The Ramsey Show - App - This Is Why You Don’t Let Fear Drive Your Financial Decisions (Hour 3)

Episode Date: March 18, 2024

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this is The Ramsey Show. It's where we help you win with your money, in your work, and in your relationships. I'm Ken Coleman. George Campbell joins me. The phone number is 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. George is our resident money expert. Today, I'll be your resident

work and professional growth expert. So any questions relating to those topics, and they go together so very well, we're here to help. So let's get it started with Heather this hour in Asheville, North Carolina, one of my favorite places in all of the Southeast, Asheville, North Carolina. Heather, how can we help? Hi, Ken. Hi, George. It's so good to be able to talk to you guys today. I have a money and a parenting question. And so my question is this. My husband and I adopted our son in November. He's 17 years old, and he was with us through foster care prior to that. We found out at his adoption meeting that he's entitled to Social Security, and so we have started receiving Social Security benefits for him.

We would like to be able to put those in an account for him that we would gift him at some point in the future when he's an adult, when he can handle it. We're thinking after college at some point. So my question is twofold. One, what would be the best investment vehicle for that? I'm not sure if it's an UTMA or something that is under our name and we gift it to him later. And then my second question is, how do we have this conversation with him when it is time to gift this money to him to help him understand the stewardship and just how to handle these finances. Because

we're looking at, it's probably going to be about $14,000 in the initial investment and then, you know, whatever it grows from there. What's on the horizon for him? He will likely go to college. He's in a hybrid high school associate's degree program right now. And so he intends to go to a four-year university, but that's covered through the state of North Carolina because of how old he was and still being in foster care. So that's a hundred percent covered. As long as he goes to a in-state school, North Carolina? Right. So, and we've had that conversation. So I told him, I said, Hey, if you can get a free in-state degree and you choose to do one that you would pay for, that's stupid.

And you're not stupid, so you're not going to do that. That's good parenting right there. Yeah, he's bought into the idea of going in-state. Okay. Good. That's huge. So we got $14,000, and we want to invest this for his future, doesn't need to be used for college. Is there any other expenses coming up that he might need this money for, like a car, for example? He is saving up for a vehicle right now, but I don't, he's, it's tricky. I don't think he needs to get a massive

expensive vehicle. He's saving up right now for something that'll be reasonable for a first-time driver to be driving. Okay. And is he working right now? He does. He works at our local grocery store. Fantastic. So he's got earned income, which means that he can use any of that earned income toward a Roth IRA and start contributing to that, which is really cool. And you mentioned the UTMA, the UGMA, Uniform Gifts to Minors Act, Uniform Transfer to Minors Act. And those can be decent options. It's similar to that custodial IRA. And then the other option is a brokerage account. If you really want to invest this money, you can just put it out there in the market, non-retirement, and pay the capital gains taxes on that down the road when you're ready to withdraw it. Yeah. So part of what I'm considering is like, do I want it to be something that he wouldn't have access to until he's at

retirement age? Or is it something that could be a really good step towards a house down payment down the road? So I'm really between, should it be in just a regular brokerage? Should it be retirement? Yeah. I mean, knowing that he's going to have these goals coming up, I think he's going to be just fine for retirement the way you're raising him. If he starts to invest when he's working, he's going to have so much in retirement versus having money liquid now to cover future goals like housing, which in the Asheville area is insane. And so when you start to look at that, I go, I'd probably want to keep that more liquid and not tied up in retirement. And that might even mean a high-yield savings account because who knows what expenses he'll have in the next five years as he goes through college and needs a deposit for the apartment and all kinds of moving expenses.

And so keeping it liquid in the high-yield savings right now with the savings rates that are out there is not a bad move until you at least know what you want to do with the money next. And so that's a good spot for it. Otherwise, the UTMA, the UGMA, or the brokerage would probably be your best bet. But he can contribute up to his earned income. So if he makes $2,000, he can contribute $2,000 to a Roth IRA. Okay. And then would you do the UTMA to help with taxes, or should we stay in our name? Because that's part of my concern is, like, what if he does go off the rails?

What if something happens? I know I've heard Dave mention that he has things so that if his kids were not living a proper way, they would not have access to a ton of money. Yeah. I mean, if that's a legitimate concern for you as a parent, you can keep it more locked away with that UTMA and UGMA account to have more say over when the full control happens. Okay. So if that's a real concern, and Ken, you can speak to this as someone who has older kids, but if this is not a concern, this is more of a hypothetical, I would leave it a little more liquid. Yeah, I would too. I want to see how he progresses, right?

Does he know about this money? He doesn't. Okay. He found out that it might exist at our pre-adoption meeting, and he was like, oh, oh. And we were like, no, you don't need thousands of dollars at 17 years old.

Which is a lot to him at this juncture, but in the grand scheme of life, this is not a million dollars sitting out there that is like he's going to go retire from this. I think it's about the conversations you need to be having about compound interest. Like, hey, let me just show you. If you were to do this, you know, and George gets his fancy calculator out and you start walking him through. If you were, you know, just teaching him some basic out and you start walking him through if you're you know just teaching him some basic things that these kids aren't taught that they don't even

think about um you know and then let's see how he does you know as he begins to get a job and he's saving money he's doing it now sounds like how does he treat money start to pay attention to those patterns uh and then and then you do your best to instruct uh but you know i tell my wife this a lot lately you know there's just some things your kids are going to have to learn that life is going to have to teach them i told them but i can't teach them and life is going to teach them and then i'm there to go hey i am so sorry um and here's what we can do and here's what you learned from this so i think you know some of this stuff i think what you're doing is very very wise you know and i agree with george but it what you're doing is very, very wise, you know, and I agree with George.

But it's about conversation. And this is a great situation, by the way. I really honor you. I mean, this is what is when America is at its best and citizens around the world. Heather, I applaud you and your family for fostering to adopt and adopting. This is a huge, huge endeavor that you've taken on. And boy, he's a blessed young man. And I didn't want to finish this call without telling you guys that what you've done here is very honorable. And I bless you for it. And I'm proud of you

and excited for his future. Absolutely. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. As a little graduation gift, Heather, I'm going to send him a copy of my book, Breaking Free from Broke. It'll help him avoid so many of the traps that he's about to encounter as you set foot into adulthood. And can I add something to that, George? Please. Let's also give the young man the student version of the Get Clear Career Assessment. Oh, love that. Yeah, we have a high school version of that.

And let's give that to him as well as the proximity principle, which is all about making connections to turn connections into opportunities. That's the graduation gift from George and I. I love it. Yeah. Thanks again, Heather, for the call. All right. Quick break. We'll be right back.

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Well, George, it's going to be here before we know it. May 10 and 11, the big money makeover weekend, destination event right here at our Ramsey headquarters in the Nashville, Tennessee area. One weekend, crash course on everything we teach about money, all the baby steps, brand new content from all of the personalities, plus you and Rachel will be doing your hit podcast, The Smart Money Happy Hour. Have you picked a guest for that, or is it just going to be the two of you?

I'm not sure we decided to go guest forward with that. Is that a personal question, Ken? I was just curious. That'll be fun, and all of us will be doing Q&As throughout the weekend as well as our talk. So that's Dave Ramsey, Rachel Cruz, George Campbell, Jade Warshaw, me, and Dr. John Deloney. Don't wait. Get those tickets now. Platinum Plus tickets are already sold out, but we still have some Platinum and VIP tickets if you jump on them now.

RamseySolutions.com slash events. That's RamseySolutions.com slash events. This is a destination event. So get it in the budget, plan the travel, the lodging, wherever you live, it's worth hanging out

with us in Nashville for a weekend. It's a great time. Yep. Going to be a lot of fun. All right, let's go to the Atlanta, Georgia area there

where Aiden is joining us. Aiden, how can we help? Hey guys, pleasure to talk to you. Long time listener, just first time caller. Oh, fun. Thanks for calling.

I just called because I've been working a sales job for about a year now, about a year out of college, and it's not exactly what I thought it would be. I definitely don't see myself making a career out of it, but I'm not really sure where to go. I have an English degree and I have a passion for cars, but I don't know how to make the two collide. I was looking for just some advice. Why the English degree? Take us back. Well, I really like talking to people. I like getting to know them, and that's kind of why I got into sales. But I'm also good at just communicating either verbally

or just across different mediums, whether it's writing papers. So essentially, if we go back, it was like, this is an easy degree for me because I'm really good at it. I can enjoy college and then pretty much just, you know, crush this degree because it's easy. It was all talent. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. Um, and what kind of sales job are you in now? It's pretty much, you know, person-to-person sales.

Not to get too specific with it, but it's, you know, cold calling. It's going to meet with people at their houses or homes or houses or offices. You know, direct-to-consumer. What is the issue, or let me say this a different way. What was the part that you go, eh, it's not what I thought it was going to be? Give me that. Well, I just, I don't like the sales aspect of it. I think I like meeting people and I like meeting with, you know,

obviously just the people I work with are very successful and they can afford what I do, but I just, I feel bad just being a sales guy and I want to be a little more than that. Yeah. Tell me, without getting into job title, I don't want you to overthink this answer. I want you to answer this almost like an elementary school student, okay? How simple I want this to be, okay?

I want you to describe what you think would be an amazing day right now. Forget job title. Tell me what you would be doing during the day. You're working. You're doing something, and it feels like there's a heavy people quotient. Is that fair? Yeah. I would definitely have to say that I would be meeting all different types of people,

you know, helping them out with their problems. Okay. What problems? Do any problems jump to you, like just kind of right off the top of your head? If I was helping these people, Ken, all day long, and I was helping with this problem, that'd be a great day. What's the problem? Well, I love working with cars, I think.

I love tinkering with them and i like um you know my brothers come to me with problems with their cars and i try to figure them out and even my co-workers love it um well i think yeah i think something along that line of i think so too to work every day yeah well i think you've got a really huge servant heart. You love helping to serve. It's something that just gives you a lot of joy. Is that true? Yeah, and actually, I took your survey and it said that. Well, wait a second. How about giving me the—first of all, it's not a survey. Don't bury the lead. Hello. Do you have your Get Clear Assessment results with you?

Not exactly right in front of me. Okay, so tell me what you can remember from the purpose statement. And it said that you're a missional driver, which is what motivates you. That's the last part of the assessment that fills in the purpose statement for everybody that's trying to catch up at home and listening. It tells us what are the results that motivate us. And Aiden, you're motivated by serving people. That's what came out in your results. Right. It was leadership, servitude, and something else. And my main driver is being just achievement oriented, not for the recognition, but just for the self-fulfillment.

Okay. So I think you need to be thinking about the car industry, and I'm saying industry very loosely. I mean, I think there's multiple ladders, but I think at the base level, yeah, I think you should start right now. What are you making in this sales job? Probably about 50 or 60. Yeah.

Do you know off the top of your head what you could make in the Atlanta area right now fixing cars? I got no clue, honestly. You need to check. Now, are you full-blown mechanically inclined, or is it body work? I mean, what are we talking about? I'm more interested in, like, the mechanics of it. That's what I thought. I don't have any schooling in it or any experience.

And so that was my main question, is if you think I should just go head-on and go to school for it. I do. I think it's a trade. What is a trade school? Do you have any idea? George, would you mind looking up really quick, what is a mechanical trade school cost in the Atlanta, Georgia area? I'm curious to see what he's going to find out. But what do you think it is?

What do you know about it, Aiden? Anything? It can't be more than like $10,000. That's what I'm thinking. And I guarantee you they need you. Yeah, I'm seeing Atlanta Tech is popping up, $8,000. $8,000. I absolutely would cash flow that. And you know

what I would do while you're doing that? I'd start working on people's cars that you go, like for instance, you know, I say I got a catalytic converter issue and the local guy's going to charge me this. And if you've got friends and family go, look, I'll cut whatever the quote is by 20%. I'll do it. Like put something out on social media. Go, hey, you got a car issue. Two things. Number one, tell me what it is. Number two, go get a quote, and I'll beat it by 20%. Because I'm looking to get.

Yeah. It's a pretty good idea. And not only are you getting experience, you're getting cash. But you're already good at doing stuff now. You know what I mean? And could you even now get a job at a service center for a dealership? That's what I wonder. Do you even have to have the trade school?

Yeah, and I've looked into going into dealerships and just handing them my resume of just work all over the place and saying, hey, I really like cars. I want to work at a dealership or at least in a shop. Would you hire me? Why not? What do you have to lose? that's fair there's two options here but i i would absolutely go up and here's here's what i want somebody sharp you're really really sharp and and and let me tell you something i'm going to challenge you that by the end of this week, I want you to research what the ultimate mechanical jobs are. What's beyond being a great mechanic running your own shop? Because you could be a multimillionaire running

your own shop one day. That's an option. Get paid really well working for a great dealer or another local mechanic. But what does it look like up the ladder? Are there high-end mechanical jobs? What would that journey look like for you? Who's working on those race car Ferraris and McLarens? I just think it would be worthwhile for you to look at that. Does that make sense, what I'm challenging you to do? Yeah, that makes perfect sense. I want you to see what does the top of the mechanical world look like? What do they make?

What are they working on? How'd they get there? I just don't think we do this kind of stuff when we talk about mechanics. And I don't want this call to end with us limiting you to, you know, you're working over at the Grease Monkey Express, and that's the top of the game for you because I don't think it is. So really good stuff. Thanks for the call, Aiden. I'd get busy right now making money, making connections, and doing

research to see what does it look like because a guy like you who loves cars and loves serving and taking care of people, I think the sky's the limit for you. And good news, Ken, greasemonkeyexpress.com is available. Thank you, George. Some lucky soul is going to become a multimillionaire running Grease Monkey Express. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. The phone number is 888-825-5225. I'm Ken Coleman. George Kimmel is with me, and we are here for you.

888-825-5225. Let's go to Baltimore, Maryland, and Amy joins us there. Amy, how can we help? Hi, George and Ken. I'm so excited to be talking to you. You bet. What is going on? Well, my husband and I, a little backstory. I'll keep it quick, though. We've always been pretty frugal, especially in the early years. We had one car, one cell phone, things like that. But as he started making more and we had kids, lifestyle kept in a little bit. And we didn't ever spend more than we earned, but we got very complacent and kind of lazy with budgeting as we earned more money. So I'm really, really trying to dial everything in. I have some big goals that I want us to hit in the next 10 years, but I'm trying to clean up some of the

lazy investing we've done over the last few years and dial it in more to Roth. So neither of us have a Roth IRA. I do have some old mutual funds that I've contributed to just a little here and there over the years. And I have those total 20,000 and I have 10,000, 11,000 in I bonds. And really, I want to know the process to close those out and to start investing in the Roths for both my husband and I, but I know the cap is only $7,000 for that. So I'm kind of wondering if I should just pull $14,000 out for this year and then leave the rest of it until next year, or if I should just close everything out all at once and just put it in a high-yield savings account and be done with it until I can invest it again

next year. Does that make sense? Yes. And so you guys are debt free? We are debt free. We have about $230,000 in equity in our house. We have a $30,000 emergency fund and we started saving for our kids. College, we do have a 457 plan through my husband's work. So for that, we contribute $900 monthly. And if I cap out one of the Roth IRAs at $7,000 a year and contribute $200 to another one every month, that would put us at the 15% investing. Okay. Yeah, I'm just wondering, do you use future income to invest

instead of cashing all these out and moving them into investments? What is your next future goal? Could you knock down the mortgage with this money instead? So, well, that is one of our goals. So right now our big like sinking fund goals we have, we have to finish saving for our kids school as a priority every year. Like they're all in private school. And for our district now that it's not crazy expensive,

but that is like the very first thing we have to meet every year. Um, so past that though, our goals are, are, um, dumping everything we can into the house. So I just wasn't sure with, as far as the Roths go or anything like that, um, if we should just stick with our income or if I should cash those out. Because I mean, as I started reading over the past few months, I've binged. I don't know how many episodes and I've read probably 10 books on investing and my brain is just spinning as to what to do with these accounts because technically they're not tax advantage. Sure. And that's okay. I don't want you to beat up.

You guys have done a great job saving. You're completely debt-free. You have an emergency fund. Whether the money is sitting in a Roth or sitting in I-bonds right now, it's not a deal-breaker. And you guys are young. How old are you two? So I am 35 and my husband is 38. Okay.

And so we still have another 25, 30 years here of investing to catch up. And I also assume you guys have the highest income you've had in your working life. Yes. What's your household income? So I think this past year we were at 145. This year will be a little higher because I did pick up a full extra job over this past year. And then next year, I'm going to be leaving that job. Okay. And you guys have nothing right now in retirement accounts except for that 457? So the 457, we have about $38,000 in that.

Okay. And it's $900 going into that every month. Got it. Well, I just want to encourage you. He has a pension. Oh, great. He'll have a pension. So on top of all of this, he will have a pension at 62 and a half percent of his salary when he retires. And that also upon his death would transfer to me as well. Okay. Well, I would just go ahead and start investing 15% of your future income into retirement and use that money maybe to cover the upcoming school expenses, maybe use it to knock down the mortgage a little bit and get ahead on that goal. Because just looking at the numbers, age 35 to 62, you start with zero in that account. You invest 15% of 150, which you guys said you'd probably make more than that, at a 10% return, you'd have over

$3 million at 62 in that one account. At 9%, it's still 2.5 million. In the Roth, if we started today? Yes. And that's, if it's in the Roth portion, you've already paid taxes. So that's essentially two, three million of net income that you've already been taxed on that you can use to live. Okay. So I guess there's my next question. Should we max out the 457 plan? So he's able to access that whenever he leaves the police department and that he would be able to access immediately. Although I think he plans on getting another job when he retires from the PD. So with that, would you recommend maxing out the Roth before and put the remainder of the 15% towards the 457 or the majority in the 457 and then the remainder in the Roth? I prefer the Roth personally. I think there's more advantages to it and it's more in your control. And so I would max that out before

moving back to the 457. And just let those mutual funds or I-bonds go unless we choose to dump those towards the house then? Yes. Either use that for the school expenses or use it to knock down the mortgage. Because I think having that nice chunk to knock down the mortgage principal is going to give you some pep in your step as you get closer to that finish line. That's very true. I do have a quick question on the capital gains tax involved in the mutual funds. I've never pulled anything out of there. And I did contribute about $200 a month to it for maybe like four years or so, but I've never pulled anything out. So the capital gains tax on that, how does that work? Well, it'll be dependent on your income and tax bracket. And so you'll be at long-term capital gains since it's, how does that work? Well, it'll be dependent on your income and tax

bracket. And so you'll be at long-term capital gains since it's been in there so long. So it'll be a lower amount. It's not going to be at your normal income tax level, likely closer. It'll likely be 15% with your income. So I would get connected with a tax pro. We have them at ramsaysolutions.com. And these are Ramsey trusted tax pros that can help you figure out what the tax burden will be. Make sure you're prepared to pay that as part of whatever your next financial step is. Okay, absolutely. Thank you so much. Yeah, way to go, Amy.

She had her list of questions ready to go. That was impressive. I mean, I feel like we answered more there in that four minutes. It was like a special segment. It was like George is in the hot seat. You know, let's go, let's go. How many questions could we get in there? It was like a special segment. It was like George is in the hot seat. Let's go. Let's go. Let's get nervous. How many questions could we get in there?

But I mean, zooming out of all of that, she was saying we were doing a lot. We were a little bit sloppy. We were doing a lot of good things, but we didn't feel confident. And I think there's such power in just simplicity and just doing one thing and doing it really well. And that's what I love about the baby steps. Get out of debt. Get the emergency fund, invest 15% into retirement. And we have an order to that madness. It's match beats Roth beats traditional.

If you have the employer match, take that because that's 100% free money. You doubled your money instantly. And then the Roth portion is used after tax money, grows tax-free. And that can be a beautiful thing in retirement. When Uncle Sam already got his chunk of change on the front end, then finally moving on to the traditional accounts. And so it's that simple, but it's that hard to stay focused in a world where there's a thousand options. And you're hearing all kinds of things on TikTok and from your brother-in-law on what you should be doing. And Ken, did you hear about I-bonds?

The Treasury bills right now are at all-time highs and you got to get in and you got to do a brokerage account because these funds, it just becomes overwhelming. And so when you look at our, if you look, peel back Dave and I's financial plan, it looks oddly boring. It's, here's a 401k, here's a Roth IRA, here's some paid for real estate. Nothing fancy. Yep. But it also gives people great confidence that you can build wealth without being a financial genius. That's absolutely right. Simple, slow, steady. It always wins the race. The KISS method.

Keep it simple, stupid. I think that's how it goes, right? That's great. Very good. Keep it stupid, simple. I'm too stupid to remember. You channeling your inner Gene Simmons there. Keep your tongue in your mouth, George.

Nobody wants to see that. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. George Camel is with me this hour. It's time for our Scripture of the Day, which comes from Philippians 4, verse 8. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable,

if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. Our quote from Teddy Roosevelt, Knowing what's right doesn't mean much unless you do what's right. Big difference between knowing and doing. Good stuff there. All right, let's get back to the phones. Tony is joining us in San Antonio, Texas. Tony, how can we help?

Hey, how's it going, guys? You broke up on us, Tony. Speak directly into your phone. And just like that, Tony was gone. We'll try to get you back on the line. We'll see if our team can help. I'm going to put Tony on hold. Let's see if we can...

I bet it was a great question, too. I thought it was. Gosh darn it. Okay, we're going to go to Jason right here in Nashville. Jason, how can I help? Yeah, quick background information. Baby Step 6, looking to pay off the house early. My question was, I live in an older house,

and trying to balance saving for sinking funds versus paying off the house early. Whenever I think about all of the different sinking funds for HVAC, for new roof, plan kind of the worst case scenario out, it feels like the sinking funds would go on never ending. Yes. go on never ending. So just getting a balancing act behind putting my money into the mortgage, which I can't get back out versus being wise with the sinking funds. I'm not sure if that makes sense. Well, you don't get the sinking funds. Are you actually using them as you're building them up? No, I'm thinking building them up for the future. I'm going to have to repair a roof at some

point. I'm going to have to repair an HVAC system. Thinking about if I get a leak in the basement, encapsulating the basement is another $40,000. Are you wanting to stay in this place long term? Sounds like you're emotionally done with this place.

I'm not necessarily emotionally done with it, no. Would you consider yourself to be a worrier or a planner? I would consider myself to be a planner in this category, yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, I love that you're thinking about these things, but a really healthy emergency fund goes a long way here. And if we've got a real issue where we know the HVAC's going in another year because we're starting to see issues with it and we had to do some repairs, then it becomes a little bit of a shift. And this is how, this is why the budget is so important. So, but having all these funds of what could be, that becomes exhausting and that's created this, I'm never going to be able to put an extra nickel

towards paying my house off. And I just think that's because you're so worried and you're planning for the worst case scenario. And I don't think you have to do that because the more you're paying the house down, you know, and you get debt free on that, then these kinds of emergencies, not only do you have the money, but you could cashflow a lot of these things. What's left on the mortgage? I have $108,000 left on the mortgage. I have about $55,000 in liquid savings. Okay, so that's your emergency fund? Yeah, I mean, that could go down.

I'm overfunded on my emergency fund if we do the three to six months. Okay, so let's consider some of that, your sinking funds. So set a goal for those sinking funds. Let's say you want to put $500 a month away for home repairs. That's $6,000 a year. And three years from now, you'll have $18,000 in there and a high-yield savings account, more with interest. Would that be enough to cover you between that plus the emergency fund? That's what I don't know. Because like, if I think about it, like an HVAC...

Well, I think the answer is yes. 55 plus 18. You're telling me that the HVAC is going to cost as much as your entire emergency fund? Well, I'm anticipating an HVAC probably within the year. Okay. So if you price that out, is that $10,000, $15,000? I've gotten estimates in the past, $12,000 to $17,000. Okay. So let's call it $15,000.

And then you said the roof is the next thing? At some point, yep. So what's that going to cost? And how much life is left in it based on the estimates? I haven't gotten estimates for the roof yet. I would do that because it's going to give you facts instead of just, you know, paranoia. And this will tell you, hey, the roof's probably got five years left in it. It's probably going to cost 30 grand.

Great. I need to save up six grand for five years to cover this repair. And the truth is, even if it happened earlier, you have the money in the emergency fund. So all that to say, set a simple goal for the sinking fund. Let's call it 500 bucks a month. Anything beyond that, we can start throwing at the mortgage. And then I would just keep living my life. Okay. You with us there? We can hear your gears grinding.

I can hear how unsatisfactory this answer is. Yeah. You're going to spend all your time planning for the worst-case scenario and not actually making progress. Well, I'm making progress. Well, I'm making progress. It's just a matter of at what point do I stop saving for sinking funds? Well, you don't. You just keep saving 500 bucks a month. And if it gets to a point where you have a hundred grand sitting in this and you haven't used it, then yeah, let's throw some of that to the mortgage. But like I said, get estimates on what this is

actually going to cost and when, you know, when you'll actually need it. Because some of this might be 10 years out, and I'm not going to lose sleep over something that could happen 10 years from now. And you already have the emergency fund. So don't feel bad using it if it's a true emergency. It's unexpected. I didn't think this would happen. And here we are, and it's urgent, and I need to have heat in the winter. And so don't feel bad about using it. Just replenish it when that emergency hits.

And that will help curb a lot of this fear. Yeah. This is so much fear-based right here. And you could drive yourself crazy thinking about all that could go wrong with your house. Yes. Especially older homes. And I know they can be a pain to deal with. But you made a choice to buy an older home that needed a lot of repairs.

Yeah. But even these newer homes, dude. I mean, these guys, listen, the construction people are throwing these houses up so fast. Oh, my goodness. I mean, just a new home is no guarantee that I'm not going to have to deal with home issues. Just like new cars. People think, well, I'll never have issues. All of a sudden, that new car is in the shop.

Yeah. They don't make them like they used to, Ken. Yeah. Yeah. That's true. You know me. I love the older cars, man. You do. Simple engines. make them like they used to, Ken. Yeah, that's true. You know me, I love the older cars, man. You do. Simple engines. He loves a Karmann Ghia, let me tell you. I do, I do. I need to take you for a ride in that. I would love to. Yeah. I feel like it's my kind

of car. I could teach you how to drive it. You don't know how to drive a stick, do you? Couldn't do it if you paid me. Really? No. Oh, that's a good YouTube video there. All right, let's go to Josiah, our last call of the day in Dallas, Texas. Josiah, how can we help? Oh, yes, sir. I'm trying to find out or get some advice on how to get out of a truck loan that I'm in currently. Purchased it right after a divorce and just trying to figure out how to make it work or need to get rid of it. How much is the truck worth?

Currently, the truck is probably worth roughly around $70,000. It was a $100,000 truck when I bought it. Wow. What's left on the loan? $86,000. Oh, my goodness. So you're underwater $16,000? Yes. Do you have $16,000 in cash?

I do not. Okay. Well, there's only two ways out of this thing, which was your original question. One is to either come up with the $16,000 or go to a credit union and get the difference in cash, plus enough to get you a beater car for now. So now my next question with that, how would I go about that without credit for that? What do you mean without credit? I mean, as far as credit goes, I mean, I'm not shot in the water with that as well. Oh, your credit's tanked.

Correct. Yeah. Then your only option would be to save up the difference and then sell it. Okay. Okay. Do you have anything else you could sell? What do you make? Currently, I make around $174,000 a year.

What do you do? I am a technical services manager for a pipeline company. I just wonder what kind of extra side work you can do with that expertise where you can get some cash quick. Next two or three months, come up with that money that George is talking about. Because you're bringing home $10K a month, and so it wouldn't take long if you got on a tight budget. I know this truck payment is probably $1,200. Oh, my gosh.

Makes you want to throw up thinking about it. But you've got to come up with that $16,000 fast plus another $5,000 to get a beater car to get around for now. And it's not going to be pretty, but it'll be worth it. That's how you get out of it, and you're going to be free from that. So get after it, Josiah. Thank you for the call. George, good hour.

Thank you, sir. Thanks to James Childs and our fearless crew as well in the booth for keeping us on the air. This is The Ramsey Show. Thank you.