The Ramsey Show - App - Should We Keep Paying on Our Student Loans if Congress Might Pay Them Off? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: January 18, 2021

Debt, Relationships, Career, Business, Investing, Savings Sign Up for a FREE trial of Ramsey+ TODAY: https://bit.ly/31ricKt  Tools to get you started:  Debt Calculator: https://bit.ly/2QIoSPV Insurance Coverage Checkup: https://bit.ly/2BrqEuo Complete Guide to Budgeting: https://bit.ly/2QEyonc Check out more Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/2JgzaQR

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave 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. Anthony O'Neill, Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author, is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. We'll talk about your life and your money. That's 888-825-5225. Mariah is starting off this hour in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Hi, Mariah. How are you? I'm good, Dave. How are you? Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? So one thing that I really want to celebrate is I paid off my student loans two days ago.

Yay! Yeah, that's one big milestone in my life. And I still have some debt left. I still have a car loan. And my parents have been gracious enough towards me that they've allowed me to stay at home. With them being there, they can allow me to pay off my debt. So they've been really gracious with me with that. So both my parents know how determined I am to pay off my car loan, too. And I have left guys, like, that's what I have left.

So I'll make it short for you. So it's only fair to them that I help them with utilities and electric since I'm still living at home. And me and my mother have come to that agreement. And that's perfectly acceptable because I'm still living under their roof. One thing I'm not comfortable with is that she wants to charge me rent, which is fair. But the stipend is that she will hold on to that money for me in her savings account. And she won't let me put that in my savings account. So I feel like there's a trust issue there per se like she doesn't trust me with my own money and she wants to help me out in a sense of saving it for the future but how old are you i'm 27 years old 27 what do you make a year? I make about $30,000 working two jobs.

So I work 40 hours a week at my other job, and I put in about 20 hours with my part-time job. You know, Maria, learning at your 27, you know, I'm kind of split. So let me say this on the flip side. My father did the exact same thing that your mother is doing. But I was 20. I was 19, 20, maybe 21 around that time. He actually I paid him $250 a month.

And by the time I moved out, he actually gave that all back to me and some to start my life off. But let me ask you a question. I want you to be honest with us. Should your mom be able to trust you? Like, are you being a good steward with your money? I am, yeah. She wants to play a game where she's

the landlord, and at the end of the game, she gives me all that money from the base rent that I've saved up over the day that I've moved out. Maria, I think you've got to look at that differently. That's not a game. I think that's your mother trying to help you become a young adult.

And if you've never paid rent before, you do need to know how to do that. So I would definitely take the word game out of your head and say, okay, cool. Let me just pay my mom rent, move on about your life, get out of debt and and say, okay, cool. Let me just pay my mom rent, move on about your life, get out of debt and do everything. And then just accept the fact that your mom is just trying to help you mature, help you get ready for real life. Because I'm pretty sure her rent is nowhere near what rent is actually going to be. But I would definitely say eventually I would try. Honestly, if I was you and Dave may disagree with this, but at 27, I'm looking at how do I get out of the house, even if I do have some debt on the table.

Yeah, you need to be gone in three months. Yeah. I don't know if it would be better for me to. Time to move out, kiddo. Okay. Time to move out. Thank you for taking my call. You're 27 years old.

It's time to move out. Yep. Get your job working. Get your budget on an apartment. Figure out how It's time to move out. Get your job working. Get your budget on an apartment. Figure out how it's going to work. Tell mom I got about three months to get my act together the rest of the way. And it's time for you to move out. This is emotionally treating someone like they're 18, 17, 19 years old or whatever, and you're 27.

Yeah. Okay? So, yeah, you need to move on or whatever, and you're 27. Yeah. Okay? So, yeah, you need to move on. And your mom's trying to be sweet. She's trying to be helpful. But it's time for you to take that next big girl step. Yeah. And it'll change your life.

It'll be good for you. It's going to be really hard. And it's going to be really good for you. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Thanks for joining us, America. We're with you. We're here to help. Thanks for joining us, America. We're with you. We're here to help. George is with us in Cincinnati.

Hi, George. How are you? I'm good. How are you, sir? Better than I deserve. What's up? Hey, appreciate you taking my call. Just wanted to ask your advice on buying some land right now to build a house.

Currently, my wife and I are on baby step six, so we're attacking our house now. And we have about $300,000 still to pay off for our mortgage. How quickly are you going to build? Everything else. Well, that's the question. My wife thinks it's better to buy a lot right now and just kind of wait, kind of see how things go for the next six months or so. I thought it might be, that would be a good idea, but also maybe we do the construction of permanent loan for a better rate so we don't have, you know. I would just, you know, if I was going to buy land,

I would buy a piece of ground in the construction loan and start building. If you're not going to, and that's just answering the question, can I move? And the answer is yes, you're going to move. But do you start investing in land or do you buy land that you might use 10 years from now and not pay cash for it? No, I would not but if it's a part of making an immediate move and you're going to start building very quickly then yeah i would go ahead and and start that process and then of course your home goes on the market and sells and you uh you move into the new property that's being built by the new builder on the new piece of ground whether it's a piece of

land or a simple lot in a subdivision either one of of those is fine. But this thing of, oh, I'd like someday to maybe move, so I'm going to just go buy a lot. No, I wouldn't do that. You very seldom end up building on that lot. No, you're absolutely right. And George, I'll put my business out there. Me and Dave talked about this about last year. And Dave was like, mm-mm, nah, mm-mm.

Not unless you're going to move, Anthony. If you're not going to move, then don't do it. And thankfully, his wisdom was correct because I didn't build in that area. Ashley went totally opposite of where I thought I was going to go. So I want to echo what Dave is saying. If you know you're going to move there and start the building process, do it now. But if it's down the road, things could change. Life could happen.

So I would avoid that at all costs. Yeah, they will change. Yeah, that's how that'll work. Open phones at 888-825-5225. And just to recap, if you're building a home, there's three pieces of paper that are really important. You need a budget that you and the builder are in agreement on. And it's line by line. You know what each of the categories in the budget look like, just like running a budget for a business or for your personal life same thing

you need a schedule what's going to be done when not just what's the delivery date but the framing is going to be this date the trim carpenter is going to be this day kitchen cabinets will be installed on this date you need a schedule and you need a blueprint and that tells you what's being built and you manage to the schedule the budget and the blueprint this is project management if you cannot do that with your builder you have the wrong builder this is the dave ramsey show you've got a lot on your plate a job your home your marriage and your growing family while you're enjoying the present you can't help but think about your future and your finances. As you explore your options, consider Christian Healthcare Ministries, or CHM, for your health care. Their generous maternity program and budget-friendly monthly programs have been a

blessing to members welcoming children into their families. Visit chministries.org slash budget to see if it's right for you. That's chministries.org budget. Thank you for joining us, America. Anthony O'Neill, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. William is with us in Pensacola, Florida. Hi, William. How are you? Doing fantastic, sir. Thank you for asking. Sure. How about yourself?

Yes. So I had a quick question for you. Much the similar as the same caller and her living situation. After taxes, I don't make much more than minimum wage. And I've been carrying the car loan that I have now for a little over two years. My question was, is it worth refinancing the vehicle to try and free up some extra money so I can afford a place to live by myself and not live with my parents anymore? Or what's the best course of action? How much do you owe on your car? Yeah. What was that? How much do you owe on your car? I have $13,000 left. What kind of car is it, William? It's a 2017 Ford Focus.

Okay. And how old are you? I'm 26 in March. Okay. And why, tell me about your career, because it sounds like you have an income problem. Yes, sir. I don't have much of a career at the moment. I fell in some hard times and a troubled upbringing. So I'm just really just trying to overcome a lot of that and start making my own efforts to get into a career now. What's preventing you from getting a solid job? I know you said hard times,

but without saying too much of the personal information, what's preventing you from getting a good quality job? Probably experience. Okay. Do you have any education? I'm self-taught, so it's not viewed the same, but I have enough of a generalized understanding that I could probably take. What are you doing right now, William, for a career? I'm working in a college, basically intergrades.

Okay. Okay. All right. Here's my thing. I agree with Dave. You have an income problem and you're young. And so I think right now until you can land a solid career and I want to connect you with our career expert, Ken Coleman. But before you go over there, there are two practical things you could be doing right now. You have a 2017 car quality car. Just the other day on the show, we found Dr.

John Deloney and ourself met a young man your age making about six thousand dollars a month just off of delivering for Uber Eats and for just doing Uber, period. And so your income problem could be fixed if you're willing to really put in the work. And so if I was you with a 2017 car right now, immediately when I hang up the phone, I'm registering with Uber. You're in Florida, which is wide open. I will start driving people around on top of what you're doing, then get connected with Ken Coleman to figure out what is your sweet spot? How can you get into a career that will set you up to win? But right now you don't even have the money to move out with your parents. You got $13,000 in debt. So we need to get your income up. And then your first priority, yes, is to get out on your own. And then we need to talk your income up and then your first priority yes is to get out on your own

and then we need to talk about how do we get you out of this debt and don't rack up any more debt but today immediately william i need you to kind of like i'll say this respectfully step up it's time for you to become the young man that you are and go ahead get on an uber find you something you can do today that can start generating you an extra five thousand dollars a week immediately yeah um i don't know what you've been facing with your hard times i can't you know obviously we don't have that information but uh the answer to your question is you only owe thirteen thousand dollars on the car if you told me it was thirty three thousand and you're making minimum wage i would have said just sell the car yeah this is selling this car does not fix your situation because it's not really your problem the fact that it's pinching you is indicate is because of your income more than it's because

of the debt or the size of the car payment that kind of a thing and so yeah your, yeah, your issue is career, short-term and long-term. And we've got to get your income up short-term, and Anthony outlined that for you, and then long-term. So hang on, and Kelly will pick up and we'll get you hooked up with a Ken Coleman book, The Proximity Principle. And she can also set you on his website and help you with some of the interview techniques and some of the things that he's teaching, which are absolutely fabulous. Dave, you're a father, and I just got to ask you this question because I'm seeing this more and more with this younger generation.

They're at home. They don't have a good job. And I feel as if part of that is, and a huge part of that is on the young man or the young lady. But would you agree or disagree with me that a huge part of that also is on the parent you're allowing your son or daughter to come home to be 26 27 30 years old making thirty thousand dollars a year like how is that advancing them forward well it yeah i mean mom and dad's attitude about the whole thing affects uh the young person's attitude as well so if mom and dad are like well you know pandemic and it's bad out there and there's no jobs and you know they got a negative attitude about everything they don't see any positive way

to go make money um and you know oh you can't do uber because you know you can't be socially distanced or you can't have enough masks on or whatever i don't i don't know what i mean but if mom and dad are saying well i mean you're screwed you can't do anything so you might as well live at home instead of saying uh you step up man up here and let's get going which is what you did to with this guy and so it's um you know i grew up one of the blessings of the household i grew up in was mom and dad were entrepreneurial and so if um if you didn't have any money it's just because you don't have any ideas and you weren't working so you need an idea and you get to work on it because there's always a way to make money i mean you can walk dogs you

can mow lawns you can clean out gutters you can pressure wash driveways you can you know i mean teenage jobs i have done i've shoveled out stuff out of houses that i don't even want to think about and so i mean there's all you's, there's, and you'd be amazed what people will pay you to do if you will bother. Go get you a leaf blower. Rich people are afraid of leaves, you know. I mean, it's, you know, there's a lot of stuff that people can do. But mom and dad, my parents had that entrepreneurial spirit. And so we weren't, A, we weren't allowed to not work. Yes. And B, we weren't allowed to not work.

Yes. And B, we weren't allowed to not be dreaming about a better life while we were working. That's good. And instead of just like, well, the little man can't get ahead. You're just stuck. The pandemic's got you. And this generation, you just can't get anything. And you're just bad.

Now, God, man, when I was your age, there was lots of opportunities. You guys didn't get any opportunities. There's nothing out there to do. Good Lord, with technology right now, you can start about six businesses by nightfall. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

And when I hear that, Dave, I get so frustrated. And I have to ask you because I think most parents are between. They're between hard-driving entrepreneurs like mine were and Eey know, Eeyore that I just painted up, right? So they're somewhere between. But I think the thing mom and dad can do is speak life over the situation, speak blessings over the situation. And it's not false encouragement or false positive thinking or something like that that you just dream up. It's just really believing that if you, you know, you get out there and you push things around, something will fall over. But I guarantee you it won't while you're sitting there wishing it was going to. Yeah, yeah.

Parents, we got to do better. I mean, I'm not a parent, so I can't speak to parent as a parent, but I would definitely say I am concerned with this generation, a small portion of this generation. And I get it. COVID happened. COVID was real. Jobs were real.

But Dave, I've seen so many young people got creative. They went online. They started online tutoring. They went out there starting cutting people's grass because they were scared to go outside. And just last week, me and John was so shocked on Friday. This young kid, 28 years old, said, man, yeah, I made six thousand dollars just from doing Uber, driving people around. And I'm like, wow.

And people are saying there's there's no way to make money right now. And there is. If you're willing to put in the work, you will do it. We want you safe. We're not saying do not be safe. But at the same time, when you step up and say, you know what, I'm going to take control over my future and I'm going to become better every single day. And you can.

Well, and it's, you know, Lou Holtz, our buddy's 83 and what he said when he was down here last summer speaking, he said please don't keep me alive by stopping me from living. Yes, he did. Yes, he did. Something to think about. Yes, he did.

This is the Dave Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. anthony o'neill ramsey personality number one best-selling author is my co-host today in the lobby of ramsey solutions on the debt-free stage ferg and chelsea are with us hey guys how are you hey doing great, you guys. Where do you all live? Tulsa, Oklahoma. Welcome to Nashville. And all the way over here to do a debt-free scream. Heck, yes.

Love it. Love it. Love it. How much have you guys paid off? We have paid off $147,268.79. Love it. How long did this take? Three years, ten months, and eight days.

Three years and ten months and eight days. Man. And your range of income during that three years and 10 months? Mid-30s to $122,000. Goodness gracious. That's a bit of a jump. Yeah. Well, tell us your story.

What happened, and how'd that income go up so fast? Well, we got married about five years ago in May. Yeah. Then we had some family stuff happen. Sorry. Already happening. Woo! Just some family drama.

Some disagreements when it comes to money, including family drama. And we're like, all right, Lord, we need to figure out what we're doing. We jumped into a church, High Church of the New Family. Appreciate you guys. And we got invited to be a part of a FPU group, like right after like a month or two after moving back to Tulsa. And we jumped in. And we haven't had any money fights since we jumped in.

So we got on the same page, and that's what started the journey. So some of the drama was between you two. Not completely. Not really. No, I know it wasn't all of it, but some of it. No, it was we got married in May, and it was like a whirlwind. I graduated from grad school the same month and then I moved out here.

Or not out here. I moved out to Tulsa, Oklahoma and he was already living there. So it was a big jump for me to join him there and I just got my degree so it's like the next steps in getting licensed and everything.

So what's your grad school? What's your grad work in? We both have mental health therapist backgrounds. Okay, great. Yeah, so I was working on... So that's the jump in income. Yeah.

You both got into your careers, what amounted to? I was already a therapist at the time, but it was a community-based job, which is you're driving around to see your clients, and it was basically work-based. Like, what you bill is what you get paid from. And as a single dude that really wasn't gazelle intense on his debt, he's just like, okay, I'll just pay off debt as I can, but I'm not really going after it or anything like that. So, and then when she moved out and we jumped into FPU, it was like, okay,

we need to really look at, and I was praying, okay, God, how do we get a bigger shovel? Because he keeps talking about getting a bigger shovel. I have no idea what to do with that. And on the emotional side of things, you know, we're also just trying to stay afloat, you know, mentally, emotionally because of some of the stuff that was going on. Yeah. Well, it sounds like your church was a real lifeline. Yeah.

Absolutely. If it wasn't for that, God totally lined up all of the steps there because our first week together there, we were like, we want to find a church. And we had both had previous experiences there. So we went and there was another couple that the Lord had waiting for us there to pray with us about finding a home. And they were like, hey, we're around the same age. We're in the same situation as you for the most part. And let's like partner together.

And would you guys like to come to FPU with us? We're going to lead that starting tomorrow night. Whoa! Yeah, so it was a real quick turnaround of, hey, okay, we didn't plan to do that, but that sounds like a good idea. This is right after a conversation we had the night before about, okay, we've got to figure out what we're doing with money

because we're not on the same page as far as grocery bills and how much we're spending on groceries. We don't know how to budget together. And so this whole brand new marriage thing. Yeah, absolutely. The 147 that you all had, I'm assuming that it was student loans, majority of them. Yes, falls. There was like 3,000 that was taxes from a year or two ago.

Okay. So we just threw that in the snowballing. So with your age bracket, because we're in the same age bracket here, and I'm always curious to ask young people, what was the hardest thing on this journey? And to the millions of young people listening to us right now, what do you say is the one key ingredient to really changing around your financial life? I would say the hardest part is not getting discouraged when, you know, you are doing something with purpose. Every step, every day that goes by is not a wasted day. So the hardest part is you're not going to know anybody else, most likely, that's doing what you're doing. And so, and we had the most debt even in our FPU group. And so we were kind of the only ones still, even with that group that were really going through it as long as we were.

Dave, you have no idea. Like we're sitting there on that first, it's like the first or second week of FPU. And it's like, this is what the total debt is for the whole group. And we like tripled everybody else's and we're like, Oh Lord. And we were so embarrassed for a second, but then it was also like, okay, no, it's okay, it's okay. We can just have the best story out of the whole thing. We'll slay the biggest dragon. It's fine.

Having a testimony is a good thing. Getting one's a pain in the butt. Yeah, absolutely. Well, well done, you guys. Well done. To answer your question, though, about, like, what was the thing that really helped us get this through, honestly, it was Jesus.

Jesus, yeah. It was totally Jesus. I mean, every step was like there was this next step for us it's like hey you know we know that you're going through some stuff with some family and some family issues but here's here's a lifeline whether it be our small group thanks guys we really appreciate you we really love you whether it be our employers, Empowered Life, Elisa Charles. Thank you so much for the opportunity. Preferred Family Healthcare and Dayspring. Thank you guys so much. You know, we got to negotiate for a raise.

We got a raise. Tulsa Sunshine Center is where I work. And actually during the 2020 pandemic, everybody, you know, had to go home. And it was kind of one of those loosely held, hey, we don't know what to do, but maybe if you guys can try to get some, you know, some telehealth going, go for it. So that was, we were so close to the end this past summer. And I was just like, well, we're so close, we don't want to slow down our getting out of debt. And all of the interest payments halted and everything with all the student loans. So we were like, what can we do? So I started getting

all of my clients to telehealth really quickly. It was the first, one of the first ones, I think it everything with all the student loans so we were like what can we do so um i started getting all of my clients to telehealth really quickly it was the first one of the first ones i think it was the first one in the whole company that got as many telehealth sessions going as quickly as i did so instead of finding an excuse not to work you were desperate to work yeah she crushed it yeah and because of that there was an unforeseen blessing that came from that because a few months later, the owner was like, hey, guys, we're going to offer this bonus, basically, for whoever can bring in the most income for the company during this time. And I got the bonus.

And that's what put us over the edge. Love it. Yeah. That was a really good feeling. Like, we're going to pay off the last loan with this bonus because we were doing some gazelle intense stuff. So now you've been through three years and ten months and eight days of real transformation. Yeah.

I mean, there's a lot that's gone on in your life during this time. Money's a piece of it. There's a lot that's gone on. Yeah. Was it worth it? I would never want to live it again, but I would never want to live it again, but I would never want to have lived without it, without that journey.

Yeah. One of the things about our, like our Bible verse comes out of James where it talks about when you have persevered through all of these tests, you will receive the crown of life that God has promised. And like my family, we have a Scottish background and our motto is sweetness God has promised. And like my family, we have a Scottish background,

and our motto is sweetness out of difficulties. And it was like, yes, we just really leaned into that. Who better for it, John? Who better for it? We're going to jump in on this. And we have grown closer. We've communicated better through all this stuff. And it's just really awesome to have somebody kind of in your corner,

fighting with you, tag teaming with you. That's like, we're heading in the same direction and we're on the same goal. Way to go. We've got a copy of Chris Hogan's book for you, Everyday Millionaires. That's definitely the next chapter in your story. You guys are incredible. It's an honor to speak with you.

And thank you for making the trip all the way over from Tulsa to do your debt-free scream. Thank you, Dave. Well done. All right, it's Ferg and Chelsea. They paid off $147,000 in three years, 10 months, and eight days, making $30,000 up to $122,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream.

Ready? Three, two, one. Where is that from? That's what three years and ten months sounds like right there, man. That wasn't we did this in 14 days. This is three years and ten months and eight days. Oh, man. They are persevering people.

They scratched and clawed and scrapped. So proud of you guys. Absolutely. Very well done. So proud of you guys. Absolutely. Very well done. So proud of you. Wow. Amazing. This is the Dave Ramsey personality is my co-host today.

Our question of the day comes from Blinds.com. Find out for yourself why Blinds.com is the number one online retailer of custom window coverings. You get free samples, free shipping, and with the new promos they run every month, you'll save even more. Dave, our question comes from Deidre in Tennessee. My husband and I had $16,000 in student loans when he graduated two years ago, and now we only have $8,000 left. I love it. We have been paying even during the moratorium to pay down the principal. So we are ahead of payments by quite a bit. Awesome. We are reading in the news that Congress might write off $10,000 of everyone's student loan debt.

Should we keep paying to take advantage of the no interest at this time or stop paying and wait to see what they will do? If you're going to wait to see if the Congress is going to do something, you are going to be disappointed. I'm not saying 100 percent guarantee it won't happen. But here's the thing. In my history, I've never seen it, so if I was in your shoes, I'm paying it off. I'm not stopping. I'm not waiting for the Congress.

If you wait on Washington to fix your life, your life's always going to suck. This is a good rule. I don't know what's going to happen with this. I have no idea. There's no way of knowing. I was pretty sure a few months ago, but the political climate has shifted and the power structure has shifted. And so it's possible that they run this through. I don't know.

I never dreamed I would see it in my lifetime, but I've seen a whole lot of stuff in my lifetime. I never dreamed I would see. Right. lifetime i never dreamed i would see him all the time right so um i i i don't um yeah i if i were in your shoes i agree i because i'm not gonna wait to fix my life on washington to save me right and so it's um it's just a bad plan and again they may turn around by the end of summer and you may go i hate dave ramsey just cost me 10 grand um and i hate anthony o'neill oh yeah you'd have to be on the same list i mean this is real i mean this is my suggestion well i was agreeing with you

okay either way pay it off dude yeah listen folks i'm i'm always going to tell you pay off your loans yeah all right we're just always going to tell you to pay off your loans. Yeah. All right? We're just always going to tell you to take. You have to control the controllables. Let me tell you what you can't control. Congress. You can't control the president.

And what you can control is paying off the loan. So control the controllables and build you a life. Okay. And that's your best plan. So now let me ask you this question, Dave. I think I know your answer, but it's fair to ask it. So what if they just say, you know what, since there's no interest, what if I just put that money to the side for the next four months while there is no interest?

I'm just not going to try to game the system. Right. Gotcha. Every time people try to game stuff is when they get screwed, and it's when it doesn't work out for them. And so let me tell you what would happen some percentage of the time. We throw $10,000 in an account. We're sitting around waiting. for them and so what let me tell you what would happen some percentage of the time we throw ten thousand dollars in an account we're sitting around waiting we really hadn't been aggressive

by paying off student loan we let our foot off the gas we're not really budgeting tight and man i sure did need that bass boat go buy the bass boat congress says you know what we can't get that student loan thing through and you're still sitting there staring at a dadgum paid for bass boat. Right. With your money you should have used to pay off your student loan. This is what happens. Then you end up in coaching, one of our coaching offices somewhere, and people are going, you did what? And you're going, yeah, I know.

I was so stupid. And we all have these moments where we did something. But it always comes around trying to scam, trying to scheme, trying to run the system somehow. I'm going to run the system. I'm going to beat the system. And don't beat the system. Pay off your debt. Just don't, you know, there's no shortcut to any place that's worth going.

Abby's in Madison, Wisconsin. Hi, Abby. How are you? I'm good. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I'm a 21-year-old college student about to graduate in the spring.

Congratulations. What's your degree in? Fisheries and Water Resources. Cool. So long story short, I'll be getting an inheritance of about $150,000. I'm on baby step two, and I only have about $24,000 in student loans as my only debt, which I'm planning to pay off with that inheritance, as well as save that three to six month emergency fund. But my question is, what i do i want to invest the rest or at least part of it what would be the best um plan for that i would just sit down with one of our smart investor pros and start learning about some of the mutual funds it may be uh i'm going to guess and say some of

that the balance of that money after the debt is paid and the emergency fund's in place, that in the next two or three, four years, you're probably going to be in a situation where you buy a home. Yeah. And at that, you've gotten started on your career, you've gotten your income up, you're doing good, and, you know, we're going to move from rental to homeownership at some point, you know, like 25 years old or whatever. And you may use that money to do that with. And so you need to, it doesn't need to be invested in something volatile.

It needs to be invested in something kind of boring and steady. So even like what's called an S&P 500 index fund might be good for that shorter-term down payment investment. Because I'm kind of calling this down payment money right now in my head, listening to you. But sit down with a SmartVestor Pro. Click SmartVestor at DaveRamsey.com. It'll drop down a list of the SmartVestor Pros in your area.

They'll teach you, and you need to learn. You don't need to do it because Anthony said do it, and you don't need to do it because I said do it. You do it because you understand it, and you're investing, and you're being careful and wise, and you know what you're doing, and someone with the heart of a teacher like one of these smart investor pros has led you through the process yeah yeah great advice safe i haven't had to it that was beautiful open phones at 888-825-5225 if you feel like you will never save enough money or pay off all your debt after a year like 2020

sometimes people feel the same way it was kind of of a hope-stealing year, wasn't it? Money should not be one more thing that you have to worry about. That's why for 2021 we're hitting reset. Because no matter what's happening in the world, you can take control of your money. You just need the right plan. Ramsey Plus is our step-by-step plan where you get quick wins, and that means you can finally start spending and saving your money without worry

and get the security that you need. RemziPlus includes, of course, Financial Peace University, the EveryDollar budgeting app, the Premier version, and many, many, many other tools. It is chock-full, and they will show you step-by-step, day-by-day, week-by-week, what to do for the first 90 days and get you a quick start. And you will never be out of control again. You can do a free trial at Ramsey Plus. Just go to DaveRamsey.com slash reset.

Tanya is with us in Hartford, Connecticut. Hi, Tanya. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi. Thank you so much for taking my call. Sure. What's up? I am 45 years old and I'm currently on baby step six. So I'm looking to pay off my home by the fall of 2022.

This will be about six months before my oldest graduates high school. And I really have to thank Financial Peace University for helping me with this journey as I became really gazelle intense since 2017. So before COVID, this goal was a reality. However, with COVID and the additional income I would normally generate, it would be now an additional year before I could accomplish this goal. So my concern is that I have another son who will be graduating after my oldest, so I'll have two back-to-back in college. Ouch.

So I'm looking for ways for me to meet this goal. So I am considering lowering my 401k, my Roth contribution to do so, or maybe withholding it temporarily. I also paid some medical bills that weren't anticipated during the past year that I have to take care of. So right now I am putting about $2,000 more a month towards the principal, but realistically I'll need another $900 a month to get the house paid off in that time. So should I hold off on contributing to my 401k to be able to accomplish this? Do you have outstanding debt right now on medical? It's only about probably about $500 more. Okay, so you're going to knock that out like this month?

Yes. But you're not paying any extra on your house while you have that? I won't then. Yeah, you need to clear your debts. You're back in baby step two. Yeah. You got to clear those debts. Do you back in baby step two. Yeah. Yeah. You got to clear those debts.

Do you have an emergency fund? Oh, absolutely. So I only have $15 more. It's about $12,000. Okay. You should have just written a check out of that and paid your medical. That's what it's for. But anyway, we clear the medical.

Would I stop my IRA temporarily to get the house paid off to cash flow college might might in this case for a very short period of time it's really stopping the baby steps is what we're doing here changing them um and hold on we're going to send you a copy anthony's book debt-free degree because they need to be working to help get the college chamber yes sir this is the Dave Ramsey show have a friend or family member that needs a daily dose of

Ramsey advice in their life let them know about the Ramsey call of the day podcast it's a quick hit of advice about

life and money in under 10 minutes check out the Ramsey call of the day podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.