The Ramsey Show - App - Top Characteristics to Bring to Your Next Interview (Hour 2)

Episode Date: August 20, 2018

The show about you

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. This is your show. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. For those

of you that join us regularly, you're well aware I've been off the air for a while. I did something soon to turn 58 years old that I've never done since I started working full time at 18. I took three weeks off. Never done that in my life. And it was nerve

wracking for me and my team. Actually, they kind of liked it. But I was ready to get back, and I'm glad to be back. We took a wonderful vacation that my wife was dying to take, and it was her Christmas present. So living like no one else. That's what we were doing. And thanks for joining us. Thanks for hanging in there with us. And some of you would rather have Chris Hogan or Rachel Cruz or Ken Coleman than me anyway, but you're stuck with me.

You can listen to The Ken Coleman Show on XM or his podcast anytime you want. Mike is with us in Indianapolis. Hi, Mike. Welcome to The Dave Ramsey Show. Thanks. How are you doing, Dave the Dave Ramsey Show. Thanks. How are you doing, Dave? Better than I deserve. What's up?

So my wife and I currently make about $220,000 per year, and we're getting ready to have a baby here in the near future. Wonderful. Yeah, we're really excited about it. We're currently about $25,000 in debt and we've stopped our snowball as you recommend. And I've got about 28,000 in old 401ks. My question is in regards to some stock options that are going to become available to me in January of 2019. I expect it'll be around $20,000 to $30,000 and after taxes on the low end, I'm estimating for about $15,000 that I would

potentially have available to me. I just wanted to know what to do with those stock options. So obviously paying off debt is probably what we would do if we have any left. And then I was also thinking about starting a 529 or rolling over that money, the 401Ks, into Roth IRAs and just paying taxes on those now. So just wanted to hear your thoughts. I would never cash out a 401K. I would roll it to an IRA. And until you get some of the other goals hit, I would not convert it to a Roth because I wouldn't want to create the extra taxes right now. How much is in the 401k?

Old 401ks are about $28,000. Oh, it's not a big deal then. Okay. All right. So if you want to go ahead and convert it, it's fine. You make $200,000 a year, your taxes are going to be like seven grand. Okay? So yeah, go ahead and convert.

It's no big deal. If it's $280,000, it's going to create $70,000 in taxes. I would tell you to wait until you got your house paid off to do that. You see why? Right, yeah. Okay, but it's small enough. It's just nickel-diamond in ratio to your income. You have a wonderful income.

So, yeah, go ahead and roll it over and convert that to a Roth. Use the stock options to pay off the debt. And then before you start the 529, let's make sure your emergency fund of three to six months of expenses is in place. Then you can start your 529. You've got plenty of time. You're going to get to it. The kind of money you make your kids going to college. First baby?

Yeah. Yeah. Good. Good. How old are you guys? We are going to be 30 in November. Perfect. Yeah.

Okay. Well, you'll be starting the 529 in, you know, six, eight months. It's not going to take any time at all. You'll be there before you know it. But let's go ahead and get the emergency fund in place. Be debt-free. Work your baby steps. You know, baby step one's $1,000. Two is debt-free everything but the house.

Use all money to work those steps. Three is the emergency fund of three to six months of expenses. Four is 15% of your income going into retirement. Three is the emergency fund of three to six months of expenses. Four is 15% of your income going into retirement. Five is kids college. And that's where you'll hit your 529. But, you know, start your 15%. And again, with your income, you're going to plow through these baby steps, you know, like a hot knife through butter. It's not going to take you long if you pay attention and you don't spend because you've got this fabulous income. And you have this tremendous motivation now called a new baby.

That changes everything in a good way. Everybody suddenly gets grown up and noble when they get babies. Well, not everybody, but some do. You should. Thanks for the call. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Char is with us in Nashville. Hi, Char.

What's up? Hey, Char. What's up? Hey, Char. What's up? Oops, I think I hit the wrong button, didn't I? See, that's what happens when you're off for three weeks. There you are, Char. I'm just completely – I've only done this show for 30 years. You'd think I know where the dead gun button was.

What's up? That's right, Mr. Ramsey. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. I just had a fairly quick question. My husband and I are looking to purchase a home, and so I've become a bit obsessed with your show and your teachings, and I realize we need to get out of debt first.

So I was wondering if we should sell our current home that we're in now, and by doing that we would be able to be completely debt-free, and then we would work on saving money for a down payment for our home, or should we continue to work through the snowball? Let's pretend you were debt-free, not counting your house. Would you sell that house now? Yes, we need a larger home. We have three children.

So you would move up? Yes, that's a larger home. We have three children. So you would move up? Yes, that's correct. Okay. All right. So the two options are stay there, and when you're debt-free, move up, or sell it, be debt-free, rent for a little while, save up like crazy to move up. That's correct, yes. Okay.

And what's your household income? Mine is $100, and his take-home, he owns his own company, and he brings in about $36,000, I would say, is his take-home. Gotcha, so you make $136,000 household income. And how expensive a home is the move-up? So we were looking at purchasing between $300,000, around $300,000, $350,000. Okay. And you wouldn't have any down payment if we do this until you save it up?

Correct. Out of $136,000 income. I think I'm going to sit tight where you are. I'm going to sit tight where you are. Let's get the debt paid off. How much debt have you got, not counting your house? We have about $85,000. On what? Well, I have $19,000 school loans. He's got $25,000. He's got an $8,700 credit card and $20,000 on a vehicle, one vehicle, and $13,000 on a work vehicle. Okay.

I might sell the $20,000 car. Sell the $20,000 car? I might. Before I sell my house, I'd probably sell that. Okay. But, you know, what I want to do is set up a situation where we can be debt-free in a couple years. Based on what I calculated, if we really stick to a strict budget, we could pay off the $85,000 in about 14 months.

Making $136,000? Yes. I just went with the bare minimum of what he brings home. Oh, he brings home a lot more than what you told me then. Yeah. Yes, I just went off the bare minimum. That's new information because you're not paying off $85,000 in 14 months making $136,000. Not to pay your taxes and have lights and water. So something's wrong in your calculation or in the numbers you gave me.

So make that adjustment. Yeah, if you can be debt-free in 14 months, sit tight. Sit tight on the house, be debt-free in 14 months. Then let's start talking about the move up. Good question. Thanks for calling in. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Can you believe this real estate market? Home shopping has become so competitive.

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Hi, Tion. How are you? I'm doing well, Mr. Ramsey. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I'm currently a college student, and I'm pursuing a degree in management information systems. And my university gives me great opportunities with being set up with businesses and companies through internships, but those internships are incredibly, they're very, very, I'm sorry, I'm losing the word right now, competitive. Hard to get one. Okay. Yes, extremely. And so I'm trying to just set myself apart as best as I can. So I'm wondering if you could give me any advice on what questions I can ask them specifically, because I know they're going to ask me questions,

and I prepare for those very well. But I've been told by our career center that I need to be asking them questions as well, and I was just wondering if you might be able to give me any advice on that. I've never been in that situation, so I'm a little bit ignorant of it, and we don't have interns here, so that makes me'm a little bit ignorant of it and we don't have interns here so that makes me also a little bit of ignorant so the only part portion of knowledge i could pull from would be that when we're hiring someone to work here uh for a regular you know position not an intern position and in those cases um uh you know someone who can is articulate and can converse and can express ideas in the form of questions

is a huge advantage because it shows that they're relational and that they know how to work with others. You see what I'm saying? And so I think what your leaders are suggesting to you makes a lot of sense. And so I'll take a stab at it. I probably would ask a couple things. One is I would ask something like, tell me about the best intern you guys have ever had, what they did. Okay.

And let them tell you, and then you go, if that is you, you say, well, I've got to be straight with you. I'm not that and that, but I am those other three things. They tell you five things that made that guy a superstar. You go, I can work on those other two things, and I'll add value. But I think not being arrogant, I would work to add value to your organization while I'm there. I'm not there to take. I'm there to give.

I've got to tell you, very few people go into any interview trying to figure out what they can give. They always go in figuring out what they can take. And if you'll go into an interview for somebody and tell them you're bringing something rather than taking something, it's freaking refreshing. And so how can I add value? How can I be worth more than I cost? Because you're going to invest in me while I'm there. I'm going to learn a lot. I'm going to come away a winner if I'm an intern.

But what's going to make you smile when you think of my name two years after I left? Right, right. And that's exactly what I'm trying to think of because a lot of the companies do offer full-time jobs after internships. I'm trying to get to the point where if I do get that internship, they remember me after a year. Well, in the way you do, that's what you do once you're there. We're trying to get you in the door in the first part of this discussion. But once you're there, I mean, you come early, you leave late, you work while you're at work. Hello, that'll get you ahead because most people don't even work while they're at work.

And so if you just work while you're at work, you're a big deal and smile and be easy to get along with. But get stuff done. Oh, my gosh, you become completely invaluable then because you're you're a unicorn, you know. Right. And so if you smile, get stuff done, work while you're at work, get there a little early, leave a little late. But, you know, you're not a crazy man. You're not throwing stuff and cussing at people and mistreating people and saying the wrong things to the wrong people the wrong way.

Oh, my gosh, just behave, you know. Good Lord, some people are raising a zoo. So if you just go in there and don't be a zoo animal, it's helpful, you know. And I'm really not being much sarcastic. Some of the crap I've dealt with over the years with people, I think they were raised by wolves. And so, you know, you go in there and do that. That's how you add value once you're there. But we want to get you in the door.

And so the question I'm going to ask is, when I'm here, I want to be the best possible. When you bring me on, just do an assumptive close, it's called in sales. Okay? Assumptive close is you assume they're already bringing you on with your verbiage. And so you say, so when you bring me on as an intern, what is it that I'm going to do that's going to make you smile when you think of me? It's going to make me one of the best interns you've ever had. And let me see if I am that guy and if this is a fit.

Because if it's a fit, you're going to be really glad I came. If it's not a fit, I'm just going to tell you right now. Right. Absolutely. Yeah, that'd be kind of refreshing and different and not too plastic. If you're looking for plastic corporate answers for plastic corporate people, I can't help you because I don't know how to do that stuff. Right. What I always do is just try to get a little bit visceral and a little bit,

in other words, be real, be authentic. That's the millennials term, isn't it? Be authentic, right? We used to say get real back in the day. It was the same thing, right? Just be a real person and go, I'm a little scared in this interview, and I've got to tell you, if you'll tell me what it's supposed to do, I'll tell you the truth if I'm the guy or not.

But I really would want to know what it is that's the best. I don't know. I don't know if that's really good advice or not. It might not be. But if you'll go in and just tell the truth and be authentic and ask them how you can bring more than you take in different questions and different verbiage, then you will be unusual. And then once you're in the door, work while you're at work, smile and get things done. Be the guy that you go, oh, a guy everywhere he goes, he leaves a wake. There's stuff in his wake or something got moved.

And look, and everybody likes him and he gets stuff done. Oh, my gosh, that's really rare. So that kind of stuff will get you moved and get you moving up and moved in uh sarah's with us sarah's in portland oregon hi sarah how are you i'm fine how are you doing better than i deserve what's up we bought a house in may and come to find out the disclosure statement was lied on um by the seller and the seller's realtor was not honest, and the inspections we got were not good inspections at all. We've had more inspections done, and the house is unsafe for us to live in. So we have quite a legal battle in front of us right now.

What is the nature of the problems? Dry rot and mold. And it had been covered up by the cellar with siding. So it had been done about 11 years ago. The dry rot, excessive moisture came out and then the cellar had it re-sided over the top. And so we had no idea getting into this. And we don't buy a lot of help. This is kind of a new process to us. So we've kind of gotten stuck in a rental now, and we're facing legal issues. We have an attorney. My husband and I have worked hard to get out of debt, and we had over 20% down.

So we're doing pretty good financially, but legal fees are going to be probably up there because it's looking like we're headed to mediation, possibly arbitration. I don't know how much of our emergency fund we should spend on legal fees or what we should do. What would be your other option? Homeless. Well, we have about $14,000 left over from the sale of our house before we bought this one, and then we have $10,000 in our emergency fund. So we have our attorney said, worst case scenario, we could be pushing $30,000 in legal fees. Okay. How many different attorneys have you talked to? One.

Well, why don't we talk to more? Okay. Yeah, because if this is a winnable battle, if you win at the end of this, what does winning look like? A settlement that will fix the house. Okay, so you're trying to get how much money? We are starting at $65,000, but we don't know how bad the damage is. So you're going to spend $30,000 to get $65,000 over the next five years while you rent? Well, we should have all our legal fees paid back.

That's what was in the sales agreement. Oh, on top? Yes. Okay. You're going to spend $30,000 hoping you get $65,000 if you win. Right. That's going to take you years. I think I want a new attorney.

This doesn't sound like a good ROI to me. Okay. I think I want somebody a good ROI to me. Okay. I think I want somebody who's going to punch them harder than this. If you really have a case, you start suing that realtor. They've got errors and omissions. You start suing the home inspector. They probably have errors and omissions. You're going to have some people jump in.

I don't know if I'm going to spend that much on this. I'd probably fix the house before I do that. Sorry you're in this mess, though. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. I get asked all the time, when in the baby steps is the right time to buy life insurance? My answer is typically now. Life insurance is not part of the baby steps because it's needed when your family has debt and not enough savings to provide for their financial needs. That's when they're at the highest risk.

And no matter where you are in your baby steps, it's a necessity, not a choice. This includes working husbands and wives, as well as stay-at-home parents. It's pretty expensive to replace those stay-at-home parent responsibilities. I only recommend term life insurance, since it's the most affordable way to get the right amount of coverage and not break your budget. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. These are the guys I personally use. Term life insurance is inexpensive, and your family needs this no matter where you are in your baby steps.

That's Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. Zander.com. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Cody and Alyssa are with us. Hey, guys, how are you? Hi, Dave. Good. How are you? Welcome, welcome. Where do you guys live? We're from St. Paul, Minnesota. Up in the Twin Cities. Wow. Bit of a haul to Nashville.

Sure is. Well, good to have you. Thank you. And all the way down here to do a debt-free screen. Absolutely. How much have you. Thank you. And all the way down here to do a debt-free screen. Absolutely. How much have you paid off? We've paid off $110,000 of student loans. Good for you.

And how long did that take? Just under three and a half years. Good. And your range of income during that time? We started off just under $80,000 and ending up around $100,000. Way to go. Very cool. Good.

It was all student loans? All of it. Okay, cool cool so how long have you guys been married four years oh so this is a since we get married we're attacking the student loans thing yes okay cool so tell me the story how did this all unfold uh basically well i'm the nerd and the saver so that's a you know lethal combination double double dip yeah and so i was trying to figure out all the money and how we were going to afford to live and all of this and kept telling Cody, like, this is impossible.

We can't do this. We need help. And someone mentioned, oh, there's like this class. So we tried to take it and went through it, and it was all from there. Oh, okay. So you went through Financial Peace University at your church or a local church? Yeah, we found a couple through our church that was hosting it at their house. So we took it with them about three and a half years ago.

Oh, fun. So that got the whole thing started because you're like, I don't know what to do. We're brand new married. We've got to do this. That's about as good a start as you can get, though. It was pretty good. Very cool. Good for you guys.

Well done. So what was the hardest part of this for you all? I think the hardest part was seeing everyone else our age doing the normal thing and going on expensive vacations and buying new houses and buying new cars and having them say, well, what's wrong with you? Why aren't you doing this? And we were kind of like, we know we're on the right track, but it was also kind of hard to watch everyone else do the normal thing

while we were sitting back and saving all of our money and paying off all of our debt. So did you have more detractors, more people saying you're crazy, or more people cheering you on? I would say more people cheering us on. I think it helped. I mean, going through that first class of FPU, we had a room full of people who were all older than us, and they're looking at us.

Every time the video comes on, they're like, you need to do this. I wish I'd done this when I was your age. Yeah, exactly. So they're telling us, you've got to do this. Stick with it. Stick with it. And then we started coordinating. We got our Bible study group through it. And then we started helping coordinate at Eagle Brook Church up in the Twin Cities. And having that kind of touch point where other people are going through this

and we're helping kind of them walk through these baby steps and how it fits is a really good accountability piece for us. It gives us a chance to say, oh, yeah, we need to look at this and we need to refocus on this, make sure that we're as tight in all of these different areas of our budget as we should be so that we're really laser focused on paying off the debt. Very cool. So how many classes have you coordinated now? We've coordinated four, three through our church, one for our Bible study.

Wow. Look at you, man. You're killing it. It's just a blast. It's so much fun. Well, it keeps you on track because you can't you can't you can't lead the class like that as a coordinator and not do the stuff that's like super hypocritical right nothing makes you learn something like teaching it right right for sure wow well way to go how's it feel now that you're done it kind of

unreal yeah it's it's kind of weird and it's especially weird my favorite thing now is when i open up um our banking app the first account at the top is our emergency fund and for the first time it's a big number and i'm like this is money in our account and we're not throwing money out the door every day we're now saving towards things that we're actually excited for and it's just i don't think it's totally hit us yet. Did you get the sense? I mean, of course, Sharon and I, we did all this wrong. As you know, you know the story. And so, and I talked to so many wonderful young millennials like you guys. You're just on fire.

Way to go. How old are you guys? 26. 26. And paid off $110,000. You were not paralyzed by the debt. You were not a victim of the debt. You just decided to go get it.

Exactly. And all we did was show you how you're heroes i'm so proud of you thank you very well done it has occurred to me i've said it before with young couples getting married the first thing they do is go get out of debt once you've done this together does it not feel like you can do anything together absolutely i mean everyone else has like all these money fights and all this and we're just on the same page we're laser focused on the same goals. And I think it's made our marriage stronger.

If life throws something else at you outside the financial part in some other category, some other department, so to speak, that's a challenge, you'll be able to do it. Because you've met this challenge. Absolutely. And you learned how to do it together. It's great marriage training. It really is. Early newlywed training to learn to do something together, to climb a hill together, you know?

Yeah, absolutely. And have to pull each other up and hold each other back and all that kind of stuff. Well done. Well done. I think you're equipped. You're going to be millionaires in no time. What do you all do for a living? I'm a web developer.

I work for a little startup company in the Twin Cities. Yeah? And I'm a former preschool teacher who's now an executive assistant. Oh, very good. Good for you. Okay. So you're doing well. You've got a great income. You have no payments. It's awesome. And you know how to handle money. Now you're teaching other people

how to do it with the Financial Peace University class. Very, very well done. Thank you. And how's it feel now? You don't have any payments. Did I already ask you that? It's still, it's just kind of mind-boggling. And it's so fun to look at the numbers coming in and go,

we get to decide where all of this money goes for so long. And a big budget item on our list was minimum payments for the debt snowball, everything else, and then everything else goes to that debt. And now it's like that number at the top comes in, and we get to it in our favor now oh i know what i didn't ask you what's the key to getting out of that that's the one i didn't ask you i would say that it's having a plan and sticking to it um just planning ahead and knowing like i would say our sinking funds in our budget was a big one like you always say christmas is not an emergency it comes around every year and so having those sinking funds

allowed us to kind of know what was coming our way all year round. And I'd say just staying really focused and continuing to refocus because it's when you start to get a little bit lax and not paying enough attention to all those little details where all of a sudden the money

starts slipping through the cracks and you don't know where it's going. So making sure that you're focused on debt and nothing else. Yeah, you really can't relax until you get through it. You've got to be gazelle intense. You've got to be game on all the way through. Very cool. Well, good for you guys.

I'm very, very proud of you. Thank you. Well done. Well done. And thank you for leading the class. Oh, yeah. It's such a blessing to others doing that. I mean, you've got all those people in all those classes, including the first one you went through as a student, now watching and watching your debt-free scream on YouTube.

Yeah. Crazy. I love it. You've got a big audience, man. We do. You just add it. You just up my ratings today. There we go.

Good for you. Well done. All right. It's Cody and Alyssa, St. Paul, Minnesota. $110,000 paid off in three and a half years, making $80,000 to $100,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one.

We're debt-free! Way to go, you guys. Way to go. Get a signed copy of Chris Hogan's retire-inspired book for you. We want that to be the next chapter in your story, that you do become millionaires, that you live like no one else so that later you can live and give like no one else. Absolutely incredible. Very, very, very well done.

I mean, that's just as good as it gets. You're in your 20s. And, you know, I've said it before, and I'll probably say it again, because I say everything I say over and over and over again, because so many people don't hear it the first time, and I really don't have that much to say, so I just have to say it over and over. But I'm meeting a lot of very sharp young couples that are not victims, that are not participation trophy kids.

They see something they want, they know what to do, and they go do it. So it may be that these millennials are all deadbeats, but I've yet to meet them. Oh, I take that back. I have met the deadbeat ones. I know what they look like. A lot of them are on social media attacking me. Oh, you can't do it. You can't do it. You can't do it. Meanwhile, their peers, the same age group, are sitting here on the air doing their debt-free scream saying, I did this. Say, I did this. I did this. I did this. I did this. I did this. I did this. I took the steps.

I paid the price to win. I lived like no one else so that later I can live like no one else and give like no one else. It's a decision. You have to decide. Are you going to pay the

price to win or not? This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. Thanks for joining us. Did you know that 50% of people leave their 401K with their old employers when they change jobs? Half the people, when they leave, leave their money with their old boss. Don't do that. Take your 401k with you. Roll it over into an IRA. You have more control. You have better options.

And it is, you know, you don't have to deal with any of the old stuff. It's all right there. You can decide. You get statements with your broker. If you're not on Baby Step 4, you can still do the rollover. It doesn't cost you anything. If you do a direct transfer rollover into a traditional IRA from a 401k, there's no taxes. And you can find an investing professional. Of course, we're not in that business. We're not in the investing

brokerage business. But we do recommend people that we agree with and that agree with us on the smart way to do these things. And all you do is just click SmartVestor at DaveRamsey.com. It'll put in your information. It'll drop down a list of what we call the SmartVestor Pros, which are the people in your area that do investing the way that we teach, and they do it with the heart of a teacher. You pick out the one you want to work with out of that list,

sit down with them, or you can interview two or three of them if you want to. Sit down with them, and then just do your 401k rollover. But don't leave your 401k behind, never. Always take it with you. We had a big national company, a huge company, household name, that wanted to teach our information. They wanted to teach our what we call smart dollar, which we've got huge, huge companies.

Costco is an example, teaches smart dollar to all their employees. It's fun to go in Costco because they all know me. They're all taking the class now. And I get to have these great conversations when I'm going through the checkout line. But one of the other big companies said, well, we can't teach your stuff unless you change that piece of advice to roll over your 401K when you leave because we want people to leave their money here. I said, I bet you do. No, they need to take their money with them when they leave. And they need to roll it to an IRA and they need to control it.

And they refuse to teach our stuff over that one thing. Because I refuse to change it because it's wrong. I'm going to teach something that's wrong. So don't do it. Don't do it. Take it with you. Always take it with you. Ann is with us in Chicago, Illinois.

Hi, Ann. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hello, Mr. Ramsey. Thank you for taking my call today. Sure. What's up? So my question is in regards to a quadro. I was part of a settlement from a divorce of 29 years, marriage of 29 years.

And so I have this quadro, and I wanted to know what to do with this money. So I went into my local bank. I've been banking with them for years. Oh, correct. And I went in there. They wanted to know the amount, and the amount is about $185,000. And they told me that they, you know, to set up an appointment, bring them a list of all my debts, of all my source of income. And I asked them what their fees were.

So they said that, you know, they gave me a very long answer, but it basically is all the products that they sell to the bank. And so I am just, you know, this is all, of course, very new. And it's a lot of money. Let me give you a couple of things. Number one, you don't do investing at a bank. Banks are for saving money and for checking accounts and for getting into debt.

That's what banks are for. I have banks, several of them, that we use, we're a customer of, but we don't do any investing through a bank. We go to investment brokers

to do investing. Okay? I don't go to the muffler shop to get my transmission fixed. Follow me? Yes. Okay? I don't go to the muffler shop to get my transmission fixed. Follow me? Yes. Okay. So let's go to what I just said a minute ago right before I picked up with you.

Let's get you with one of our SmartVestor pros and sit down with them. But let me give you a couple of guidelines because you're brand new at all of this. Your heart's still broken. You're still a little raw after a divorce, which would make you normal, a human. Most people would be after 29 years. And, you know, you just don't want to make a mistake with this money, and it scares you a little.

Is that right? Yes. Yes, it does. And they did say that they have Merrill Lynch there. Sorry, I didn't want to say the name of it. That's okay. It's not a big deal. But it doesn't matter who they are.

You know, I just found you last week on YouTube. Okay, so here's the rules. Here's the rules. Just a second. Here's the rules. I want you to slow down. There's no huge rush. Quadro is simply the splitting up of your husband's 401K.

Half of it goes into your name in a divorce. That's all a quadro is. There's nothing big about this. There's no big deal. I do want you to move it, but you don't have to move it in the next 20 minutes. Okay? Number one, slow down. Number two, never invest in anything that you do not understand,

which is going to make you slow down because you're brand new at this. Okay? Take your time and understand it. Don't let someone intimidate you into buying something because you feel dumb and you think they're smart. That could happen real easy right here, and we don't want that to happen. You're plenty smart to understand the basics of investing if you meet. And here's your third guideline.

Number one, go slow. Number two, don't put money in something you don't understand. Number three, do not work with anyone in the investing business or money business of any kind ever that doesn't have the heart of a teacher. About 85% of these people have the heart of a salesman. When they heard $185,000, their mouth salivated. They saw commissions. That's not who you want to work with. You want to work with someone that has the heart of a teacher that will sit down with you and walk you through and let you move slow and teach you and let you understand. You do not put money in something you don't understand,

which means we're going to go a little bit slower and take our time, and then we're going to meet with someone that has the heart of a teacher. You'll know they have the heart of a teacher by after you've met with them, you go home going, I really think I understand this a little bit. I've got some more work to do. I don't quite understand all of it, but I think I understand more than I did. That means you met with the heart of a teacher. If you go home and feel like you need to take a shower after meeting with them,

you met with a salesman. You know what I'm saying? And that's not what you want. So that's what our SmartVestor Pros are. We vet them very, very carefully for that. And I want you to go as slow as you want to go until you feel good about this. Because it's your money, and that will help the fear go away. You remember the first time you drove a car, how scared you were?

Yes. And now when you drive a car, you don't think anything about it? Yes. All it is is you learned how to do something. Yes. And the fear goes away. Invest it is is you learned how to do something. Yes. Then the fear goes away. Investing is exactly the same way. Once you learn how to do it, the fear will go away.

But it takes a little bit of time. You didn't learn how to drive a car. Nobody tossed you the keys and said good luck. They put you in there, showed you how to do it, hopefully. Took you to a driver's course. They took you out to the church parking lot. Let you drive around. Whatever it is you did, right?

Took you out in the field if you were on a farm, whatever it was. And, you know, you practiced. You did a little bit. You learned. You got comfortable. And now it's just secondhand. You don't think anything about it. And that's where you'll get to with this.

You're going to be just fine. I'm sorry you've been through this. I know you're scared. And I know it hurts. Take your time. It's hard to trust people right now. That's okay. That's a normal human reaction to going through what you've been through.

So just take your time. Take your time, learn, and get someone with the heart of a teacher. Click SmartVestor at DaveRimsey.com. Those guys will help you. You might find that at a bank, but I doubt it. Again, you're going to a muffler shop to get your transmission fixed. I'm not going to do that.

I'm going to meet with a good investment broker and this is all they do. They're not trying to sign you up for a credit card, get you on a car loan, home equity loan, everything else while you're doing it. They're simply trying to get your investments done and for you to understand it and for you to be a customer with them for the next bazillion years. And then you can roll that quadro portion of this 401k over to an IRA, a traditional IRA.

You'll have no taxes. You'll have complete control over the money. You will be just fine. Take your time. Take your time. Thanks for being with us. That puts this hour of the Dave Ramsey Show in the books. Our thanks to James Childs, our producer, Kelly Daniel, our associate producer and phone screener.

I am Dave Ramsey, your host, phone screener for The Dave Ramsey Show. Did you know that in 2017, Dave Ramsey Show listeners paid off $50 million of debt? That's pretty impressive. And it could be you this year. Keep listening for more inspiration.