The Ramsey Show - App - You Have to Own the Problem to Fix the Problem (Hour 1)

Episode Date: June 14, 2019

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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 talk about your life and your money. I'm sitting in for Dave. I'm Chris Hogan, and I'm happy to be with you, America. We are going to dive in and deal with the money questions that you have that I know are on the top of your mind. I'm going to shoot you straight and give you the information that you need so you can push forward to get the results that you desire. But guess what? I need to hear from you. So if you've got a question, call us.

The number to call is 888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225. Call us. Get in here. I'd love to hear from you. All right, I'm diving on the phones. I've got Troy in Bloomington, Illinois. Troy, how are you?

I'm doing well. How are you? Oh, I'm focused and not finished, my friend. How can I help you today? So we're looking at our debt, and we've looked at the EveryDollar app, and we have it on our computer. And we're familiar with the Baby Steps and Dave Ramsey. We have started reading.

We're about halfway through the Total Money Makeover. Okay. And we're just feeling overwhelmed. Okay. And so we're just, we don't know really where to start at. We have our debts and stuff listed. All right. Troy, tell me this. Tell me this.

How much debt do you all have right now? About $68,000. Okay. And I like the fact that you know, okay. Cause the first step to dealing with something is understanding it. So break that down for me. What is this 68,000 consist of? Um, we have, uh, some student loans. Do you want to mount or tell me how much the student loans? Yeah. Tell me how much you owe in student loans. Student loans are like $9,000. Okay. And then we have about $15,000 in personal loans, $20,000 between two cars. Okay. And we have just some things in collections and stuff that we've just included as part of our debt, which is about $7,500. Okay.

The items in collections, are those medical debts or these old credit card debts what are they uh it's a variety of things okay um there's some uh there's a couple of credit cards in there and uh just some old bills uh utility bills just when I lost my job a couple years ago. Okay. Are you getting collection calls? Are you getting collection calls? No, I'm not getting any calls from them. Actually, well, I will say there was almost $10,000 on there.

Okay. And so I've settled a couple of them okay and so i i have paid um a couple of them down but now that we're kind of like looking at everything and kind of going trying to go forward with the program we just we don't know where to jump off from okay in the settlement because settling requires cash is that where some of these personal loans came from no no um those we were just like we you know pulling extra money together and it's like okay we'll see if they'll take this amount. And then, like Dave says, get it in writing and all that stuff. Oh, yeah.

And then we just did a wire through. We did one of those prepaid parts, like he says, and did it that way so they didn't have access to our bank account and such. Okay. So the personal loans were used for what? Is that just everyday expenses? What were you using that money for everyday expenses um like i said i had lost my job and stuff and so we're paying on them they're current but you know the interest and all that oh yes not really gaining any ground on them not not as much as we want and i feel like we should be doing more because after listening to the show and the podcast and everything, we just we want to do more.

We just really don't know where to go after we have like all of this stuff compiled. OK, now let me ask you, you say we. So are you married? Yes. OK. Married my five kids. Five kids. You all are busy. Yeah. Married my five kids. Five kids. You all are busy.

Yeah. Yeah. Everybody's in sports. Okay. What are the ages? Give me the age range of the kids. Um, 16, uh, almost 17. She'll be 17 in August.

We have two, two 14 year olds. Um, one is mine. One is hers, but they're ours. 12-year-old and 8-year-old. Okay. Now, I'm asking you about this because those five kids are your five reasons why you and your wife want to get this situated. Do you follow me? Yes.

And the two of you being on the same page is going to be absolutely imperative. So, typically, Troy, in a relationship, you've got one that's a spender and one that's a saver. Which one are you? I'm the saver. I'm usually, like, throttling her back whenever we go to the grocery store. Like, hey, let's stick to the list. This is what we have. Okay.

And so that's where we're at. But, you know, being honest, I impulse buy some. And it's not large items, but if I nickel and dime those impulse buys, they add up to a lot. They sure do. They sure do. It's both of us. Okay. There you go. See, that's part of being able to fix it, lot. They sure do. It's both of us. Okay, there you go.

See, that's part of being able to fix it, Troy. Listen to me. Being able to fix it is owning it and understanding that better is available. And that's where you guys are right now. And I like this spot because this is where you can start to make some changes. So the reality is,

is the two of you getting together, sitting down, budgeting, sitting down talking about this stuff, laying out the plan of what you're going to do. The getting started is going to be listing out these debts. We use the debt snowballs, what we talk about. We're going to attack them smallest to biggest. Now, these things that are in collections right now, I want you to leave those alone. OK, leave leave those alone right now.

What I want you to turn your attention to, you're going to list them out smallest to biggest. So you've got nine thousand in student loans, fifteen thousand right now in personal loans. And you'd break those down and then you have the cars. And so you're going to list the debts out smallest to biggest, making minimum payments on everything else except for the smallest one. Because, Troy, getting out of debt, it's not about math. Don't talk to me about interest rate. Don't want to hear it. It's about the size of the debt. Because when you attack that little one, you start to believe that you can do this. And the beauty is, is that your momentum will pick up as

you guys get on the same page and talk about it. But the other side for you all, it's not just controlling you, but you've got five kids, 17, 16, two 14-year-olds, 12, and 8. So you've got kids that are involved. Well, guess what? As part of this, the 17, 16, and even the 14-year-olds, they need to understand that mom and dad are trying to clean up some stuff. And so you're going to have to use a word that's a complete sentence. It's not thought of much these days. As a parent, you know what that word is, Troy? It's no. And when you get focused like that, you start working together, things can change. So I'm going to send you and your wife the gift of Financial Peace University. This is a nine-week course where we help people take control

of their money situation because it's possible and you can do this. You guys have the mindset and the focus. Now you just need the plan. And we've had 5 million families go through this process and it works. You can do this. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Are high health care costs getting you down? Are you confused trying to navigate your options? Do you wish you could find an affordable biblical solution to your healthcare costs? Based on New Testament principles, Christian Healthcare Ministries, or CHM, helps Christian families, churches, and ministries join together as the body of Christ to share their major

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Hello, America. I'm Chris Hogan. You are listening to The Dave Ramsey Show. I am filling in for the big man, but we are still taking your calls and talking about the money questions that are on your mind. Previously, I was talking to Troy in the last segment and was really talking about the mindset that's required to really get started. And I want you to know the first thing that you have to do if you want better for yourself is you have to decide that you can. You have to acknowledge that better is available. And then when you change and start to understand that you believe better is available and you start to grow in your knowledge, you can take the right kinds of actions to improve your financial situation

right now. Today, we've got an outstanding group out in the lobby. I've got people from Australia and Wisconsin. I've got some Packer fans out there. I think they were trying to put a cheese head on me. I wouldn't do it, right? I would not because they didn't have one. But if they did, I'd have thrown it on. So if you're ever in the area, I want you to come by and see us here in the lobby and get coffee and cookies and just hang out with us because we'd love to hear you and love to

see you so we're going back to the phones if you've got a question i want to hear from you the number to call is 888-825-5225 again that's 888-825-5225 i've got elizabeth on the line that is talking and has a question about some adult kids. Elizabeth, how can I help you? Hi, Chris. Thanks for taking my call. Yes, thank you. My daughter and son-in-law put in an offer on a house, and the offer fell through. So they said, can we come and live with you for a while? And we said yes.

Now we're kind of second-guessing that we agreed to do that. Right now, my son-in-law has a good-paying job with insurance, and they're renting, and they would give up those things to come and live with us, and now we're starting to think the main reason that they want to do that is just my son-in-law doesn't like his job. Okay. So now what should we do? Uh-oh. Okay, so hold on elizabeth so this situation

hasn't happened yet right nope we're thinking july 1st okay july 15th around there oh you said we i know you have a mouse in your pocket so you and your husband are on the same page with this yes yep yeah after we said yes we thought we need we need to think about this again. Okay. Tell me this real quick. How's the relationship between you and your daughter? Pretty good. Not great. Okay. On a scale of one to ten, give me a ranking.

Six or seven. Okay. All right. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. So you and your husband both talked about this. You all agreed to it, and now you're having second thoughts. That's right. Okay here here's the deal i the fact that you're having second thoughts i had second thoughts as soon as you told me about it okay my hair on my head because i only have one

elizabeth it started wiggling okay so here's here's what i would do in this situation you have their game he's gainfully employed the house house offer fell through so now they're looking for a fallback plan i think the most important thing for you and your husband to do right now is to put some parameters on this okay and this conversation with you and your husband is needs to be just that you're not ready to have this other talk with your daughter yet you and your husband being on the same page and really understanding are we okay with this because guess what if you're not it's the time to discuss that and really be open and honest but i think another thing is let's say you all agree to do this i it needs to be for a specified period of time. You said a while. A while makes me nervous.

Okay, because 20, listen, Y2K was a while ago. It was like almost 20 years ago. You feel, all right, you hear me. So I would talk about how long is this going to be? Is it 30 days? Is it two months? And then talk about the dollar amount that they're going to be contributing to the household. What are they paying you, right? What are're going to be contributing to the household. What are they paying you?

Right. What are they paying to be able to live there? And so I really want you and your husband to take some time and really think this through because people make this mistake a lot. And without parameters, it can end up fragmenting and really frustrating everyone involved. Your daughter and her husband, do they have kids? Yep. I have two children, my two granddaughters. Okay, all right.

And so you're talking about four people entering into your home, okay? That's not a visit, okay? That happens over the weekend. When they move in, that's an invasion. Yes. Yes. And I think it's okay for you guys, you and your husband, to talk about this and really think, is this something we want to do?

And if not, I think it's okay for you all to go back to the daughter and say, you know what? We've been thinking this through, and this is something we're not comfortable with, or this is not okay. Now, I need you to be aware, she may throw a hissy fit. She may get upset. Yeah, she will. Okay, see, you know her, and you and your husband need to be okay with that as long

as you all are on the same page. But if it's going to be done, I'm definitely going to do it, Elizabeth, with some parameters. 30 days, 90 days, whatever it is, a definitive understanding and clarity, because without a lack of clarity, that's where things can get muddled. And I think it's better to deal with it on the front end than to try to do cleanup later. And so, again, if they're renting front end than to try to do cleanup later. And so, again, if they're renting, they can go month to month right now. You know, if they're trying to buy a home and he doesn't like his current job, he's got his priorities mixed up. First and foremost, you need to get into the house that they're buying, and then he can deal with the job later.

So I just I want to caution you with this. And you and your husband have a conversation quickly so you guys can get on the same page and you can begin to really understand what are we going to do as we move forward? We might not be okay with this. So again, definitely have a conversation and be proactive. All right, going to continue on the lines. I got Tony on the phone. Tony, how are you? Just fine, Chris. Thanks for taking my call. Yes, sir. How can I help you today? I have one quick question. My son has just got a full-time job. Well, it's been about almost three years going on.

Okay. And he has an option of a Roth and a traditional in his 401K. Mm-hmm. And he's put 6% in each one. I just want to know would it be better to go 12% in one or the other or just leave it the way it is? Okay. Thank you for your question. So the sun is starting to work, getting focused, trying to plan for the future. I'm going to definitely, let's talk about this real quick because the difference between the two, you've got the traditional 401k. This is a pre-tax function.

This is where you're putting money in there's no taxes taken out and later when you start to pull the money out at 59 and a half without penalties and fees you will pay taxes on that money then all right so that's a pre-tax function the roth 401k is an after-tax dollars so whenever i hear roth america i get tingly i do i just i feel happy right because we're talking about tax-free money. This money is going to grow. The government can't touch it anymore. They've already messed with it and you've already paid taxes, right? With Roth, it grows tax-free. So if you have the option in a job between a Roth 401k and a traditional 401k, I'm going to point you to Roth, right? The tax-free

opportunity is there. It's going to grow for you and no more Uncle Sam. So you said your son right now is contributing 6% to both. Here's what I need him to do. I just need him to just bump it up a little bit because we want to be investing 15% of your household income toward retirement. So bump it up to 15%, use the Roth 401k, and this young man is going to be on a path to becoming an everyday millionaire without a doubt. So that's the route to go. Now, what he has already contributed to the traditional 401k, leave it alone. Just make the adjustment, shift toward the Roth 401k and get to 15%. And this young man is well on his way. All right, America,

that's a big, big difference. So if you're out there right now and you're like, Hogan, I don't know if my company offers a Roth 401k. I want you to get down to the benefits office and let's have a conversation. Find out if that's available. If it is, just make the switch. Leave the money alone. You can roll that. If you're still with the same company, leave it there in the traditional. It's fine. But if you ever leave a company, I want you to roll that 401k over into an IRA because you want your money to follow you so you're able to stay focused and get the things done that you need to get done.

It's a big step. And oftentimes, people are nervous about this, and they don't know how to have the conversations. Just remember, Dave and I have people out there that we trust. They're called SmartVestor Pros. These are people that will walk with you and talk you through all of your situation as far as investing. And they're great people. You know, we only work with and find people that have the heart of a teacher, which means they're trying to help you get to your goals.

They're not trying to sell you stuff, right? And we've all been around people like that, that are trying to push something on you. We don't want to push anything on you. We want people that are going to guide you. So they're all across the country. All you have to do is go to DaveRamsey.com or go to ChrisHogan360.com and you can find someone in your area that'll walk you through and talk you through exactly where you are. They're capable and they're ready and willing and able to serve you right where you are. This is capable and they're ready and willing and able to serve you right where you are. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. Hello, America. You are listening to The Dave Ramsey Show.

I'm Chris Hogan, filling in for Dave. And we've been diving in and taking your questions. I know you've got things on your mind. So if you've got a question about money that you want to talk about or just get some clarity on, I want you to give us a call. The number to call is 888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225. Or feel free to hit us up on social. At Dave Ramsey Show, at at ramsey show we're there for

you you can find us send it submit it in we'd love to be able to hear from you and talk with you so i'm going back to the phones i've got kathy on the line kathy how are you well i'm good it's been a rough week but um that's why i'm calling how are you you, Chris? Oh, I'm doing okay. What happened this week? Okay. My husband had gotten into a car accident. He was rear-ended. Oh, my. And right before that accident, we actually were together at a doctor's appointment where it was an orthopedic surgeon,

and he's going to need KS3 tears in his shoulder, and they're going to have to go in and do surgery. Okay. So I think in the end the car is going to be totaled. It's actually a Dave car. It's a 2007 Santa Fe. And, in fact, we even put more work on it last week because there was a possible catalytic converter and oxygen sensor issue. Okay.

So we spent a good part. Well, our emergency fund is exhausted because since April we put $2,000 on the car that is most likely going to be totaled. And then two weeks ago, we had a water heater go out, and that was a $500 replacement. Okay. On the horizon next week, my daughter, she's six, is going to need her tonsils and adenoids removed. In fact, I just got a call from them about a couple hours ago, and I'm due to go into the clinic and talk about the bill because the insurance is $175 copayment. They want about $600 plus the copayment up front, so $775. It's going to be about $1,500 altogether.

Why are they asking for it up front? You know, I don't know, and I'm not sure because of Illinois and just bills not being paid of those that may be on the Medicaid here. I mean, it seems like it's everywhere you go into a doctor's office in the state. They really want a lot up front. Even if you go in for an outpatient procedure in the hospital, I mean, we're just going to like a surgical center. Right. Well, I mean, the main thing, you all have insurance, right? Yes, we do.

Well, they can have preferences with what they want. It's a matter of what the law says. And so, you know, so anyway, let's back up. So let's acknowledge you. A lot going on. Kathy, you absolutely have a lot going on. Were either of you hurt with a car accident or was just the car injured? My husband's just a little sore, but I mean, he's doing okay um our daughter the one that's going to have the tonsillectomy next week uh she was in the back and she's okay too okay all right

that's first and foremost yeah um and and and the vehicle it being totaled you all had did you have insurance on the vehicle yes okay yeah and they they uh the insurance company hasn't come out and said that but uh the call today from the body shop said, you know what, this is going to be totaled. Okay. So you all have had a lot going on. What baby step are you all on? Two, but we're always teetering between one and two.

Okay. Okay. All right. And, you know, the main thing is, is A, I'm glad that you had some money there with baby step one, but dealing with the hot water tank. Right. And now, you know, the car issue and the car repairs right now, what you're doing is you're trying to get some breathing room and and you have a lot going on. And it gets so frustrating because you don't feel like you're gaining any traction.

And I want you to just take a deep breath here. And we got to prioritize things with our emotions. And the emotions are is number one, we've got to take care of your daughter and we've got to get your husband taken care of. Okay. First and foremost, and the issue with the car that's going to get resolved.

You got insurance and this doctor's office or whoever it is, that's asking for 700 down for the tonsillectomy don't take a look at just the laws you've got insurance i'd contact the insurance company and then the co-pay yeah you have to pay that and and let them take care of whatever else is left but right now you got to make sure that you're breathing and you understand this is just one of them phases you know, Murphy will move in and try to camp out and cause all kinds of drama. But the main thing is, is that you only you can only take care of things at one step at a time. And I want you to just breathe you and your husband first and foremost. As you all look at this and you go, boy, when you need some some some to be uplifted, I want you to tell him so he can support you,

and you can support him when he's down. But you guys got to approach this stuff as a team. It's so important, and I want you to talk with him and let him know when you're frustrated. Are you guys plugged into a church in your area at all? Yes. Okay, I'm glad because you let them know too, you know, so they can come around you and just say, hey, you know what? We're thinking about you. Okay, I'm glad. Because you let them know too, so they can come around you and just say,

hey, you know what? We're thinking about you. We're praying for you. Because this does get frustrating when you don't feel like you can ever make progress. But I want you to hear this. This will pass. You're going to be able to get your daughter taken care of,

get those tonsils out. Your husband's going to get his shoulder fixed. And you guys are going to be able to buckle in because you now know the importance of an emergency fund, don't you? Absolutely. And I just don't know if $1,000 is really enough in our situation. I understand.

No, I get it. And with the things that you've had go on, the $1,000 hasn't been enough. But here's the other side of it. How much debt do you guys have right now? $38,000 student loan, and we have medical of about $1,700. Okay. So the student loan, how much is going out to the student loan each month? $220.

Okay. So right now, what it is is you've got a debt issue, right? Yes. Because without that student loan there, you've got, you got a debt issue, right? Because without that student loan there, you know, you've got an opportunity to do some things. So job one is as you get this stuff taken care of, Kathy, job one is to get back and let's get that emergency fund boosted back up.

That means we're not eating out. We're not doing anything. There's not money being spent until that thousand dollars gets back because without the emergency fund, you end up using debt. You end up having to, to, to reach for a tool that's going to try to keep you in bondage. And that's exactly what debt does. So we want to build up the emergency fund back and then get focused on attacking the student loan debt. And then once you get that out of your life, now you can start

to build up a bigger emergency fund and baby step number three, because this is where we talk about having three to six months of expenses tucked away because life happens, car repairs, health issues, things pop up, and we've got to make sure that we have a cushion there between us and life. And that's the goal of that emergency fund. And Kathy, listen, if you're focused and you guys are intentional, I'm going to gift you Financial Peace University because you're going to go into that nine-week course and you have an opportunity to get plugged in and see that there are other people that are walking through those things too. But the big thing is that you've walked past it.

And so if you just stay focused, you and your husband keep working together, I promise you you're going to get through this. But you're going to get through it with what I call some wisdom. Because whenever you walk through a tough time, you can remind yourself that, hey, I've been through this or I've been through things like this before and I can make it through. And I know you can, but you just have to stay confident, stay focused and keep people around you that care about you to be able to think about you. So, Kathy, thank you so much for calling in.

I definitely appreciate your call. I got a message in on Twitter and someone says, this is Tana Grace from Facebook. She says, Chris, I know that we should do the baby steps in order, but it kind of freaks me out to only have $1,000 in my account. Kind of just like what I was just talking about with my friend Kathy. She says, I would be much more comfortable if I could do baby step three first and then do baby step number two. Baby step three is three to six months of expenses. Baby step two is attacking debt. She goes, I only I have a $60,000 student loan, 13,000 in credit cards and a $25,000 car loan.

Well, Tana Grace, I want you to hear me. You can do what you want to do. But if I'm serious and I'm focused, I'm going to follow the recipe. And the baby steps are ordered for a reason. Do them in order. Get intentional. I don't want you to be comfortable with that. I want you to get debt out of your life.

Evict it. It's a thief. So follow the baby steps. Do them in order. Attack debt, then build up the emergency fund. Don't you change the recipe. Don't do it. It tastes good and it's right because it's built the right way.

Do the job. Take the steps. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Hello, America. You are listening to The Dave Ramsey Show. No, Dave does not have a cold. This is Chris Hogan filling in for him. And I'm excited to have you. It's great to be here.

But I have to share with you an article. As I was going through and doing some reading and some research, this headline jumped out at me. And I knew I was going to click on it. Like I knew I was going to look at this because I needed to know more. Here's the headline. These Americans fled the country to escape their giant student loan debt. I did a double take. I said, I have to read this again.

These Americans fled the country to escape their giant student loan debt. This was from MSN. It says, this gentleman was considered living in a cave to escape his student debt. He had a friend that was doing it. But after some plotting, he settled on what he considered a less risky plan. This year, he relocated, get what he considered a less risky plan. This year, he relocated, get this, to a jungle in India. He said, I've put America behind me. Today, he lives in a concrete house in a village of, I'm not even going to try to pronounce it,

for $50 a month. His backyard is filled with coconut trees and chickens. He said, I saw four elephants the other day. He's more than 9,000 miles away from his home. He says his student loans don't feel real anymore. And, you know, this is unbelievable. The article goes on to say some student loan borrowers are packing their bags and fleeing from the U.S. to other countries where the cost of living is lower and debt collectors wield less power over them.

Um, this is absolutely absurd. Okay. I mean, it really is. Number one, I'm not living in a cave. All right.

I'm just, that's not going to happen. Um, where, you know, I'm going to have to like hunt down food, you know, or,

or something. This is crazy. And the mindset is I want people not to flee the country. I want them to free themselves from student loans. And so the best way to do that is to get serious about it, to get focused, and to really look at it and realize it's not a friend. It's not a family pet. It's something I need to attack and get it out of my life. But I mean, again, people might think about this and it seems like a rational idea initially,

but imagine being 9,000 miles away from your family, 9,000 miles away from your friends in a jungle. Okay. I mean, let's think about the jungle people. Okay. There are big mosquitoes out there. Okay. Massive massive big things and other creepy things climbing around and sliding around in the jungle it's not a way to proceed get intentional get focused list these debts get serious about this one lady went on to say that she'd moved out of the country her student loans were hovering around 60 000 after penalties and fees it's now around a hundred thousand dollarsiding the problem doesn't fix it, people. We've got to attack it. And so with student loan debt being a serious situation

nowadays, we're at $1.5 trillion in student loan debt as a country. Okay, $1.5 trillion. A recent article that I read said we have 1,200 people a day defaulting on student loans. 1,200 people a day, which means this is an epidemic. This is a serious situation, and people say it can't be fixed. Well, it can. I'm talking to people on the Chris Hogan Show, millennials, Gen X, Gen Y, even some baby boomers that have attacked and paid off debt. And what it takes is that you can't just sit around talking about it. You've got to make a decision. You've got to do some things.

You've got to start to sacrifice and realize that, hey, you know what? I'm going to get my money back. The $400 to $500 to $600 a month that's going out to student loans, what could I be doing for my financial future? What could I be doing for my family if I were just to get serious on this and for a couple years devote my time, energy, and attention to attacking this debt? I talked to a couple recently that paid off $92,000 in student loan debt. It took them two and a half years to do it. And what they did was is they said, Chris, we just reprioritize things.

They said, we found joy in doing some simple things, but anything related with money, we were very serious about it. And they set a three and a half year period of time, a goal, to be able to attack it. And they did it a year sooner. What that goes to show is when we make a decision and we get serious, we can devote our time and energy toward it, and it can happen. And the almost $2,000 a month that they were paying now is staying with them. And guess what they're doing? Now they're starting to save for their financial future. They're starting to save for their child's education.

They gave themselves a raise, America. And so that's not a surprise to me. It's more a matter of an indicator of what people can do when we make a decision. And I think we can get more focused than we ever thought possible. But we have to fix this thing. And again, if you're out there and you've got student loan debt, I want to encourage you that you can attack that. I'm seeing people do it, but you just have to commit to it. You start to plug in and you say, you know what?

I'm going to budget. I'm going to even work an extra job and devote the money from that job toward the debt. A friend of mine was serious about this. And you know what he did? Whenever he got the check from the second job, he didn't deposit it until he was ready to write the check immediately to pay it toward the debt, which meant he didn't want to let it just sit in the checking account. He didn't want it to just hang out.

He wanted it to go immediately toward the debt. And it's amazing what we can do when we make decisions. We live in the greatest country on the planet, in my opinion, where we can make a decision and start to act in the same day. We don't need anyone's permission. There is no permission slip required for us to dream bigger and to try harder for ourselves and for our family. And so what are you out there thinking of? What are you dreaming about that you want to do a little bit different? I firmly believe that this year can be the best financial year you've ever had if we make some decisions and then follow up those decisions with the right actions. And so it's just a matter of taking some steps and getting more focused over time to be intentional.

I got a question in from Mark from the Everyday Millionaire Facebook community, and he's asking a question about his pension. And he says, right now, the pension is frozen. He says, they've given us a couple of choices. We can let it sit until retirement age, or we can look at taking a lump sum payout or rollover. And so he wants to know, what do I do? There are some penalties, he says, if I take it out early. Well, Mark, here's the thing.

I'm going to first and foremost figure out why this thing is frozen and what's going on. So the best place to turn is to get with a smart investor pro so they can kind of look at their paperwork and help you walk through this and understand what's going on. The main thing is, is it frozen because of a certain issue that's going on with the company or is it frozen because the company is moving toward being insolvent? And by insolvent, meaning that they have an issue, potentially bankrupt or going out of business.

You need to know the details. So time is of the essence. I do want you to get the right information so you can make the right move. If you have the opportunity to get it out and to move, if this company is in trouble, then I do want you to take the withdrawal. I do want you to move that money and be able to invest it for yourself. So it's going to require a little bit more homework, a little bit more things to be able to look at doing.

And so you can do this. And a smart investor pro will gladly walk you through and guide you through that entire process. Well, listen, I want to thank you all for the questions we've dug in. We've talked about the importance of Financial Peace University, our nine-week course that can guide you and to help you make decisions about budgeting, about saving, and about investing. If you've not learned about that and you want this year to be your best financial year ever, I want you to go to DaveRamsey.com and check out Financial Peace University. It will help you get on the right kind of financial footing that you're looking for. And I know what people can do when we make a decision. We just follow it up. I also told you about SmartVestor Pros. They will guide you on the financial side. They'll look over your 401k statement or your 403b statement and begin to kind of help you make some little tweaks.

America, little tweaks can lead to big gains. We just need the right people in our corners to be able to guide us. Well, listen, I want to thank all of you for listening. I want to thank all of the callers for calling in. I appreciate you and thank you for asking your questions. Other people have those same kinds of questions on their mind as well. I want to thank the producer, James Childs, and associate producer, Kelly Daniel, and of course you, America, for tuning in to the show. We don't have a show without you.

And so I just want to tell you thank you. Thank you for listening. And for those of you that are out there that have a question, reach out to us. Connect with us. We're here for you. We exist for you. Because the more real answers we can provide, the more help we give people that are out there to know that better is available. Thank you for listening.

This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Call us if you have a question. That number to call, excuse me, is 888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225. or find us on social media. We are here for you. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. If you would like to do your debt-free scream live on the show, make sure you visit DaveRamsey.com slash show and register. We would love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story.