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Start budgeting for free today. [MUSIC] >> Normal is broken common sense is weird. So we're here to help you transform your life. >> From the Ramsey Network and the Fair Wins Credit Union Studio.
This is the Ramsey Show. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. J. Washall Ramsey personality number one best selling author is my co-host today. Open phones at AAA 825-5-225. You jump in.
We'll talk about your life and your money. Tyler is in Dallas, Texas. Hey, Tyler, what's up?
>> Hey, sir, how are you?
>> Better than I deserve, man. How can I help? >> Yes, sir. So I have about 408,000 in debts on and S block. So the interest payment among this is only like 1,600 just pure interest.
And so I'm wondering how I should have some cash. And I'm just wondering, "Should I take some of that cash?" And like, "Moth this, not some of it out?" Or just kind of wouldle away at it. >> So what was the purpose of the loan?
Why'd you take it? >> I bought a rental house. So I did a few things with it actually. I bought a rental house, which is producing some income. I paid off my life's car and my truck with the S block because the interest rates on,
you know, on the loan that I got for the vehicle was crazy. And so this interest rate was much better. >> So what's the star and worth? >> I have about 5.50 in stock.
“>> And what's the sell of much of it and pay the loan off?”
>> So I see, I got an inheritance this year of about 1.4 million stocks.
So why are you selling it on a 400,000-dollar loan? Paying some goober 1600 bucks. So enough of it and get rid of the loan? >> Well, see, I sold a lot of it. I bought my house, I bought, I moved, I paid my house off.
When I moved, I owned the house that I moved from, so that's a rental house. And then I got the S block, I bought a rental house, yes sir. >> So it's two rental houses that I paid for and a house that you're living in this paid for. And you got $550,000 in stock and you got a $400,000 loan. Do I have it right?
>> Yes, sir. And I got a tea bill, I got about 1.80 in a tea bill. >> Okay. >> So the tea bill is selling a stock pay off the loan? >> What's wrong with that?
“>> Why not just sell enough stuff to pay off the loan?”
>> Why are you keeping this? >> I want to stop already this year. >> But why do you want to keep it? You made that decision when you paid off your car and you used all this money. You already made the decision to give up the stock.
You just borrowed against it instead of actually doing their deal. >> Right, so tell us what you think you ought to do. Since we gave you our opinion, what's your opinion? >> Well, I want to pay about, I want to pay about maybe half of them off. And then get the payment down to where my income can cover.
>> Why do you want to keep the loan? >> Well, my financial advisor was telling me that anything that's done to fill stock to pay off the cars, because stocks are appreciating. >> I think your financial advisors are more on. >> Yeah, I mean, I tried to talk to him and say, hey, I want to talk to him.
>> I don't need to talk him into anything. It works for me. I've got two words for him, you're fired. >> Yeah, what's your income?
“When you take in all the rents and what you earn from your job, what's your income?”
Every month and every year. So I have an LLC that owns the rental properties and that brings in about $8,800 a month. And then I pay myself about five grand a month. >> And that's all because I don't have any personal debt. I paid off all my debts that I owed when I got this money.
>> Okay. >> 40. >> What's your career?
>> Right now, I'm really just living off the rental income, because it's a lot.
And it's all right. >> It's all right.
>> Well, the bottom line is this boss.
I would not have done anything that you have done. And so if I did wake up in your shoes today, I would fire my financial advisor and get someone that's a brain and doesn't tell you to borrow money to pay off a debt. That's not paying off a debt. It's moving the debt.
You moved the debt and this idiot called that sophisticated. It's not sophisticated. You just moved it. So all you did. You moved your car debt over onto your stock in an S-block.
So all you did. So what I do sell the T-bills and I'd sell enough of the stock to pay off the debt and I'd fire my financial advisor and be 100% debt-free. No interest to anyone.
And that's what I would do.
I don't think you're going to do that, though. But so I'm not real sure why you called. >> Yeah, I think he's afraid.
“I think he's like seeing that chunk of money sitting there and some part of him doesn't.”
I think he'd be able to invest his way back to what he had before which he truly could over time. >> Well, and you know, you're 40, get a job. >> Yeah, that's what I'm saying. If you get a job, you can do it.
>> Go earn 150,000 dollars a year and chunk some money away and make a bigger pile of money than the one you inherited. And so you got three pieces of paid for real estate, two of them are generating $60,000 a year, which is okay and you got a little bit of stock left after my plan. So that money can stay invested in good growth stock mutual funds.
And I'm going to liquidate the individual stocks. I'm not letting the stupid financial plan or play with them. And I'm going to put it in basic growth stock mutual funds and let it double about every seven years and it will, if you freaking leave it alone. And then let that ride and then go make a living for yourself.
And you know, you do not have enough net worth to retire at 40. You didn't get that much money. And I don't think, but I don't think you're going to do any of this. So. >> Good.
>> I agree. >> Yeah, it's crazy. So, all right.
“So, here's the thing, your financial advisor, your lawyer, your CPA, your doctor, your whatever”
professional works for you. They don't tell you what to do. You're a grown-up, boys and girls. And so, I've occasionally had attorneys that got confused and thought they were going to tell me what to do.
And they got fired. And so, my financial advisor tells me what to do, tells me you have a wrong relationship with your financial advisor. Your real estate agent tells you what you're going to do. No, it's my freaking money.
I tell you what to do. I ask you for advice and to teach me something I didn't know, present to me ideas I hadn't thought of, for me to consider what I'm going to do with my money. And this is how you approach dealing with financial advisor. When your financial advisor tells you what to do, all of the sudden you start worrying
about their conflict of interest, like he doesn't want you to sell the stock, because he wants to get a management. Yeah. Hello. Instead of you paying off your stupid car payment.
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Jonathan is in Shreveport, hi Jonathan, how are you?
Hi Dave, how are you?
Better than a deserveser, how can we help?
I need to have an ult on about $3,000 in personal armed debt, I'm struggling to have time to save all my bills, sometimes get groceries, food, and I've been to Shreveport to get on your show and I just think of help. How old are you? 33.
Okay. And what do you earn? What do you do for a living? I'm a kids who I do if we're a job or a job. Okay.
And so what are you making a month a year? A month, say about $2,500 a month? Okay. You working 40 hours? $2,40, you say about $3,6.
Okay. What caused the situation? Because my guess is just based off of what you're saying is you're 33, you're, you know, struggling to get groceries on the table, driving Chick-fil-A.
“That's probably not how you expected and where you expected to be at 33 am I right?”
No, man.
And I did the personal arms just to keep up.
And what? What caused that? Did you have a job that you love that you got fired from? Did you have a relationship implosion? What?
What got us here? I don't know how to explain it. I do apologize. No, that's okay. I just got personal arms just to keep up with the bills and get groceries and all that.
I don't think so. You didn't mean wrong. No, we're not. We're not crashing them. But I think you.
I don't know. One thing we can identify immediately in your story is we'd like to get your income up. Okay. Okay. Immediately.
I want to start. Why else can I do? I mean, 36 hours a week.
“So that means I could work another 30 hours a week pretty easily.”
You're only 33. You can work more.
And so I'd like for you to go on another two or three thousand dollars a month.
It was some kind of side hustle. And start thinking about what you want to be when you're 43. Then pay 70 or 80 thousand dollars a year. And what are the steps to get there? Well, I'm about to start new job in two weeks.
That's good information. What's that? Cost-biddle. Cost-biddle place in Long Beach, Texas where I live. I'll be a big belly driver.
I'll be making 16 an hour. It's only part gone for now. On top of the Chick-a-Lay work. No, man. I'm going to leave Chick-fil-A.
Okay. And it pays more. I was up. Yes, ma'am. Because of tips.
Yes. Because just an hour. I can't see how it's going to be more. But if you, I'm guessing tips. I'm making 16 an hour.
I'm making $11 that Chick-fil-A. Got you. Okay. Okay. And you're going to be doing that for how many hours a week.
The new gig. I don't know my new schedule. Got now. Yes. The only way this is in there.
Okay. Stop. You took a job at $16 an hour. It's not a raise unless you're working at least 36 hours. And you don't know if you're going to get 36 hours.
I'm having working from 12 to 11 or 8 pm at night. Okay. If you do, how many days a week? I don't think they say maybe four or five. So what I would do is keep Chick-fil-A.
“Keep your job at Chick-fil-A and say that you need to roll back your hours.”
Because this Chick-fil-A now becomes your side hustle to this ideally. But I would not get rid of Chick-fil-A until you see what your hours are going to be as the valet. So that's the thing. One is the 3,000 of personal loan debt. Is that the only debt you have or do you have a car payment?
Is there anything else we need to know about? I do have car payment. I just got a new car. What'd you pay for the new car? No.
What'd you pay for the new car? No, what'd you pay? Tell me the whole amount that you paid for the new car. 24,000. 24,000 or 24,000.
24,000 for down payment. The whole car payment is 17,000. So you paid 17,000. You've got a loan for 17,000 for the car. Okay.
The people don't really wrap it all day. Okay. You bought a car you can't afford. So you need to get your income up rapidly. Or we're going to have to downgrade out of that car.
Okay. You've got to pick up the 40 hours, plus another 25 hours somewhere else.
I want you working all the time and get very specific about what you're going...
And now you're going to grow your income. And then when it comes to food and bills, the way you do this is you prioritize.
The first thing you buy with your money when you get money is food.
Period. You have to eat before you do anything else. The second thing you pay for is lights and water and utilities at wherever you're living. The third thing you pay for is your rent. So food and shelter and transportation.
And you need to get rid of this car. You've got a car you can't afford. And also that's why you're pinched.
“That's why you're pinched, but the bigger thing here is I think you need a vision for your future.”
I think that you've just been kind of rolling along. And I tried to get to an earlier to ask you how do we end up here. But I don't think you know you just spend some time thinking about what got you here. And I think it was just lack of a plan, lack of a vision for yourself. So you need to create that because you're going to look up here in five years.
And you could very well be in the exact same position or worse. I don't want you to be a 43 year old. You're 33. I don't want you to be a 43 year old valet. I want you to do something else with your life, honey. So what are you going to do?
And you need to be thinking about that. That pays a lot more.
Because this is not going to vote well into your future.
Eventually something's going to happen with your health. You're going to stub your toe or something's going to come along. And you've got to be growing yourself and growing what you're going to be. That's where I would head. That's where I would head.
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Do you know what I'm going to do? Pouring money into your 401(k). Both of them are important.
“That's why we have 15% and babies that four.”
Five is kids college and six is pay off the house early. How old are you? We are 44 or 45. How much is in your next egg so far?
To size a million dollars.
Oh, shut up. How much do you think you need? We don't know. Do you know what I'm going to do? We don't know what we're going to do.
We don't know what we're going to do. We don't know what we're going to do. We don't know what we're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what we're going to do.
We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do.
We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do.
We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do.
We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do.
We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do.
We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do.
We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do.
We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do.
We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do.
We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. We don't know what you're going to do. How much could you put on the house to go aggressively?
How much more could I put on there?
You're putting 10%, so you're putting 30,000 bucks too much in the retirement right now. I'm going to throw that over on the house. So you're doing 36 months. Are you actually doing anything fun at all? Well, actually we just got back from a month long cross country road trip with our kids.
And that was our first time.
Fine, we said, fine. Yeah.
“Yeah, I think you need to take your wife to Rome, man.”
Yeah, there you go. Wow. She'll love that. Yeah, you do. And what are you driving?
What kind of car are you driving? I've got a nice paid off. Twenty, twenty, one, four to 15. What she has. She has a paid off.
Twenty, sixteen, four pieces. She just uses it back and forth to work. You need to get your wife a better car. Are you both nerds? Are you both nerds or is she a spinder?
We're both nerds. Yeah. She is a great saver. I really don't want a millionaire wife driving a used Ford Fusion. There's just I don't want anybody driving a used Ford Fusion.
But I was really don't want a millionaire's wife driving that. And meanwhile, you're driving an F-150. But yeah, and which is a great car. But yeah, so anyway. Okay, so what would I do in your shoes?
This is so fun. You're doing so good. These are minor adjustments and we can have some fun. All right, number one, I'm going to book a trip to Paris a room. Number two, I'm going to upgrade my wife's car.
Number three, I'm going to lower your contributions down to 15%. And number four, I'm going to get the house paid off when the house is paid off. You're going to have so stinkin' much money. Okay, so you're at the point the house is paid off. You're 48 years old.
Okay, and your million dollars will have become 2 million by then.
Okay, and then by the time you are 55 years old, it will be 5 million. And the house will be worth a million. So you're going to be 65 with a 20 million dollar net worth if you do simply what I'm telling you today. Okay, I can do that.
You are kickin' butt. And I want you to enjoy some of this money. Oh, we aren't dying. No, please don't tell me anybody's driving a Ford Fusion has a good life. Okay, just please go buy your wife a car.
Seriously. Yeah. Why did go, man? You're so cool. I love talking to him.
So let's talk to her. He wasn't nerd, both of them are nerds.
“Let's talk about this because it's important.”
And I feel like if we don't, it can give the Ramsey plan a bad name. Which is learning how to spin. So the first three baby steps are very intense. Right? You're getting a thousand dollars saved.
You're paying off your consumer debt. You're stacking up three to six months of expenses. And that is gazelle intensity. And you don't, you drive a Ford Fusion then. You drive a Ford Fusion.
And everything inside of you is telling you don't spend extra. Don't spend more. Hold your money. Right? It's gorgeous.
No lifestyle. No enjoyment. No trips. No eating out. We're cleaning up the freaking mess.
You started with a negative net worth. Right? And it has to be that way. And the way that you do that, the way you get to the gazelle intensity that we talk about. And one day, Dave will explain that on here.
The way you do that is you practice it. Like John Deloni would say, you practice what it means to say no. You practice what it means to stick to the budget. You practice that behavior and you become very, very good at it to the point that you have accomplished baby steps one through three.
Then there's a shift that occurs when you get to four five and six. Whereas you can pull your pedal, you pull your foot off the gas a little bit. You can start to enjoy life.
“And I want to point out that that also you have to practice that behavior.”
Otherwise you will not be good at that behavior. You have to trust yourself to know, okay. I know what it feels like to let myself spend a little. I know what it feels like if I'm going off the rails. I know what it feels like if this is at it.
You have to practice that same behavior. So you become good at spending and actually enjoying and living your life. And sometimes people just get afraid of it and so they don't do it. Ah. Well, you state you keep your emotions back when you're broke.
Yeah. And you have to retrain your body, your mind, your emotions, your spirit. The things are different now. Yes. And it's not that we're going to get sloppy and immature and impulsive that got us in the
mess in the first place. But now we're not in a mess. We're not.
We have a million freaking dollars.
We're 44 years old, plus the net worth in the house. So a million and a half probably in that worth. Right? And we're making $300,000 a year. Those facts are, you need to tell yourself what are the facts.
Not what are the feelings. Yes, sir. Because your feelings can still be stuck back there when we were broke. You know, I remember, I know. I don't care what you remember.
I remember being broke too. I remember on my third date with my wife. I had a 280,000 mile money carlow on the third engine and fourth transmission.
I changed them because I'm a redneck.
I turned the wrench.
“And I was taking my wife out on the third date explaining to her somehow.”
I had a dollar 12 of them, a checking account. How some day I'm going to be a millionaire. We cross the railroad track in the muffler fell off. I remember that conversation. Because it was so ironic.
And I rolled up under, put the muffler back on. We went on the date. The, you know, and then it came true. I was a millionaire. By the time I was 24 and I was so stupid.
I had to do it two times because I lost everything. Got the opportunity to start over. So this is the feelings. Don't get stuck in the feelings. What are your facts?
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Well, people are always asking me, Dave, what you do to build your real estate portfolio
since you don't borrow money. How'd you do that? And how do you do your investing? What do you really do? They always want to know what mutual funds and all that.
We don't tell you which mutual funds because we want you to think for yourself. We don't want you to do a particular mutual fund just because Dave did it. We want you to actually use your brain and learn how to do your investing. But I am going to open for the third time ever, our investing playbook. I'm not going to get into the details on which mutual funds.
But I'm going to give you some real-world examples of stuff I do. George Campbell and I start doing this three years ago. This will be the third time we've ever done it. It's called Investing Essentials. It's a two-night virtual event.
It will be September 1st and 2nd. It's the only place you're going to get my personal playbook. And we're going to nerd out. George and I are both super nerds. And we're going to nerd out on all the little nitsy nuanced crap.
If you don't want to know nine million details about investing, don't come to this.
Because this is going to be nine million details about investing.
“And honestly, I think it's a little boring.”
But it's really, really a lot of meat. A lot of meat. Not even any potatoes. Just meat. So we're going to go into the basics of investing for just a minute.
Just to make sure you've got that foundation. And then we're going to tear into the stuff that we do that's pretty high level stuff. And so tickets start at 199. You can get it at RamseySolutions.com/avance or you can click the link in the show notes. And it'll take you right there.
Either one. November our September 1st and 2nd. September 1st and 2 night virtual event. Investing Essentials. Daniels and Fort Smith.
Arkansas. Hey Daniel, what's up? Hey, everyone. Better than I deserve. How can I help?
Well, so I got presented an opportunity with the new last two weeks. I just started off with, I work in construction and the build relationships here and there. And do what I can for my customers. About two years ago, I got involved with the customer. He's a year old man.
I would have a man. Have a health care not too long ago. And well, I thought we're going to talk to numbers on a job. He was what let me do and I get to his office. And he basically.
He gives me. He tells me he's going to give me a commercial property. He's going to do it over to we can put you for free. And it's a big commercial property. And it's a life change.
You give it for me. Does he have any sons or daughters or a wife? Yes. He has three sons. And he has three kids.
Two sons and a daughter. And the wife. Yes.
I ask him the same thing.
I ask him most of the times the same thing. Just to make sure we're all clear.
“All his kids from when I can tell are okay and they're doing good.”
And basically doesn't want to mess with it. Is that his only piece of. Well, because he have lots. Lots. Lots and lots.
Okay. So he's a multimillionaire. He's giving you a property that's worth what.
Well, he said he bought it for a million 20 years ago.
And I would say it's 43.23 acres. As far as the law goes. And then there's a 42 to 43,000 square foot building on it. Because it's a strip mall. And it's full of.
Businesses. That, you know. Okay. What does he estimate the worth of it is today? Well, I haven't got that for you.
I'm actually going this weeks and time to talk to him in his attorney to. I guess figure out more details. Well, that's wild. Okay. Yeah.
So what can, how can we help you? I have no idea what to do. How long have you been working with him? How long has your population been working? Two years.
Last two years. And we've gotten pretty close over the last two years. And apparently. Yeah.
Sounds like he's giving you a 10 million dollar property or so.
Right. Okay. Wow. You'd have a health day not too long ago. And I think that's why he's kind of.
He's wanting to get stuff out of his hair. Unless stress and loss. Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of ways to do that.
But this is an interesting one. Okay. Yeah. I just. I want you to learn as fast as you can learn.
Because you're getting ready to become the landlord of a commercial property. And so you need a good real estate agent that is a commercial broker in your corner. To teach you how to manage that property and how to manage that type of tenant and how to refill. When one of them, you know, when one of the leases expires and they move out.
“Or when they quit paying and you have to throw them out and you put a new tenant in.”
How do you do that? You don't have any idea.
This is your first ride on this truck, right?
So you're getting ready to be a big time commercial landlord. You're going to have to have some people in your corner to teach you how to do it. Not do it for you. Do it with you. And so you want to get somebody that's got in the commercial world.
There's a designation in the commercial real estate world called the CCIM. And that's a commercial. That's a real estate agent who is studied how to value and how to manage commercial real estate. And it's like getting your CPA, but in commercial real estate. That makes sense.
So if you find somebody, I have a lady that works for me that has a CCIM. And she works for me and manages our real estate. We've got a bunch of commercial real estate. And I've got a degree in real estate, which is the equivalent of that too. So but you've got to learn the nuances of stuff like the cam,
common area maintenance phases, but that's called the CAM. You've got to learn the per square foot. Who's paying what are these triple net leases? And you just, you, there's some things to learn here. And you, you're going to be taking a crash course on it. And ask him if he has a recommendation for someone to mentor you on handling all of this.
Does he want to do it while he has his help? Yeah, he said, he said, I could come to him for any help he needs. I do have some help in my corner too, or some other friend to mind. One other little detail, for that to mentor, I guess it's a big detail. There's one of the tenets had a business there and it burned down.
And so that would be my responsibility. And one of my biggest concerns right now is, I don't, I don't have a lot of money to my name. I don't, let's say we make a lot of money. And my concern is getting alone to fix this place. And I'm not going to be able to float it with the income that the strip malls bring in.
“Or do I, am I going to have to dip into my own finances?”
Is there a part of the strip mall that caught on fire? Yes, but it's the only business that is out of business right now due to the fire. Everyone else is still up and running. So it just, it didn't, it didn't burn the structure. It just gutted the interior.
A little bit structural damage and inside that part of the area, but not unsafe for everyone else to be. And I take it the property as no debt. Yes, correct. Then it ought to be cash flowing like a bandit. You ought to be able to stack the cash out of the rents, fast enough to do these repairs.
You don't take anything out of it. You just use all the cash to board back into the property. Okay, that's, that's kind of out because I didn't know if I needed to go to the bank. I would. I would see if I, I would cash flow the repairs.
Okay.
I don't know, I mean, if this things, it should be generating.
“Should be, yeah, you should be generating some pretty serious money per month.”
And it sounds like you'll find out that information when you have that first meeting.
Yeah. I have a good idea right now and it's, it's round six thousand a month. That's it. That's it. That's not right.
That's from what I, how many businesses are it has? One, two, three, four, five, probably seven or eight. And there's probably three or four vacant spots in the, within the strip mall. Hmm. That's right.
I think it's very, very cheap on a lot of his rent. That's beyond cheap. That should be one tenant. I was going to get 50,000 a month. Yeah.
And you're telling me six thousand a month. Something's wrong. Something's really, really wrong. So you need to get in there and find out what's going on. Six thousand a month.
Yeah. So good news is you've no people on the construction business. And I think, but cash flow the work on. He don't take out a loan. And otherwise, just let that tenant go on his way.
And then you cash flow it when you can cash flow it. But yeah, you've got ten of the improvements you're going to be doing on those empty spots. I don't know. I don't know if you're going to be able to handle this or not.
What do you think causes the 80-year-old guy to just handle 10 million?
It's very strange. It's very strange. I thought the property was worth more than it is. Maybe. I can't tell what's going on.
Yeah, I mean either. Once I got that last piece of information, my head went on till. Why don't you get more information and call us back? Yeah. If you want to.
Yeah.
“But you need to get some independent people outside of his circle.”
A CCIM to look at this with you. And they're going to talk to you about borrowing money. I'm not. But other than that, they don't know what's going on. Let me tell you something.
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Go to GuardianLit.com/RamsyToday. That's GuardianLIT.com/RamsyToday. It's earning advertising. Results may vary, and no specific outcome is guaranteed. Welcome back to the Ramsy Show,
and the Fair Wins Credit Union Studio, Jade Washall, Ramsy Personality. Number one bestselling author is my co-host today. Jason is in Philadelphia. Hi, Jason. What's up?
How are you doing, Dave? Long story short, I'm 38 years old. I'm a heavy equipment operator for a union in New Jersey. And unfortunately, I've made very not even bad, but horrible financial decisions throughout my life.
I am ready to make a complete change because of my financial situation. It has caused me to lose a fiancé recently. I've been a five-year-old band. Yeah, I just need a battle plan.
I do have some of the things presented itself recently. I also do plumbing on the side, and I have an opportunity, but it might be a big risk. What are you making as a heavy equipment operator?
You ought to be making back. Yeah, I make pretty good. You ought to defend as if you were overtime or not, but like, for example, last year, I think I made 115. Yeah, okay.
Is keeping a job the problem? What's been the problem?
So the problem is, you know,
I went through the vours. I have child support. I have daycare payments. I have, you know, a car payment that is astronomical. But I can't even get out of because I'm under, you know,
10 to $11,000 under water on it. We'll help with that. I'm totally like $65 to $70,000 in debt. Okay, so let me ask you this.
I love the way you open the conversation.
It's like, help me. I'm ready to change.
“That's my favorite kind of person because I've been there myself.”
The person that's sick and tired of being sick and tired.
They're ready to do something. I don't have to talk them into it. They're going to do something because the things have to change. And that's, that put, that means your mind is in a perfect place on this. Congratulations.
I'm sorry you had to go through all this crap to get there. But that's normal human stuff. Right? Well, I had to go broke to get there. So I understand.
So what, and so really, it sounds like though that, you know, you made a couple bonehead moves. But more than anything, you just hadn't paid attention. You made decent to great money. And you just hadn't paid attention.
And it just all kind of frittered away. And you don't even know where all of it went. Is that right? Yes. Yes.
I thought so. Because that's fairly normal. Okay, in your situation. So thank you for saying that. So here's what's weird.
90% of solving where you are and turning you into a millionaire is to start paying attention. And you're ready to do that. Because here, if you have a game plan, anything that interrupts that game plan is all flimutes. But when you don't have a game plan, everything that stupid looks smart. So when you say, I have got to go from where I am to a millionaire status.
I need a million dollar net worth.
I'm 33 or I'm 38. I don't want to be there by the time I'm 48 or at the bottom, I'm 50. And I think you can do that probably. All right. But you're going to have to actually pay freaking attention to every single financial transaction
and make every one of those dollars you work so hard for. Behave. Okay. Because they've not been behaving. No.
Money is a great slave. It is a horrible master. It will do what you tell it to do. And if you tell it to do nothing, it runs wild. And so that's what's been going on.
All right. Now, so you got a stupid car. Tell me about the car. How much do you owe on it? I don't know about, right around 30,000 on it.
I pay like $900 a month. Not including. You owe 30. And it's worth. You think it's worth around 20.
Yeah. So that's a 21 GM season. Why do you think it's worth 20? I just did like, you know, look it up. And I've went to dealerships before to see what they would give me.
And it was around 20 to 21,000. Okay. Dealers. I'm going to give you wholesale. They resell the car and make a profit over that.
Which means you could put it on Craig's list and probably sell it for 25. Correct. I just don't have the access to it. Yeah. We're going to figure that out.
How do you owe the 32? I guess the PD bank or whatever it is, the auto.
“Now, I mean, what's the name of the organization that you send payments to, honey?”
Oh, yeah, the PD auto finance. Okay. So it's a high interest rate. Yeah, 11.9%. Yeah, you got screwed twice.
Okay. And wow. And so your credit's probably ripped up in it. My credit is pretty bad. Like I said, I have about 70,000 in debt.
30 from the truck. I have 6,000 in credit cards. I have 20,000 in student loans that I got 10 to 15 years ago.
I've never paid for them.
Um, you know, I actually just got done about a year or two of those paying back taxes that I owe. Good. Just been in a world world. Okay. So what we're going to do now is we're going to take all the overtime we can take.
And we're going to get on an every dollar budget. We're going to sign you up. We're going to give you the premium version. And we're going to be on beans and rice, rice and beans. You now have no life.
You're not going to be in sight seeing the inside of a restaurant. Unless it's your extra job and you're not going on vacation. I want you to work like a maniac. And I want you to stack five or six grand as fast as you can stack it and get this car sold. Yes.
So right now I do have about 5,000 in the bank. So what's your have a set? I do have a second job that um sell the car. I have a big opportunity all but it would it would be a huge risk. I don't need, I don't need any risks right now.
I need money. Well, it would be money in it. The potential for me to make a lot more money. Really, more than you're making 150 years or 150 years of heavy equipment operator. So yeah, it would give me an opportunity to learn more about the plumbing and then
honestly open my own plumbing business.
“What's the how long has it take for this to unfold?”
Well, I do the plumbing now. I am like I said, I am in the union. So I could shelf my book and go to work for this company full time.
I could work either six or seven days, whatever.
But I would have to work six days and make the same amount of money that I would make work in just the 40 hours.
“No, I don't need to start a business right now right now.”
I need to stack money. So I want you to get the car. I want you to get a little bit more money. Maybe six or $7,000. I want you to get this car sold.
Once you work all the overtime, you can work at something. I don't care what. But you need a $150,000 income in the next 12 months. And no, we don't need to go into business. And no, we don't need to do all this opportunity.
You need to go to work. You need to get your messed cleaned up. And then we'll talk about doing that. Okay. But you got about 12 months of just just tearing the head off this thing, man.
Because here's the thing.
You sell the car.
“Then 26,000 and get you a junk or car to drive back and forth to work to run the”
have equipment. And you don't need a car today because you're not going on any dates. You're broke. Okay. And you're not going to do nothing.
You're just going to work all the time for one year. And you'll be 100% dead free. How would it feel to have no payments and be in control of your money? It would feel incredible. As soon as you do that, you're ready to talk about doing the plumbing gig.
Okay. But you got to get, you can't be doing two things at once. You need to focus on the cleanup here and learning to tell your money what to do is the key to that. It cleans it up for you.
So hang on. We're going to get you signed up for financial peace, but don't don't be chasing something that's going to get you out.
“The secret sauce for your success is not plumbing.”
The secret sauce for your success is the guy in your mirror. He's the stud. Whether he's doing equipment operating or whether he's doing plumbing. But you go make some money and make your money behave and clean this mess up. [Music]
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Hi, Lisa. How are you? Hi, Dave. Hi, Dave. Hey, what's up?
So, this is a situation I never thought I would be calling you guys.
My husband and I have been a long time follower, and we're on baby step 4, 5 and 6. This morning, my husband got a phone call from somebody representing a life insurance policy. And our three sons inherited $400,000 this morning. And since it's not my, it was our money. My husband and I would have a plan and we'd be paying off our mortgage.
And we kind of know what to do with it. But we're not sure what to do with it when it's given to your children. So, they were named the beneficiary on someone's policy that passed away, obviously. Yes. Who?
It was a crazy, crazy blessing. It was a husband and I rented our first home when we were married. We rented from a lady and we just became friends, but we were kind of friends at arm blank. And she originally said that she wanted to bless our boys with the house that we had rented for three years. And that she wanted them to have it.
And so we, you know, we talked to her and we promised to be good stewards of it. And gave, you know, the boys information for her to be able to do that. But the call that my husband got this morning wasn't about the ownership of that house. That we had rented it with about life insurance cash payouts. Wow.
That was about 400,000.
How old are your boys? And they're, yeah, they're 10, 7 and 4. Wow. And it's equally split amongst them.
“Well, there's actually one account that is all three of them.”
And then there's one account that is just two of them because the third one wasn't born yet.
Wow. Okay. I would just sit down with a smart, I would sit down with a smart vester pro. And I would just open some mutual funds in their name. That's simple.
Okay. And my husband wanted me to ask about a UTMA account. Yeah, that's it. That's going to be a uniform transfer to miners act. Oh, there's no transfer here.
She's transferred the money to them. But these are minor accounts. And you're the custodian, meaning you're in charge of the money until they turn 18.
And the, you know, and just invested in good mutual funds like you would for yourself.
And then that's going to set them up in beautifully.
“They're going to have a lot of money, you know, by the time they're in their 20s.”
And so then the thing that goes with that is the problem that this sets up is that this is their money at 18 years old. And so if they're doing drugs, they're going to be well-financed drug users. Right. That's a problem. Is there any way to move it into trust?
Nope. Not yours. You don't have choice. I mean, you could get sued if you do by the kid later. Because your job is to manage it for them as their parent.
And if you use it personally or you somehow trap the money, you could really come back on you. I wouldn't do that. But what it does do is it kind of highlights what happened with me and Sharon as well with our three. Was it highlighted that we didn't get an inheritance like this, but we were making a lot of money as the kids were growing in this business. And so it highlighted that this money is going to screw up their lives.
Oh, wait. No, it's not. It's going to reveal that we were horrible parents. Or it's going to reveal that we did a good job parenting. One of the two.
And so we started raising our children not to be good children, but to be good adults. And so I'm going to teach the little tort characters how to work. I'm going to teach them how to save. I'm going to teach them how to spend. I'm going to teach them how to live on less than they make.
And then I'm going to gently start revealing the fact that there's some money there for them. As they move into their teen years, I would not just surprise them on their 18th birthday. They might lose their minds. And so I would gradually unfold how investing works, how investing works, and then go. And you've got some investments that have been done for you.
And you can talk about it vaguely, and then later on, talk about it in more specifics to where it becomes just a part of the rhythm of their life. But don't do not allow them to be entitled brats that don't work. This is not that much money. Okay. What about like to do their childhood?
“Is there any time that you would use that money for expenses before they turn 18?”
Yeah, I mean, I might buy them a car with it or arm. But we did as we matched what they saved because we wanted them to build some, have some skin in the game on the car. We had 401 days. Yeah. Whatever they save, we'll match it.
And I'll just match it out of this account. I wouldn't match it out of your pocket. What about college? You could use it for college. You can use it for college.
The college is taking care of. But the sticky thing is it's technically their money at 18. And so they could choose not to spend it on college. Right. They can choose to do something stupid like going to student loan debt and keep the money in the account.
Because some bonehead financial advisor told them to do that or something like that, right? So instead of just paying for things. And so, but if you can make it through to where these become good adults that know how to work, save, spend wisely, be generous, that are grown up, become good young adults, then this money is going to be a massive blessing. If it's, if you don't, then it's going to be a, it's going to reveal whatever short it, whatever shortfall is in their young character.
So it just, it made me and Sharon get very, very serious about growing kids with character. Not kids that are characters. And so, you know, and we just went at it.
And so the book that Rachel and I did together was her first best seller was called Smart Money Smart Kids.
I'll send you a copy of it on how to raise smart money kids. Because you need to now. And that's a little bit scary. That sounds a little scary.
I could, yeah.
You know, and it's kind of like we had this money coming to the Ramses because we had best selling books.
And we had all this stuff going on, you know, 25 years ago when Rachel was little and didn't need some Daniel.
“And, you know, and on top of that, we had even worse because we had some notoriety, some in air quotes fame, right?”
And so we had it also teach the kids, you know, no, you can't use your dad's popularity with your teacher to get a grade. You know, Rachel might have done that once. It just wants you know who I am. Yes, do you know who my father is? I mean, what the, what kind of gross test human beings is, something like that.
That's the most gross things could ever come out of somebody's mouth. And so we had to, you're not allowed to play the Dave card. Your, your life will come to an end. We will take you out. You know, you're not going to do that because you got to learn to do stuff on your own.
Absolutely. You know, and, um, and besides that, everybody that knows that Dave, you know, something about Dave Ramsey, not on all of them like Dave Ramsey. So you got that other problem, right?
Yes. Yeah. I mean, so you might work against you. You have to run into that too. Yeah.
So anyway, all of that to the side, you know, we just, we faced all of this head on. But the good news was that, um, it just made us more cognizant that, you know, we had to be very intentional about installing character. Yeah, because the fear isn't in the money or the dollar amount. It's in the person who has it because you run into people all the time who are almost
afraid, um, afraid of success, afraid of having a lot of money. I mean, the way I grew up, it was like, oh, no, you don't want millions. That'll, that'll wreck you, you know. Yeah. Well, people, when I'm with wealthy people and we're talking generosity.
We're talking about other things.
“Well, the number one questions they asked me is how do I not run my kids with money?”
And I'm like money's not going to run your kids. It just exposes that you did. Yeah. Yeah. Yep.
You know, money doesn't do anything. Money just magnifies. Money does not make people evil. It just magnifies. It just, it reveals people.
It doesn't make people generous. It just reveals the someone as a generous person. So whatever, if you get a big ol' polymoney, it just magnifies who you are. And so that goes into this discussion because this isn't a lot of money today. It's a hundred, a thousand piece.
But by the time those kids get there, it's going to be several hundred thousand.
It never really doesn't even have to be a large sum of money, whatever you're thinking of as a large sum to magnify.
I mean, if you start out broke, but if you learn to manage your money when you're broke, when you get a little bit of money, even if you just start making a hundred thousand dollars a year, you'll learn you'll know how to manage your money. Exactly. If you were a good manager, when you were broke, you'll be an even better manager when you got something. Exactly.
Good stuff. Good stuff. [Music] This show is sponsored by Better Help. Some are as a time when people get away from it all.
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“If you want to work the ramsie plan and you want to work the baby steps and go from debt to millionaire, become a baby steps millionaire.”
The fastest, most efficient way to do it is following the baby steps with a detailed monthly game plan, called a budget.
Every dollar does that and it gives you personalized coaching and a personali...
And it's going to help you turn up the heat on this. You can download the every dollar budgeting app and do the whole ramsie plan for free in the App Store or Google Play. Every dollar. Shelley is in Tampa. Hi, Shelley, how are you?
Hi, fine. Thank you so much for your time. I'm super excited to talk to you. We're honored to talk to you. How come we help? Thank you very much.
I'll try to get you all the info. So I'm wanting to move. But we bought a house around 2020. We got a great deal on it. So we have about 300,000 left on that mortgage.
We have a key lock plus credit card debt. Basically we could get all paid for. If we sell our house and list it for about five, eighty five right now, which is where the market is in our neighborhood. And then that would obviously, like I said, clear our heloc of our credit card debt. So the next home we'd be buying would be.
We'd go with 20% down.
But the problem is my husband's on board because our mortgage right now is two point.
I think two and a half.
“And the new mortgage would obviously be higher, like I think six and a half and he's not on board.”
But of course, I see it as. You can get free, which I feel like I'm going to sleep better tonight with. What's your household in? Yeah. About 145 total.
How much credit card debt do you have? I'm giving you this number. But I think about 40 ish. Dalton. All right.
And how much do you owe in the home equity line? I think about the same. Okay. And how much do you owe in your car? How much do you owe in your cars?
Three and clear, paid two cars are paid for. What do they worth? Um, I have no idea. But I would probably hand mine down to my six-year-old daughter.
She's going to get her life.
And so I'd probably. And then down to her. I've had it for eight seven eight years. If you didn't have 80,000 in debt. Would you be talking about selling your house right now?
And if so why? Okay. That is a great question because right now we live in it. I have a really young family neighborhood to like find it. Social, which was great.
I might daughter her younger. But now they're older. I kind of want to pull my back. I kind of want more. Um.
I don't know. You know, they're getting older. They can drag their friends house. And it's not as important to be in such a. You know, young neighborhood.
So I do feel like I'm wanting something smaller like ranch with a basement. And not right now. It's a two story fight. I still year wanting to downsize. I would say downsize, but upsize and quality.
Yes. Like more cuts in home. But at the same time, it would have to do a little bit of work in it. But not a ton to have fun. Particularly looking at.
Would you think. You know, you paint and maybe bust before. Okay. So one more time. One more time.
Let's be very clear. If you did not have $40,000 or $80,000 in debt.
“Would you be talking about selling this house today?”
I would. I would say yes. Yes. You would want to sell it anyway. I would.
Okay. Let me tell you my other concern. And I'm not saying this is true. It's just a concern I have. Okay.
What you're talking about doing with this other house. Maybe doing some work on the other house. I would be afraid. I'm not sure you know how you ended up in 80,000 of debt. And I would be concerned that you could sell this house.
And before you know, you're taking out another heloc and doing some projects on some credit cards and doing the like all over again. Why will it be different? Well, I do know how we kind of got in credit cards debt about three years ago. My husband's been between jobs. And it happened to be right.
Christmas time. But for my girl turned off and travel sports. And it was just. You spent $40,000 on Christmas and travel sports. No, you didn't.
No, no, no, obviously. I feel like it's gone nowhere, though, because the interest rate is. I feel like we're getting nowhere fast. Here's where I'm going to stop. I'm going to stop you right there.
Because here's what I wanted to hear.
And I'm going to tell you the difference. What I wanted you to say is, Jade, the reason it'll be different is because now we have savings. Now we understand that when things come up. We know how to pay cash for them. We've drawn a line in the sand.
We just don't do debt anymore.
“That's what I was hoping for you to say.”
But instead, you said, well, the reason it happened was, and you gave me a long list of excuses. Here. I hear me. I love the idea of paying off debt. I love the idea of getting the house that you want.
But from based off of what I've heard. And I know this is a short call. I'm not convinced that you wouldn't turn around and do the same behaviors again. Yeah. So if I woke up in your shoes based on that.
I agree with her, by the way. If I woke up in her shoes, I would side with her husband and say, let's get on a tight budget.
We make $145,000 a year.
And let's not blame travel sports or anything else. Let's get this debt paid off.
“And if you pay off the credit cards and cut them up and learn to live on a budget and learn to save money,”
then we'll talk about selling the house after the credit cards are gone. But right now, you're just moving from one thing to another thing.
And the problem is we know that when people pay off debt in one fell swoop and they don't change their habits,
the debt grows back. Yeah. And there's nothing in this conversation that indicates any change in habits. Nothing. Nothing.
Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.
Nothing in your verbage. Nothing in your sentence structure. Nothing in the words you're using. All of it. It's all says you're going to do it again.
So I want you guys to prove to yourselves that you're going to live on way less than 145,000 and get these credit cards paid off and you're going to cut them up and never use a credit card. Again, no matter what happens. And you don't talk to me about travel sports when your husband's laid off from work. And finance in that with a credit card.
That's like dumb. Don't do that.
That's a dumb move right there.
“And that's the type of stuff you learn when you take the time to pay off your debt as you learn how to say no.”
No way. No possible way we're doing that. So that's the process. Abby is in Atlanta. Hi, Abby.
How are you? I'm good. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up?
So me and my husband. We just completed $50,000 of student loan debt. Wow. Yes. We're very thankful for that.
And we're 13 baby number two in October. I am wanting. He's going to go on to baby set number three. I am wanting to put that money towards a car. A more reliable family car.
Because we currently have one. Okay. So your pregnant right now? Yes. But they be number two.
That will be two under two. Okay. And so you have one career. One car family. Well, kind of his car.
You cannot fit a car. It was just a car. That's different than what you said earlier. Okay. I'm in one family car.
So you have, he has a car. What is his car worth? Well, we have looked up that anywhere like 1 to 3,000. Not very much. Gotcha.
And what is the car you're driving? It doesn't hold two car seats? No. We travel a lot for his work. A lot as a family.
I'm going to say it home. So we travel a lot with him. And this is, I cry now. He's going to take a new born on the road to work. Well, I mean, next summer.
We travel during the summer with him. What type of work is it? Is he a pastor? What is he doing? He, uh, coaches.
Oh, okay. Okay. So a year from now. Yes, sir. Okay.
So we got a year to talk about this. Yes. But my concern is I'm a very cautious person. So I like to have. Okay.
What are you driving right now? Um, a paid off for it. Both are cars are paid off. And how old is the fort escape? Um, I, is either 2018.
We bought it from a family member or 2019. What's it worth? Uh, not very much. I'm going to like five. It's very high mileage.
Yeah. And you only have $1,000 saved. You haven't started saving towards the three to six months. Yeah. So we have.
So we. To the list of. So right now, we have roughly saved about like 12,000. Okay. So if it came thousand, um.
No such emergency fund at three months worth. And above that. Save for car and move up in car with cash. Yeah.
“But that's what you would do after baby step three.”
But such emergency fund at three months. Yeah. You probably do need to move up in car and then pay cash for the move up. Above your three months of emergency fund. Come on.
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Go to CHMministries.org/budget and use promo code Ramsey. That CHMministries.org/budget and use promo code Ramsey. Today's question of the day is brought to you by WI-Refi. One financial mistake doesn't have to define the rest of your life. If you fall in behind and go into default on your private student loans,
WI-Refi can help you explore low, fixed rate, refinancing options, and affordable payment plans. Go to WI-Refi.com/RAMsey. That's the letter WI-R-E-F-Y.com/RAMsey might not be in all states. All right. Today's question comes from Abigail in Washington, DC.
She says, "I'm debt-free thanks to your principles, but I get a lot of flag from family and friends about not having a credit card for emergencies.
“Would you recommend having two different debit accounts so that one can serve as an emergency fund?”
I really don't want to get a credit card, but at the same time, I get nervous about only having one avenue to access my funds. So, I hear two questions here.
The second one I'll say for later first off.
Yeah, if you have an emergency fund, I would keep that in a separate account. I would put it in a high-yield savings account, not just a regular checking account. I'd have a regular checking account for your day-to-day, and then I would have a high-yield savings account for your emergency fund. And I'll just go a step further.
I like to keep mine at a separate institution. I like an online one. I just like that. I like the degrees of separation. It helps for my personal type.
A lot of people are using fair ones credit unions. Bundle right now. There you go. There you go. High-yield savings.
And you can put a debit card there. Yeah, it doesn't hurt to have two checking accounts with two debit cards, even with two banks. So, it doesn't hurt. Our both was one bank, it's fine.
Because if you walk up and there's something wrong with your debit card, just like if there's something wrong with your credit card. Let me give you an example. With either card, they will shut them down. True.
If something triggers the algorithm and they think there's theft going on.
“They think there's fraud, like your numbers gotten stolen, right?”
They'll shut either one of them down. And you can get, you can get an a pinch if you only have one thing. Yes. So, I have a debit card on my personal account and a debit card on my business account in my pocket. So, if I get to a hotel to check in and there's something screwed up with one of the cards or something,
I just use the other one. I got that too.
And I've actually got then a third one with a different bank on another personal account.
So, I've got three in my wallet. That's the only things in my wallet. Other than my driver's license in my handgun, Cariper Met. That's the only plastic there is. So, yeah, okay, that's a good point.
When I think about it, I have the same, I have the same. Because my experience has been that the algorithm will screw you up. I mean, like if we're traveling sometimes the thing activates because it thinks that, you know, things don't really in Mexico. Yeah.
And somebody in Mexico stole his number, right? And so it shuts it down. So, we've even gotten where we now contact the local, our banker and say we're going to such as such countries. So, it doesn't activate it.
We put a travel warning on the account so the algorithm doesn't kick. But in case it does, having another one. And it's not really for emergencies, though. It's really for the stupid card not working. Yeah, that's, and I'm trying to understand as she's talking about.
It sounds like she's... It sounds like she's on to pull these her family and friends, which you need to stop doing. Well, it's an emergency fund conversation and they're thinking, well, the only way you can be prepared for an emergency is if you have a credit card.
That's just, that's, that's, that's the line of, somebody's going to be middle class their whole life. You're not lying. Yeah. Because what happens if you have, I mean, if you have 15 or $30,000 saved,
what can really pop up that you can't pay cash for? Not much. Yeah. Even if your roof springs a week, if you have $30,000, you're in there. Yeah, you don't need a credit card.
For emergencies. But you might need a second debit card to be able to access your money in case you're, one of your debit cards doesn't work.
“Yeah, and I think that's the second thing you need to do.”
You probably need to purchase some earplugs to wear while you're around these idiot friends and family. That's right. Yeah. If you listen to broke people for your financial advice,
you're going to be broke. I mean, it's like asking fat people about physical fitness.
It's just don't, don't do it.
I mean, don't, you know, no, no, thank you.
“All right, up comes Frank and Baltimore.”
Hey, Frank, what's up? Hi, Dave. I know there's very short time for our citations, but I love and appreciate what you've been doing for people for all these years. Thank you.
You provided an incredible service to people.
And that's so cool. You single handedly encouraged, inspired me and showed me the path to buy my first house. Wow, good to see you. So that'll, I'll be grateful until the day I die.
Well, thank you. I just wanted to make sure I said that. Thank you. And I'm embarrassed. I'm almost embarrassed to ask you this question.
But I, I'm going to be retiring. Hopefully within three to six years from the police department. I'll keep my second job, which is port security. But the question is, this house. I, I have no one to leave it to.
I, I lost my brother recently.
I have no other family. No, no wife, no kids.
“To somebody said to me the other day, well, what are you doing?”
Just do a reverse mortgage on your home. Take those funds that you, that you would pay for your house. And, and put that in a high yield savings. And that, and let that grow until, you know, your tire. And, and then you'll have that income for your retirement.
Yeah. And whoever that is is telling you that doesn't know what they're talking about. Okay. Because the interest rate on your reverse mortgage is higher than high yield savings count. You'll lose money on this transaction.
Oh. It does, it won't work. So what they're talking, interest rates on reverse mortgages are ridiculously high. The fees are ridiculously high. And the foreclosure rate on homes with reverse mortgages is fivefold a regular mortgage.
Five times more off. Wow.
So we never recommend a reverse mortgage.
Okay. But you, it sounds like you've got enough money. Don't you have a power money? Well, I didn't take savings seriously until I was-- Well, how much do you have?
What's your nesting? So, I have, you're going to be very saddened by this. I have a deferred comp with about 40,000 in it. I have a-- Are you getting pension from water flow?
You get an pension from water flow. You get an pension from water flow. You get an pension from water flow. The apartment, the pension will be about 16,800 a month. I won't be getting a full pension.
And then Social Security, if I were to take it today, would be somewhere around 2,500 if I wait for the full 61,67, it'd be about 3,200. And I have some jewelry and watches that are worth 5, 40,000. My debt is the house 130 on the house.
And I owe 23 and a half on my truck. And credit card debt is around 3700. Well, you said you've got six years before you retire, right? So you've got some time to get this mess cleaned up. Yeah, you need to get the truck paid off.
Get the credit cards off paid off. And so that you can live on the pension and the Social Security. And that's going to make a lot more sense. And you owe enough on the house. You can only take out a reverse mortgage up to 65% of value.
And so you already owe 130 on it. So you're not going to get much out of it if you did do it. So I think someone's trying to talk about something in a vague sense that they heard on the internet and it doesn't really work.
“And so I think you need to go back to the baby steps and just work those straight through”
like Jade was suggesting. Yeah, I agree. You've got time. You've got six years. If you put pedal to the metal, we didn't get how much you earn. But if you put pedal to the metal, you get out of this truck and get it paid off. You pay off the 30,000 in credit card.
And all the while once you're done, if you can do that quickly, say in the next year, 18 months, then you're investing for the next five years. Yeah, and investing in five years and being serious about it, following the steps, you can build up a nice nest egg. And then as far as who to leave the house to, we've actually had two calls today
with some of my distant strangers, leaving people substantial money. Yeah. The lady that left the money to the life insurance to the blue boys and the guy the 80 year old's giving him a strip mall. Yeah.
And so it may be that you just look around for some young couple
That you want to be a blessing to when you pass.
Or something like that and give yourself some meaning for having done all of this. She's not like a great person.
“So I'd probably be trying to figure out a generosity play in this.”
[ Music ] Welcome back to the Ramsey Show in the Fair Wins Credit Union Studio. Rachel is in Cleveland, Ohio. Hi, Rachel, how are you? Good, how are you?
Better than I deserve, what's up? Um, so I am 33 years old, it's married for a year. And we just actually had our first son almost three months ago. I'll be through my first day.
But I've always had a dream, pretty much since I was in my early 20s.
I've always done super obsessed with like houses and home decor and design. I've always had a dream of like looking at house, but it's always thought like, I know it's bigger than just like going out and buying a house and looking at and I'm selling it and it's being super easy. So, um, just kind of been trying to figure out like,
how do I go about doing this and whether or not it's like one of those crazy dreams you just need to kind of put it about or if it's something to go after. My husband's kind of like, if this is something you want to do, then like, let's see a plan, like get something on paper of how like financially we're going to do this.
And like, let's go from there. Some kind of like, curious to some of your perspectives like any tips because I feel like I don't do it.
Now I'm probably we'll just like never do it because we want more kids and whatnot.
That's a dumb reason to do it. Like, we're, I'll never do it if I don't do it now. That tells me you're getting ready to do some dumb. Don't do something dumb. I want you to flip a house, but I don't want you to do it in some crazy
manner because you feel like some clock is ticking that doesn't exist.
“Yeah, your life is not over just because you have kids.”
You have less time, but you're like this. Yeah, and it's not like that. I mean, I said that I want to do it before I'm 40. Well, I don't care if I had to take a time. I want to do it.
I want to do it when it's smart to do it. I love the idea of flipping houses. I used to do it for a living. And I made really good money doing it. And I went completely bankrupt doing it because I borrowed too much money.
So I've done about 2,000 real estate transactions in my life. So I actually do know how to do it. And I would suggest that you do save up your money and do a flip. And I can give you some guidance on how to do that, okay? But don't use any of the things that you just outlined as reasons for doing it.
It just sounds like a fun idea. I want to save up some money and I want to do it when I can do it with wisdom. Now, number one, you have to pay cash. And that's the thing we have a lot. We have really good savings.
We both do really good savings. What is really good savings?
“Well, I think it's, I guess, I should say.”
I think it's good. But we have $160,000 in savings. Yeah, come on. We both won 60. $160,000.
All right. And so if you picked out a house to buy for $100,000 to flip. And you pay cash for it. That's step one, okay? And you leave the rest of your savings alone.
That, so set yourself a budget with that.
The second thing then is is the money on a flip is nothing is done like it's done on television.
The stuff you see on television, the fixed, fixed house up crap and this little couples do in a house and they do a renovation. And they, that's a bunch of crap, okay? That's not, there is no reality in reality TV. All right. So the way you really make money on a deal is you're going to buy the house at 70, maybe 75% of value minus repairs.
If you don't, you're going to lose money on it. Yeah. Because when you put a house for sale at 100% of value, someone will make you an offer at 95% of value that you're going to want to take. And you're going to pay a real estate commission. You're going to pay some closing costs.
And you're going to walk out of there with about 88% of fair market value at the closing. And if you have 86% of value in it, you didn't make any money on the flip. So you need to be down in the 70s, probably around 70% minus repairs.
Let's just use a $100,000 house as an example.
That's hard to find, but makes the math. I know. So that means if you bought a $100,000 house in value, you're going to buy it for 70,000. If it needs 10,000 in repairs, you're going to buy it for 60,000. Or you're not going to buy it.
I know. That almost seems like. I welcome to welcome to reality. I know.
We bought our first house last year.
And so we actually have been able to save up the $160,000 a year. Because we did use like a big chunk of our savings at that time to buy it.
“If you want to do a flip as a romance move, I can't help you.”
If you want to do a flip as a business, I just gave you the formula. All right, what about the work? Are you thinking that you're doing the work? Or are you thinking about hiring someone to do the work? Yeah, I would want to hire someone.
And I'm actually meeting with a girl who she actually flipped our house. So our house was a flip, a remodel. And so I'm meeting with her tomorrow to kind of also pick her ring. Because, yeah, it's almost like it feels like we would need more money too. Because especially like you said, like spending $100,000 is very...
I think you buy a nice little $150,000 house and you buy it for 100. And you put a 100,000 cat and you do a little bit of work to it. And you flip it and you make 10 or 15, 20 grand on it. And that means you did a good thing. You make it sound so easy.
And I think what I get so nervous in my husband is like, that's like our savings for like our kids and like... Good. I want you to be nervous. That nervous is good.
That's a lot of money.
The first time you drive a $10,000 car, it's good to be nervous
if you don't know how to drive a car because you'll wreck it otherwise. It's good.
“And that's why I haven't done it forever.”
It's always felt scary. The hardest part of the whole thing Rachel, it is buying the deal. Yeah. You're going to look at 50 to 100 deals before you actually buy one. Okay.
You're going to get sick of looking at houses. But if you pay too much, you're going to take your money and turn it into less money, not more money. Yeah. I think I need to also make sure I'm looking at the...
You were saying, like, the cost of what I should be looking at. I definitely... I mean, I stock realtor.com for fun every day. But I definitely don't look at it. I can't get you out of the house.
So I think they need to... It's all you got. You don't have that much money. I know. If I need to be looking at him in person, no.
Yeah. Yeah. You can stalk him and then you go look.
“And then if you see one that's a possibility, you go look at it in person.”
And what you want to buy is not something that has structural damage or some kind of historic rehab. You want something that needs just carpet and paint. Right. You need some new bushes. You need some new bushes.
So you don't get screwed. It's just, yeah. The less work... The more the less work you do, the higher the probability you're going to make money. So what you're saying is...
You're saying it's like taking the first step.
Yes. You're going to find a deal. And because I want to help her out. Because the money is not made on making tons and tons of changes to the house. The money is made on buying it.
At a deal. Yeah. So she's not making structural changes. She's not gutting stuff. She's doing the bare minimum to get it out.
Anybody that does any kind of thing on a television show, whatever they did, do the opposite. Yes. Because that's bull crap. It's like I'm going to paint it. I'm going to change out the carpet.
I want to be so freaking boring. Yeah. There's no decorator. I got to be a decorator. No, don't be doing that crap.
Okay. Run a coat of paint so it... Clean it up. Change out the dishwasher. Mo the grass, tear out the bushes.
You know, put things on the... Sealed the driveway, put things on the market. Make some money. Flipping a house is different than being an interior designer. It's...
And it's different than being on a reality TV show. All right. Let's cut to the chase. It's easy to get discouraged about crazy house prices and interest rates. But when you have the right real estate agent to help you buy and sell the right way, you'll have confidence to make smart.
All right. Let's cut to the chase. It's easy to get discouraged about crazy house prices and interest rates. But when you have the right real estate agent to help you buy and sell the right way, you'll have confidence to make smart. To make smart decisions.
Ramsey trusted agents aren't just experts who guide you through buying or selling. They're people you can trust to have your back from the first call to closing day. Find a Ramsey trusted agent near you at RamseySolutions.com/agent. That's RamseySolutions.com/agent.
Speaking of real estate, if you put your house on the market with a real esta...
Or they don't sell but two houses a year.
You could lose tens of thousands of dollars. We had a call like last week before last. I got called in his mother-in-law sold her house for $330,000 and the appraisal came back at $375. And I'm like, what do we do? I think you sold your house to cheap.
I signed a contract. I mean, you have a contract. You get sued if you violate a contract. And so why is that? Well, the real estate agent priced it wrong.
Wow.
Didn't know what they were doing.
So you want a real estate agent that's high octane high protein that is an actual professional that moves a lot of houses. They've done a lot of transactions. They know what they're doing. They're not going to make a tens of thousands of dollars mistake. We vet the real estate agents that we endorse very carefully to be high octane high protein that follow the Ramsey way of doing things.
And they're called Ramsey trusted agents.
“If you want to find a Ramsey trusted agent, you can do that for free at RamseySolutions.com/agent or click the link in the description of your listing on the podcast or on YouTube.”
Roy is in San Antonio. Hi, Roy. How are you? I just had a quick question. So I've known about you for a while. I got out of debt myself.
A lot of my friends know me. I talk about getting out of debt. Not doing credit card. Not taking learn a lot. My started dating a woman about six months ago.
She's seen my lifestyle. I've gotten her on board. She shared with me how much that she has. And when she looks at my life, I am able to live a little bit better. And she wants to live that same kind of life. So my question is, how do I approach eGasel intensity to her without scaring her.
“I think about the only thing that she never saw that part of me.”
A lot of people didn't know where and I went the eating out. And I was working my butt off. And everything that you teach in those sounds. So you want to explain to her that the only way for her to get what you have is for her to be gazelle intense. Let's you think that if you tell her that.
Well, let's start by explaining gazelle intensity. Because I feel like that's a deep cut.
If you're listening for the first time, Dave.
Well, that's that's your. Yeah, it just. It comes from Proverbs and it says to deliver. If you found yourself in debt to deliver yourself like the gazelle from the hand of the hunter. And the primary predator of the gazelle is the cheetah, which is the fastest mammal on dry land. Zero to 68 miles an hour and four leaps.
And yet the cheetah does not kill the gazelle but one in 19 chases. Because the gazelle's trying to stay alive and the cheetah's just trying to have lunch. And so even though the gazelle is not faster, it has a desire to stay alive and running for its life. And that's gazelle intensity. That's what we use that phrase.
“And so, you know, if you're going to run, if you're going to get out of debt, you have to run for your life.”
And that's what Roy did. And that's what he's trying to get her to do. Now the reason Roy did it, the reason I did it, the reason you and Sam did it. The reason we ran with great intensity. An intensity that the culture does not understand.
They think you've lost your mind. Understand it. It is because we believed it would work. And we believed nothing else would work. Yeah, we knew what was at stake. And so we didn't want to be lunch. We wanted to avoid death.
And so, you know, we've been screwed by the banks. We've been screwed by the car companies. We've been screwed by the credit cards. We've been screwed by the student loans. And we're like, we don't want to be screwed anymore.
We're going to get away from this system that is broken and that is set out to take down the consumer. And so we ran like our hair was on fire to get away from it and sacrifice deeply because we wanted to be out of debt so badly. So that we could live the good life that Roy is living. So I guess the way you describe it to her is you say, if you really want out.
If you really want to go from where you are to the good life, I can show you ...
But the sad news is it's going to be painful. And you can't manufacture the intensity for her, by the way. I'm just letting you know. Yeah. There's something that has to be inside of her.
You can tell her all about it. But for everybody, there's a catalyst. There's a moment that happens. You can call it an "I've had it" moment.
There's that moment that you say, and I'm sure you said it to Roy never again.
And my guess is she's probably going to have to have that moment for herself. And that's when it's going to click in. But it can be manufactured. You can just look at your situation and go, I don't want this. I want that.
And so I'm going to be willing to pay the price. That's an "I've had it" moment. It doesn't have to be bankruptcy. It doesn't have to be huge amounts of debt. It just has to be on sick and tired of being sick and tired.
So, I mean, you can hire a personal trainer.
“And the only thing they're going to show you is how to be in pain.”
[laughter] You know? They're not going to show you anything else because there's no other methodology that works. 100% of muscle growth is happened by fibers being torn down called pain. Lactic acid and fiber tear.
That's where muscle growth comes from. And so you just don't get muscle without lactic acid and fiber. And that's painful and sweaty. And guess what? Getting out of debt is painful and sweaty.
But it builds muscles. It builds financial muscles. And so, you know, I just talked to her about that. And if she's not mature enough to have a conversation about, you know, a personal trainer is not a pleasant thing.
But the result is pleasant. The process is unpleasant to get to other pleasant result. Then this is not a woman. This is a little girl. Well, she's had her moment probably about two months ago.
She lost her job for four days. And she ended up getting it back. But that four days with brutal for her. And I told her that, you know, normally, you're supposed to have a pre-insic muscle emergency button.
And I was like, girl, I, you know, four days. And you thought that you're going to be homeless.
“And I think that that was her point where she realized that.”
She needed to change and I've always told her, like, imagine your life
I've got a car team and a credit card. Yeah. What does she say then? She said that she'd think about it nearly every night. And I was like, I used to be like that too.
I remember those days. And now I live those days. And it's great. You know, it's like I can show you how. You can show you how.
You can show you how. But it's going to be unpleasant. I mean, because it is unpleasant, isn't it? Yes. Yeah.
No, it was. But the only thing is it's worth it. It is worth it. That's the only thing. It's worth it to be able to print down on the stage and scream.
I'm dead free. It's an unpleasant process to get there. But no one has ever told me they wish they didn't do it. Once they win. Yeah.
And by the way, a lot of people can learn from what your girlfriend is going through. If you're listening, all you have to do is stop. And I remember in the total money makeover, I had the workbook edition. It had you go through. There's pages and pages of questions and workbook you filled in.
But one of the questions that I remember was a catalyst for Sam and I is what basically
what would happen if you didn't get your next check. And that's the question that if you ask yourself what happens if I don't get my check on the 15th, what happens if I don't get my check on the 30th? That right there will reveal a lot. Would you have to use a credit card?
“Would you have to borrow money from friends or family?”
Would you be late on rent or your mortgage? He said homeless. He said she was worried about being homeless four days. And that's the truth for so many years. You're living and you're walking along the edge of the cliff.
Get back from the edge and the way you get back from the edge is unpleasant. But it's worth it. So I think that's how you talk to her about it. It's like a grownup. It's like if I sit down with a personal trainer and they go, this is going to be easy.
There's no pain involved. I have a personal trainer that's a liar. Give me my money back. Yeah, not because I know it's not going to work. You know, you go into PT and they go, you're going to feel no pain and physical therapy after this operation.
All I'm going to have scar tissue then because you're not going to stretch where we need to stretch. (Music) Hey guys, George Campbell here. You ever feel like you make good money and still have nothing to show for it? You run into Target for one thing and somehow walk out $87 later with toothpaste and emotional support candles.
Just me?
Okay.
Well, that's the problem.
“Most people don't pay attention to how they spend their money.”
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(Music) Korra is in Atlanta. Hi Korra. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi Mr. Day.
Thank you so much. Sure. Thank you. How can we help?
Okay. So me and my husband are 23 years old.
And we make about $70,000 a year. And we're currently on babysat number two. We paid off $12,000 in debt. And we have about 10 more to go. And we're supposed to pay it off by, like,
Can you hear me?
“I think according to our every dollar app.”
Can you hear me? Not this year, but next year? $10,000. Why would it take 18 months to pay off $10,000? I guess because we're not hitting that hard enough.
I guess. I mean, how much have you paid off so far? 10,000 so far, right? We paid 12. And how long did that take you?
That took us about 13 months, but we just also had a baby. So I don't want to talk about it. So you all don't make a lot of money. No, we do not. What do you make?
We make about $70,000 a year. Oh, you told me that. That's right. That's right. You told me that.
I'm sorry. We're, we're, we're definitely. I would have thought you'd have paid off $10,000. Like six months, making 70. Yeah, especially if you pick up extra work,
especially your husband. Well, we originally were not in debt when we got married. But we had some medical debt. So we, like, had that happened and then we got pregnant. So it's just kind of been like a little bit of one thing after the other.
But we're trying to hit it as far as we can. No, okay. What's your question? I was just wondering, since this past year, you know, it's paying off that and everything.
But I think I know the answer now. But we, I do have some inherent money that and just been like left alone for some years now. And I just wanted to know, is it smart? To maybe pay off the rest of our debt so we can move
to baby step number three? How much do you have inheritance money? $50,000. Write a check today and be dead free. Oh, I just didn't want to rest through it and, like,
not learn the learning lessons. Oh, I'm not worried about that. Write a check today and be dead free. And then learn your lesson. Oh, okay.
But don't ever go back and dead again. Oh, no. So who left you this? Who left you the $50,000? Well, my grandma left me $15 and then I put it in investments.
Okay. So here's the way I would think about it if I were you. Okay. If you ever borrow money again, you are dishonoring your grandmother.
I know. Yeah. So you have to be on a budget.
“You have to build your emergency fund and no whining”
and no excuses and no reasons for going into debt. Yes, sir. We needed a car. When you save up and pay for it. We wanted to go on vacation.
When I've always dreamed of going,
when no. No. Okay. That's dishonoring to your grandmother. You're going to pay cash for it like a grown-up person
that has a baby. Like a huge adult. Okay. And if you can't commit to that emotionally. Both you and your husband.
Look at each other in the eye. Pinky swore in spit shake. We cut up all the credit cards. We never. We don't have any credit cards.
Barrowed money again for anything. If you're willing to say that, then I would write a check today out of the inheritance and be debt free. Oh, my goodness. Well, this is so exciting.
We don't, but all of our debt is medical debt. So we do not do that. We do not want to go into debt. So now you have an emergency fund for medical debt. Yeah, let's start saving that up because if it was from the baby,
we want to make sure that we don't get ourselves in that situation again coming up. Ever. We have an emergency fund for medical. We have a budget. We live on less than we make.
We save up and pay for Christmas and cars.
Yes, we save up our trips.
We don't go into debt. We don't go into debt.
“We have money for surprises called emergencies.”
We don't go into debt. If you get this drill into your head, then you can be very wealthy someday. Because you're starting young at 23. That's the wisdom of this.
Romans in San Diego. Hi, Roman. How are you? Hey, Dave. How are you?
Better than I deserve. What's up?
First of all, it's really nice to be talking to you.
I've been listening to you for maybe 16 out of 22 years old right now. My question is less about myself and it's more about how I can help my parents. I give back to them. They put me through college to bomb my first car. All that good stuff.
Same with with the rest of my siblings. And I was recently made aware that we actually have about, or I guess they actually have about $40,000 worth of different payments on the mortgage. For the health that I grew up in. Why?
And I guess kind of.
“I think they had some sort of modification.”
I honestly don't know the details about it, but it was decades ago. And I just want to help them with that. How? You're 22.
I think I want to play.
I want to act maybe as a financial coach.
Maybe walk them through how they can take care of it. What I don't want them to do is to have the refinance. Because it's doing 10 years. So my initial thought process was to open a higher savings account. But then I'm thinking, you know, it's 10 years.
Why are they going to listen to a 22 year old son? Did they have you? No, but I just wanted to take the initiative to be able to help them with something. How do you find out about it? I don't remember the exact details,
but it came across maybe last year. Okay. Well, number one, Roman, I appreciate your heart. And thank you for being a young man who cares about his parents. It's very unusual for parents to be willing to take the advice of their 22 year old son
on financial matters. It's called the powdered but syndrome. Once someone is powdered your but they don't want your advice on money or sex. And that's generally it. So until they get very old and you become very rich and you're 55 and they're 80.
And they're broke and you're a multi-millionaire. Then they might take your advice, but probably not today. If they would take your advice, what I would tell them to do is the opposite of what you were thinking. And that is I would go refinance that mortgage right now. If their credit is good today and they're able to refinance today.
Even if it's a higher interest rate, I would refinance now. Instead of waiting on this balloon to come bearing down on them like a train to a tunnel. And those things come and they come at you fast. And then all of a sudden it's the day that your dad loses his job. Is the phrase the day he thought he was going to refinance or do whatever on this payments.
So if I have a bunch of deferred payments on some kind of a modification thing from 2008 or whatever it was. And that stuff's laying around hovering like a monster in the closet. I'm going to put him out of his misery and go get a 15 year fixed rate loan. And about five and a half percent right now, five and three quarter percent. And I'm going to get rid of the balloon, period.
That's simple.
“And then if you want to work the baby steps, you can work towards getting your house paid off.”
And that's what they should do. But I don't know, it'll be a very unusual day that they're going to do what you tell them to do. Yeah, especially if you're not a homeowner, then it's just everything that you say to them is just going to sound like a theory that you heard somewhere. Versus something you really know what you're talking about. I do appreciate your caring for them.
But I don't think you're going to be able to coach them. I'll be shocked if you can. You know, it's, you know, not many people in our families come to us for financial advice. Right. Yeah. And the hard part is when you know, you can help.
You just have to kind of be quiet and just let it play out. Yep. They're not going to, they're not going to do it. So, but if they're smart, if they call me on the radio, what I would, I mean, on the podcast, I would pot the radio either one. I would tell them refinance it right now.
Oh, the interest rate tire. I don't care. I get rid of this represents extreme risk. It's stress. Oh, my goodness. To note that that's going to be in the closet.
Yes. And I'm afraid to open the closet.
Hey, guys, George Campbell here.
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Our scripture of the day, Proverbs 1522 plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisors, they succeed. Henry Ford said most people get ahead during the time that others waste. Wow. That's a good one.
You used to work with a guy.
He said work while other people sleep.
Yeah. Pray while other people sleep. It's a good word. Read while other people sleep. Yeah.
Or while other people watch TV. Oh, oh. Throw a brick through your TV. What was this?
“You said rich people have big libraries, poor people have big TVs.”
That's good. I have both. What does that say? I actually do too. Oh, right.
Mary is in San Antonio, Texas. Hi. Mary, how are you? Hi. I'm doing well.
Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Hey. I just had a question.
A second and third opinion about the possibility of me taking a different job with a different company.
I do.
“My line of work is I'm seeing that I've heard you on the on the shows.”
Same negative things about. But I'm under water management. No, no, no, not that. Okay. I'm a property manager for homeowners association.
But I currently work for a company. And I have a total of nine communities in my portfolio. And a few months ago, I put my, you know, updated resume on, you know, a website. And an acquisitions team member from a different company contacted me last week. And I've had a total of two interviews with them.
And I'm going to have a third tomorrow. And they are really excited about my experience and what I've done to educate myself and get certain designations in my line of work. But I just, you know, it's going to be a significant increase for myself. I am on babysit number two.
I have stopped investing with my, in my Roth IRA in order to pay off debt. I had a total of $58,000 of consumer income. What do you, what are you making today? I make a little about 67,000. What would you be making at the new gig?
The new gig would be between 80 to 85,000. That's what the team has acquisitions. Can you be doing the same type of work? Yes, it, but I think it'd be easier. And why would you not make it?
What's the downside? The downside is I currently work from home. There's a lot more flexibility. But again, I am a, you know, divorce now for about four years. That's why I have the debt.
And I'm, I'm the investor, my two children are grown. And I would have the time and the ability to do that. I don't have to take care of anyone anymore. Why watch the process of going under this issue. No, no, probably I was going there.
Your service, no, no, not at all. Actually, I'm kind of looking forward to the possibility of talking to other adult humans again. So this is just a change. You're just, you're just processing a change. Yes.
Yeah. And possibly the change, the flexibility I get to help my mom out by taking her to doctors, appointments here and there, you know, just that. But I, I've worked hard to educate myself and be better at what I do. And I just think that most places, most places like you're talking about going to work for have a certain amount of flexibility for executives.
The leadership team at Ramsey, if they want to take an hour and go take their mom to a doctor.
We don't, we don't have a big deal about that.
Yeah, I agree. I think that tomorrow with my last interview that I'm going to talk to them about those types of things. I'm going to be completely open and honest and start going to contact me, right? I wasn't out there looking for a job that since this opportunity came up. I thought, gosh, the difference in the income would help me. My goal, my, I'm on track to pay off all my debt by this year in December.
Well, let's pretend you were dead.
And how to million dollars in the bank.
You still should look at this deal. Oh, I would. Yeah, I definitely would.
“So is the only downside you have to take your mom to the doctor here and there?”
Is that the only thing that you can? Just this flexibility of that that the current employer currently offers me. That not that doesn't mean that the next employer wouldn't do that. But another thing that I like about what they've spoken to me about is that they have they like to promote from within. And I'm ready for that.
The current company that I'm with doesn't see. I've been with them for four years. And then you've made your choice. You have made any case for staying here. There's no reason to stay here.
You're right.
You think if they offer you a very good job.
Unless you sent some kind of toxic environment or something like that, it'll be the only reason you wouldn't take it. You don't want to, you know, go from this. But honestly, people that work in an office with other people produce a lot more and have more opportunities for promotion than someone that's working from home. Yeah.
It's one of the huge downsides, the unintended consequences of working from home. The people that work from home don't get promoted nearly as often. And so yeah, I think you'll look at it. It sounds like it. And by the way, I'm not against property managers and HOA professional managers.
I'm against Barney five who lives in the neighborhood and hasn't got a life. And he runs around with his one bullet trying to bother everybody in the neighborhood. Have you been to my neighborhood? About every bush that he doesn't like or something. That's the guy that drives me nuts who needs to get a life.
And has no power anywhere else in his life, including in his home home. And so he has to go out and exert himself through the neighborhood. These are the people I don't care for. All right, Chris is in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hi, Chris, what's up?
Hey, Dave, big fan of the show. Just want to call him. My scenario is probably a little different than most, but I'm 52 years old. I grew up very poor. I hadn't tremendous success.
I'm just had my best friend at 55 past away of a heart attack. And I'm in that position where I'm like with what I have. Do I retire now? Or do I make a play for something else? Because I'm OCD.
I can't sit around the house. I have to be doing something non-stop. And it's like how much money do I need to live the life that I want to live when I'm done. You know, want to take extra amount of vacations with my wife. Because she stayed at home for 30 years while works 75 hours a week.
And so just want to kind of see what the next play is for me. And with your thoughts about timing for me, I guess. What's the size of your current nest egg? Network?
I would say my company and my house and my land probably around 10 million.
Okay. And did you say you're 54 or 52? 52. 52. Yeah.
“And so you don't, I mean, can you begin to move away from the company?”
Do you want to extra strategy on that? Is that what you want? I mean, I'm obviously still making good money with the company. And I have people that have been with me for 20 years. But it's like, I spent a lot of, you know, both my daughters.
I'll be so graduated. What's the end game with your company? When you're 80, where's this company? I mean, I mean, it's still will be going. I mean, I'm a partner in a cardio or show.
Okay. So other partners will be running it or their kids or your kids or own it or whatever. It'll just, it's just me and one other partner. Okay. So what happens to your share when you're 80? What's your exit strategy?
Does it go to errors or does it sell out to the partners? Yeah. I have a living trust. I have it all set up. And I have an S core if it's set up for my percentage in the trust.
Okay. All right.
“So the only thing I could do with other than that is to say is a partner sit down talk to your partners to say we both done very well.”
I can't we restructure the operations of this to give us both more freedom. But you're not, you don't sound like you're asking for an exit. A complete exit. You just want some more flexibility back to our last caller. But yeah, I mean, I want to take six weeks off in travel with my wife.
You've earned it. And I want to build a leadership team to do that. I'm kind of the stage. I'm at it. I'm 65, sharing not.
Take three week trips and four week trips and that kind of thing.
And or just leave for that period of time.
Whatever.
“And but Ramsey is set up to run where I don't have to be in every part of the day to day anymore.”
And the operations are set up.
And certainly the on-air portion trading Rachel and they do a better job than I do. So that's where you are.
I think you're, I think you just reset your ops on that.
“I don't hear anything here that's painful that you have to exit from.”
I like it. Good plan. Well done, sir. Very well done. That puts us out of the Ramsey show in the box. We'll be back with you before you know it.
“And the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace.”
And that's to walk daily with the prince of peace. Rise Jesus.


