The Ramsey Show - App - Your Finances Will Heal Only to the Extent That You Do (Hour 3)

Episode Date: December 24, 2020

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Hey guys, this is James Childs, producer of the Dave Ramsey Show. Dave and the team are out spending time with their families for Christmas, but we'll be live again soon. In the meantime, we've put together some of the best clips from the show for you to enjoy. You are listening to the best of the Dave Ramsey Show. Merry Christmas. 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. My co-host on the air today here on the Dave Ramsey Show, Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey personality. So we are here to answer your questions about your life and your money. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Heath is going to start us off from Columbus, Ohio this hour. Hey, Heath, how are you? Hey, I'm doing well, guys. Thanks for taking my call. Sure, man. What's up?

So I'm calling today to ask for your guidance on my in-law and my parents-in-law and kind of the relationship we have now. So about five years ago, my mother-in-law inherited an unknown amount of money. I'm guessing it's probably a couple hundred thousand dollars. And my father-in-law invested that with eyes wide open in the oil market, took a bunch of stuff out on margin. And this weird thing happened a couple months ago where the stock market tanked. So they pretty much lost everything. Again, I'm unclear exactly what they had and what they lost, but they now tell us things like, oh, you know, we can't afford to pay for cable. We can't afford to pay for gasoline in our car to come visit you. And they value a lot

on the phrase, we're retired. They're in their late 60s, 65, 67, and basically refusing to go back to work. They have minimal savings, and my wife and I are just really struggling with how do we handle this as their children? Obviously, we want to support them, but we've got three small kids. We just bought a house, and we're really unclear on what we should be doing as their children to guide them during this time. Heath, I like you. I like you, too. Well, I appreciate that.

I like you. Now that we've got that settled. Man, here's the thing. He's not taking an emotional approach, and I have to approach a victim approach, but it's somebody I can tell cares and loves for his in-laws and hurts for them. At the same time, he lives in a reality that he's got a wife and three kids, and they're working together to raise a house, and that's a tough situation. Other than the passive-aggressive grenades, have they actually asked directly for money?

They have, yeah. There was one occasion right after everything hit with the COVID and the stock market crash for their property taxes, which were past due, so they needed money for that. And so I quickly started looking up how to handle these types of questions, and of course I found you, so I, you know, I quickly started looking up how to handle these types of questions. And of course, I found you. So I'm really grateful. I YouTube everything that you had about in-laws and, you know, not saving for retirement. And so I tried walking through him and, you know, getting him to acknowledge that, hey, you know, my wife and I might have to go back to work.

And that just went like right over his head. He was just like, hey, either you have the money or you don't. So I didn't give it to him, and I did have the money. And that's kind of really where, again, the struggle for me and my wife is that, you know, I make a good living. We've been blessed. You know, my side of the family, they've been very generous. So what is your household income? About $170,000.

Okay, so you are killing it. And they're probably somewhat aware of that. You understand that when he made that statement, that that was a statement that says, I am entitled to your stuff. Yeah, I don't like that statement at all. And that seems to be the underlying attitude. You're either out the over here, don't. But I think that's where my wife and I, our fear is that, hey, they're just going to throw their hands up and whatever happens, rely on the fact that, hey, my son-in-law and his wife who stays at home with their kids,

at worst comes to worst, they'll just provide for us. And I got a list of priorities, and my father-in-law is not the highest of those priorities. I'm telling you, I like this guy, Dave. I like this guy. You can make fun of me. I like this guy. Okay. So, yeah, I think there's two or three levels of help that you can look at.

Obviously, one, you don't want to put them on the dole where you support them the rest of your life, and they don't address the situation that's an unacceptable process making sure they have food yeah yeah that's fine making sure they have shelter that's fine um but i'm probably going to if they come at you again for money i'm probably going to have some real calm in person if possible discussions with the two of them this sounds something like this uh we love you and we are not going to support you ongoing you will you will always have food but you're able-bodied and uh you need to get on a written game plan and if before i give you money, I'm going to do a full audit of your financial situation. I'm going to know where every dollar is.

And I'm going to know what your income is. And we're going to do a budget together. And you're going to be on a budget that I approve or I'm not giving you any money. And if you don't want to do that, I completely understand. But those are my terms. And I'm going to recommend that your wife be there with you in that conversation. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And so that they don't come back later. And, you know, I'll give you, let me tell you what I think will happen based on this comment that he made earlier. I think you're going to get the exact same reaction, and they're just going to blow you off, in which case they are saying, I don't need your help. And so, you don't have to give them help. Or my pride costs more than my desire to not be hungry.

Yeah. And I'm entitled to your money, and I'm going to be a butt. Well, I think that's part of it. He's embarrassed as to what happened. Yeah, we ought to be. That was a really dumb play. He views going back to work as a failure on his part. It is.

It is. That's exactly what it is. And the quicker a grown-up can recognize, hey, I screwed up, and now I've got to go make it right, and not being entitled to my son-in-law's, and taking money out of my kids, out of my grandkids' future. Let me just tell you, it wasn't the stock market that got him, okay? The stock market didn't get him.

He was playing oil. He was playing commodities market. This is the most volatile market. You have a better chance of hitting the roulette wheel in Vegas than you do doing what he was doing. That's what he was doing. And what happened was oil got him because oil went to a negative not the stock market the oil market did the commodities market debt when we had tankers sitting off

shore full of oil they wouldn't even offload them because the oil was worth negative amounts per barrel for a few weeks there because no one was driving and all the supply dried up there are all the use dried up the demand for gasoline dried up, and he set himself up by playing an ultra-high-risk play, whether he realized it or not. He went to Vegas and blew his wife's inheritance. That's what he did. He realized it. We talked to him about it and what a mistake it was.

I put him in touch with my financial planner. They all told him not to do it. He refused to listen to anybody. Yeah, yeah. And, you know... So when you do all of that, every one of those things now limits your... Ability to help him. You can't help him.

Because now, if you give him money, you're just participating in his fantasy land. You're participating in his delusions. Your financing is crazy. Now, if you want to buy him some food and send him a bag of groceries or two over there, I'm fine with that. But these people need an overhaul of their behaviors. I don't think they're going to let you give them that. If they do, I will be stone cold shocked. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. This year has been unpredictable.

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For a limited time, you can pick up Debt-Free Degree by Anthony O'Neill in the $10 sale so your teens can learn to go through college without student loans. Shop our famous Christmas $10 sale so your teens can learn to go through college without student loans. Shop our famous Christmas $10 sale before it ends at our online store at DaveRamsey.com or call Ramsey Concierge Team at 888-22-PEACE. 888-227-3223. you're listening to the best of the dave ramsey show we'll be back soon with more live content when people avoid hard stuff like uh making a will it actually causes more anxiety you got to deal with the important stuff like making a will head on and um if you don't you're gonna have a problem because you know you're not gonna live forever you're not gonna have a problem you're actually gonna

leave problems behind is what's gonna happen so think what would happen if you died without a will your family would be in and out of probate court, paying big legal fees. The state will decide what happens to your kids. You don't decide. You need a will. Making a will also lets you be generous beyond your family. More and more of our listeners are creating their wills and giving like no one else. From $10 to $20 million a month in estate gifts are going to churches and

charities and ministries in their wills just from listening to the show. It's pretty cool. So we made planning and giving both super easy and super simple. Start with the free will preparation checklist. It covers the seven most important things you need to think about, plus all the stuff most people forget. Get the checklist. It covers the seven most important things you need to think about, plus all the stuff most people forget. Get the checklist. It's free. Text WILL to 33-789. Text WILL to 33-789. Dr. John Deloney is answering your questions today. If you don't get through today to talk to him, you can email John at askjohn at ramsaysolutions.com. Askjohn at ramsaysolutions.com.

And also be sure and check out his latest videos on YouTube, Divorce, Coronavirus, and the Titanic. That sounds like I don't even know i haven't seen it there's a i have a sinking feeling oh well played hasn't been nominated for an oscar yet but i'm just waiting for the call okay we're sitting by the phone do i said who's oscar um he's also his latest article is blowing up i have read this it's absolutely incredible on DaveRamsey.com, how to deal with anxiety. All right, let's go to Jeff in Panama City. Hey, Jeff, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. How can we help? Thanks for taking my call, guys.

Sure. What's up? I had the last two years have been pretty a whirlwind for me and from it uh me and my wife have gathered up about 25 000 in credit card debt and i was wondering is it ever a good idea to take out a loan on a 401k just to pay it off nope two reasons one uh you unplug a good investment and pay yourself allows the interest rate and so instead of making 10 to 15 on some good mutual funds you're paying yourself back five or six um reason number two is when you leave your company and you will leave your company when you die when you get a better job or when they fire you lay you off whatever you will leave your company. When you die, when you get a better job, or when they fire you, lay you off, whatever,

you will leave your company. When you leave your company, a 401k loan is considered due in full within 60 days. If you do not pay it in full within 60 days, you get penalized and charged taxes, a 10% penalty plus your tax rate. And it's the last time you need a loan coming due suddenly when you're leaving a company and so it's a nightmare it sounds like it's a good idea on the surface when you just go oh instead of 18 on the credit card i'm getting this and uh and i'm paying myself interest anyway instead of paying them interest and uh that's how people think

about it and they get they get themselves really into a serious pinch what's your income jeff uh on an average year i make about 65 to 70 is that your household income or just you that's just me my wife makes another 18 to 20 okay and so you're like a 90 000 household000 household income, and you have $23,000 in credit card debt. $25,000, yeah. $25,000. What other debt do you have, not counting your house? I have my cars. I think I owe $15,000 left on that.

Okay. All right. So $40,000 makes you debt-free, and you make $90,000 a year? Correct. Okay. So what if we said $20,000 a year for two years? That'd be kind of like, yeah, not really pushing hard on the gas at all. I mean, instead of living on $90,000, you live on $70,000, and you're debt-free in two years.

So I think you ought to do it faster. Well, should I lower my 401k contribution stop them stop them because i'm putting in 25 right now doesn't matter stop it all right and uh just temporarily because for the next year and a half i want you doing nothing but paying these debts off listing them smallest to largest and attacking them in that order and you're not allowed to have a life during that year and a half because all you're doing is getting out of debt. You've got to clean up this mess you made. No vacations, no eating out.

You are going to be on beans and rice, rice and beans. Put the cat on Craigslist, the dog on eBay. Yeah, we've been doing that since the day he was born anyway. All right, well, it's time to get somewhere with day he was born anyway. All right. Well, it's time to get somewhere with it. Time to get a little traction. Hey, I'll tell you what. Hang on.

I'll have Kelly pick up. We'll put you in Ramsey Plus, which puts you into Financial Peace University, hooks you up with the Every Dollar Budgeting app. All the Ask a Coach apps are in there. Everything's in there to help you, and we'll put you in there for a year as our gift. You had a bad year last year. I want to help you have a good year in the coming 12. Hang on.

We'll take care of you, brother. But you've got to do this stuff, okay? You've got to do it. Preston, or I'm sorry, Keisha is with us in Richmond, Virginia. Hi, Keisha. How are you? Hi, I'm well. How are you?

Good. How can we help? Well, this is kind of up Dr. John's alley, but I have bipolar disorder among some other things. And through the years, I've made a lot of bad decisions and mistakes when it comes to money. Probably about five or six years ago, I had a really bad episode, and I got myself into a lot of debt, and I'm still digging out of it. And basically, I know the things I should be doing, I need to be doing to get out of the debt. I still have problems with my bipolar, where I get impulsive. So that makes it hard sometimes.

Are you taking your medication? I'm not on anything at the moment. I'm kind of coming off of something to try something new. Okay, but you're working with a psychiatrist right now? Yeah, I have to find a new one because my insurance just said they're not going to cover anymore. So you've got a bipolar 1 diagnosis and they're saying they're not going to cover it anymore?

They're not going to cover the people I was seeing. Okay. So I have to find somebody new. So that's number one. Number two, do you have somebody in your life that helps you be accountable? My boyfriend helps and my mother. But I am single.

I live alone. So I'm asking you, like a boyfriend and a mom, those are often not great. They're good cheerleaders and they're good enablers. They're not great accountability partners. Do you have somebody that you could trust that would hold your debit card for you and just let you have cash? Here's what I'm getting at. You've got to set up some boundaries in your life, some barriers that make it very challenging for you when you get in a manic state to do something that you're going to have to live with for two, three, five, six, seven years. That's what I'm getting at.

That's what I'm wanting to know what I need to do. So you need to find somebody, probably not a boyfriend. Are you in a good church? Yeah. Not at the moment. Okay. Yeah, you've got to find whether it's a good church and a pastor, whether it is a bipolar group in your community that's got somebody that y'all can meet with regularly. Maybe it is your mom.

But somebody in your life that you can sit down and say, I've got these. I lean this way when I'm in a manic state. And I lean this way when I'm in a super low state. And I need to set up some guardrails for myself. But all this starts, quite honestly, Keisha, you've got to take your medication. And folks with bipolar 1 are notorious for getting in there and feeling better, feeling a little bit leveled out, and then they quit. They think everything's all good, and then they stop, right? And they go right back to where they were.

So that's my big recommendation to you is get with a psychiatrist, ASAP, someone that you trust, not that's just going to dope you up and say, all right, go on your way. He's going to talk to you, learn about you, and then you're going to have to get some accountability in your community that's going to help you when you're about to get off the rails. Casey, your finances will heal only to the extent you do. That's right. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. You're listening to the best of The Dave Ramsey Show. We'll be back soon with more live content. Chris Hogan, Ramsey Personality, my co-host on The Dave Ramsey Show today. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

Chris, James also asked us to address the, I don't know what you call it. It's a clip of, it's not a video clip. It's a little short written piece on a cashless society that's gone viral on the Internet that says I wrote it and I didn't write it. Oh. So, like, it's all about conspiracy theories, and there's going to be no cash, and the cash, you know, all the digital is going to be used to track you and, you know, put the mark of the beast on you or whatever. I don't know what the crap it is. But, I mean, if you read, like, one paragraph of the thing, you know that I didn't write it because I'm not crazy. Right.

That helps. Here's the other thing. Isn't it interesting that we live in a culture today that is more tech savvy and has the ability to access information so many different ways through all kinds of social media, and yet people believe anything. So they're tech savvy, and yet they're stupid. That's exactly right. Yes. I mean, so I've just been retweeting.

I did not write this in quotes. Everything on the internet is true, Abe Lincoln. It'll come to you, think about it. But, yeah, so, no, I did not write the Cashless Society crap that's going around. And just, come on, people. Yeah. Think. Don't retweet. And is worse because it's i guess there's more stupid people on facebook i don't know but it's like uh twitter's twitter's hate

facebook is dumb can i get to just go on from there but um but yeah just think when you look at something go i don't really think that the president said that. I don't really think that so-and-so said that. I'm not going to retweet it until I actually think about this and look at it and check it. It's like, oh, Dave Ramsey says we're going cashless. Dave Ramsey didn't say anything about that. It's absurd. Now, here's the reality.

Would businesses love for us to go cashless? Absolutely, they would. We've seen time and time again studies show that when people use plastic, they spend more. Yeah. Okay, we know this. 18 to 20% more. So businesses would love for that to happen. I've read in a few articles that some businesses have run into not having coins, so they didn't have change, so they were encouraging people to use their debit cards.

But, you know know i'm with you dave people will take these things and just run it together and and crazy can attract more crazy and the next thing you know is you got this snowball well my theory is as long as there's rednecks there'll be cash the cash isn't going anywhere because i'm always going to have some hundred dollar bills yeah i mean that my three three $100 bills folded over in the back of my money clip is my redneck emergency fund. And I've had one for 30 years. Three? Well, that's all that's in the back.

Oh, okay, in the back. Yeah. I don't touch that. Because you've tossed me your wallet before. Well, yeah, I've got a money clip. I carry real cash. You have real money in there. But that's not the point.

I'm not bragging about that. My point is that guys like me are always going to have some money too me too money me too uh you know sometimes that stupid plastic the algorithm kicks in because of identity theft and you can't use any of it i've had that happen yeah me too could not take it they actually told me dave ramsey and not being able to check into a hotel your debit card that'll piss you off okay so yeah you gotta have some cash right there i mean jeez no no i did not write that stupid cashless thing yes just settle down settle spread that out there among your stupid friends unbelievable let's retweet that we post that on facebook all right larissa i feel better now sort of not really and it also stirred up see what you

did james larissa's and billings i was there yesterday larissa i was up there fly fishing it's beautiful country i've never been there before how are you it's good it is beautiful up here a little hot though right now yeah so i have been having some anxiety about paying my credit card bills off i have to take that money out of savings and pay it off, and it's really hard because it's not there anymore. So I went ahead and called Chase, one of my credit card

companies, and I wanted to do a little negotiating with them to settle. Are you behind? No, I'm not behind. Well, they don't settle with people that aren't behind, honey. Well, I didn't know that. I was asking, I called to call them to ask if I had to, what would be the better option? No, they don't, like, write down debt unless they think they're not going to get their money.

If you hadn't paid them, I'm not suggesting this, don't do it, but if you hadn't paid them in six months, then they get in the mood to settle because they think you're a deadbeat. Okay. Larissa, how long were you on the settle because they think you're a deadbeat. Okay. Larissa, how long were you on the phone with them before you found out that they're not budging? Oh, my goodness, an hour. They gave me the runaround. They hung up on me twice.

It was ridiculous. It is ridiculous. And you want to keep them around, huh? I ride check and pay those people off and get them out of my life. Say, chase this. Yes, I know. I need to do that now that I realize that. I was thinking that they would settle with me.

At one point, one of them told me they would do 90 cents on the dollar. Wow, I'm surprised. Yeah, I wanted to try to get that in writing, and then their supervisor came on and said, no, we're not going to do that anymore. Yeah, and this person doesn't work there anymore. Marge is no longer with us. Marissa, how much do you owe on this credit card?

Uh, $4,700. And how much do you have in savings? I can pay it off. Marissa's not going to ask you. How much do you have in savings? About $12,000. About $12,000. How many other credit cards do you owe on? One other, and it's only about $2,000. About $12,000. How many other credit cards do you owe on?

One other, and it's only about $2,000. Okay. You got $12,000 in savings. So you could pay both of these off by the time you hang up with Dave and I. I sure could. I sure could. You ain't. You got any scissors?

No, I'm going to. By the end of this week, that's my goal. End of the week? Why are you waiting three more days? End of the day. Get your scissors out. It's time. Get them out right now.

Let's hear some plastic surgery right here. I want to hear it. I want to hear you chop them up. Get them out. Go over to the drawer and get some scissors right now. Don't make us come out there to Billings, Larissa. I actually don't have the credit cards anymore. Where are they? I've just been paying on them to credit cards anymore. Where are they? I've just been

paying on them to get them down. Where are they? They've been cut up. They've been cut up a long time ago. Oh, well that's good. We've made a good first step. So hey, all joking and kidding around aside, okay? When you hang up the phone, call them and pay them both off, okay? Alright, love you.

Love you. We appreciate you calling us. Seriously. Open phones at 888-825-5225. You jump in. We'll talk about your life and your money. Taylor is in Houston, Texas. Hey, Taylor, how are you? I'm doing just fine, guys. Thank you so much for taking my call.

Sure. What's up? Well, a few months ago, my wife and I finally decided to get really serious about paying off the debt and moving forward. Good. I sold my car. She got to keep hers because happy wife, happy wife. Exactly. Wife gets the good car.

It's federal law. Yeah, that's right. I value my own health, too, you know, so I wanted to make sure she was driving. You're going to wake up alive. So I sold my car and bought a 1980 Datsun to get by in the meantime. Wow. Did you say 1980? Datsun.

Yep. He said Datsun. The 1980 Datsun 280ZX. Wow, that's awesome. Every time it rains. I remember those. Does it have the roll-down windows? No, this one was a very luxurious model that had the electric one.

Okay, my bad continue please continue uh but yeah we affectionately call it leaky because it does leak every time it rains i love it uh anyway we're out of debt we've got our uh three to six months of uh you know emergency funds saved up and i'm ready to buy a car dude yeah thank you thank you so uh just wondering what you guys uh would recommend as far as budgeting for that new vehicle obviously not new but new to me um well you're gonna pay cash obviously yes sir okay how much cash have you got well aside from the emergency phone i've got another uh 35 000 maybe almost 40 by the end of the month. Okay.

So you've been saving good. All right. So what's your household income? We make about, this year we'll probably do close to $210,000 this year. Okay. Well, I don't have a limit then up to $35,000. Our guidelines are pay cash, and the total of all your vehicles should be no more than half your annual income you're not going to violate that by buying up to 35 and i suspect you're not jumping from

leaky to 35 no i think you're gonna get wherever you want to go within that 35 brother yeah no goodness gracious saving up touchdown bye dotson see you leaky it's about to leave. Y'all are like sacrificing, Dave. Maybe get some firearms and shoot Leaky. Send it to us here in Tennessee. We'll handle that bad boy. We'll set it free. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. You're listening to the best of the Dave Ramsey Show. We'll be back soon with more live content.

Our scripture of the day, 2 Corinthians 9-10. He who supplies the seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing Our friend Christine Kane says, Ooh, I like that one. Christine's, she's good. That's good. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Anthony is in Canada.

Hi, Anthony. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thanks for having me. Sure, what's up? I enjoy it. So earlier this year, I got really lucky, and I won a million dollars in the lottery. And up here in Canada, you don't get taxed on it, so I got a check for a million dollars in the lottery. And up here in Canada, you don't get taxed on it. So

I got a check for a million dollars. And I was getting harassed by investment people. So I got annoyed and I just ended up paying off my mortgage and all my debt. And now I found you way too late in life. And I'm discovering your baby steps. So I've sort of fast forwarded to paying off my home early. But then I'm wondering how baby step four, which is investing 15% of your household income plays into baby step seven, which is just building wealth. And if there's something else i should be doing no yeah wow what an incredible deal how old are you 35 what do you do for a living i'm a lawyer oh good okay what do you make uh well my so i make 240 and then my wife is a

veterinarian and she makes about 90 working part-time right now. So we were blessed already kind of working our way through our debt. Yeah, I think. Yeah. Wow. Is this all true? This is amazing. This is kind of like a kick-Galoney-Wiley-Downs show, man.

Congratulations, man. This is awesome. Wow, that's so impressive so you're making you're making tons of money and you're 100 debt free due to this lottery hit yes okay cool all right and what i gotta tell you what actually spurred it was i was on youtube one night and i was looking at pretty shotguns and thinking how i could never afford one of those fancy guns. And then lottery advertising showed up on YouTube. So I went that night, bought a ticket, checked it the next morning, and then found out that I won. That's bizarre.

So you played one time? Oh, no. I bought tickets in the past. But, you know, it would be filling up for gas or whatever on random occasions and this one it was just spur of the moment that night yeah well i don't i don't want this call to encourage other people to do this because it's not a proven plan of building wealth you just were freaking lucky okay but i'm happy for you just the same um so i want to acknowledge that too it is a statistical and probability and i got lucky yeah Yeah, okay. I own that.

Okay. But anyway, yeah, I'm happy for you. I'm glad you've been blessed. Man. So, okay, there's three things that we can do with money, and I'm glad you guys are continuing to work and continuing to pursue your callings and continuing to find dignity in doing what you're trained to do. That's wonderful.

Keep doing that. Keep earning the money. And there's three things we do with money. One, we enjoy it, and you need to do some of that. Probably need to get that shotgun if you didn't already. And number two, you are outrageously generous, which you will find once you learn how to do that with care and intentionality will become the most fun you ever have with money.

And then the third thing is we invest it. And you should do that with this fabulous income, and you should do that with whatever money is left after paying off everything out of that million dollars. Okay? So have some fun but and what i do is and what i suggest to high performing high income producers like athletes that we work with or uh the occasional hollywood type or whatever that we run into and they're living this weird amount of money dream i just say listen put percentages on it set a household budget that you're going to run your household on,

and everything above that, which would be an excess on your income and the excess of this million dollars, put percentages on it. Say, I'm going to put this percentage on my giving and this percentage on my living and this percentage on my investing. And I don't care what the percentage is, but then it doesn't matter what you make. You're always going to enjoy some of it, give some of it, and invest some of it.

And it's already preset, so you don't have to think about it anymore. And what that does, it takes some of the, it causes you to intentionally invest, intentionally be generous, and it takes some of the weird guilt crap off of enjoying some of it so if you you know i mean like i got a guy that was with not long ago he's making 10 million dollars a year okay and he wanted to buy like a 200 000 car which is weird for most people but most people don't make 10 million dollars a year so it's really a very small percentage of his world so if he allocates five percent that's a half million dollars a year to screw around with. Think about it.

Just to screw around with. I mean, that's pretty good blow money. That's all right. You're getting there. And so you can still go buy that car and not even think about it. Matter of fact, you can buy two of them and drive one of them off a cliff for fun. I mean, whatever you want to do. But what it does, it sets you free from all the weirdness that that many zeros does to your brain,

and you can just say, I'm going to enjoy this, I'm going to give this, I'm going to invest that. And that's what I would do in this situation. And it's nothing to do with Baby Step 4. You need to be systematically investing a percentage that you predetermine of your income and of this remainder of the million dollars after debt free for the rest of your life. You need to be systematically giving and outrageously generous. And by the way, with your numbers, it doesn't take, it's like his numbers, they're not quite as bizarre, but it doesn't take a large percentage to have a great life.

That's right. I mean, it really doesn't when you make that kind of money. Dave, I've run across a lot of people, I've yet zero, never met somebody who wished they didn't give. Have you ever run across that person? I've yet to. Christian, atheist, agnostic, mean, kind. I've never run across somebody who gave money that didn't say that was awesome. Yeah.

As a category, yeah. But I mean, I've had giving experiences that were less than awesome. I wish I'd given something to this person. I get that. Yeah. Or I gave to this, and then I find out later that it was a dadgum bad thing. There you go. Or something like that.

I've done that. But as a category. As an ethos, right. As a category, generosity has brought me more joy with money than any other category. Anything. And that's not just a philosophical Christian fluffy statement. It's just, it's a fact. That's right.

Because it gives you traction psychologically, spiritually, and you go, that just, I mean, $1,000 buys a single mom who's below the poverty level a car. You bet. Changes her life. It changes her life. $10,000 does it for 10. Wow. I mean, that that that's

freaking fun yeah it is i mean and you have to be you know intentional and you don't get a junk car and might be a three thousand dollar car might be a thousand but i mean the point is you're just thinking through this and you're very precise and very careful and um in order to and that And that magnifies the joy of it. But, yeah, I have had giving experiences where I had regret that I wished I hadn't done it. But as a category, no. Never, never, never. And I've never met anybody that did, that said, oh, I... I don't give. I'm not a giver.

Well, I've met people that don't give, but they're not usually happy people. There you go. You know, givers, there's a thing about giving, about generosity. You know, when you say someone's a generous person, when someone says that, sometimes they mean they give away money. But sometimes they're speaking as a character quality. That's right. It's like that's a person of integrity. They look me in the eyes.

That's a person that smiles. Yes. They're generous. They give of themselves. They carry the groceries to the car for you and even if they're a billionaire you know they they help you pick up the rolling around all over the parking lot because the bag fell out of the bottom fell out of the bag or whatever right that guy picking them up look at the truck he gets in yeah usually that's a generous person and usually they're a successful person

but that's that's an ethos that's a way way of being. Exactly. It's a character quality. I love it, man. And guess what? Like all character qualities, it's a choice. That's right. You decide. You can just decide. I'm a generous person.

And then start right now. Just start right now. I'm just going to hold the door. I'm going to put others before me. I'm going to, you know, serve. I don't have to be at the front of the line. You know, all that. And you can just decide.

It's just a decision. And you just walk through life lighter. Oh, much lighter. You just walk through lighter. Much lighter. We're so proud for you, Anthony. Congratulations, my man. And I hope all this continues to bless you.

That puts this hour of the Dave Ramsey Show in the books. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there is ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the meantime, remember, there is ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Have a friend or family member that needs a daily dose of Ramsey advice in their life? Let them know about the Ramsey Call of the Day podcast. It's a quick hit of advice about life and money in under 10 minutes. Check out the Ramsey Call of the Day podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.