The Ramsey Show - App - Should I Sell My Mom's House? (Hour 2)

Episode Date: December 28, 2021

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Thank you. Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, 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, Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey personality, host of the Dr. John Deloney podcast, which is unbelievably popular these days. I guess it actually is believable, but it's not unbelievable. I don't believe it. I've got like 11 friends and my mom.

Well, that started your base. It has exceeded that. And they have all told six people each, and so we got it going now. My mom hits refresh a lot, and I thought that was just it. No, it's actually a thing. It's more than that. You've become a thing, dude. It's happened right here at Ramsey.

We watched it happen. A weird thing. So check it out if you want to hear about life and mental health and boundaries and relationships. It's all Dr. John Deloneyoney show and you will leave a lot of things but bored will not be one of them and so check it out we'd love to have you there and his best-selling book redefining anxiety as well so we're here to help you with your life your money your mental health questions your relationship questions your life your money all of that is woven in there together kim is with us to start off this particular hour in Roanoke, West Virginia.

Hi, Kim. How are you? That'd be Virginia. Hey, Kim, how are you? Virginia, I'm good. Thank you so much for taking my call. I need some education and some advice. Okay. I am 51 years old. My husband's 57. We're debt-free except for the house. We finally got our emergency fund fully funded, which means we were able to start our Roth this week, which brought us up to 15%. We owe $170,000 on the house. And my question, and because I don't know a lot about whole life policies, we have two. One is worth $26,000 cash value and one's $14,000. And I want to know if we should take those and put them against the principle of that $170,000 and how that works.

Okay. Well, life insurance is a crummy place to invest money. It is not for an investment. It's for replacing one of your incomes if one of you dies to help the other one get along. We have term. You have enough term insurance in place? My husband's dad is a State Farm agent. He got him his whole life policies a long, long, long, long time ago.

We have term insurance, $600,000 on him, $300,000 on me. From State Farm? No, that's a different company through our financial advisor. Oh, okay. Good. Well, your husband's dad is still living? Yes, he is. Okay.

He may not understand, but I would cancel those. Okay. He likely won't understand, but that's not relevant to the conversation. This stuff, it's crap. It's absolute crap. And so you're better off to have your money going into things that are going up in value and that have a good rate of return and get the cash value out while you can because if you die, whatever cash value is in there stays with the insurance company.

State Farm keeps it. They only pay the face amount of a policy. That's how whole life works. That's one of the reasons it's such a ripoff. So you do want to go ahead and get rid of that. You may have some relationship issues in the midst of doing that, but you need to get rid of it. So, folks, here's the way this works.

Whole life life insurance is roughly 20 times more expensive for the same amount of insurance nationally. That's the averages. So what you can buy for five dollars a month in term costs you a hundred dollars a month in whole life but dave it's such a great investment and the other 95 dollars that is not going to insurance then goes into an investment and so let's learn the rules of the investment the first thing that happens is the first three years of a whole life policy, your cash value is zero. So you invested $95 a month in our example for three years, and you have nothing.

That's called a front-loaded financial product. If you're being kind, it's called getting screwed if you're not. Then once you do get money in there and it starts building up, the average whole life policy in this nation today pays 1.2% interest. And this is a long-term retirement plan investment, which, by the way, the consumer price index was 4.2 for the last 74 years, meaning inflation. So if you're not making at least 4% of your money, you're not keeping up with inflation. So you're losing money when you save money long-term at 1%. That's after you lost all your money for the first three years.

But after all of that, if you do it for years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years, and you finally have $20,000 in this 40-year, $50,000 whole life policy as your cash value buildup that you paid an extra $95 a month for all these years, and then you die. Your $50,000 policy with a $20,000 savings in it that you've paid 20 times extra per month to get pays $50,000. What happened to your 20? Oh, they keep it.

We gifted it to the insurance company. Yeah, because we're just those kind of people we wanted a bigger shinier building in our downtown we needed another tower you know dave when you first told me this several months ago i even got over the dismal return what i didn't get over it's just driven me crazy and i'm driving home by myself they keep your money is that they go invest it at 12 and they keep the 11 gap oh yeah they yeah because most of your shopping malls and so forth are financed the mortgage company on major commercial projects is life insurance companies

they loan money back out into real estate as a mortgage company and make you know 8 10 12 on it wherever in there and so uh but aside from that so you have a banking system where you bought term insurance for $5, you put $95 into a savings program that for the first three years they keep your money. After that, they pay you 1.2% and when you die, they keep your savings account. Now, what kind of idiot would have a savings account like that? None. But of course, it's never explained to you that way by those people because they sell

this crap. So there's only two people that sell whole life life insurance ignorant people that don't understand it who are actually good kind sweet people they're just ignorant because that's exactly how it works or crooks because if you understood that and you sell it anyway you're a crook by definition and so um that means that sweet little lady sweet little father-in-law i just called him a crook but oh well or or ignorant he's more than likely just ignorant though most of those guys i know in that world they're just make sure they see that money they'll make sure they mainly sell they mainly sell homeowners and car insurance and so then that you know their company has

whole life and they get them tied up into this and they make good money on because you get paid in the insurance world you get paid on premium and so if the premium is 20 times more your commission is 20 times more so of course they're going to go oh i think that's really good stuff you know but no one in the entire financial community not a single person anywhere in the financial world today recommends cash value life insurance except people that sell it. None of the rest of us, none of us that have, you know, that are independent people in the investment world, you know, they tell you you do need life insurance, but you need to get term insurance. People anywhere else, any kind of study you do, any kind of formal academic study you do, anything,

unless it's from the whole life world, unless it's from the people who sell it, they don't tell you to buy it because it's absolutely the payday lender of the middle class is there any data that shows that people buy that more than term oh yeah they buy a lot more than i feel like everyone i know has whole life and the reason you know why they buy it more in term because it's sold more than pushed more than the term yeah i mean until until 15 20 years ago term insurance nobody talked about it hardly. This was like, this was the, you know, but if you go into every major city in America, in the skyline is banks and life insurance companies. I wonder how that happened.

Santa Claus didn't build those buildings. You did, people. This is The Ramsey Show. most people know me as the guy who did stupid with a lot of zeros on the end i made my first million dollars in my 20s the wrong way, and then went bankrupt. That's when I set out to learn God's ways of handling money, and I developed the Ramsey Baby Steps. By following these steps, I became a millionaire again, and this time the right way. After three decades of guiding millions of others through the plan, the evidence is undeniable. If you follow the baby steps, you will become a millionaire and get to live and give like no one else.

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Pre-order your copy today at Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Alex is in Cleveland. Hi, Alex. How are you? I'm good, guys. Good to talk to you. You too, how are you? I'm good guys, good to talk to you. You too, what's up?

So I am 22 years old, I just graduated from Michigan State with a mechanical engineering degree. I am a contract engineer right now, so I travel a lot. My question for you guys

is, I've got a girlfriend back at home, and she's still in school, but I'm trying to save up for a house for us and a marriage, and I'm wondering how to balance my relationship with her while also always traveling and always trying to save up for the next goal. And I feel like I'm at some points doing one more than I'm focusing on the other one. And so I guess how do I put my life into balance where I'm enjoying my time with her

and seeing her and should I move home? Where's home? Find a closer job. My home is technically out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. And you're in Cleveland, Ohio, and you travel. What kind of range do you travel? So I'm on my way to York. Stopped at a service station to talk to you guys.

But I travel to Pennsylvania. I've traveled to Kansas City. So 300 or 400-mile radius. I travel all over. 300 or 400-mile radius. Yeah. All right. And you make what?

I make $160,000 a year. And how long have you been out of school doing this? Since January. Okay. Wow. That's not bad. So, man, you're 22 years old, and what I would tell most 22-year-olds who are not married or untethered is to hit the gas on their career. This is a time you can stack up and do really great, and there's so much technology that you can stay connected to each other right now

that even I didn't have when I was young and trying to figure this thing out. The question is whether is this going to be seasonal for you? Is this going to be the rest of your life? And that's the hard question you have to ask. And then the other question is, it sounds like you took this job and you were making unbelievable money for a 22-year-old, and you're starting to not like it. Am I hearing that right

yeah i i i love the money um but i i i sometimes i want to be closer being on the road sucks that's right yeah and here's what i don't want you to do. I don't want you to use your girlfriend or your relationship to your girlfriend as the reason to cash out on this job. If you realize I'm on the road all the time and it's not good for me, it's not the life I want to live, then I want you to own that decision. Because you're going to run into money challenges down the road. You're going to run into relationship issues down the road. And then you're going to start resenting her for something that really isn't her fault you don't like the job you don't like the job right and it's a million billion dollars for a 22 year old um but yeah if the road sucks and it's killing you the road sucks and it's killing you you gotta do something else

sure sure so how old how old is she what is she in school yeah, she's studying to be an elementary teacher. When graduate when? Yeah, she's got a year left, and then she has to do an unpaid year through internships at a job site. Okay. Does this job have your end? You said it's contract. Does it have an end? You cut out. cut out try again it's contract do you have an end on your job um no they keep extending the contract which is fine by me um how long does the contracts run

contract usually about as good as your cell phone service. Okay. All right. So what I would say is for $160,000 a year, if you want to see her, you can buy a lot of airline tickets. And, you know, you can fly over there and see her on weekends or whatever. And you can work this out. You're making plenty of money. Spend some money on travel. Spend some money on connectivity. And then just set a date certain because you're not going to do this

for 10 years right and set a date certain are you going to do this until she graduates and gets through her one year or just until she graduates when are we getting married and you start setting in your mind anyway and you start going okay i can endure this for two years and pile up a huge pile of cash or i can do endure this until christmas, I can endure this for two years and pile up a huge pile of cash. Or I can endure this until Christmas. Or I can endure this until whatever. I think the idea that it projects indefinitely into the future is part of what's driving you nuts. And the road is hard. Right?

The road is hard. It is not. Travel is only glamorous for people that don't do it. And it's just not. It's just, for people that don't do it. And it's just not. It's just, you know, it's just hotels. Oh, God. And, yeah.

And if he's flying, it's even worse because you've got to deal with the dadgum airport people. So I like the idea of coming up with a dollar amount. Here's what I'd like to have. Yeah, that's not bad. And I also like this idea. A date certain or a dollar certain, and then I'm out. And I'm going to use this as an opportunity to learn from all these different bosses in all these different cities. Use this as graduate school, man.

And if you approach it with that heart and spirit, I'm going to work my butt off. I'm going to make this kind of money. And I'm going to learn what I like about this guy, what I don't like. Then you can set yourself up to what you want to do. But if you just look at it as misery or if you blame her slash encourage her, then, man, you're just setting yourself up for it. I had to quit this because of my girlfriend. Oh, bull crap. You quit it because you hated your job. You don't like the job.

I don't like that, man. That's what he's saying about don't blame your girlfriend. So, yeah, but I think you've got a two-year window, something like that. And I like to see 22, 23-year-olds grinding. I really do. Yeah, it's awesome. And making that kind of bank for a short period of time. And again, so get a date or a dollar certain.

Figure out what you're going to do when you leave this job. And thirdly, allocate some money for travel to see her or her to see you and buy some airline tickets or whatever it is. You can land this plane, no pun intended, with $100,000 in cash in a bank or more, $125,000 right when she finishes up her internship, and then y'all can pretty much do what you want to do. Yeah, more because they're probably covering the road costs too. Greg's in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Hey, Greg, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hey, how are you, sir? Better than I deserve. How can I help? I've got a question for you. My mother is 93 years old. Just had to put her into assisted living a few months ago. She had a little bit of dementia, and we tried the home care option, and it got to the point

where she was needing 24-hour care. She's in a good place. My father was, you know, he's passed, but he was very smart with money. He did the long-term care insurance, and it's helped a lot. My question is, aside from, you know, visiting her and trying to make the best quality of life for her, what to do with her home. She's got a paid-for home about three miles away from me. It's probably worth around $300.

In a way, I wanted to sit back and just, you know, process this. She's only been assisted living for maybe two months. On the other hand, I've got people around me saying, if you're going to do it, sell it now. Don't wait. And I want to do what honors her. How cognizant is she of this decision? How much is she able to process it with you?

Not. I would say, no, it's not. Okay, so this is just your decision. It's not going to bother her because she's not going to understand. No, no. Okay. So what do you want to do? I don't know. I want to honor her, and that's my biggest problem.

I don't want to be a landlord. I know that. I don't know that keeping the house is a method of honoring her or selling the house is a method of honoring her. Yeah, you've backed yourself into a corner that's not real. That's not a real. Honor has nothing to do with this house. Unless you were hurting her by selling it, okay, or keeping it.

And you're not. So not emotionally, not financially, not anything. And so I don't want to be a landlord. I think it's just letting go of the past to sell it emotionally and that's very hard but i would sell it i would too all right and now is the time to do that all right oh yeah for sure yeah for sure get it dolled up and get a get a good go to dave ramsey.com or ramsey solutions.com and click on elp for rem for endorsed Provider for a real estate agent in the area. They'll help you max it out. This is not a time to play amateur hour.

You need a pro in your corner, and they'll help you from this. Thank you. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the Dead Free Stage. Sarah and Adam are with us. Hey guys, how are you? Good. Welcome, welcome. how are you? Good. Welcome, welcome. Where do you guys live? Chattanooga. Oh, just down the road. Not a bad run to Nashville.

Well, good to have you. Up here to do a debt-free scream. How much have you paid off? We paid off $70,000 in 17 months. Good for you. And what was your range of income during those 17 months? We started at $120,000 and ended at $130,000. Good for you guys.

What do you all do for a living? I'm an assistant project manager at a general contractor, and she's in the audit CPA at a firm. Oh, very cool. Good, good. So what kind of debt was this $70,000? All student loans, all mine. All student loans, all mine. He owned it.

He owned it all the way. She gave him a quick glance at their eyes when you asked that question a little bit of an elbow went across there but not much it's good all right good very good so how long you guys been married uh two years last week actually okay so first order business we get married you marry the girl in the audit department she says we're getting out of debt i'm guessing pretty much yeah we had to uh cash flow a car for him and then we had to cash flow my last semester of grad school, but then we got on it. Okay.

So lean in and knock it out. Yes. And you did it fast. That's pretty impressive. I mean, y'all were dialed in, didn't you? We did. Okay. So tell me the story.

How'd all this happen? I was guessing, but I wasn't far off, huh? So basically, she had gone on, I think it's Pinterest and found a debt chain and, uh, we tracked it thousand dollar increments and that was a good visual aspect of it. And then we just basically kept living since we had just graduated college. We kept living like we were in college and just every extra dime we put towards a debt. Very cool. Good, good. And how did y'all connect to us? Um, so I actually had a friend that got your total money makeover book for high school graduation and she didn't read it i don't think but she let me take it to the beach on

vacation and so i read it and i lived on a budget in college and paid cash for mine oh anyway so i was following the plan and then we dating, and then I figured out how much student loan debt he had. So we knew we were going to tackle it when we got married. So just kind of a tradition of marriage. So how long had you been dating before you disclosed this, Adam? Then we broke up. Then we got back together. It was only a couple months before she knew about it.

Okay. All right. and so what was it like when she told you we're doing this but we're doing it the analyst way um i was kind of scared to you know ask her to help me almost i was i offered i was like we can wait till you know i haven't paid off but that would have been several years down the road she's like no we're gonna do it as a team do it together I didn't want to wait that long. Y'all are fun. This is great.

It's good to have these discussions with you because you're the other side of it and have won now. But there's couples out there listening that are dating, and he doesn't want to tell her he's got $70,000 in debt because he figures he's dead right there. Or they're married, and she feels like they're drowning drowning and he's looking at another truck to trade up in and she doesn't know how to have this conversation. So how did you do it? Take all the audience back to that moment when you looked across whatever table and you said, this is what we're going to do now.

I got $70,000 in debt. I don't know. We weren't going to get married. Like, if he wasn't willing to do it, honestly. That's what I'm telling you. We would have waited. Like, if he wasn't on the same page, that could have possibly been a deal breaker. Yeah, Financial Peace University was actually one of the things that we did in pre-med adult counseling.

Oh, you did? Okay. So that was really the big step. And whenever we decided we were going to lock down and really do it. Brother, you married so well. Man. Wow. This is so good, you guys.

What a great way to do pre-marriage counseling, too. I'm sure you learned a lot, both of you. Oh, yeah. And about working together and pushing the whole thing through. Almost as much as being on a beach vacation and looking over and borrowed book seeing your face on the cover of a borrowed book the book she's reading it's like oh man don't you really you're supposed to be on vacation here yeah so but i mean like yeah wow very cool you guys so now that you've done it congratulations you're incredible proud of you what was uh what advice do you have to somebody's facing that they're brand new married

they got a pile of debt what's the key to getting out of debt what did you all do that you think made the big difference i just keep that gazelle intensity um you know you might have to sacrifice knocking out to eat with your friends just cooking at home you know rice chicken and hot sauce you know cheap meals and that doesn't sound bad on doing that beans and rice exactly yeah um i would say a lot of people have asked we did share when we became debt free um on social media and a lot of people message me and they want there to be the secret and there's really no secret it's sacrificing and discipline and then obviously the budget and then being on the same page with your spouse if you're married.

It's just you have to be there. Yeah, definitely the communication aspect of it. You know, once a week, two or three times a month, just talking about it, laying out the land, like how you're going to do it for the next few weeks. Taking those links off that chain. Yeah, one at a time. Here we go.

That's so fun. Very cool. So how would you rate your marriage compared to your buddies right now? You have no debt. Y'all have worked together on a long-term project. Y'all both smiled, so tell me about it. I mean, we have friends that have great marriages, and then obviously there are friends that we can see. It's

a little rocky, but we think we're up there with the strongest of them. Yeah, I think this has really strengthened our communication, not just about money, but everything. I feel like we really communicate really well. well yeah how old are you guys i'm 25 i'm 24 all right man making 130 and no debt in the freaking world they're gonna be so rich oh my goodness it's gonna be amazing i mean we're talking tens of millions

here they don't even they don't understand what the compound interest is gonna do that's awesome you can see it on his face, though. He's slowly figuring it out. Yeah. He knew he married well when he met her, and he's like, hey, guys, she's going to actually go out with me. And then when he told his buddies that she was going to marry him, and now he's realizing, oh, we're going to have lots of commas and zeros, too.

Man, well played, dude. Well done. Well done. So who are your biggest cheerleaders uh family and friends uh my in-laws are here today all right they're here and we have pretty much all of our friends were supportive we have some that like to make fun of us but well that's good mostly they're supportive if your broke friends are making fun of your financial plan you're right on track said that to you before that's it that's it that's a classic right there well that's cool mom and dad came up to support you that means

they were supporting and cheering you on all the way through and they're proud of you we're proud of you congratulations thank you very well done we've got a copy of the legacy journey which is the next step for you guys as you move into completely changing your future family tree that'll make mom and Dad real happy. And I'm going to give you an extra copy of Total Money Makeover since you borrowed one at the beach. Okay. And I want you to pay it forward.

Figure out somebody to loan it to on their beach vacation or give it to. Okay. And let's see if we can change another life or two. So well done, you guys. Very well done sarah and adam from chattanooga 70 000 paid off in 17 months been married 24 did it 120 to 130 000 worth of income count it down let's hear a debt-free scream three two one we're debt free. Yeah. I love it.

There's a handbook there for a bunch of singles that are thinking about who to marry. There was a whole bunch in that call. Oh, man. They're going to have a whole new marriage now where they can go out to dinner together. They can go to a movie. Chicken, rice, and hot sauce. Yeah. I know. They're're gonna get an entree now it's gonna be incredible maybe a dessert and i don't know what was more amazing their journey

or the fact that you're on pinterest i didn't know that well i i probably have somebody that works here no i'm going with you i think dave ramsey's on pinterest yeah i i spent a lot of time every night i actually i is blown in ten different ways. I actually printed off, personally, those little chains. It was a little-known secret of my other side there, John. You're so full of crap. I love it. You know I'm not on it.

I can't even spell Pinterest. Yes, you can. You're on it. You're on it. Sarah and Adam. It's a secret, Dave. Incredible. It's a secret, Dave.

Yeah, the secret Dave is out. But, hey, I do. I want to go back. Sarah said, this meant something to me. This wedding wasn't going to happen. If he wasn't going to be a person. Well, and he said, I'll pay it all off before we get married. They both were like, they were addressing the issue.

People don't address the issues when it messes up their marriage. And then they did it together. They accelerated it. Boom. Touchdown. What a cool couple. They're heroes together, they accelerate it. Boom. Touchdown. Man. What a cool couple. They're heroes, man.

You guys are heroes. Well done. This is The Ramsey Show. Thank you. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. This is The Ramsey Show. I'm Dave Ramsey. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Jessica is in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Hi, Jessica.

How are you? I'm doing great, Dave. Thank you for taking my call. It's an honor to speak to you. You too. What's up? So I have a question about some inheritance that I received when my dad passed away. My sister was purposefully written out of the will.

And I have always wanted to, I think it's the right thing to share something with her, but I don't agree with the way she's financially lived her life and the decisions she's made. So I do not want to give her cash. The decision I made was to have some money set aside for wedding whenever she gets married and to make a one-time principal payment on her student loan that she's been carrying. And she now thinks it's a waste for me to make that payment, and she thinks you'll agree with her, which I know you won't. Why was she cut out of the will? The relationship between her and my dad fell apart years ago, and I believe my dad's stubbornness led it to not getting repaired.

That's so sad. Yes, I know it is. How long has he been gone? Five years. How old are you and how old is she? I'm 46 and she's 43. And obviously you guys have a pretty good relationship. Yes, we do.

How much money are you talking about? And obviously you guys have a pretty good relationship. Yes, we do. Okay. And how much money are you talking about? I want to make a $20,000 payment towards her student loan. And out of how much money did you receive? I think about $150,000 total. Okay. All right. There's a part of you that feels somewhat maternal towards her,

that you don't trust her to make good decisions. Maybe a little bit in some ways. And so you're going to give her a gift because it's the right thing to do, but you're going to direct how it feels like a weird relational dynamic between sisters. Well, she's irresponsible with money. Right. Is there discomfort there between the two of you? You said she was going to say that was a waste of a gift.

Well, yes, because the direction she's going is she's not doing anything to pay it off with any urgency. She's just riding it out until it gets to 25 years thinking the balance will be forgiven because of an income-based repayment plan. And what I'm offering to give her and what she would pay over the next 13 years until that happens would not total the total balance of the loan. Okay. Well, there's a lot of things going on here um first let's just talk about the public service student loan forgiveness program as of today the last night i'm sorry she's not even public service loan forgiveness why does she feel she just feels like in general it's going to be forgiven yes she found something online that says the the income-based repayment plan when the loan is at 25 years the balance will be forgiven yeah it hasn't been so far 227 000 people have applied for student loan forgiveness under these programs 3 700 out of 200,000 have gotten it. That's less than 1%.

And so she believes a lie about getting out of the student loan debt. So that's one piece of information. So in that sense, you know, we've got other problems with her student loan other than whether you give her money or whether she pays it off, because that student loan is not going away unless the Biden administration and the Democratic Congress decides to forgive student loan debt, which is possible for the first time in our history. history um and uh uh you know there's obviously a lot of uh rhetoric in the last uh four or five months uh since the inauguration about that so uh and there's no way to predict what they will actually do um or if they will do anything other than just talk about it you know their congress So normally in a situation like this, I want to give because it's something that I think is the right thing to do. And it always is hard when you come up against this moment when you think by giving the right thing to do, I'm going to enable somebody to hurt themselves further.

Is that where you're at, Jessica, or you just don't like how she's spinning it yes i don't want to enable her bad behavior because she's obviously not going to put it towards the loan it will most likely get at least somewhat wasted and spent uh and i really want to really want to help her. Yeah. If we could take the student loan out of the thing, it would change the equation for me. I mean, does she have a car loan or something you can just pay off? No, she doesn't. This is her only debt. This is her only debt.

Is this her only debt? As far as I know, yes. Okay. And the interesting thing is, is you all have talked about it to where the language has changed to where now she feels entitled to it. Like entitled to tell you what to do with the money you're giving her. That was an interesting part of the thing, too. Yeah. So, wow, I don't know what to tell you. to do with the money you're giving her that was interesting part of the thing too yeah so wow i

don't know what to tell you i um i think i you know here's an idea when in doubt don't and just say you know what i want to do something to honor you out of this inheritance because i think you got a raw deal but i also don't want to participate in a delusional situation, and I don't think your student loan is going away. And so how much does she owe? I think $92,000. And what does she make? She makes now about $60,000. Okay.

You know, I might offer to match her for every $5,000 she puts on it. You'll put $5,000 on it. Oh, I like that idea. But, you know, and it's just you and her talking, and you're just saying, you know, you're an adult. You have the right to do what you want to do, sister. But I also have that, and I cannot give you money for it. I agree with you that giving you money for this is going to end up being wasted

because you're not going to get it paid off, and then it's going to be a bigger problem because you think it's going to go away. I don't think it's going to go away, so I really don't want to put the 20 on that. And so I don't know how to give you money because I think what you're doing with this is irresponsible. And so I love you, and I want you to win, and so what we're going to do right now is nothing. I'm just going to sit back and watch a little bit, and if you decide you want to get after the student loan, and I'll put some money towards it with you, and I'll help you.

But until you do, right now I'm just going to watch because I want to do something, but I don't know how to do it right now, and so what I'm going to do is wait. Okay. And in the meantime, should I do something different with it other than it just sitting in my face with a can of bank? Yeah. Well, you can do whatever you want.

I mean, you can put it in a mutual fund if you want, and then you can pull it out and give it to her later on. But it's just the biggest thing here is it's just all tied back to this heartbreaking relationship between her and your dad yeah that's the part i don't like about it dave is it because dad did what he did now she's holding this and she's got to make one of two choices either i'm going to become dad and i'm going to use my relational position and my money to keep you to and i share it with you because of your decisions your choices so i'm replaying what just happened oh that's true or i'm going to give you money knowing that i'm just throwing this is a no win i'm throwing in the wind that's right and so my

impulse um there's always wisdom and they just just it's just do. That's right. And so my impulse, there's always wisdom in, hey, just do nothing. That's all I said, yeah. And then my thought is, you know what, I'm going to free myself from this. And so it's the same impulse, just the other side, which if you feel in your heart it's the right thing, Dad did a raw deal, and the right thing to do is to give money, the right thing to do is to give money. And forget it.

Don't worry about it. Yeah, and that's where I want's what i wanted that's not on you well it drills down to if someone's if someone's doing drugs someone's hurting themselves versus they're gonna go buy a dumb car right um but man especially you're holding that money you could really help them with their student loan it's hard it's just a messy situation this is a 41 year old yeah so it might be down to what you're saying. I'd give $25,000. I don't disagree with your change in direction on that. I'd just give them the money or I wouldn't.

Yeah. And I'd just call it. Call it. Yeah. I like your advice better than mine. This is The Ramsey Show. this is james child producer of the ramsey show did you know the ramsey show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world subscribe or follow today wherever you listen to podcasts.