The Ramsey Show - Financial Wisdom Replaces Fear With Peace

Episode Date: June 12, 2025

🔗⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Share the Ramsey 101 Playlist!⁠⁠ Dave Ramsey and Rachel Cruze answer your questions and discuss: "How can I make my money work for me after lending $200,000 to my ex?" "Should I move my family across the country to accept a house that was gifted to us?" "Should I open a business credit card or cash flow my business?" "Should we sell our house to get completely out of debt?" "I'm starting to doubt my plan for a $4.7 million settlement." "Am I liable for my mother's expenses if she has to go into an assisted living facility?" "I'm homeless and have $40,000 in debt, how do I get back on my feet in this situation?" "We are getting a divorce and he wants to split the assets evenly, however I was the one that paid for everything. Is this fair?" "I just got served a lawsuit from my credit card company, how should resolve this?" "How do I navigate the strain of a divided inheritance?" Next Steps: ✅ ⁠Help us make the show better by taking this short survey!⁠ 📞 Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 weekdays from 2–5 p.m. ET or ⁠send us an email.⁠  📈 ⁠Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a Free Personalized Plan⁠ ✔️ ⁠Help us make the show better. Please take this short survey⁠ 💵 ⁠Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app! 📊 ⁠Free Tools & Resources to Help You With Investing⁠ ❤️‍🩹 Get trusted insurance coverage that fits your budget. Connect with our Sponsors: Stop paying more and start shopping smarter at ⁠ALDI⁠ Get 10% off your first month of⁠ BetterHelp⁠ Go to ⁠Boost Mobile⁠ to switch today! Learn more about⁠ Christian Healthcare Ministries⁠ Get started today with⁠ Churchill Mortgage⁠ Get 20% off when you join ⁠DeleteMe⁠ Go to⁠ FAIRWINDS Credit Union⁠ for an exclusive account bundle! Save 15% on your first ⁠Field of Greens⁠ order with code RAMSEY Find top Health Insurance Plans at ⁠Health Trust Financial⁠ To find out more about student loan refinancing, check out⁠ Laurel Road⁠ Use code RAMSEY to save 20% at ⁠Mama Bear Legal Forms⁠ Visit⁠ NetSuite⁠ today to learn more Use promo code RAMSEY for 18% off at ⁠The Nokbox⁠ Learn more about ⁠Timothy Plan⁠ Get started with ⁠YRefy⁠ or call 844-2-RAMSEY Visit⁠ Zander Insurance⁠ for your free instant quote today!  Explore more from Ramsey Network: 💸 ⁠The Ramsey Show Highlights⁠ 🧠 ⁠The Dr. John Delony Show⁠ 🍸 ⁠Smart Money Happy Hour⁠ 💡 ⁠The Rachel Cruze Show⁠ 💰 ⁠George Kamel⁠ 🪑 ⁠Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman⁠ 📈 ⁠EntreLeadership⁠ Ramsey Solutions is a paid, non-client promoter of SmartVestor Pros. ⁠Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brought to you by the Every Dollar App. Start budgeting for free today. 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. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality, number one bestselling author, host of the Rachel Cruz show, co-host of Smart Money Happy Hour. My daughter is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

Lisa is in New York. Hi Lisa, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi Dave, what an honor and I can't even believe I got through. I will make it quick. I am a divorced, now single woman, was in a relationship with a man for seven years. He needed to borrow money. I know how you feel about that but I did it anyway because I thought we were going to the long haul. $200,000 later, he lost all the money. He was doing some crypto something, lost all the money. He has since ended the relationship.

So now I am out $200,000, which was basically the majority of what I had. I gave the money with my heart, so I can say I'm leaving it in God's hands if I get the money back. He is making monthly payments, but he's basically just paying me back the interest at this point. But with the money that I do have left to my name, I'm 55 years old and I approximately have $95,000 left to my name. $95,000 left to my name. I would like to know how can I make that money work better for me so that I'm not working forever and ever and ever, which I may have to be, but I want to make sure that I'm doing the right thing with what I have left.

Wow. That's a sad story of how we got here. It is. It is. It is. And I really thought that I was going to be going the long haul, but I still love him. I'm still in contact with him, obviously. He has his own financial problems. Yeah, I think. Okay.

And I kind of got that part figured out. I hope. All right. The good news is he's in the rear view mirror. The bad news is we're $200,000 poorer. The other news is this. Let's just play pretend that none of that happened. You were sitting here and you just called me and said I'm 55.

I got $95,000. Am I going to be okay? Answer is yeah. If you get on a budget, you stay out of debt, you invest in your 401k and plan on working for the next 10-12 years. Absolutely. You're going to be okay. Right now, but the 95 is not going to make you okay.

Lisa, your work, what do you earn? Between $56,000 and $60,000 a year, I'm a server in a high-end restaurant. So, some days it's. So some days it's great and some days it's bad. It's not a consistent paycheck. But I do love my job. Do they have do they have 401k available to this? They do but they don't recommend doing it through our company because they don't match. So I don't. I save my own money. I'm not a spender. I'm very, very reasonable with myself. I own my own car. I have zero debt. Good. Okay. So really what you've got to do is you've got to fund a Roth IRA and you need

to be saving. Are you out of debt completely? No debt, zero debt. Okay, good. Do you have an emergency fund of any kind, three to six months of expenses? Well, that's my $100,000 that I have left. That's not an emergency fund. Where is that money, Lisa, right now? That 95? Right now, I have $90,000 in a high-yield savings account, which I was making about $600 a month in interest

with all the money that I had, but now I'm down to like 130 a month in interest, which is hideous. And then $14,000 I have in a stock from my ex-husband's work that I just leave. I don't even look at it, and it grows a little bit and does what it does and I'm just leaving it there. Okay, here's what I want you to do. And I keep the bag. Here's what I want you to do.

Yeah, go ahead. I want you to go to RamseySolutions.com and click on SmartVestor Pro and find one in your area that can sit down with you and design your investment plan. Your investment plan needs to sound like this. Of the $90,000, three to six months of expenses, which is $15,000 for you, needs to go in a high yield savings. The rest of this, including cashing out that stupid stock, needs to go in good growth stock mutual funds, and some of it needs to go into a Roth IRA in growth stock mutual funds. Okay? And you need to do a Roth IRA every year, and you probably need to be doing some in this 401K,

even though they don't match, because I need you to start investing 15% of your 65 or $70,000 a year, and the Roth IRA won't quite get you there. Okay. And if you start investing that, you're gonna be investing 10, $12,000 a year in good mutual funds in a retirement account. In 10 years, you're going to have some money. Okay, so who am I calling smart Vester pros. There's a list of them at Ramsey solutions.com and it's the people we recommend in the investment world. You can

recommend in the investment world, you can look at them. They'll sit down with you and have the heart of a teacher. I want you to understand what you're doing. That's why we require them to have the heart of a teacher. But basically, we're gonna put all this money in good mutual funds, most of it in Roth IRAs where we can, and maybe some in a 401K, and you're gonna systematically start rebuilding your wealth by steadily investing over the next 10 to 12 years.

Okay. And you'll end up further along than you were before you met Crypto Bro, who screwed you over. Wow. And don't do that again, by the way. I think she learned her lesson. I hope so. I don't think she learned to. I hope so. The next time someone comes along and pulls at your heart, tell them to take a walk when it comes to your wallet. I know.

And that's where people get in trouble though, because, I mean, she said it, and it's true. It's like you're in a relationship for years and years and years and years, and you never get married, and it's as much liability. Well, they got a divorce. No, I think she had a next test, but I think this was a guy she was dating.

Oh, you know what? That's how I understood it. You might be right. I don't think they were ever married. Oh, that's even worse. Yeah, because then I thought we were going the long haul. That's how I understood it. I think that's what, I don't think they were ever married. Oh, that's even worse. Yeah, because then I thought we were going the long haul. I think, I could be, either way, Lisa. So he dated you so he could fund his crypto.

Not because of, I don't believe that, Lisa. No, I think he dated you because he loved you. And then she had money that he could use and he believed the crypto thing. That's the thing. It's the quick cash. It's the Vegas of today. It's like, hey, here's the smart investing.

Here's the shortcut. If only it was only as risky as Vegas, that would be nice. More risky is what you're saying. Definitely. Definitely more risky than Vegas. This is like a sure thing. You're going to lose it. I know.

Yeah. It's just, I mean. Yeah. And Lisa in the single stock, because she was like, I just want to leave that. So I know, but explaining and understanding that that puts you at a level of risk, because if that company for some reason has a downturn, then that 14,000 is going down and you can earn so much more from a diversification standpoint, but also from the interest rate. You can earn more diversifying and putting these in,

putting that money in mutual funds, Lisa. So when we were talking about the single stock, and that's what the SmartVestor Pro is gonna be able to help you to kind of- Yeah, they can guide you through there. Through all of it. And teach you all of that. And so, you know, we've just gotta get the majority

of that 90,000, 95,000 to work for you. It's not working $130 like you said is horrendous. And you said that properly. But guard your heart kiddo. You don't get a second one of these that you've already you've you've you've done your one. You don't get another one. Would you have him still pay her? She said he's kind of just still paying me. I would just love that. Yeah, I would love him for a pair. But my expectation of this is close to zero. I mean, crypto bro bro is gonna pay his debt. Come on. Really? I doubt it Scott is in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hey Scott, welcome to the Ramsey show

Thanks so much. How you doing Dave better than I deserve. What's up? So my wife and I were we moved to Charlotte a few months ago in hopes of trying to find a house and just with mortgage interest rates, we've kind of been priced out of the market around here. And my mom offered me the option to be gifted her house with the caveat that the house is in Minneapolis, Minnesota. And my wife and I are trying to We're trying to figure out we don't want to look a gift horse in the mouth and we kind of want an objective opinion on

we're trying to balance safety and concerns with where we want to live versus Being gifted a house and we thought and I respect both you and Rachel a lot Just on money principles and and Rachel a lot, just on money principles and in a lot of other aspects. So getting just an outside perspective would be awesome. I don't think you want to live in Minneapolis the way you framed the sentence. Well I moved out of the Twin Cities in 2020 for kind of obvious reasons. And no, it's, we don't want to live in Minneapolis. Then don't.

But it's the same. But you feel like it's crazy to pass up a house. It's crazy to pass up a house that we'd be so close to family. I have two little kids, a two-year-old, and my daughter is gonna be born in August. It'd be close to family, it'd be close to everything. Part of the deal is it's a five-bedroom house, split level, my mom would get a room in the basement. We'd kind of take care of her until she passes. She'd get the rest of her life with her grandkids.

And we'd get a house for half the mortgage, because I'd have to buy my brother out, because that would be the inheritance. But I'd get the ability to raise my family. What do you make a year? I make 125. Okay, all right. a year? I make $125. Okay. All right. Well, I, you know, if I were in your shoes, I would not go. For the same reasons that you left are the reasons you don't want to return.

And you're creating a family situation that's unusual and potentially strained with a permanent lockdown, you don't have a choice. Once you get into this, you can't get out of it. So ten years from now you can't do anything with it. You're screwed until she dies. And so, you know, here's another idea. If you want her to live in your basement and your wife wants her to live in her basement, tell her to sell her house in Minneapolis and come buy a house in North Carolina. I thought about that. The problem is because my brother and his family lives in Minnesota, it's hard for her to, it would be impossible really for her to do that. It's been her home

too. So it's a child's home. I hear what you're saying. I know, but I mean, it's, it's the same. Scott, would y'all move there because you, the pros were there's family and all of that. Would you move there if you weren't, you know, given this deal? Would you guys look for houses in Minneapolis in that area? Well, they already left. Well, no, I'm asking, it's a hypothetical question. Yeah, no, Minneapolis would not be our choice. Well, I'm asking, it's a hypothetical question.

Yeah, no, Minneapolis would not be our choice. Okay, so that helps the answer. I need Scott to answer it. Well, we know that because you left. Yeah, okay. He's talking about going back. So my thing was, if the deal wasn't there, is there any part of Scott that would want to go back at all? You're a good son and your mom misses her grandkids and it tugs at your heart and that means you're a good guy. But it's a bad idea. Okay. I appreciate that.

Can I just say too, I really appreciate, I started Baby Step 2 in 2018 with $220,000 in student loan debt and in three years, four months and 21 days, I became debt free.free Wow, it was all due to your teaching so I know I'm an honor to speak with you Dave. So you too. How much do you have safe for a down payment? We have about 70,000 saved. Okay go 20 miles further out of Charlotte than you've been looking Mm-hmm, and it's going to

start to feel like the boonies because it is okay and you'll find a D and you'll find a real estate deal okay Charlotte's a good market but it's like a to any typical good solid mid-sized city Charlotte Nashville are very similar except Nashville's outgrown it lately. But the further you get from downtown, the cheaper the prices are. It's like if you drop a pebble in the middle and the rings that go out, that's an urban growth theory. As the rings go out away from the city, it gets cheaper unless you run into a mountain or a lake, and then it goes up because of those things.

But other than that, it's going to get cheaper the further out of downtown you get and you'll find something there. You've just been looking at a neighborhood you can't afford and you make $120,000, you have $70,000 down, honey, you can buy a house in Charlotte. It's not the interest rates that are keeping you from doing it. It's just the whole shift in your whole life. And things shifted on you in the economy while you were making these moves around. And so you're still reeling a little bit

from all these moves and all the, that you left your home in a violent COVID rioting situation, which is why you left. And two things really going on there, bad in the Twin Cities at that time in 2020. And there's a lot of people left there at that time. And you're looking for freedom and you're looking for safety and security for your kids. And then while you did that, everybody came out of their caves after COVID like a Baptist looking for a casserole and buying

houses left and right. And they ran the dead gun prices through the roof. And then interest rates bumped on top of that. And it's kind of giving everybody a little bit of deer in the headlights. For sure, and has been for a while. But I think what's hard is his dilemma, what I was hearing him say is, are we crazy to pass up this crazy financial opportunity?

You know? You're not crazy. And so that's the thing is that when people get presented, they feel like, oh my gosh, I need to shift my whole life. My gut check is like this. Revolve everything around that. Yeah, because it's such a huge deal. Because to your point, the market,

the housing market can feel so impossible. So someone like kind of gives you what feels like a get out of jail free card. And you're like, is that crazy that I'm not taking that card? But the way he phrased it is what you were saying too earlier is that he didn't really wanna go, right? Like, I mean, like you're just doing it because you feel like there's like this asset out there

and I'm crazy if I pass it up. But, and it wasn't a free and clear house either. I mean, the ties to family with your mom in there. A lot of strings, a lot of strings. And we hear this a lot even with family members that have like a lot of strings. And we hear this a lot, even with family members that have like a plot of land. We got this call a few weeks ago. And they want to, everyone wants to build on it.

And everyone chip in. The old family compound nightmare. Yeah, but what's hard is like you're stuck there because if you want to move, your family want to live with some stranger in the house. So like, I mean, you do, you get put in these permanent situations because other people build their lives around your decisions. And that's what and that's what you discover is there are no forever homes other than heaven and

So locking yourself into something forever. You're gonna set yourself up for getting your head taken off Yeah, and you know, there are some daughters-in-law want their mother-in-law in the basement, but not many As the audience is laughing. Well, I mean, you can love them, but they're easier to love from a distance. I mean, it's just, you need a little boundary here. It's nothing, it's not a lot, it doesn't mean you don't like them, doesn't mean you don't love them. That's not the point.

But yeah. Yeah, sharing spaces. That's a really good question. And the beautiful part about that question is just his sweetheart. He just, he loves his mom, he loves his brother and he, she misses her grandkids. You know, she does. I can relate. If you guys try to take the grandkids and leave, I'm going with you.

And so I'll live in your basement. Here comes Dave. Here comes Dave in the basement. But yeah, I mean, it's just, I can, it's hard. It's hard when families have been separated by these, by this political thing, really. I mean, the number of families that have left California and left the Twin Cities and left New York and have moved to other areas during this time

is, it's record setting. It's a record migration. Chicago. One of the largest migrations in American history in the last five years. And so, and changing, the shifts in population, American history in the last five years. And so, and changing the shifts in population, the shifts in voting blocks, everything. It's very interesting and it's very, very real.

But in the middle of all that is grandma doesn't get to see her kids, grandkids. And they wear down the street and that just tears your heart out, man. It's hard. I appreciate his heart being sweet about that. That's important. And that can skew you.

So it's good to ask in the multitude of counts of their safety. I understand why you'd want to do it, but I wouldn't do it. That's the answer to your question. Statistics show that half of Americans don't have enough life insurance, or they don't have any at all. I don't understand this, John. Why don't people want to take care of their family? They think they're going to die or something. Well, I used to be one of those guys. I didn't even think about it. And one of my buddies said, Hey, the only reason to not have life insurance is if you hate your wife and kids.

And I immediately went and got term life insurance. That's a gut punch. And you're telling me in for decades, Dave, I've sat across people who've lost a spouse. They've lost somebody important to them. They don't know what to do next. I mean, you're gonna have a crisis here And you know, you got two options while you're sitting and talking to a young widow She's concerned about how she's gonna invest all this money properly and not mess this up or she's concerned how she's gonna eat tomorrow That's exactly the two options care of your dad gum family, man. Term life insurance can replace income, pay off debts, cover funeral expenses, so your family can actually

have the opportunity to just be sad, to just miss you. That's exactly what it's supposed to be. It's saying I love you to your family. Term life insurance. Jeff Zander and the team at Zander Insurance makes it easy and affordable. I've used them personally for 25 years. They're the only people I trust. Go to zander.com or call 800-356-4282.

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CHM programs start as low as $98 a month. So learn more today and join at chministries.org slash budget at chministries.org slash budget. Mason is in Huntsville. Hi, Mason. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hey,, how are y'all doing today? Great, how can we help? Yes sir, I just had a quick question. So I started a business within the last year. I'm coming up on a year in business and I'm curious if I should open a business credit card or to continue to cash flow my business. I feel like cashflowing the business is almost holding me back from my potential.

It's holding you back from going broke. That's your potential. The number one cause of small business failure is cashflow problems. Cashflow problems are caused by business debt. Don't, listen, if you love your business, don't borrow into it. Okay.

So what are you doing? So I'm a running a mobile RV repair business. Okay. Full time or are you working a side job too? Or is this a side job? I, this is a side job. I'm 20 years old. I'm in college and I also work full-time as a software engineer. Great. Good for you. You're a hustler, man. Proud of you. That's good. Okay, so how much volume did you do in your business of mobile RV repair? So in the past year to date, I've done 68,000. Man, good for you. And revenue. That's not profit.

I know. I know. But yeah. So how much of that would you call profit? So profit, I would say probably about 20,000, give or take. So why did you, how'd you spend 48,000 on a mobile repair? You've been buying tools and trucks? So yes.

When I started out, I was running my business out of my Tahoe and then I purchased a company vehicle to run calls on as well as purchasing all the tools. And a lot of the parts in this industry unfortunately cost a lot. So anywhere from $1,100 to $2,100 on just one single part most of the time. Oh, okay. So your cost of the call, I got you. Okay. All right. How'd you learn to do this, Mason?

So I have a really big mentor back home that kind of got me into this and overall just, I've always enjoyed working with my hands. A lot of it is just pretty common sense, honestly. No, it's common. It's as common as common sense, which is a guy like you way to go man. I'm proud of you So here's the deal. Here's the thing you I want you to grasp um If you're looking for secret sauce in your business His name is mason You're the secret sauce

No one else's brain works. Just yours. What you're doing here is an anomaly. It is wonderful. You are the key to this. Not more tools and trucks. Your brain works fabulously as an entrepreneur. You're doing a really, really stellar job. The only thing you've got to do is keep from getting caught up in if I spend more I'll make more not necessarily okay so what would you buy on this credit card because you've got the truck and the tools primarily parts so for example you want to stock parts not stocking parts necessarily because I do already have a stock pile of parts not stocking parts necessarily because I do

already have a stock pile of parts most of the parts I use on everyday basis but there's certain things that I don't carry in stock on me that will cost a few thousand dollars like recently I had an air conditioner that was 1900 and awning there was 1800 which left me with like 400 bucks in my business account okay two answers to that that's a really good example thank you this is very $1,500 which left me with like $400 in my business account. Okay, two answers to that. That's a really good example. Thank you. This is very helpful. Dude, you're like 10 years ahead of yourself. I'm so proud. This is amazing. So I really want to encourage you, but I'm begging you to not use a card. Okay, so number one, I want you to start setting back a larger percentage of your profits Because now your profits should be greater than they were last year because you're not buying a truck or tools anymore

Quit spending all your money on Crap in the business and use the crap that you already own to make some money Okay, your investment year was last year your profit years this year Okay, you following me yes if you don't spend it all on more tools and parts this year so be careful with that if you're doing that a larger percentage of your 70,000 a year will be profit than it was last year agreed yeah okay then we're gonna take a sum of that profit and start to build a little pile of cash for buying parts with.

That's fix number one. You're going to be your own line of credit. Okay. Okay. Number two fix is I'm going to change my terms with these customers. Anytime a part that I'm bringing as a young 20 year old college student to your freaking $300,000 RV, anytime I'm bringing you a part in excess of $1,000, you're advancing that. Okay. Let them pay for it because they're going to pay for it anyway. That's what I was wondering.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Because recently I've only been doing 50% of anything over $1,000. 50% is fine, but if it's over $1 I don't I don't need you to cover my labor I don't need a deposit on my labor. I'll risk that but I'm going over here and picking up a three thousand dollar air conditioner for you And I'm 20 years old and in college So you need to pay for the air conditioner dude and the guy's gonna go. Well sure

Okay, and just let you know I'll listen here's the invoice you just cut me a check for that And then you use his money to go buy the air conditioner And then that and then you just charge him for the other stuff, and that's not an unreasonable thing You don't want nickel and dime among little stuff But if you you know set a limit anything above two grand or upper 1500 or whatever so that gets rid of the cash flow problem and if you did have a cash flow issue and you want to dip into it you can build your own line of credit with your increased profits don't fall into the credit card

trap Mason you're way too bright to do that you got way too much potential this thing's got upside man and and the way your brain works you're gonna be able to start something in a few years this or something else and go you're gonna go bananas you're getting some really good business training right there. I love America, I mean Yeah I'm unemployed. I'm not I'm fixing RVs out of the back of my Tahoe and

I'm 20 and I made 70 grand while you're sitting on your thumbs talking about how everything's falling apart in Trump world. Give me a break. This is an awesome country. I love the free enterprise system. God, man. As long as we got kids like that, there's hope, man. Life is good.

Michael! Michael is in Palm Springs. Hey, Michael, how are you? Hey, guys how are you? Hey guys, thank you so much for taking my call. Really appreciate it. Our pleasure. My wife and I are going through a bit of a financial challenge, really need your advice, long-time listeners.

So I kind of have a general idea of what you guys will say already. But I lost my job in August, it was a higher paying job, and we have a significant amount of consumer debt, about 120,000. And we're considering selling our home to get out of the consumer debt. And then also the home, we used a family friend to finance it. It's on a private note right now that is interest only and if we were to sell the house we would clear all of the debt and then also have about maybe 80 or 90 thousand in their savings. So I wanted to get

your advice around that. What were you making before you lost your job? I was making, I was bringing home about 150 and my wife brings home, I'm in the financial services industry. And that was August? Correct, yeah. What are you doing now? Why are you not re-employed? I am, I am. I got rehired at a different firm in January, but it's a different position that makes significantly less. What are you making now?

About 65, 70. Why did you do that? It was a bit out of necessity, but because I did lose the job, I couldn't really find another higher paying position. What were you doing? I'm a branch manager for a retail bank. Okay. All right. Now? Now I'm just a traditional banker. Oh, I see. So I'm no longer in management. Yeah. okay Well, if you're gonna adjust your life to your new income, then yeah, this whole deal makes sense

But I'm still wondering Once you make 150 you ought to be gravitating back that way and not be settling for 65. Maybe banking ain't your thing Because that's a big drop. I think you're worth more than you're getting paid So, you know Is selling the house fixes the temporary does it fix the permanent? That's what you got to ask. Buyers selling real estate right now is a big deal, and between all the clickbait headlines and the confusing data out there, it's tough to know what's actually going on, because people try to hype it up one way or the other. The

real world is this. The median house price in America today is $431,000. That means half of them are above that and half of them are below that. That's what that statistical measure means. Interesting. And inventory is up. There are more houses on the market right now, over a million right now, than at any time since 2019. And prices are up. And interest rates are down. They're down under 6%. So it's a good time actually to buy and it's actually a good time to sell. So 15 year fixed is 5.9 right now. Just to give you an idea. And so if you want to know data like that you know check out the housing market trends we help you do this with

free tools doesn't cost you a thing go to RamseySolutions.com slash market or you can click the link in the show notes and we'll show you the stuff that's going on out there for real no hype Josh is in Atlanta. Hi, Josh. How are you? Hey, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Same here, Dave. Same here.

So about two years ago, I started my financial journey and it was partially inspired by you. I came across one of your videos and I was at a point in my life where I met my wife and my family really needed me to step up and my wife has some medical issues. She also, you know, was touched by tragedy. She lost a child previously and it kind of exacerbated some issues and, you know, it got in the way of her job and she was in recovery. Anyway, long story short on that note, once we got together, I was able to pull us out and I was able to overcome and become debt free. And recently about eight months ago, I found out about a massive windfall that she would be receiving.

It was due to a legal settlement. And the past eight months I've just been on a journey where I've been dedicated to not getting this wrong. And I basically at the point now Dave where I had my plan, I've been doing nothing but working on it, and I'm kind of circling back to where I started because I'm at a crossroads. I have an appointment with a wealth management firm tomorrow and I'm looking to get the money on Monday. And I have my plan in my hands.

I have all the voices out there that are telling me all different types of things. And I'm just kind of bringing it back because what you did worked and your overall life philosophy and ideals align with mine. So you don't need my money, and I just don't want to get this wrong, Dave. So I'm coming to you just to say, what do I need to know?

What don't I know? Because the scary part is, I think I kind of have an idea, and that's what scares me, thinking that I know what to do. How much is this? It's going to be $4.7 million after tax. Lump sum? Yes, sir. Okay.

Yeah, that's enough to scare you. If you're wise, and you are wise, obviously. So a couple of basics we can cover, and you probably already know these, is the wealthy people that I know, and I know thousands of them, and I've studied them as well, our firm does research on them, violate the stereotypes that not wealthy people think they do.

Not wealthy people think that wealthy people have some kind of trick bag, do. Not wealthy people think that wealthy people have some kind of trick bag that you can do a double backflip family partnership limited bull crap. They don't exist. Okay. The secrets of the rich are this. Keep it simple. Very simple. Rule number one. Rule number two. Don't put money in anything unless you understand it. Rule number three. You and your wife meet with the people that are teaching you and don't ask your wife what

she thinks. Ask her how she feels Okay, who can find a virtuous wife for her worth is far above Ruby's the heart of her husband Safely trust her and he will have no lack of gain if Sharon has a bad feeling in a meeting It's the last one Wow, she doesn't even have to explain it. It might be he just had bad breath. I don't care. We're not going back in there. Okay? And that has saved me hundreds of thousands of dollars of Dave doing stupid stuff. Okay? I'm serious. Yes, those are three very simple principles

Okay, you don't have to be fancy. You do have to understand it and your wife and you need to have a peace About it. You've had a lot of turmoil a lot of medical issues a lot of drama. It's time for some peace and The finances need to add peace not anxiety Okay, and if you feel yourself tightening up in your chest that's God talking to you Take a breath walk out. Don't do it right now If it's not adding peace, we're not doing it Josh., I'm curious. You said I had a plan. And now I'm thinking about it, but I don't know if it's right. All of it. I'm curious, what would you have done with this money

if you hadn't called? What was the plan? So what I came up with, and I'm going to get it wrong because I'm nervous, half because I got that meeting tomorrow, half because I'm on air. But I'll try to get this right. You're good. I was going to establish a trust. I

was going to put money into the four types of mutual funds, you know, growth, growth income growth, aggressive growth, international. A little thing I came up with Dave on my own. And then I was going to have an emergency fund and then I was going to look at and getting into some physical real estate. Growing up my parents had a service industry locksmith and they based their business off of property managers. And you're going to pay cash? I know a lot of property managers.

I'm going to pay cash and I'm going to start off small. I'm not going to get greedy. I would do everything you're doing except I don't think you need a trust. Really? No. Okay. The trust does nothing here. You don't you don't have an estate tax problem and trusts are mainly for estate tax problems. Okay. But I think

everything I think you're doing there, assuming you can be competent in the real estate part of it, which I think you can. You were getting ready to explain that when I cut you off. But yeah, I'm with Rachel. I think that's wise. Now, the other thing is, I don't, when I hear the phrase wealth management, I get a little bit hair on the back of my neck. Okay? So I don't know what you're going into over there tomorrow. And so just keep it simple, which is what you've done so far. Don't put money in stuff you don't understand, which is what you've done so far. Don't put money in stuff you don't understand, which is what you've done so far. And if they want to change the direction of that walk. I see you're capable of doing this. This is not rocket surgery. You can

do it rocket surgery. Well, it's a combination of brain surgery and rocket science, right? Yeah, like it. It's very complicated. Kind of like brain science and rocket science, right? Yeah, I like it. It's all of it. It's very complicated. Kind of like brain science and rocket surgery. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that's it. I mean, yeah, I guess the core of my question to be specific, and I don't want to take up all your time, with her issues with being in recovery, they're kind of at a set to the point in time. She kind of needs me for at least 24 months. And so what I'm looking at, I'm weighing the options of, can I do the work?

I have a fire in my belly, Dave. I'm ready to go to work, but my family may need me. And before I was selling my time for money, I'm a federal security contractor and make about $50,000 a year. I'm no longer keeping the lights on. I'm keeping my family healthy and guiding us and orientating the ship. Well, I mean, if this generates a 10% rate of return, you're gonna have $400,000-$500,000 a year coming in. Managing the family office. Yes, yes sir. So I mean if you're if you're real

rental properties are cash flowing to the tune of net net net of 10% of everything and your mutual funds are averaging 10% I mean you're gonna be dealing with that which is more than you've ever money and you've ever made in your life. Do you guys have kids Josh? Yes we do we're blessed with a 14 year old and an 8 year old. Okay yeah. Is she emotionally capable of attending these meetings? She is emotionally capable of attending these meetings. Our strategy has always been the same Dave. I'm not wanting to stress her and ask her to make all the financial sophisticated decisions I just want her feeling on the room. I want her to feel the room and I

want you to meet with more than just the person you're meeting with tomorrow meet with a SmartVestor Pro to get some other people on your corner. Get a second opinion or six. All right, Dave, you have some strong opinions. Possibly, yeah. Yeah, I think so. Okay, because you really prefer credit unions over big banks. Credit unions, for one thing, are non-profit, which means that the members, the customers,

own the credit union. So any profits that the credit union makes goes back into customer pricing. So you get better interest rate on savings, cheaper checking, and so on, that kind of thing. And what's more important than that, though, is the fact that the customer is the owner changes the spirit on the credit union. So I find very few credit unions that aren't very customer-centric. Well, and I think we have found one that is incredible, and that's Fairwinds.

They are an incredible credit union that is really out with the heart to help the customer. They're the right kind of people with the right kind of values. And they've done a really, really good job with customer service, and the deals that they're offering the Ramsey Tribe is incredible. Yeah, absolutely. And I love that the things that we teach, they so line up with,

and you're right, their customer service is unbelievable. Winston and I just signed up, and we got an account. And I'm not kidding, it took less than five minutes. It was so user friendly, like the step-by-step approach was unbelievable. And then the next day, my rings and it says fair wins on my phone. So I answered it and talked to someone there and they

said, yeah, they give calls to every new customer. And so again, they just really care about your experience. And I, I so, so appreciate that. Plus anything that you can do at a traditional branch, you can do with them at fair wins dotorg or on their app. And you'll have free access to over 33,000 ATMs. Hey, you guys know how much I hate banks in general. And so for me to do this is a big deal.

Talk to our friends at Fairwinds and check out the combined checking and savings bundle that they created just for the Ramsey Tribe. You guys, it's incredible. Yeah, you guys, it's so easy to join Fairwinds no matter where you live. So go to fairwinds.org. Ramsey. Larry is with us in Atlanta. Hi, Larry. How are you? Pretty good. How are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up?

I love to hear it. Well, my question today isn't really about me. It's about my parents. So both of my parents are completely debt free. They've always been really good with their money. They have about $110,000 in savings and they have nothing invested in their 401k, no ROF, no nothing in their retirement because I think it's mostly more my dad always doing the stock market is more of a gamble and he fears it. And now that they're in their mid 50s, I just want them to retire at some point to me being the only child, you know, it's gonna become more burden on me when they kind of get older because you know, I can't really split,

you know, help between siblings and all that stuff. And you know, any little extra income probably on their end would help because they can't work forever. So I'm just trying to figure out how can I convince my dad to stop being scared of investing and finally get him to start doing it and trying to convince him that's not too late. Is he asking? Oh no, I brought it up first and then he kind of asked me like you know why are you kind of worried about me retiring so much. I'm just like I I just want you to retire. Have a good life. You see, you know, my grandparents, they've, they're doing well. They're never worked in about, you know, 10, 15 years or so.

They're doing good. And I just want you to have the same thing. But right now I just not really seeing it going that way. You know, how old are you? I am 24. Okay. All right. I appreciate your heart for them.

What you're running into is what's called the powdered butt syndrome. Once someone has powdered your butt, they don't really want your opinion on sex or money. Right. And so it's very difficult for 24 year olds to advise 55 year old dads. Oh yeah. It's just the dynamic of that relationship is very hard. It's very unusual that your dad would go, Hey, Larry tell me everything you know about investing.

You know, it just doesn't really come up that way usually. It's almost like they snicker and roll their eyes when you start talking That would be more normal. Anyway, so You know, the only thing I can do is There's two things that have three things that have worked one is I would pray For them and ask God to speak to them in some way or another and Two is one of those prayers is who could speak to your dad that he would listen to You have an uncle a brother a friend

that is your childhood friend as well, but he admires them and respects them and never powdered their butt them and respects them and never powdered their butt. I'm not quite. He has been kind of listening to me somewhat, but I think in my approach to it, maybe because I'm still learning all this stuff. Yeah, it might be. That's fair. But I'm saying, is there a person that's 65 that he looks up to?

Probably his parents, which would be my grandparents that I talked about. They might have more say than you would have. As a matter of fact, I know they have more say than you would have. Oh yeah, oh yeah. If your grandpa sat down and said, hey, if you had parked that $100,000 in an S&P for the last two years, you'd have an extra $50,000 right now that you don't have. That's what it cost him in the last two years. It cost him $50,000 in the last two years. It cost him $50,000 in the last

two years. We had a 23% year and a 26% year. 23 and 24. That's what the S&P did. If he just parked it in a simple standard and board. So it cost him $50,000. So that's, that's the other thing. Now, uh, the third thing is you can do is don't talk to him about him. Talk, tell him your story. This is what I'm learning. This is what I'm doing. This is what's happening when I got out of debt. This is how I feel different. I feel more hopeful than I did. And I've learned here's what I learned about the market. I I'm investing in the market and the reason I am is I looked at it and I realized it's The track record on the stock market, even though the bad news is always on the news. The the track record on the stock market

Um is as solid as that house you and mom live in the stock market is as solid as that house you and mom live in. You didn't get a guarantee on it and I want to own real estate and I want to own mutual funds because both of them have a long-term track record of going up and neither one of them have a guarantee. And that's what I'm doing, dad. But you don't have to say, and you should do it too. Don't add that. So you're changing your approach to telling your story.

Yeah, I'm curious, Larry, how do you know that they have nothing invested? Are they pretty open with you about where they are? Oh yeah, growing up, my dad, he never told me not to invest in a 401k or nothing like that. But I've always heard him say, Mark, so I was just gambling,

might as well just go to a casino. Even though I you know started learning about you know S&P 500 and Ross all that stuff and he's known about it for a long time. Yeah. He's been a lifelong ad buddy. He just sees it that there's just no difference and I think he started listening to me because I did buy him the book Retired Inspired and I recently gave him two of my copies of Dave Ramsey's books and he's been skimming through it. I think he's starting to open up. I'm just trying to like, it's just like something I'm not

wording right where I think he will do it. Well the statement that the market is the same risk level as Vegas is an inaccurate statement mathematically. I agree. It's just, I mean it's very simple. The market is closer market is more akin to single family homes than it is gate Vegas. Right. And so it does go down more than single family homes when it goes down. Single family homes seldom go down, almost never. Right.

But you don't have a guarantee on either. And when you're investing, what you're learning to invest based on is the track record and when someone makes a statement like oh it's the same thing as going to Vegas that means they just don't understand the track record of the market and so there's some interesting I'll tell you one to pull up and look at and you might even just send him the link over and go hey I was studying this what do you think about it? There's an interesting chart on American funds go to American funds website and it shows what the market has done and

They have a fund called ICA which is one of the largest and oldest funds investment company of America And you can look at that or you can look at the S&P. It's the same. It'll do about the same thing And you can go okay looking at the S&P. It'll do about the same thing. And you can go, okay, looking at the S&P, in the last 25 years, there's been three down years. Interesting. That's way different than Vegas. That's the S&P, which is the market. We've had three down years on an annualized basis

in the last 25 years. That's kind of shockingly stable. Yeah, so I mean pull up, you can pull up stuff like that on the S&P. That old ICA fund is just interesting because they've got a great illustration. Yeah, and just have some patience, Larry. If he's been saying this your whole life, this is going to be an untangling of a mindset that he's had for 20 plus years. So just have some patience. You know, it's not going to happen overnight. You got a long project. When you try to change your parents, it doesn't happen overnight. Trust me. I knew this was coming. I knew I wasn't getting out of this call unscathed. Today's Ramsey show question of the day is sponsored by WhyRefi. When you're tired of making no progress on your defaulted private

student loans, WhyRefi can help you explore a fresh start with low fixed rate financing. So it's time to stop spinning your wheels. Go to WhyRefi.com slash Ramsey to learn more. That's the letter y, r-e-f-y dot com slash Ramsey might not be in all states. Today's question comes from, is it Michaela in Virginia? What do you think about the recent government proposals to give a baby bonus payment to encourage couples to have kids? I'm going to be honest, I'm not up to date on all this stuff, but is it, I don't think it's, is it to encourage people to have kids or is it like a, Hey, here's like an assistance

to like a child tax credit opposite. You know what I mean? Like I kind of see it as like a opposite of a tax credit, but it's like, here's a, here's a thing. Here's the deal. If the only reason you had a kid is because the government's gonna give you money, you got issues. If I could sing, I would sing. And your kid's gonna have issues after you had issues.

So it's a bad motivation. How much is it? Do you know? I don't know. I should have known. It doesn't matter. The government needs to stay out of this crap. Having babies shouldn't be a government operation, I'm just saying.

They can screw up Christmas, they don't need to screw that up. So I mean, no, it's not. No, no, no. I would go for like childcare stuff. How about just everybody live your own life and you don't need the government for your own freaking life? How about you go do something with your bone butt and quit waitingowkers waiting around on the government to give me a money I'm not waiting around life is not going to be better because of the government ever

There's never a time where you went. Oh the government saved my bacon. No, they stole my bacon regularly That's what they did So there you go. There we go Kevin's in cleveland. Hi kevin. How are you? Uh, not bad. How are you better than I deserve? How can I help? So I'm gonna I'll keep this as brief as I can but there's a lot to it So basically about ten years my dad died my sister moved in with my mom He had her set up my mom set up to where

She could live in her mid 90s without having any, any issues, any change of lifestyle at all with that ranch house and everything. They ended up buying a, a large two story, five bedroom, four bath house where currently they have a mortgage. My mom's savings is gone. She's got early stage of dementia. Wait, who? I'm sorry. Kevin, who bought the house? His sister screwed the deal up.

My mom. Your mom, but your sister's the one kind of assisting in all of this. Causing it. Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. Your sister screwed it up. That's what I heard you say. Did you say that? Would you agree with that? I agree with that, yes. Okay. Your sister screwed it up. I got, that's what I heard you say. Did you say that? Would you agree with that? I agree with that. Yes. All right. Okay. Sadly. But, um, so, um, basically neither of,

neither of them would be able to afford this house on their own at any point. So, um, my mom's monthly income is pink going solely towards the mortgage. Um, and, um, she's got early stage dementia, her savings is gone. Been trying to get it, me and my brother been trying to get, you know, things situated in what we think would be a better, better situation, but there is backlash from my sister. And I think and I think I think I

Think my my mom is convinced by by her To have it. I mean like she I don't know who has power of attorney So I'm not sure anyone has power of attorney. Yeah, not a medical power of attorney Well, I don't think she's been diagnosed with any. So she was on some medication for it to kind of slow it down. Is there a will and a health care power of attorney? There is a will. There may be a health care, but I was thinking you meant financial. Well, it's the same thing.

thinking you were meant financial. Well it's the same thing. I mean healthcare can dictate the care, but once someone is declared incompetent due to dementia, then the power of attorney takes over and runs the estate. Who is that? Probably your sister. Well my brother is the oldest out of us and he was the one that was talking several months ago about going and getting it and I keep on having to remind him last time I was like a did you get that he's like, oh no, it's what my mind. Thanks for reminding me I'm assuming it still hasn't been done. But I don't I don't know there's a copy of that stuff somewhere That's what you're saying. Go get I Get yeah, yeah, I don't know. It's not publicly recorded. It's the family lawyer or your mother has it in a lockbox or wherever the will is.

That's where it is. My understanding is he was going with my mom to get, for him to get power of attorney. Oh, too late. She's got early onset dementia. She can't grant it. Oh. If she's been diagnosed as not as being semi mentally competent, she can't start signing documents.

Okay. Has she been diagnosed as that or is that your all just your all suspicion? Um, well, I know she, I know she's been to a doctor. I don't know whether or not she's, she, she definitely has it. Cause I mean, you could sit there and talk to her and she'll, she'll repeat the same thing over and over again. And you would lose if she signed it, if she signed over something, you would lose it in court when your sister contested it and your sister will

contest it because what you're going to do with it immediately sell this stupid house. Yeah. If you got it, but oh well. Okay. So what are we going to do? Well, I guess, I guess that's a question. At this point, it seems like I'm the lone dog, if you will. I mean, I'm the only one that's really willing to do anything about any of this. So I think that I have to kind of look out for myself in this at this point. What have you got in it? Well, I guess that's my question is what if she has to go into long-term care or anything or if there's any debt that before I mean what what kind of

liability do I have? Zero unless you sign for it. Okay. If you go over at the nursing home and you sign up for it and you say I'm liable then you're liable but if she just goes in on her own your children you do not inherit your debts okay and so any so if this house gets foreclosed on and your sister your sister may she probably signed on it she probably they probably go after her but um but you know you're not let's say your mom had a credit card, okay, and owed $50,000 on it and she dies. You're not liable. The estate is, if she owns anything, when you die, what you own stands good for what

you owe. Assets minus liabilities. That's the estate. But the heirs are not liable for anything. But your sister would be if her name's on the house, if she signs. Yeah, I mean, you're not liable just because you're the kid. Are you worried, Kevin, that she's not going to have money to go into an assisted living even? She's not.

Like, is that part of your question? Yeah, that's part of my question. My whole question, ideally I would want, I mean, I've offered to have her live with me, my mom live with me, and then sell the house and get something more of my, because it's my sister and her daughter and my mom, and that's in a gigantic house that they can't afford and it doesn't make sense to me. Ideally I would like all that, you know, everybody to have money. Does she have insurance, Kevin, like long term care or anything? Well that's another thing I don't, apparently they do, but I couldn't get the specifics

on it and I asked probably a year ago for it and then when I asked again, I kind of got yelled at. I asked probably a year ago for it and then when I asked again, I kind of got yelled at And I can't excuse of some things so Well, I don't I don't know that you're gonna be able to I don't know that you're gonna be able to affect this situation No matter how bad you want to unless prior to her dementia episodes This prior to her dementia episodes, she had signed a power of attorney that in the event that she became incapacitated, this person was assigned. That is a standard package with a will usually.

So if there's a will somewhere, there may be a healthcare power of attorney and a power of attorney in the event of diminished capacity. That would not be unusual. That's a fairly, like if you go to Mama Bear Legal Forms and you do a will, they're going to have those two things in the package, OK? That's a fairly standard basic will set. So if that's laying somewhere, your brother probably has great power here to help your mom

and put your sister where she belongs, in the street. And so that's where she should be figuring this out instead of being a dead gun parasite. I can't stand parasites. Parasites in the family are awful. They're just awful. Just gross. So yeah, take care of your mom, buddy, if you can, but you're not liable. Hey, you guys, if you're not liable. shopping trip over name brand products at other stores, which adds up to about $4,000 per year for a family of four. It's crazy.

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Clear it up. Clear it up before we get out of this. All right. So check it out. ramsysolutions.com slash getaway or if you're on YouTube or podcast it up. Clear it up. Before we get out of this. All right. So check it out. Ramsesolutions.com slash getaway or if you're on YouTube or podcast is in the show notes. Christine's in Chicago. Hi, Christine.

How are you? Hi, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. How can we help? About three and a half years ago, my 16 year old daughter passed away. Oh my gosh. What in the world?

I'm sure. What happened? You know, she was really struggling with mental health and she just gave up. I'm so sorry. Thank you. Wow. How, three, did you say three and a half years ago? Yeah, she died in 2022. I can't even imagine.

I'm so sorry. Thank you. After she passed, I, I let go even imagine. I'm so sorry. Thank you. After she passed, I let go of everything. I was evicted out of the house. I was renting for five years, lost everything, just kind of gave up on everything. My ex-husband, I was staying with him for a little bit. And then I got to the point where, you know, it's like it came to sink or swim. So I started door dashing, grub hubbing. I was living in my car for a short time and I have a family friend that reached out to me

and she was like, come to my home. You know, I'll help you get on your feet, you know, mental health wise and so forth. Well, I just got a job opportunity. I just signed my offer letter. I started job in two weeks This is the first full-time job. I've had since my daughter passed I'm gonna be making roughly about sixty four thousand a year. Good for you. I'm in thank you

I'm in debt about thirty and part of that is my car my car loan I have one more payment for funeral expense And the rest is just like, you know, medical bills, no credit cards. I just don't know. I just don't know how to like get on my feet. I don't know.

Do I jump into this job and go run and get an apartment? Do I pay off my car? I feel like I just don't know what I should do once I start this job. I'm so proud of you. Thank you. You're crawling out, Keto. I'm trying. I really am. It's been real hard. I can tell. I can tell. So how's your emotional state? Are you doing okay? I'm a lot better. A lot better. I would say probably the last year has probably been... so this friend

giving you a safe spot this friend giving you a safe soft spot to land was a was a godsend yeah wonderful lady wonderful lady so how much longer do you stay there should you stay there is she expecting you to stay there you know with me getting this job you know she's motivated me a lot everything from getting out of bed to shower and so you know finding this job that I finally got. You know, she wanted to see me in my own space, but she's not at the same time making me leave anytime soon. I would ask her what the timeline is she thinks is appropriate. Okay. She has been such a blessing. The last thing you want to do Silverstay, you're

welcome. Agreed? Absolutely. I agree. Absolutely. Okay. And so because I don't Okay, she's been such a blessing the last thing you want to do silver stay your welcome agreed Absolutely, I agree absolutely okay, and so because I don't want you thinking three months and her thinking three days Sure, I want us to be aligned and then you know what you've got to deal with Because your first job with the new job And with the emotions and everything is to create a sustainable situation Definitely. Okay, and that's food shelter utilities and transportation and clothing and that's it

The debt the debt I'm not worried about today other than you got to pay the car payment because you got to keep them Yeah, I want it. What do you owe on the car? I? pay the car payment because you got to keep a repo on it. What do you owe on the car? I owe about $18,000 on it right now. Do you want to keep it and pay it off quick? Yeah, that was like my, you know, my plan. And that's like the biggest reason why I've always like kind of, I bet to be honest, I've been teeter tottering with, you know, it being repossessed, you know, like, well, how far behind are are you right now i'm just shy of two months right now behind on it all right job ones get current on the car definitely okay job two is figure out housing and the timeline okay okay so is the timeline three weeks three months three days i

don't know let's figure that out sure and and and so once the car is current, then we're going to establish when we move out and when we do move out, we're going to establish food, shelter, clothing, transportation and utilities. If you keep all that going, this is your first step to reestablishing your life. Agreed? Foundational. It's foundational. Absolutely. Then we can worry about getting out of debt, building wealth, and being outrageously generous. Okay. Okay. But right now we're worried about eating and car payments and apartment.

Christine, have you written down any numbers, done any level of kind of even a mock budget? Have you done any of that? You know, I really haven't. You know, as weird as it sounds is that, you know, sometimes just I have to be on a schedule. Otherwise I can't get out of bed. I don't want to shower. You know, so this job is going to be a big deal for me

because giving me a routine, the goal to, you know, keep going. Yeah. Well, and I think the first, one of the first steps possibly that could be a gift to you is just to sit down and we're going to give you every dollar premium, our budgeting app is to kind of just create a mock budget. It doesn't have to be for real. The numbers that you type in don't have to be, you know, locked in stone by any means,

but just to say, okay, the apartments around, this is kind of probably like the average rent for a one bedroom. Here's what I think I can find. Okay. I'm just put like the average rent for a one bedroom. Here's what I think I can find. Okay, I'm just gonna put that down for rent. For food, how much will groceries be? And just estimate some of these things. And again, they're not real life

because you're not living there right now. But once you kind of start to get these facts, Dr. John Delaney, our friend always says, facts are your friends in like, especially kind of a crisis situation. And this could ground you. There's a level of anchoring of facts that it's not driven on emotion.

It's just, this is exactly the reality of my life and what I have to have. And then compare that to what you'll make after taxes, what will hit your accounts on that first paycheck. And all of that's gonna, and the car loan, I mean, all of that, I think it's gonna give, it'll give you another plan with your money, just like a plan and a schedule you have for your day.

It's just another routine to have in your life that's really healthy and it's really good because I think it'll ground you and I really believe it's going to give you some confidence to see, okay, here's the reality of what's about to happen when this first paycheck hits and here's what I'm going to do with it. And again, it may take you a month or two to kind of get caught up with everything. But I think that's, I think that's a great first step financially. It takes the, uh, it takes the trauma and the drama out of your brain and puts it on paper and makes it look like what it is, a non-issue. Okay. You're,

you're going to be okay. Mathematically, you're okay. Okay. You're going to be fine if you just stick with this. How much is your car payment? Um, it's about four. What is okay? Yeah mathematically you're gonna be okay If you're making sixty five thousand just make sure you take make sure you load up the w-2 And you don't have hardly any withholding There's no point you having a bunch of withholding because you're not gonna have hardly any taxes in Chicago sure okay? Okay, and so I want most of this money coming home and

And we're gonna get the car payment current. We're going to get an apartment. We're going to buy food. We're going to buy lights. We're going to buy water. And we're going to put gas in the car. And you probably got some clothes. And now we're set. Now we can start talking about going from here.

But what Rachel's right, when you put it down on paper, it looks back at you and it says to you, you're okay. Okay. That's what that structure does for your brain. It says you're gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay because I can see the budget but I've done 10 000 of them. Yeah. So I know what your budget is. I can already tell you but I but that doesn't help you. When you write it down and you go this is what an apartment, this is food, this is my 400 car payment, this is life. I can do this. This is going to work.

Christine, you're amazing. It's going to make you smile. It's going to make you, I'm so proud of you. You're amazing. I mean, walking through what you've walked through. It's incredible. Absolutely incredible. So we are cheering you on. So hold on the line. We're going to put one of our, uh, hang on the line. We're going to put one of our, uh, Ramsey coaches at our expense. You're not charged you a dime. We want to make sure we would be part of your story Part of your healing story and they're gonna walk with you and show you just exactly what we're doing here And we'll get you the every dollar full package and FPU and the whole daily. Whatever. We'll get you in everything

You're you're you're amazing. Wow. Wow Tina is in Trenton, New Jersey. Hi, Tina. How are you? I'm doing well. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Okay. A quick question. I am retired, sold the family home, and I've been renting for six years now. So my house money is in the bank. And now I have an opportunity to buy a condo which is in the mid-200s which will take a good part, 75% of what's in the bank. But the HOAC and taxes are about $1,400 a month versus rent which is around $2,000 a month. And I'm just wondering is that worth it? Like, I'll be saving $600 a month in fees for the month.

So it's $600 less than my rent, and I'm taking money out of the bank to put it into a condo. So your total mistake is how big? The total mistake of the cash, the free cash? No, everything, everything you own. Oh, everything I own would probably be 700 and some thousand. Okay, and you're putting 200 into a condo. And then the question is the high HOA fees.

Well, I kind of got a little sticker shock like you did listening to this. And then I look and I see you live in New Jersey. So, which you got ultra high property tax there, right? Yes. So I don't know if this is high or not compared to other condos in the area. If you said, I mean if you if you went and bought a $400,000 condo five blocks away, what would be the HOA fee? Again, they would range from $500 to $1,000. Okay, so this is unusually high. It's about, yeah, $800 and 50. Why is it high? It's a condo in a resort town with great amenities. The HOA fee is for running the HOA,

which would be doing repairs, maintenance, and taxes and insurance on exterior structures. Okay? If the taxes are the same as the one across town that's $500, then we don't have a tax issue. Okay? If the insurance is the same as the one across town that's 500, then we don't have a tax issue. Okay? If the insurance is the same as the one across town that's five or six hundred, then we don't have an insurance issue, which tells me the thing that the HOA may be run poorly. Ah, okay. Then this is just the HOA. The taxes are would be like five hundred. The taxes are separate? Yes, taxes are five hundred. HOO.A. It's like 860 correct. Okay. Well,

I want to know some history on this H.O.A. if I'm you and figure out if it's being run poorly because there has to be a reason that this is high. Okay. If I don't get a logical reason like we just put in new parking lots and we're assessing everyone so it's in there. That's a logical reason and then the fee may come down later. Okay or it may be there may be something else going on but when if the average in the area is eight or nine hundred or a thousand and this is fourteen hundred they are devaluing these condos by running them poorly. Oh I'm sorry the fourteen hundred the taxes, so if you back the tax out, the HOA for this condo was like 860. So it's about the same as others in the area?

Yes. Okay, I'm sorry, I completely misunderstood. Alright, then we don't have a problem, do we? It's comparable, and the question is, it's less than rent, so is that a reasonable thing? Yes, you own it Okay, and I suspect it's gonna go up in value is it not I Would hope so. Well, I mean is the area okay, or are you moving into a bad neighborhood? It it has potential

You sound like someone dating someone. It has potential. I mean I just feel like I'm going from the safety of savings account with guaranteed funds to real estate. Buying a piece of real estate for $200,000 and having fees associated with it still around $1400. If they're market comparable in the area does not sound like a bad idea as long as you're not buying in a bad neighborhood where you're going to be unsafe or where the property values are going down instead of up because of crime or something else. And so that's the only thing you've got to consider.

$200,000 sounds like a very inexpensive condo in Trenton, New Jersey to me. Property values there are pretty high. But I mean, you look at that, and if you feel comfortable with the long-term implications of owning this, meaning it's going to go up in value, and the HOA fee is comparable to others, and the taxes are comparable to others, I like the idea of you owning rather than renting to stabilize your future Yep. Amen. Good luck, Tina So gonna be a condo living lady. There you go. So

Rachel it's one of the things that you know, your most expensive line item in your budget folks is housing in almost everyone's budget anyway, and If you rent it goes up every year for the rest of your life. And so if you retire at 60 or 65, and you say, I'm gonna rent until I'm 90, you know, your most expensive line item is going up every year. And so what you get when you buy,

even if you had a mortgage payment, a fixed rate 15 year mortgage payment, even if you had that, when you you buy you have locked in and stabilized the Largest line item in your budget. So it's stabilizing your golden years is what we're doing in her case She's paying cash, which is awesome. It's even better way to go and She's only got you know to the maintenance issues Yeah, and so you know she the HOA is covering her maintenance on the exterior portions Anyway, and there's no line item there. I mean besides the maintenance and

She's got this coming out. There's no mortgage The HOA fee may go up some as taxes are and the end taxes and insurance probably will go up some as you go along And make sure you have your insurance reviewed every year and that you keep the proper amount of coverage even if it does go up a little. And property taxes, I mean, politicians just can't keep their hands out of our pockets so you can count on that. And you know, the maintenance stuff may or may not go up or down. You can run into all kinds of stuff there. But I would rather be in an ownership position because Because a it's going up in value and B

I've stabilized that more that most expensive line item in the budget and that's why we always tell people Especially when you heading into your retirement years from 60 and above that you you really need to get into a property You really need to get it paid off Because you're locking in your future. You've got a foundational issue here in your future It's not as much about the investment as it is the sustainability Open phones here at triple eight eight two five five two two five. Thank you for jumping in America John is in Salt Lake John. I'm short on time go straight to your question Hey, so I got an infant and a

new toddler and a new baby and we got about $36,000 in debt and I make about $3,200 a year and I have no idea. $3,200 a month? $3,200 a year. $3,200 a year. Oh $1,000 okay that's helpful okay good. I don't know what to do with that. I'm just over my head with that. What do you do? What do you do for a living? I'm a scrap iron worker. Okay, and what do you make an hour? So, I usually make about $15, but I get some overtime too. Okay. Well, Target's paying 20. Yeah, I've never had a birth

certificate or social security number and that's a whole other deal of itself. Okay, well that'd be something to work on, wouldn't it? Yeah, it's been a long way deal. Yeah. Expensive one too. Yeah, I think I'd work on that because it's gonna help your employment options because your your biggest issue is you have a very low income. Yes. What is the 36,000? I'm not picking on you that's not a shaming thing it's a math thing. What's the 36,000 entail the debt? So we had different credit card debts and then like the majority of it is I had to take a loan from my dad for the first baby. And that was $9,000.

It was a complication. We were trying to have an at-home birth and there had to be a C-section. And so we were able to pay for that through a thing called a STORC program. It was 9,000. And then we just had to borrow that from my dad. We had had it paid down about 4,000 of it. And then we also had to pay for the surgeon and doctors. And then we had another baby and there was another complication.

Sorry, John. It's a hard time. The answer to the equation is, is the things you were already working on is you get a more stabilized, more normalized life with a birth certificate and then you're able to get more normal employment and raise your income considerably and that's going to help a bunch, honey. And that's what you need to be working towards. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. My friends, listen, I know it feels like the world is falling apart and I know that we're all under huge pressure to perform and to look like we're keeping

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and a price that's guaranteed forever. Plus, Boost backs it up with a 30-day money-back guarantee. So you can try it without feeling trapped. Go to boostmobile.com slash Ramsey to make the switch today. That's boostmobile.com slash Ramsey. Wendy is in Cincinnati. Hi Wendy, how are you? Hi, I'm doing good.

Thank you for taking my call. Sure. Hi, sorry, my question is, so now my husband and I, we are looking into getting a divorce and I am trying to, he won everything in half, half of everything, but I'm trying to find a way that is more fair for both of us. So back to when we got married.

How long have you been married? 10 years. Why have you been married? 10 years. Why are you divorcing? That's where I'm about to get to is financial instability. So, and just a lot beyond that. So 10 years ago when he walked into the, we got married and he was in $300,000 student loan. So, we, you know, I kind of came up with a plan to help him pay it off.

It's that we basically spend nothing and he has to make another extra $1,000 a month, so which is you know working picking up a weekend a month about that. So 10 years ago he came in at the marriage with $300,000 in student loan debt. You guys teamed up and paid it off. Sorry, I couldn't hear but I. Ten years ago you said you got married and he came in with $300,000 in student loan debt and you guys teamed up and got it all paid off. I wish that team up is the case but that wasn't really the case.

So ten years ago I kind of came up with a plan. So he has to pick up another $1,000 a month and we are going to invest in rental unit and the rental income basically going to help pay off of expense and pay it off so what ended up happening is He did not ended up doing any of those extra hours which refused to pick up any shift because he said that's not his life passion and The rental income he ended up took it. He took it and spent it. So what do you what have you been making Wendy? What do you make a year? I

Make 140,000. Okay, and you put up with this crap for 10 years. I Would put on for way too long and the thing that now it gave me a lot of I just try to always believe that You know, he just needs some more time. So I ended up working two jobs. I am the one ended up picking those extra shift to help him pay because every time when they come to when they'll need to be paid just say he doesn't have the money yeah I got really bad news honey I'm sorry the law doesn't care in Ohio when you get a divorce you're gonna split things 50-50.

Unless there's something else, other than you just earned more and he was lazy, that one doesn't work. That's what the lawyer is going to tell you when you sit with them. But you need to go sit with a lawyer and find out for sure. But I think that's what you're going to hear. That you put up with this for too long. For way too long. Yeah.

For way too long. So what do you guys actually own? Do you actually own anything? Money? Yeah, we own rental property and also our current home. What's it worth? And also the rental property worth $300,000 around there. Our current home worth about $400,000.

How much debt on the $700,000 real estate? Yeah, so everything is paid off. Oh, it's all paid off? Oh, geez. Oh, God. And you did all of this with your sweat while he sat at home, and because it wasn't his passion to work much.

Do you have kids, Wendy? Yes, we have a kid and that's what my, my, so we moved to the state where his family is. So I really don't have a support network. And when we got married, he agreed that we are only going to live here for a few years and then we got to move to. You volunteered for all this, okay? You can't be, you stayed put when you, you had the option to say no on any of this and put it to an end earlier than you did. So it's now over. I'm sorry.

Where are you guys in the divorce process, Wendy? Have you filed? She hadn't even talked to a lawyer yet. Have you? We are, we are just, yeah, we're at the beginning of it. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry, but what you're going to discover is what a friend of mine who does divorce Yeah, we're just beginning. At the beginning of it, okay. Yeah.

I'm sorry, but what you're going to discover is what a friend of mine who does divorce recovery figured out, and that is that divorce turns a marriage into a business transaction and a legal transaction. And the law will state that child support may be some alimony. Maybe you'll get some alimony out of him, but I doubt it. Doesn't sound like this guy's exactly going to be coming forth with a bunch of money Maybe you can negotiate a large, you know Let him have the rental and you take the big house or something

You may get a little more than half in a settlement in a settled deal if the judge will approve it in Ohio law I don't know Ohio law and I'm not an attorney even if I did so you need to talk to one But most states don't care If though if the mom was a stay at home mom and didn't earn an income for 10 years, she gets half. That's what I was thinking about. If it was flipped. And your husband's a, you know, not work much while you work all the time. He gets half. I mean, you, you, you tolerated it. And so, um, I'm not saying he did something wrong.

I'm glad you hung on, tried to make it work, but that's where you're stuck with. And so I'm not saying he did something wrong. I'm glad you hung on and tried to make it work. But that's where you're stuck with ghetto. I'm sorry. That's an ouchie. Well, it's one of those things too. I'm like where things start when it's starting out, all the intentions are good, right? And then you start to watch it just drift and drift and drift. And until a huge red flag is thrown, it ends up getting here. But that's the thing too, is I'm like, if it was opposite, if it was a guy calling and saying his wife was home, right? Why does it make us more angry?

That's like he was lazy. If she was at home saying, it's not my passion to work much, after she had made a commitment with $300,000 worth of student loan debt to work and help get it paid off. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm going to bring down on her just like I'm going to bring down on him. Nobody gets out of that one alive. Yeah, yeah.

So, no, that's, you know, this is someone who someone else, his mommy has taken care of him his whole life. Oh, no, I was hearing who he is. So his wife was his new mommy. And that's what happened. He's a mama's boy. And oh, yeah, what a mess. Well, the only positive, Wendy, out of all of this is.

He's gone. Well, I mean, seriously, I'm like, the attitude and the mood that he probably brings her down day after day. Yeah. And you'll be free from it. And you may make more money, Wendy, being out of this situation.

Oh, you definitely will. You'll definitely will. It is one of those things you just have to. have to easier to swim without an anchor tied around you Yeah, it's just way easier. Yeah, you're gonna bust out girl. It's gonna be great. I'm sorry I hate do you get a lawyer because I do hate people in and marriages, but you know, it's sound like you got rid of a You get it you get a fresh start kiddo and with or without some rental property and with or without the details on the house. But you know, even if you just sell it all and pile it up in one pile, split it down

the middle, you're going to be okay. You're going to be fine. You're going to be all right and you can live wherever you want to live. You don't have to live there. If you don't want to live near his family, take off, go back where you were, go back where you want to be. You don't have to live there. If you don't want to live near his family, take off. Go back where you were. Go back where you want to be. You get to decide now. And so the future is bright. There were a lot of storms in the past in the rear view mirror, but they're all in the past. Well, soon soon to be anyway. Ouch. You ever tried to explain this Ramsey stuff to a friend? It's

kind of all encompassing, a little bit hard to just go bleh and put it all out there, right? So we're going to help you with that. We built a Ramsey 101 playlist. I say we, I had nothing to do with it except I'm on it. But it's an easy to share playlist. It covers all the basics for somebody who's just getting started with this whole Ramsey thing. Like what are the baby steps, or how's the debt snowball work, or how's the budget work, or how to build an emergency funder. Why do they talk about God? All this stuff. It's all on there. Click the link at the bottom of the show notes.

You open Ramsey 101 playlist on YouTube, text it, DM it, send it to a group chat. Say, Hey guys, I think this might help. Don't go, you're stupid. Start doing this. That won't help. Don't be condemning with it. Be nice and just go. I hope this helps you.

It helped me. Or I'm, I think this is funny. Give it a look, whatever. So if you're listening on the radio we got a playlist featured at the top of our YouTube channel. So think of at least one person in your life and share it with them and it could change everything. We appreciate it. Because by the way when you guys share our stuff and you like click the share button or you click the follow button or the subscribe button all those kinds of things it changes all the

algorithm stuff and it moves our stuff to the front of the line and people start seeing it because of you so thank you for sharing and when you say nice things like five-star reviews and stuff kind of nice thank you we appreciate it all right Jennifer's in Chicago what's's up Jennifer? Hi Dave and Rachel. I'm just so excited to be talking to you today. I literally just found you guys literally 30 days ago. Oh wow. I'm excited. Well thank you. Welcome. Thank you. I have a question. I got served a lawsuit last night. I have credit card debt that's all in collections for context. I'm 38 years old and I'm finally awake to my life I've spent my adult years in and out of psychiatric hospitals

Trying to you know suicide due to my childhood So now that I've unpacked that and I feel like I'm in a healthier spot I really just I want to be debt-free and listening to you guys and I feel like I'm in a healthier spot, I really just I want to be debt free and listening to you guys like I feel like this is my first route. Wow. What do you make? What's your income? $40,000.

Good for you. Okay. Well, I'm proud of you for getting stable. That's quite a journey. Thank you. Well done. Okay. How much do you own this particular credit card?

This one is 1200 and how long has it been since you've paid on it? 2022 okay, all right, and who was the original bank? Credit one. Okay. There's a high likelihood like almost for sure that they have sold that debt They have sold it to a credit bureau or a credit agent a collection agency it's a debt buyer okay debt buyers buy old bad credit card debt for around a nickel on the dollar okay and so that means they've got somewhere around $75 invested in this. And what they do then is they buy like 8,000 of these accounts and they badger the crap

out of people and sue people until they get some money out of some of them. Most of them file bankruptcy and they get nothing, but a few people will pay it and they end up because they only paid a nickel on the dollar. They end up on average making some money. So this is not personal. This is not personal. This has nothing to do with you. You just got put on a conveyor belt in a factory. That's what this is. Okay. There's 8,000 that look just like you that they

processed last night. You follow me? Yes. I want you to get that. It's scarier than it is. I want you to get that because it's different than you owe your little brother money. Okay. A different set of emotions, but they're going to try to tap into the little brother money emotions when you get on the phone with them because most of them, the function that they use to collect is being a jerk. So they're going to be jerks. That's what I'm afraid of. You can count on it.

So just make a game of it. I'm calling a jerk. Here we go, ready, set, go. It's not personal. He doesn't know anything about me. He has a crummy job where he abuses people verbally over the phone to try to get money. That's who you're calling, okay?

Okay. Just kind of have fun with it. And sometimes they even change their name. They make up funny names. Well and the turnover in that industry is like 30 to 60 days. So the guy you're talking to will probably have a new job in two months anyway. So just remember that. Like this is like... Okay. Because cleaning a septic tank is more pleasant than doing what he's doing. Okay. Really. Think about it. I mean what a horrible job. Yeah. So this is what you're dealing with. If you have these pieces of information, then

it helps you. So do you have any money? I have about 3000 in the bank right now. Good. Do you have, did they give you a court date when they served you? Yes, they did. When? It is on the 24th. Good. Okay. I don't care if it goes to court and they win No big deal. Nothing really changes. They're still trying to collect from someone that they don't get money from So when you get on the phone, here's a couple of pointers number one. This is a game Don't let this get into your psyche. Okay Okay, their job is to make you afraid or angry because when your brain does that, you move into fight or flight mode and you lose your critical thinking skills.

That's their job and they're very good at it. Be ready, okay? One of them called from American Express when I was going broke 30 years ago and asked my wife why she would stay with a man that wouldn't pay his bills. And she called me crying and said, I was thinking the same thing. Oh my God. Right? This is what they do. Okay. Okay. Bit ready. And so this is a game. By the way, that guy's that woman's name was Mrs Savage. Oh, stop it. Okay. So I mean, this is, this is how ridiculous this world is. It's ridiculous.

So this is what you're entering into. You need to know that because you got to stay above it, especially with what you've been through. Okay? Absolutely. So this is a game. Number one. Number two, they didn't pay anything for it.

Number three, we're not giving them payments. Say no payments, Dave. No payments, Dave. No payments. My financial counselor told me I can't give you payments. giving them payments say no payments Dave no payments Dave no payments my financial counselor told me I can't give you payments I'm your counselor and I just told you you can't okay wonderful okay you can bad guy off of me and tell him Dave Ramsey said it that'll make them real happy yeah and so all right that this is just fun let's have some fun with it right and so all right that this is just fun. Let's have some fun with it, right? And so no payments and what we're gonna do is I just came out of a mental episode Where I've been fighting suicide and I don't have any money. I think I can scrape together

$300 if you will accept that as here's the phrase settlement in full Okay, and Somewhere three to five hundred bucks. You'll get this done if you will accept that as here's the phrase settlement in full okay and somewhere three to five hundred bucks you'll get this done and do not give them any information about you no contact information no new job no bank account no bank account information they get information. We're not going to give them any leverage This is you're playing with evil Don't give evil a foothold Okay

Okay, and so no information. It's a game. We're gonna settle it for a lump sum. No payments and lastly Do not give them any money until you get it in writing what the agreement is. Because Jim Bob ain't gonna be working there in 30 days. I'm writing all my notes down. Okay. That could be via email or mail. Email is fine. It has to be in writing in some way and then you print the email out, hard copy and keep

it in a file for the rest of your life. Because you can tell these people are lying if their mouth is moving. Okay. All right. This is what you're dealing with. It's a different culture. Now I have all my credit card debt is in collections. Can I handle? You can do every one of them that way if you want to. Okay. Or if you got a small one, just pay it for God's sake to get it out of there. How much do you have Jennifer in debt total? So I had $10, dollars in credit card debt. I actually hired a credit consultation company and they got six thousand just

wiped away. Okay good. So now I'm down to four. Okay well then you and you got three so you can get this clear pretty quick because let me tell you with what you've been through and with you establishing a new life of sustainability putting this stuff in your rear-view mirror as soon as possible and not keeping it not screwing around with it for six months is a good idea. Is that all the debt you have Jennifer is just the credit card debt or student loans or car loans? I have 26 in student loans. Okay. You'll have to circle back and pick that up too but I want to get these I

want to get the you've got all these a beehive that got poked and the bees are flying around your head Yes, and they're they're scary and they're bothersome. So let's get rid of them, but you got to just play this game It's a part of it and get it in writing and no electronic access to your personal bank account You can do a prepaid debit card with the exact amount and send them that you can do a wire You can do something but no No, no, they do not get your bank account numbers

because they'll clean it out. They lie, you can tell they're lying if their mouth is moving. Can you tell I've done this for 30 years? Hey guys, you know what I love about summer? All the fun yeses. Yes to pool parties, yes to snow cones, and yes for all the fun and the sun moments

that you can have with your family But summer goes fast and so does summer spending and if you're not paying attention You're gonna look up from your slushy and wonder where is all my money going? That's why I love the every dollar app It's so simple It helps you create a custom budget and give every dollar a job to do. And let me tell you, you'll know exactly what is happening with your money and that gives you such freedom and guilt-free spending. So do yourself and your summer a favor. Go download every dollar for free in the App Store or Google Play today.

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webinar. Jason is with us in Tampa. Hey Jason, what's up? Oh man, I got the goat on the phone. I can't believe it. Yes, Rachel's here. I like you too thanks Jason I know who you called for though and you got him he's in the seat he's not in the seat as much anymore but here he is what's up so Dave all right and

Rachel I need I've got to figure this out my parents home was flooded by Hurricane Helene last September. So they came to my brother and my sister and myself and said, Hey, we're too old. We can't fix it. If you if one of you want it, pay the other each, even other siblings, two siblings, a third of the value that we come up with. And we want to be done with it. Oh, we're just going to sell it. What do y'all want to do? Well, I was the only one that wanted it. So we came up with a value and, um, and I paid my sister and my brother a third of the value that everyone agreed to. Well, actually they didn't even agree because they thought what my value was too low so I actually went and got an appraisal done just so there would be no hanky-panky it

actually came in 60,000 less than what my original assessment was and I still agreed to pay 60,000 more than what the actual appraisal why because I wanted this little home because there's just a little beach house that it was just meant something to me. So I wanted it. I paid my sister and my brother the money. My parents quick claimed deeded it to me.

I fixed it all up. It's back to being beautiful just in time for hurricane season again, but it's back to being beautiful. And now all of a sudden my sister says, Oh, this was such an unfair deal. I can't believe we even did this. I'll never feel comfortable with it. Oh, well, no one ever.

So what do I do? I mean, now it's causing a strain in the family and I don't know what I did wrong. I thought I did everything right. Well, you didn't have agreement. That's what I thought we well we did and then all of a sudden We don't because we did but that's what I'm like. What did they say? They I mean that it was all it was all verbal, correct?

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, but they were they were bitching and moaning on the front end That that's what I said. No one said anything. No they did. They said it was not enough and so you went and got an appraisal. They were moaning. And then my appraisal came in. I know but they still didn't think it was right. They still didn't think it was right and you did it anyway. So what should yeah what. I would have walked. Yeah I would have walked or I would have had them sign something. Yeah maybe I should have done a sometimes signature on not not our legally binding But just to remind them that you know because their memory is bad apparently I Thought paying 60 grand. No, not if they thought not if they thought the amount even was 60 was not right

Was the value lowered because of the damage at all Jason, yeah I'm sorry, and the value was lowered because of the damage at all, Jason? Yeah. I'm sorry? And the value was lowered because of the damage. Correct. Yeah. So you had a number, you put it out there and they said that's not fair. And you said, I'll show you, you went and got an appraisal and the appraisal was 60,000 lower. So you paid them the higher number, but they also thought that number higher wasn't fair.

Well, with just the sister, everyone else... Well, I mean, still, that... so what'd you expect? I mean, she'd already told you she was gonna be unhappy. This just came up a couple weeks ago. No, honey, you told me in the original deal that they thought it wasn't enough. So you went and got an appraisal and you agreed to pay the original amount that they thought wasn't enough and when you paid it they still thought it wasn't enough and now she still thinks it wasn't enough. Well that's not a shock. She cashed the check right? I'm sorry? She cashed the check. You bet she did. She sure did.

Alright, deal's done. Yeah, and no one lifted a finger to help me fix it up either. Well, it wasn't their job. They didn't own it. That's your job. Yeah, I'm like, and that was fine, but yeah, I'm like, you know, I just say, listen, you did a deal. You're like a grown adult woman.

Act like it. How old are you guys, Jason? I'm 50. She's 45. Oh. And then my brother's in his 50s. You're older than I was thinking. He's 55.

Yeah. Okay. So we're, yeah. We're all older adults. Well, I think, I think she told you on the front end she was going to be unhappy and you just didn't want to hear it. Yeah. And then now she's coming through. Now she's coming through with her promise, but that's okay. on the front end she was going to be unhappy and you just didn't want to hear it. And then now she's coming through with her promise.

But that's okay. I mean she cashed the check and I just look at her and go, hi baby, good luck with that. I said that's kind of what I've done so far. I mean anything you can do, you can't make people behave. Even if they're in your DNA line, you know. Have you guys sat down and had any level of conversation in person about this? Well originally when we first but not since the last thing or this that I'm talking about This was this we talked on the phone about something else and then this just was brought up and I'm like where did that come from?

Yeah, that would have been valuable information If there's any level of you that wants to save the relationship, I would have a conversation in person, take all your defensiveness about this, swallow a humble pill for a little bit, let her kind of get out what she needs to get out and just say okay how do we move forward because I don't want to lose a relationship

with my sister, right, it's family. And for a house to do this, that's not bad for the future. But again. And there's that part where you cash the check. Put the olive branch out, and if she won't accept it, that's her choice at that point, right? But I would go in. I'm never gonna be okay.

Well, you know, talk to your therapist. Very humble, though. You have a big personality, Jason. We heard it from the moment you got on. I love it. I think it's wonderful. But maybe just take a little bit of a chill as you go in like low like right like I mean Go in not defensive not aggressive go watch Jefferson fish for videos and just yeah

But but honestly if you really want to repair it like there's there's something there and then beyond that You've tried you can't control. Yeah, you can't control her then but yeah, you probably don't. I think you need to follow Rachel's advice, not mine. Mine's just smart, I like it. I know, that's not a problem. I'm like you, Dave. I know, but I think Rachel's right and I'm wrong. I think Rachel's right and I'm wrong, really. Oh man.

All right, Rachel, can you call my sister for me? Yes, I will. No. Hey, by the way, that Jefferson Fitcher episode was next to the Trump episode was two of our two of my favorite Yeah, he's really good. I wasn't kidding I probably would go watch some of that because that's the type of stuff Rachel's talking about Rather than doing Dave thing and just smacking her sideways. Oh my cuz that's not gonna work cuz that's all I'm saying I'm just being a smart. What are the other siblings? I know Jason. What's your other siblings? Like you say brother?

Yeah, he's okay. He has any issues. Okay, so it's you three Yeah, yeah, just three of us. Yeah, brother's fine sisters. I know I just hate when like assets money All of that gets in between family. We hear it a lot on this show and it's really sad. It's really sad So if you want to repair it or maybe maybe she's crazy and you're like, I don't know I gotta put up a boundary I don't know. I don't know her but if you want to repair the relationship you want to give it a shot i think rachel's right i'm wrong yeah okay good man my voice more fun though our scripture of the day proverbs 21 20 precious treasure and oil are in a wise man's dwelling, but a foolish man devours all." That's the Bible saying if you spend everything you make, you're a fool. Hello, think about it. Michael Douglas

said, a fool and his money are lucky to get together in the first place. Gary's in Raleigh, North Carolina. Hey, Gary, what's up? Hey gang, thanks for taking my call. So I retired about a year and a half ago. I'm 69 and I've got my assets, no debt, and I'm just wondering if what I have everything invested in is if I'm doing the right thing So my house is worth about 700 it'll be paid off by the end of the year good I'm holding off on social when I turn 70 in January and take it with my wife taking advantage of the Spelsoll benefits so I'm get estimating that we'll have about 80,000 a year in Social Security and my the

remaining is 2.1 million in three IRAs and another account that's cash and some stock. What's what are the NRAs and all invested in? Mutual funds? Yes, yes. Three different mutual funds. They're about 1.7 million and then the cash in stock is about 430. Of that, about 80,000 is in four or five different stocks and about 300,000 or so in a money market which is currently drawing around four percent. Okay, all right. And your question is what then? You've done really well. Congratulations. Am I, could I be doing better than what I'm doing as far as what I'm invested in?

Well, I mean, I'm 64. All of mine is in mutual funds and paid for real estate. And so, you know, we put it in four types of mutual funds. You've heard that growth, growth in income, aggressive growth and international. I don't play single stocks just because I don't like the risk associated with them. I'd rather have that money diversified in mutual funds, but it's not the end of the world. It's a small percentage of your world and you've done extremely well. And it sounds like you're maybe a little heavy in cash unless you've got something you're wanting to do with that. Are you getting ready to buy a car or go on a trip or something?

No, not particularly. No. Okay. I mean, you don't need a $300,000 emergency fund. Yeah. Also, when I started getting our social in January, based upon our expenses, I'm hoping to maybe save about $2,000 a month out of that. Yeah, that would be great. And be sure you're enjoying this and that your generosity goes up because you're a multi-millionaire. Congratulations. Yeah, I'm already starting to plan a couple of trips over to Europe and stuff.

Good, good. Yeah, I mean, you've earned it. Well trips like over to Europe and stuff. Good, good. Yeah, I mean you've earned it. Well done. And I assume you guys did not inherit this money. It sounds like it's 401k's like you saved it, right? Yeah, right, right. You're not an inherited, you're a baby step millionaire meaning you did it following the start?

Well, my mom did pass away about almost five years ago and with my sister and I finally sold our house plus the assets I think I ended up getting over the last five years. You cut out getting how much? Did I lose you? Oh no. Well, okay. You're in good shape, dude. You've done a good job and you're fine.

If you want to fineune it a little bit and You know get a little bit more dialed in with it. That's fine It sounds like you are not a millionaire that you're already were probably before your mom passed And so you've just added to your wealth whatever that amount was that cut out Yeah, his question I think was is there anything different he needs to be doing because when you retire and you start living on some of These the best off of some of these investments, is there a big shift in the strategy of it? A lot of the wealth, a lot of the financial planning community believes in a theory I

don't believe in called the asset allocation methodology, which is you move everything towards bonds and money markets as you get older. And I don't. The bond market is as volatile as the stock market and underperforms the stock market. So I'm 64, I'm not moving a thing. And so I'm just, you know, when you're 64, if you're healthy, you are statistically likely to make it to 90, where the average death age

is 76, 78, male, female, right now. But you're statistically likely to make it to 90 if you're healthy at 65. So you've still got 30 freaking years to outpace inflation and when you dumb down your portfolio in the name of safety Inflation is gonna come back and tag you in the back of the head. So I don't I don't need the money He doesn't need the money. He's gonna be living off the social Yeah, so that money that pretty is that pretty average 80 grand? That's heavy. Well, it's he and his wife and they're both 70. Okay, they're doing their 70. They're doing the long term. Yeah. So that's the that yeah, that could

be. But yeah, I, I don't do that. I'm gonna ride it all the way out. Because here's the thing. If you've got 2.1 million, you're living off $80,000 a year worth of social, you're not really investing this money for you. You're not gonna use it. It's lay in there, but it's gonna be an inheritance. So you're investing it for the next generation, which means you would not shift it and dumb it down in the name of the asset allocation model or theory.

And people act like that's a given and it's a law or something. It's not, it's a theory and I think like that like that's a given and it's a law or something it's not it's a theory and I think it's a bad one so I don't I don't use it I am investing all the way through and he doesn't need to use it he's fine he's in good shape Diane's in Atlanta hi Diane how can we help hey guys so excited. Thanks for taking my call. Absolutely.

What's up? I'm in the middle of cooking dinner for two hungry boys and you may hear them in the background and I apologize for that. So I really wanted to call because just in a nutshell I I'm a nurse I went to school at my bachelor's of science in nursing I am NOT working right now I'm a stay-at-home mom my husband is an isn't physician and makes good money what's good money no 540 oh that's good money okay I. I'm with you. All right, so I'm a little short on time. Ask your question right quick Okay, so

Our oldest it has special needs he is level 3 autism. He's nonverbal He's seven years old now. So it's really hard to look far into the future But the way his development is moving I mean he'll be with us. He's going to be our roommate forever. So you know, I just don't know how much we need to be saving for him. You don't. You don't. You need to save for you. You need to build wealth and you need to have in your estate plan a special needs trust that if you and your husband both pass away that a chunk of money an inordinate chunk of money is left in trust the income of which will

the invested in mutual funds the income of which will support him for the rest of his life okay but your money it's not his you don't put money in his name no I don't have any oh in his name you put it in your name. You make $540,000 a year, you go build wealth. And some of your wealth is earmarked upon both of your deaths to go into the special needs trust to take care of him. Okay, so. Okay, so as far as debt and what we make and all that just, you got to work the normal stuff. Just work with that snowball, get out of debt, get your house paid off, go become a multimillionaire, making a half a million freaking dollars a year.

How much debt do you guys have? Oh, we have about, we don't have any student loans. Good. We have, um, probably 70,000 in cars. That was stupid. Yeah, it was very stupid. Let's get it paid off. So we got, well, we got, I kind of got my car as a push present, if you will, in 2021. And then my husband was like, I want one too.

Okay, poof, pay it off. Push. Yeah. Poof it off. Come on. You've got to be kidding me. Oh my gosh. All right.

No, that's, no, we're going to work. You need to get this mess cleaned up. Okay. And you guys need to get on the baby steps and work just because you need to. The special needs thing is almost a sidebar in the sense of it gives you yet one more motivation to build wealth and get your act together to make sure you have enough to leave in there. If you're broke and have no money right now, you need a life insurance here, marked for the special needs trust until you get some wealth built

but with the kind of money y'all make you get rid of stupid car payments and start stacking cash and building you some investments get your house paid off there'll be plenty of money to take care of your kid and just see your estate planner and make sure there's a special needs trust set up earmarked with term life insurance until you have some money and after you have some money earmark some of the money into that to take care of him and he'll be fine. Assuming you guys get your act together he'll be fine. That puts us out of 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. ["Principle of Peace"] Hey you guys, I was shocked to learn that 88% of you out there are sharing the Ramsey Show. I mean, that is so incredible. Thank you so much. And I wanna tell you that we're making it even easier to share.

So this June, we have pulled together the brand new Ramsey 101 YouTube playlist, a quick start collection of how to get started walking the Ramsey Plan. Now this playlist is perfect for that one person in your life who needs help winning with money and just doesn't know where to start. So here's what's inside.

What the baby steps are and why they actually work, how the debt snowball helps you pay off debt fast, and how to build wealth and invest for the future, and so much more. So here's what you need to do. Click the link at the top of the show notes. It'll take you straight to the YouTube playlist, copy it, text it, send it in a group chat,

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