The Ramsey Show - App - Where Should I Invest My Savings? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: October 23, 2020

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Music Music Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is the Dave Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life, your money. I'm John Deloney, here with my good friend and co-host, Anthony O'Neill, best-selling author, sensation all around good man genius we're taking your calls about your life your relationships your money your college decisions

all of it absolutely and i want to give a shout out to our youtube family man you know every single opportunity that i get a chance to log on uh and do the show. I always log on and check out our YouTube world. So I want to say thank you to Cheryl. She's writing me right now on YouTube, Steve and Katie. Thank you so much for rocking with us. If you're ever just sitting at your office or sitting at home and you just want to listen to us, log on to YouTube.com forward slash Dave Ramsey show and check us out because we're always on there. I know me and John do a lot on there. Now Now the other personalities, you know, just pray for them.

Give us a call at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Let's go to Amy in Fort Worth, Texas. Amy, how are you doing? Hi guys. I'm great. How are y'all outstanding how can we help okay so i've been um doing the ramsay baby steps on them i'm on baby step two but um and i've been talking to my family about this and so all of a sudden my mom came up and said what do i do um for my future. Her and my dad are immigrants and thankfully they've been blessed. My dad's been blessed with a really good job. He can make from

80K on a really bad year to 250. Wow, good for him. Busting it. Yes. Their house is completely paid for. I'm guessing they're on Baby Step 7. I'm not exactly sure how much they have on savings.

I'm going to say about $10K. That's about it. But I think they probably asked us if they sold everything today, it'd be about $500K. Okay. They have no 401K, investments no nothing no what they have no you know they don't know any of that um how to invest um and so she said since you've been doing this dave ramsey thing she's like can you help me and um i'm like sure but i need dave ramsey information are you guys.

Anthony, Dr. Zolini, I just don't know where to really start because me and my husband are currently on baby step two. Cool. I mean, great question. And I love your heart for your parents, and I love your heart for making sure that you stay on track to do what you're doing. Have you and your parents taken Financial Peace University? No, we haven't. I honestly just started in February and I started with listening to YouTube channels. Okay, cool. Great. So this is what we're going to do because there's a lot. This is a journey. This is a process when it comes to you getting out of debt and then for your parents, how to start investing uh and so when we

get off the call i want you to stay on the line we're going to bless you with ramsey plus for free uh we're going to give uh ash let's do this um i don't know if we've ever done this before we're going to give you uh you and your husband one and then we also give you one for your mom and for her dad uh i mean for her husband uh so that they can take this thing together. Y'all can take it together as a family because I think it's important. They don't have any debt, but at the same time, they need to learn how to properly invest. And so right now, what they need to do is since they don't have now, is he working and does his job has a 401k? That's the question you need to ask him to.

He needs to go ahead and contact one of our smart investor pros you'll learn more about this in financial peace university that way they can help him start investing because if he's making anywhere between 80 to 250 this means that he has some type of commission or some type of thing going from there and i want to i want him to take advantage of you know the 401ks that match if they have it and some compound interest but you said something he said they may have around $10,000. I kind of want to up that a little bit with their lifestyle and their season when it comes to savings. Before they really start investing, I'm thinking maybe about $20,000 they should have in their savings account,

maybe even $25,000, $30,000, depending on what that is. But I want them to have a full six months. I don't want them to be okay with three months. I need them to have at least a good full six months and then jump into the smart vest of pro but the main thing right now is I just want to bless you, your

family and then your parents with a free one year trial of our Ramsey Plus and stay on the line. Kelly will get that for you. And Amy, depending on their immigration status, right, certain things are going to be eligible. They're going to be eligible for certain things and not eligible for certain things, right? Yeah, exactly.

They're residents. Yeah, I was about to say. They were immigrants whenever they got here at 15, and now they're residents and stuff. Oh, awesome. This is purely an education issue. Oh, that's fantastic. Exactly. Exactly.

And one of their issues was they would spend it all, but they were smart enough to buy lots of land when they were younger, and so they own some land, and they just don't know what to do. And also, will or a trust? I don't know. They're all like, – and also, will or a trust? I don't know. They're all like, should we do a will or a trust? Everyone should have a will. Everyone should have a will.

The answer is yes to your question. Yes. Okay, okay, will. And that will needs to be in place, like, tomorrow. Yep. You know, because we don't know what's going on. Nothing says, like, a fun Saturday morning, like like everybody get together and let's make a will. Right.

Right. But good for you. Good for your family. That was a joke, Anthony. You didn't even laugh. I thought that was a funny Saturday morning will joke. No? I didn't find that funny about that.

Man. See, Kelly thought it was good. All right. All right. Let's go. Let's see. Let's see. We get one more.

Yeah. Let's go to, you know what, Anthony? What? Instead of going to one more call before we go to the break here. Oh, I was about to say that. What just happened? Oh, I was going to go to another call. I was going to take another call.

You had a segment on a show the other day, and I think it was just you talking. Uh-huh. And you were talking about belief. Yeah. You were talking about the importance of believing in yourself. Yeah. talking about belief yeah you were talking about the importance of believing in yourself yeah and for those of you who don't know at Ramsey Solutions these or these voices just get piped into the building and wherever you find yourself sometimes you'll just hear Anthony talking or hear Chris Hogan or hear Dave and I actually texted Anthony on the back end of this

deal and just said I don't know when you recorded this I don't know what was in your heart and mind but it spoke to me just sitting here doing some writing on my own here at the building. You're talking about believing in yourself. The importance of not giving up on yourself. I think it's important. Give this audience a primer. I think when I was at the lowest moment of my life,

I didn't believe in me. I believed in others. And I believed that I needed to impress them to be successful and uh to this day I'll be honest I think sometimes I because I don't come from wealth because I don't come from a rich background and to be honest because I don't come from a proper English speaking background Americanosis if you listen to me and follow me on any of my shows, my grammar is not 100% polished. And so I'm often called out about that. I'm often called out and reminded that, you know, I don't have this and that.

But I had to quickly teach myself and remind myself that I'm fearfully and wonderfully made and that I'm here for a purpose. And that no matter what, if I don't believe in myself, I'm always going to be struggling in certain areas. So before they can believe in me, before you can believe in me, I got't believe in myself I'm always going to be struggling in certain areas so before they can believe in me before you can believe in me I gotta believe in myself while I'm believing in myself I'm getting better while I'm getting better I'm believing in myself no one else should believe in Anthony O'Neal more than Anthony O'Neal believes

in him flaws and all so that's what sparked it well I'm gonna leave it at that. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Families all over the country are discovering a faith-based and budget-friendly way of meeting health care costs, whether they're anticipated or completely unexpected. For example, take the Olcheski family from LaGrange, Texas.

Jeff and Carice had just celebrated the birth of a new baby boy. Shortly after, they had another expensive medical issue come up. They could have faced a huge financial setback, but thanks to Christian Health Care Ministries, the Olcheskis were spared from a ton of medical bills. As members of CHM, they're part of a group of believers who financially and spiritually support each other. CHM is the longest serving health cost sharing ministry and is a Better Business Bureau

accredited charity. It's Christians helping other Christians, and it shared nearly $97,000 to help the Olcheskis. To be a part of Christian Healthcare Ministries, visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org. CHM is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. I'm John Deloney with my good friend Anthony O'Neill. We are taking your calls at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Let's go to Ian in Phoenix, Arizona.

Ian, how are we doing this afternoon? Doing pretty good. How are you guys? Outstanding. How can we help? All right. So I'm a part-time college student, and I work full-time. And I've started getting some money together, which I've invested about two-thirds of it. I've been stealing cash for an emergency. But I was just wondering, what should I save that to do? Obviously, when I buy my first house, I want to put down a sizable down payment.

And what should I really be first house, I want to put down a sizable down payment. And what should I really be saving towards, do you think? Yeah. So are you paying cash for the remaining part of your college, Ian? Yeah. So that'll be partially my parents. And if I need more, I can pay cash. But most of it's covered by them.

Okay, cool. So you will be able to graduate college 100% debt-free with some money in your savings? Absolutely, yeah, easily. And you're asking yourself, what should you do with that savings or what should you be doing right now with the money that you have? Right now. I like what you're doing right now, man.

I like the fact that you're saving it. I will go ahead and get up to like a fully funded. You're in the Arizona area. And so what I would say is look at the, what is the average rent going around the area in Phoenix? And, or when you graduate, if you know where you're going to go, I will look at what is that average

three to six months look like for rent, for expenses, for the lifestyle that you want. Put that into a savings account. Go ahead and get ahead of the game. And then, man, just start investing into a growth stock mutual fund that's covered by a Roth IRA because you're 19. So let's just do the math. If you just put $100 in there as of right now for the next 40 years, you'll be what? How old would he be then?

29, 39, 40, 59. 59 years old, you'll have the? How old would he be then? 29, 39, 49, 59, 59 years old. You'll have the minimum of like $1.2 million, but that's just off of $100. So if you just start putting away, let's say 5% of your income into a Roth IRA, just right now until you get an actual stable job and you're investing the full 15%, man, you're going to set yourself up to retire with about three to $5 million just from the Roth IRA perspective, not from your 401k when you get into that, not from your house that you're going to gain from the equity of your house. And so right now you're in a position to where if you can make the right investment moves, here's the number one investment you can make. Check this out, Ian.

It ain't your head. It's your head. Make sure that you graduate 100% debt-free, get the education. That's number one. Number two, go ahead and open up a Roth IRA. Get on the phone with one of our smart investor pros and tell them, hey, I want to go ahead and start investing. Here's what I can do right now comfortably while I'm in school. Have a fully funded emergency fund. Okay. And then once you get a job, you're going to up your,

whatever you have right now to 15% of whatever your income is. And I mean, and honestly, by the time you turn 40, you're going to be a millionaire. You're going to have a house. You're going to be an everyday millionaire. And that's the slogan that our good friend Chris Hogan has named. And I'm telling you right now, bro, man, 19, I was thinking like you at 19. At 19, Ian, I was sleeping in the back of my car.

You know what I'm saying? I was washing myself at the Boys and Girls Club in the YMCA. I was asking people for some money so I could eat. I was that guy. You could be the guy that everybody wants to be. You could be the young, smart, wise guy that is building wealth, that is changing the future. And I'm going to tell you right now, you're single right now. I can hear it in your voice.

You ain't going to be single much longer. You ain't going to be single much longer. The ladies are coming for you, bro. But thanks for calling in, man. I got a quick question for you too. So I have the ability to fully fund my Roth IRA ira for the year i can i can max that out max my contributions out for that god is that smart to do that right now i'm gonna i got 35 000 in investment investments in cash okay so would it be smart to invest that max out my ira because then i can't pull from that. Here's the answer. Yes. Yes, if you have a – I want you to get ahead of the game by having a fully funded emergency fund.

Okay? So if you can have a fully funded emergency fund and you can guarantee, guarantee that you can finish college 100% debt-free, max out the Roth IRA right now. Okay. So just to max that out yearly? Yes. So then when I get the salary-based job with a larger company, I can start saving that money essentially for the down of the house or something? Absolutely. I would do that because right now there's no rest for you to get into a home in.

You know what I'm saying? I want you to take advantage of the compound interest and the time that's on your side. Once you get a good, solid job, you know where you're going to be situated at. Yeah, take two, three years and just live below your means and save it for a nice down payment to get into a good home. Boom, you'll be in a home

before you turn 24, 25 years old. Now we live it. You're good. Yep. I like this guy. I'll tell you what. I don't know these 19-year-olds. I was not that 19-year-old. Man, I don't know that 19-year-old neither. I wasn't thinking like that.

I was sitting here just trying to impress my friends, trying to find me a lady. I wasn't trying to think about no money. I didn't even have enough brain power to impress anybody at 19. I was trying to get myself to class. Good for you, Ian. You just renewed my faith in tomorrow. Let's go to Aaron in Roanoke, Virginia. Aaron, how are we doing?

I'm struggling, if I'm being honest. All right. Well, how can we help? Well, I'm wanting you all's perspective on my situation. I am concerned that I may be up to the point where bankruptcy is about my only option. I've read multiple of Dave's books. I'm coordinating an FPU class. I have learned his stuff inside out, upside down, and backwards.

But my situation is basically this. I'm staring down about $60,000 worth of debt, and I'm making about $30,000 a year, roughly. Why are you making $30,000 a year? I'm an associate pastor, and my church is not able to pay me very well. I just recently got my EMT and started working for a rescue squad, but that also doesn't pay very substantial either. And the other battle that I have is my church requires a certain time commitment, so I can add on extra work, but only up to a certain extent. So I'm going to be respectful here because I want to be respectful to the calling because I am an ordained pastor as well and still a preacher to this day. But God also wants us to be wise. He also wants us to be good stewards. And he also says our number one ministry is our home.

Bankruptcy is not your only option. I think that's the easy way out for you. I think the hard option is, do I stop pastoring right now to take care of my first ministry, which is my home? And that's the question that you got to ask yourself. If your church is saying, we're only going to pay you $30,000 a year, and you have to be here for all these times where you can't get an extra part-time job, uh, to have a life. Um, then I'm questioning, uh, that position, uh, because I've pastored, uhored for a few churches and they've never been that strict. And so I would sit back and pray.

You know, I don't want to tell you how to live your life spiritually, but I would sit back and ask God for clarity and for wisdom on how to approach this. Because no disrespect, $60,000 is a lot of debt, but we get calls on here with people in $100,000, $200,000 in debt, making $50,000 a year, and they aggressively go after it, and they pay it off, and bankruptcy was never in their option. And so I think for you, the greater question is, what can you do to generate more income? And I'm trying to be sensitive with your pastoral calling because I know how sensitive that can be. But if I was in your shoes, I'm having a conversation with my

senior pastor explaining to him the situation and said, I get it. I don't want to put no more pressure on the church, but I need a little bit of freedom to go out here and make at least another $25,000 to $30,000 so I can get my first ministry, my home, in order. Because if the home is not in order, I can't come here to the church and serve the church. That's hypocritical. So that's a question you've got to ask yourself, man. And I'm fully with you.

No bankruptcy. You're going to have to get another job. Whew! And that one's hard, Aaron, but thanks for the call, brother. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. I'm John Deloney with my good friend Anthony O'Neill. We are taking your calls about your life, your money. 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Let's go to Monica in San Diego, California. Monica, how are we doing? I'm doing good. How about you guys? Doing well. How can we

help? I'm calling because we're living in San Diego. Home prices are pretty crazy, and we're living in some crazy times. And I'm just really wondering, we are debt-free, and I'm just wondering if it makes sense for me to buy a house now. I can do a 3.5% down for an FHA loan. Or is there a value in taking the time and saving for the 20% down? Oh, absolutely. What are your thoughts?

There's a lot of value in doing that. And here's the three steps, though. All right, let me just make sure you understand all of our listeners. We will always say pay cash if you can. If you can save up cash, pay cash if you can. Number two, we want you to aim for 20%, which goes into number three, with no less than 10%, okay? And so in San Diego, California, your home for me, I lived right out.

I lived in San Diego County in Oceanside, California. So I know exactly where you are. And so I would recommend how long, well, let me ask you this question, Monica. How long would it take you to save up at least 10 to 20% there in California? Yeah. So 10% probably by the next six months, 20% probably another 12 months.

So a difference of 12 months, 20% I like because it helps you avoid the PMI. And then how much house is that in California? So that would be up to 700k. Our home range is five to seven. Yeah, and that's a beautiful house, you know,

in that San Diego area, right about 600, 650. You'll definitely get into a beautiful situation. So if I was you, I would sit another year. Honestly, I would sit another year. If you were talking about a year, year and a half, two years, to come up with 10%, then I would be okay with you doing 10%. But you're saying a year to get 20%? Absolutely. I'm sitting down for a whole year. This way, you're going to avoid PMI. You're not going to pay the private mortgage insurance and be wasting and just throwing away money. You're going to get

into a 15-year fixed rate loan and had that paid off within 15 years. So that's what I recommend, Monica. Awesome. Can I ask one quick follow-up? Sure. Another item that I was thinking is does it make sense to put a pause? We're pretty aggressive for 1K. We both, me and my husband, contribute about 15%.

Does it make sense to put that on hold to save up the 20% quicker? Just in case, you know, the market's going up. Does it make sense to kind of accelerate that? I feel like our family's getting a lot of pressure to do it now. And I'm wondering if I'm being too conservative or if I'm making sense. How old are you and your husband? We're 33. Oh, yeah.

I mean, you're talking about pausing. Because if you're putting 15% in right now and you pause investing into your 401k and your Roth IRAs right now to get to 20%, you're saying I might even help you get to 20% within the next six months then, correct? Exactly. Yeah. So that's fine. I don't have a problem with you doing that at all. We call that baby steps 3B to where you go ahead and start saving your 10 to 20% down before you investing. So if you do want to pause, that's fine. If you were older, I would say I would recommend that you try to do both at

the same time, at least contribute something in there. I would definitely recommend that, you know, but if you want to pause and get to your down payment quicker, that's totally fine. And honestly, at your age, I would probably do that. All right? Monica. Awesome. Thank you so much. I appreciate the advice.

Hey, Monica, before you hang up, make a firm conviction that you're not going to let other people speak into the way you spend money unless it's people of wisdom who have a good track record who know what they're talking about. That's good, bro. Okay? I'm totally with you. It's actually actually i wanted to know that i wasn't crazy me and my husband had been to bed fast and i was you know are we missing something so it was just good to have that if you do it right you're gonna stick out like a sore thumb around your friends your family your community and know that we've got your back here. There are millions of people who have chosen to be weird and they're financially reaping the results of that. But more important than the

finances, they're living peaceful lives. Their relationships are better. They're able to sleep at night and not worry about money problem after money problem after money problems. You're going to be weird. Your friends, your family, everybody's going to have an opinion. You and your husband rally around each other, make a plan and stick to it very cool all right let's go to um let's go to aj and phoenix aj how are we doing i'm good how are you outstanding how can we help yeah so uh my wife and i we have about 31 000 in debt and we're we're getting ready to to move in with her parents you know to kind of tackle that debt. But they put us on like a one-year time crunch. So I guess our question is, we'd like to save

for a house as well. Should we tackle both of those at the same time or just go debt first? No. No. No. AJ, no. How old are you, man? 27. How old is your wife? 26. How much do y'all make a year? About 90 combined. 90 combined. And you're living in Phoenix, Arizona. You have $31,000 in debt, correct?

Correct. But we won't be looking in the Phoenix area. Where we're going to be looking to live is going to be a lot cheaper oh a lot cheaper okay yeah and i hear your beautiful wife is in the background right yes okay cool i'm gonna say something that you all would not like put the phone near her okay uh don't go home don't go home i would rather you have peace of mind and figure out making $90,000 in combined income and to change that just for one year. I get it. You all will go there, but I question the fact if you have stress.

I question the fact if your parents would be all in y'all's business. And for me, I want a peace of mind with my wife. And so I'd rather say I would rather be in debt for another six months than have to deal with my parents for a whole year. And so I'm saying get on a strategic budget, move maybe somewhere cheaper. So that way you can start saving money. But if you get on a strategic budget, live below your means, with making $90,000,

you guys, you can be out of debt within the next 12 to 18 months. And to me, I'll take that journey rather than going home and having to explain everything to my mom. And they probably have the right mindset. They probably genuinely want to help you all out. But the last thing you want to do is be 27, 29 years old and now explaining yourself to your parents. And then that can cause drama.

That can cause issues. So what I am saying is, yes, should you move? Should you lower your lifestyle so you can more attack your debt more aggressively? Absolutely. But I do believe going home at your age with this kind of income, it could bring on more stress to the marriage. And I could be wrong. I mean, do you think? Hey, AJ, I am 100% behind Anthony. And here's why. Your in-laws, they did right. They told you. They did what we tell them. They set boundaries. And you know, the person who's

got a problem with the boundaries is you, AJ. I can hear it in your voice. You're like, they already said we only get a year, so should we save for this and save for that? Listen, you and your wife are going to find the cheapest, safest one-bedroom apartment. 500 square feet. It only has a half bath. You're going to have to bathe outside with a hose. Oh, man.

I'm just kidding. Don't do that. That'd be weird. But listen, y'all make a lot of money. You've got a lifestyle problem. Yeah. You've got a, well, I don't know, man. You've got a that problem. Kind of a whiny problem, AJ. I want you and your wife to get super aggressive, get super focused. Tell your in-laws, you know what? We're going to give you the greatest Christmas present ever. We're not moving in. We're going to get in a cheap Christmas present ever. We're not moving in.

We're going to get in a cheap one-bedroom apartment, and we are going to scrap and claw and get this knocked out in eight months or nine months, and then move where you're going to move. And you're going to find out about yourself, about your marriage. You're going to find out what you're capable of. You're going to stop whining, and then you're going to go get it. James, would you go home with your mom, man, at your age right now? No. That was the easy answer. So I'm just saying, you know, I mean, I couldn't do it.

I'm single, and I couldn't go home. I'll sleep in a hotel. AJ, you didn't think you were getting that on this call. Do not go home. Get with your wife. Make a budget. Be aggressive. Be wild and crazy. Fix your marriage. Quit whining.. Get with your wife. Make a budget. Be aggressive. Be wild and crazy.

Fix your marriage. Quit whining. And go solve your problems. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. today's scripture for the day is hebrews 10 24 through 25 and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Steve Jobs says, management is about persuading people to do things they do not want to do, while leadership is about inspiring people to do the things they never thought they could.

Steve Jobs! About persuading people to do things they don't want to do versus inspiring people to do things they never thought they could. Anthony, who is a leader in your life who inspired you to do something that you never thought you could? It's a good question. I've got to think about it, man, because there's not really too much I never thought I couldn't do. But I would definitely say, honestly, and people are saying, Oh, of course he'll say that. But I mean, honestly, Dave, because coming from where I come from,

I never saw the things that I've been blessed and privileged enough to see being here and connected to Dave. And so seeing him do it, I'm like, all right, if God worked through Dave, he can work through me. Okay. If Dave became a multimillionaire from bankrupt, I can become a multimillionaire from being homeless. And so, you know, I would definitely say Dave, you know, for right now.

So for everybody listening, these are anxious times. We know that. We've got pandemics and fires and hurricanes and elections and all the things. One of the cornerstones of getting through anxiety is gratitude.

That's good. So I want everybody to listen into this podcast, listening on the radio, listening while you're driving down the road, listening while you're mowing the lawn,

I want you to think of somebody in your life who has encouraged you to do something, to be something, to see a picture of yourself that you never imagined. And I want you to call them. I want you to email them, write them a handwritten letter, and just let them know

leadership is about inspiring people to do things they never thought they could. Every single one of us, Anthony, myself, everyone listening, has had people in our life who invested in us in ways that we never could have imagined for ourselves. I want you to reach out to them, be grateful for them. All right, let's go to Alicia in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Alicia, how are we doing? Good. How are you guys?

Outstanding. How can we help? I am so happy to be talking to you because I really want to be intentional. I am 34 and my husband is 35. And when I turn 35 next year, I will be getting a settlement that I know I've been waiting to get for many, many years now. And it's about $85,000. What's the settlement from? Just a thing that happened many, many years ago when I was younger. And so my mom put it away for us and let it grow and didn't let us touch it until we

turned 35. And so with that right around the corner, then I just want to be intentional with it. We do own a home and we are about to be debt free. we only owe about $5,000 left on our baby step two. So knowing that that, that will happen probably by December. So from January till August, I'm hoping to be debt free. And then I turn 35 in August and this check is going to come in the mail or the settlement will come in the mail. And I'm wondering, do I put it all towards the house or do I do something else with it? How much do you own the house? So we owe $145,000.

Okay. All right. And what's your annual income right now? Roughly about $70,000. Is that combined income, $70,000? Yes. Okay. All right.

Sounds good. So here's what I'm going to recommend. We had a call like this, me and Dave, a couple of days ago. And what I want to advise you to do is jump on the phone with a smart vest or pro because there's a lot of different routes that you can go. And we don't have enough time to really break down all of your numbers on this show. And I also as well want you to be wise and be intentional with this income that you're blessed to walk into. I definitely do believe that you should be. If when you get the eighty five thousand, you need to immediately fund your three to six months of emergencies. OK, immediately fund the three to six months of emergencies. Okay. Immediately fund the rest of

that. Then from there, you all are going to go ahead and start investing into your 401k, start investing into your Roth IRA. And then you're going to jump on a phone with a smart investor pro, which is a financial advisor. And you go ahead and max out your Roth IRAs, which is investing into a growth stock mutual fund. But there could be some other things that you can do. Maybe open up an S and P maybe open up an index fund. I don't know. I don't know what all the options are available for you and the Colorado Springs and with you all situation. So I would definitely say, as soon as you get the money, um, uh, I'm gonna tell you what I would do. So I'm not going to tell you to do this. This is what I would do. If it was me in your shoes,

I'm tithing. Uh, I'm giving 10% to my local church. I am funding my fully funded emergency fund. I'm going to jump on the phone with a smart investor pro and tell them, Hey, I want to open up a Roth IRA. Can you tell me what's the best way to do that and how to invest? I have 50,000. I have this amount of money left. And then also Alicia,

maybe set aside something you can enjoy yourself. If you've been saving up for a new car, if maybe if you and your family want to go on a nice vacation, man, set aside, you know, $10,000 to do something enjoyable with it. Because, hey, you're about to be debt free. You've been working the plan. So that's what I would do from the very beginning. Yeah, and I think the plan has always been to pay off my house early. And I would feel guilty using it for any other purpose um but i i don't know i just wanted to get your guys's opinion on

it because it is a big responsibility yeah and alicia can i can i pitch in here when you get whenever i hear the word settlement there's two things that come to mind one is financial one is you're holding a check and usually not always but usually a settlement comes out of some sort of pain and if it's something that happened in childhood if it's something that comes out of a separation something out of some sort of loss and so i want you to be prepared whether it's with your husband whether it's with somebody that you love and care about when that check comes in the mail and you open it, you may experience things you haven't felt in years and years and years and be ready for that. And that's not a weird thing.

That doesn't mean you're broken. That doesn't mean something's wrong, but be prepared for that. And sometimes folks have plans for this settlement money, whatever that may be. My granddad passed away and they go to the funeral and they grieve it and then they get this check and then all of a sudden it's beautiful and but what their plans were going to be was something about it all changes right it's about making meaning and what did this money mean to my granddad and me or sometimes it comes out of a divorce settlement or an abuse settlement or whatever they may be so be ready for some sort of emotional response to this money too okay and so when i'm telling you be graceful with yourself right have a good plan have people with you but be graceful with yourself too alicia why do you i appreciate that yeah that's real good i appreciate that too john

you helped me out too um uh why do you say that you would feel guilty not paying off the house because it um go ahead i'm sorry um because because it does come from um a painful event okay okay all right and then which i agree that's what i'm so grateful that that painful event happened but it would make that person proud. If you paid off the house. Yeah. Okay. Okay. And if you, if you strongly feel that way,

then I say you need to do that feeling. I say still fund your fully funded emergency fund. Because I think that's what I'm wondering is do I need to catch up on that stuff too do I owe that to my future self you owe that to yourself and then that individual will be pleased with the decision that you made because then now

you've been a good steward you've prepared yourself so if an emergency does happen it just turns into an inconvenience you know and then from there you still need to fund your future because you're talking remember we're talking about your future you want to make the individual proud and so the individual will be proud knowing that those funds went to your present building a solid and then it helped you out with your future and then once you take care of those

two things then yeah by all means go pay the rest of this house or go pay as much of it down as you possibly can um but i don't want you to feel too too too too convicted um if you can't put all of it towards the house and alicia one last thing write him a thank you letter okay write him a thank you letter and read it out loud to somebody that you love. It will be an excellent passing of that torch. Thank you so much to everybody. I want to thank James Childs. I want to thank Kelly Daniel, the two world-class producers,

Bobby Bobbertson, my good friend, Anthony O'Neill. This has been The Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for The Dave Ramsey Show. This episode is over, but if you heard about an event, product, or service and didn't have a chance to write it down, don't worry. We list everything you've heard about during this episode in the podcast show notes or head to DaveRamsey.com. Thanks for listening.