The Ramsey Show - App - This Is Why Whole Life Insurance Sucks (Hour 3)

Episode Date: December 6, 2022

Dave Ramsey & George Kamel discuss: Taking a child out of a will who refuses to speak to you, Why whole life insurance is the worst, What to do with an inheritance. Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: 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 of Moving and Storage Studios, it's the Ramsey Show, where debt is done, cash is king, and the paid off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. We help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. George Campbell Ramsey Personality is my co-host today

as we answer your questions about your life and your money. It is a free call here, and some say the advice is worth what you pay for it. 888-825-5225. Vermont is on the line. Janet is with us. Hi, Janet, how are you? I'm good. How are you guys? Better than we deserve. What's up? I'm calling about a previous episode. I need a little clarification on. There was a woman that had called in and child had basically disowned them. And they were conflicted on the will and taking them out. And you mentioned it as kind of a grieving period for the loss that a parent feels which makes sense but you've also in the past said if you're not

leaving a child something in the will then um you need to be the the bigger person and say you know what you're out uh how do you do that if they're not speaking to you i wouldn't do that if they're not speaking to you when i've said that in the past it wasn't a universal blanket every single time you tell someone but if someone is uh misbehaving and you're communicating with them or they're not you know behaving in a way that is honoring to you your values your family and so you're not going to leave them in an example would be um i mean you got a kid doing heroin but you're trying to love them and you're still talking to them i'm going to tell them I'm not leaving you money for heroin because I love you. And you need to know that you're not going to be in there.

But a kid who won't speak to me, I don't having, you know, you don't need to a person who won't speak to you. You don't need to let them know that they're not in the will. Like, in other words, Janet, I'll talk to you. So I'm not. But prior to today, I've never talked to you. And if I wasn't in your will, you didn't need to let them know that they're not in the will. Like, in other words, Janet, I'll talk to you, but prior to today, I've never talked to you, and if I wasn't in your will, you didn't need to let me know. Right. Right, and that makes sense. But to not leave a bunch of stress for the other child that's involved, would you then suggest like a letter with the lawyer?

Yeah, I'd leave a letter with them and just go, you know, if you want to be mad at somebody, be mad at me, but you decided you didn't want a letter with the lawyer yeah yeah i'd leave a letter with them and just go you know if you want to be mad at somebody be mad at me but you decided you didn't want a relationship with me which means you don't want a relationship with anything to do with me and so i i hate that and i'm sad about that and i've been sad about that since it happened but uh as a result i didn't we didn't feel like it was proper to leave money to someone that hates us. Okay, that's fair. One more thing. George told me to call in, so I wanted to say thanks to him for that.

And he does not have a punchable face. Thank you. That was the other day. A punchable face. I said that on air when we were commenting about my viral TikTok. And I said, I think they just hate me. I've got a punchable face. They come for me in the comments. And so so she's just defending me because I never said you had a punchable face Dave would never no but I'm just saying I was telling him I might have punched you but I wouldn't have said

anything about it well and I was just telling him that that's them projecting what they don't like about themselves with him you're exactly right. Welcome to TikTok commenters. You've got the psychology down, Janet. So, yeah, it's an interesting nuance and a good question. Thank you for calling in. You know, and the beautiful part about the holidays is we get to see and deal with family. The horrible part about the holidays is we get to see and deal with family. The horrible part about the holidays is we get to see and deal with family in some cases. And so that brings up a lot of these estate questions.

And I think it's a good thing to talk about. If someone else says it out loud, it doesn't sound as crazy as maybe or as shame-inducing as it sounds in your head. So, you know, the way we stand on things around here, you and I have talked about this many times, George, is that you are under no moral, legal, or ethical obligation to leave anyone your money, period. That's a good one to start with okay and you are under no uh you have no moral

entitlement to mama's money that is the underlying issue yeah because they're scared of what are the kids going to think and is it going to cause resentment and will the relationships be hurt and uh you know hopefully you don't raise entitled kids, which luckily you didn't, Dave. But I mean, here's the thing. Like the lady that called the other day, her daughter will no longer speak to her over an argument they had during COVID that she wanted to come visit and give her a hug. And she said, not in my house. You can't touch us. You're coming to kill us.

And so, you know, crazy covet people right and so they they they refused to let the mom and dad come and refused to let them see their grandkids and then it escalated further and just don't even call we don't want to talk to you and it's been since covet they hadn't spoken and so she said do i leave her in the will i said i wouldn't no no you have no she has no rights and you have no obligation um and it's not about you hitting back. I'm angry at you, so I'm taking you out of the will. It's not about manipulating because we're not really going to call her and discuss it with her. We're not trying to manipulate anybody.

It's a matter of God gave me this batch of money to manage. I manage it for him. So what does the owner require of this? It requires, first and foremost, that I leave it to someone else who will also manage it for him. That's wisdom. First and foremost.

So if you decide, you know, like we're Christians at our house, and so as for me in my house, that's who we are. And so if you decide that you're going to worship a tree or whatever it is you're going to worship and not worship God, then I represent him. I manage stuff for him.

And why would I leave a tree worshiper God's stuff? I'm not going to do that. I don't dislike trees, but I don't worship them. And so. Good caveat. Never thought I'd hear that sentence on the show. Yeah, there you go. Here we are. You have to have lots of clarity for the tree people but the

uh um you know so the but the point is it would be inconsistent with your values and what your beliefs are and so don't ask don't be obligated by bloodline only to do something that otherwise sounds crazy because it is crazy that's why it sounds crazy it's something to remember if something sounds crazy it's because it's crazy it is it's like the old thing uh uh you know a guy used to work here would say you say you know if you're dating a girl and she says i'm not crazy that's a sure sign that she's crazy that's a red flag that's a red flag right there you know that one's crazy and so if something sounds crazy it's usually because it is if it feels crazy it's usually because it is if it feels weird and awkward and not right it's usually because it's weird awkward not right listen to that voice yeah and so you know I don't want to

leave money to a kid who won't speak to me because she's pissed about me wanting to give her a hug during COVID. Well, that's perfectly natural. But I feel bad. Why do you feel bad? I, you know, I don't feel bad at all. I don't leave strangers and people that don't talk to me and people that are mad at me. I don't pick out trolls on Twitter and leave them money. And that would be a strange thing. People that hate me.

Why would I? People that don't want to talk to me. People that are mad at me. People that dislike me. People that disrespect me. Why would I leave them that don't want to talk to me. People that are mad at me. People that dislike me. People that disrespect me. Why would I leave them money? That doesn't make any sense at all. And so give yourself a pass.

Give yourself a get out of jail free card on the guilt, shame, and crap that goes with inheritance during the holidays. This is The Ramsey Show. George Campbell Ramsey personality is our co-host today Thomas is with us in New York City Welcome to the Ramsey Show Hey Thomas, Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas to you too, Dave. Thank you so much. Hello, gentlemen.

How are you doing? Great, man. What's up? Nothing. Quick question. First of all, I just wanted to preface it by saying, Dave, I've been listening to your show for a while, and I really want to thank you for all your advice. I used to be one of those people that really just thought about, well, yeah, I can afford

that payment. I can afford that payment. And just all of a sudden, I'm just under this massive amount of debt. And after listening to for a couple of months, I've just basically restructured the way I do everything. I'm just, you know, stop buying stuff. I'm getting my debts paid off. Within a couple of years, I plan to be completely debt free. So thank you very much for your advice. My question is, I've heard you talk a little bit about whole life policies. Now, my wife and I right now have whole life policies. They're good until we're 125 years old.

We have about $1.5 million in coverage. It costs us about $680 a month to have that. And I've heard you sort of say that you didn't think they were a great investment, but I haven't really heard you get into any details about why you think that is. So I was wondering if you could just talk about that a little bit, and maybe I'm missing something, and if I am, I'm sure you'll hit the point. Okay, sure. Well, the overarching main companies that sell whole life,

the numbers break down about like this. Per $100 that you pay in premium you can buy the same amount of term life insurance 15 year level term 20 year level term for about five dollars got it it's roughly 20 x okay and uh for the, obviously whole life though has another component to it. The term does not have, you're obviously aware of that. You spend a lot of money on this. And that other component is a cash value buildup. Now the cash value buildup is the other $95 out of a hundred dollars.

Approximately could be91, could be whatever, but it's somewhere in that range. Nationally, across the top 10 whole life insurance companies, it is $95, okay? So $95 going into cash value, $5 purchases the same amount of insurance, life insurance. Now, so then the gripe that those of us have that hate whole life life insurance, and it's not a mild dislike, I hate it, is that what happens to that $95?

And in cash value, what you will do, and you're well past this, but if you went back and looked at your policy pages, your cash value buildup for the first three years, your savings buildup is zero. 100% of the $95 goes to fees. It's front loaded as an investment, which in and of itself is not necessarily evil. It's just frowned upon in the financial planning world by and large. The second thing is that once you do start building it nationally, and again, don't know your policy, but it's not going to be substantially different. The average rate of return on the $95, if you look at your actual cash value buildup, including the three years of zeros on the front end, it ends up being an average of about 1.2%.

Let's be generous and say it's double that, 2.4%. Still not a good long-term investment. If I could get 2.4 on my money market, I'd be dancing a jig, but not on my long-term investments. My long-term investments need to be north of 10% to be beating inflation and taxes. And so it's a horrible rate of return on a long-term investments my long-term investments need to be north of 10 percent to be beating inflation and taxes and so it's a horrible rate of return on a long-term investment and those two things are bad but the the the stake in the heart of whole life and the reason the entire financial planning community that are not in the whole life life insurance business have abandoned whole life no one sells this but whole life insurance agents.

No one sells it anymore. No traditional financial planner, no smart investor pro, no one in the financial world sells it. The only people that sell it are whole life agents. They've gone away from it. And this is the reason. Once you've paid the extra $95 to build up, build up, build up, build up. And on your $680 premium, you said you had a one point something million dollar policy? I've got a million dollars.

My wife has half a million, and that's our combined premium. Okay, so $1.5 million. If you die, your wife, the beneficiary, I assume, would get $1 million. That's your face. My daughter. It doesn't matter. Whoever the beneficiary is is going to get the million dollars right that's what they're going to get that's all right if you have a cash value of 200 000 at 2.4 percent that you put 95 dollars per hundred in to get to 200 000 or to get to 100 000000. None of that. So you have a savings account that for the first three years you put in there gives you

nothing. After that, it pays 2.4%. And when you die, they keep your money. Right. Which makes it absolutely horrendous. So you're much better off. And many, many decades ago, the financial planning community, by and large, started moving towards buying term life insurance for the $5 per hundred and doing almost anything else with the $95, but over in the investment world, away from the insurance world.

Put it in a freaking fruit jar. At least it's there when you die. Okay. Would your advice be to just terminate those policies and just do what you suggested, purchase relatively inexpensive term life policies and then put additional money? I mean, I do have investments. I mean, I could just up those investments. I invest mostly directly in the S&P 500. I've got a 401K.

Exactly. So would you get that? But get the term life in place first. Yeah, exactly. Get your term in place first. Never cancel life insurance until you've got new in place because we don't want you to have the proverbial milk truck or bus in the middle okay between the two just look at the money i've been spending over the last five ten years is just write that off and just start it'll make you want to throw up yeah yes but that's that's that's okay

now you will get you will get your cash value out by canceling the policies whatever it is okay that doesn't it doesn't die it doesn't die then but you never get both i understand you never get the insurance and the investments and you're always paying for both and that's the got it that's the consumer advocate like us our reason for hating on these things and just saying they're absolutely horrible. It's an antiquated product from the 40s and 50s that built large buildings in the skylines of almost every city and that everyone now has pretty well moved away from, except the companies with their name on that kind of stuff. So anyway, all of that to say.

One last part of this discussion that's worth having, because you're obviously doing well financially and you're doing really good with your analytics on this the last thing that happens is the the irony is that we really don't necessarily need life insurance for our whole life right so if you've got two or $3 million in your investments and zero debt, and the kids are grown and gone, and you die, well, I think your wife will be okay. I was looking at it as, well, I can die broke if I want to,

and at least they'll have this much. But you're right in the sense that I won't be able to spend all my money. Yeah, but if you put the $95 in a fruit jar, you wouldn't die broke. Exactly right. Okay, I'm doing it. Thank you, Dave. Hey, man, thanks for the call. Wow.

Great discussion. I thought whole life was going to be like timeshares where it just kind of dies over time, but TikTok has caused a renaissance of whole life agents to start their financial planning influencer careers. You're kidding. And so now— So they're like whole life guys that are trying to make it cool again. Well, they're peddling it with new terms. Make whole life cool again.

You've seen this. Index universal life. Infinite banking. Dave, the wealth. Infinite banking is back. This is the hack wealthy people don't want you to know. Infinite banking is back. That was a scam from like 20 years ago.

Well, Gen Z is eating it up on the TikTok, Dave. Oh, man. It's caused this resurgence infinite banking is code for whole life that sucks bad that's what it is you know so the infinite banking is you put so much in the whole life that it starts to pay its own and you borrow money from yourself dave it's genius borrow money from yourself and guess what there's no taxes on borrowed money well no kidding doofus what? There's no taxes on borrowed money. Well, no kidding, doofus. There's never been taxes on borrowed money. If you just run over there and get you a credit card debt, there's no taxes on the debt, you dumb butt.

Of course there's not. Oh, my goodness. I can't believe infinite banking is being made cool on Tic Tac. Just ignore all of that. This Tic Tac thing is just driving me nuts. Now it's Tic Tac according to Dave. Well, here's the takeaway. Get term life

10 to 12 times your annual income, 15 to 20 year policy with our friends and family. You know what? If Infinite Banking can make it on Tic Tac, I bet I could make it on Tic Tac.

For sure you can. This clip is the start right here. Oh, man. This is the Ramsey Show. are you sick of planned obsolescence? You know, when companies make products crappy so you have to buy more of their crappy products? Well, me too. And it's why I love companies like Grip6.

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live? Little Rock, Arkansas. Well welcome to Nashville. How much debt have you paid off Brittany? $202,000. Whoa! How long did that take? Three years. The first two years I had a combination of my plan plus yours but that didn't work so when I stuck to your plan, it was three years. Okay, it works for me. And your range of income during that three years? Started at $70,000 and did it at just under $200,000 at $197,000. Wow. Nice jump. What do you do for a living?

I'm a registered nurse. Okay, so you just took better jobs or you worked all the time or what? So I was a full-time nurse starting out making $70,000. And then I quickly realized that I could almost double my pay if I started doing local contracts. And then I realized that I could do more than that if I took regular travel nursing contracts. Oh, wow. So you've been on the road. I have, yes.

And some of this during COVID. Yes, yes. Was that's scary it was very scary well uh a big reward but very scary at times for sure big reward but but felt like a lot of risk yes absolutely turned out not to be but um or not not that bad but because obviously you're doing well but congratulations thank you Thank you. Well done. All right. What kind of debt was this $202,000? So I had about $40,000 in credit cards over probably eight or nine of them,

about $36,000 in two cars, two car loans, $86,000 in student loan debt, and about $36,000 in back taxes. So why does one person need two cars? Well, this person had a teenage daughter, so. Oh, okay. It's not one person. All right. That makes sense.

All right. And, of course, she needed a car with a payment on it. All right. So you got all paid off. Yes. You're incredible. Well done. Thank you.

How does it feel to be free? It feels amazing i don't know that it has sunk in completely but i'm excited to start the next journey of my life for sure so what kind of got you on this ramsey way and ramsey journey because you were living la vida loca i mean 40 000 it was like let's get some more debt what was this turning point for you well I originally found I started listening to the podcast or YouTube videos in nursing school however when I actually started working the lifestyle creep I was like oh I work hard I want this I want that I want to do this um but ultimately taking care of my daughter being a single mother I knew that I needed to change the course for our life.

And so I became motivated after that point and just kind of found the tools and necessary resources to make that happen. So you're doing Ramsey-ish, and you said three years ago you went full Ramsey. In 2019, I went full, yes. You went full. What was the switch flip on that? Why did you say, okay, I'm done screwing around with this. I'm going to get it. I got tired of giving my whole paycheck to other folks.

And you didn't feel like you're getting progress. No, I felt like I was stuck literally going back and forth every month. I had a budget, but then I would veer off my budget. And every time I went to look at it, I'm like, I'm in this. I'm literally going nowhere. That's how it felt. If you guys on radio could see her, you could see her face. She made the, I was sick and tired of being sick and tired face you just you just did that I just saw it you just reached

done done done I am done with me being dumb that's exactly as a face you made I love it that's when you know you changed your life I'm so proud of you thank you well done well done you brought mom and dad over here to cheer you on, right? I did. Were they big cheerleaders while you were fighting all this? Oh, absolutely. I told them, talked to them about every step of the way. They encouraged me every step of the way. So I had a really good support. How you do travel nursing with a teenage daughter? I went, well, I would fly away to go and work. And then after I finished my shifts, I would fly back home to be with her for the rest of the week so that was my sacrifice my trade-off okay so she like stayed with family or friends she stayed with family yes okay wow thank you family wow for real big time support that

allowed you to triple quadruple your income yes yeah wow that's incredible so what was you there's a lot of sacrifices you made here clearly what was the one that was the toughest for you, but had the biggest payoff? Saying no to friends and family members because I'm a giver at heart, and I had to learn how to say no. And now I love it. It's like, can I, no, no. I'm sorry, still no. You got real good at it. You got your no muscle built. I like it. I know how to say it in Spanish, No. No. I'm sorry. Still no. You got real good at it.

You got your no muscle built. I like it. I know how to say it in Spanish too. Nope. It's no. You know what? Multiple languages. Nope.

Yes. I like it. So that was it. Saying no. And you know, you do really kind of get used to it. Because when you first do it, you're like, oh, they're going to hate me. Oh, everything's good. And you're like, well, nothing happened.

I'm going to say it again. Yeah. Oh, look at that. And then I'm'm gonna say it again yeah look at that then i'm gonna say it again wow and then i'm gonna say it to myself wow because if you say no long enough you can say yes if you live like no one else later you can live and give like no one else you are a rock star you're amazing powerful lady have you relaxed yet are you still travel nursing i'm not travel nursing anymore i've been back home okay yeah this is my daughter's senior year in school, so I'm at home full time. And you get to be there for it. And you got yourself in a position that you can do that now. The program is heaven sent.

It's perfect time, and it's sacrifice senior year. I get to celebrate it with her, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Now you get to keep that hard-earned paycheck. That feels amazing. Amen. Now you get to keep that hard-earned paycheck. That feels amazing. Yeah well done. What do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? Oh there's so many. The key. Well one or two. One or two. Sticking to the plan. You're gonna think that you're smart enough to beat it and figure out backdoor ways. It's not. You're gonna go in circles when you realize it and time will pass by and then you're going to revert back to the original plan which works from the beginning so stick to the plan amen amen that's good that's good and uh i you know you know in a world where

there's so much information coming at you and everybody's got an opinion and a lot of broke people telling you what to do with your money you know know, in a world like that, to just find something to say, I'm going to turn off all the noise. I got my blinders on. I'm doing this. Yes. Period. That's the hard.

But there is a sense of peace even in the middle of all the hard work. Yes. Because you just have one thing to do. You got one job. You know, you got one job. That's all we're doing. And then you look up and three years in, you got $202,000 got one job that's all we're doing and and then you look up and three years in you got two hundred and two thousand dollars paid off you're amazing

you're amazing and you know what's really amazing that daughter of yours has watched you she knows her mom wears a superwoman cape as a wonder woman shield and so you set a standard for her uh she's gonna be like don't tell me i can't do it i watch my mama my mama can do anything and you you told her by your action she can do anything you built confidence into her that you don't even know about yet you'll see it later in your grandbabies well done very well done you changed your family tree and i know your mom and dad are proud they're over there nodding their head right now what i was saying all that so that's exactly right wow good stuff well done hey we got the live and give bundle for you uh so that you can uh enjoy some of it and give some of it the total money makeover book for you to give away and get somebody started on this and tell

them stick to the dadgum plan and uh the baby steps millionaires book our latest number one bestseller and all about how to become a millionaire and that's your next step by the way uh and then the financial peace university one-year membership as well as in the live and give bundle all of that's our gift to you to say thanks to for coming over from arkansas to do your debt-free scream in person and for hanging out with us again we are so proud of you you're an amazing woman very very very well done good stuff britney from little rock 202 000 paid off in three years making 70 to 200 count it down let's hear a debt-free scream three two one

that's how that's done. If that doesn't put a pep in your step, you've got to check your heart rate. Make sure it's still beating in there. Man, a single mom fight like that warrior girl, that girl's a warrior. Nothing's going to stop her in life. She is a warrior. I mean, there is nothing. You get that kind of spirit going.

I saw it. You could see her face change right there when she was talking. I thought she might run through the glass. I'm so done. That's that's when you know it's right that's when you know you're ready you get a little bit of britney juice that's what you need right there no one has an excuse now no you just do the plan shut up and do the plan this is the ramsey show We'll be right back. Our Scripture of the day first peter 3 10 and 11 whoever wants to embrace life and see the day fill up with good here's what you do say nothing evil or hurtful snub evil and cultivate good run after peace for all your're worth. Faith Hill said,

it's not complicated to embrace life. You just have to make the choice. Open phones at 888-825-5225. George Campbell is my co-host today. Ramsey fans, we got something new for you. Our new Ramsey apparel designed with your classic favorite Ramsey sayings to remind you why you chose to be weird. We've got t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, things that we say on the show like better than I deserve, live like no one else, cash is king. Quantities are limited, but you can still get them by Christmas if you go to RamseySolutions.com. Pick one out for yourself. And remember, if you're buying anything representing your gazelle intensity or anything else, any of our books, all this stuff,

books are on sale for $10, all kinds of deals right now at RamseySolutions.com. If you get an order over $40, it's free shipping right now. Yeah, and you can still get it by Christmas, RamseySolutions.com. Up next is going to be Mike in Fort Worth. Hey, Mike, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hey, George. Hey, Dave. Thank you both for taking my call.

I appreciate it. Sure. What's up? Okay, so I found myself in a situation this year, unfortunately. Last year in 2021, I lost my mom to cancer, and this year my dad passed away unexpectedly. My goodness. As a result of a surgery he had.

And so it's left me in a position, obviously, where I'm going to be inheriting quite a bit of property and money along with my brother. I'm sorry. Thank you. And so I've never been in a position where I've had this much money. Honestly, I was working on the baby steps myself. I was working baby step number two. But now with inheriting all this, obviously, I'm going to be way past that. And I honestly have no idea how to handle this kind of money or what to do with anything.

Wow. How much does your portion represent in total dollars? Once everything's sold, my lawyer recommended we end up just selling everything and liquidating and splitting everything. I'm probably going to end up between $800,000 and $850,000. What do you make a year now? I make about $42,000. Okay. What do you do?

I'm a flight attendant with an airline. How old are you? 30. Okay. All right. Well, there's a couple things come to mind. Number one, it is wisdom to know that you are getting ready to drive something with more horsepower than you're used to driving, and it scares you a little bit. For that not to scare you would make you immature, rash, and unwise. So it's good that there's a

reasonable amount of fear, because it makes you understand that this is important, so it's good that there's a reasonable amount of fear because it makes you understand that this is important and it's it's a weight that needs to be carried it's not a uh a party to be thrown right yeah so that's good i don't want you freaked out i don't want you overwhelmed but but um you know if you hand somebody the keys to a super expensive super powerful car and they are not that great a driver they you know they've been driving a little piece of junk then all of a sudden they feel the you know like oh my god i gotta be careful and that's that's a that's wisdom so good for you good on you for that now having said that then what we're what we're saying is is you need some driving skills, and you probably need some people to ride in the passenger seat

and point out your driving skills, and that would be your team. I want you to build a wealth team around you. You don't have to pay them much or anything for that matter, but you need to contact them and meet with them and have a relationship built so that when you do need them you can pay them if you have to for their services so you need uh an estate planning attorney maybe the one that did your dad's will uh it wouldn't be bad you need to develop a will because you have eight hundred thousand dollars and you need to have a will for that okay you need an investment advisor

someone with the heart of a teacher that will sit down with you and start to explain how basic investing calm steady not bitcoin you know just good steady slow boring investments work how people build 800 into 1.6 million, double it in seven years. It doesn't take that much to do that. And that's one of our SmartVestor pros. You can get in touch with them at ramsaysolutions.com and select one of those. You need a good CPA, somebody to help you with taxes. Again, you can get in touch with one of our endorsed local providers.

It sounded like there's real estate you all are going to be liquidating, so you need a good real estate agent in this. It sounds like you're going to turn it into money and sell the houses. That's fine, but you need a good real estate agent, not just anybody in a market like this. You've got to have a pro on your side, right? And again, our endorsed local providers, I'm recommending them. I'm not making money off of sending you to these people. These are people that we trust and they pay us. Okay. So, um, they're going to pay me

whether you go or not, by the way. So, uh, uh, you need a good insurance professional that is an independent insurance agent. They don't work for just one company so it's not your state farm agent with quarterbacks on their commercial and it doesn't have a lizard involved with a british accent okay this is an agent that represents a bazillion different companies on all kinds of different lines of insurance and they can tell you what types of insurance you need to put in place so that because now you have a target on your butt. If you're in a car wreck, somebody thinks you're going to be a millionaire and take your money. So you need increased liability and you need an umbrella policy and some stuff like that.

And it's not that expensive, but you've just got to begin to learn about these things. Not panic, not be stressed out. You're not going to get a master's degree in finance we're putting people around us that are professionals and we're going to have a little little board here our you know that mike's board of directors that each of these people have special knowledge specialized knowledge in these different areas and the important thing is this every one of the industries i just mentioned have a section of them that are arrogant jerks that want to just tell you what to do. You do not want a salesman that's an arrogant jerk.

You want a teacher that is in the insurance business, a teacher that does estate planning. And so if your daddy's old lawyer kind of talks down to you and acts like you're dumb and you just need to do whatever he says fire his butt get somebody that works for you and part of their job is to help you understand why you should do what they're saying not just do what they're saying is that starting to feel like you got some peace listening to all that, George? Well, Mike, the beautiful thing is that this catapults you through the baby steps, and the scary thing is this catapults you through the baby steps. And so as you get this cash, you're going to be able to pay off all this debt. How much debt do you have?

I'm down to about $25,000 remaining. I was up to about $34,000 until I started the baby steps. I've cut down about $9,000. Awesome. So up to about 34 until I started the baby steps. I've cut down about 9,000. Awesome. So we can pay off the debt. And then at the end of the day, I'd love you to live on your income. Don't touch this money. Okay. If you invest it and don't touch it, it'll double every seven years.

Oh, wow. You said you're how old? I'm 30. So at 37, it'll be 1.6. At 44, it'll be 1.6 at 44 it'll be 3.2 at 51 it'll be 6.4 okay wow that's just mind-blowing to think about exactly i mean you're not even 50 years old and you're worth six or seven $7 million if you behave. And you don't need to, you know, just, you know, if you've got no debt, you can live on your income, can't you?

It's going to be hard. You've been doing it and reducing debt. That's true. No whining. A big reason I've been able to reduce debt is because I became a property manager for my parents as well, kind of as a side job. So one of the properties that we're going to sell, I was actually able to live rent-free for just taking care of it. And it was a duplex. Then you need to develop a career that you can live on. Okay. That's the other thing, which involves Ken Coleman's materials. So we'll send you a copy of Ken's book, From to purpose, but live on it and don't

touch this money. That's the wisdom. That's the wisdom part of the game. Well done. You're going to be great. If you need more help, you call us back anytime. Great job guys. That puts us our in the books are thanks to Austin, Ben, James, Zach, and Andrew in the booth, the booth dudes, they make the show happen. I'm Dave Ramsey. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Do you love a good day, Brandt? Want to see the latest Ramsey Show videos going viral? Check out your favorite moments from the Ramsey Show on YouTube. Go watch and subscribe to the Ramsey Show channel on YouTube.