The Ramsey Show - App - Should We Use Our Kids’ Inheritance To Pay Off Debt? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: November 19, 2021

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🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, it's The Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. I'm George Camel, host of the Fine Print and Entree Leadership Podcast, joined today by Rachel Cruz, host of The Rachel Cruz Show and bestselling author. And we are excited to take your calls this hour about life and money. So give us a call, 888-825-5225. Michaela kicks us off in Kansas City, Missouri. Michaela, welcome to The Ramsey Show.

Hi, thanks for taking my call. We're glad to take it. How can we help? So I'm a small business owner, married. We have two younger kiddos, and just, gosh, with everything that's going on in Washington, they officially passed the whatever you want to call it, the Build Back Whatever bill today. And knowing the implications that that is going to have on me as a small business owner, especially in my industry, I'm just kind of curious. We are so close, I guess you could say, to paying off our home. And knowing that this bill fundamentally and fiscally changes the system of finance in America,

I'm told my finite mind comprehends that it changes the stock market as we know it. There's potential for it to crash and not come back. And this is not like whatever conspiracy or whatever. This is just all the information that people throw at you. Right. And so I'm I'm kind of wondering, do I should we pull out what we have in the stock market to just finish paying off our home, not knowing whether or not, you know, the KGB is going to I mean, the IRS is going to come and, you know, then audit and close down all small businesses or... Okay, well, let's do a quick exercise together. We're going to take a

deep breath. We're going to do three in and three out. Hold for three seconds in. Yeah, right. And then out for three. There we go. Okay, it's not past the Senate. We got our news source it is it is not past the senate okay okay did you hear that okay okay so it's not it is not past yet i am a bill on capitol hill did you you know that you know listen rachel's all about some singing today so you might get some of that i mean jesus could come tomorrow but i still i still going to pay my bills up until that moment. And so I understand that you have valid fears, especially as a small business owner. Which is fair, P.S. I don't want to invalidate that. I get it. Yes. But on the side of the market's going to crash and I do need to upheave my life, I don't think we're going to be able to time it if it happens. So if I'm you, I'm going to keep living my life here. Now, I do want

to know about your investments. When you say pull out money out of the stock market, what do you have invested currently? Well, we kind of, I feel like, have a little bit of everything kind of everywhere. So we thought, and I think if I understand right, it's like 60-40 in conservative stocks and bonds versus more aggressive. Are you investing in mutual funds or single stocks? Some of both. Some of both. We do have an IRA, a Roth IRA. I am obviously self-employed.

My husband does not have a – I mean, he just started his new job, and so we don't have like a 401k there. We do have, I have a small business emergency fund that's separate, just in like an ally account. And then we thought our other emergency three to six months for our personal home. So it's just kind of everywhere. How much do you have? So let's separate retirement from non-retirement. So we're not going to touch retirement.

Let's just take that off the table. We're not going to pull any money out of our retirement accounts. How much money do you have outside of that in just a general brokerage account? All of them together, probably about 40 or so. And then because I am a sole proprietor, LSA, technically everything in my small business account is mine. I could pull it out. I have about 90 in there. And how much do you have left on the mortgage? About 80. Okay. It's the home's worth about's worth about, we could sell it right now. Our neighborhood's pretty hot. We could sell it for about $340,000 probably right now. Okay. So we've

got $80,000 left on the mortgage. You have $40,000 just sitting out there in general mutual funds and stocks that are non-retirement, correct? Right. Okay. So that portion, I would say, yes, let's pull that out. Not out of fear, but just because the best use of that money right now is paying off this mortgage versus being in the stock market, especially the ones that are in single stocks that are super volatile and risky. Okay. So that cuts you down to 40. Now the business money, do you need that money for anything? Is it reserves for your business? What are you doing with that? Well, full disclosure, some of it comes from, I'm an Enneagram one, so perfection is the only option, right?

And your way is the right way. Enneagram ones. Also that. Also that. Thank you for acknowledging that. You've encountered Enneagram expert Rachel Cruz. I you I yes I see you Michaela I see you um part of it so I was in business with a family member um there's some trauma there um the business or the family member that I was in business with decided um after me finally getting it for myself and saying no more. Didn't understand why she wouldn't be paid for not working. Decided that she would just take all of our money out of the account,

close the account. I had no idea. And then it took like three years to sort of rebuild because I knew I wasn't going anywhere. I loved what I did. I knew that's where I was supposed to be. So a lot of, yeah, a lot of, I guess, trauma there. And so I just, this sounds horrible, but like I hoarded there, I think, because. Sure, out of the fear.

I'm like, but what if that happens? Yes, 100%. Yeah. I get it. It's not right. I don't think. Yeah, but I get how you got there. I have my, I have my emergency fund for my business, but I don't know. I mean, I'm self-employed. You never know, especially with taxes being raised. Like, you never know, really, in an industry like I'm in, you never really know exactly how much you're going to owe in taxes because your profit fluctuates so much. Like 2020, we operated at 11% that we operated at in 2019 because I'm in the wedding industry. Do you have a tax professional that you work with right now?

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Okay. Well, work with them and get facts on paper because as John Deloney says, facts are your friends. And let's not live in just fear and paranoia. And I understand that you have legitimate fears. But what I want you to do is just turn off the news, slow down your life, and do the next right thing that you need to do every day. Go work in your business and don't live by the headlines. Because truthfully, they're overblown and it's never as crazy as they say it is on both sides.

I'm not – this is not a political discussion. I do love conspiracies too, Michaela, so I can jump on the train and go there that's ramsey after dark it's where rachel shares her conspiracy theories but uh mckayla i really appreciate the call and uh way to go in your business and just take a deep breath pull that money out so great toward the mortgage like you said and start work and chip that mortgage away yep and you're doing great you'll have some awesome financial peace. You'll sleep a lot easier with no mortgage. But no more paranoia, no more fear, no more headlines.

Just take a break for safety's sake. This is The Ramsey Show. It continues to amaze me how identity thieves keep finding ways to use our own identities against us. Not only do they commit crimes related to financial fraud, medical ID theft, and insurance benefit fraud, but now we have to deal with home title fraud. Thieves are using your own personal info to take ownership of your home so they can take out loans, and you end up with a pile of debt and foreclosure notices. Over 4,000 data breaches happened in 2018, exposing 3.6 billion records.

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of managing money and created the Ramsey Baby Steps. And by following these steps, Dave became a millionaire again. And this time, he did it the right way with zero debt. And he spent the next three decades guiding millions through the same plan he followed. And today 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. And he covers all of this in his new book called Baby Steps Millionaires that's available for preorder now. You'll learn how ordinary people build extraordinary wealth and how you can do it too. It's not out of reach. He walks you through how to invest, build wealth, and bust through the barriers preventing you from becoming

a millionaire. So for those who are ready, it's game on. You can baby step your way to becoming a millionaire. You can pre-order your copy today at ramsaysolutions.com and we sweeten the deal. We've got over $100 worth of bonus items when you pre-order, including the Baby Steps Millionaire's audiobook and e-book, and Dave actually reads the audiobook himself, which is, that's going to be a good time. You also get the Legacy Journey audiobook and e-book, and the Baby Steps Millionaire's livestream,

along with Ramsey Smart Tax. You can file for free using that, including a Ramsey Plus 30-day free trial. There's so much in there, Rachel. I'm super pumped for this book. And the cover is just beautiful, I must say. I was about to say the same thing. Such a beautiful, it's Dave on the farm at sunrise.

I know. He's out in the field. Very exciting. Out in the wild. Yes. With a no-teeth smile. And this is big too, Rachel. Something you don't get very often.

Yeah, the no-teeth smile, the smirk. And this is Dave's first book in a long time. I know. Isn't that awesome? A long time. And so I'm pumped for it. There's some awesome stories in here. You're going to learn how Dave personally invests his money.

And I'm baby-stepping my way to be a millionaire. I'm excited to pay off my house, maybe by the end of the year. Y'all are close, you and Whitney. Fingers crossed by the end of the year, Rachel, we'll pay it off the house. By the end of the year? By the end? Yes. Oh my gosh, George.

I know. I know. Are are you gonna do a debt-free scream i want to do you think it'd be weird no okay that's a new poll should george do a debt-free i'm here for maybe with confetti we also don't really have a say it's gonna be kelly so we have to decide if kelly wants me to do a debt-free scream oh kelly decides that can george do a debt-free scream when he pays off his house at the end of the year? Yes. Kelly said yes, America. It's going to happen.

And that's a big deal. And I'm so proud of you and Whitney. Thank you. The way you guys went about that whole thing. Because I remember you guys building. Yeah. Because it was a newer build. Yep.

And you were able to pick out the finishes. And you guys were being so smart about the upgrade. I mean, all of it. And you did it so well. Thank you. I'm excited. That means a lot. It's awesome. Yeah. So fun. just over two years. So it can be done. I'm not that special. I'm not like a financial genius. We just followed the baby steps and we created

margin by paying off our debt. And we've been investing diligently. And those of you who know my story, my wife works here at Ramsey Solutions. So not a huge leap to get her on board. She's all in on this stuff. And so we're super excited. And I just want everyone to know that the stuff in this book is not theory. It's real stories, real everyday people, not athletes and celebrities. They're everyday people. They're teachers.

They're engineers who just diligently saved and followed the steps and did it. So I'm super pumped for this book. Make sure you go grab your copy at Ramseyysolutions.com. Open phones this hour, 888-825-5225 is the number to call. Jesse joins us in Springfield. Jesse, welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hey, guys. Thanks for having me on. Absolutely. How can we help? Well, my wife and I are on baby step number two. I'm just kind of just getting the ball rolling right now. However, we got a call.

My uncle passed away, and my sister and I are his heirs. Wow. I'm sorry to hear about your loss. Oh, thank you, guys. I appreciate it. It was pretty sudden, but, you know, he's in a better place than we are, I guess. Yeah. So we know it's going to be a substantial amount of money it should be somewhere between 100 and 150 um for my sister and and for

myself but we know it was not in the will but we do know his wishes is that he wanted to take care of my kids and my sister's kids colleges my wife and I are on the fence of whether or not we use this money to get out of all of our consumer debt, everything but the home, and fund the college ourselves, or whether or not we just leave this money invested to use it for their college. How many kids do you have, and what are the ages? I have two that are six and three. Okay, so we've got a long ways away for college. And how much debt do you have?

Yes. Consumer debt, other than the mortgage? Consumer debt, if you count school loans, it's about $120. Okay. And when you said $100 to $150, is that each? So you're saying $200 to $300 total? Correct. Okay.

So if we're saying $200 to $300 total here, and you have $120 in debt, that means you can clean up the debt. Wait, no, he's going to get $150. The sister will get $150. Oh, the sister. Yes, yes. I think it's split in half. So $100 to $150 he gets. So with this money, you will maybe be able to clean up all of your consumer debt, and that's it, correct?

Yes. consumer debt and that's it correct yes and then you're saying can we just then fund our kids college and will that be enough to kind of be a blessing to the legacy that he left you right that's exactly the question yeah this may be a little technical i don't know this is kind of what went in my head because i don't know if you feel this jesse because there's two ways you can look at it one it's like yeah you use the money strictly for what he wanted, you know, the kid's college. Or you use the payoff debt, and like you're saying, go through the baby steps. By the time your kids are 18,

you're going to have plenty of money to send them to college. So there's like kind of the, or I like kind of the both options. So what you could do if it makes you sleep better at night, you could open up, you know know a 529 or an esa and start out with a little bit to put in there so it's like you start the college fund with his money and then use the remaining to pay off your debt and then as you and your wife get to baby step five then you guys fund the rest of it but almost it's kind of like he his money kind of kicked off a little bit of the funds, you know, just to honor that.

Especially at their age. Because if you put some money in there now at their age, you've got 12 and 15 years for that money to grow. And the ESA has a limit. So I think it's close to what? $2,000. So that's $4,000 of $150,000 just to get them started, Jesse. Just so there's kind of a, I don't know, a little bit of

a symbolism there. Yeah, just to say, hey, there's some of that and then using the rest, yep, to pay off your debt because again, his legacy for them to go to college will be fulfilled because of you guys being smart with it. Yeah, either way, it's because of that legacy he left. That's right. So that to me, it's still there. Yeah. But I like what Rachel's saying about starting that ESA for them right now. And you could front load a 529 and get that money rolling in your favor. And the limits on that are going to be a lot different. And so you can put a lot more in there, but make sure you've got a good option for your area. I would connect with a SmartVestor Pro in your area. You can jump on to RamseySolutions.com. They're going to really help guide this decision and figure out what is

the best vehicle to make sure that your kids colleges are paid for and that this money grows in the best way yeah but but jesse hear me say though i would i would still take majority of it and pay off the debt though like i mean i'm just saying take a little bit of it just to kind of start it out of memory for him but i would still use majority of it i would i would i would put it towards the debt um to set you and your wife up to really fund those college sooner than later. Maybe set a goal. Now that you guys proposed that option, what makes sense to me is if I were to pay off my – all we have is two vehicles and a school loan.

So if we paid off the two vehicles and put the rest into a 503, then the snowball would already be so big we would be through the school loan in no time. Okay. What's your household income? About $110,000. Okay. So either way, we're going to get rid of this debt fast. But I do like the idea of setting aside some of the money for the college, for the kids, and letting that grow for the next 12 to 15 years. And maybe set a goal and say, hey, we're going to make sure that we have 100,000 saved by the time both of them are 18.

And you can work with the SmartVestor Pro and start to go, okay, with the rate of return of this, how much would we need to put in to get there? And that will make you feel better knowing that this money is going to grow and make sure that they're taken care of and that legacy was used wisely. So way to go, man. Absolutely. Thank you, guys. That sounds like great advice. I appreciate you. Absolutely, Jesse. Thanks so much. Wow. That sounds like great advice. I appreciate you. Absolutely, Jesse. Thanks so much. Wow. That's really cool.

It's sad to hear about the loss, but when you hear about them leaving that legacy where the kids can go to college debt-free. I know. It's beautiful. It just makes you go, that's the kind of legacy I want to leave. I know. It's awesome. Yep. Absolutely. Beautiful stuff.

All right. This is The Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. I'm George Campbell, joined today by Rachel Cruz. You are listening to The Ramsey Show. Open phones this hour, 888-825-5225. 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. Use promo code Ramsey to get the best deal.

Today's question comes from Joshua in Indiana. My wife and I are debt-free, including our house. Becoming debt-free has been important to us because of the spiritual component of not owing anyone anything. My problem is that I don't know many people that are truly debt-free. The people I know who are successful with money have taken out HELOCs on paid-for homes to invest the money in the stock market or real estate. My financial advisor thinks that I'm silly to not leverage some form of debt with interest rates being so low. My wife and I are considering doing a home addition that would cost

around $100,000 to $125,000. My advisor says that I should take out $100,000 of equity from my house, invest it, and use the earned interest to pay for the remodel. This makes sense and sounds very appealing. However, I'm fighting not to wanting to get back into debt. I hear Dave talk about your study of millionaires and how people that got out of debt never go back into debt again. Unfortunately, I just don't see that done around me. What am I missing? A lot to unpack here, Rachel.

Man, where to begin, George? So first of all, Joshua, way to go. Baby step seven. Yeah. Paid off the house. I hope you stay there, Joshua. You're starting to move backwards, so. Well, here's the thing.

He's asking the people I know who are successful have taken out HELOCs on paid off homes to invest the money in the stock market. And it really comes down to what is your definition of success? Is it people who leverage debt up to their eyeballs and one day the market crashes and their life is screwed and they have to file for bankruptcy? Or is it I don't owe anyone anything? And you said in the beginning that becoming debt free has been important because of the spiritual component of not owing anyone anything. So here's what's hard about all of this,

especially when you get into this conversation about investing and real estate, and I can invest my mortgage payment, make more on the interest, and you know what I mean? Like there's all these talks. Interest rates are so low, you're stupid to pay it off.

Yeah, about the mortgages or even things like this, like the HELOC. But here's what people, and you touched on this, George, but it's just true. Here's what people don't take into consideration is the amount of risk that you're putting on yourself

that you don't have right now. Joshua, you have no risk. If something happens right now, you haven't paid for it. You're fine. You don't have bills. And suddenly when you start kind of messing around, and again, the math could work. We could sit here and do a whole math lesson

and it could come out on paper, right? Like it could come out. But what you don't factor in is risk. You don't factor in life. You don't factor in, you know, that something could, you know, happen to your, I mean, this is terrible to say, but right? That something could happen to your wife

and she wants to stay home then but the kids not work and now you have this bill and you took this out and now you have to have the income because you took on this debt. I mean, like it just snowballs into this insanity and you don't even have to step into that. And so there's a level of that freedom that I think is way more successful than messing around

with the numbers and trying to kind of get rich quick is what it feels like. I want an easy way to build wealth. Well, this is easy. Instead of actually working and saving up and paying for something, I'm going to finagle the market and finagle my assets that I have here to try to make some, you know, it's like this math game. You know what? Get out of the game. Just save up and pay for stuff. It can be that simple and that clean. Yeah. And it's amazing that they've done the baby steps. Yeah. And they're still at this place mentally of, was this the right choice? I mean,

do you want a mortgage again, Joshua? And i are your financial advisor 100 stupid get rid of them i highly doubt they're a smart investor pro because they don't have the heart of a teacher they're telling you to go back into debt and invest it and use the earned interest to pay for this remodel that's dumb you guys have the money how much is he getting huh that's the question who's gonna win in this scenario, Joshua? If I'm Joshua. You're the financial advisor. You've got to stop looking to the culture to figure out what success looks like financially

because they don't have a clue, man. Walk down the streets. Look at all of the cars with loans on them, the homes that are overleveraged, and you tell me what success is. When the bank can't come take your house when you can't make a payment yeah and so you have all the income in the world you don't know anyone anything and therefore you can pay for that home addition of a hundred thousand dollars you can save up and pay cash for it cash flow that thing without needing to take equity from the house and do all kinds

of stupid don't go backwards that's right keep going forward thank that thanks for asking joshua good good question there steve joins us from wichita. Steve, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. How can we help? Yeah, well, I'm trying to make a decision here. I've been a straight commission salesperson for through the years. I'm an independent contractor. I've been very well in it. Last year was a bit of a struggle because of COVID. It did affect my business, but I still had a pretty average year income-wise. So then this year, thinking that everything would get quite a bit better. It actually hasn't. My business is

down about 40% this year. So my struggle here is wondering if I should use some cash to pay off my house in a truck loan. Being on straight commission, I'm just not really comfortable pulling the trigger on that. How much money do you have in cash and savings? Well, right now I've got close to right around $100,000 in cash, liquid cash. I've got about 70 cash on hand. I've got a $10,000 emergency fund. And about a year ago, I started another independent sales job. It isn't sales, but an independent business. I make about $20,000 a year on that also, and I'm trying to keep that separately.

So what's your average yearly income? Obviously, this year was different. Yeah, with the straight commission, I'm usually around $80,000 to $110,000. Okay. And how much do you have in debt in total? The only debt I have is $41,000 on a house and about $13,000 on a truck. We have no other debt. Okay. on a house and about $13,000 on a truck. We have no other debt. I am getting ready to do a home improvement that I will use about $15,000 in cash to do that. What I'm seeing here on paper is you could pay off the truck loan, pay off your house, and do these home renovations

all with the money you have and still have some left over and still have your emergency fund. Is that right? That's true. I'm just being on straight commission for 30 years. You know, it's just... You want to have a bigger emergency fund in case the sales don't come in. Yeah, yeah.

You know, and it's just like I said, it is something I could do. I'm just hesitant to pull the trigger on it. How about this, Steve? If you don't have a mortgage, your expenses are going to go down, right? So there's less to worry about there. And so then I would plan out what a six months of expenses look like if I didn't have a mortgage. And that's going to give you some peace here, way more than having the car loan and the mortgage riding on your shoulders. Yeah, because, Steve, you'll have about 30, I mean, from what I jotted down, if I got

the numbers right, I mean, you'll still have about 30,000 left over after you do all of that, which is a pretty solid emergency fund. You can always bump that up if it still does, that doesn't make you comfortable. And I know the income went down. You said, what kind of business are you in? What are you selling? I sell promotional products and corporate apparel. Okay.

And so with COVID last year, there were no events. Everybody started canceling events. And I thought it would pick up quite a bit this year. And it just hasn't come up to my expectations as far as my business goes. Now, I don't know what next year is going to do. You know? Right, right. I never know. But this year is down. That's why I'm hesitating this year to, you know, go ahead and chunk that money out. And Steve, do you have anything in retirement?

Yeah, my wife just retired. So she's, you know, she's got her social security and we do have investments that we haven't tapped into yet. So she's pulling social security only. I'm 64, so I'm not ready to retire and I probably won't retire until I reach full retirement age. Okay. That's great. Well, I want you to still be thinking about that even before the house is paid off. If you want to throw some extra at the retirement, just because you're getting close to that age. Yep. Yeah. But man, the true financial security, true financial peace is going to come from not owing anyone anything. Get rid of that mortgage.

Get rid of the truck loan. You'll still have plenty of money left over. Well done. This is The Ramsey Show. Let's go. Our scripture of the day comes from Proverbs 13, 12. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. Dale Carnegie said, Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.

Open phones this hour, 888-825-5225. You know, Rachel, I was just with my pal, Dr. John Deloney, and he gave me these little cards, and he just released these, and they're really fun. They're called Questions for Humans by Dr. John Deloney. And it's literally a pack of cards, a deck of cards that have questions. And there's three different kinds. You get the parents and kids edition, the couples edition, and the friends edition. And he gave me the parents and kids edition, which I don't have kids, and he gave us the couples edition. And we thought, you know what, let's try our hand at this. And George was like, in the break, hey, let's go

through a couple and pick some out. And I said, no, George, let's just randomly pick out of the deck. This is Deloney roulette. But we have full permission, because George and I are not a couple, that we get to put at least two back if they're inappropriate couple questions. Because it's Dr. John's alone in his car. And to be clear, this is fun. The reason he did this, he's always telling people to unplug to connect with real people.

And this is a way to actually have real conversation instead of staring at each other awkwardly okay you ready George here's my first one if you could try three different careers

what would they be oh that's a fun one am I answering for myself or does this make I think you answer I answer this I'll answer okay three different careers

what would they be hit me number one I would be a political correspondent. That's good. For a news network. Yep, absolutely. Follow campaigns rounds.

Number two, I would be a singer. Ooh, nice. Like arena style, like T-Swift. Okay. Oh, yeah. Like I would. But I almost would go for the younger generation. Like the whole Miley Cyrus, Hannah Montana thing.

You know, she dropped. You want the crowd of 12-year-old girls. She dropped Hannah Montana. I'm like, you could have taken that brand. Hannah Montana could have gone to college. Hannah Montana could have gotten married. She could have made bank on that brand. But she decided to go a different direction.

But I would have done that i would have done like the teeny bopper yep yeah all right and then my third um um oh my gosh maybe like a like like um like on a caribbean island type situation that's not is that how is that a career i'm not sure you just want to be on a Caribbean island? I'm just going to be a resident of a Caribbean island. Well, there you go, folks. She wants to be a political correspondent, a pop star, or just live on the Caribbean. Okay, for me, I'm going to go late night show host. Okay.

A Rockefeller Center would be fun. That's a one career. Mailman. Really? There's something about such a simple, you're just delivering people the mail. I love it. And you just walk around. Everyone loves the mailman.

You get your steps in. You get your steps in. Yeah, you get to wear the shorts with the high socks. It's kind of like dorky and old school. Mr. Rogers had a mailman. It just feels cool. I love that, George. You could do that.

And then lastly, Weatherman. Oh, meteorologist. I grew up watching meteorologists on the news, and I just thought that looks like fun. You know what? A storm chaser would be fun. You're much more adventurous. I just want to be in front of the green screen pointing. Rachel wants to be in the middle of the storm.

I'm like, George, the EF- This is fun. The EF-5 tornado is coming at me. I'll be back in the studio. Back to you in the studio, George. This is fun. Do one more. Do one more.

Just real quick. Real quick. Hurry. This is what America needs. All right. If I took you to a tattoo parlor right now and you had to get a tattoo, what would it be? That's a fun one.

I would get like kids initials, Winston. I would do like a- A family oriented. Yeah. Something. I don't know if i'd want it this i don't know maybe like on my like my ring oh that would be nice like all the initials on your ring do that yeah yeah sweet something like that that's what would you do george um i

was gonna say my wife's name but i feel like getting an actual little like camel symbol like a little you know because my last name's camel with a. It only feels right to get an actual camel, maybe with Whitney's initials in it. That would make it sweet and not as weird. But I'm not a tattoo guy. No one would take me seriously. If I had a full sleeve, they'd be like, no, we don't buy it. I'd be like, well, crap.

It's on my body forever now. We got a lot of tatted people here at Ramsey, and they look really cool. One of our engineers in the booth. James Childs, no tattoos. Okay. Well, folks, if you want to check these out, you can go to RamseySolutions.com. They've got a deck of cards for couples, for parents and kids, and for friends.

Yes. So there we go. Check it out, Questions for Humans by Dr. John Deloney. This is great to bring home for the holidays. Yes, it's fun. Because it's sometimes hard to connect with family. It's a fun game. And you're trying to catch up.

And this kind of relieves the tension, and you really learn a lot, and you'll have a lot of laughs. I know. And it's a great thing. Mailman George with a camel tattoo. Yeah. I always was obsessed with UPS guys. All the brown. I had a thing for the color brown.

Yeah. Just total, I don't know what. What can brown do for you? They always bring happiness, you know? They bring you. I had a thing for the color brown. Yeah. Just total. I don't know what what they always bring happiness. You know, they bring you do for you. All right. Let's take a call before James takes us off the air. Scott joins us in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Scott, welcome to the Ramsey show. Hi, thanks for having me. Hey, how can we help today? So I'm a 29 year old currently paying an additional 2,400 on the principle of my mortgage each month. I should have it. Yeah. Um, I should have a paid off by December of 2023. If I keep on being able to pay the same amount. Um, I don't really enjoy my job right now. And I was

thinking about going back to college and getting into maybe a field of engineering or finance. I'm just kind of wondering an opinion. Should I wait until I pay off my house before going back to college or should I put paying off my mortgage on hold so that I don't have to go into student loan debt and I can instead use that money for my student loans? Yeah, it's a great question. Well, here's the thing. I don't think you need to, you don't have to be in a rush to pay off the house. I don't want you to be miserable for years

just to say, well, I paid off my house, now I can pay cash for school. Can you save up and pay cash for school as soon as possible and then attack the house after that? I mean, I'm sure that I could, and especially if I get into a higher-paying job after college,

then it would probably even be easier to pay off the loan, and that's sort of what I'm weighing right now. What's your income? Right now I make $46,000 a year, and my wife makes about $20,000, so combined close to about $70,000. And you have $2,400 extra to put on the mortgage every month after all's said and done? Yep, absolutely, because I've been following the baby steps, guys, all out of debt, and we don't have many extra expenses.

We just kind of live minimalist. That's awesome. So great. Scott, do you know what you want to do? Like I almost would want you to have like a career out there that you're working towards before you go get a degree, because there are situations that you don't even need a degree, depending on where you work, where you could change jobs and not feel like you have to go and invest in a degree. Now, some career paths,

obviously, you have to have higher education for, so that would make total sense. But I just wonder if there's something out there that you could do that still gets that fulfillment and you can change career paths without having to get a degree. Sure. What I'm looking at on my degree right now would be environmental engineering would be kind of the goal or possibly a personal financial person would be kind of my idealistic world. But yeah, I've looked into other things like certificates and things I could get as well, and none of them have really stuck to me as much as those career paths. Sure, sure. Which is, yeah, totally fine. Well, yeah, I think once you kind of figure out and narrow down, hey, this is the path I want to do, whether it is doing engineering or personal finance. But once you kind of figure that out, then going for a degree that you're going to need in the dream job after.

You know, if you hold on, Scott, Kelly can pick up and give you Ken Coleman's new book, Paycheck to Purpose, because he walks people through a plan, kind of where you're at of kind of figuring out, okay, what do I want to do? What are the steps that I need to really change? And oh, yeah, and she said the clear assessment too, as well, we'll give you that because all of these tools are really going to, I think, help give you more insight and more of a game plan to have something that you're shooting for. So hopefully those will help. And then make sure that education matches the goals and figure out what is the right college choice that I can afford in cash and cash flow. And that house will pay itself off. I mean, you guys are so gazelle intense. I'm not worried about that house getting paid off soon. I want to make sure that you're living in your purpose, doing something that you really love to do and that you're getting paid

well to do it. Way to go, man. That's awesome. Great job, Scott. All right. That puts this hour of the Ramsey Show in the books. I want to thank my co-host, Rachel Cruz. Way to go, man. That's awesome. Great job, Scott. All right. That puts this hour of The Ramsey Show in the books. I want to thank my co-host, Rachel Cruz. Good times today, Rachel. So fun. I want to thank our friends in the booth there, James Childs, our producer, Kelly Daniel, our associate producer and phone screener, and you, America. It's been a fun one.

We'll be back with you before you know it. Until then, spend wisely, save intentionally, and give generously. This is The Ramsey Show. Did you know you can listen to The Ramsey Show on your smart speaker? Just tell Alexa, Google Assistant, or Siri to play The Ramsey Show podcast. Check out all Ramsey Network shows on your smart speaker today.