get a third job to help us pay this thing off. Good for you, Gary. Thanks for inspiring us, and you'll have fun on date night tonight. I feel convicted. I need to plan a date night right now, John.

All right, we're going to Brenda in Tampa, Florida. Brenda, welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my call All right. We're going to Brenda in Tampa, Florida. Brenda, welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my call. Absolutely. How can we help? So I am considering selling my paid-for home to pay cash for another home that's worth less, use a difference to start a new life.

But my daughter's really emotionally attached to the house. I am too. And it's hard to know what to do because she's already been through so much and I don't want to upset her by selling this house. But sometimes I feel like it would be good to do that. And then we would be on like baby step seven instead of baby step three because the house is, you know, paid off just because it was cheap and we've had a long time ago. But We still don't even have a fully funded emergency fund and stuff like that. What's wrong with your current life? Why do you want to start a new one? Well, I have been kind of like delaying endlessly, standing on the dotted line to get a divorce

mostly because of financial worries. So I feel like that's keeping me there. I struggle with depression because of it. And, you know, I just, I want to, I want to get rid of that financial worry. And then I feel like I'll be able to take care of that divorce. And I feel confident to move forward as a single mom instead of being like, oh, I'm scared. I'll stay married because I'm, you know, financially secure that way. Often the financial situation is symptomatic of the other challenges.

And so I understand the order with which you're trying to do things, but I would suggest you take a look at, and again, you can do this how you want to, but I would suggest you take a look at, and again, you can do this how you want to, but I would suggest you look at doing it in the reverse order. So if you sign on the dotted line tomorrow, and has somebody filed on you? Is that what you're dealing with? No, it was a mutual thing.

And he doesn't have a claim to this house? Right. So he's come signed it over to you free and clear? Right. And what does a new life look like? Paint me a picture of your new life. Well, I was thinking of if I did that, it would have to move a little farther away from some of my family. We're in Tampa, and if you go outside, you can get it to your house.

So I'd be farther away from family, you can get it to your house. So I'd be farther away from family, but I was going to try to use the money to just kind of set us up. And then I could start to try to go to school to try to get a better job for something I'd actually love to do and, you know, set up her college fund and all that and just feel like confident to, you know, just be a, you know, just me and her and that I'm fully taking care of everything and we could still see our family,

but just kind of try to start that lifestyle of building that future. Financially, this makes sense. I don't have a problem with this financially. Here's the biggest challenge, though. When you get a new job and you get a new home and you enroll in a new school Brenda's going to go with you you're going to go with you

and if you're still hurting if you are running from something you'll get this new stuff and you'll get all settled in and you'll still be running and so financially I mean George you can let your way in I think it's a great idea

I understand wanting to wipe your hands of this home, wipe your hands of this challenging marriage, and be ready to rock and roll into something new. And of course, there's going to be family challenges and daughter. All that's going to be real. There is no simple move here, but going is great. But I want you to make sure you're talking to folks. You've got people in your corner.

You're talking to a good therapist or pastor. And you're dealing with the trauma of this transition too because Brenda is going to go with Brenda. You go with you. Okay? So good luck and we'll be thinking about you. Yeah. This is not a financial question, John. This is relational stuff, career stuff.

Brenda's got to get her life back. And I think the financial stuff will come with that. She's doing fine on that end. Good folks, we really value the input from listeners of The Ramsey Show. It helps us know what's important to you so we can deliver the right content that will help you with the questions and challenges you have right now. In the current survey running, we asked listeners how much debt they've paid off, and you know what?

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But I'm just saying. So text SURVEY to 33789 or visit ramsey solutions.com slash survey and you know john like we always say if you have nothing nice to say just leave it in the survey if you have nothing nice to say that's the right place to talk about george that's right it's great all right we've got samuel on the line in lubbock te Texas. Samuel, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Howdy, John and Greg. Greg. Oh, George, sorry.

George, there you go. Guns up, brother. What's up, Sam? Greg sounds like a nice guy. Greg. We like George. What's up, Sam? Okay, so me and my wife are in baby step two right now, and her father passed away last Friday. Oh, gosh. Sam, I'm so baby step two right now, and her father passed away last Friday.

Oh, gosh. I'm so sorry, brother. So she had asked me about me and her purchasing the tombstone for her father and potentially do a companion one, I'm thinking, for when the mother passes later on because they have their plots together. So I know what she wants, but I'm kind of torn between the right decision to make. Because I know it's like we should be staying on our baby steps, but at the same time it's very emotional for her.

And I don't know what's – I just need some help and guidance of what would be a wise decision. Well, first, man, our hearts are with you and your family, and our prayers are with you and your family, and it's a hard, hard season. And let's just be honest. This is a hard phone call for you to make, and I know that, because you're supposed to have all the right answers, and you're supposed to be able to help your wife walk through this, and it takes a lot of courage to reach out and say,

hey, I'm kind of in a rock and a hard place. And depending on who you ask, you're going to get a bunch of definitive answers either way, right? So I appreciate the call, man. And George, feel free to weigh in on this. My thought here is this, man. My thought is you pause Baby Step 2 and you go to one of the local dealers there in Lubbock

and you do this the right way. Don't go Lubbock, and you do this the right way. Don't go into debt for this, but do this the right way. I don't think you need to buy the companion one right now. Is your mother-in-law in bad health, and she about to pass away here soon? I don't believe so. Okay. Yeah, I think you handle each one of these challenges as they pop up. That's why you've got your $1,000 emergency fund there at the beginning pause baby step two this is one of

those moments right that you need to honor your wife you need to honor your father-in-law you need to honor this moment and of course man you want to stay on on the baby steps and all that but this is this is a legacy moment this is a big deal moment This is when you just hit pause and get the funeral taken care of, get the tombstone taken care of. And this is, again, what your emergency fund is for. And then you're going to resume the baby steps when it's over. Yeah, absolutely. We tell people to pause baby step two in storm or stork mode. So if there's a baby on the way or you're weathering a storm like you guys are right now, it's totally okay to pause. I don't want you to feel bad about this. I know that you were excited to get rid of this debt, but right now you got to get off the horse and honor this man's life. And I want you to do it

the smart way. I don't want you to make emotional decisions with your money right now and just throw money at this. I want you to do your research like John's talking about. Call around, try to get the best price possible and don't overdo it like john's saying you can wait on the companion headstone and you can just do what you need to do right now to honor his life that's what it's all about not about how much you're going to spend on the funeral yeah and can i tell you this brother um be with your wife on this one this isn't the time to sit down and um uh let her know that you're right and that you've got this. You know, I mean, there's a right way to do this.

And obviously, don't go into debt and don't be obnoxious and don't emotionally spend, but also honor your wife here. Okay? Okay. I understand. Yeah. Hit pause here, brother. Do it with joy in your heart and with the grief in your heart, right? And when I say joy in your heart, knowing that you can take care of this.

You've got that $1,000 emergency fund. That's what it's for. Of course, you're going to be disappointed. You're going to be frustrated. But this is the right moment. I like that. I've never heard that storm in stork mode. But this is a storm, man.

This is what this plan is for for these moments, and you got it. Yeah. Thanks for the call, Samuel. All right. We're moving on to Lacey in Kansas City, Missouri. Lacey, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, how are you guys? Doing great. How can we help? Okay. Well, here's my question. My husband and I do not have any debt. We have each have a Roth IRA. We are self-employed, but we have $120,000 in savings and we don't know where to put the money to where it's earning us more than just a half a percent.

That's a good problem to have. So you guys are completely debt-free. You have a fully funded emergency fund, and are you investing 15% of your household income into retirement accounts? Well, we each have a Roth IRA that we max out pretty much every year. We started in 2018, and we've maxed out most every year. Okay, so you're saying, hey, we've maxed out the Roth IRA. What are the other options for investing because we don't have a 401k? Because you said you're self-employed?

Yes. Okay. Yeah, that's great. With $120,000, you guys are in a really good financial position. There are other things that you could max out, like your HSA. That can be a great retirement vehicle. And Dave was just talking about this the other day. He maxes out his HSA and he leaves it and he pays his health expenses just from his own bank account because that HSA is a great tax-free vehicle for you guys to stock away money. And you can actually do investments in your HSA if you've got one over there. So I'm not

sure about your situation on that side. What are your other financial goals? Are the things that you guys are wanting to do? Well, originally we wanted to build a house, but after everything went crazy the past year and materials are high, we decided, because we wanted to just pay for it outright and not have to take out a loan, but we can't really do that right now. Wait, hold on, Lacey. Slow the roll here. Are you talking about being patient and diligent and accountable with the money you have? Stop the madness. Who are you? You guys are incredible. I'm 26 and my husband's 30, so we are a little different.

26 and 30. Oh my gosh. The world needs more Lacey's in it. Yeah, Lacey's and Gary's. That's what we learned today. Well, Lacey, here's my thing. There are some other investment options for you guys, but it sounds like the next big goal is a house. Am I hearing that right? Yeah, if it can be affordable. Well, you're saying you want to go into debt. Yeah, you're saying you want to do with cash. You're saying, I don't even want to take out a mortgage. Yeah. Okay. Well, this is very impressive, John. If you have a longer horizon, I mean, you could take some of this money and put it away in good mutual funds or index funds in a brokerage account, meaning it's not in a retirement account. This is money that you guys

could use five years from now. So this is something that is a very wise decision is to sock away 50 grand a year into this brokerage account to where five years from now it's growing. It's giving you maybe 10% rate of return. And now you've got a big pile of money to pay for a house in cash. When do you think you guys are going to have enough money to buy this house? Well, we already have a house that's paid for currently. So we just build on our property because we have a few acres. Lacey, who are you? Is this a prank call? Be honest.

You're pranking us here. This is incredible. Yeah, I think what George just said. Roll the money into a brokerage account and a mutual fund and let it sit. And y'all aren't in any rush to do anything, which is remarkable. And it also gets that money out of... This is how money happens to end up

in a boat fund or in a, you know what we need? We need an RV fund, right? It ends up in these other places. Well, actually, go buy an RV. You've got to pay for a house. But, yeah, park it in a brokerage account and let it sit. That's amazing. Lacey, you guys are crushing it, and we're rooting for you.

I want you to focus on your closer long-term goals because you guys, truthfully, you're going to be multimillionaires. So I'm not as worried as the investing part right now. I want you guys to get in a house because I can hear your voice. You want to do it, and you want to do it with no debt, which is absolutely incredible. Hey, John, it's been a fun hour. We'll be back with you guys. Before you know it, this is The Ramsey Show. Dave here.

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