The Ramsey Show - App - What’s the Fastest Way To Start a Business? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: April 11, 2024

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, Rachel Cruz, number one best-selling author and number one author in the children's category. And my co-host, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today.

The book she has coming out next week is I'm Glad for What I... for Where I Am. I'm Glad for Where I Am. The other one was I'm Glad for What I Have. The first was a best-seller. So, great kids' books. Be sure and check them out. She's going to be out touring around America in the next week or so. So be looking in Atlanta and Phoenix and Dallas and Los Angeles. And you'll see book signings there with Rachel and story time and come out and bring the kiddo. She'll

sign the book. You'll hear this book read by her. It's going to be a lot of fun a lot of cool stuff going on also let you guys know it is financial literacy month national literacy month and uh we're celebrating teachers right now the teachers of america love our kids well and so we want to just stop whether they teach our high school curriculum the foundations of personal finance or whether you are a teacher of another subject, we want to salute you. One teacher is going to win a $5,000 vacation, plus two other teachers are going to win a $3,000 vacation each to wherever you choose. Completely free, no purchase necessary. This is the Teacher Appreciation Giveaway, sponsored by Ramsey Education.

So for more information, go to ramseysolutions.com slash teacher and enter for more information go to ramsey solutions.com slash teacher and enter for a free chance to go on a vacation love our teachers i did a shout out on instagram about something and and i had so many direct messages from teachers because my kids are in public school and i was like there's just still so many great teachers who love our kids who are wonderful people and they do a lot they work so so, so hard. And so all you teachers are thankful. There's so few of them that, I mean, I know they're out there, but there's so few of them that mail it in. Yes.

I mean, they just, they bring everything. We've had the best teachers. They bring their whole self to the deal. Yes, they're amazing. They really are. So we're so thankful. Thankful for all you teachers out there. April is in Austin, Texas.

April, how can we help today? Hi. all you teachers out there april is in austin texas april how can we help today hi um i'm calling in because um my husband uh passed away in a car accident that we were both in about a year ago oh my honey how horrible we were yeah we were t-boned i woke up in the the ICU finding out he had passed. Oh, my gosh. How long were you in ICU? About a little over a week. I had two emergency surgeries. I was air flighted there. How are you doing now? I am healed.

Like, I'm back to where I was before the accident. But I'm still, you know, just learning how to do this. We've just been married for two months. Oh, my gosh, April. I'm still, you know, just learning how to do this. We've just been married for two months. Oh, my gosh, April. I'm so sorry. You're physically healed, but you still got a broken heart. Oh, my gosh. How old was he?

He was one week after his 31st birthday. Wow. Gosh, I'm so sorry. How can we help today, hon? Well, I got, because of all this, a life insurance policy. He worked for Apple and had one. And I want to make sure that I'm doing the right things with it. We were both, like, we had bought our home together.

We had worked hard to save the money for it. We were actually working to pay off the debt through the baby steps. We were basically almost debt-free. So I have paid off all, like, the residual, like, little debt. But I just want to make sure. I'm 27, and so I just want to make sure that I'm doing the right thing. And you said this was a year ago. Yeah, that happened on February 25th of last year. It's just been about a year.

Yeah, okay. A little over a year then. Okay. Yeah. And so what do you make? I make just, I make $74,000 a year. And how much is owed on the mortgage? So the mortgage currently is at $210,000.

Okay. And how much life insurance did you get? A million dollars. Okay. And any other debt, April? Now you said you guys were working to pay off debt. Is there any consumer debt left? No.

So I paid off. There was like $5,000. And then we had just gotten a new car for me. And that is now paid off, which was our goal too. We wanted to pay it off in full. I take it you plan to stay in the house yes yeah we were settled here this i have a community here so i don't want to move okay i wasn't trying to run you off but sometimes the memory sometimes the memories are in every room and people decide not to stay right yeah but but you've been that part is okay and

you're working through that part and you're enjoying the the benefits of the house right now still yeah we i mean we picked out the house when it was just a lot we built it yeah and picked out everything in it so it has a lot of special special things in it for us. Okay. Wow. Well, you've illustrated the importance of life insurance for sure. Yeah. And you'll be a proponent of that for the rest of your life. Anybody that'll listen, you'll tell them about it. So if I woke up in your shoes, I can't imagine waking up in your shoes,

but I would go ahead and pay off the house. Okay. Okay, that was kind of something I was wondering. And then I want to just systematically do three things with money the rest of my life, and that is invest it, enjoy it, and give it. And so, um, you know, if I'm in your shoes, I'm probably thinking of something that, uh, that was close to his heart that I could do in his memory. Uh, I mean, if he had a real thing for starving children or foster care or sex trafficking or water or whatever, I don't know. Maybe you all have talked about that. And it doesn't have to be a ton of money.

It's just whatever you decide. But I'm probably going to do something that's representative of that because I think that feels right. And that starts the generosity muscle. For the rest of your life, you're going to be generous because you're going to, you know, you're set. You don't have any trouble now. And then I'm going to have a chunk invested. I'll sit down with a SmartVestor Pro and start learning about investments. Click that on RamseySolutions.com.

Click on SmartVestor Pro, and they'll help you start to learn about some mutual funds and place the majority of this money in investments. And I would have some I would just enjoy and not feel guilty about that at all. That's what he would want. It's what is normal and healthy. And it's awkward, but everything's a little awkward right now. Yeah. And so whatever it is you want to do, if you've got a sister you're close to

and you two want to go on a nice cruise for a week and you pay for hers and yours, that's fine. Go do that. I'm making something up. You do whatever you want to do. But enjoy a segment of it. Give a percentage after the house has paid off. I'm going to put this percentage to enjoyment.

I'm going to put this percentage in investments, and I'm going to put this percentage to enjoyment. I'm going to put this percentage in investments. And I'm going to put this percentage towards generosity. And then that will set you free to start taking action on each of those three buckets. Start your investments. Start your generosity. And plan some enjoyment. And you need some enjoyment. It will be good for you.

So sorry, April. Wow. What a devastating thing. It'll be good for you. So sorry, April. Wow. What a devastating thing. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, you guys. Health insurance costs are only moving one way, and that way isn't down. And if higher costs aren't enough, the wait times to see your doctor are longer, and it's harder than ever to get anything approved through the bureaucracy. So if you feel like the system is working against you, try a biblically-based

alternative to health insurance, Christian Healthcare Ministries. CHM is a health cost-sharing ministry that's helped hundreds of thousands of families like yours take care of over $11 billion in medical bills since 1981. And CHM has also helped them stay true to their values and avoid miles of red tape. And CHM support goes far beyond meeting financial needs. They'll also help meet spiritual needs. Members become part of a family who will pray with them and for them when they experience a medical event.

So listen, y'all, there's no better way to take care of health care costs. CHM programs start as low as $98 a month. So learn more today and join at chministries.org slash budget at chministries.org slash budget. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. Guys, we are super pumped about the upcoming Total Money Makeover weekend here on campus at the Ramsey Event Center. It's May 10th and 11th, Friday afternoon, evening, all day saturday and it's rachel cruz speaking jade warshaw speaking george camel me dr john deloney on relationships and emotional health ken coleman on how to make more money and we're going to walk you guys through a total money makeover like you've never seen before you're going to leave here equipped inspired fired up and bring that person that thinks you're crazy when you leave with them they'll be crazy we'll teach them how to be crazy we teach crazy right

here we know how to do it so we want you to come this is the ultimate motivator bring your friend who thinks you're nuts because we'll by the end of the day we'll have them completely convinced it's what we do and we can show you how to win and give you a step-by-step plan you're going to leave here jazzed wired up and fired up and ready to go man so do not wait to get your tickets our platinum plus tickets are sold out you can still get platinum or vip but there's just a couple of those left and the general admission is also going fast so ease anxiety learn to invest learn to become wealthy learn how to get out of debt and learn how to work with your spouse and your kids. Oh, it's everything.

A total money makeover weekend here. Come to RamseySolutions.com slash events. Come join us just south of Franklin, Tennessee. We would love to have you for that weekend. It's going to be really exciting. We have a blast doing these. I was going over some of the materials this morning. You guys are going to be really exciting. We have a blast doing these. I was going over some of the materials this morning. You guys are going to be blessed.

We're just so glad you're coming. Thanks for hanging out with us. All right, Nicholas is in West Palm Beach. Hi, Nicholas. How are you? Hi, I'm good. How are you? Better than I deserve.

How can I help? I'm 29. I'm looking to start my own business, and obviously I have things to have i have hiccups every single year to get into that point and i'm wondering if there's anything that i can invest my money in um to be able to reach my goal faster what are you trying to start nicholas uh i'm currently um an assistant trainer for racehorses and i'm trying to be my own trainer um in a couple of years from now okay so would you not go to other people's farms and barns

to do the training uh currently i work for, so basically he provides the horses. No, I'm asking if you were a full-time trainer, all you need to do is have a way to get to the barn to do the training. What do you need to do to start a business? You need to have money in the bank, but also you need to build up the clientele to be able to get there. Yeah, but why do you need to have money in the bank? Because sometimes when you build the owners, even though you build them for a 30-day cycle,

sometimes it takes them 45 days, 50 days, even 60 days. Yeah, but that's all. I mean, there's nothing you really have to buy to start this business. You do have to buy equipment. Not a ton. Not a ton. Not if you don't have all of the horses, no. Yeah, and most of the owners have the equipment, too.

No, the equipment's provided by the trainer. The feed and everything's provided by the trainer. Yeah. Okay. All right. So you don't need much money, is my point. How much do you think, Nicholas, will you need, realistically? Somebody had told me $50,000.

Oh, bull crap. Before the market got crazy. You've got you gotta be kidding me that's what somebody had said well somebody's an idiot what do you that's ridiculous okay dave you don't you're not a horse no i'm a business expert i know but listen nicholas have you nicholas price this out have you said okay here's realistically if i had eight clients or whatever, here's probably what I'm going to need. Have you just run some numbers realistically? Yes, I have, yes. And I would say that the average raise for us per day would cost us,

at the cheapest way possible, would probably cost us $80 a day to maintain. You don't maintain them. The owner maintains them. But the owner has to pay me back. The owner maintains them but the owner has to pay me back the owner maintains them he has to pay you the training fee but he's maintaining the horse correct so it doesn't cost you know what does it cost you you got to go over there in your cowboy boots and sweat and get your work done well you also have to you know put up with the the payroll and

the i understand you don't have any payroll you're it well for now yes yeah well that's it that's all it takes so what it takes you to start a business is five thousand bucks max maximum i started this business on a card table in my living room. I didn't have spit. I didn't have anything except just nobody could tell me no. That's all I had. I wouldn't be denied. Yes, but. You do not create all these false barriers in your head to go do your dream. So you are already a trainer.

The first thing you need to do is start getting some clients that you didn't that you didn't steal from your employer and that you do start doing five on the side two on the side three on the side and you go over there and you work and whatever money you make you set over in a little account so if you need to buy a few pieces of tack here and there you can pick up a saddle you can pick up a piece of equipment or whatever but it's not a lot of money man the secret sauce in this business is you. It's not you needed some $40,000 piece of equipment. You're the horse trainer.

You're the man. You're the sauce on the Big Mac, dude. Yeah, if anything, the biggest jump is going to be from an income stream standpoint and being sure you can pay your bills personally to make sure you're jumping from there if you can pick up a couple clients on the side that you didn't steal from your current employer or they may be clients your current employer did not want and he would allow you to work them on the side and you start a little side hustle and you get your clientele built up you get your reputation built up you're going to be a whole lot wiser on what you actually

need to purchase but dude you don't have to have money set aside for payroll you're it you keep working the full-time job you go get the horse bill and listen when you're little here's what you do you walk up to the owner and you go i'm little what i'm not your bank you gotta pay me today yes you gotta pay me on the barrel head man i need to be paid in money at the end of the week because i'm little i'm not your bank that's okay there's nothing wrong with being little nothing wrong that's how i started yeah i didn't have terms we didn't bill anybody you if you wanted to get counseling from me when i started you paid before we sat down. Then I would do counseling.

Because there's no way I'm going to bill you and hope broke people pay their bill. No, we're not doing that. How do you charge broke people for doing counseling? Up front. That's how you do it. You know, and so, I mean, this is what you, when you're little, this is how you think. And it takes a level of humility. But honestly, and Nicholas, you're probably great. Yeah, and you're little, this is how you think. And it takes a level of humility. But honestly, and Nicholas, you're probably great. Yeah.

And you're awesome, Nicholas. So it's like you're the best horse trainer ever, right? It's that level of confidence that you go in and say, hire me. Yeah. I'm amazing. That's it. And I'm a small business, so I'm not your bank. Yeah.

And, you know, pay me. And I'm going to give you a great deal. And then you're going to be glad you've had me around. And I gonna give you a great deal and then you're gonna be glad you've had me around and i'm gonna be training your grandkids horses because we're gonna be friends the rest of your life and so i'm gonna do such a good job you can't get rid of me and you know this is who you are nicholas and go be that but don't sit around and go i need somebody told me i need fifty thousand dollars to be oh no yeah no no no no no but also Nicholas to your credit and Dave not being a horse trainer himself which may be shocking is that you there really may be these

costs that you're that you do know Nicholas so do it in cash like don't get out ahead of yourself either right so like plan accordingly and be putting money aside to make sure that when you jump over to your full-time gig that you're able to support yourself but also realistically if there is equipment and there's saddles and different things that you're using don't smirk you're not you're not for i mean for 50 grand you can buy the horse i mean come on that's just you know you don't need you don't need the equipment you just get the horse i mean like it's just uh no that's you never know that's just yeah so you're you can do it nich Nicholas. You can do it. You can do it. You bootstrap it, dude.

You organic cash flow. You make money, put it back in. Make money, put it back in. Make money, put it back in. That's what I started doing 35 years ago. And here I sit being this guy. This is the Ramsey Show. Thanks for joining us, America.

Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality, number one bestselling author. My daughter is my co-host. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, one of our favorite things is to look out and see folks watching the show. We do the show here on the glass from 1 to 4 Central Time every day. Come by, have some homemade cookies. When you walk in, the place smells like mama's kitchen. And you can have you some coffee, all of it's on us, and watch the show and hang out.

Also in the lobby there is the debt-free scream, so we get to talk to people doing their debt-free screams every day. That's one of our favorite things as well. But our most favorite thing of all is one of our own Ramsey team members is on the debt-free stage doing their debt-free scream. Natalie Fleener and her husband Hunter are on the stage and Natalie's on the Entree leadership team as a marketer. Been here what about six years Natalie? Yeah six years. Six years way to go guys fun well I knew you'd been here working in the Entree team for a while and the Entree team's

killing it we got Summit coming up and uh it's completely sold out, and we can't seem to do enough to keep people. The people are just beating the doors down to come to Summit, so you marketers are doing a good job. Way to go. Thanks. We have a fun time. Good stuff. Good stuff. Hunter, what do you do? I am a general dentist. Okay. Excellent. Excellent.

Okay, so what kind of debt did you two guys have, and how much? Well, we had a mixture. We had some credit cards. We had a car loan. We had student loans for my undergrad and his undergrad. And then we had the big honker. The big dentist loan. Yes, yes.

So that was the big one. I think she talked about your loan. I don't think she called you big. There we go. All right. All right. So what was the grand total of all this mess 382 161 dollars wow amazing and how long did it take you to pay it off six years six years since you've been here all right very cool very cool and we're not gonna ask your all's income because you got about 50 of your team members standing around. And that's completely awkward and unfair. So we're not going to do that.

But so you came here six years ago. What's the rest of the Ramsey story? Is that about the time you got out of dental school? Or how did this whole story unfold to where six years later you got almost $400,000 gone? Yeah. Yeah. So I graduated 2017 and then moved back here. years later you've got almost four hundred thousand dollars gone yeah yeah so i graduated 2017 and then moved back here so i was in memphis for school and then um i guess we just got out and we were looking at the loans and they were just it seemed like a mountain and of course we how

long y'all been married four years at that point okay at that point so uh 10 years of marriage now and so at four years in graduate dental school and you look at this mountain you go i just finished a really hard thing now i got another hard yeah it was crazy because we were you know making the minimum payments or even trying to we couldn't make the minimum payments but we were watching the balance go up because interest builds so quickly on an amount that large. And so I just don't think that was something we were really expecting. So it just felt like a mountain, honestly. So I started looking for work and I am a unicorn. I grew up here in Nashville. And so just knowing the reputation that Ramsey had of being a great place to work. and I used to listen to the Ramsey show with my dad when we would drive around town he's a realtor and so I was just familiar and so

I started researching the company watching other people's debt-free screams and I was super inspired by that and wanted that for ourselves so I applied thinking I wasn't going to get it because of how much debt we had. We don't turn people down for employment because they have debt. We would have no workers. So anyway, as part of my onboarding, we started FPU, and that just gave us a super clear plan and plan of attack to just get on top of it. And so that was what got us started, and we've been going ever since. Golly, because six years is long.

I mean, we talked to people on the show, you know, we had one earlier last hour, it's 18 months, you know, and people are at all different lengths. So six years, I mean, that's the marathon status right there. Yeah, 400K is a lot though. Yeah, I know.

But I'm saying, did you guys, six years ago, did you map it out to think, okay, in 2024, did you have 2025 in your head? Like, did you guys have like a goal that you were seeing out there and you knew it was going to be six years or were you just like one month one quarter at a time yeah i mean we were just kind of taking it one month at a time almost i mean just getting on the budget first and just trying to stick with it we have two beautiful daughters where we had to halt our you know debt snowball to save up and pay for everything.

And then COVID happened. Yep. So I had a pay cut there for me. Yeah. So, I mean, it's just been trying to stick with it and trying to keep the blinders on. The mountains and valleys through six years. Because it is. It's a long, long time.

It is, yeah. Hard to keep going, but just having perseverance. Yeah. And what was a real game changer for us was actually when they paused the interest on student loans for three years and when the media was reporting like, the payments are paused. And I was like, no, the interest is paused.

Pay right now, pay right now. And that's what we were doing. And it helped us a lot because everything was going straight to the principal. So good. And then you had, yes, two kids. two girls during that they're five and two. So what was the hardest part? Cause there's so many parents that listen to the show and they have young kids and they're thinking, how do I even do this journey? Cause I'm juggling work

and kids and all of it's a full life, right? That you have. So what encouragement or what things really helped you in that journey? I mean, I think really just one, staying with the budget, even though, yes, when you say you have kids, it's like, how can we afford it? You got to plan it out. When you get that plan and you stick to it, it really does work, even though it is a long, like we had six years, so it's hard. And there were times where I was like, you know, getting frustrated. But, you know, I think we had to separate it when we got to my big school loans into like all right we paid off this amount of money you know so then we kind of did a little celebration and then just set goals to achieve and then yeah and then it was like literally we

paid the last payment and was like oh that's that's it we're done it's almost surreal it is yeah is that all is that all yeah once you finally get there because you've been holding your breath so long it feels like yes yeah yeah way to go good job guys so uh natalie you're working in the middle of the entree leadership team which is not all uh financial principles all day long it's all small business which the you know but you're in the whole team here as part of ramsey and uh so this stuff's all around you uh lots of peer pressure does that make it easier or harder i i don't know if i would call it pressure as much as encouragement honestly um i mean i would keep people updated of like how we were doing um on our debt payoff we have our walk the talk at staff meeting

and um it's just you know everybody's cheering you on it doesn't feel like pressure it just feels like you know you have 70 80 people every single day rooting you on to your goal yeah good good i was hoping that was the answer but you never know you know you're never not with some of these people i'm just saying okay so after six years you guys do you have something fun that you're gonna do like is there like a celebration exclamation point at the end of this well we paid off in february and so we it was it was fun for me it was a work trip i had a ce course and i went out to arizona and so i learned a lot but i mean we almost used that as like a debt-free a trip

yeah it was like right after we paid it we literally paid it off that week and then i went to that trip so i was like you're coming and then of course we're going to the beach this summer so great so great very good good for you guys guys it's amazing what do you tell people the key is to getting out of debt i mean you got it the budget is always the answer right um so i'm going to give a little bit more um so i think six years of kind of going through this there's a lot that you have to say no to. And I think it's really helpful to think about the things that you can say yes to. Like you can say yes to having people over in your home. You don't, it doesn't have to be this huge party all the time. You can say yes to hospitality. You can say yes to just opening

up your lives to people. And then you have community around you and it doesn't feel like, oh, gosh, I'm saying no to everything. Like, this isn't any fun. And then I'd probably say the other thing, too, is learn to love outside because it's free. Yeah. Go to parks. That's right. That's right. Oh, so good.

Especially with kids. Yes. Good. So good. Way to go, you guys. All right. Bring the pretty girls up. What are their names and ages again? Two and five, did you say. Yes. Good. So good. Way to go, you guys. All right, bring the pretty girls up. What are their names and ages again?

Two and five, did you say? Yes. Eliana is five. And Joanna is two. Yes. They're so cute. Oh, my gosh. Well, those two kids have parents that are heroes.

You guys have changed your family tree. We're so proud of you. Way to go. Good work. $382,000 paid off in six years natalie and hunter count it down let's hear a debt-free scream three two one and the whole department out there, 100 people cheering him on. Way to go, guys.

I love it. This is The Ramsey Show. Our scripture of the day, Romans 12, 12. Rejoice and hope. Be patient in tribulation. Be constant in prayer. The great Les Brown said, when life knocks you down, try to land on your back because if you can look up you can get up he was a he's a great one i had the honor of sharing a stage with him many years ago out in la and he's a man he's something else he he's the

one if you're sick and tired of being sick and tired people change their lives when they finally say i've had it he's that guy he's good if you get a chance to look up some youtube on les brown you'll you'll have a good moment i can tell you that all right faye is with us faye is in jacksonville florida hi faye welcome to the ramsey show hi i'm so excited well it's an honor to have you how can we help yes so i've been asking my husband saying hey we need to just bite the bullet and pay off our car for two vehicles and he pretty much says the only way that we're going to do that is i call dave ramsey and he tells us to do it well i mean that's a fairly predictable outcome don't you think i know it's like it's like asking dave ramsey if the sun's

going to come up exactly so uh what what is the how much do you owe on your cars so we both owe about seven thousand dollars so fourteen thousand dollars total and how much money do you have about forty five thousand,000. Oh, my gosh. Just in your savings account. Pay it off. Pay. Why would you not pay? Why have you not already paid them off?

Why do you need me to tell you to do that? Why haven't you done it already? Because we've done so much in the past year. We've built land, built a house, and had a baby. So all these things kind of came at us, and now I'm like, okay, we have money. Let's just pay it off. Stop paying the stupid interest. Yeah.

Okay. So he got his wish. You got your wish. Pay off your cars. Dave Ramsey just said that. Okay. So we got that behind us. But here's the thing.

Paying off the cars and doing 17 other things that aren't smart is not going to be your answer either, okay? Right. So, I mean, paying off the cars is not a single magic bullet by itself. It's one of the things you do that is on the list of wisdom. Yes. And so all these things coming at you, I heard chaos, I heard out-of-control feeling, and the $40,000 is giving you some comfort with all these things coming at you, I heard chaos, I heard out-of-control feeling,

and the $40,000 is giving you some comfort with all these things coming at you. And so what that means is you guys need to be doing a better plan overall with your money too, probably getting on the every dollar budget. Why don't we give you that so that you can get the premium version so you can hook it to your bank. Are you already using every dollar? I'm not no we just combined we just combined our money recently great see there's a that's a wise thing to do that's on the list of wise things so check check paid off the car combined our money we're going

to give you every dollar so the two of you can build a budget tonight to celebrate your new freedom from debt do you have any other debt only our mortgage that's our only other debt okay so when you're celebrating and doing your every dollar budget tonight y'all can light a candle and have a plastic surgery party and chop up all credit cards and only use debit cards from this point forward okay that's what we do anyway yep good one more wise thing on the check box right so if you check enough of the wise boxes and don't check the stupid boxes you come out ahead of this money thing it works and so you guys are well on your way but what i'm trying to get you to do is not just endorse a single item of the advice that we give but instead

endorse the whole whole thing because that's what takes you to wealth and that's what brings you to peace and unity in your marriage and those kinds of things but it sounds like you're starting to one at the time doing a whole bunch of it it sounds like you're doing really good yeah so we'll we'll give you that thing you were asking for which is rachel and dave both said one two three pay off the cars all right there we go just got that covered that's thorough denise is with us in orlando hi denise how are you hi dave i'm doing well thank you good how can we help how you were i would ask you how you were doing but i know what you'd say oh i don't think i don't care yeah i'm

predictable so how can we help so i'm calling today because i I have just turned 62 years old, and I have pretty much nothing for retirement. And I have almost half a million dollars in mortgage debt because I have two rental properties and then a house that I live in. And I've kind of been counting on them to you know, to sell them eventually and, and use that money to invest and retire. And I'm calling you to see if I should go ahead and, and sell them now, uh, one or both of them. And, uh, along with that, if I do sell them, if I should do like a regular conventional sale or sell it to one of these investors that I keep getting calls and texts and mail from.

Okay. I'll answer the last question first. No, you're going to sell it retail. Those guys are wholesalers. Okay. Meaning they're going to buy it at a discount so they can flip it and make money. Okay. And you might as well make that money you've been

the one holding on to it all these years so um what do you make a year well um i'm just getting ready to do my taxes and my w-2 say i make um like 70 000 a year um but when i did my taxes in 2022 my income was relatively the same and my taxable taxable income ended up being around $18,000. Okay. All right. Yeah, I'm not talking about deductions and taxes. I'm talking about what your income really is. So you really make $70,000 a year?

Yes. Okay. And did you say 6'2 or 5'2 years old? 62. 62. Okay. All right. And so your personal residence house how much owed on it

um 274 000 what's it worth uh about 400 something at this point i've had it for about um two and a half years okay and the uh rental number, what is owed on it? $129,000, and I'm rounding. And what's it worth? It's worth, just talk to a realtor, it could be $320,000 something to $369,000. Okay. And what's rental number two mortgage? $93,000. And what's it worth? Around $93,000. And what's it worth?

Around $350,000. Okay. All right. And so how long have you owned these? Rental number one, I've owned since 1981. I bought it when I was 21 years old. And rental number two, I've had since 2015 okay all right well i mean rentals are an investment and you know you could sell rental number whichever one you don't want i don care, and use it to pay off the other one

and pay a chunk towards getting your mortgage paid off. Okay. And you'd have one property free and clear, and that's a nice investment to have a $350,000 rental property. That's as valid an investment as mutual funds. I own both. And really, real estate has a lot more hassle to it. As you know, you're a landlord.

It's not passive at all. That's the funniest thing I've ever heard, passive income on TikTok. But it's not passive. You're landlording. It's an active behavior, right? But you've been doing it since you're freaking 21 years old. So obviously, you know how to landlord, and you know how to maximize these investments unless you've got them way under rented or something. But I think if you were a weak landlord, you'd have been out of it a long time ago.

This is true. Yeah. So you kind of know what you're doing. So do you prefer? I mean, it's almost as if you felt like you need to sell these because they weren't sophisticated and the mutual funds were. And I'm trying to call that out. If you like these, keep them. Okay.

I think, you know, part of it is that, I mean, I've been a Ram zoning for many, many years. And I've heard your story about how, you know, you've had mortgages called in and that's how you know you went broke the first time and I think I'm concerned about something like that happening or I have renters in both properties right now that have been good and always on time with their rent and everything but I'm concerned about that going south. Nah it's not gonna go. Not you. I would sell one of them and pay off the other one and a bunch of your house if I were in your shoes. And then I'm going to use your income to finish up paying off the mortgage and start to build a nest egg on the side. And you'll have a piece of real estate and a nest egg. I think that's fine. Unless you just want to get rid of

them. It's fine with me. That puts us out of the Ramsey show in the books. 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. We'll see you next time.