The Ramsey Show - You Work Too Hard To Be This Broke!

Episode Date: September 12, 2024

📱Watch the full episode for free in the Ramsey Network app. Ken Coleman & Rachel Cruze answer your questions and discuss: "I was involved in a romance scam and lost $45K," "My car lease is $1500/month, what can I do?" The Ramsey Show responds to your voicemails, "I'm sick of my parents enabling my siblings," "I lost $14K on single stocks, should I sell the rest?" "I'm $406K in debt, what can I do?" Support Our Sponsors: Zander Insurance: Go to zander.com or call 800-356-4282 for a fast and easy quote today. FAIRWINDS Credit Union: Go to https://www.fairwinds.org/ramsey for an exclusive account bundle. The Wellness Company: urgentcarekit.com/ramsey for 15% off medical emergency kit Next Steps 📞 Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET or click here! 🏆 Set and actually reach your goals with the NEW 2025 Ramsey Goal Planner! Hurry—They sell out every year! ☂️ Get the right insurance without breaking the bank. 🚢 The Live Like No One Else Cruise is booking fast!  💵 Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app! Listen to more from Ramsey Network 🎙️ The Ramsey Show   🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 🍸 Smart Money Happy Hour 💡 The Rachel Cruze Show 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 💰 George Kamel 💼 The Ken Coleman Show 📈 EntreLeadership Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

This is the Ramsey Show. It's where we help you win in your life. Winning with your money. Winning in your work. Winning in your relationships. The phone number for you to jump in to get coached up is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Alongside the incomparable, the fabulous, the fantastic Rachel Cruz,

I am Ken Coleman, and we are here for you. Thrilled that you're with us, America. Let's get to it. We're going to go to to sky who's joining us in salt lake city utah sky how can we help hi um so i was calling in because um i was involved in a romance scam probably about four or five months ago and it ended up getting me into like $45,000 worth of debt. Oh, no. Sky, what happened?

What do you mean? Was the person fake? Like it was like an internet thing? Yeah. Yeah, it was an internet thing. So I don't know. It was like over a course of several months, like nearly a year,

that I was catfished into believing this person was real. And it was weird because like he would do FaceTimes with me and it seemed like the same person every time. And it was like, it didn't seem fake to me, you know. And to me, it was like we were setting up a life together. And so I ended up spending most of my money to this guy. And it's weird how it can happen to, like, anyone. Because I'm pretty young and I didn't recognize this as being a normal scam so Scott I don't want to yeah I don't want to bring up all

this pain but I do think you just said something that I agree with that this can happen to a lot of people and without going into the entire detail of it what were you being asked to send money to him for i'm just curious so that people his bills like what was he what was he asking money for yeah um so it was more so like just to set up uh life together it wasn't really anything particularly like it didn't seem like anything crazy it was like oh well we should get a house and we should get like things going and so you sent him money for a down payment on a home it wasn't necessarily that but it was just like a co a collection of like things it wasn't just one specific i can't i don't want to say like one specific thing.

It was like a whole bunch of like little things that combined to be a lot of money, you know? Okay. All right. Man, I'm so sorry. So sorry that happened to you. Yeah. So how can we help today? So I guess my question is, is how do I get in touch with the right people to fight this? Because it seems like I take it to the police station

and I take it to people who are supposed to know how to handle these situations and supposed to know how to help, but it doesn't seem like anybody is like, well, sorry, this happened. Sucks to be you, I guess. Yeah. Well, there's a reason why you're getting those answers. So you went to all those authorities and that was pretty much the answer? Yeah. That and he stole my identity too.

He's been hacking into my bank account and stuff with it and opening random cards. I have a person down in Georgia who's using it for unemployment. Right now? Yeah. And they told me I said well. Okay. Well, I mean, that end we can help with the identity that the money that you've paid some random person it's gone yeah i mean it is sky there's not like a legal battle to be fought there was not a contract in place there was nothing that's going to hold

ground in court it's just you made a you made a mistake a 45,000 mistake, and I'm so sorry for that. How old are you, Skye? I'm 21. Okay, okay. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. He totally, yep, picked you out, knew what he was doing, and yeah, you got scammed. Did you learn anything from this, Skye?

I think I learned a lot from it actually good yeah okay so on the on the other end though your identity being stolen that's now that's a that's a separate yeah there's something there that you can do so i would go in and freeze pull all your credit report pull your credit report so you can do this for free at all the three different credit bureaus so you can just go online experience at all the three different credit bureaus. So you can just go online, Experian, TransUnion, you know, any of those. Pull your credit report and see a detailed list of your credit, okay? And then you can freeze your credits so no one else can be taking money out of your name.

Now, the unemployment, Social Security, that gets into the government side of your identity, right? So there's a whole IRS situation there that you would have to untangle as well. Sky, do you have family, like your parents and stuff? Where are they? So I'm actually living with my parents right now. Okay, what are they saying about all this? Is your mom and dad helping at all detangle this, or do they know about it? They do know about it and like

my mom she just like last week um helped me get life lock on all of my accounts and stuff like that but it still sucks because uh you can't just you can't just change your social and i had him like after i got life lock he called my bank using, like, a recording of my voice. You know how, like, AIs can go in and, like, wave back? Yeah, so he did that. And then he called my bank and used my social and got another, like, $300 for my account. Okay, wow. Well, I would even switch banks.

I mean, I would do some oh drastic things where he can't where he can't find you in that way um and hey sky and you may want to contact xander um they have a great identity theft program they have insurance which you're probably going to buy after we get off this call but even them hopefully being able to to direct you and untangle some of this as well from the identity theft side of it um but yeah i mean if i were you i would change i would change banks yeah completely change everything freeze my credit yep um and yeah i mean and then from there yeah i mean i would call xander and and get some direction on the things like the social security the unemployment all of that um because that's

the government side of this um but gosh i i yeah i'm so sorry yeah and it's just a good lesson for those of you know watching and listening that you know we always say you don't give money to people you're not married to even if you're dating even if you're engaged you don't combine finances at all you don't pay on each other's debt you don't do any of that until you're married and then i mean i think i guess it just has to be said out loud not you until you meet someone in person yeah we're not gonna you can't believe you got to say it but don't send a nickel to a person that you've not met you just can't do that this is not even the person that's scamming her may not even be a man you don't

even know like all of this ai stuff and all of this this is very very sinister stuff yeah and it's getting it's getting worse well the fact that he used her voice recording this is i mean like that is yeah that's not like usps texted me this isn't your garden variety catfish. No, I thought, yeah, USPS. I got a text like two months ago that they lost the package and asked for all my information. And I can't believe that I did it. Because you trust the postal service. It said, have a nice day at the end of the day. Did you really?

Did you not know that? We had a whole segment about this. I wasn't on with you. Can you believe? Did you get scanned? Can you believe it? Nothing's happened so far. Poor Winston. He must have had to

eat a bottle of Pepsi at AC. I had to ask him for his debit card. He went along with it? No. My debit card would not go through on this website that was sent to me by the quote unquote USPS. And Winston was like, babe, that's a scam. And I was like, what?

I fell for it. You got a text from your friendly. You are. And then you look at the email above and it's like eight, nine, four, two, three at gmail.com. I mean, it's stupid, y'all. I fell for it. So I'm saying I have to say smart people can fall for stupid stuff. So watch out for the scams.

They're everywhere. Speechless. I've never been speechless. I'm going to have to take a commercial break to recover. We'll be right back. This is The Ramsey Show. I've been doing this show for over 30 years, and some of the saddest calls I've taken are from situations that are completely preventable.

Yeah, and what's so hard is I feel like one of those, especially the ones that I'm like, oh, it's terrible, are people that call in and their spouse has passed away suddenly and they don't have life insurance. When you have to think through how am I going to pay my bills in the middle. Next week. Yeah, in the middle of all that grief. Like it's just, it is, it's terrible.

So life insurance is the one thing, especially as a mom with three little kids that I'm like so big on for people to get because it's inexpensive. Zander is the place that Winston and I a mom with three little kids that I'm like so big on for people to get because it's inexpensive. Zander is the place that Winston and I actually get all of our life insurance. And it doesn't cost much because Zander shops among a gazillion different companies. It doesn't cost much. You just have to admit that someday you're not going to be here. You got to say it out loud and you got to say, I'm going to say I love you to my family

by taking care of them and taking the time to put this stuff in place. The cost of stinking pizza to get a free quote, call 800-356-4282. That's 800-356-4282, or go to zander.com. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. Thrilled to have you with us. 888-825-5225 is the phone number to jump in. We want to help you win with your money, win in your work, and win with your relationships. I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz is alongside.

Hey, we're heading into the fall, and it feels like everybody's kind of starting to put the serious hat back on. We had some fun in the summertime. People start to focus on their money. You've got the holidays that are right around the corner. And it's time to get your money in the right place if it isn't. And we want to let you know about a free live training on Monday, September 16th. This is at 1 Eastern, 12 Central, so I would turn it into a lunch and learn if it were me. You can join George Campbell and the EveryDollar team for this free live webinar. You can register at everydollar.com slash webinar. That's everydollar.com

slash webinar. And this is the number one way to learn how to eliminate debt is through a budget. You got to know where your money is. The number one way to build wealth is through the budget. And the number one way to get on the same page with your spouse about money is to budget. So budget, budget, budget, budget, everydollar.com slash webinar. It's free. Monday, September 16th, 1 Eastern, 12 Central Time. George Camel and team will be there for you. All right, let's go to Philadelphia next where Jen joins us. Jen, how can we help today? Hi, guys. So I had a quick question. I'm currently working on baby step number two. And I've been presented with the opportunity of purchasing a property that was my grandmother's and is currently my father's. Unfortunately, he got screwed over by whole life insurance.

I was a mock and he's in litigation with all of that. But it was either for my dad's retirement, he sell the property or I assume the mortgage payments and will it inherit it in its entirety when he passes. And he would basically be taking, it is rented currently. He would be taking that monthly rent and utilizing that for his retirement rather than the lump sum from the property. No, I would not do that. He just needs to sell it. Yeah, if there's an emotional tie or something, I think it makes it more difficult. But honestly, Jen, I wouldn't want you dependent

upon your dad's retirement. Because if you look up in three or four years and realize, oh my gosh, I want to go and I want to have my own house, right? I want to build equity into my own. Yeah, you currently own a home? Yes, ma'am. And even with both properties,

I would be under the 25% recommended house buying. So the only debt that I currently have is student loans. It is about $45,000, but I was able to pay off approximately $12,000 within getting Gizelle Intense. Good for you. Yeah, that's great. In the past four and a half months, I have a side hustle that's making an additional $600 to $700 a month on top of my standard salary. Great, Jen. That's awesome. And that would be without roommates either, which is a potential. So that's why I kind of don't want to walk away from,

you know, if you're getting a half a million dollar property, the remaining mortgage on the home is only $100,000 and it is already in his living will for me to inherit it in its entirety. And I'm under that 25% recommended mortgage. Is it a mortgage investment or is it truly an investment property? Is it like paying off your mortgage, which is a later baby step, or should this be viewed as investment? It would be a second property for you, correct? Correct.

Yeah. So that would be, quote unquote, be an investment property an investment property eventually yeah it'll be in your name so if yeah if I were you I would I would simplify it and I would have him just rent it out to someone else you stay in your current home and I would keep living there let him do his thing with the home with your grandmother's home renting it out that's part of his retirement and then when you get to a point that you i guess want to move in or but you can't because you'll always be paying rent to be funding his retirement so i i don't yeah i don't understand i don't pay the there's a third party that's paying rent so like the rent is only a matter of or the mortgage payment on the second property is only a matter of $800 a month.

So you won't be living there? A renter, a third party will be living there? Correct. And you're considering that his retirement? He's not making enough on that. He has other, like, retirement, but it is generating $2,600 is what he's running it out for a month. And the mortgage payments are only $800 a month.

Okay, but let's run the numbers on that. Let's run the numbers on that. So if I heard you right, he's clearing $1,800 a month before any of his own expenses on the home, correct? Yes, sir. And he is still working. Okay, great. So $1,800 a month, and it's not $1,800 a month because, again, he's got upkeep on the house. He's got other things that are associated.

So when you take the actual cost of owning the home and you start to amortize that over that 12-month period, he's not making $1,800 a month. So let's just say for round numbers that he's only clearing $1,500 a month. That's not a large sum of money. I wouldn't even consider that real retirement money. I'm with Rachel. If he really wants more money, then sell it and invest that money. If not, then it is what it is. He's just holding on to it for a little bit of spending money and he gives it to you upon his death. Am I understanding that? Yeah. I guess I was just thinking about how real estate continuously increases and it is guaranteed. Yeah, but hold on a second, Jen. I know, but you're getting it in the will. So the value of that property is going to continue to go up. Why do you have to buy it now?

Because the other alternative is to sell it. why doesn't he continue to rent it yeah um i i think it's like just the overhead cost of renting it plus the other like retirement i i just i think he's concerned about okay so your your current house what is it worth and what do you owe on it it's worth 370,000 okay um and I currently own or owe uh 220 approximately okay okay um and then your grandmother's home which again you mentioned something about that being part of his retirement so he's using the rent and all of that to live off of. Correct? Mm-hmm. Okay.

He does work a full-time job, and my mom is, they're still married, happily married. She gets Social Security. So I think he's just looking at it for how can he continue to live a comfortable retirement. It's 18 grand. He's making, if my numbers were probably conservative, but he's making $18,000 off this house. A year, yeah. We're back to the same thing of you feel like you got to buy it,

but you can't. You're in debt, and you're making a case for doing this, and it doesn't make any sense for you to buy the house for us. It doesn't make any sense at all. Either he sells it, he takes the profit off of it and he invests it and and that's going to do more for him than the eighteen thousand dollars he's making over the course of the year what what would he stand to make on selling the house today the grandmother's house um 486 i believe was the last zillow that I had maybe a week ago.

No, no, no. What would he make after he sells it? So if it's 486. Oh, a hundred, a hundred left on it. So he'd make 386. Yeah. That money Rachel invested over seven to 10 years. It's just a better play than, than holding onto the property for rental income. Okay. Yeah, that's what I would do. And I think, Jen, where it gets complicated and where my hesitation is, is whenever you layer these generational ideas,

it just starts to get more complicated. It's just not as clean, right? If he didn't need this money and this house, he could rent it on the side for fun because he's got his other stuff over here and he's fine. He's just doing it for fun and he's going to leave it to you when he dies so eventually you will get the house you know in 20 years 30 years like you know if you want to keep in the family like all of that is clean but the idea that he's needing this money i don't want you attached to your dad's

retirement it gets really messy really fast so he needs to do what's best for him jen and what's best for him is if he doesn't have enough in retirement because he's still working it's to sell this asset and invest it and start living off you know the interest gained and and run into the sunset um and then for you to continue on your path and if he leaves you money upon his death from this house and the proceeds that he doesn't end up using then that's then great gravy for you. But yeah, the cleanliness of all of this makes it less dramatic and, again, gives you more confidence and control over your own future that you're not tied to this asset that your dad's dependent on for retirement.

Quick break. We'll be right back. This is The Ramsey Show. A lot of financial institutions don't care too much about you, but they care a lot about getting their sweaty hands on your money. They have fancy furniture and marble columns in their lobbies because you're paying for them with high fees just to access your own cash. But Fairwinds Credit Union is different. Guys, you know I prefer credit unions because of their membership focus, lower fees, and better experience overall. Fairwinds

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slash Ramsey to learn more. That's F-A-I-R-W-I-N-D-S dot org slash Ramsey. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz is alongside, and we are here for you, 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225. Henry's up next in Tampa, Florida.

Henry, how can we help? Hi, everybody. Thank you so much for taking my call. How are you guys? Good. How are you today? I'm all right. Question for you. Quick and easy question. I mean, not easy question, but I have a lease that I purchased in the last year or two there, but just heard about you guys. The lease is for the next two more years left on it there.

I'm wondering if I should ever get out of it, pay out of the lease there to get some money, not necessarily money back there, but pay a lease there. I mean, sell the car or get out of the lease to be able to pay some of my debt. Yeah, it's a great question. What are you paying a month? $1,500. Oh. Oof. What kind of car is that?

Mercedes GLE 350. Well, the GLE is pretty nice. Pretty nice car. Good taste, Henry. You got some good taste. Thank you very much. Thank you. But it's eating you alive, and it's not's eating you alive and it's not worth it.

Yeah, it's not worth it. We got to get it out of here, right? Yeah, I just... Is there a lot of... Give us the terms of where you are. Walk us through the terms. All right. So if I were to terminate my payoff right now,

it would be about $60,000 there to pay off there. I've looked on... I've heard you guys talking about it, so I looked on the Kelly Blue Buck and it's about, you get $46,000, $47,000 on it. And then... Was that private sale? Was that? Private sale. Yeah, private sale.

So that would leave you with $13,000 that you would owe, right? Yes, yes. sale. So that would leave you with $13,000 that you would owe, right? Yes. And do you have any cash, Henry? Not much, no. Okay, what do you make a year? So I make about $250,000. Oh, that's good news. Yeah, that's great. So you

would need another car, correct? Correct. To be able be able yeah to replace it yeah so we got to replace it so we got the 13 000 that you would then owe and then we've got the cost of a replacement car but with your income you can get something decent if you really work on your budget right yeah that would be my goal because two more years of this oof i mean that's a lot right so it's a good amount yeah yeah for sure so that because i mean i'm i'm uh according to you guys i mean i mean i i was just this is the first time i ever started like that i'm broke but uh i do all have a good amount of debt as well too over a million dollars okay so tell yeah give me the rest of your financial

picture i'm just curious where you're at. So I, student loans, 180,000 credit card debt, about 70,000. Okay. And then mortgage is about 690,000. Okay. Henry, you've been living the life, haven't you? Yes. Me and my wife. So I guess let me rephrase that because I know you mentioned total income. My wife is making $100,000, so a total of $350,000. Okay.

So I'm $250,000. You guys have plenty of money. You just got to get under control. Yes, and that's the other thing too. They're trying to go from that life to hearing about you guys and changing lives completely. I know. Totally.

I'm like, let's go hard. And my wife is like, what are you talking about there? So, you know, it's definitely different and hard there to actually talk to her about it as well, too, just the budget. Yeah. I'm like. Yeah, totally. And I think, Henry, too, just as a piece of advice, usually when, you know, when people are in your position, the one that kind of hears, OK okay there's a different way we can do this and you go in and tell your wife we're going to stop shopping and stop eating out she's probably like what the henry what are you talking about

you've lost your mind so i think approaching her in that aspect is the why so i am curious henry for you what what has caused you up to this point living the way you have with money both of you and then you hear us which is very counter with how you've been living what's been appealing about that like what is it in you that's like oh my gosh i want that side of money not what i've been doing um that idea of freedom yeah i'm like i'm like trying to talk with you but i'm like holding my breath and like the the heaviness of just owing so much money like the fact that i'm like trying to talk with you, but I'm like holding my breath. And like the heaviness of just owing so much money, like the fact that I'm like, wait a second. I'd never thought about how much I owe and how much debt I'm in.

I've always been thinking about right now how much I owe for the month. Versus like when I calculated it all after talking to you guys or listening to you guys, I was like, I owe a million dollars. Like what in the world? Yep. Yep. Yep. And so, and I'm like, I can't do this anymore.

Especially when the wife says, Oh, I'd love to have a new summer kitchen. I'm like, what are you talking about? We have no money. Yeah, that's right.

That's right. So Henry, that's, that's what I want you to communicate to her is I can't breathe. Like I, and we hear that a lot, Henry, you're not the only one.

It's, it's this level of stress and anxiety and weight because you don't own your life. Somebody, these credit cards, right? Everything owns you. And it's exhausting. To your point, we work hard and I feel like I have no money, right? When I ask you how much money you have saved, it's like I don't have it. Exactly. That's what I'm thinking.

And we work so much harder. Like overtime sometimes too. And I'm like, how am I having nothing at the end of the paycheck there. I'm like, is this what everyone does? I don't understand this. Right, exactly. So how much do you guys bring home a month? I was trying to do it with taxes and everything.

But when you guys get paid, how much per month are you bringing in, both you and your wife? So I think I'm about $12,000 to $13,000 and she is about $4,000. So I would say about $16,000, $17,000 to $13,000, and she is about $4,000. So I would say about $16,000, $17,000, $16,000. $16,000. Okay. And that's after taxes. Are you guys funding retirement? Yes. Yes. We have been putting in retirement. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You make $350,000 a year. You do. Yes. No, no. Yes. So total. Total. So I don't understand those take-home numbers. What is your take-home? Yours, just you. Just me, about $16,000. I'm sorry, $12,000 for me. And you're off of gross.

So what's your gross? Your gross and her gross? Total gross is $350,000. Right. You're $250,000. She's $100,000. And then after taxes, retirement, insurance, like after all of that, right? I just felt like her take-home was really low off of a $100,000 salary.

Her take-home only being $4,000. Yeah, that's true. That felt low to me. So I just don't know if you know your numbers. And the reason I'm calling that out is part of this problem is you don't really know your numbers. Yeah, yeah. Or she's having way too much withholding taken out. And at this point, you're brand new to us, Rachel.

Explain the retirement should be paused and all that right now to bring in as much as they can. Yeah, for sure. So, so yeah, so, so Henry, the, the whole concept, you guys really need to dig in because if you're getting a big tax refund every year, that's money back in the paycheck that may not be shown here. I would be pausing retirement. I'd be pausing everything. And you and your wife, again, sitting down and saying hey together it's gonna be really hard to do this without her so i want henry to be as honest and vulnerable with with her tonight and just talk about how scared i mean how scared you are honestly you're in the phone with me i know we can't we'll coach you we'll coach you no but probably should have had

her on this call yeah and and to show her and show her the realization. And the truth is, Henry, for your own mental sake, you can't you guys can't keep doing this. Right. I mean, you're going to hit a breaking point eventually. And so for you guys, it's going to look different. And so I would sit down with her and just say, hey, here's where I want to go. Here's the goals I want to have. And you can kind of map them out ahead of time just to say okay you know we we have gosh yeah almost almost a million dollars not not including the mortgage but the credit cards the student loan all of it mapping it out to say with our income and doing a budget and saying if we just cut everything and Henry to your point this is going to be a 180 from the lifestyle you guys have been living you've been living kind of the high life and enjoying life and it's gonna to get out of this we always say you can wander your way into debt you cannot wander your way out and so there has to be an intentional plan that's right but um but gosh i mean in in you know three or four years you guys could have a completely different life financially speaking i think so and you getting a side hustle hen love that. Yeah, adding more income and all of that.

So, you know, if you stay on the line, Henry, Christian is going to pick up and we're going to give you Financial Peace University for you and your wife to sit down together and go through it. It's our nine lesson course. And this gives you the basics. And so it can be, she can get mad at us,

not you delivering the information. And Henry, I would say this. I think do what Rachel said as far as your approach to her, but I think you need to show her you mean business by you getting rid of that car. Yep. That will show her you're not just talking. Get it out of here. You're making some sacrifice.

And then one of these days you'll be driving one of those bad boys again, but it'll be cash. This is The Ramsey Show. You know my philosophy on planning and preparing. Being proactive is always better than being reactive. We have a provider we recommend that can help you stay prepared for unexpected medical situations. I have a medical emergency kit from the doctors at the wellness company. And guys, let me tell you, you really should check this out. This is not a simple first aid kit. The medical emergency kit

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Visit UrgentCareKit.com slash Ramsey and use the promo code Ramsey for 15% off. That's promo code Ramsey at UrgentCareKit.com slash Ramsey. The Ramsey Show continues. So glad that you are with us. Rachel Cruz is alongside. I'm Ken Coleman, and we're here for you. 888-825-5225 is the phone number. And, of course, you know, we're so blessed to have a very large audience, very dedicated, a lot of questions.

And we have limited time, obviously, every day, and many times we'll miss your calls to 888-825-5225. And you leave voicemails. And we want to be able to get to some of those. So we've got a new segment called Sorry We Missed Your Call. And our first one, this is a voicemail. This is from Michelle. So let's go ahead and play this and we'll answer.

Hello, my name is Michelle. My husband and I are disputing what you mean by saving 15% for retirement. He calls it I have girl math, which he's right. But so when you say 15% of the household income, if him and I put together make $81,950 per year, do we do 15% total where it's like 7.5% each person, or do I put away 15 percent and he puts away 15 percent when that count is 30 percent for the household my husband says no

your girl math is not working he said it's 15 percent that's it so he would have to do 15 I do 15 but I'm saying no we have to do seven 7.5% each to equal 15% for the household. Anyway, so if you could please answer that, that would be amazing. I'm staying away from that one. I don't want to even touch that with a 10-foot pole on the girl math. On the girl math? Yeah, I just think it's appropriate for you to answer, and I'll weigh in. Yeah, well, it's 15% of the household income.

So if you guys make $100,000, that's $15,000 that goes into retirement. So in this case, they make $81,000. Let's round it down to $80,000 just for simple math. It's 15% of the $81,000. So you're looking at $16,500 each. Not each. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Yeah, yeah.

That's where her math was off. I didn't mean to say each. I love how she got there, though. I love how she was like well no it's well never mind i said i'd stay away from it look what i did almost walked right into that one fantastic but no it is the household and household income combined income times 0.15 keep it simple on the calculator, and there's your answer. That's it. That's it. All right, good stuff.

All right, our next one, this came in from Kevin. Hello, Ramsey team. My name is Kevin. I know Dave said to, you know, baby steps, you work like you're crazy from Monday to Saturday. But, you know, being a Christian, we have Bible study on Wednesdays and, like, prayer night on Fridays. And I want to work Monday through Saturday for my second job.

I have about $30K left in debt. I want to knock it out by God's grace by January or February. You know, being a Christian, I just want to know, is it wise just to still continue working Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday? Or should I just go work Monday through Saturday until I'm deaf? We then go and start going back to Bible study and, you know, prayer service on Friday. Okay. All right. I mean, I don't think there's a black and white answer

here. It's just the idea that, you know, if depending on how intense you want to do this is how quickly you're going to get out. And I don't think either side of it. Right. One part of me is like, I mean, you need a level of like sanity during this process. Right. I mean, like I guess some people can just white knuckle it and just do it, which you can. But I mean, if there's a level of you that's like, hey, I'm committed to this thing and it's really good for me and it's helping me in life, you know, maybe you can stick with that. But also, I think you can still be a Christian and not go to Bible study and not go to a prayer meeting for six months. Yeah, I think I think you're fine. I think you'll still go to heaven and everything's gonna be okay and you can still grow spiritually like you you can do that you know all of those things

it's your call i mean yeah dave dave is speaking in a generality of saying you work as much as you absolutely can to get out as fast as fast as possible that that's the spirit of that statement but i'm with you rachel uh does it make you a bad Christian if you miss Bible study on Wednesday and prayer night on Friday? Those are functions of the church. They will continue with or without you. And there are still other times that you can study your Bible and pray. Yep. That's what I would say.

So I'd be careful on the ritualization as it relates to guilt but I'm also right but I'm also with you to say on the other end if that really gives you that refreshment of your spirit yes keep it then and just say okay God forbid it I have to pay off debt three weeks later because I'm taking two hours on a Wednesday night to do Bible so you know what I mean like it's your call it's so there's not a it's not gray area. But anytime we talk about the spiritual end of this, because this is a big part of Ramsey, God's and Grandma's ways of handling money, right? Our spiritual lives are very important to us.

So I think it is key. But anytime there's like any level of legalism, Ken, I don't know why, I just like shudder. So even with tithing, people are like, oh my gosh, should I tithe this or that? I'm like, whoa, okay. Just the spirit of why God has us to give in the first place. Let's go back to that, right?

So in that same concept, the spirit of getting out of debt and being free means that you're going to have to work extra. And so what does that look like for you, right? So tying legalism into it, I don't want for you. I want the freedom to say, hey, God's not going to be mad at me if I don't go to Bible study on Wednesday nights for six months because I have a job because I'm trying to hit this goal and get out of debt. But if it's good, but if it's something that you really feel like, gosh, it's so good for me to stay sane in this process, then all for it. Just say, all right, I'm not

going to work Wednesday nights. And keep in mind, getting out of debt and doing what it takes to get out of debt is a biblical reality. That is a positive. So I agree. I don't like the legalism side of this. I mean, I grew up in that world. Like Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night visitation. What? Oh, yeah.

I was pastor's kid. What's visitation? It means you're going out knocking on doors telling people about Jesus. Our little evangelism, Ken Coleman. I'm telling you, man. I mean, look at him. I was wearing polyester leisure suits before they were popular. All right.

But to your point, in Proverbs, shall I quote? You shall. Give no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids. Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hands of the hunter, a bird from the hands of the flower. And Proverbs says, if you have signed surety, my son, that's the beginning of that. Meaning you've gotten yourself into debt. You do this. You give no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids, and you deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, a bird from the hand of the flower. So the picture Proverbs gives you is that,

yeah, you are running from, you know, we always say the cheetah, right? You deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter. Well you know from the the national geographic they're they're hunted by cheetahs so like that's the word picture you ever watched one of those proverbs gives us yes i have when the cheetah chases something down yeah it's pretty wild and the gazelle is literally running for its life yeah i mean we hear dave say that a million times we say but that's like the other day i was actually walking through the living room and I think my wife had a show on for the dogs. By the way, my wife leaves the TV on for the dogs. Sounds like George Camel.

Little rabbit trail. As if the dogs feel better because there's some type of nature show on. Drives me nuts. I'm not going to win that battle. But anyway, I'm walking through because I got home. And she has the animals on. No one was at home. And the animals are on. And in National Jury, and I saw one of those win that battle. But anyway, I'm walking through because I got home. And she has the animals on. No one was at home. And the animals are on.

And in National Jury, and I saw one of those little gazelles. Yeah. And would you believe the episode I saw? He got away. He did. I was like really happy, you know. So good. That's a 50-50 proposition right there.

Ridden for that gazelle. Depending on the head start, you know. That's right. The cheetahs get off the blocks quick. But I digress. But the point here is, in this situation, I want to come back and say, I think that God honors, or is okay, depending on how you want to look at this, with someone working that hard and missing times of worship in order to free yourself from that bondage.

I don't think he's upset one way or the other on that. I think, do you know what I mean? I want to hit that again. It's like, there's no right or wrong here. It's like, what do you believe is best for you in your debt-free journey? Yep. That's it. A hundred percent. Or else you're just going to walk around with guilt all the time. And keep in mind, people who are really serious about getting out of debt deal with a level of guilt anyway. I know that we did when we woke up to all this many years ago, I was like, man, I feel like such an idiot. I, you know, what a moron, Stacey, I led you poorly, you know, all that stuff. That's just kind of a natural thing. You don't need any more God guilt over whether or not, you know,

you're doing enough with the resources he's giving you. It's like, no, no, no. The stewardship issue is what's huge. And being a good steward of your money is getting out of debt. Yes. You're not doing things, it's action that's harming. Yes. It is helping and relieving, which is a beautiful thing. Here's to all those little gazelles that are going to continue to get away on National Geographic. They represent all of us. I toast you, little gazelle. Good hour, Rachel Cruz. Always fun. James Childs, our fearless leader. Thank you. And thank you, America. This is The Ramsey Show. Do you ever feel like you're finally making progress towards your goals only to get quickly distracted by something else in your feed?

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Network in the App Store or Google Play. If you're listening on a podcast, just click the link in the show notes to download our free Ramsey Network app today. This is the Ramsey Show where we help you win in your life. We want you winning with your money. We want you winning in your work. We want you winning in your relationships. 888-825-5225 is the phone number for you to jump in on the conversation. We're here for you to coach you up. And I don't know if there's anybody that's more enjoyable to do it with than my colleague. My co-host today is Rachel Cruz. Oh, Ken Coleman, thank you. She's got a sweet, kind spirit about her.

Makes me look crankier than normal. But I'm here for you as well. We're going to lift you up. We want you to win. 888-825-5225. All right, let's start it off with Meg in Cincinnati, Ohio. Meg, how can we help today? Ken and Rachel, hi.

It's so nice to talk to you guys. Nice to talk with you. What's going on? So my husband and I have been married for almost 11 years. We have one son and we're debt-free besides a little bit of mortgage left. Nice. Congratulations. Thank you. A little bit of a relationship question. I'm the oldest of three. I have a sister who is single and a brother who's married with three kids. for my brother and his wife. And, um, ever since I found that out, little things just keep happening that are bugging me. Um, and I just keep thinking to myself, why are they, they're essentially financing my siblings life and their lifestyle. And I just have had this feeling, I'm not jealous of their lives, but I'm just like, in my head, I'm like, when will they take responsibility for their own lives?

And so I'm just calling to see if you had any advice for me on these feelings I'm having. I've got some questions first. Sure. Is this the youngest? I am the oldest. Yeah, but you're the sibling that they're supporting. Is it the youngest or the middle? Oh, both of them. Oh. I've found out things along the way. I don't know if anyone planned on me ever finding these things out, but I have. Are they brothers or sister, brother? What is it? I have one brother and he's married with three kids. And then I have a sister who's single and

lives on her own. And so they're supporting them in every way, essentially? They finance their homes for them. I mean, are they giving them a spending account? What are we talking about? I do know that they both have a credit card linked to my parents' account. And I know we were at a Bengals game the other day, and my sister said, I'll pay for it. And I said, no, it's okay. I'll get this one. And she said, no, I have mom's credit card. And it's just like my brother and sister-in-law will show up.

They'll eat all the food that we all brought, drink our drinks, but they don't provide anything. And I'm just like, why are you living? Let me ask you this. I think I know where this is going. Are you and your husband successful financially? Yes. And throughout... We have about...

We're hoping to pay off the mortgage next year. Yeah. And, and, and, and I'm guessing that growing up, you were also probably, uh, the maybe if not the best behave, but certainly less drama with you. Is this true? Very much so. Yes. So this is a pattern. It's just, it's, it, it happened when you were in the home, when they were younger, now that they're adults, it's continuing. Is that what I'm getting? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So the reason I'm digging into this, Rachel, I'm going somewhere with this. Um, I'm going to take a guess and I'm not defending your mom and dad, Meg. I'm actually very much team Meg here.

I think that's irresponsible. It's irresponsible in that it's stunting the growth of your siblings, number one. And it's irresponsible for this very reason, that if you can't cover it up and you can never cover this stuff up, and it gets to you, it is deeply hurtful to you. And I'm going to challenge you to own that, that it is very hurtful. Because I think it is. It is. All right.

So here's the deal. I have like the strong anger. I feel like it's anger, but I don't always know how to describe it. Oh, I think it's a good mix of anger and hurt. And usually, yeah, I was going to say the hurt. Usually anger, I'm not a psychologist, but so i've read and therapy is that anger is usually a secondary emotion so it's usually always tied to something else fear sadness hurts like there's usually a deeper emotion there and it may come out as anger but usually there's a there's a

primary emotion meg and yeah and hurt and i want to touch on that i think it is why would they do that for them and not do it for me and I'm gonna and I'm not trying to defend your mom and dad I'm gonna take an angle here Rachel you just smack me verbally don't worry Meg you come at me too but I give me 20 seconds on this I believe that they actually your parents don't worry about you at all and it is in their lack of worry about you in the fact that they actually, your parents, don't worry about you at all. And it is in their lack of worry about you in the fact that they did good with you. They look at you and they go, did good with Meg. And I think they are overcome with guilt.

Meg's fine. And I think they're overcome with guilt about the other two. And so they're trying to fix what they feel they messed up. This is a take on this. This is a hot take. Sure. And as a result, they don't see how this could come across to you. They're not even thinking. And I don't think they, it is not that they love you less than the other two.

I actually think it's what I just said. I think that's what's going on. And so I say all that to say this. I think if you can get to a place of understanding that mom and dad are dealing with their own guilt and trying to fix some stuff that they can't fix and actually make it worse, that they are weak. They have a deficit here on how they're supposed to handle these other two siblings. And I hope it'll allow you to forgive them a little quicker and to understand that your mom and dad

are operating from a place of pain and a place of deficit. And I think they're trying to fix it. That's my take. Yeah, I think there's a level of them that probably feels still a level of responsibility that if their kids aren't okay, we're going to still step in and help.

And that comes out of a really unhealthy place, right? They're doing it with unhealthy patterns. that's not good for their adult children but that's the that's the route they've chosen to live right and and yeah not to like psychoanalyze you meg but i have the same birth order sister sister brother my my family and my current kids and i just even know about the yeah the the textbook oldest daughter there's like kind of that whole like you know just the the family archetype right the the idea that you know they're they're probably seen the least and I mean that's how mine is I mean my Amelia she's just quiet kind of off to the side my middle's insane like I was and then we have a little Charles but

I'm you know you know if one of the kids that you're not but but I think Megan kind of goes back to all of this and we could be off on this but truly it's like you were responsible even from a kid right a kid you know an age of a child taking care of yourself and doing what you need to do and and now you're like does anyone see me right and there's probably a feeling that when you were a kid does anyone see me and now you're like are you kidding me like does anyone see me and it's not that you probably just want all this money you don't want your mom's credit card even if she gave it to you Meg you're probably like no thank you but it's just the idea you just feel neglected in a sense like we're like oh my god and everyone else is in a secret that you're not so I don't like that Meg so if I were you I would communicate that to your

parents I would sit down and say hey I'm hearing this And just out of communication that I know That there isn't secrets and things being swept under the rug As a family Will you just tell me what all you've done And I don't want you to not say But just hey I want to know about all of this Because that's fair from your family dynamic I think

And let me encourage your heart Meg Meg listen Because we're going to break Sorry Meg but listen They do see Okay, go ahead. Because we're going to break, so I just want to tell you this. Sorry, Meg. Sorry, Meg, but listen. They do see you. Rachel's calling this out.

I think she's spot on. But I want to tell you, they do see you. They actually hold you in a level of high esteem. They're trying to help the other two get where you are. I'm praying for healing for you. This is The Ramsey Show. Okay, here's the hard truth. Your investment dollars could be winding up in the pockets of

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Start feeling in control of your money again. Download the EveryDollar app today for free. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz is alongside, and we're here for you. 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. We're taking your money calls.

We're taking your work and income-related calls today, and then we'll weigh in on some of those relationship issues around money as well. Gentry is now on the line in Wichita, Kansas. Gentry, how can we help? Hi. Excuse me. Thank you for taking my call. You bet. My question is about buying a house. We've been renting our home for six years. Have a really good landlord and community and love our home. But just renting doesn't seem like the best long-term strategy. We even got a pre-approval and looked at some houses with a realtor. And it was just like any house that felt like we could afford it seemed like a gamble.

In what way? How much money my landlord... Just things that are going to need fixed over time, major issues with the house, or it just, they all, it was just, I'd walk into a house, it's like, I'm not going into debt to live in this, like, does that make sense? does how much money do you all have saved for a down payment not a lot i mean not we have like three thousand dollars in the bank and they've kind of just stayed at that point for a long time we'll save some money and then you know like saving for a down payment has um what's the most you've get. What's the most you've ever gotten accumulated for a potential down payment? We had about $8,000 a couple years ago, but now we have about $3,000.

What did you do with the $5,000? Just, well, if I'm 100% honest, I'm not, probably haven't been the best budgeter. We've got two kids. Listen, no criticism here. But your whole setup of your question gets down to, do you really want a home? And I think you do. Is it the best long-term strategy? The answer is yes.

You identified that in the setup of your question, but you guys haven't done what it takes. So what you've done is you've now created a narrative, which is we can only get this type of house based on where we are now. And that type of house has got all kinds of fixer-upper risk, and you're correct on that as well. But you've created a false choice. Either keep renting as we have, or we buy something that could be a bit of a money trap, as opposed to going, all right, if we change our lifestyle and we get really serious, and serious could be a second job, could be radically changing our budget, and we begin to save instead of $8,000 over six years, we save $8,000 a year.

And let's say in five years we got $40, forty thousand does that change the equation on the type of house we're yet but i think you've just got a you're missing intentionality is all this is i just see that as the bridge from where you are to where you want to be yeah it just doesn't sound like a goal but you're motivated to even save for it right is that right yeah well yeah the i guess another thing, and maybe I just need to get this other, I don't know, I guess your input would be good. So my in-laws have, I think this is kind of what's hung me up on just, okay, we buy a house. So my in-laws, and we have a great relationship with them, they have farmland, they've told us that, you know, we're welcome to be out there. And we've looked into trailer homes and shed homes and different things like that because that's where we want to be permanently eventually out on the family farm. But that's just, I don't know if that's even like,

if I should just get that trying to do something like that now. What's your household income buy a house let's let's let's come at this let's come at this another direction what's your household income um about 70,000 a year and uh how much of a house realistically would you like to build forget shed houses and all these other nonsensical things you just laid out. Those are horrible. It's going to go down in value. What would be a reasonable number that you would love to have? What kind of house in your area, you know the market better than us, on that land, long term? A lot. To build a house on that land, I mean, it would, what's a would loan at least a couple hundred thousand.

Okay. Yeah, and you can get a construction and all that, but you don't own that land either. So there's a couple of pieces in here, Gentry, that I'm... It is true. There is female family and relational things involved in that as well. Yeah, and they own the dirt. It's a good relationship, but it's definitely...

I thought they were going to give you some of the land. No? It's complicated. Huh? They're not going to give you the land? Well, it'll end up our land eventually, but that's hopefully a long time from now. All right. Well...

We're on the... My husband's on the... It's not the deed. I don't know. There's... But here's the thing. I don't... Gentry, you sounding like $200,000 is this insurmountable mountain.

You just were like, I thought you were going to throw out $2 million the way you answered my question. You're like, well, it's $200,000. I mean, at a $70,000 income for a $200,000 home, if you guys got your budget and if they got discipline, Rachel, they can get there. That is not a long way away. Yeah, for a down payment on a construction loan and stuff, if you go that way. But I think, Gentry, I think that mathematically, I think what you have to understand is when you're owning a home and you guys are renting, and we are not mad at renters, right? We say on the show all the time, renting is a great place to be if you don't have the money to put, you know,

if you're not in a financial situation with no debt and emergency funds and all of that, rent while you do that. Rent, you know, if you're moving to a new city, rent for a year to kind of see what part of the city. I mean, there's reasons to rent, but long term, the goal is to be a homeowner because that rent check that you've been paying for six years is going nowhere for your future versus it going into equity into an asset for your home and your home expense on your budget that line item is the largest expense that you're going to pay a month right for most people that mortgage payment that house payment that rent payment that is the most and for it to continue to increase year after year versus having a 15-year fixed rate for 15 years and hopefully paying off that home sooner

than that, you've lowered your risk and locked you into an asset where you guys, that's not what you're doing. That's not your plan. So I would challenge you guys to say, yeah, you've been renting for six years and home ownership is just a good piece of your overall financial plan that you guys need to have I really do believe that When you're financially ready And you don't You're not ready right now

You have $3,000 So you need a fully funded Emergency fund I'm assuming Are y'all debt free? Consumer debt? Yeah I have $20,000

In student loans Okay So you gotta get that Cleaned up first And then I would go get A fully funded emergency fund And then your next goal, Gentry Is that, and here's another thing

Having financial goals Is getting y'all somewhere For six years, you guys have kind of just floated Right? I mean, you've been sitting here with student loans You're like, I think we kind of budget We kind of have a little bit of money Two kids in that six years Yes, totally, I hear you

But also. So now we're kind of like, okay, well, we're in a place where we're not in baby, you know, crazy land in our house all the time. And anything in life, Gentry, and Ken talks about this so much,

but, you know, you're not going to go where you want to go on accident. Like, you guys will not wake up in 10 years and be like, oh, well, look, we're getting closer to retirement. We're able to do what we want. This is so fun. You're not going to just wake up and that happen.

You're going to wake up exactly where you are today unless things change. And the most motivating thing to change is to have goals out there that you want and to create a plan and do that. So I almost want to take like the stagnant feeling a little bit of you guys financially and just kind of shake it up and say, Hey, put some life back into this part of your life and, and shoot for a goal. And for you guys, getting rid of the student loans is a great goal. Um, you know, saving up some emergency fund, like getting your guys in a good place. Um, and then homeownership will come later, but I don't know.

There's just something in that gentry. I hope it's just kind of motivating. Cause I think guys can do yeah I think you've got to believe that you can get there and I got news for you if you think you just got out of crazy town with the kids age wait till they get to middle school and high school you don't even know crazy it's crazy town in all caps I say that to say life is going to happen to you or you are going to happen to your life. And I'm encouraging you, I'm not upset at you. I just think it's that, turning that dial to we're going to happen to our life. And we're here to help on that and get out of debt. So hang on the line. Christian, let's get a one session, our gift to them with a financial coach just to help them get that budget set in some real direction

and some extra motivation. I think that'll help. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, folks, there's a lot of half-baked investing advice out there, but here's what you can do to get more confident about this stuff. Check out the SmartVestor program. SmartVestor connects you with local financial advisors who have the heart of a teacher. They'll help you level up your knowledge and build a

retirement plan based on your goals, not theirs. Go to RamseySolutions.com slash SmartVestor to get connected and get more confident about your plan. That's RamseySolutions.com slash SmartVestor. Ramsey Solutions is a paid, non-client promoter of participating pros. Learn more at ramseysolutions.com slash smartvestor. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. So excited that you are with us. We're here to help you win with your money, win in your work, and win in your relationships. I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz is with me this hour, 888-825-5225. It's time for our Ramsey Show question of the day brought to you by Y-Refi. Y-Refi refinances defaulted private

student loans and builds a custom loan based on your ability to pay. Private student loans are different than federal student loans like Sally Mae. So to learn more about this custom refinancing option and the lump sum payoff option you could qualify for after 24 months, go to Yrefy.com slash Ramsey. That's the letter Y-R-E-F-Y dot com slash Ramsey. It may not be available in all states. Today's question comes from Natalie in Rhode Island. She says, my husband's job awards company stocks as part of his compensation package. The problem is that their stock has a lifetime history of negative returns. Oh, gosh.

When the stocks vest after three years, we sell them because we know that they are bad investments and we don't do single stocks. Do you have any tips on negotiating salary to include more cash and no stocks? He makes about $100,000 a year and receives an additional 15% in stocks, and that portion of his compensation isn't available until three years have passed. How should he go about negotiating cash instead of stocks that we have to wait years for them to process, and they're always at a loss? This is just a good old-fashioned conversation to process, and they're always at a loss. This is just a good old-fashioned conversation to say, okay, here's the reality. As I look at these numbers based on the stock, and here's

what it looks like, are there alternatives to the compensation plan? You just got to ask. You don't demand. I can tell you that. My guess is that this is just a part of their deal, and they're going to look at you and go, well, you know, we plan for this to happen and this and this happens. So I think what you have to do is you go in and you ask a lot of questions. And to the extent that you can always put your leader in a position that you are occupying by asking questions, you know, hey, what would you do if you were me? I'm, I'm stuck and hung up on that. A part of my, a massive part of my bonus is a negative stock price. And this is just what I'm going through psychologically. And, and you know more about it than I do. Maybe you don't, you're my leader. What do you think on this? Because I can tell you this in this situation, I doubt that this is the person directly responsible for this. Sure, yeah. So what you want to do is you want to be heard.

And the only way to be heard is to be asking questions so that it's very obvious what your emotions are and what your thoughts are without demands. That's all you can do in a compensation situation like this. Now, it would be very different. My advice would be different if it was, I don't think I'm paid fairly. Then you've got to go get market research, and you come in, and again, same kind of posture. Hey, what do you think about these numbers? I did this research. In this case, this is a company policy.

It's how they pay. So you've got to raise your hand and not raise an alarm and that's the only way i know how to do that is through some thoughtful questions here's how i'm feeling about this is this a long-term strategy is this how it's always going to be what do you know about it yeah yeah and then when the leader doesn't feel like they've been put on kind of blast or put in a position where they're in a situation where they don't want to say something that is looked at yeah you'll get the right person right whether it's hr they gotta be careful too they don't know what you're gonna say if they so it's one of those deals where uh

i don't think you got a lot of wiggle room uh not knowing any more than what's on the paper here uh if you're not happy with the answer, you're looking for a much better compensation situation somewhere else. Yeah, for sure. And if you love the job, but you just hate that part of it, then I would do exactly what you guys do. And after they've asked that for three years, cash them out, put them somewhere else to actually make a return, and call it a day.

Yeah, that's right. That's good. Brandon is up next in Orlando, Florida. Brandon, how can we help today? Hey, Florida. Brandon, how can we help today? Hey guys, my question has to do with single stocks as well. So what I did is probably about five or six years ago, I invested maybe like 40 grand in Robinhood stocks, single stocks. And I think two or three of them went bankrupt and I had about 14,000 in those stocks combined. So they're at zero now. So I got in touch with the SmartVestor Pro and took some of the money out from my robin hood that was doing good and that i made profit on um and so my question is if i have some stocks still left

in robin hood that are like bigger companies i'm not really afraid of them going under um and i don't know if i should leave them in there to hopefully recoup back some of that loss or just take everything out and put it into the mutual fund that I had set up. Yeah, I mean, I always, I don't own any single stocks, Brandon, because it's just this concept that all your eggs are in one basket and it's what you experience. I mean, the worst of the worst is what you experience of you put your money in and you lose it all because it was all just in one stock so the idea of diversification it's boring it's probably not as exciting but it lowers your risk and over time i mean we see over and over again whether it's the s&p 500

dow jones i mean it's that 10 to 12% return that you're going to get, again, where your money is mutually funded versus that single stock. So if I were you, Brandon, in your shoes, yes, I would take money out of Robinhood. That's one reason I don't care for Robinhood is because it makes the average person feel like, oh, my gosh, I can do whatever I want with investing. And they put their money in, $14,000, and don't realize the risk or know what's going on, and then they lose the money. So our investing advice overall, Brandon, is not the coolest, flashiest, most exciting advice that

you're going to hear. It's pretty boring, but it works every single time. So I would put my money, which it is, in a good mutual fund, even in an index fund, if you want to do that, like a Vanguard kind of account. You could look into in an index fund if you want to do that like a vanguard kind of account um you could look you know into something like that too if you wanted but the idea of diversification is really key and so that's that's what i would personally do are you um like how much are you making a year in general like with your salary and everything uh probably about 85 okay do you have debt no No, no debt. No debt. And do you have cash savings? Just liquid if you need it? Yeah, I have, I have, uh, I have enough in like a high yield and then

just a regular savings account. Okay, great. Yeah. I mean, the only time Brandon, I would, and I put crypto in this, I put single stocks in this, I put gambling and a good game of craps in Vegas in this. Like there is a section that once you're debt free, you have a fully funded emergency fund. You're funding retirement, 15% of your income. Like, you know, you're being wise with 98% of your money. If there's a little bit on the side that if you want to just gamble it away

is literally what that is, you can, right? And if you lose it, it doesn't, it didn't take you out because everything else is fine. And again, this is after you can right and if you lose it it doesn't it didn't take you out because everything else is fine and and again this is after you're funding retirement and you're doing what you need to do with money if there's like a little bit of money on the side that if it burns in the middle of the floor tomorrow it doesn't change your life and you want to kind of play around with stuff that's at that point that's where i'm like yeah that's where crypto comes in or single stocks or gambling you're like to, whatever you want to do just for fun.

What do you still have in those single stocks that you still have money in robbing it? How much is that? It's about 20 grand. And on my total returns, I'm down about 9,500 now. So I've made some back, but I don't know if it's going to make it. And you're saying those single stocks of the 20 grand they're in large companies yeah larger than what i lost money on on the smaller ones i mean again you've already talked to a smart investor pro i'm pretty sure i know what they told you i in in this situation

i know what you're feeling you're kind of going man sure would like to get back to at least break even and let me ask that question let's say you got back to break even tomorrow. What would you do then? I'd take all the money out and put it in my mutual fund. I'm not a lawyer, but I would love to play one on TV. And that was my best leading question there. And so if that's what you do tomorrow, that's what I do today. Okay. Make sense? Yeah. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, not trying to trap you there.

I think Dave would have yelled at me from Scotland talking about crypto and gambling and all of it. I laugh all the time because I always say that, and I believe that. But if there's a little part, if you're doing everything else and you want to go just do what you want to do with it, do it. I think that holds up. I have him in my ear being like, why would you choose to lose money so america i'm just saying that for safe card you know my response to that would be you'd be like have you ever played at a

great craps table because kid and i have and it's fun it's fun especially when they get hot you're right if somebody gets hot everybody's having a time. And if it's in the blow envelope, I don't know what the problem is. I'm there with you, Rachel. Maybe I won't be in the doghouse. This is the Ramsey Show. If you own a small business and you like the Ramsey Show, then you're going to love the Entree Leadership Podcast. Almost 200,000 listeners tune in every Monday to hear me take calls from real

business leaders and give tactical advice based on my 30 years of experience leading. This is not a podcast about business theory. It's real insight from a practitioner who actually does this stuff. Find it anywhere you listen to podcasts, or if you're listening on youtube or podcast now just click the link in the description the ramsey show continues i'm ken coleman rachel cruz is with me and we're here for you 888-825-5225 uh we were just in a meeting the other day rachel and i were uh and boy oh boy uh the live like no One Else cruise Is on it's way I feel like the boat is on it's way Set sail

We are Captain I'm going to call you Captain Cruise The entire week It's going to be great Are you going to have some sort of nautical style Going on You're always recommending Clothes on the old Insta.

A Caribbean flair. I see you with some type of nautical flair. Look, everybody. We'll go vacation mode. Look, everybody. I got this dress at Walmart. For only $7.47. And it's on sale.

Oh, geez. Hey, it's going to be a lot of fun uh i might wear some nautical themed clothing i promise you that right now uh the live like no one else cruise is almost sold out 90 of the cabins are booked you don't want to miss this chance this is for baby step four and up because you can do it and uh why would you do something like this like minds you know like values. Having a good time. You can afford it.

We're going to be going to Turks and Caicos, St. Thomas, Puerto Rico, and the Bahamas. And I'm told you don't need a passport. So if some of you are like, I don't have my passport. I don't want to have to deal with all that junk at the post office. You know, you don't have to have it because we're American port to American port, I'm told. I don't even know if I said that right, but you don't need your passport. All food is included. It's going to be the pools, the hot tubs, all kinds of fun stuff, and pickleball courts. If you're a pickleball enthusiast like I am, I challenge you.

By the way, it's on my desk. Oh, you should bring it next segment. I didn't bring my trophy. All right, next segment I'll bring the trophy. He got a trophy, yeah. By the way, for those of you who have not heard, I won the first, hopefully it's an annual, Ramsey Personality Pickleball Tournament.

I won. George Campbell and Rachel Cruz were the first opponent for me and my brand leader, Damon Galladon. We dispatched of them within eight minutes. It's the quickest pickleball game in recorded history. But when you spin the little ball, it's very difficult to hit. That's all I'm saying. So Rachel doesn't like it when anybody hits the ball with any spin.

It's not fair. You can't hit a ball and not spin it. Do you want me to show? I can demonstrate. You just hit a ball without the spin. But that's your problem, not everybody else's. But I digress. Here's the cruise dates, March 22 through 29, 2025.

March 22 through 29, 2025. All the Ramsey personalities, Trey Kennedy, a great comedian, Stephen Curtis Chapman, Manit Chauhan of the Food Network, Deanna Carter, the legendary country music star, and more. RamseySolutions.com slash cruise. RamseySolutions.com slash cruise. Yep, and everything's included. I'm going to teach you how to spin the ball.

Okay, I was going to say, all the food's included. It's going to be a really fun time, so you don't have to be in the kitchen, literally, and on the pickleball court. Oh, I see what you did there. She's got jokes. I am going to teach her how to hit the ball with some spin. Then all of a sudden you'll be pro spin. There it is.

Michael's up in Charlotte, North Carolina. Michael, how can we help today? Hey, thanks for taking my call. So I need some advice. Right now I do have $406,000 worth of debt. Does that include your mortgage, Michael? Yes, that includes my mortgage. I have $102,000

in student loans. $222,000 on my mortgage. $43,000 on a HELOC. $13,000 on my auto loan. Wait, how much? $13,000 on my auto loan. Wait, how much? $13,000? Car?

$13,000 left on my auto. Okay. Personal line of credit, no, personal loan, $2,900, $8,000 in credit card, and I have about $24,000 in savings, and that's including stock accounts and, you know, high-yield savings and all the distancing. Oh, that's great. Okay.

Okay, that's great. Okay, hold. That's great. Okay. Hold on. I'm making a list real quick. One second. How new, while she's writing that down, how new to our program are you? So I learned about Dave Ramsey last year at church. Okay. And I did baby step one. I actually taught an STU class at my church in our groups.

Okay. I found myself not actually living up to that standard, so I need to take a step back and get my stuff right before I teach others about how to live. So this is fun. So if you were leading the class and someone said, hey, I have $24,000 in savings and I've got all this debt, and you yourself accomplished baby step one,

what would you tell them to do with the rest of that $24,000, that $23,000? What would you tell them to do with it, Mr. Teacher? I would tell them to list their debts on smallest to largest and start knocking them out, knocking them out. Man, that's pretty good advice. Yeah. That's pretty good advice. Michael, how much do you make a year?

I make, so my base salary is $108,000. Okay. Oh, boy. Yeah, do you get extra? Bonus. Uh-huh. Yeah, so with bonus, around $125,000. Come on, man.

I guarantee. Okay, so Mike. And I also sell real estate. Oh. So this year, I made around $18,000 doing that. Oh, good for you. I started the year off with about $18,000 doing that. Oh, good for you. I started the year off with about $12,000 in credit card debt. And I was intentional about selling some houses and using that commission to knock down that credit card debt.

And I did, but I built it back up. But I'm paying it off next week. Okay, yeah. I mean, if I were you, gosh, I mean, you today with that 24 grand, you can get the car, the credit cards and the personal line of credit paid off with the 24,000. So that's done. I mean, just, you know, speaking. And then, I mean, if you made $145,000 coming up and let's just pretend, you know, you lived on $75,000 and after taxes, you got $45,000 freed up. So in a year, you can get the HELOC paid off. And then you got $102,000 left in student loans.

And you could do that in probably two years. So what? What do you mean, so? What do you mean? Here's the wrench in everything I just said. Okay, give it to us. So in July, I went on Okay, give it to us. In July, I went on the contract for a new house.

I have $8,400 invested in down payment. $400? No, no, $8,400. $8,400, okay. Yes. So the house's new construction is being built. It won't be finished till next year. The reason I did it was because I've been paying this HELOC. It was originally $2,800, $28,000, but the banker convinced me to roll in other debt into the HELOC because it will save me some money, which it did. But when I think about it, now I'm paying around $430 a month on a HELOC,

which is mostly interest, and the principal will be coming down. So I bought my house in 2020. I have around $135,000 of equity in the house. When I sell it, I'll be able to take care of the HELOC, the car payment. I'm calculating, hopefully I'll have around $60,000 left after I use the $20,000 for the house. So I'm using $20,000 of the principal, $20,000 to go into the down payment on my house, because that's the principal I paid for the house I live in now.

And I roughly have around, hopefully $50,000 or $60,000 left over. And then I'll still have, I'll roughly have around like $30,000 left in my savings. I mean, around $30,000 in my savings. Okay. Which I was going to use that for my emergency fund. Here's my only thing.

Here's my only thing. I'm going to give this to Rachel, but I got to jump in here. What I don't understand is, is you taught FPU, you believe in it enough to teach it. You did a portion of it. And while you were paying off debt, you start this process and then you go right back into credit card debt. So all I'm saying is this selling the house is the easy way out, but I'm just curious why it is that you just keep backtracking. It doesn't make any sense. It's like you're...

So the credit cards are gone. I know, but my point is you jumped them back up. You told us I paid them down, then I jumped them back up, and you got 24 cash in the bank right now. You could have paid three of these line items off before you even called us. I'm just curious what's holding you back from going all in? What's holding me back from going all in is I just don't, over the last couple of years, even the last couple of months, really, I've been having like emergency expenses coming up and a thousand dollars in emergency fund wouldn't cover some of the expenses that I think incur such as.

Yeah. So, Michael, I think sorry, we're going to a hard break. But I would just encourage you that when you get focused and get all this debt out of your life, it frees up your income and you don't have payments anymore. And you're able to use your income to then fund things in your life. So you're just kind of doing it the opposite way. And I would reverse it. Good hour. Hey, the rest of the show, you can only get at the Ramsey app network app. Go get it at the app store or Google play. Hey, you're still here? What are you doing?

You do know that the rest of today's show is playing right now over on the Ramsey Network app, right? All you got to do to finish the episode is search Ramsey Network in the App Store, Google Play Store, or just click the link in the show notes to download the app for free. Yep, you heard me right, for free. Then right there on the home screen, you can watch the rest of today's show. Bada bing, bada boom. All right, I'm getting out of here. Enjoy. We'll see you on the app.