The Ramsey Show - App - This Is a Relational and Financial Nightmare! (Hour 3)

Episode Date: March 27, 2023

Ken Coleman & George Kamel answer your questions and discuss: "Should I buy a house with my brother or with my fiancé?" Using savings to pay off the house, "What should I do after selling my business?" Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Want a plan for your money? Take our FREE 3 minute assessment: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6 Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵

🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵

🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Pods Moving and Storage Studio, this is the Ramsey Show, where we help you win in your life,

specifically your money, your work, and your relationships. The phone number to jump in is 888-825-5225. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by George Kemmel. George is our money expert this hour, and I'll be helping you out with work-related issues so you can make more money, move up the ladder, or get out of a toxic environment,

or start that company, that side business that maybe turns into that dream job one day. So we'll take all of those questions and more. 888-825-5225. Alejandro is joining us now in Las Vegas. How can we help? Hey, how's it going, guys? Good.

How are you doing? Good. Thank you. What's going on? Yeah, so I have a question regarding about buying a house. So the situation that I'm on right now is that right now I currently live in Las Vegas and it's just getting more and more expensive on renting. And the thing is, me and my brother haven't always been so close on financial things,

about saving money together and investing money. The thing is, he offered me to buy a house with him. So instead of me keeping renting an apartment here in Vegas, he offered me buying a house with him, and I will be paying the house with a mortgage for him at the same time. The situation I'm in is that I live with my girlfriend, and I asked her what she thinks about living with my brother because it would be financially better

because he's really nice about their payments together, but I don't know how to talk to her more into it about buying a house. And that's my question. What was her reaction when you first threw it at her? She wasn't really happy about it because that makes her think that we're not going to be really together. You're not. It's a horrible idea relationally.

I'll let George weigh in on this. This is a new trend I'm seeing a lot of, George, with people sharing mortgages and trying to cut costs. And on paper, it seems to make a lot of sense. But just relationally, Alejandro, you need to listen to her. This is an awful idea. I mean, positively dreadful. And I'm going to speak as the guy who's been married a long time.

Happy wife, happy life. And this is foundational, like marriage 101. This is just a dreadful idea. I can't think of a more awkward situation that I could put myself in than buying a house with my brother and having my girlfriend move in and then who's paying who and who owns what? Who's the landlord around here? Someone needs to fix that toilet. Yeah, who's vacuuming? Who's putting the dishes up?

I mean, it's just an absolute relationship and financial nightmare. And I get the heart behind it, Alejandro. Life's expensive. You choose to live in a high cost of living area and it comes with the territory rent goes up and you go hey on paper this is going to be way better for all of us what's really going to happen is it's going to destroy the relationship with your brother and you're probably going to end up single within six months yeah those are the calls we get i'm waiting we're going to get a call this week and someone's going to go, I bought a house with my brother, and it was a nightmare,

and now my girlfriend wants to move out and break up with me. Now, Alejandro, George is right, but on the other side of this is just patience, which isn't fun. But you've got to wait. You can't have it all at the same time. And I think we've got a younger generation and and i'm just trying to be really honest with you here we want things that we just can't afford right now and we don't want to wait so we try to come up with a life hack and buying the house with your brother

is a life hack that will hack your life up what happens when you two want to get married and now you got to move out but he can't afford the mortgage payment exactly yeah what happens when you two want to get married and now you got to move out, but he can't afford the mortgage payment? Exactly, yeah. What happens when he wants to move out? Now you're on the hook because you co-signed. True. You see all the precarious situations. Have we scared you enough? Yeah, you did.

I don't want to be the boogeyman here, but on the other side, you know, I'm not a fan of people cohabitating together before marriage. And if you do want to buy a house with her do it once you guys are married is that on the horizon for you too uh it is right now it's just um like i mentioned earlier she's not really like the person who lies talking about money too much so for me is i do see myself living with uh being with her for a long time but i don't know really how i'm getting mixed signals here i am too how long you been dating this girl uh for two years two years what are you waiting on but you don't see a future with her currently because of the money values yeah it's it's just, the thing is, like, I've really, I talked to her about money and stuff, trying to, getting to, like, the steps and all the baby steps, and I'm doing it with her,

but we're not sharing money because we both, she's still my girlfriend, you know, I don't want to. No, that's smart. But is she on board with this money direction that you want to go? Not really. Dude, you got to dump her. I'm as serious as I can be. You guys have been together for two years, and you can't get her to see this vision. I mean, what are we waiting on?

Go find some gal who loves you and who is on the same page with you financially. This will rip your marriage apart eventually. And I just don't understand why you would stay in it. This is a pretty big deal. Yeah. I know it's terrible. And I'm not trying to be glib. We just crushed Alejandro's dreams.

He was excited to get a house. And now his life is in shambles, Ken. I disagree. We did not crush his dreams. We saved you from nightmares. There we go. I like that version. Listen, George, help me out here. What does the data say? What's the number one cause of divorce? I mean, money fights and money problems is up there. How can you live a life of harmony in marriage when you do not see eye to eye on money? You can't. What happens is

they go, well, you keep your stuff separate. I'll keep mine separate and we'll just split the main bills and everything else. It's my business and your business. Yeah, that creates an intimacy real quick. Alejandro, push back on me. What's going to change? What's going to change to where she all of a sudden sees the light? What needs to happen for you to go, you know what? I care about you deeply. You may even love her, but you got to let her go. What has to change? Would she go through FPU with you if we gave you Financial Peace University? Would she watch all nine videos? Yes.

I think she would. Because I've been talking to her about it, and she's like the person that's like, yeah, let's do it. But at the same time, she just forgets about it the week after. And I'm really trying to get her more into it. I don't think she's forgetting about it,

but I'll tell you this, George, you're much nicer than me. I think we give them financial peace. I want to give love a shot, Ken. I do too. But listen, if she won't go through this with you and she won't take it seriously, you got to dump her. That's a big red flag. And Alejandro, you're going to be a homeowner, but you're going to do it the right way. We're going to have patients out of debt, full emergency fund, good down payment, save 15 year fixed rate mortgage that we can afford. Then we're ready to be homeowners until then. It's a, it's a cool dream and I want that for you, but man, doing it the wrong way will cost you way more than the patients it takes to buy a house the right way. Yeah. And for everybody out there, I love love. But I can tell you, I can see the signs when it's time to cut the bait.

I mean, at some point, you've got to make a decision. Should you stay or should you go? I'll give her financial peace after the class. If she doesn't do it, George, break it up with her. Cut it out. Moving on. Hang on the line, Alejandro. Austin will pick up.

We'll get you financial peace university. Wishing you the best of luck, my friend. And true love. This it out. Moving on. Hang on the line, Alejandro. Austin will pick up. We'll get you Financial Peace University. Wishing you the best of luck, my friend. And true love. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back, America. This show is just flying by today, George. You know the old phrase. Time flies when you're having fun.

Brilliant. Yeah. I'm having a good time. I am too. And Ken, here's what's wild. Our Building Wealth live tour, already halfway over. It's crazy. Where did it go? Where does the time go? Where does it go? You were in Indy. I was in Austin. And we got Salt Lake coming up. April 24th, Salt Lake City. If you're anywhere near there, get your tickets today. You don't want to miss this. It's going to be Dave Ramsey, Rachel Cruz, Jade Warshaw, and yours truly. We'll be there walking through how to save money and build wealth like a pro. Yes, even in this economy.

You're going to get the proven plan that we swear by. You're going to walk out confident that you can win with money and change your family tree. This stuff works. We see it time and time again. Always inspired by the stories we hear from Baby Steps Millionaires at these events. And then, Ken, you're going to be in Anaheim, California on May 2nd. Yes. With John Deloney and Jade Warshaw and Dave Ramsey.

Yeah, going to be fun out there. Rounding out the spring tour. In the Los Angeles area. Always love going to Anaheim. Lovely place. Wonderful. I'm going to miss it. We could have gone to Disney together if I was there.

You know, that's a shame. Maybe we can change the lineup around a little bit because can you see you and I walking through the park with our Mickey ears on? Matching? Yeah. I'm down. Yeah. I don't know. Well, hey, you can't see that, but you might see Ken in Anaheim. You'll see me in Salt Lake City. Tickets are just 49 bucks and they're going fast. All of these events have been selling out. Go to ramseysolutions.com slash events and get yours today. I love it. All right. The phone number is 888-825-5225.

Levi is joining us now in Fort Worth, Texas. Levi, how can we help? Hey, guys. Thanks a lot for having me on. So my question is really around that kind of a unique situation. I'm in the process of selling a business that I started about eight years ago, and I'm going to be receiving a substantial amount from that transaction in the tune of about $9 million. Oh.

Yeah. Dude, what kind of business is this? It's a healthcare diagnostic service that I started back in my early 20s. I'm actually 36 years old. Good for you. Way to go. Yeah, thanks, guys. Appreciate it. And where I'm at right now with that situation is looking at what my current liabilities are, and I've got about a little over 1.2 in current debt. And the question resolves around, I'm getting some advice on not paying that debt off and using that liquidity to go towards more and try to create additional income, especially because where the interest rates are. So my question is really around, should I just,

you know, wipe that debt completely out and start from scrown, you know, from square zero, if you will, and continue because I'm going to still have quite a bit of liquidity left over and invest from there? Or should I stick with that advice, keep that debt, and continue to pour that cash into other things that can ultimately make me make more money down the road? All right, before we weigh in, George, I've got to ask. Levi, what were you thinking before you got this advice,

and then what do you want to do? What I was thinking before the advice was to pay off the debt 100%, just because all the payments that are lingering, yes, three of them are investment-type deals. Right. But it's just a lingering fact. Yes. And you've done good.

That number is bigger and bigger and bigger. You did good, Levi, and you're in a situation to get out of all that debt and still have a lot of money to invest. So I don't know who's giving you the advice. It's terrible advice. And you know what? It's also cavalier, which bothers me more than terrible, George. Cavalier.

It's your money. Well, my cavalier it's a it's your money there well my point is it's it's it's like it's so glib i mean i'm probably gonna offend somebody whoever it is and i don't want to i don't want to hurt their feelings or who knows but listen they're giving you advice about your money like they're the ones it's so to me what i mean by cavaliers is a hey listen why would you pay it off uh just do this well people get starry-eyed you're not carrying the debt exactly you're not feeling what levi's feeling if i'm levi this is my ticket and this gives me so much freedom and if i don't have debt it gives me more options it's that simple levi it's your life so let's say you followed our advice, Levi. You

have 9 million net from this deal. You pay off 1.2, leaves you with 7.8, correct? Well, I mean, 9 million gross. So, you know, we call it... After taxes? Yeah, yeah, exactly. So we're talking six and a half, call it maybe seven. Okay. And then paying this off. So, you know, still looking at it. Yeah, we're still sitting at about 5.8 million. Yeah, exactly. Okay. So let's say you paid off the debt. You had $5.8 million left. Do you need any of this money? Are you in a good spot financially yourself? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, with that, you know, current, you know, the asset value would be at about $2.1 million. I owe $1.2 on it, so there's an asset value there of about $2.1 million. Oh, great.

And for liquidity, I'm sitting on about $440K. Good gracious. You're crushing it. And are you continuing to work for this company after you sell it for a season? Yeah, I've signed on for a two-year commitment. How much are you going to make? Salary, quarter mil. Bro. Dude. Levi.

This is a no-lose situation i would just pay off the debt i mean you could invest i just did some napkin math for you 5.8 million you invest that and five years later it's already over nine million five years from now you're 41 years old and that money has made you you know three four million dollars okay that doesn't even what you're going to make as you go to the next chapter. I think you probably already got some ideas what the next chapter looks like after your two years. I give up 100%. Dude, come on, man. I'm inspired, Levi.

First of all, you know what, Levi? You were right. George and I are just, all we're doing is backing you up. You were right. Your instincts were right. But can I just tell you, I'm guessing that the person who gave you this advice is pretty influential in your life. Am I right? It's a wealth management team, actually.

And it's an exit strategy for how this is supposed to go. Now, what does a wealth management team stand to gain from you investing instead of paying off debt? Well, they gain, yeah. See? Absolutely. So, they gain, yeah. See? Absolutely. So I always question the motives of the person giving me the advice. We got nothing to gain here, Levi. We're not getting a dime for this advice.

Not a dime. Not a dime. Yep. Not a dime. But you can be outrageously generous. We'll give you Ken's Venmo after this. That's right. Or, you know, stop by Nashville and you can take George and I out for a bourbon.

You know? Who knows? I mean, if Dave Ramsey was sitting here himself, the man runs this business debt-free. We just finished an event center up the hill here, millions and millions of dollars, all in cash. And the man sleeps better at night when he doesn't owe anyone anything. And you have the ability to do that. You have no reason to ever take on debt ever again. Yeah.

It's a no-brainer, Levi. You knew it, and we know it. And those guys have a – they've got an ulterior motive. Run from those motives. Run. Find someone who cares more about your financial future than their pocketbook. And by the way, don't continue the conversation. It's done.

Because those guys will keep trying to give you another angle. They sniff a guy who just sold a company for 9 mil? I mean, goodness gracious. They're coming for you. I'd get good people in your corner, that it feels like from all ends attorneys trying to draft like getting these outrageous you know amounts on these it's just it let it be awkward because it ought to feel awkward to you that they're just grabbing at you and trying to get their hooks in you for their gain. That is just nasty,

ugly stuff. You ought to run from it. Don't even listen to it anymore. You got it? Well, I was given some bad advice at the beginning, I guess. I was told one thing that rich people have attorneys, so suck it up and pay the bills for them. And now I'm kind of like- That's quite the selling point right there. Everything's going against my gut. Yeah. So stupid. Now, it's good to have an attorney in your corner, but not with that sales pitch. No. And so you find one on your own volition.

Find a good tax pro, find a good attorney, find a good insurance pro, a good real estate pro, and a good financial advisor who has your best interest at heart. And we've got lots of these at RamseySolutions.com, and these guys all have the heart of a teacher, and they want to help you, they want to see you in. But, man, be careful about who comes around in the corner now that they smell old money Levi beds over here. And I'll tell you what, Levi, you're going to be really rich.

So that's going to give you the power to share with them two of my favorite words, pound sand. I thought it was going to be kick rocks. I could go either way. Kick rocks, pound sand. You know, tell them. Or as George likes to say, didn't you have a Jersey accent? I thought it was going to be kick rocks. I could go either way. Kick rocks, pound sand. You know, tell them. Just, you know. Or as George likes to say in his, don't you have a Jersey accent?

Don't you have a little phrase? Oh, the bada bing, bada boom. That's what you were digging for. Get out of here. Get out of here. That's what I was looking. See, you do it better than I do. I'm from Boston, so I'm closer.

Give me a Boston get out of here. Get out of here. There it is. See, that's what Levi. There's your new phrase, Levi. What an inspiration. Yeah, how about this guy? This is the dream.

What are we doing out here, Ken? I don't know. I got to start a health care company, apparently. That's the last thing you should do. Stick to what you know. That's good advice for the work guy. That's pretty good, George. Thank you.

I'm going to have to think through that on a commercial break. All right. George and I are going to come up with a new scheme, a new company to launch over the break. We'll be right back. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show, America. Thrilled to have you with us.

I'm Ken Coleman. George Campbell joins me this hour. And in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, I see a lovely couple over there on the debt-free stage. Ben and Mary are with us. Hello. Hi. How are you guys doing?

Oh, we're having a blast. So are you here to do a debt-free scream? We are. Absolutely. I had a feeling. All right. Love it. Very good.

Where do you guys live? Michigan. Michigan. All right. And tell us the story. How much debt did you pay off? Well, we paid off just about $67,000 altogether, but we decided to take out student loans out of our lives. So it's $63,000. Okay. Very good. How long did that take? So is it 63 or 67?

63 student loans and then $4,000 we've systematically started our house. Cool. Okay. Great. So the debt total is uh the debt total 63 i got that right yes okay and how long did it take you to pay that off um about a year and a half okay good and uh what was the range of income uh right at 100 000 okay and what do you guys do i work as a patient account representative for an outpatient billing facility. Okay. And I'm a teacher. Oh, good. Very nice.

Awesome. And so you guys stayed at 100 through the whole journey? Yes. Okay, gotcha. All right. Very good. Okay, so this was the student loans. We know that.

So what happened a year and a half ago where you guys said, all right, it's time. We got to get rid of this. Well, we were getting married, and i brought the debt into the relationship and we just knew that it was something we wanted to get out of our lives and so we stuck to it and we got it done wow how long you guys been married for almost two years oh so this as soon as you guys got married yes when we got back from the honeymoon we wrote a check to get her um perkins loans out and that was about 2000 and then continued on after that wow so Ben did you come into the marriage with any debt no I was yeah I was already on step six I was paying off the house wow so I

want to get your perspective because this is an interesting yeah you know side from your angle going you coming to the mayor hey I was dead free until you showed up that's a lot of attitudes what was your attitude when you knew about the debt yeah our early dates were just walks um and we started talking about you know finances and I said well do you have any debt and she said yeah about you know she wasn't quite sure yeah I aim hard yeah yeah so you know as we continue our relationship we got on the right page. But yeah, it was definitely tough for me because I was investing. I was paying off debt, or I was paying off the house, saving for the future. And then I had to put all that aside and just put investing aside.

But she was worth it. You went, hey, I'm happy to take a step backwards if it means being with you for the rest of my life. Well, yeah, you were in because if I hear the story right, if I'm paying attention, maybe I wasn't. You came in and said to Ben, all right, let's get rid of this. Well, yes, because morally I felt like since I took the debt, it was my responsibility to pay back. So, Ben, you didn't have to really convince her of anything. You just went, all right, I'm going to marry this gal. I want to support you in this.

We're going to do this together. Yes, yes. Yes. Yes. Definitely. Good for you. Yeah. That was the whole student loan thing was tough, especially we were right about $10,000 when the whole, ooh, we're going to pay off your loan. Oh my goodness. Yeah. Yeah. So it was funny because I said, well, sweetheart, we could just see what happens and save the

$10, thousand and just put in a savings account and you said no we're so close let's keep going aren't you glad you did yes i wanted i wanted to be able to say that we did it yeah and you didn't tell anybody else so so what did you guys do what was the strategy how'd you guys buckle down together and knock this out well from my perspective it was all the mindset. I mean, my husband's pragmatic. He would say it's the budgeting and making sure you're on the same page with how you use your money and how you save your money. And from my perspective, it was more or less just giving yourself the confidence to do it, making sure that you are willing to sacrifice.

And it really didn't take much. Yeah, and God's good, so tithing is huge. Tithing is the first thing that we do. Every month, and we found out that as long as we were good stewards, God always gave us opportunities to work. So then income was never an issue. We found out that as long as we were good stewards, God always gave us opportunities to work. So then income was never an issue. All right, so no major sacrifices, no rice and beans, beans and rice,

because you were in good shape. You were just steady. Yeah, well, I would say rice and beans, actually, because my students would always say, Mr. Bishop, you always eat the same thing every day. What did you eat? What was it? I mean, it was usually, I'm a hunter, so I get venison, and it's always a venison. Kills it and drags it home.

Yes, yes. What are you doing? I have three in the freezer right now anyway. I get like cold oven roasted turkey in a little plastic container. This guy's going out and shooting an animal. That's impressive. Dragging it home. Hey, that's one way to, you know, sacrifice and budget on the journey, though.

Yes. I haven't heard that one come up yet. How'd you guys save money? Well, I ate a lot of venison. There it is. Yes. And just being content, you know, with just each other. You know, our one-year anniversary, we went camping.

When you said your dates were going on walks, which I think is very romantic budget friendly yeah there you go you just gotta have a good pair of shoes that's right yeah absolutely all right so who are you oh go ahead george i was gonna ask about the cheerleaders along i was where i was did it was this is just you two or were there other people involved cheering you on um well i would say that within my immediate family, I'm one of the first to really buckle down and pay off my debt because my family, I was raised in an environment of scarcity. And so debt was normal. And we all anticipated we would be paying debt off until we died. So it was pretty emotional to be one of the first to say I paid off $60,000. And I would say that, you know, I feel like I did a good thing. You did.

How did your family react when you told them this? I think they were a little shocked. Yeah. Did they get caught on? Yeah. Actually, I have a couple of siblings that are actually starting the Dave Ramsey process also. Oh, that's incredible. You changed your family tree and you inspired family along the way.

I love that. So you talked about mindset. Mary, that was your answer. So the question we usually ask is, what's the key if people are listening in right now? So Ben, I'll give you a chance. Your wife predicted what you would say. Is it going to be what you're saying? Yes.

Yeah, yeah. It's sticking to the budget. Well, and it's getting on a budget that we both agree with yeah did you guys do that pretty easily get on the same page as far as the budget or you have to kind of figure it out for a while well when we were dating ben was very transparent about how he budgeted and how he saved and the money he saved for the month of he used for the month for the next month and so it really fell into place i i didn't have any qualms about him being the guiding factor in our financial life at all i love that i would point out george that uh mary just dropped a great word she's the

wife of a teacher you don't hear qualmsms very often, folks. Americans would do well to pick that word up and drop it in. In fact, a little bonus here. One time this week, for those that are listening and watching, drop qualms in this week and watch the benefit of that. I'd be impressed. It's a very good word. I wish I had used it. I wish I had said, did you have any qualms? But you beat me to it.

No, it's really great. What a sharp couple. Really fun. What do you teach? Before we do the screen, what do you teach? U do the screen what do you teach u.s history u.s oh your favorite time period yes what would you say what's your favorite period uh man i don't think i have one um really i just love yeah i love the whole thing the whole the whole thing just the whole thing george are we talking bc no no no you mean, history goes way back. Yes.

We got to differentiate. Primarily U.S. history. Yeah. I'd say 20th century. There you go. All right. We got an answer out of you. All right.

You guys ready to do this? Before we do this, get ready to get warmed up. We've got two things for you. We've got Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover as a gift to you to give to somebody else. And then Baby Steps Millionaire, Dave's latest book, which is really your journey. You guys are on your way, and it's so very exciting to see that. It'll be another teacher, George, in the ranks of a Baby Step Millionaire. And we've got Financial Peace University. Thank you for reminding me of that, George. Maybe you can kick off your family's journey

to help them along the way. There you go. I hope so. All right. Well, there it is. All right, let's do this. We've got Ben and Mary. They paid off $63,000 in a year and a half, making $100,000. They hail from the great state of Michigan. Ben and Mary, take it away. Let's hear your debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Yes, they are, George. There it is. How about that? Wow. We love to see it. A teacher. One of the top three careers for millionaires. That's exactly right. It's fun to see. You know what's great, too, as a young couple?

I mean, their whole life ahead of them. They've still got, you know, joy and hope and energy. It's a beautiful thing. I love how you drop the energy in there. I mean, they've got it. They really do. Well, that comes from freedom and hope about their future, a true vision. Great stuff. Thanks, Ben and Well, that comes from freedom and hope about their future, a true vision. Great stuff.

Thanks, Ben and Mary, for sharing your story. Don't move. More of your calls coming up right here on The Ramsey Show. Welcome back, America. You're listening to The Ramsey Show. The phone number is 888-825-5225. I'm Ken Coleman. I'm joined by George Camel.

We're here for you this hour. Our scripture of the day is Proverbs 18.22. He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord. Amen. You know, this is true in both of our cases. As a matter of fact, we were walking out of church yesterday, James, and who do I see in front of us? George and Whitney.

The Camels. The Camels were there and we stopped and our wives were talking and at that point we both looked at each other and we knew what we were thinking. We knew.

We hit the jackpot with Whitney and Stacey. Two great women. Our quote comes from Mark Twain. By the way, bonus points. Do you know his real life name that's his i don't have it memorized samuel clements that's it i just watched the mark twain prize yeah the mark twain for adam sandler last night yeah oh i haven't seen that two hour special oh i love me some

sandler that's fantastic rise for american humor oh comedy very nice back to the quote mark twain otherwise known as samuel clements this is in honor of ben our debt free screamer who's a history guy he's a history teacher i fell ahead to throw it out there uh here's the quote we'll never get there folks here it is what would men be without women scarce sir mighty that's good for some of you it'll hit you at 11 o'clock tonight slow burn on that one we should. We should talk like that. I love Mark Twain quotes. I can't get enough. No, but it's just like when somebody asks a question, you know, if somebody says, George, what do I do with all my credit card debt versus my student loans?

And you should say, use the debt snowball, sir. Like, that would be really funny if we went back to the pages of history. I'll try it on our next call. Let's see. Okay. Now, is this Angel or Angel? Angel. Ah, see, I was trying to guess these names. Angel's on the line in McAllen, Texas.

Angel, how can we help? Hey, how's it going, guys? How y'all doing? We're having a blast. How can we help? My question was a mortgage question, actually. Back in 2021, I got my first home. I'm 33 years old.

And at the time, I had saved up to $200,000 in savings, just saved. And the mortgage is $290,000. So I was ready for it. And I went in kind of aggressively on it, and I put in $100,000 down. And then since then, I've just been going month to month, and now I'm around $185,000, a little under $ little under 186 left on it. And since then, I've built myself back up, my savings back up to $200,000. Whoa.

So I'm kind of, yeah, I'm kind of tempted, you know, to just go on and pay it off and not be left to those 15 and then build back up on those 15, build myself back up, you know, after just going all in and paying it off? Or is that, like, way too much? You know, maybe give an artist $100,000? Well, do you have any other debt? I just kind of sit back and, no.

Other than that mortgage, I'm pretty much debt-free. So you'd have $15,000 to your name. How many months of an emergency fund would that be for you for expenses? That $15,000? Yeah. It could be up three to six. If it's at least three months, I'm paying off that mortgage today. Get the final payoff statement.

Get that thing done, man. It is for sure three. Yeah, especially with your ability to save. You are like a super saver. Yeah. Dude, you're going to save that back up in no time, but absolutely. If you had 15 grand, I mean, would you go into debt, 200,000 to do this right now if you were completely debt free? Yeah, I'm debt.

I mean, I'd be up for those 15 and still be building back up on it this year. What's your income? My income is between, it varies because I work in the oil and gas industry. So worst case, I work these seasonal contract jobs. So worst case, I'll like 80 in the 80s. And if I have a really good one, like I have these last couple of years, it'll be a hundred. Angel, pay off the house today, my man. I'm so happy for you. I don't know why we're just talking. I mean, you should hang up on us now and call the mortgage company.

Just do it. Wire the money today. And then just build back up on that. Yes. Build myself back up. You're a savings machine. Yeah. Do it.

When next month hits with no mortgage payment, you are going to be over the moon. Yes. I'll save it in the clicker. Do it. No more talking about it. I'm putting you on hold. We're done with Angel. We're done with you.

He knows what to do. You are amazing, sir. Easiest call we've taken today, Ken. See what I just did there? You added sir. You're amazing, sir. See? You got to work that in.

I don't know where the guttural, sir. I think it's unnecessary altogether. Yeah, I agree. I agree. All right. Let's go to Patrick in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Patrick, how can we help?ural, sir. I think it's unnecessary altogether. Yeah, I agree. All right, let's go to Patrick in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Patrick, how can we help? Yes, sir. Thank you so much for taking my call, and thank you so much for the ministry that y'all provide. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

It's an honor. The question that I have for you is this. I am 62 years old. My wife is 60. I've been with my journey for 37 years, Me and my wife have been married for almost 43 years. Our total household income is approximately $95,000. When I started this journey many years ago, 2009, I had approximately $425,000 of debt. My house was paid for. College was a long time ago. Cash flowed my daughter's college. Cash flowed their weddings as well.

I have a little bit of consumer debt, if want to call sixty thousand dollars little i have sixty thousand dollars consumer debt yet still with me then that is it my future business is uh i was seventeen thousand on that which is part of the sixty as well uh what i want to do when i do finally retire from that is i want to raise cattle i've got approximately approximately 140 acres out there. And so my question is this. Do I go ahead and start investing now? And since the house is paid for in college, all those other baby steps are done

except for the $60,000 of consumer debt and kind of consider that my household, my house to pay on it? Or do I go ahead and ride this thing all the way out and knock out the consumer debt, then start paying it? The way that I figure it, it'd be probably three years, which I feel me at 65 years of age, by the time everything is completely done. I am paying off the debt. I wouldn't invest a dime until you got all that consumer debt paid off.

Okay. Because truthfully, right now, compound interest is not going to be your ticket to a great retirement. It's starting investing in your 60s. What is going to be helpful is lowering all of your expenses and having no debt payments whatsoever, including a mortgage payment, and then just saving up ferociously once all that consumer debt's paid off. Okay. I've already got a little bit in my 401 401 and my Roth uh a little over a hundred thousand in that plus i have a pension plan as well with the company that i've been with uh of approximately

26 years uh to add on top of that but i don't know how to calculate my pension in my in my retirement and my total uh net value net worth on that, because they will not let me roll it to a 401k. They will not let me do any of that stuff. Sure. I wouldn't count the pension and the net worth. But right now what you're looking at is how do we limit our expenses and cover everything on a budget with what our retirement looks like, with the pension, with the 401k. But, again, you'll have no payments by then.

And you may need to work a little bit longer. Are you guys in good health? Can you work from 65 to 68, 69? Oh, yes, yes, very easy, very easy. Yes, no medicines, none of that stuff. Yeah, good shape. Okay, you can still retire with dignity, but I would not try to do a bunch of things at once,

investing a little bit, trying to pay off the debt a little bit. This interest is going to hurt your retirement more than not investing right now. Yeah, and we only got about a minute, but what kind of risk is involved with the cattle venture? Because that worries me a little bit, this interest is going to hurt your retirement more than not investing right now. Yeah. And we only got about a minute, but what kind of risk is involved with the cattle venture? Because that worries me a little bit. That's an expensive business. Well, that's what I've done. It's kind of like on the side as it keeps going up. I don't consider it like a big risk on there. I mean, you always have your expenses like when

here in Oklahoma, the drought, the feed, and the hay goes up. But what I do to help pay for that, I'll sell off one or two of those. That'll carry me through the winter, have more babies for next year, and go forth like that. Okay. All right. Well, just do it all with cash. All cash. And don't put

your retirement at risk for this stream. Yeah. I think there's so much going on there. Oh, yeah. Just him laying it out. It's like simple is the play going forward. And great advice there. You're absolutely right.

For somebody that age, the compound interest is just not going to get much there. You don't have 20 years to let that grow. Paying off debt is the way to go. Yeah. Minimizing expenses. Wow. Really good advice. George Campbell, always fun, my friend, to be with you.

By the way, when you retire, will you have a camel farm? You know, I'm not much of a farmer. Maybe a horse, though. That might be fun. Really? Not a camel. Camels are dirty. I'm really trying hard.

They're dirty animals. Really trying hard. Hey, always fun to be with you, my friend. You too, man. Great advice today. I want to thank James and the crew for keeping us on the air. And to you, America, thank you for listening. This is The Ramsey Show.

Hey, it's Ken. If you like what you heard in this episode and want to know more about getting started on the Ramsey baby steps, go to ramsaysolutions.com and click on the get started button. We'll help you figure out the best next step for you based on your specific situation. Again, that's ramsaysolutions.com and click get started.