The Ramsey Show - App - Should We Be Gazelle Intense About Paying Off Our House? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: July 1, 2024

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. Dr. John Deloney, number one best-selling author, Ramsey personality, host of the Dr. John Deloney Show, is my co-host today as we answer your questions about your life and your money. It is a free call, and some say the advice is worth exactly what you pay for it. The phone number is 888-825-5225. Thank you for joining us. Kelly in Denver starts this hour. Hi, Kelly.

Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, Mr. Ramsey. Thank you for taking my call. My husband and I are debt-free, live in a beautiful place, Grand Junker, Colorado. About 20 months ago, sorry if I'm talking fast, we had to go no contact with his very abusive family after I was assaulted. Whoa. Yes. Who assaulted you? His mother and his brother. Physically assaulted you? Yes, they assaulted us when we decided we were no longer going to take their abuse. My husband and I moved to Colorado from California 10 years ago to help take care of his mother and father, moved right next door.

They gifted us a property of land in exchange for doing that. And two weeks after getting here, we realized we'd made a horrible mistake, but we were kind of stuck. Anyway, back in 1993, um, they set up a irrevocable trust with the three siblings and, um, it came to my home or to our home, which it wasn't supposed to. And I saw the specs on it and everything, uh, being $300,000 for each child. Um, when the passing of their parents, but if they live to be a hundred, they wouldn't get it. So, um, when all of this horrible stuff happened,

my husband even attempted suicide after, I'm sorry, after this happened 20 months ago because we had come here to help take care of them and were treated really badly. Anyway, we are worried that the irrevocable trust is no longer available because we know that he was cut out of the will for not allowing his family to, um, treat him, treat him and I badly anymore. And, um, are you still living next door? Actually, she sold, she sold her house. That's pretty much when the real problem started. She had decided to sell her house after the after my father-in-law died um in 2021 um and she was demanding that we sell our home that we built on this little piece of property next door to them and when we told her no we

weren't going to sell it she wanted to split the money for of the house and everything with the other two older siblings and we said no we're not going to do that and it okay so you're still living the property she sold the property next door where did they move to she moved she moved in with her other one of her other children in lake havasu, Arizona. Oh, a good distance away. Yeah, exactly. Good. Praise God. And we were granted permanent restraining orders against them as well. And so do you guys have an income? Do you make a living?

We're on retirement. We have my husband's retirement, and we collect Social Security as well, and he does handyman work. I'm 66. He's 69. Oh, wow. But we retired in 2012. So it's like an 80-year-old woman attacking you?

Actually, a 92-year-old woman. These people are freaks. Well, our new neighbor happens to be a forensic psychologist, and he has been so helpful in helping my husband and I get through most of what we've gone through. Okay, so you have a piece of ground. You're 66 years old. You have Social Security coming in, and you have what else coming in, and it's a disability coming in? And you said disability. Well, yes, he has bipolar I disorder, but he never collected disability or anything. He always worked.

We owned a business together. No, do you have income coming in is what I'm trying to get at, honey. Okay. You have Social Security coming in. What else do you have coming in? Retirement and his handyman work. He makes about $800 a month, but we're fine okay good you're fine well so so yeah here's my point um it's not worth it well that's that's why that was what we we had decided it's not worth it when we're not worth it

when we could you possibly hold them to an irrevocable trust depending depending on how it's worded, what state it was in? I guess you've got a copy of it. You could take it to an attorney and get legal advice. If you want to do that, you can. For me, it falls under the heading of life's too short. Screw it. You're 66. Go on with your life.

Oh, my gosh. Exactly. And that's what we've been doing my husband except the part where you call me and ask me if you're all because you're all worried about the trust that part where you're not going on with your life that well that didn't come up until just recently and my husband because he lived in a family where money was the manipulation yeah so don't let them just forget about it don Don't worry about it. Yeah, walk away. If you get a check in the mail after she passes away, then great. But I would plan my life as though that money's not coming.

And I would dust my sandals off and go on to the next thing because it's just not worth your soul. Yeah, yeah. And that's what we've been trying to do. And like I said, we're debt-free. We have a good life. We have good friends yeah miss our kids like hell but um but it's been it's been a it's been an awful

awful thing in what where are your kids where's your kids my i've got two sons in california i've got a daughter in arizona and a daughter in texas you just miss them because they're distance yeah we were extremely close family and we we left them to come i know but i'm saying there but you're you're you're you're still connected to them relationally you just absolutely just have to like most people they don't live in the same town can you sell your sell your place and go be by your kids you you're speaking as though you're not adults and that you're trapped that's that was our original idea was to come here when his parents passed no no no that's all behind backwards don't go back today go forward put the house that you live in for sale

move to texas or live near your children it's impossible now because of the cost of well the cost of living we are the home that we live in is worth just a little under three or a little over 300 000 and if we move back to california where the grandkids are there's just no way we we don't have the um we wouldn't be debt free and we want to we want to live debt free so we do go see them so that's not a problem okay so buy some airline tickets and just head over there and life's good yeah i really i mean you could go you could you've got a copy of the trust you could go get legal advice and um and uh it depends on how it's worded honestly the

weird thing about an irrevocable trust is it may be revocable um it's uh depending on who who's where in the thing what's how it's in, who's in charge, that kind of stuff. But really, I don't know who put it together. I don't know how it's written. And without reading it, I wouldn't have a clue. So you could go get legal advice if you want to. But every step you take towards, quote, defending yourself, unquote, puts them all back in your head rent-free again, and I really wouldn't let them back in your head. Think of it this way. Every conversation you have,

everything you Google trying to figure this out is a choice to be miserable in the present. It's not worth it. It's just not worth it. I wouldn't spend that. Because even if you find out you're completely legally right, you might have to spend a tremendous amount of effort and money to force it. This is The Ramsey Show. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey personality, is my co-host. Thanks for joining us at 888-825-5225. Daniel is with us. Daniel's in New York City.

Hi, Daniel. How are you? I'm good. How are you? Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? So I'm 25 years old.

I make $100,000 for my W-2 job. I have a couple rentals that I cash flow about $40,000 a year from. I'm thinking about taking a year off from work next year to go get my master's in Europe. I studied abroad there five years ago when I was in college, and I haven't really stopped thinking about it since. So my question is, is this financially something that would be smart to do, or am I better off basically continuing grinding in my career

and working my way up to make more money? What's your master's going to be in? It would be an MBA with a focus in construction management or project management. Okay. Well, an MBA is an excellent degree the europe part sounds like a freaking vacation yeah it sounds like you're looking for an excuse to go spend a year overseas so that's partly i mean you and i both know you can get an mba and keep your

job yeah it's it is more for spending time in Europe. I've always considered maybe moving there long-term, but that's not something I am 100% sure I want to do, and I'm aware that I can make more money here in the States. So it's kind of on the fence. I don't know if it's smart to give up that $100,000 I would make that year. No, it's not. To basically figure this out, no.

You're too old for a gap year. You're like a grown man and stuff. Yeah, no, that's not smart at all. Now, if you want to go to Europe and live in Europe and work and get your MBA in Europe and and make a hundred thousand there sure if that's part of your life plan but i just want to take a year-long vacation and blame it on education no and you i'm going to suggest you're using the wrong wrong metrics for a good life you keep asking is this smart is this smart is this good financially no not at all doesn't mean it's wrong but you got to just take like dave you got the ownership of

i want to quit everything and i want to go have a life over there you're trying to do everything all at the same time and make it work and it's just not going to work like that you either got to take the jump and go get in the ring and just start swinging or make peace with your life in new york so if you got an mba in construction management and wanted to live in Europe, can you apply that to in a career there? Yes. I just know the salary won't be, uh,

what I'm making. But if you want to live there, that's what you want to do, right? Right. Right. I just, the thought of living there sounds good to me.

I just, for me, the, the one year master's thing was a good way to basically test it and make sure, hey, this is something I want to commit to before I do fully move out there and get a job. You don't have anything to gauge it on because you're not actually going to be doing anything. You're taking a vacation. So if you go over there and set up life and don't like it quit and come back so go spend a year at a new job working and getting your mba at night like you would normally do when you're 28 and like that's the best pro some of the best mba programs out there anyway or adult based at mba programs and and and study if you want to study in europe and

work in europe and then if you're there a year and a half two years and you don't like it quit move back to the states apply your mba then that's not dumb but there's a there's an element of escapism and childishness to the way you're laying this out that i'm not going to endorse for you i don't think it's good for you. Yeah. I think you're trying to find something that's not there. Or you're trying to be a boxer without getting hit. That's just not how the world works, man.

Either go decide I want to live in Europe. What's going to stop you if you go there and after two years you hate it, you realize it was a bad idea? Go back home, right? Come back. Come back with your MBA and get back to work doing something else but but i'm gonna go over there on vacation and just kind of not have any responsibility see what you have is you have a selective memory about how cool it was when you were there you forgot all the crappy stuff when you were there before and so you want to go back

to this um yeah unicorn unicorn dust thing again and no I'm you know everybody has this I mean you know Uncle Rico had a selective memory about his high school quarterback days you know no that was for real we all have we all have selective memories about no and people say well the best years of my life were when I was oh crap no Uncle Rico got robbed if coach had just put him in yeah just give him a shot just give him a shot but give me a shot coach but yeah but no i really i think i'm just being your older ugly uncle who tells you stuff you know and that's me i because i love you and i want you to win i don't i don't i wouldn't tell my own son to do what you're doing uh i i would tell my own son to go work

i think he'll find a better choice of life and get a better sampling of what it'll actually be like. You're not sampling what it would be like when you're going over there as a college student. Absolutely. You got to have some skin in the game, man, which means you got to risk this not working out and me coming home.

Yeah. So what? You can get on. I mean, if you got an MBA in construction management, you can come back to states and make six figures. Yes. You can in construction management, you can come back to states and make six figures. Yes. You can in construction management. You can do that.

And so and you don't have to live in New York City to do it. You can live in almost any city, major city in America and do that. So in an MBA in construction management, by the way, Daniel, is an excellent field of study. Congratulations. I like that. I like your idea to go get an MBA. There's nothing wrong with that. It's some of the most.

I think, John, you can probably as well. you've got a Ph.D. in higher education. You can comment on this better than I can. But my practical experience tells me that an MBA of all the graduate degrees probably has the best ROI. Some of the studies that I saw back in the day, and I don't know how new they are, said, if you get into an MBA program, go, because it can help. But a lot of those things have circled out and said, if you're working while you're in an MBA program, the lessons that you can take from the classroom and apply them, in your current life, is very beneficial. And one of the other benefits of an MBA program is

your classmates. And that one of them is going to go start a business and is going to remember you from class. It becomes an incredible networking opportunity, which suggests to me, if you also, in the loneliest generation we've created for ourselves, if you have a group of businessmen and women that you meet with regularly just to see how the world is going and what are you experiencing, how are things going,

you might see some of those same benefits outside of an NBA program. But if my son came to me and said, Dad, I'm getting an NBA, I would cheer him all the way, and we'd figure out how to make that work. But it's a great degree. Versus a PhD in left-handed puppetry or German polka history. I mean, German polka history's got some legs to it. I mean, if you can dance right, man, and play the accordion at the same time,

that's good. And, you know, pat your head and rub your stomach. Ethan's in New Orleans. Hi, Ethan. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Good afternoon, gentlemen. Hey, what's up? I'm in baby step two, and I'm curious if you would suggest I go into a proverbial stork mode,

given that I live in a hurricane-prone area. And the deductible, despite having good home insurance, the deductible for my plan in the event of a named hurricane hits is $10,000. So the thought I had was, do I go into stork mode until I have that $10,000 saved up? Well, it's not stork mode. You just do you want to do a different plan. That's not stork mode. Storkork modes if you're having a kid storks don't bring hurricanes um uh no i if i live there i wouldn't what's your household income uh two hundred thousand yeah yeah how much do you owe?

I owe about $80,000. Yeah. No, no, I wouldn't. You make $200,000, you can come up with $10,000 very, very quickly in the event of an actual event hitting New Orleans, which averages less than once every 10 years. So, I mean, the last major one was Katrina, right? Well, New Orleans of the closest city the last one for us was ida which was two years ago yeah okay then it's gonna be quite a while before you see another one probably you got the weather channel on watching barbados getting

hammered don't you yes sir yeah no you make 200k you can cover 10 grand. You can figure it out. It'll work out. You're going to be all right. Turn the weather channel off. This is The Ramsey Show. They just flashed the picture up on our YouTube screen of the cruise we're doing next spring. And the people that are going on this cruise that are friends of ours are so much fun. Manit Shahan, I had dinner with her the other night.

We had a friend that had a special dinner and I was invited and she ended up sitting next to me and she's on the famous chef, celebrity chef on Iron Chefs and all. And she's got a bunch of restaurants here in Nashville. She's going to be on the Ramsey cruise with us next year that's going to be a blast she's a hoot to hang out with she is uh stephen curtis chapman world-renowned christian artist uh 60 something dove awards several grammy awards incredible entertainer incredible talent incredible man is a good friend of ours sharon's and mine and he's going to be on the cruise with

us and um um you know a few other folks that do comedy a few folks that do uh illusions and magic and magic and uh man it's pretty stinking incredible uh and all the ramsey personalities are going to be with us um dina carter is going to be with us she's a famous uh of course country music artist strawberry wine you may remember that song and uh so she'll be there uh she's an incredible talent too it's going to be a week-long cruise on a world-class top-of-the-line holland america cruise ship we've got the entire ship for ramsey people it's the live like no one else cruise. Do not come on this cruise if you are in baby step two trying to get out of debt. You should not be going on vacation if you're on baby step two trying to get out of debt.

If you don't have your emergency fund in place. But if you're at baby step four and beyond, you're investing. Now you're starting to do some things with your money. You're starting to do a vacation. You're starting to eat out again, and you want to have a milestone event, this is a place you can celebrate, we will spend the week celebrating you, we're going to do events on the ship, all the Ramsey personalities will be doing talks, I'll be on the ship for the entire week, all the Ramsey personalities will, my wife Sharon's going to be with us, we're going to stop at Turks and Caicos, St. Thomas, Puerto Rico, rico the bahamas it's march 22nd through the 29th there are not that many um suites left not that

many rooms left but you can still get a suite still get a room if you get online right now you can put up as little as a 600 deposit and hold the spot again it's march of next year and we'd love to have you the thing will be sold out within probably a month or so something like that the current rate go to ramsey solutions.com slash cruise the live like no one else cruise john that's gonna be fun hanging out with our folk i'm gonna have a blast it's gonna be a good time gonna be great nicole is with us she's in cincinnati hi nicole welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi. Thank you so much for taking my call.

Sure. What's up? So I am getting married in two weeks, and I'm very excited. Yay! We're excited for you, Nicole. How old are you? I'm 31. Congratulations.

That's awesome. Thank you. So I have no debt other than my home. And then my fiance has no debt whatsoever. He will be moving in to this house with me once we get married here in two weeks. He has been backing up cash with the idea of buying his own home, obviously part of our relationship. And so I guess my question is about he's wanting to chunk that cash at the house and pay down the house as quickly as possible. We're also, I feel like a bit behind on retirement savings. So my question is kind of about that. And for him, he's never been in debt before ever

in his life. And so he's a little nervous about marrying into some debt, meaning my home. So I think that's why he is really focused on that. Y'all are fine. This is cool. What are you guys going to make as a household once you're married? What's your household income going to be? We each make about $75 a year. Okay, so $100 and a half.

And what do you owe on the house? I owe $188. And how much cash does fiancé have stacked? He has about $90,000 in addition to his emergency fund. Okay, and you have an emergency fund too? I do, yeah. Okay, well, we don't need two of them. We'll need one.

That's true. So will your emergency fund be big enough to suffice for the family emergency fund once you're married? We could probably add a little bit to it. I have about 15 right now. You have how much? 15,000. Okay, and how much does he have? He has about 20, I believe.

Okay. So easily we throw 100 at the 188. Agreed? Okay. Versus like catching up on some retirement savings? No, we don't do any retirement. You're going to put 15% of your household income into retirement. If you're not doing that, get that set up after you're married.

Automatically going into 401ks and Roth IRAs. No more. That's enough. That's plenty. You're only 31. You're only 31 and you're going to get the house paid off very quickly and then you're going to kick up and as soon as the house is paid off you can put more than 15 in but you're not behind you're fine okay okay how after so after chunking his money at the house how aggressive should we be i think he is a little more on the anxious

side more conservative side and he wants to kind of act like we're in baby step two and like really pay down this house in like a year and a half versus i'm i'm thinking it would be okay if we took a little longer than that what are your thoughts probably right between you two we don't tell folks to be gazelle intense and baby steps four five and six we tell you to be intentional. And so that means in one, two, and three, you're not on vacation. You're not going out to eat. That's intense. No lifestyle. Lifestyle is scorched earth.

No life. You're getting out of debt. You're not there. You're at baby steps four, five, and six, and you're intentional, which means you're going to want to do some other things. You may need to upgrade a car. You may actually want to go on a vacation. You may want to spend some of your money on fun and you should okay okay so let's just let's just throw it let's throw a couple numbers here okay you make 150 if you put 100 on it that's 88 44 out of 150 would be done in two years and that means you guys would be living on over a hundred thousand a year that would give

you plenty of room for other stuff right yeah yeah that's true that also means you have a paid off house at the age of 33 that's true you know also means you have a paid-off house at the age of 33. That's true. You know who else has that? Nobody in America. I never expected that because, you know, me, you know, prior to getting married, I never was on that track. Well, you both have been very conservative and wise. Neither one of you have got a complete mess.

You're both in good shape. You've done a great job, both of you, and now you're talking about this ahead of time that's a good sign it's a good sign for your relationship it's a good sign for your probability of building wealth and so if you put it on a two to a three year schedule to finish off the other 88 throw 100 at it that should give you plenty of wiggle room to have a good life okay so just 15 to retirement we don't need to do extra to catch up there and then the rest of our extra money quote unquote can go towards the house right if you put 15 percent of 150,000 dollars so 22.5 towards retirement and that's all you ever do from 31 to 65, you'll have about $10 million. Okay. So you're fine.

That's a lot. You're fine. Okay. You're going to be worth a lot of money with the track you're on if you continue to be intentional. And I appreciate his nervousness because it's moving you towards positive things, but we don't want to let it go too far. Here's what's going to help him because I have that same bent that i want to treat a mortgage like baby step

two also put a plan down on a piece of paper and y'all agree on that plan so he wants it done in a year and a half and you're like ah three or four years to be fine say two years or two you know or two and a half or 26 months i don't care put it down and then he'll exhale and go, okay, now I've got something I can work towards. And it keeps that tornado from just cycling up on me. Oh, and I would also agree as a part of that little. We will go out once a week. Well, I say no as a pinky swear and spit shake. Okay.

With our current numbers, we're going to put 100 on it and lay it out. But if we got like a found bonus or a you know granny passes away leaves them ten thousand dollars any extra found money we're throwing and we could speed the schedule up on paying off the house i like that but also you get to say we're gonna have some fun and go on a date because we're newlyweds yeah and we're gonna go on a vacation upgrade that junkie butt car you're driving i don't know it's okay as long as you're paying cash for all of it and you've got the wiggle room to do it and you know and it fits in your plan so i don't care if it's 26 or 28 or 24 months somewhere in there you're that's intentional that's not intense and that's a great band name junkie butt car james note that oh brother we have a battle of the bands here at Ramsey,

and they always get their names from weird things I say on the air. This is The Ramsey Show. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey personality, Ph.D. in counseling, number one best-selling author. He's my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225 thanks for joining us guys our question of the day comes from jen in tennessee all right jen writes i came to this country years ago with nothing i've worked hard don't have any debt my house

is paid off let's just stop there that's's so great. And I'm investing. Growing up with nothing and being so hungry and so poor created a scarcity mindset even now that I'm in a place where I have all the necessities that I need. Sometimes it's hard to wrap my mind around it, and it's hard to not feel guilty sometimes. I would love to hear your wisdom and advice about how i can develop a spirit of contentment i have grown up my whole life in the states dave but i identify with this okay like just that sense of feeling guilty sometimes feeling like why me like like that sense of something's not right and it's tough man how have you wrapped your head around that all these years um well i think this 90 of solving a problem is realizing there is one so she's identified that that she should not have this but how do i so how do i not you know i

i feel discontent and i'm should be in a place where i'm content i feel guilty and i don't know don't i didn't do anything wrong so what am i guilty of there's nothing to be charged with here you didn't do anything there's not a crime committed uh you didn't you didn't wrong anyone no one got hurt you uh didn't steal your way into this position you worked your way into the position so um you know the the uh the thing the only thing i've ever been able to come up with is um that has helped me a lot uh is uh i balance my um consumption with my generosity yep me too if i increase if i feel a tinge of i don't feel worthy to be here which i don't that's why i tell people i'm better than i deserve um i'm really smart and i work really really hard but the blessings in my life are beyond my smart or hard work okay you. I mean, it would just be, it would not,

that's not humility and that's not false spiritual pride or something. It's not a humble brag. It's just simply an, uh, an intellectual observation that I'm, I have a life that is beyond my smart or work ethic. I got good, smart. I got good work ethic, but my life is beyond it. Okay.

So I'm better than I deserve. Those of us that are Christians, we call that the blessings of the Lord. Okay. Which is beyond it. Okay. So I'm better than I deserve. Those of us that are Christians, we call that the blessings of the Lord. Okay. Which is beyond what I did. I played my part, but it's beyond what I did. And so you can say I'm better than I deserve. And that's like, you ought to be positive and say you deserve it.

I wouldn't be accurate. I am better than I deserve. And also, it's a statement of grace. Doctrinally, I'm better than I deserve because i deserve hell and i'm not going because of jesus okay so all that stuff but the aside from that the the when i sharon and i are able i remember the first time i tithed because i give a tenth of my income to my church the first time I ever made $100,000 and I gave a $10,000 check, I was like, oh, my, that's so much money. In one lick.

I mean, one time I like wanted to kind of announce it, you know, like this is going in the plate, boys and girls. Look at me. This is happening. Ten freaking thousand dollars. You know what I mean? It kind of of went all that stuff went through my head but um but it's just a normal rhythm of our life so we automatically did it but it was still like wow that just happened and uh and i've continued to have those feelings with um that that now we're able to give more than we used to make, you know, a lot more than we used to make in a given year, you know.

And so generosity helps me go, okay, it's part of the rhythm of my life, and it helps me to not, quote, unquote, feel guilty. I don't ever really feel guilty. I've not had that issue. But I do have the sense of I'm not i'm i've gotten more than i deserve but i don't feel guilt is not the word for me it's just um unearned blessings that's different than guilt you know what i'm saying yeah the word that i hang on it that has stuck with me and that has been very helpful is practicing so jen jen was surviving her whole life yeah and now she gets to practice giving she gets to practice enjoying godliness with contentment right is great gain and so if

you've never done it before so if jen was asked to start learning a new language or jen was asked to start doing gymnastics she would stumble and fall and hurt hurt herself and sprain an ankle it's part of it same as giving same as um contentment so when i i remember um i felt so guilty a couple years ago buying a guitar i just it sat on me and so i went and found somebody to give a silly amount of money to like to donate to her thing as not a way to offset it but as a way to practice okay i feel this and then i'm going to not just stew on this and i'd be dramatic but i'm going to be extra generous and that's been a way to balance it for me you know when i practiced that i can remember precisely the first time i practiced that that's interesting because i was driving a

mercedes that had 260 000 miles on it and it looked nice but it's a piece of crap it was completely used up and um a guy that's working for me at the time uh i was probably worth a couple million dollars something like that a guy's working for me at the time uh was in the car we jumped in the car and we were driving to chattanooga from nashville which a couple hours south of nashville and um stupid thing overheated and so i'm off the side of the road at the dadgum truck stop rummaging through the dumpster trying to find a bottle to get you know to get some water and pour over the radiator because i'm a redneck i know how to fix the stupid car and keep it going right i know how to get the thing cooled off and i'm going to get it on down to chattanooga and this

guy working for me is a friend of mine he's just ragging me to no end you freaking cheapskate you've got millions of dollars and we're here on the side of the road because you're too dadgum prideful to buy a decent car because you're afraid of what somebody will think about you having a nice car oh gotcha totally got me it owned me because that's exactly right i was i had reverse pride i was like i don't have to i can drive whatever i want to drive well i was driving a piece of crap and uh and i was afraid that somebody would think it since i'm on the radio telling people sell their car you know that i shouldn't be driving a nice car and i had it made me process through the philosophy that she's dealing with here when i got home i went and bought a two-year-old jag um uh which was a great car

and i drove that car for a while it was the ones back when ford was making jags they were good cars and um i don't know they may still be making them i don't know but it was a it was a great car like uh in the 90s and so anyway that was a while back so long time a couple decades ago and then fast forward i went the other way up in 2014 i got a bunch of criticism for having a nice house some guy decided he was going to go bananas on the internet and it pissed me off these left-wingers communists telling you you can't succeed in america and you should be ashamed of success and i went the other way i went and bought three cars showed them dave you showed them i drove one of them today. It's a 2014.

So, but, you know, so you could kind of, you could, but it's like practicing. I think the moral here is. Saying it out loud and then practicing your way through the emotions and not letting other people set the tone. Right. It's not about other people. It's about what's right between you and God. Are you being proper towards your family towards your community towards your future and meanwhile being responsible with that have you done anything wrong are you morally out

of whack somewhere with what you're how you're gaining the money probably not um but then there's always some moron out there that's going to be envious or jealous that those dirt on your the gen's success whatever side you're yeah you're doing it could be your family yeah it could be something else you know like you know like we say you're getting above your raising all that stuff but anyway you just say look you it's between you your brain your conscience and god and if you can get that straight and that's a matter of practicing adding generosity to the equation intentional generosity that's that grows as your income and your wealth grows so that the generosity is not back at your old income level or your old wealth level,

and your enjoyment grows as your wealth grows as well, and your use of money for personal consumption, the quality of your vacation, the quality of your dining out should go up as you go along, but not so much so that it's out of whack. All of that fits into this contentment issue. It's a great discussion, Jim. It's a great question. And I think the meta thing here is it's okay to feel weird anytime you're doing or experiencing something that you're not used to. That's okay. You're not crazy. Not something wrong with you. Matter of fact, you'd be something wrong with you if you didn't feel right. So just make sure

you practice. Practice your way through it. That's good. Good word, John. This is The Ramsey Show. Take care.