The Ramsey Show - App - You Can't Make People Respect Your Financial Choices (Hour 2)

Episode Date: June 4, 2019

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, 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 am Dave Ramsey, your host. You jump in, we'll talk about your life and your money. It's a free call at 888-825-5225. Robert is with us in Los Angeles to start off this hour. Hey, Robert, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Thank you, Dave. It's great to talk with you. You too, sir. What's up in your world? Well, I'm 75 years old, married to my lovely wife for 51 years. We're $44,000 in debt and only have Social Security and a small amount of eBay income. I'm wondering, how in the world can I retire somehow in 10 years with a little level of

security? Hmm. Hmm, yeah. Well, I mean, there's two sides to the equation, the income side and the outgo side. Okay. I don't hear in your explanation severe overspending, and maybe in the past, but today you don't have enough money to be overspending. No.

And so the best way to retire is to clear the debt and obviously pile some money into retirement accounts or do a little bit of wealth building over this next decade that you've got, which leads me to ask the question, what can we do to get your income up? And the first thing that pops into my head is, how can we expand this eBay business? Well, we've got quite a bit of inventory. We had it up to $1,400 or so a month. It's dropped down to $200.

Why? Probably emotional things. My son gave us a free house to live in. We had $28,000 in debt at the start of that a year ago, and we borrowed to move. We borrowed to buy the lawnmowers and different things to run, not knowing about you, and just ran it up okay all right so you bring that back so 14 1500 maybe more right but your your your ebay income went

down why just emotional reasons i just can't just in a funk funk. I don't know. Oh, I got you. Okay. No physical reason. It's hard to work on it when your hope has kind of been kicked out of you. I got you. Okay. That makes sense. All right. Well, I think there's a couple things that are going on. One of the things I learned about my spiritual bulk is grace means i can put stupid in the rearview mirror

okay if i've ever done something stupid and all of us have um most likely most of us today but uh i mean we could take like that last little bit of debt you did and call it stupid that'd be pretty easy to do and but we could put that in the rearview mirror and say okay i've learned my lesson and at 75 i'm not too old to learn lessons, so I'm done. I'm not borrowing money anymore because it's not working for me. It's stealing my hope. It's stealing my emotional capacity, and I'm not going to do it. So now what am I going to do to get out of debt?

I'm going to get excited about eBay like I was 15 instead of 75, and I'm going to go bananas and just sell everything in sight, and I'm going to find some way to do something on eBay, that I'm buying something and reselling it on eBay in moderate volumes until they sell, to where I can create an eBay income that is $30,000, $40,000, $50,000 a year. Jump on eBay or jump on Google even and read the stories of what people have done as an entrepreneurial activity with eBay stores to make bazillions of dollars.

They're inspiring stories. And I think you might, if I were in your shoes, what you're describing with the funk is you might need a little inspiration. You might need a little thing. If I see somebody else do it, it makes me believe I might be able to do it, you know? Right. And so, I i remember i remember reading one on there i don't remember what the numbers were but the guy did like a million dollars

in volume and used golf clubs he would go because golf clubs won't sell for nothing i mean used golf clubs are just dirt right so he would go to garage sales and buy them for five dollars polish them all up you know get the steel wool out and shine them up and take really good pictures and put them on his ebay store and sell them for a hundred bucks and he ended up doing a million dollars and i believe it was a million dollars in used golf clubs there might have been more but you can look that story up it's out there floating around it's an old story didn't happen last week but um i mean stuff like that you know you can do all kinds of stuff if you believe you can and if you got enough reason

to enough motivation and dude you got the motivation i'm trying to get it i'm i mean you got desperation it's getting there the desperation is motivation i found you well i'm honored because of you my car is sitting in the driveway with a dead clutch because I won't put it on a credit card. Good. And I thank you for that. You're welcome. And let's get her fixed, though, and let's get this eBay thing going. I want to get your income up and get you winning again. Hold on. I'm going to send you a copy of our book, Entree Leadership, which is about business and starting and running a business. I don't know that you necessarily need to start some big, huge operation,

but something you and your wife can do to turn some money, whether it's eBay or Etsy, I don't care. Some way to turn some money in is your biggest and best mathematical hope. That's where your mathematical hope will come from. You don't borrow anymore, period. You've already drawn that line in the sand. Good for you. And then we find some way to increase our income,

which makes the sun shine in the windshield because there's storm clouds in the rearview mirror. But that's in the past. Let's drive away from it. Drive away from the storm towards the sun. And that's what we're all trying to do, learning from our mistakes. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Emmanuel is on Twitter.

Dave, what do you think of investment apps like Acorns and Stash? I think they're cute. I mean, Acorns is you round up. These round up things are you save a nickel, you save a quarter. By the way, if you save a little bit, you're going to have in your account a little bit by definition. And so the danger of something like that, they're not bad. I mean, it's okay. But if that's your only retirement plan plan

on eating dog food because if you save a nickel in a quarter you're going to have a nickel in a quarter well it adds up well not too much i mean you start saving 15 of your freaking income seven eight ten thousand dollars a year which is not what these are leading you to do. That's how you become, you reach, you know, everyday millionaire status. And you can do that, but not if you think you're doing something, which is the danger of these little apps. It makes you feel like, oh, I'm saving money in Acron. I don't have to worry about it. Check that box.

Money saved. I'm done. Move on to the next thing. Let's go buy something. We're saving money in Acron. Save my nickel. Save my quarter. I mean, if you're saving more than that using one of those apps fine i'll shut up about it but most people aren't they're they're very the very premise of those is that you just round up and you save your you know it's like saving the money out of your

change jar or something back when we used to get change back when people used to use real cash like I still do. And so, anyway, they're not bad unless it causes you to emotionally check the I saved money box so I don't have to, which would lead you down a path you don't want to go to. So I want you to save more money than they're suggesting. If you want to do that too, that's okay. It's fine. I don't use them. More trouble than it's worth for a nickel, as far as I'm concerned.

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Sarah's in Utah. My husband and I are firm believers in the financial principles you teach. We have some intense financial goals that have the house paid off within five years, and we're living off of beans and rice and limiting our activities that cost a lot of money. My husband's family does not practice the same financial principles we want to follow and don't respect our decision to live such a restrictive budget. They pressure us to go on expensive trips, eat out with them, and spend money on activities that are way out of our budget how do we help them understand and respect our financial choices

um you can't they don't you just gotta do what you're gonna do now i will give you clarification on this, Sarah. I don't teach people when they're in baby steps four, five, and six to be on beans and rice and have absolutely no vacations and do nothing with money. Now, if you want to do that, that's okay. I'm not mad at you for being intense and wanting to get your house paid off in five years. I love the goal. But what we teach is beans and rice, rice and beans, scorched earth, no lifestyle in baby steps one through three. Until you're debt-free and have an emergency fund in place, you should be petrified and

go crazy. You ought to be terrified and go crazy until you get that foundation laid. Once that's laid and then you start putting 15% away for retirement, saving for kids' college, and baby step six is pay off the house, you're also making some purchases and have increased your lifestyle, let the foot off the gas a little bit, so to speak, during those baby steps. And typically people even doing that are paying off their home in about seven or eight years. That's the typical thing we find with the total money makeover baby steps. So that's a point of clarification that, um, you know, I want you to, I don't want you doing what you're doing and say, it's because Dave Ramsey said, do it. Cause it's, I don't, I don't,

that's not what we teach. And so it's okay. I don't think you're wrong, but I think you're pretty extreme. And you said you're extreme. Now now if you want to do something extreme um and your family doesn't understand that's just called being a grown-up i mean if you don't make some choices that are different than your family agrees with i don't think you are a grown-up. Everybody makes choices. My kids make choices that are different than I would do in different things. And I don't control or run their lives, and I love them where they are. I have family members that vote for the wrong party, and I love them anyway. So, and I'm not going to respect their choice on that because i disagree with it i think

it's brain damage and that by the way they think i'm brain damaged and they still love me so it's okay you know i mean that's just it but but if they can't respect you versus your choices and give you room to live your life, then they have issues. They're called boundary issues. And so, you know, guys, this is what we're doing. And we love you all, and we're sorry if you don't understand, but this is what we've chosen to do. And if you think we're a little crazy, we're okay with that. We're the crazy cousins.

Just say that. It's okay. Most family has crazy in it somewhere. You know, if you don't think there's crazy in your family, it's probably you. Everybody's a little crazy somewhere. You know, it's all right. It's all right. It's all right.

We can love you right where you are. That's what we're going to do. And so bottom line is I can't make people respect me or my choices. That's a choice that is theirs to respect me or my choices. That's a choice that is theirs to respect me. Or my choices. And, you know, it's not, I mean, in a situation the other day, I can't remember where I was. Where was I? I was doing something with one of my buddies who's very wealthy.

And they wouldn't take a credit card, and neither one of us had one. And we were both laughing because we've got the money to buy the store you know but we can't do business i can't think where was i but it was like you know well this guy has a right to decide how to run his business he owns a business but i have the right to decide i'm not going to borrow using i don't have a credit card and so i can't i can't go in there you know i can't go in there. I can't help you with this. I can't do business with you. So it's just, you know, you have to just, the part of the breakdown and the civility

and the way people interact with each other and families and, for that matter, in society is everybody claims it's tolerance, but it's not tolerance at all. Tolerance is I'm going to let you do what you want to do. I'm not going to make you do something. But on the other hand, you're not going to make me do something. That's tolerance. But, I mean, we've renamed tolerance to where I want you to do what I want you to do, and then I'm going to call that tolerant because I am the ultimate arbitrator of morality. And so I'm going to tell you what you're going to do. And that's

where civility starts to break down in families and in our culture today. Big time. Big time. Crystal is in the The Ramsey Baby Steps community, and that's the private Facebook group that you can join if you ask for it and jump on there. It is the official Ramsey Facebook group, and there's some fun stuff going on in there. My mother-in-law constantly has to borrow money. She's not disabled.

She's not elderly. She works full-time and splits rent with a friend. She always needs money, and that's my husband, her son, and he can't tell her no. What should I do? Go down to Walmart on aisle three and buy your husband a backbone. That's what you need to do. This is not a mother-in-law problem this is a man problem he needs to man up he can't tell his mommy no oh well it's family you're supposed to stick up for family no you're not if your family's doing cocaine, you don't give them the money to do cocaine.

It's family. It's family. A new family. Family. Family. That's what people say when they're blindly supporting stupidity and misbehavior. And that's all this is. This woman is lazy, and she's disorganized, and she is a travel agent for guilt trips, and your husband buys the ticket.

No boundaries. Another boundary question there, by the way. And get Dr. Henry Cloud on here. We haven't had him on here in a while. You know, come on, Henry, help us with these boundaries, right? He's a lot nicer about boundaries than I am. I'm pretty brutal about them. So, yeah, your husband needs a backbone, so he looks at his mom and says no.

Because he's not helping her. When he gives her money, he's harming her. Because he's funding her delusion that her life is okay. He's funding her misbehavior. He's funding her not fixing what's wrong with her life. And I want her to fix what's wrong. I want her to be healed. I want her to fix what's wrong. I want her to be healed. I want her to win.

And so if I'm going to give her money, I'm going to force behavior change that helps her and causes her to be wealthy later. And I'm going to give her a leg up towards that with money. But I'm not going to support her misbehavior because I'm too wussified to tell my mommy no. Man, we have a manhood crisis, don't we? Kathy is on Facebook. They currently have Primerica Life Insurance. It's not listed at Zander, so I wanted to know if you recommend it. It claims to provide coverage until age 95.

We plan to raise our coverage as our finances get better. Is this good or should I look elsewhere? Primerica sells term life insurance, and that's good. It is expensive term life insurance, and that's bad. So if you were to want to buy life insurance, you know, 15-, 20-year-level term life insurance, and you go to Zander Insurance and you price it out, you will find it to be the cheapest

because they're going to shop among a gazillion of the best and cheapest companies out there. And what Primerica does is great. They sell term life insurance, and they sell investments in mutual funds, and that's all fine. But I'm not a fan of the actual products that they sell, and I do not endorse them, no. And that's why they're not listed on Zander. Because their prices aren't any good.

It's that simple. It's just like State Farm. You wouldn't buy a term from State Farm. You wouldn't buy a term from Nationwide. Their term sucks. It's very expensive. And so you can do much better at Zander Insurance. It's not just because they're my advertiser.

It's a math thing. Just go look at the price. Pretty simple. Zanderinsurance.com. You get a quick, easy quote. They don't sell your name to 14 people and you're going to get the best deal. That was easy. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. In Los Angeles, LaVoyle is with us. Hi, LaVoyle. How are you?

I'm all right. And yourself? Better than I deserve, sir. How can I help? All right. Well, I don't have no homes or investments but i've saved up some money i'll probably like between 40 and 50 000 and i don't really have any debt but i was just wondering with the knowledge you have today if you was in my position what would be your first move as far

as investment way to go dude well done what's your household income? Depending on how well I work, between $3,000 to $8,000 a month. Okay, excellent. Very good. And you have $40,000 cash, and you do not own a home, and you do not have any debt. No. Very good. We don't have credit, neither, though. I've kind of been living under the radar.

Yeah, well, that's not a bad thing. The good news is you're not calling me up paying a bunch of debt payments, so that's good news. Well done. Well done. Well, we teach folks the steps to building wealth. They're called the baby steps, and the first step is to become debt-free, and you have done that.

Baby step three, then, is to have an emergency fund just for rainy days of three to six months of household expenses. So what's it take your household to operate in a month? About a couple grand or three grand or what? But for the whole month, I would say budget in $2,000 a month. Okay. And so if we said $3,000, then three to six months of expenses would be $9,000 to $18,000. Somewhere in there would be your emergency fund. For the fun of it, if we wanted to round that and say $10,000 is set aside to do nothing, you never touch that money unless it really starts raining in your life

and you have a real problem. Okay? What? That's your rainy day fund, and that would leave you $30,000 to do something else with. Have you thought about buying a home? Yeah, of course. I just know that's not enough money to do it.

But, yeah, I've been listening, and what I heard, real estate is the way to go. Well, owning a home long-term is the way to go. You live in an expensive market, obviously, and it's going to be very difficult to do there. So, you know, I'd start exploring what you're going to need for your down payment. We know we've got $30,000 of it, and how much can we save up? And then if you did a mortgage no more than a 15 year fixed rate mortgage where the payment is no more than a fourth of your take-home pay and um that that's what we're

going to start working towards and you can get a mortgage you're going to have to have paid taxes on all your income it can't be off the grid as far as that goes. You have to be able to prove your income. And if you can prove that income for two years with no credit score whatsoever, you go to Churchill Mortgage, and they'll help you do what's called a manual underwriting loan, a manually underwritten loan, which is no credit score, but you can prove. You know, you pay your landlord earlier on time. You can prove your stability on the job. And and obviously you can prove the cash in your income. And those things will get you into a traditional mortgage without any trouble. It's a little more trouble than just doing it by FICO score, but it's certainly not, you know, it's not undoable.

So I'd start working towards that. That'd be my next thing if I were in your shoes. And then somewhere around this discussion, you start investing for retirement. And if you need some help with that, you go to DaveRamsey.com and click on SmartVestor, and it'll drop down a list of the SmartVestor pros in your area that'll sit down with you, and help you get your Roth IRAs going, and let you start becoming an investor in some good mutual funds. But truthfully, LaVoyle, the way that we see most people become millionaires, as we've studied them for years and years and years, is that they steadily invest in their retirement

plans. They buy a home when and only when they can afford it and when they're debt-free and they stay out of debt. And then they turn around and get that house paid off in about 10 years or less. And so you work, you know, take that 15-year mortgage out and then work to pay it off early. And then you begin to really plow money into your 401K at work and or your, you know, from Roth IRAs and good-good-growth stock mutual funds.

Nyra is with us in Lexington, Kentucky. Hi, Nyra. How are you? I'm great. How are you doing, Dave? Better than I deserve. What's up in your world? Well, I'm a late bloomer, as you might say.

I'm 59 years old. I raised five children by myself. Just got the last one graduated last year. Woo-hoo! Yes. Thank you. Praise the Lord. But I had to refinance my house to help my children with their education so they didn't have to take out such large student loans. Presently, I own a home, but I owe still about $40,000 on it,

about eight and a half more years. And I'm 59, so do I stick it out and finish paying for this house, or do I sell it and rent for my last few years or what I do? What's your household income? About $35,000 to $40,000 a year. Okay. And you owe $40,000 on the house? Yes, sir.

That's all? Yes. And you don't have any other debt? I have a credit card with about $1,000 left on it. I've been working really hard at paying that off. But other than that, that's it. Have you cut it up? I have.

Good, good. Okay. And it's zero interest. Yeah. That doesn't mean we won't keep it. It's, you know, ugly is ugly. It doesn't matter just how ugly, right? Yes.

Okay. All right. So, no, I think you keep this house. You're 59. You make 40 grand. You only owe 40 000 bucks you did it kiddo i mean let's go ahead and get that 40 000 knocked out if you get that credit card knocked out let's get on a budget and get get focused but wouldn't it be cool in five years from now to have that house paid for it would be great it'd be 65 extra two or three hundred a month on the principal when i can No, you don't need to do it when you can. You need to do it all the time.

When you get you on a five-year plan, that's $8,000 a year for five years extra on this mortgage. It's got to go away because I want you to be 65 with that house paid for and no payments anywhere in the world in a paid-for house. That sets you up for pretty good retirement. Have you been saving anything for retirement? I have not my daughter had to um have heart surgery she had two strokes and she had to have heart surgery when she was younger so i had to take out all my 401k to be home with her wow so i only have about 15 000 in my 401k and i have my emergency emergency fund though i have about $15,000 in my 401K, and I have my emergency fund, though. I have about $14,000 saved in that.

Good, good. Okay, well, you're on the right track. Yeah, let's get this house paid off and plow some money towards your nest egg so that, you know, by the time you hit 70, you've got a nest egg and a paid-for house, and that's where you want to move towards, and you've got 10 years. So you can do this. This is very doable. Hold on.

I'm going to send you a copy of the book Retire Inspired by Chris Hogan, and that's what you're heading towards is I want you to retire inspired. And Zach will pick up, and he will get that out to you, okay? Eileen is with us in Kansas City. Hi, Eileen. How are you? Hi, Dave. I'm great. How are you?

Better than I deserve. What's up? Well, I'm calling to say that I am cash poor. I'm a retired widow and debt-free. House is paid

for. Have a lot of savings. About $650,000, and the house is worth about $275,000. So there's $925,000. How old are you? I'm 74. So why are you cash poor? You have $650,000. Well, it's in IRA and an annuity.

Yeah, but you can start taking income off of that. I get paid monthly from those. You can start taking a really nice income off of that. Well, I take I get about $1,700 a month from those two. On $600,000? Well, that's after taxes

a month. That sucks. That's horrible. Well, yeah. Well, the way it's set up... I tell you what, you hold on. We come back from this break. I want to help you because you're getting hammered. All right, this is talking with Eileen in Kansas City, and she is a retired widow. You said, again, you're 74, is that right?

Correct. And you have $650,000 invested. And you have a home that's worth about $275,000. And the 650 is currently paying you $1,700 per month. After taxes. Okay. Now, let's do some basic. And my social is about $23,000, $25,000 a month.

Okay, good. My Social Security. So I'm getting about $48,300, and that's plenty to live on. But I don't have the cash for the big items that I can see coming up, such as the house will need to be painted. I'm thinking around 8,000. I have about 10 windows that are original to the house that need to be replaced.

I'd like to travel. And my car is a 2002. And the $650,000, you said some of it is in an annuity? It is. Half of it is in an annuity, and half of it is in an IRA managed funds with Fidelity. Everything's with Fidelity. Okay. Do you have an advisor?

I do. Okay. And why has your advisor not done, well, let's kind of walk through this for a second, okay? If this money were invested the way I would have it invested if I were in your shoes, I don't do investing for other people, okay? I just teach. But we're invested in a series of good growth stock mutual funds. I'm 57.

Mine's invested one-fourth each in growth, growth and income, aggressive growth, and international. At 74, if you wanted to be a little more conservative, you could substitute the aggressive growth for a balance. But either way, you should be earning north of 10% on that money. 10% of $650,000 is $65,000 a year. You're currently pulling $18,000. You're getting hosed.

Wow. Okay. So what do I do? Yeah, if you had $5,000 a month coming in instead of $1,700, a lot of the things you just asked me about would be solved just out of your monthly budget. Am I right? Absolutely. Absolutely.

So if you're $650. Well, the way they've got it set up, the money should last me until I'm in my 90s before I ran out of money. That sucks, too. Okay, and here's why. If $650,000 is making 10%, that's $65,000, right? Mm-hmm. Yes. Did we touch the $650,000? No.

You should be getting $65,000 off of this, and the money lasts forever. You follow me? Well, I'm not making 10%. I know. I can tell. And I'm thinking this annuity must be sitting in a stupid fixed annuity, and you're probably making CD rates on half of your investment portfolio, which is ludicrous.

Well, it's going to be, this October will be, I believe, five years, and I can take that money out without any penalties. That's exactly right, and you're going to. And you're probably going to leave this investment advisor. You need to get somebody that teaches you and shows you what to do. You're smart enough to make these decisions by yourself with some guidance, and that's what an advisor does. They don't do it for you.

They don't tell you what to do. They make suggestions and teach you, and you decide what to do. Now, if I were in your shoes, I would start shopping and learning about how I can invest this money so that I have a better monthly income that does not destroy the goose that's laying the golden eggs. The goose is the $650,000. We don't want to touch that, but I want the income that it's producing to be a lot larger without ever touching that and without it absolutely being destroyed by the time you're 90. That's just crazy land.

Okay. So here's what I want you to do. I don't know where to find an advisor that's going to help me that I can trust. Number one, you're going to trust them only to do one thing, and that's teach you. So the person I trust with your money is you. I don't want you to hire a babysitter, a full-time nanny for your money. I want you to hire somebody to teach you and then together, based on their guidance and you understanding what you're going to do, not because Dave Ramsey said or not because an advisor said, but you're going to make the decision because this money was given to you to manage by God,

and you're going to make that decision. So the way we put together, we have a network of investment advisors that we recommend. They do not work for me, but I endorse them. And the way we choose them is that they, number one, have to have that heart of a teacher because I want you to learn. Are you okay with that? Yes number one, have to have that heart of a teacher because I want you to learn. Are you okay with that? Yes.

Okay, good. Because you already know pretty good what you got. I can tell. Well, I know what I have. My husband, who passed away about six and a half years ago, was the one that took care of our investments. And he did invest the money himself and manage it. Me, I don't know enough about the stock market.

I mean, I know you have to diversify. I understand all that. But right now, I'm paying for advisory fees. Okay. I don't mind paying for advisory fees, but here's what I think happened, okay? I think when he passed away, you guys just kept doing whatever was being done before, and you never questioned it. It's kind of been on autopilot, and you're called to me because you can't even paint

your house, and you're a millionaire. You can't even go on a trip, and you're a millionaire, and so your even go on a trip. That's my problem. Yeah, you can't even go on a trip and you're a millionaire. And so your call to me is autopilot ain't working. It's time to take the wheel again. You've seen all these autopilot cars are crashing, haven't you? Yeah, we need to drive our own car. That's what we need to do. And I'm not shaming you.

I think you're a very bright lady. So here's what you need to do. Go to DaveRamsey.com. Click on SmartVestor. You'll put in a little bit of information. It'll drop down a list of the SmartVestor pros in your area. And, Eileen, let me just tell you, you have a good BS detector. And if you sit down any time with anyone,

including if Dave Ramsey endorses them, and you feel like you need to take a shower after you meet with them, then you need a different person. Don't be slimed, okay? Sit down with them and get a good feeling, a sense of trust, but not blind trust. Do they have the heart of a teacher? Do you leave the meeting understanding things that you didn't understand before the meeting?

That's called I learned, which means you were in the presence of a teacher. If you don't learn something every time you meet with your investment advisor, something's wrong. You should learn something that you didn't know before. Their job is to teach you to make your own decisions. That's their job. They're an advisor. That's what that means. They give advice.

And so click on SmartVestor, and it'll drop down a list of them. Meet with more than one if you want. Take your time. There's nothing on fire here. But, darling, you are not broke, and you shouldn't be living like you're broke. I'm not trying to get you to be a spendthrift and blow all your money, but you need to be enjoying your life a little bit. You guys worked really, really hard all your lives, you and your husband,

to get to this point, and he had you set up to be taken care of, and they're starving you to death per month right here. You're getting hosed. So go get some other advice and learn, learn, learn, learn, learn, learn. And I'm going to move some of this money around if I'm you, and I'm going to invest it a little differently so that it's giving me a better rate of return so I can live off of the returns without destroying the principle. Now, what I gave you was an example. I'm not saying you get 10% off of the returns without destroying the principle. Now, what I gave you was an example.

I'm not saying you get 10% off of this. But my point was to do some easy math here on the radio and give you an example of what you could do and why you're way off receiving only $18,000 a year of income off of $650,000. Wow. Ouch. Thanks to James Childs and Zach Bennett in the booth taking care of business today.

I am Dave Ramsey, your host, and you are listening to The Dave Ramsey Show. This is James Childs, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show. Did you know you can now listen to The Dave Ramsey Show on Pandora and Spotify? For all the ways to watch and listen, check out our show page at Daveveramsey.com slash show.