The Ramsey Show - App - You're Begging For Identity Theft! (Hour 3)

Episode Date: March 5, 2024

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Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual, amazing relationships. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author, co-host of the Smart Money Happy Hour with our one and only George Campbell, and my daughter.
Starting point is 00:00:52 She's my co-host today. The phone number is 888-825-5225. Lisa is with us in Irvine, California. Hi, Lisa. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi. Thank you. So excited to speak with the both of you. I'm a long time, oh I'm a long time listener and follower of the show. Thank you.
Starting point is 00:01:12 I'm calling to get some advice on talking to my close friend. She told me that she has added her toddler, who's two years old, as an authorized user on her credit card. I almost fell out of my chair when she told me that because, like I said, I'm a longtime listener and I know this is a very bad idea. So I'm calling to ask what advice should I give to her or is it even my business to share my opinion with her? Has she asked your opinion? No, she was trying to get me to add my kids as authorized users. She told me, you should do the same thing.
Starting point is 00:01:50 And I kind of froze. To build a kid's credit score. People are doing this now. It's a TikTok trend. Oh, God. Yeah. It's a whole thing. You put your kid as an authorized user, you build their credit.
Starting point is 00:02:06 The level of stupidity is painful. It just really is. I mean, TikTok, my God, y'all. I mean, it's not just TikTok. I know, but that's just completely asinine. Because here's now what you've done, okay? You've opened Little Junior up to like 73,000 possibilities of Russian hackers completely stealing his identity. And if Little Junior stays off the dadgum grid, then Russian hackers aren't going to steal his identity. So keep Junior off the grid.
Starting point is 00:02:40 Oh, my God. It's been a conspiracy theory. It's not a conspiracy. It's a fact. You sound like a conspiracy theorist. It's not a conspiracy theory. It's not a conspiracy. It's a fact. You sound like a conspiracy theorist. It's not a conspiracy theory. I mean, identity theft happens to people all the time, but not if their idiot parents don't put them on a credit card.
Starting point is 00:02:55 Oh, my God. I don't know. I don't know how to help people that dumb. It's just. Well, yeah. I mean. Oh, Lee. As her friends, Lisa, I don't think that there's anything you do.
Starting point is 00:03:07 She didn't ask you and she's not going to do anything. You say, no, just say, listen, if she says it to you again, just say, I wouldn't want to expose my child to the level of identity theft that you've exposed your child to. The probability of identity theft went up 10 000 x okay this kid has a social security number and is nowhere else on the grid until you do this and now you dropped them in the dadgum internet i mean you're asking for it you're pointing a gun at the face of their credit report. Oh, my gosh. At the face of their credit report.
Starting point is 00:03:47 Okay. I mean, it's ridiculous. You're asking for it. And the hard thing that happens, too, which, Lisa, you probably know this, too, because not just the identity theft, but then things happen in life, right? And parents get behind on their bill, and then they end up trashing the kid's credit score, and it does the opposite effect of what their intentions were because they weren't spending well.
Starting point is 00:04:10 Technically, a user should not get the credit of the owner anyway. I think that's what they're doing in the first place, though. Technically, an approved user on the card should not be affected by the credit of the card, positive or negative, technically, because they're not on the account. They're just allowed to use the account. So it should not show up. If it does, FICO is screwed up because they're not an owner on the account. They're just an authorized user.
Starting point is 00:04:40 But I feel like that's why parents are doing that, though. You're an authorized signer on Ramsey Solutions checking accounts because you are one of the owners of this company. But if the account goes sideways, the fact that you're an authorized user does not affect you. I always thought that that's why parents were doing it. All it means is you're allowed to sign. It doesn't mean you own it or are liable. So then, Lisa, what's her purpose of doing it? Does she tell you?
Starting point is 00:05:05 Because she's an idiot. No, stop. What was she saying? To build credit. It won't build her credit. It shouldn't build her credit. As an authorized user. It's not supposed to.
Starting point is 00:05:16 Now, sometimes it gets reported that way falsely, but it should not happen because you're not liable on the account if you're an authorized user. It's not legal. Yeah, I hear you. It's legally wrong. Can it happen? Yes, it can happen.
Starting point is 00:05:30 But here's the thing. If you want to build credit for your toddler to start with, A, that's dumb. B, because you're setting them up for a life of debt. Yeah. This is your plan. I want my child to use credit cards and be in debt the rest of their life. What kind of horrible parent are you? Yeah, a good credit. The use credit cards and be in debt the rest of their life what kind of horrible parent are you yeah a good credit the primary credit cards yeah the good credit management helps then improve your credit worthy says what an article on tiktok well on google okay there you
Starting point is 00:05:55 go i'm telling you it's a legal issue people are doing it only the people that are liable on the account and you authorize users not liable on the account okay we have 116 debit cards no i hear you i hear you but that's debit cards it's credit card different it's credit cards different though no it's the person that owns the account the owner of the account not the authorized user is responsible for the credit good or bad and that's supposed to be what's reported it's not always yeah so to their point they may actually screw up their kids credit it's possible yeah or enhance their kids credit it's possible but it's a really dumb idea because you're just asking for identity theft you're
Starting point is 00:06:36 begging for it um because you put their kids because here's the thing who goes back and checks a four-year-old's credit twice a year to make sure that they've not had their account scarfed but you put their name out there and you don't go back and check on it and you coast along thinking you're a freaking genius because you watch the tiktok video and now you've exposed your kid's credit to being completely ripped. And you could look up and there'd be five or six cards open in their name and you wouldn't even know it because they're not required to identify you or to notify you about your kid. They don't check on it. Your kid's not going to get anything in the mail that's how identity theft works so oh god oh that's so aggravating so i don't know i mean the overall answer your question honey is this if somebody
Starting point is 00:07:32 isn't asking you their opinion your opinion then don't give it i mean i've got friends that do stupid stuff too so um they're still my friend but they're still just my stupid friend and so that's okay that you got friends that do that they do things you don't agree with i mean i people i love that don't know how to vote and it's all that kind of stuff i still still love them but they vote wrong and so um you know there's you just there you have some of that right yeah but i'm not friends but don't don't ask me yeah how what i think unless you want me to tell you? That's right. Friend or on the air. Sure. And the problem is when you call on the air, you've automatically asked.
Starting point is 00:08:08 So it's like our job to tell you what we think. So it's what we do here for three hours every day. So, oh, God, that's a poor woman. So, Lisa, I'm sorry. You can't help her. She's not going to. Even if you gave her your opinion, she's not going to do anything with it because she's got her little brain made up.
Starting point is 00:08:26 Her system. Her system going. She's just going to screw up her kid's life. Oh, God, that's so dumb. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, you guys. Health insurance costs are only moving one way, and that way isn't down. And if higher costs aren't enough, the wait times to see your doctor are longer, and it's harder than ever to get anything approved through the bureaucracy.
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Starting point is 00:09:49 Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. Linda's in Pittsburgh. Hi, Linda. Welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hi, how are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? hey um we my husband and i are wondering how he can acquire his portion of the will that his mother wrote so she passed away in 2006 and wrote a will giving the family home to her children
Starting point is 00:10:21 and his brother has lived in the show in the house all of his life and still lives there. Was the will probated? The will was probated by their stepdad in 2007. Okay. She passed away in 2006. Okay, and so the stepdad had nothing to do with the house and the will, right? Yes. It was just one of those where he had the right to occupy during his lifetime.
Starting point is 00:10:54 The brother or the stepdad? The stepdad. Okay. So he had a life estate, and the will left the property to your husband, his brother, and whatever other siblings? And a sister. Okay, was the property retitled at that time? Did Pennsylvania probate require you all to retitle it and put everybody's name on it? The house is in Colorado, and at the time of probate, it was retitled to all three siblings. Okay, so you each
Starting point is 00:11:29 own a third, undivided interest it's called, okay? Right? Uh-huh. Okay, is sister still alive? No, she lost her battle with depression in 2017. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Yes. And did she have heirs? No, she did not. Okay. So I would suppose that your husband and his brother are now equal owners then. You would have to seek an attorney's advice to be 100% sure, but let's play this through. That's what it sounds like.
Starting point is 00:12:01 It sounds like they're now equal owners. Okay. And he doesn't have to do anything to acquire it. It already has his name on it. The death of his sister left half of hers to him and half of it to his brother, and so now the two of them are 50-50. Okay. His name's on the title. If the property were sold, he would get 50%. Okay. Okay. So now what are you all wanting to do?
Starting point is 00:12:29 So he had, after, it was almost two years after the stepfather passed away, he approached his brother about either buying him out or selling the home. And he said, absolutely not. I have no interest in selling the home, and I'm not going to buy you out. Okay. Who lives in it? His brother. Okay.
Starting point is 00:12:54 He has lived in it all his life. Okay. So he's living there for free? Yes. Okay. He has a roommate there that pays him rent. Well, here's the thing. If you want to stir it up and cause this to come to an end, Okay. He has a roommate there that pays him rent. Okay. And there's a little side piece of work. Here's the thing.
Starting point is 00:13:06 If you want to stir it up and cause this to come to an end, because this is not a fair situation, this is unjust. Agreed? Agreed. Okay. Then your husband, does he have any relationship left with his brother at all? Well, they love each other. It's just that there's this mountain in the middle.
Starting point is 00:13:25 I didn't ask that. I asked if they had a relationship. The what? I said they love each other. There's this mountain in the middle. The house. The house. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:13:35 Yes. Well, it depends on how much your husband wants to invest in this. But if we want to try to save the relationship, you get on an airplane, and he flies out there, and he sits down with his brother, and he says, okay, you living here for free is done. I'm a 50% owner in this and you can't live here for free anymore. You have to move out. I'm demanding that.
Starting point is 00:13:54 Or we have to sell the house or you have to buy me out. Now you decide which one you want to do. You want to move out and we rent it and we split the rents that we'd collect. Or do you want to buy me out or whatever? I'll we'd collect or do you want to buy me out or whatever i'll give you a deal if you want to buy me out but you sitting here and me getting nothing and you living here for free ends i'm done i love you i hate what you're doing to me it's nasty and it's wrong and it's unjust and he says that to him in person to his face okay and then if the brother goes well i'm not going to do that.
Starting point is 00:14:26 You say, yes, you are. Because if you do not, I'm going to hire an attorney and I'm going to sue in circuit court to have this partnership disbanded. And the court is going to force the sale of the house to give me my half. And it's going to cost me five or $10,000. And you're probably never going to speak to me again but i'm at the point that i'm tired of you screwing me over this is how you have to handle it if you're going to handle it otherwise you just got to accept it and go on and then you have to hire an attorney and the judge will demand that you sell the house to
Starting point is 00:15:02 liquidate the estate and they'll sell the house to liquidate the estate. And they'll sell the house, and the brother will get half the money, and you'll get half the money. And liquidating the estate is selling the house, correct? Do what? I said liquidating the estate is selling the house, correct? Yeah, you sell the house. Okay. Sell the house, and you get your half.
Starting point is 00:15:18 Now, or we can have the house appraised, and at 80%, 80 cents on the dollar of the appraisal, I'll take my half. I'll give you a 20% discount if you want to buy me out. How much is the house worth, Linda? From what we can tell, it's probably right around $400,000. Yeah. This is just wrong. And your brother-in-law's a leech he's a parasite
Starting point is 00:15:47 and you're tired of it that's why you called is your husband as tired of it as you are or is he just gonna let this go on oh no he's as tired of it as i am okay he's just a super nice guy. Okay. If he wants to try to be super kind to his brother, he can fly out there and try to do this very calmly and just say, this is over, okay? You're going to buy me out, or the judge is going to force the sale of the house. Because when I leave this conversation, if we're not in agreement,
Starting point is 00:16:23 I'm going to contact an attorney and we're going to court and the house is going to be sold because you living here for free is not right. It's not fair. You've been taking advantage of me and I can't let you do that anymore even though I love you. That's wrong. And, brothers, if you want to buy me out, I'll give you a discount on the appraisal. But I own 50%, you own 50%, and you can't live here free anymore.
Starting point is 00:16:49 That's over. Fly it, take a plane ticket, invest a plane ticket into the relationship, try to do it nice, and see if you can get him to move off. He may just think that my brother's a nice guy. He's never going to do anything. And he might be right. Talking about your husband, right? Yes, I know.
Starting point is 00:17:11 I know. He sees your husband as a target, and he's using it. He thinks your husband's not going to do anything. Yeah. And so if your husband doesn't want to do anything, it's okay. I don't care. If you want to just let this go on, I'm not mad about it. It doesn't matter.
Starting point is 00:17:24 But if you're going to do it that's how you do it i i would sell it to him at a discount because if you sell it you're going to pay expenses anyway right right and so if it's worth 400 000 i'll sell you my 200 is $160,000. That's a great deal. You have 30 days to get me my money. If you do not get me my money in 30 days, I am going to begin a court proceeding that's going to force the sale of the house. And that's the end of the discussion, and then just go hire a lawyer and do it. And it'll take a dadgum year. And it'll be $10,000 out of your pocket legal fees is there a way to find a
Starting point is 00:18:11 reputable attorney in colorado sure that was our other thing it's like how do you how do you find one there without um call one of our uh real estate endorsed local providers jump on the line at Ramsey and find the real estate endorsed local providers tell me you need a good real estate attorney okay and they'll give you a recommendation and that's the only way I mean you got to have somebody you that you trust and these are high high octane real estate agents that we endorse and they'll know somebody that's a quality attorney that can litigate this. But I really wouldn't, you know, it may be that when you hire the attorney and you spend $500
Starting point is 00:18:53 and he decides to send a letter to the brother, that that wakes the brother up, and then the brother does it. Because the brother's probably, he's been living this way a long time, he's probably not going to take the first, he's not going to believe your husband that he's going to do anything because he's never done anything. So he's suddenly a man of action. That's going to be shocking to the brother.
Starting point is 00:19:15 This is The Ramsey Show. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage ryan and kendall are with us hey guys how are you howdy what do you guys where do you guys live san antonio texas ah nice welcome to tennessee good to have you i heard howdy and i thought texas they're not from minnesota minnesota good to have you guys thank you very much it's good to be Minnesota. Good to have you guys. Thank you very much. It's good to be here. How much debt have you paid off? $116,942.55. I love it. How long did this take? 54 months. Way to go. And your range of income during that time? So we started off with $65,000. That was my pay. And this last year we finished up at $172,000.
Starting point is 00:20:07 Whoa. Very nice. What do you all do for a living? So I'm an occupational therapist. And I do sales. Ah, very good. Awesome. Okay, so occupational therapist.
Starting point is 00:20:16 I'm guessing the 117 might have had some student loan in it. Yes, it definitely did. What was the breakdown of the 117? Oh, goodness. So the car payment was, well, the car loan was around $27,000, and the rest of it was student loans. And ironically, it was all my student loans. Oh!
Starting point is 00:20:33 I blamed it on her. I'm so sorry. Nope. I stand corrected. That was a part of our journey. We had most of this loans when I graduated from college, when we first married about five years ago and the idea that was that we had to stop the bleeding and start living a debt-free
Starting point is 00:20:53 life and progress in that direction and taking out loans for her master's program wasn't part of that plan so that was one of the things that we actually cash flowed through oh you cash flowed your occupational therapy wow y'all that's huge wow that's impressive while you did this really yeah you've been married about five years you said about 60 months and 54 of it we've been doing this yes sir wow so you got married and you looked at this pile of student loan debt and you got these goals to be an occupational therapist there all these things are in conflict with each other you sit down tell me how all this happened how'd you get connected to ramsey what'd you decide to do all this so i decided to pursue occupational therapy degree in el paso right after he had gotten offered a job
Starting point is 00:21:35 in san antonio so we made the hard decision he decided to keep his job because we saw great growth there and stay in san antonio we did long distance for me in el paso oh wow and that's quite the drive so ryan on the way up one time he decided to turn on your podcast on spotify and it's a couple of episodes to get to el paso yeah that was my daily that was my monthly you can listen to a week's worth. So we started listening to it back in 2018. And man, there's not a lot of cell reception out there. So I have to download them and listen to them along the drive.
Starting point is 00:22:17 And before you know it, in El Paso after seven hours, and hey, Kendall, I got this great idea. I got a bunch of great ideas. Listen to this. Tell me what you would do, you know, and having those back and forth conversations, pressing the pause button and saying, well, what do you think is the right answer, Kendall? And having that discussion kind of turned us on
Starting point is 00:22:32 to this whole entire idea that, you know, that is not a pet. It needs to go away. And that's a type of lifestyle that we want to live one day. So, wow. That's amazing, you guys. Thank you.
Starting point is 00:22:42 Absolutely amazing. And then in the middle of it, had a baby. Yes. In the middle of all of it, had a baby. Yes. In the middle of all of it, right? It did go on pause. That's once or twice. Sweet. Oh, my gosh.
Starting point is 00:22:51 Okay, so what was the hardest part of this? Because you guys, you did a lot. You cash flowed school, got a different career. You guys were long distance together, baby, all of it. But all of life and all of the money stuff, what would you tell someone who's like, whoo, that was hard. That was was the sack we felt that one yeah the the hard part was saying no quite frankly to all those things that you really want to do um that you know you could do um but having that delayed gratification and waiting and deciding you know my priorities are elsewhere um
Starting point is 00:23:22 that that was definitely very hard for, especially me. I have so many hobbies. It's so easy to spend money and to be committed and heading in the right direction for years. It's tough. Well, good. How long was the Masters? How long was the separation because of the Masters? About two and a half years.
Starting point is 00:23:41 Wow. That's brutal. Yeah. That's harsh. Okay. Wow. Wow. What was the thing that you guys would say to another couple listening that maybe may have similar story maybe not but they're trying to get out of debt let's just be real clear they didn't do that separation to get out of debt they did that separation to get your occupational therapy master okay and you did it and your cash floated
Starting point is 00:24:00 of course but yeah separation was due to that not the separation but i mean being separate yeah it's a better way of saying it was due to that right yes it was due to the school yeah no you know it's good good clarification the school you got into versus the job right that was that was the decision you guys made yeah man in in my career in sales is very long term right yeah ideas i'm gonna spend my whole life in san antonio which is a great idea to me because i love san antonio yeah um but to be jumping around from location to location doesn't really give you the opportunity to build a backlog and build relationships. So a two-year delay or two years of patience, really, versus the long-term career. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:24:40 It's an adult decision you have to make and you have to commit to it. Totally. Absolutely. Wow. So what was the thing that you would tell somebody, here's what you have to do in order to get out of this much debt? Because this is a lot, you guys. I mean, this is six figures. So what would you say you have to do this?
Starting point is 00:24:57 Our biggest two things were consistency towards our set goal and seeing that as the bigger picture and communication. So even if we wanted something that we knew we shouldn't get, we would still talk about it. Yeah. Man, this is going to be so cool to get later. Not now, just not now. And same with the long distance.
Starting point is 00:25:21 Really, it's the same two ideas. Consistency, communication, whatever, feelings, good, bad, all the in-betweens. Yes, that's good. So, you know, it occurs to me that not only have you done this amazing $117,000, but you also cash flowed this. What did the master's cost? Oh, goodness. Yeah, you know, that's a tough question to answer. So, I filled out probably, I have no idea how many scholarships and grants I filled out.
Starting point is 00:25:50 Good. During that time. That was like pretty much my part-time job. Yeah. Going to school. We also benefited a little bit from the COVID. Our loans were put on hold. The government ones.
Starting point is 00:26:04 Yeah. So, we used that opportunity to not have to pay the minimums on those. And then I got a lot of grant opportunities through COVID to continue my education. So it didn't cost a ton then, actual cash? No. I'd say it's probably a 50-50 breakdown. That's great. It was the back half of the last two semesters were mostly my income going and contributing to that. The first three semesters, I'd say Kendall did a whole lot of the work, especially with scholarships and grants.
Starting point is 00:26:36 That's great, you guys. Okay, so you put about 100 into that and about 117 into the other. Oh, 100, I don't know. You said half and half. About, yeah. Okay, all right. That's what I was thinking that i'm thinking you're really in your the whole situation here you really did about a two hundred thousand dollar move yeah it's what i'm guessing and i was thinking that because that's
Starting point is 00:26:56 you know it's one thing to pay off 117 it's another to do it probably 50 000 for the half and half that you're saying yeah probably but still 50 000 okay it's still a lot you're saying i see what you're saying okay wow way to close. But still, 50,000. Oh, okay. It's still a lot. I see what you're saying. Okay. Wow. Way to go, y'all. Thank you. Who was cheering you on?
Starting point is 00:27:10 Oh, gosh. Our entire family and friends. Of course, we still got funny looks every once in a while, especially when we said no to fun events and vacations and all those things. But they were still cheering us on. Great job, you guys. Was it worth it absolutely absolutely it changes it changes my decision making you know it gives me the
Starting point is 00:27:32 opportunity to decide for myself what i want what our family wants right and it just clears clears your thought clears your focus so good for you guys well done all right let's bring up your baby are you going to have that in the debt-free screen yes absolutely and uh what's his name nolan and how old is nolan he's 15 months oh go big guy go big guy they always like the microphone they grab them that's great all right ryan and kendall and nolan san antonio texas 117000 paid off in 54 months, making $65,000 to $172,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one.
Starting point is 00:28:14 We're debt-free! Yeah! That's how it's done, ladies and gentlemen. Man, those people are goal-oriented. With the baby. Oh, my gosh. They did a lot. Oh, they did a lot.
Starting point is 00:28:30 It's amazing. A lot of sacrifice on so many levels. And they did it. That's it. It's the movement. It's the proactiveness of people that stand on the stage. And it's incredible. It's incredible.
Starting point is 00:28:39 All of you listening. Heroes. Yep. They're heroes. Well done, hero. This is The ramsey show luke 637 do not judge and you will not be judged do not condemn and you will not be condemned forgive and you will be forgiven john f kennedy said your enemies, but never forget their names.
Starting point is 00:29:07 Yes, that's fair. Oh, that's fun. Well, folks, if you've got questions about taxes, we get it. Taxes are confusing. And to help you get a better handle on them, we get some questions from time to time for our listeners. I want to avoid overpaying taxes each month. What do I need to change with my paycheck? Well, let's correct one thing. It's not overpaying because you don't pay. It's over withholding. See, withhold means I hold back. They're holding part of your check, withholding
Starting point is 00:29:39 some of your check. They're not letting you have some of your check to apply to your taxes. If you don't need to pay the taxes, you get it back as a refund, meaning you have had too much taken out of your check, too much withheld. So you're not overpaying, you just have too much withheld. Now, once we say that, it's a simple couple ways you can do it. The simplest way is if nothing has changed, if the tax code didn't change and your situation didn't change you just simply divide it by 12 and say i need that much you have three thousand dollar refund i got 250 a month too much coming out of my check go to hr and say reduce my withholding by 250 bucks a month and they can do payroll adjustment and do that, real simple. But if things have changed, then you use tax software, like, for instance, the Ramsey Solutions tax software,
Starting point is 00:30:32 and do your taxes. But don't, you know, you're just running out the taxes to see what it is. What is your taxes going to be? And so then have that much, whatever your tax bill is going to be, have that much withheld from your check over the year. And so let's just pretend. Let's say your taxes are $10,000. Well, that's $833 a month.
Starting point is 00:30:54 So you need to have that withheld from your check. And, of course, either way, you've got to fill out a new W-4 with the HR or with payroll to get that done. So the trick is do not get a refund. If you get a refund, it means you've loaned the government your money at zero interest all year, and they send it back to you in April with no interest. You have a stupid savings account. That's what a tax refund is, a stupid savings account.
Starting point is 00:31:23 So do not be setting yourself up for a refund. Well, if you're getting a refund, adjust your withholding because don't pay them so much. Don't, don't let them take more than they need to take. If you don't know it now don't under withhold where you have a big tax bill at the end of the year, that's going to get you penalized and create cashflow problems for you. But if you're getting 3000 bucks a year, year, $4,000 a year, $1,200 a year back every time, that's just, you've got a stupid. It's $1,000 or more. And you've got a Christmas account with the freaking federal government.
Starting point is 00:31:57 No interest. Don't do that. And Santa Claus doesn't live in D.C. This is not a gift from them. This is your money that you gave them and shouldn't have given them, and then they give it back and act like they did something. And you're like, oh, I got a refund. It's like you're smart.
Starting point is 00:32:12 It's not smart. It's the opposite of smart. So don't do this, okay? Change your withholding with your W-4 by readjusting to the proper amount of tax coming out. Now, for more tax help, go to Ramseyysolutions.com slash tax. Tons of all kinds of blog stuff there to help you with taxes. And you'll find the Ramsey Smart Tax, which is our no-nonsense tax software. People are changing to it from the other one in droves. There's no upfront pricing, or it's low upfront pricing, I'm sorry, no hidden fees. And if you have a
Starting point is 00:32:44 complicated situation, you can even go to one of our tax pros with Ramsey Trusted. They'll help you. So, ramseysolutions.com slash tax. Shannon is in Dallas. Hi, Shannon. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi.
Starting point is 00:32:57 Thanks for having me. Sure. What's up? Okay. So, my husband and I were new listeners, and we did the baby steps a little bit out of order. So we had some good home investment opportunities, and so we have our mortgage paid off. We make about $180,000 a year before taxes. The only debt we do have is a car note, which is about $50,000 a year.
Starting point is 00:33:22 So we've got six months emergency fund. I guess my main question is we have zero retirement. So I work part-time and my husband works for a small company, so they don't get any retirement through his job. So our plan was to save up cash and put down on a rental property. Um, but after listening to you guys, we think maybe we need to do the, well, we need to pay off the car first, obviously, but then, um, do 15%, uh, for retirement, uh, in a Roth. Um, so I guess, uh, my question is we're almost 40. So in 20 years years will we have enough in retirement which is 15 yeah have you run the calculations i i did it was like 600 000 i think but that's without um percentage increases and stuff yeah and that's if you could never get a raise
Starting point is 00:34:22 right yeah right and the other thing is this if you're at your you know let's say you could never get a raise. Right, right. And the other thing is this. If you're at your, you know, let's say you get the car paid off and you have an emergency fund. You told me your house was paid off, right? Yes, we don't have a mortgage. So you're a baby step seven, so 15% no longer applies. At that point, you could invest more. You would max everything that you've got available, Roths, 401ks.
Starting point is 00:34:43 He doesn't have anything at work, though, and you don't have anything. So all you've got is Roth, right? There's no self-employed income anywhere, right? Right. Okay. How large is the company he works for? There's about 10 people. Okay. If I were him, I would sit down and talk with the owners and go, hey, guys, you can put this stuff together really inexpensively right and coach them up have them have them sit down with one
Starting point is 00:35:11 of the ramsey smart vestor pros and you can start a retirement plan for a 10 person company and it costs almost nothing okay okay so see if they'll um start that because they did just start um health insurance they didn't even have that before. Well, yeah, that's going to cost them in penalties under Obamacare if he doesn't do that, so they've got to do that. But, yeah, it's really inexpensive and very easy to set up for a 10-person company. Have them get in touch with us, SmartVestorRose. That'll help you put even more in.
Starting point is 00:35:42 So here's what I would do. I would max out let's say that you could do i don't know 20 but you can't you don't you can't find enough stuff to put it in so you max out who roths you put out whatever you can at the company if they start doing something fun you put something over there and you still got more money then pile up that money to buy real estate for cash okay and then you're going to end up with a net you're going to end up with a net worth uh probably close to five million when you hit retirement okay if you do all that the roth maxed out and then investing in in real estate that you pay cash for and your increases
Starting point is 00:36:18 in income and you just keep doing all this stuff for the next 25 years you're going to end up between between three and $5 million. Okay. That's where you'll be. The $600,000 is just simply doing a Roth, and you're going to do more than that. Okay. Was that both of you guys? Was that two Roths, Shannon?
Starting point is 00:36:37 Well, yeah, so I'm part-time. Okay. You can do a spousal, though. Yeah. You can fully fund both Roths. Yeah, y'all both need Roths. But that's only six grand. Yeah, and they can do what they can.
Starting point is 00:36:50 Tell them this. Tell them to check with. Okay, you need to go to SmartVestor Pro anyway to sit down and set your Roths up. So go to RamseySolutions.com, click SmartVestor, and they'll help you get your Roths started. Okay. You have kids? We do, and they're teenagers. And one we just put through Fire Academy, so we paid for that.
Starting point is 00:37:09 Okay. And the other one, she's 17. So we're cash-flowing that then at this stage. Right. Okay, then tell your husband to ask his boss to meet with your investment advisor, your SmartVestor Pro, and they can show him how to do, if you can remember this, it's called a simple IRA. It's a 401k for small businesses, and it costs almost nothing to set up.
Starting point is 00:37:35 Okay. And then your husband can load that up, and the other people will jump on board too, but he'll be able to do it. There's almost no regulation on it. It's a very, it's why they call it the simple IRA. it's a 401k for tiny businesses like this it's perfect and so they can do all of that and then you you got more money beyond that that you can keep doing so just pile up that cash because you don't have a house payment you don't have anything girl you can have a great life and still pile up some money and you're going to be able to pay cash for some real estate the real
Starting point is 00:38:03 estate's going to go up in value your home's going to go up in value you're going to be in great shape you know get the car paid off though yeah the first steps car paid off in the emergency fund absolutely very good good question that puts us our the ramsey show in the books we'll be back with you before you know it in the meantime remember there's ultimately only one way to financial peace and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Take care.

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