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Brought to you by the Every

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Dollar App. Start budgeting for

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free today. Live from the

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headquarters of Ramsey Solutions. It's

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the Ramsey Show where we

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help people. Build wealth. Do

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work that they love and

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create actual amazing relationships. Jade

0:25

Washall number one best-selling author.

0:27

Ramsey personality is my co-host

0:30

today. The phone number here

0:32

is AAA 825-5225. Freddie starts

0:35

this hour in Nashville. Hi,

0:37

Freddie, how are you? Good

0:40

Dave. Dave, I'm so glad that

0:42

I got a hold of you.

0:44

Could really your help. Got a

0:46

91-year-old mother and there's five of

0:49

us siblings and we're trying to

0:51

help her. She is in a

0:53

nursing home in PA and she

0:55

is going past away soon. So

0:58

we have a cousin who is my

1:00

mom's... transactions

1:11

as well. If your mother has

1:13

five children, why did she give

1:16

her niece the power of attorney?

1:18

That's weird. We can't quite figure

1:20

that out. It's a little odd, no,

1:22

you know. I mean, why the heck

1:24

didn't she give it to you? I

1:26

don't know. Well, I live far

1:28

away. I'm in Nashville. That far

1:30

away doesn't affect anything. I know it

1:32

doesn't. Are you not in a

1:34

positive relationship with your mother? No,

1:36

no, we're all good. Is your

1:38

cousin like a lawyer or something?

1:41

The cousin's husband is, yeah. The

1:43

niece is. Yeah. This is what we think

1:45

happened. We think that because she did that

1:47

for her parents and that led to a

1:49

lot of issues, that she basically, you know,

1:52

has. My mom didn't run heavy on everything

1:54

else to go to once my father passed.

1:56

And then she thought, okay, well, I could

1:58

use them. It's kind of... the estate with

2:00

some of the things that my parents

2:03

have done as far as investments and

2:05

things. So I think she thought it

2:07

was a good idea. Now, I know

2:09

you always say, I just heard you

2:12

say, don't do business with family.

2:14

No, I didn't say that. Okay,

2:16

maybe you did. Okay, never heard

2:18

that incorrectly. But either way, she's

2:20

just so in deep with them

2:23

that, you know, she's just, she's

2:25

got complete control more or less.

2:27

Yeah, I mean her mother gave it to

2:29

her though. Now here's the thing they

2:31

kind of operate from a standpoint of

2:33

if they can just keep offering you

2:36

more and more and my mother of

2:38

course accepted so that's on her but

2:40

my mother is older and she just

2:42

you know decided to do a little

2:44

bit too much with them and they

2:46

recently tried to declare her to be

2:48

incompetent more or less which she would

2:51

not after we had all requested through

2:53

my mother a copy of the records

2:55

because we were getting suspicious that there

2:57

was some fraudulent behavior going on.

2:59

So we wanted to see

3:01

what the estate looked like.

3:03

My mother agreed to it.

3:05

She requested that and they

3:08

did not provide that. Okay.

3:10

And how long ago was that?

3:12

That was about three weeks

3:14

ago. So we looked into

3:17

an attorney to get

3:19

some protection for her because

3:21

apparently my mom's niece had

3:23

contacted an attorney sent a

3:26

letter to the... assistant living

3:28

facility where my mom lives

3:30

and you know tried to say

3:32

that we were somehow coercing to

3:35

get records or try to coerce

3:37

her into you know not allowing

3:39

them to see so the facility

3:41

actually banned them those of them

3:43

from seeing her because they were

3:45

always trying to meet with her

3:47

privately which under normal circumstances might

3:49

make sense but in this case

3:51

we suspect that there's some funny

3:53

business going on with the money.

3:56

Well, he said that what we could

3:58

do is go in. there and request

4:00

all the records, also request the

4:03

beginning as far as all the

4:05

records to the very end where

4:07

we are right now and everything

4:09

between old transactions. Okay, so I

4:11

said to my appointment he came

4:13

he was going to go visit

4:15

my mother and the last second

4:17

my mother canceled. Now the problem

4:19

is is that my mother feels

4:21

a strong sense of loyalty to

4:23

her niece. How can we help

4:25

you today? Well, I'm just trying

4:27

to see if we have any

4:29

rights. as children, whether when she

4:31

passes or prior to that thing

4:33

we can do? No. The only

4:36

rights you have, the only rights

4:38

you have are the questions that

4:40

you've got that you can still

4:42

get answered. Okay. As the, you

4:44

know, as the siblings, you could

4:46

file a suit after her death

4:48

to see the record still. Just

4:50

to per, you know, what the

4:52

flip does the will say and

4:54

how has these, you know, we

4:56

are, we're filing suit because we

4:58

think fraudulent behavior has been involved.

5:00

And you have to follow off.

5:02

Yeah, okay, that makes sense because

5:04

we do not have access to

5:06

the will. We only have an

5:09

old will. Yeah, but you get

5:11

access to the will the same

5:13

way. The will in most states

5:15

is filed as public unless it's

5:17

some kind of a trust set

5:19

up. Okay. myself when I was

5:21

trying to buy property from an

5:23

estate where somebody died. I don't

5:25

want to know what the wheel

5:27

said. And so, but I don't

5:29

know about Pennsylvania, but I have

5:31

no idea. This is a tangled

5:33

mess. And honestly, Freddie, the answer

5:35

to the question is, y'all should

5:37

have dealt with this like three

5:39

years ago. Like the first time

5:42

you've got an inkling instead of

5:44

waiting until she's on her deathbed.

5:46

Because now it just adds drama

5:48

to everything. Early on, you should

5:50

have pulled the plug then. I

5:52

stepped in, not, you know, and

5:54

pulled the plug on this relationship

5:56

because that's where you went wrong.

5:58

You didn't deal with this soon

6:00

enough. And I got to tell

6:02

you. It's very, the story you're

6:04

telling is very strange, that your

6:06

mother feels a unbelievable sense of

6:08

loyalty to this niece and a

6:10

close relationship closer than her own

6:12

kids. Yeah. That feels like that's

6:14

on the kids. That sounds weird.

6:17

I don't know. I can't tell

6:19

what's going on in one radio

6:21

phone call, but I'm not accusing

6:23

you or anything. I don't know

6:25

what happened here. But it just

6:27

feels the whole story is strange.

6:29

But if things are as you

6:31

perceive them to be, that you

6:33

have a great relationship with your

6:35

mother and she's been co-opted by

6:37

this cult leader, niece, then you

6:39

just get an attorney and sue

6:41

the pants off of them. And

6:43

until you get enough records and

6:45

you make their life miserable enough,

6:47

keeping in mind that their attorney's

6:50

fees are free because her husband's

6:52

an attorney. You're going to be

6:54

paying. So that's what you're signing

6:56

up for And please don't expect

6:58

anything to move fast in the

7:00

justice system There is nothing fat

7:02

old lady justice is a slow

7:04

woman So she is not going

7:06

to serve you quickly So it

7:08

may it may take for years,

7:10

and I don't know how big

7:12

the estate is it may not

7:14

be worth messing with but apparently

7:16

it is because everybody's fighting over

7:18

it But this is the reason

7:20

people You people out there that

7:23

are going to be that 91

7:25

year old, I'm going to be

7:27

someday maybe. Your job is to

7:29

not let this happen. Your job

7:31

is to tell everyone what the

7:33

will says, hand out copies. If

7:35

you're going to piss somebody off

7:37

in the will, go ahead and

7:39

do it while you're alive. Have

7:41

a backbone. Instead of sneaking off

7:43

into the grave and letting somebody

7:45

else deal with their hurt feelings.

7:47

Okay? That's so freaking dysfunctional. It's

7:49

unbelievable. I don't think I've ever

7:51

heard anyone describe it as sneaking

7:53

into the grave. Probably has never

7:56

happened before just now, but I

7:58

may use it again because it

8:00

worked. But yeah, but... But you

8:02

see the point guys, you guys,

8:04

you create all this drama when

8:06

you do your estate plan and

8:08

you keep it a deep dark

8:10

secret. Like it's a freaking movie

8:12

or something. This is not a

8:14

movie, it's your life. And so

8:16

if you're the crotchety old whatever

8:18

and you want to give it

8:20

all to your niece, go ahead

8:22

and tell all your kids that,

8:24

you know, you never called me,

8:26

I'm giving it all to her,

8:29

shut up. But go ahead and

8:31

deal with it, so they don't

8:33

have to sit and wonder if

8:35

the niece is stealing the stuff.

8:37

You know, I don't know. But

8:39

tell everybody. Get your wills done

8:41

and tell her by what the

8:43

stinking will said. Wow. Wicked, weird.

8:45

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11:30

we'll get you going Mel is

11:32

in Chicago. Hey, Mel, what's up?

11:34

Hey, long time, Ramsey family here.

11:36

I had a quick question. I've

11:38

been married, I was, I'm 59,

11:40

I was married for 29 years,

11:42

divorced for three years. And in

11:44

our first marriage, you know, I'm,

11:46

you know, everything is a we

11:48

thing, whether it's kids, finances, it's

11:51

an hour, or we think. Okay,

11:53

now as you move into looking

11:55

maybe at a second marriage, what

11:57

happens to kids and ask that's?

11:59

Stay the same as a initial

12:01

marriage. Everything is a we are

12:03

thing. You know, you hear about

12:05

pre-nups, you hear about... You know,

12:07

or does everything, it just stays

12:09

simple, it's just like a first

12:11

grade, but it's a second one,

12:13

it's a we-hour thing, whether it's

12:15

kids or assets or whatever. You

12:18

know, it doesn't matter, what really

12:20

matters is that you decide in

12:22

advance. Okay. How many kids do

12:24

you have? Well, I have five,

12:26

but I only have one that

12:28

is under 18. She has two.

12:30

Are they under 18? They are

12:32

they under 18? They are. And

12:34

there are a difference in assets

12:36

she has mentioned preenups. I'm not

12:38

a favor of them. I feel

12:40

like any line you draw Who

12:42

has the assets? She does at

12:45

the moment. Okay. What is her

12:47

net worth? Probably three million two

12:49

and a half million years Probably

12:51

seven hundred thousand I don't usually

12:53

recommend pre-nups except in extreme situations.

12:55

This is pretty much an extreme

12:57

situation. If somebody wants a pre-nup

12:59

to protect their classic car, don't

13:01

marry them, right? Okay. But there's

13:03

three million dollars on the table.

13:05

You've been divorced three years. And

13:07

you've got 750 on your side.

13:09

So I think you would say

13:11

what you come into it with

13:14

is yours, what she comes into

13:16

it with is hers. And what

13:18

we do. from that point forward

13:20

is hours. Well, the problem with

13:22

that is I'm a small business

13:24

owner and my income is only

13:26

going to go up. If she

13:28

retires, hers will do nothing but

13:30

end. So then you end up

13:32

in a pre-nup situation where... No,

13:34

the $3 million income does not

13:36

end. Pardon? She makes $300,000 a

13:38

year, if she makes 10% on

13:41

$3 million in perpetuation. Her income

13:43

does not end. Yeah. Right, but

13:45

if my income goes up to,

13:47

my net worth goes up to

13:49

five or ten in the next

13:51

ten years. Do you see what

13:53

I mean? Everything that she had

13:55

was earned pre-marriage, everything I, assets,

13:57

mine would actually be post-marriage. Okay,

14:00

well you guys just have to decide.

14:02

Okay, it's not like a right or

14:04

wrong or yeah. No, I think what

14:06

you got to do is, number one,

14:08

the question I always ask myself is,

14:10

am I, am I making a statement

14:12

with this move that says I love

14:14

stuff more than her if that's the

14:17

case you probably ought to not get

14:19

married? Well, I know that's not me.

14:21

I mean, I'm afraid that's the other

14:23

person, but that's never because that's not

14:25

how I am. Yeah, but you just

14:27

said that. You just said my income

14:29

and my assets are going to go

14:31

up and I'm worried about that. That

14:33

doesn't seem... Yeah, you did. You just

14:35

said it, dude. I understand and I

14:37

did, but I'm probably more concerned about

14:39

it not causing a dividing line. There

14:42

you go. That's good. I like that

14:44

situation. So if you had agreed to

14:46

something on the front end, it would

14:48

not cause a dividing line for you,

14:50

right? No, that's not. That's the thing

14:52

I don't want. I don't want to

14:54

end up in a roommate situation where

14:56

I pay this, you pay that. No,

14:58

I'm not suggesting that. But I am

15:00

saying, you know, you come up with

15:02

something that says a formula on your

15:05

business and you come up with something

15:07

that's a formula on her stuff and

15:09

then the rest of it we put

15:11

in the middle and we just work

15:13

it out. We take care of the

15:15

minor children. that you know if you

15:17

love her you have to take care

15:19

of them that's an active law kids

15:21

are not a problem at all for

15:23

i was gonna say what are the

15:25

kids are the kids on board with

15:28

this do you have weird relationships what

15:30

what are the kids that's the thing

15:32

that i think of first you guys

15:34

are the ones getting married but if

15:36

i were in that situation as the

15:38

woman probably what i'd be thinking about

15:40

are will my kids be protected if

15:42

this for some reason goes south that

15:44

being said i hold that with a

15:46

grain of salt because at any point

15:48

in any relationship in any relationship If

15:51

you start thinking like that, that is

15:53

an indicator that something's already wrong. I'm

15:55

in a marriage now. I don't think,

15:57

oh gosh, if something were to happen,

15:59

I want to make sure my kids

16:01

were protected. That's not in my brain

16:03

right now because I'm married. So there's

16:05

part of it that... I if I'm

16:07

being honest I just hate the discussion

16:09

because it just feels divisive from the

16:11

go but I also understand like I

16:14

also understand it you do need clarity

16:16

so the pre-nup the pre-nup can give

16:18

you clarity in the event of a

16:20

marriage ending but also go ahead and

16:22

state in there what the wheels are

16:24

going to say So her three million

16:26

goes to her kids or her three

16:28

million goes a million to you and

16:30

two million to her kids or whatever

16:32

the number is your 750 and your

16:34

business goes where and so on in

16:36

the event of death How is she

16:39

going to be cared for in the

16:41

event of death? How are you going

16:43

to be cared for in the event

16:45

of divorce? How is it going to

16:47

happen? And as long as you have

16:49

that very clearly defined and then talk

16:51

through the feelings that you have around

16:53

that. I don't think the kids really

16:55

get a vote other than the minor

16:57

children have to be taken care of.

16:59

But they, you know, she, you need

17:02

to put your spouse, your new spouse

17:04

ahead of your kids from the previous

17:06

marriage. That's true. That's true. But everyone

17:08

does have a concern that I want

17:10

to leave some of my stuff to

17:12

them. But I'll give you an example.

17:14

If a guy, it's a little different

17:16

than these numbers, okay. But if a

17:18

guy says... Okay, I'm coming into this

17:20

with a whole lot of assets. The

17:22

lady he's marrying doesn't. I've had that

17:25

where he had five or six million

17:27

dollars and he gets I want to

17:29

make sure my kids get everything. Well,

17:31

you're not very taking good care of

17:33

your spouse when you die. Exactly. So

17:35

that worries me. But then on the

17:37

flip side is if the one spouse

17:39

dies with the pretty largest state and

17:41

it's more than enough to take care

17:43

of the spouse and the kids, but

17:45

if this the surviving spouse is... a

17:48

bonehead with the money and just blows

17:50

through it, then you also feel like,

17:52

hey, well, the kids shouldn't have to,

17:54

you know, they shouldn't have to come

17:56

in. But I mean, so, you know,

17:58

in the case of that $6 million

18:00

guy, I said, hey, you need to

18:02

set us out enough to make sure

18:04

your new wife is taken care of

18:06

in the event of your death. And,

18:08

you know, I think you've got a...

18:11

You know, what we're trying to do

18:13

is love everyone well, but the fair

18:15

is where the cotton candy and the

18:17

tilta world is. There is not a

18:19

fair. There is no fair. Fair is

18:21

your money. The two of you sit

18:23

down and you decide. And whatever process

18:25

or values you use to decide where

18:27

she uses to use or her three

18:29

million goes should also be equally. that

18:31

same value or process or principle should

18:33

be applied to your side. I do

18:36

agree. And so, you know, and I

18:38

think you figure out in the event

18:40

of death and the event of divorce.

18:42

I think divorce is a lot cleaner

18:44

because in death, you know, I got

18:46

to make sure everybody's taken care of.

18:48

That's right. But it gets a little

18:50

weird or, you know, legacy or whatever,

18:52

all that stuff. So, but yeah, it's

18:54

interesting. It's an interesting discussion. But much

18:56

as we talked about in the call

18:59

before that. The kids know too. Everybody

19:01

knows. Everybody needs to know. You all

19:03

sit down and decide, draft it, and

19:05

then tell them. They don't really get

19:07

a vote. Tell them this is what's

19:09

happening. This is what we decided. And

19:11

here's how we came to that decision.

19:13

And you could sit down and tell

19:15

them together. Yeah, that's right. But I

19:17

wouldn't cut anybody out. I wouldn't cut

19:19

anybody in all the way. But there's

19:22

not a requirement here. As

20:01

an investment opportunity, what you need is

20:04

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20:06

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20:08

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20:11

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20:13

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20:15

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20:18

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20:27

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21:02

Jade one of my rules is

21:05

to not tell people to do

21:07

something I haven't done or am

21:09

unwilling to do. Agree, me too.

21:11

I was thinking during that break

21:13

that the vast majority of my

21:15

assets including the Ramsey Solutions Company

21:17

and a lot of our real

21:20

estate is already in the name

21:22

of the Ramsey Children's Trust. Wow.

21:24

Yeah. It's already been transferred for

21:26

a state tax planning primarily. but

21:28

also because whatever is not in

21:30

that is more than enough for

21:32

Sharon to be taken care of.

21:34

And the rest of it is

21:37

intentionally left to the kids. And

21:39

so we're out of passaway and

21:41

Sharon were to get remarried. It's

21:43

already been taken care of. I

21:45

mean, she would have a big

21:47

chunk she would need to think

21:49

about, but it would not be.

21:52

You wouldn't be going back on

21:54

this stuff that's already been. I'm

21:56

trying to think of a number,

21:58

but let's call. it's 70% is

22:00

already in the kids names and

22:02

or more and so that's not even

22:04

in play anymore in our case because

22:06

we structurally did it for a

22:09

state tax planning but it also

22:11

reflects a value yes that

22:13

we wanted it we wanted the legacy

22:15

piece to go with that so interesting

22:17

I just had to kind of think

22:19

through what why I was Highly uncomfortable

22:22

there. All right, on the debt-free

22:24

stage in the lobby of Ramsey

22:26

Solutions, Riley and Claire are with

22:28

us. Hey guys, how are you?

22:30

Hi, doing well. How are you? Doing well.

22:32

Great. Where do you all live?

22:34

Lexington, Kentucky. Oh, welcome to Nashville.

22:36

And how much debt have you too

22:38

paid off? We paid off $65,767.

22:40

Excellent. How long did that take

22:43

you? 16 months. Good for you.

22:45

And your range of income during

22:47

that year and a half? $75,000

22:49

was our starting and then $90,000 is

22:51

where we ended up. Way to go.

22:53

What do you all do for a

22:55

living? I'm a speech therapist. And

22:58

I'm actually a medical student.

23:00

How are you paying for that?

23:02

So I'm actually in the Air

23:04

Force. Oh, smart. I'm paying for

23:06

that. Excellent. Thank you. I like

23:08

it. Very good. What was the

23:10

65,000 then? Student loans, my student

23:13

loans. For speech therapy. Yeah,

23:15

OK. Yes, sir. Wow. What you're in med

23:17

school? Yeah, I'm in third year. Okay, at

23:19

UK, I guess. University of Kentucky, yes sir.

23:21

Okay, excellent. I'm so glad. Thank you for

23:23

your service to the country and I'm proud

23:25

that we're doing that. And what a bright

23:27

guy to get the taxpayer to pay for

23:29

this. It's a beautiful idea. Really smart. I

23:31

like it. I'm not being sarcastic. I think

23:33

it's a, you know, these guys asked me

23:35

all the time. How do I go to med

23:38

school? It's too expensive. You just figured it

23:40

out. Let me ask before I get sideways

23:42

before I get sideways before I get sideways

23:44

before I get sideways. So actually it's a

23:46

whenever I got accepted I got an email

23:48

from the Marine Corps first and so I

23:50

was like I saw it I was looking

23:52

at the email was like what's the catch you

23:54

know and so I started looking into a

23:57

little bit more we were just dating at

23:59

the time but I saw a future with

24:01

her, so I was talking with her

24:03

about what this process looked like and

24:05

things like that. So I talked with

24:07

some other people from my hometown church

24:09

and they went through the Air Force

24:11

and they said it was a great

24:13

program that they would do it again

24:15

the same way. So I just was

24:18

like, you know, the catches to serve.

24:20

So, and so- What is the commitment?

24:22

So after residency, it'll be four years

24:24

of active duty. Okay, so when you

24:26

become an MD, four years is your

24:28

payback. Yes. That's good. That's good. And

24:30

they give us a stipend all throughout

24:32

medical school, so that's really helped us,

24:34

and that helped us along this step-free

24:36

journey, so just having the extra income

24:39

on top of first. Yeah, so the

24:41

stipend is part of it, but basically

24:43

it's your speech therapy income. Yes, way

24:45

to go. And how old are you

24:47

too? I'm 27. I'm 25. And how

24:49

long have y'all been married? It'll be

24:51

two years in June. Oh, okay. So

24:53

you've had this plan since before you

24:55

got married. Yes, sir. Yeah, pretty much.

24:57

And you were looking at bed school

25:00

debt going, oh my gosh, and then

25:02

the Air Force appeared. Yeah, right. Yeah,

25:04

exactly. Wow. That's exciting. So tell me

25:06

about what it was like getting on

25:08

to this plan. Was it a lot

25:10

of sacrifice? Was it something that for

25:12

the most part you just thought, well,

25:14

you know, we're just doing this. Tell

25:16

us more about that. So whenever we

25:18

were about to get married, I was

25:21

trying to figure out what we would

25:23

do with our finances. I wanted to

25:25

try to set us up well. I

25:27

think one thing that stressed her out

25:29

a lot was the debt. I think

25:31

her family was telling her that's a

25:33

big thing to tackle. So I thought

25:35

that it would be a really good

25:37

thing for us to just hit that

25:39

hard and really go for it because

25:42

I knew that was a big thing

25:44

that was stressing her out. And I

25:46

just wanted to move forward. and do

25:48

the right thing for our family. So

25:50

that was really where it started. It

25:52

may have took a little bit of

25:54

convincing. I'm a natural spender. So it

25:56

was definitely his push, but I mean,

25:58

we're unified in marriage, so we're going

26:00

to be unified in paying the stead

26:03

off. And so that's what we did.

26:05

Was it worth it? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely,

26:07

not only financially, but I think it

26:09

really strengthened our marriage. As we were

26:11

going through this together, we had a

26:13

lot of decisions were made together. So

26:15

we got to know each other much

26:17

more and deeper. And so, you know,

26:19

going through the first year marriage and

26:21

doing this as well was really helped

26:23

us. Oh, it's huge. Yeah. And we

26:26

see how it'll impact our marriage and

26:28

our family for years to come. I

26:30

mean. You can make tough decisions about

26:32

money, you can make tough decisions about

26:34

almost anything. Right. Together. Unification. That's... So

26:36

then the real question is, Riley, now

26:38

that you're debt-free, what does Claire get

26:40

to buy? So, yeah. I think the

26:42

next thing on the docket would be

26:44

getting her a new to us car.

26:47

The car is almost as old as

26:49

I am. Yeah, so. She really definitely

26:51

need to upgrade this car. She would

26:53

really sacrifice. She kept saying, you know,

26:55

all the different cars in the parking

26:57

lot, you know, are much nicer than

26:59

hers, but she kept. She kept pushing

27:01

on and calling me out a little

27:03

bit. It's true. And they all have

27:05

payments. Yeah, they all have payments. Yeah,

27:08

I just had to remind myself this

27:10

is paid off. We don't owe anything

27:12

right. Wink's those broke people as they

27:14

get in their car and drive away.

27:16

Yeah, exactly. Wow. So what is this

27:18

car? It's a 2005 Honda Accord and

27:20

it gets me from point A to

27:22

point A. Does it have a name?

27:24

It doesn't, but we should name it

27:26

something. Make sure you take you take

27:29

pictures. that you can show your grandkids.

27:31

There you go. That's what you drove

27:33

while your husband was going to med

27:35

school in the Air Force and that's

27:37

how we became multi-millionaires and I just

27:39

wanted you to know the story. Right.

27:41

Yeah. I drove a freaking hoopdy. Yeah.

27:43

So I've got pictures of my old

27:45

cars and man I tell you it's

27:47

your cars are part of your journey

27:50

and you are up you are due

27:52

for an upgrade. No question. Yeah. You

27:54

guys did it right. I'm proud of

27:56

you because we talked to doctors all

27:58

the time calling in on the other

28:00

end because they've got so many student

28:02

loans and it's just not all it

28:04

was cracked up to be and so

28:06

to come out of it with no

28:08

debt. I'm just, I mean, I hope

28:11

that you come back in how many

28:13

five years and tell us, give us

28:15

the update. Yeah, it's gonna be huge.

28:17

You're gonna be going, ding, ding, ding,

28:19

ding, ding, ding, ding. I like it.

28:21

And your pay is not bad in

28:23

the Air Force. No. for the four

28:25

years once you come out of residence.

28:27

Especially without the student loan payments. Yeah,

28:29

exactly, exactly. It's all going to be

28:31

yours. Yeah, and I mean, you're going

28:34

to be making some good money. Way

28:36

to go, you guys. What a great

28:38

plan, how mature and forward-looking and visionary

28:40

and all that. That's pretty cool. Were

28:42

there people in your friend group or

28:44

family that we're picking on you? Not

28:46

a whole lot of picking on us,

28:48

but we didn't have a lot of

28:50

support. Our families both really supported us.

28:52

I even had some med school buddies

28:55

who knew about what we were going

28:57

through and cheered us on the whole

28:59

way. So much good. And Dave, you

29:01

were a common name in my family

29:03

growing up, so I grew up hearing

29:05

about you and knowing, like you need

29:07

to get on that Dave Ramsey plan,

29:09

like you need to go to the

29:11

baby since. So when you were a

29:13

teenager, my name was a cussword. Yeah,

29:16

okay. I got it. That's okay. I

29:18

like it. I like it. It sets

29:20

you up to be this. I like

29:22

where you are. I'm proud of you

29:24

guys. You're pretty amazing. Thanks. Very cool.

29:26

Good stuff. Very good stuff. Man, that's

29:28

good. Riley and Claire, Lexington, Kentucky. $66,000

29:30

paid off in 16 months. newly married,

29:32

75,000 to 90,000. That means they've been

29:34

on beans and rice, boys and girls.

29:37

That's what that math says. And driving

29:39

an old Hoopty and gonna come out

29:41

of med school, come out of the

29:43

Air Force, was zero med school debt.

29:45

Just brilliant, brilliant plan. Man, it can

29:47

be done. Wow. When I see people

29:49

like you guys, it just gives me

29:51

a lot of hope for the future

29:53

of this nation. You're incredible. Well done.

29:55

Riley and Claire. Count it free. Two,

29:58

one, we're dead free! Yeah! Wow! So,

30:00

med schools, 250. 300 grand. Yeah. I

30:02

give or take I don't know what

30:04

UK is but somewhere in there and

30:06

the payback is four years of service

30:08

and when you have good pay while

30:10

you're doing the four years of service.

30:12

Yeah I just having a plan. He

30:14

went in with a plan. Stone cold.

30:16

Yeah. Yeah. Amazing. Beautiful. This is the

30:19

Ramsey show. All

30:58

right, Dave, you have some strong

31:00

opinions. Possibly, yeah. I think so.

31:02

Okay, because you really prefer credit

31:04

unions over big banks. Well, credit

31:07

unions for one thing are non-profit,

31:09

which means that the members, the

31:11

customers, own the credit union. So

31:13

any profits that the credit union

31:15

makes goes back into customer pricing.

31:17

So you get... better interest rate

31:19

on savings cheaper checking and so

31:21

on that kind of thing. And

31:23

but that's what's more important than

31:25

that though is the fact that

31:27

the customer is the owner changes

31:29

the spirit on the credit union.

31:31

So I find very few credit

31:33

unions that aren't very customer centric.

31:36

Well and I think we have

31:38

found one that is incredible and

31:40

that's fair wins. They are an

31:42

incredible credit union that is really

31:44

out with the heart to help

31:46

the customer. They're the right kind

31:48

of people with the right kind

31:50

of values. And they've done a

31:52

really, really good job with customer

31:54

service. And the deals that they're

31:56

offering, the Ramsey tribe is incredible.

31:58

Yeah, absolutely. And I love it,

32:00

the things that we teach. So

32:02

line up with, and you're right,

32:05

their customer service is unbelievable. Winston

32:07

and I just signed up, and

32:09

we got an account. And I'm

32:11

not kidding. It took less than

32:13

five minutes. It was so user-friendly,

32:15

like the step-by-step approach was unbelievable.

32:17

And then the next day, my

32:19

phone rings, and it says fair

32:21

winds on my phone. So I

32:23

answered it and talked to someone

32:25

there, and they said, yeah, they

32:27

give calls to every new customer.

32:29

really care about your experience and

32:31

I so so appreciate that. Plus

32:34

anything that you can do at

32:36

a traditional branch you can do

32:38

with them at fairwins.org or on

32:40

their app and you'll have free

32:42

access to over 33,000 ATMs. Hey

32:44

you guys know how much I

32:46

hate banks in general and so

32:48

for me to do this is

32:50

a big deal. Talk to our

32:52

friends at fairwins and check out

32:54

the combined checking and savings bundle

32:56

that they created just for the

32:58

Ramsey tribe. You guys it's incredible.

33:00

Yeah, you guys, it's so easy

33:03

to join Fairwinds, no matter where

33:05

you live. So go to fairwinds.org/Ramsey.

33:07

Glenn is in Toronto, Canada. It's

33:09

kind of expensive and buy an

33:11

older truck to save money. Well,

33:13

it's just like a depreciating asset

33:15

and I just feel like it's

33:17

too much truck. Okay, it's paid

33:19

for. You have debt? It is.

33:21

No debt. What's a truck worth?

33:23

69,000. Wow. What do you make?

33:25

Last year, 260? You like the

33:27

truck? Yeah, it's okay. It's kind

33:29

of faded, but it's a good

33:31

truck. I like it. So you're

33:34

like, let me. offload this before

33:36

it depreciates further and get something

33:38

else basically? Yeah, yeah it's actually

33:40

worth a few more bucks than

33:42

it was when I bought it

33:44

a year ago. Okay, so what

33:46

would you get instead? Just an

33:48

older truck like something you know

33:50

20 years old that's in good

33:52

shape. But what would you spend

33:54

I mean? How much? Oh like

33:56

20. Are you married? Yes. What

33:58

does your wife make? She makes

34:00

a hundred. On top of your

34:03

260? No, that's combined. Oh, okay.

34:05

All right. And what does she

34:07

drive? She dies in 18 Murano.

34:09

What's that worth? Yeah, 12,000. Okay.

34:11

So do you have a boat?

34:13

No. A C-Doo? I have nothing.

34:15

Snowmobiles? No. No toys with mothers.

34:17

Okay. Just a snowblower. Okay. Well,

34:19

you probably knew that. Well the

34:21

rule of thumb that we have

34:23

run numbers on is that you're

34:25

probably not doing serious damage to

34:27

your finances if you keep the

34:29

things that you have with motors

34:32

and wheels. Okay anything with motors

34:34

and wheels goes down in value

34:36

or just wheels if it has

34:38

a battery and it like a

34:40

Tesla goes down in value. Okay

34:42

so it's got wheels and or

34:44

a motor. It goes down in

34:46

value. And so you don't want

34:48

all of those things added together

34:50

to be more than half your

34:52

annual income because you have too

34:54

much invested in things that are

34:56

going the wrong way. You do

34:58

not. You're not even close. You're

35:01

not even close. You're not even

35:03

close. I'm just curious of your

35:05

emotion around this because it's obviously

35:07

something that you're just, I'm wondering

35:09

why you're even batting this around.

35:11

Like what happened or what are

35:13

you thinking you can do with

35:15

the money, you know, the extra

35:17

money? Well, I have three children,

35:19

one's going university this year. Okay,

35:21

well, there you go. And that's

35:23

what you're thinking. and you'll do

35:25

with the money is pay for

35:27

college? Well, there is money for

35:30

that, but just having more of

35:32

a buffer, I guess. Okay, you're

35:34

not doing anything wrong as long

35:36

as you're able to pay cash

35:38

for college and run your household

35:40

budget keeping the truck. If you

35:42

want to sell it, though, you

35:44

can sell it at your truck.

35:46

You're not stupid for keeping it

35:48

and you're not stupid for selling

35:50

it. But what we're fighting against

35:52

is people that make $65,000 a

35:54

year and they're driving a $65,

35:56

$65. Right. And then they can't

35:58

figure out why the flip they're

36:01

broke. Sure. Or people who just

36:03

feel guilty, then it's the opposite

36:05

end of people who are doing

36:07

really well, and they just feel

36:09

guilty about being able to have

36:11

nice things. Yeah, I regularly talk

36:13

to millionaires on the millionaire, baby

36:15

steps, millionaires, theme hour, and I

36:17

regularly tell them to get a

36:19

better car. Yeah, you got to.

36:21

They're still driving a piece of

36:23

crap. And you make... you know,

36:25

200, you make a quarter million

36:27

dollars a year, you make enough

36:30

money to not worry about it.

36:32

And so, and a $69,000 truck,

36:34

but if you call me up

36:36

and tell me you want to

36:38

buy a $400,000 limbo, I'm going

36:40

to tell you, no, that's stupid

36:42

if you make $2.60. That doesn't

36:44

fit the budget. Some people also

36:46

just don't, I'm talking to myself

36:48

right now, I feel called out,

36:50

I just don't care about cars,

36:52

I just don't care about cars,

36:54

She's like, what kind of car

36:56

is that? What kind of car

36:59

is that gray one? That she

37:01

doesn't care. I don't care. Yeah,

37:03

I buy Sharon's cars because I

37:05

want them. Yeah, that's what will

37:07

happen in our family. Yes, I

37:09

don't care. Yeah, that's I mean,

37:11

because it's a car that I

37:13

because I get to drive them

37:15

occasionally. You know, it's something that's

37:17

sitting in the garage there and

37:19

I'm picking up the grandkids or

37:21

whatever. So I don't want, you

37:23

know, you know, you know, so.

37:25

There you go, that's it, that's

37:28

it. Yeah, yeah, but the rule

37:30

of thumb is that guys and

37:32

and if you have dead on

37:34

it, the other formula that goes

37:36

with the half of your income

37:38

on things that have wheels and

37:40

motors. The other formula is can

37:42

you be debt-free, everything, except the

37:44

house in two years if you

37:46

keep the stupid truck. And oddly

37:48

enough, it usually is a stupid

37:50

truck. I don't know why, but

37:52

occasionally it's a car, but it's

37:54

usually a stupid truck. Yeah. You

37:57

don't, you know, you're not required

37:59

to put a lot of money

38:01

if you don't care anything about

38:03

it. You know? But you'll spend

38:05

that money in other ways. It's

38:07

fine. I mean you could my

38:09

point is you can buy something

38:11

that goes down in value Mathematically

38:13

and it doesn't keep you from

38:15

getting ahead If you stay with

38:17

that formula. That's the only thing

38:19

I'm coming up with there. All

38:21

right Can Derek is in Kansas

38:23

City. Hi Derek. What's up? Hey,

38:26

sir. I'm I just got out

38:28

of the service. I'm trying to

38:30

get my financial setting in I'm

38:32

looking at buying a home and

38:34

getting into real estate business. Thank

38:36

you for your service So I

38:38

guess I just have, I'm unsure

38:40

of what the steps should be.

38:42

So I went from, I'm going

38:44

to do 20 years in the

38:46

service to getting, you're virtually injured

38:48

and now I'm just looking at

38:50

a life where I don't have

38:52

to work for anybody else and

38:54

I just kind of live a

38:57

life that I want to live.

38:59

So I'm looking at into real

39:01

estate and going that route. Oh,

39:03

interesting. You mean like a real

39:05

estate agent selling houses? Either buying

39:07

and selling houses or just buying

39:09

homes and then renting them out.

39:11

Do you have that kind of

39:13

money laying around? Not yet, no.

39:15

Okay. So you're not going to

39:17

be a real estate investor because

39:19

you don't have any money? Yes,

39:21

sir. Do you have your own,

39:23

your own home yet? No, man.

39:26

I'm currently, I just got out

39:28

March 5th. Okay. Single? Yes. So

39:30

you get full disability or do

39:32

you go out on 20 year

39:34

retirement? I am fully disabled. I'm

39:36

making about 48,000 a year tax

39:38

free. Yeah, for the rest of

39:40

your life. Okay. What's the nature

39:42

of your disability, sir? My back

39:44

is destroyed. Long story short, they

39:46

told me that I will just

39:48

have to learn to live with

39:50

the pain. It doesn't get better.

39:52

I will. If you were to

39:55

buy properties and rent them, who

39:57

would manage the properties with your

39:59

back issues? Like how would you

40:01

take care of that? That's the,

40:03

my back isn't so bad that

40:05

I can't, you know, do basic

40:07

law and work or working on

40:09

places. I also come from a

40:11

little millcast family, but a working

40:13

family nonetheless. So you can. So

40:15

you've already, you've identified the level

40:17

of work that you can do.

40:19

physical work. Yeah. You're not required

40:21

to do the painting if you're

40:24

managing property. You can hire a

40:26

painter. That's not the other world,

40:28

but I promise you I will.

40:30

Let's see. Getting started though, did

40:32

you do a lot of the

40:34

work with your hands? No. You

40:36

didn't? Never touched it. I know

40:38

how. I grew up mom and

40:40

dad, you know, we always working

40:42

on some old house because that's

40:44

what they did, but I know

40:46

how to do it, but that's

40:48

what maybe not want to do

40:50

it. A lot of black

40:53

fingernails from hitting them with a hammer.

40:55

Let's see. You know, I think I'd

40:57

go into the real estate business and

40:59

go make some money as an agent

41:02

before I start trying to flip houses

41:04

with debt. So my only thoughts were,

41:06

with my home loan, I'm sorry, with

41:08

the VA home loan, there's a lot

41:10

of benefits that come with it. No,

41:13

there's not. It's horrible. Yes for God.

41:15

The VA home loan is a nothing

41:17

down loan that is a higher interest

41:19

rate and higher funding fees than any

41:21

other loan. It's higher than Fannie Mae.

41:24

It's not a good benefit. Your other

41:26

benefits are good benefits. And they're great.

41:28

I'm glad they're there. And I'm sure

41:30

you've got someone in addition to the

41:33

VA looking at your back, I hope.

41:35

Yes, I do. People just hear the

41:37

zero down and think... Yeah, I wouldn't

41:39

do the zero down, nothing down real

41:41

estate flip thing. That's something that you

41:44

see on TikTok. Real people don't get

41:46

rich doing that. They go broke doing

41:48

that. And so... Yeah, I'd stay away

41:50

from that. But I do want to

41:53

encourage your entrepreneurial spirit. I want you

41:55

to... to plug in and start something

41:57

to start earning an income in addition

41:59

to the 48 you've got the you've

42:01

kind of got the basics of life

42:04

covered and so now you can kind

42:06

of tinker with monopoly money right without

42:08

going into debt so you could start

42:10

something pretty easy and move in that

42:12

direction I'm gonna send you a couple

42:15

of business books to get you started

42:17

for small business it's the brand new

42:19

one that comes out this week build

42:21

a business you love and the book

42:24

entree leadership. which is the playbook of

42:26

how we grew Ramsey from a car

42:28

table in my living room. I think

42:30

maybe you'll get some ideas out of

42:32

both of those. Oh, I'm also going

42:35

to give you Ken Coleman's book, Find

42:37

the work you're wired to do, and

42:39

take the assessment in that, and it'll

42:41

probably give you, we get a nod

42:44

in a certain direction. This is the

42:46

Ramsey Show. Rachel,

43:01

do you ever get these sketchy text

43:03

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it out you guys. Live

44:42

from the headquarters of Ramsey

44:44

Solutions. It's the Ramsey show

44:47

where we help people build

44:49

wealth Do work that they

44:51

love and create actual amazing

44:53

relationships Jade Wash all number

44:55

one best-selling author and Ramsey

44:57

personality. She's my co-host today

44:59

Andrea is in Philadelphia. Hi

45:02

Andrea, welcome to the Ramsey

45:04

show Better than I deserve,

45:06

what's up? Yes, I am

45:08

a really, like, tricky situation.

45:10

I am babysitting number two

45:12

with my husband, and I

45:14

just receive a cold today

45:17

in the morning, actually. My

45:19

brother and my mom asking

45:21

me to borrow my brother,

45:23

$3,000, but my mom know

45:25

about this noble and... For

45:27

what? For what? For what

45:29

for his business? Because he

45:32

needs to pay stuff for

45:34

his business. Why doesn't she

45:36

lend him the $3,000? Because

45:38

she doesn't have the money.

45:40

Neither do you you're broken

45:42

in debt. I was gonna

45:45

say it's the same answer

45:47

Exactly, but this is the

45:49

catch I talk to my

45:51

mom sometimes you know telling

45:53

her like we save money

45:55

for the kids right so

45:57

the kids have money so

46:00

her idea was to take

46:02

the money from the kids

46:04

they didn't like how to

46:06

kids my brother she has

46:08

a lot of ideas about

46:10

what you should do with

46:12

your money why do you

46:15

feel do you feel like

46:17

you're in in some way

46:19

you have to listen to

46:21

what she's asking you to

46:23

do I mean my brother

46:25

helped me what might me

46:27

and my husband were like

46:30

in really tough situation at

46:32

the beginning of her marriage.

46:34

How do you help? How

46:36

do you help? I mean

46:38

sometimes like buying more kids

46:40

stuff if they needed without

46:42

asking and he was like,

46:45

okay, you know, I can

46:47

do it or that was

46:49

not $3,000. No, $3,000. That

46:51

was $100. What's

46:53

your cultural background? What's your cultural

46:56

background? What's this accent? Well, I'm

46:58

from Ecuador. Okay, and your mom

47:00

is, your mom is, your mom

47:03

and brother are in Ecuador. No,

47:05

they're from, they're living here, but

47:07

yeah, they're Ecuador and so forth.

47:10

And they're live here right now.

47:12

We're all, most of my family

47:14

that in the United States right

47:17

now. Your brother, is he single,

47:19

or does he have family and

47:21

kids? And he is

47:23

single and he does have a

47:26

kid back in Ecuador. He has

47:28

a business and he did not

47:30

open. Like this is how. Can

47:32

you tell me more about? Can

47:34

you tell me more about, did

47:36

your brother come to you and

47:39

you said sorry I can't help

47:41

you? Then he went to your

47:43

mom and then your mom. Tell

47:45

me how that happened. I received

47:47

a call today in the morning

47:49

that my brother asked my mom.

47:52

And then the cost came from

47:54

one more because she was listening

47:56

because she knew about my kid's

47:58

savings account. So her idea what?

48:00

Yeah. Okay. So listen, there's two

48:02

possible answers. Okay. In your culture,

48:05

it is more normal for you

48:07

to share with extended family than

48:09

it is in an Anglo family.

48:11

Okay. In my culture, the answer

48:13

is a hard no and instantaneously

48:15

and you're weird for even asking.

48:18

Okay. Correct. But in your culture

48:20

this is not quite as weird.

48:22

Am I correct in saying that?

48:24

Correct. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Because I

48:26

got to tell you in my

48:28

world when grandma asked for the

48:31

kids money for the brother, that

48:33

means grandma needs to be smacked

48:35

in my world. Okay. No, you're

48:37

not getting my dad gum kids

48:39

money for the brother's business because

48:41

he's run a business poorly. No.

48:44

Thank you. That's the world I'm

48:46

in, but that's a little different

48:48

world than you're in. And so

48:50

we have to answer the question

48:52

thoughtfully because there is a cultural

48:54

difference. Is that fair? Correct. Okay.

48:57

But I still think the answer

48:59

is a hard no. I do

49:01

too because I think... all of

49:03

us get to choose the things

49:05

culturally that we continue on with

49:07

or the things that we go,

49:10

I know everybody did it that

49:12

way, that's just not for me

49:14

or that's I'm not going to

49:16

go with that moving forward. I

49:18

think you can do that in

49:20

a way that's not disrespectful, but

49:23

it's just a change. One of

49:25

the reasons I work my butt

49:27

office, so I would never be

49:29

a burden to my kids, but

49:31

in some cultures, it's normal for

49:33

you to be a burden to

49:36

your kids when you get old.

49:38

when when grandpa moves in and

49:40

because grandpa has no money because

49:42

grandpa didn't take care of himself

49:44

that's a normal thing in some

49:46

areas it is not normal in

49:48

an Anglo-Saxon African-American United States culture

49:51

okay and even you know but

49:53

it you know and again a

49:55

Hispanic culture that's gonna have a

49:57

tendency to go that way. I

49:59

learned some of these things the

50:01

hard way as we've tried to

50:04

help folks in different communities and

50:06

I stepped in it because I

50:08

didn't know there was a cultural

50:10

difference. So I'm trying to acknowledge

50:12

that but still tell you the answer

50:14

is no. No mom. I do not,

50:17

I am not comfortable with my children's

50:19

money going to my brother. That makes

50:21

me uncomfortable and it really kind of

50:23

makes me uncomfortable that you would even

50:25

ask. What's the implication of you saying

50:28

that, Andrea, to your mom and

50:30

to your brother? What'll happen next?

50:32

Well, they are, they actually live together,

50:34

so they're really close. And I know

50:36

my brother doesn't know about my savings.

50:39

It should have been my mom's idea. Because

50:41

there's not something that I just. Yeah, I

50:43

think this is all on your mom. But

50:45

I'm saying when you tell me. And I think

50:48

your mom has a lesson to learn

50:50

here that your household is separate. Uh-huh.

50:52

And when you tell them no, are

50:54

you feeling like, hey, they're never going

50:56

to talk to me again or I'm

50:59

not going to be invited to,

51:01

you know, dinner, family dinner, like,

51:03

is there, is there a consequence to

51:05

you saying no that you can

51:08

foresee? Yes. And what is that?

51:10

My brother's, he's more like

51:12

resentful. He's that type of

51:14

person that if he just, you

51:16

tell him from that he doesn't

51:18

like and he's, he's like, managing

51:21

it is because he's not going

51:23

to talk to me. So I'd rather

51:25

just be, you know, on

51:27

the side and let him,

51:29

I don't, I don't, if

51:31

you don't want to interfere

51:33

in him doing his business

51:35

poorly, that's fine. But when you

51:37

tell your mom, no, Jade's asking,

51:40

mom, no, I think we're going

51:42

to keep our kids money

51:44

with our kids. What does she

51:46

drop your phone? Hello? Yep.

51:48

Yep. Yeah. Hello? Yep. Did

51:50

you hear me? Hello? Did you

51:52

hear me? Yes, I heard

51:55

your question. What's the answer?

51:57

The answer is like, yeah, but

51:59

the he can pay you

52:02

interest? No, no, no, no.

52:04

No, no, no. The answer is

52:06

no to your mother. Then

52:09

what is she going to

52:11

do? No is a complete

52:13

sentence. Yes, he

52:16

will try to talk. to me like

52:18

a way into it. Yeah and so the

52:20

answer is still mom I love you I

52:22

love him that's not in question but this

52:24

is my this money set aside for my

52:26

children and the answer is going to be

52:28

no no matter how long we talk so

52:30

let's not talk long because it's going to

52:32

aggravate your mom and what I'm

52:34

trying to show to you Andrea

52:36

is there's not really a there's

52:38

no consequence here other than adults

52:40

choosing how they're going to behave

52:42

next and if your brother chooses

52:44

to give you the cold shoulder

52:46

that's not something you can control

52:48

all you can control is your

52:50

response in this you can stand by

52:52

it and your mom can have an attitude

52:55

for a while but that's about it yeah

52:57

exactly and you get to keep your

52:59

peace exactly this is the Ramsey show

53:26

I've been helping people get

53:28

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53:30

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That's boostmobile.com/Ramsey. You

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know what's crazy to me? Two things.

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That's ramsie solutions.com/smart tax. Our

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in all states. That's right. Today's question

55:28

comes from Chelsea in Kentucky. She says

55:30

my daughter is a senior in high

55:32

school. She came home from school recently

55:35

and said that her personal finance course

55:37

teacher quote educated them on credit cards

55:39

and loans and how to manage and

55:41

build credit appropriately. She's very aware of

55:44

our stance on not using debt and

55:46

the school is obviously not using your

55:48

Ramsey curriculum. an instructor forcing your child

55:51

to participate in their quote process. I

55:53

mean in many ways it sounds like

55:55

Chelsea you kind of answered your own

55:58

question because education starts at home so

56:00

what you're telling them at home and

56:02

that you're continually baking into them you

56:05

know this is a good chance to

56:07

kind of stress test that in my

56:09

opinion it's like okay tell me what

56:12

you learned today what did they tell

56:14

you and then you're kind of opening

56:16

up that dialogue because the truth is

56:19

A lot of the world does run

56:21

on that and it is kind of

56:23

good to understand that so that you

56:26

see how your pathway is a better

56:28

pathway, right? And so, you know, Dave,

56:30

you can say what you're going to

56:33

say, but for me, I think that

56:35

if I've told my kids, here's a

56:37

way to do life, here's the way

56:40

we're doing life in our household, they're

56:42

able to see the fruit of that

56:44

day in and day out. It's like

56:47

any belief system. If you're a Christian,

56:49

you're going to see things in the

56:51

world that counteract that, and your friends

56:54

and people are going to tell you

56:56

things that counteract that, and you're always

56:58

stress testing what you really believe. And

57:01

I think this is just another example

57:03

of that. It's a teachable moment. Yeah.

57:05

Because when we're raising, one of the

57:08

things we try to do when our

57:10

kids are starting to hit that age

57:12

group, we said, Andy Andrews says, we're

57:15

not trying to raise great kids. We're

57:17

trying to raise kids that become great

57:19

adults, which means we have to teach

57:22

them critical thinking skills They need to

57:24

be able to think for themselves on

57:26

doctrine issues in their in their faith

57:29

walk. They need to be able to

57:31

think for themselves. What's a doctrine issue

57:33

and Rachel can have a good doctrinal

57:36

argument with I'll just tell you it's

57:38

a lot with herself You can have

57:40

a good doctrinal argument with a dog

57:43

with a fence post. I mean, it's

57:45

just but anyway the I don't know

57:47

where she gets that She would come

57:50

home or they would come home and

57:52

with something as you said that they

57:54

learned somewhere Yeah, it could be school.

57:57

It could be somewhere else that didn't

57:59

line up with the way Ramsey's do

58:01

things as for me in my house.

58:04

We don't do that And you could

58:06

just go slam your fist down and

58:08

go, we don't do that. And you

58:11

could go yell at the teacher, but

58:13

it's not going to change the teacher.

58:15

And it's not going to help your

58:18

kid. So teach your kid why credit

58:20

scores suck. That the only way you

58:22

build a credit score is going debt.

58:25

That the credit score is not a

58:27

measure of net worth. It's not a

58:29

measure of financial health. It's a measure

58:32

of how much you've been playing. fair

58:34

Isaac developed the credit score what the

58:36

history of it is it's set up

58:39

to promote debt for banks buy banks

58:41

that's right so learn and so just

58:43

say and honey your poor little teacher

58:46

has fallen into that bless her heart

58:48

bless her heart right And so we're

58:50

just here's what you're going to do.

58:53

You're going to take a test and

58:55

you're going to pass the test because

58:57

you're going to answer it the way

59:00

the teacher needs it answered. But you

59:02

know what the truth is because the

59:04

real test is what you're going to

59:07

do in the world. The real test

59:09

is going to be what you're 27

59:11

years old. So the niece, my oldest

59:14

child, when she was in college, took

59:16

a personal finance class, the guy started

59:18

the class, And

59:21

she called, she said, what do I

59:23

do? I said, what are you going

59:25

to do? And she goes, well, I

59:27

know that this is going to be

59:29

a tough class because I'm dealing with

59:31

an idiot. Get smart on her. Yeah.

59:34

So she's like, I can either drop

59:36

the class or I can take it

59:38

and answer the questions and get the

59:40

credit. It's up to you. I said,

59:42

I'm not making this decision. You're the

59:44

one's got to go to class. Yeah.

59:46

And so she took the class, past

59:48

the class, past the class, past the

59:50

class, at the class, at the class,

59:52

at the class, at the class, at

59:54

the class, at the class, when she

59:56

was turning the class, when she was

59:59

turning the class, when she was turning

1:00:01

her, when she was turning her, when

1:00:03

she was turning her, Oh, so he's

1:00:05

like, oh God. Oh yeah, that was

1:00:07

enough. Because I'm an alumni that has

1:00:09

donated substantially to that. the University of

1:00:11

Freaking Tennessee. And so, and this guy's

1:00:13

teaching there under tenure, maybe, maybe not

1:00:15

now, I don't know. No, I'm kidding.

1:00:17

Did you pull us through? But I

1:00:19

mean, but we didn't do anything, we

1:00:22

just let the guy be, and then

1:00:24

boy did he get to, you've never

1:00:26

seen him by crawfish as fast, that

1:00:28

got backed up, like he was hiding

1:00:30

under a rock, it was unbelievable. Yeah,

1:00:32

I mean, but that's, that's what you

1:00:34

do, you do, you do, you just,

1:00:36

you just teach your child, just teach

1:00:38

your child, just teach your child, how

1:00:40

child how to how to how to

1:00:42

think, how to think, how to think.

1:00:45

Yeah, I think it's a positive thing.

1:00:47

I think it's positive. I think if

1:00:49

you take a hard stance on anything,

1:00:51

you should know very clearly what the

1:00:53

other side says as well so that

1:00:55

it's a smart argument on your side.

1:00:57

And the other side is Hank, who

1:00:59

is a Ramsey financial literacy teacher in

1:01:01

high school in Alabama at Russell County

1:01:03

High School. Hank, how are you? I'm

1:01:05

great. So did we give her the

1:01:07

right advice? Just leave that other high

1:01:10

school teacher that doesn't know what they're

1:01:12

doing alone? Yes. Yeah, just leave her

1:01:14

alone. Pass the test. Do what you

1:01:16

got to do. That's right. So we

1:01:18

don't teach that way at Russell County

1:01:20

High School. No, you're teaching the Ramsey

1:01:22

curriculum. Teaching them the truth. Yes. Love

1:01:24

it. How long you been teaching the

1:01:26

curriculum, Hank? This is my third year.

1:01:28

The first year I didn't know how

1:01:30

to access the videos or anything. So

1:01:33

I really taught from your... total money

1:01:35

makeover, a financial piecebook. So for two

1:01:37

years we've been doing the full curriculum

1:01:39

and the course is getting more and

1:01:41

more popular. The first the first two

1:01:43

years I had to teach some algebra

1:01:45

one and because I'm a mouth teacher

1:01:47

I incorporated into my math class but

1:01:49

I had to teach some algebra one

1:01:51

in there too so the last the

1:01:53

last two years the class is I've

1:01:56

got I've got all this is the

1:01:58

only thing I teach. This is the

1:02:00

only thing I teach this is we

1:02:02

teach finite math and I incorporated. financial

1:02:04

algebra which the standards will line up

1:02:06

a lot better but it is great.

1:02:08

teaching it. I never have a student

1:02:10

ask me, Miss Austin, when are we

1:02:12

ever going to use that? I would

1:02:14

get that sometimes about Pythagorean theorem. I

1:02:16

bet, I bet. Well, yeah, that's the

1:02:18

question that students always want to know

1:02:21

is how does this relate? And so

1:02:23

you've done a really smart thing by

1:02:25

putting it to something that's actually relatable

1:02:27

in everyday life. How do you care

1:02:29

to like the square footage of a

1:02:31

parallel diagram? Yeah. Most fun I've ever

1:02:33

had teaching. Wow. How many students do

1:02:35

you have? We're on a block schedule,

1:02:37

so I teach about 80 each semester.

1:02:39

Wow, that's a lot of lectures in

1:02:41

a semester. So I have about 160

1:02:44

a year, so I figure I've been

1:02:46

doing it for three years, and I'm

1:02:48

probably teaching seven more years before I

1:02:50

retire maybe, and so I'll have about

1:02:52

1600 students come through this. Wow, very

1:02:54

good. And here's the thing. We live

1:02:56

in a county, 73% of our students,

1:02:58

are free or reduced lunch. county wide,

1:03:00

about 20% live below the poverty line.

1:03:02

So if I can take those 1600

1:03:04

students and I can teach them how

1:03:06

to manage money, I can teach them

1:03:09

how to be wealthy, how to not

1:03:11

go into debt, do all the day

1:03:13

Ramsey stuff and teach them to be

1:03:15

generous, we can change the demographics of

1:03:17

our county. You can. You really can,

1:03:19

and it'll be all your fault. I

1:03:21

tell them all the time, we've got

1:03:23

a lot of generational poverty here. I

1:03:25

say, you know, you can change this,

1:03:27

not just for you, you can change

1:03:29

it for your children, your grandchildren, because

1:03:32

you learn to do things like your

1:03:34

parents did. Your children will learn to

1:03:36

do things like you do. We got

1:03:38

to break some generational curses and... And

1:03:40

you had a sponsor pay for the

1:03:42

curriculum, a local builder, right? Yes, we

1:03:44

did. We did. And we weren't sure.

1:03:46

We had a different sponsor for the

1:03:48

first two years. We weren't sure we

1:03:50

were going to get that. I was

1:03:52

fixing to start looking for grants and

1:03:55

trying to raise money because I cannot

1:03:57

imagine not teaching this. If I can't

1:03:59

teach this, I'm probably going to be

1:04:01

ready to retire. Wow. Houston Homes, is

1:04:03

that how it's pronounced? Yes, sure is.

1:04:05

All right. to them in a county

1:04:07

that's title or in a school that's

1:04:09

primarily title one meeting free lunch. Wow,

1:04:11

right. And for any teachers listening, we're

1:04:13

also doing that teacher appreciation giveaway, Dave.

1:04:15

Yep, that's right. $5,000 vacation and two

1:04:17

or more teachers are going to win

1:04:20

a $3,000 vacation. Go to Ramsey solutions.com/teacher

1:04:22

to enter. We want to celebrate heroes

1:04:24

like Hank, not the other kind of

1:04:26

teacher. Way to go, Hank, Hank, thank

1:04:28

you, Brother. Real

1:04:53

change in your money and relationships

1:04:55

is possible. You can break the

1:04:57

cycles that have kept you from

1:05:00

moving forward. You can build a

1:05:02

better future for yourself, and it

1:05:04

starts here. Hang out with Dr.

1:05:07

John Deloni and I live in

1:05:09

a city near you for the

1:05:11

Money and Relationships Tour. Starting next

1:05:13

week, we'll be in Louisville, Durham,

1:05:16

Atlanta, Phoenix, Fort Worth, and Kansas

1:05:18

City. Time is running out, so

1:05:20

grab your tickets while you can

1:05:23

at Ramsey solutions.com/tour. Okay guys I

1:05:25

got big news Aldi is now

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That's a Aldi.us. In

1:06:23

the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on

1:06:26

the debt-free stage, Stephen Michelle are

1:06:28

with us. Hey guys, how are

1:06:30

you? Hello, great. Good. Good. Good

1:06:33

to have you. Where do you

1:06:35

live? Lake Tahoe, Nevada. All right,

1:06:37

welcome to Nashville. And how much

1:06:39

debt have you too paid off?

1:06:42

$210,000. Yay, and how long did

1:06:44

that take? Four and a half

1:06:46

years. All right, love it. And

1:06:49

your range of income during that

1:06:51

time? She's a teacher and I

1:06:53

work for her local fire department.

1:06:56

Awesome. That's very cool. What kind

1:06:58

of debt was the $210,000? It

1:07:00

was the house. And Lake Tahoe

1:07:02

real estate is not exactly cheapo.

1:07:05

Yeah. So what's the price point

1:07:07

on this puppy? What's it worth?

1:07:09

Right around 1.6 give or take.

1:07:12

And it's all paid for. Yes

1:07:14

sir. And on top of that

1:07:16

you've got retirement savings. Yes sir.

1:07:18

Holy smokes. How much have you

1:07:21

got in your nest egg? The

1:07:23

not including the pensions. Yeah pensions

1:07:25

are substantial. Right around 500. How

1:07:28

old are you guys? 46. Yeah,

1:07:30

it will be or 46 be

1:07:32

47 soon. Nice. Wow. Baby steps

1:07:34

millionaires. Yes, sir. How much of

1:07:37

this did you inherit? None. None.

1:07:39

All right. There it is. I

1:07:41

like it. So you did it.

1:07:44

A fireman and a teacher with

1:07:46

a $2.1 million net worth at

1:07:48

47 years old. Tell me the

1:07:50

story. How in the world? Well,

1:07:53

we were... We were living the

1:07:55

American dream, which is a nightmare.

1:07:57

Yeah, in our last house, and

1:08:00

we were, you know, house poor,

1:08:02

paying, had too much of a

1:08:04

mortgage and all the cool toys

1:08:07

that the Americans get, you know,

1:08:09

and like firefighters might get them.

1:08:11

Well, yeah, like the cool truck

1:08:13

and the RV and the dirt

1:08:16

bikes and everything. He's the spender.

1:08:18

And so, you know, we got.

1:08:20

second tired of being broken and

1:08:23

started thinking about our our twins

1:08:25

at the time we're getting ready

1:08:27

to finish high school and so

1:08:29

we're thinking more and more about

1:08:32

college or trade school whatever the

1:08:34

next steps might be we wanted

1:08:36

to set them up for success

1:08:39

and so we we decided to

1:08:41

make some big changes and just

1:08:43

get after it when did y'all

1:08:45

run into Ramsey stuff it was

1:08:48

right about right about the time

1:08:50

we started really About five years

1:08:52

ago. Yeah, about five, six years

1:08:55

ago. I had the book, Financial

1:08:57

Peace, sitting on a shelf for

1:08:59

many years, but never opened it.

1:09:01

And then we got really nervous

1:09:04

about the idea of paying for

1:09:06

college or trade school, got out

1:09:08

the book and started realizing that

1:09:11

we needed to make some changes

1:09:13

in order to be able to

1:09:15

help fund them once they graduated

1:09:17

high school. So we started. I

1:09:20

started, I worked all the overtime

1:09:22

I could, she was tutoring on

1:09:24

the side and I started selling

1:09:27

everything I could get my hands

1:09:29

on and that kind of became,

1:09:31

took a life of its own

1:09:34

on and I've kind of put

1:09:36

a book together on selling things

1:09:38

on Facebook Marketplace now. I love

1:09:40

it! I ended up with a

1:09:43

little bit of an alter ego

1:09:45

and so now I've got a

1:09:47

book finishing up in the... phases

1:09:50

of editing and design to good

1:09:52

for you to publish soon. Yeah

1:09:54

for you. All right. So all

1:09:56

210,000 was the house or what?

1:09:59

there was there other debt mixed

1:10:01

in? Just the house. So, you

1:10:03

know, what did you have to,

1:10:06

what mindset did you have to

1:10:08

have? Because a lot of people

1:10:10

would go, you're crazy. Like, you're

1:10:12

sacrificing to this level to pay

1:10:15

off your house. Can't you just,

1:10:17

you know, keep it around like

1:10:19

the rest, you know, how did

1:10:22

you combat that in your mind?

1:10:24

You know, we just, we just

1:10:26

decided that we didn't. We didn't

1:10:28

want to live as a slave

1:10:31

to anybody. I know that's right.

1:10:33

And so we just really buckled

1:10:35

down and decided just doesn't matter

1:10:38

what anybody's saying. We're ready to

1:10:40

be weird and oh and everything

1:10:42

that we've got. We got rid

1:10:45

of any and all car loans

1:10:47

and people thought that was crazy

1:10:49

because that's normal. Right. And that

1:10:51

really was huge. Yeah. And it

1:10:54

all started. The spark that lit

1:10:56

the flame was the oh crap

1:10:58

moment on college. Yeah, exactly. But

1:11:01

what's so cool about that though

1:11:03

is that once our kids graduated

1:11:05

high school, they both actually... chose

1:11:07

trade school, our son's a diesel

1:11:10

mechanic in Idaho, and our daughter

1:11:12

is in cosmetology, but there's tons

1:11:14

of scholarships out there for trade

1:11:17

school. Like for example, Mike Rowe

1:11:19

funded probably the biggest piece of

1:11:21

pie for our son. Oh, wow.

1:11:23

To go to... With Micro Works.

1:11:26

Yes. With Micro Works. Yeah. And

1:11:28

so... Mike's a good friend. That's

1:11:30

a wonderful, wonderful program they've got.

1:11:33

Yeah. Amazing program. Yes. Yeah. So

1:11:35

both the kids... We just started

1:11:37

discovering that there's a lot of

1:11:39

scholarships out there for trade school.

1:11:42

And so it's helped them be

1:11:44

able to continue with some of

1:11:46

the extra money that they didn't

1:11:49

have to spend on tuition to

1:11:51

be able to get started in

1:11:53

their adult life. That's exciting. Wow,

1:11:55

very cool. What are you going

1:11:58

to do to celebrate? Well, we

1:12:00

came to Nashville. So we're going

1:12:02

to... We're gonna do some more

1:12:05

traveling. And then just try to

1:12:07

give back, you know. Now the

1:12:09

savor over here. Where are you

1:12:12

buying the savor? Because the savor

1:12:14

needs some. She's learned to spend

1:12:16

money. She's learned to spend a

1:12:18

little more now. Good. Yeah. We've

1:12:21

been completely debt free for about

1:12:23

six months now. And I'm turning

1:12:25

into this spender because... No, you're

1:12:28

not. You just rely. What'd you

1:12:30

get? What'd you get? What'd you

1:12:32

get? What'd you get? Well, I

1:12:34

drive a 2020 Lexus. That's not

1:12:37

bad. But he drives. She's like

1:12:39

you were saying about Sharon. She

1:12:41

drives the gray car. I don't

1:12:44

care what I drive. I've got

1:12:46

a 1990s. She almost couldn't answer

1:12:48

the question. Yeah, she was struggling.

1:12:50

I've got a 1996 F-250. Now,

1:12:53

how many times that been read

1:12:55

on? It's in the process still

1:12:57

it's been a slow go. I

1:13:00

got a feeling this is not

1:13:02

a junk truck. It's a baby

1:13:04

Yeah, okay, the pavement princess my

1:13:06

son calls it All right, I'm

1:13:09

thinking princess. That's funny Well done

1:13:11

very fun you guys congratulations. We're

1:13:13

so proud of you. Thank you

1:13:16

baby steps millionaires 47 couple million

1:13:18

dollar net worth and by the

1:13:20

way folks as a teacher and

1:13:23

a fireman Just write that down

1:13:25

Making 180 to 250 between them.

1:13:27

They took on extra jobs did

1:13:29

everything and the house went up

1:13:32

in value dramatically While they were

1:13:34

paying off the house in dramatic

1:13:36

fashion. So all of these all

1:13:39

of this dramatic happens together here

1:13:41

There's a whole whole series of

1:13:43

formulas happening at the same time

1:13:45

in this story that are all

1:13:48

beautiful and the main one is

1:13:50

that you guys looked in the

1:13:52

mirror and said we're not doing

1:13:55

this anymore And that changes everything

1:13:57

I'm so proud of y'all well

1:13:59

done. How's a feel to be

1:14:01

free? Unbelievable. It's amazing. Yeah. We

1:14:04

ever go back? No, never. The

1:14:06

stress level is way too low

1:14:08

living like this to go back

1:14:11

to what it was. You know

1:14:13

you want to do? And even

1:14:15

our marriage, it just feels like

1:14:17

we've grown closer together and having

1:14:20

to communicate the budget each month

1:14:22

and consistently talking about upcoming expenses

1:14:24

and how we're going to afford

1:14:27

it and what should we do?

1:14:29

So that's really been a relationship

1:14:31

builder for us. Well, you get

1:14:33

to tell him which trip you're

1:14:36

going on next. Okay. It's what

1:14:38

happens at my house, I'm just

1:14:40

saying. All right, I love it.

1:14:43

Steve and Michelle, Lake Tahoe, Nevada,

1:14:45

$210,000. House and everything paid off,

1:14:47

$2.1 million debt-free net worth at

1:14:50

47. True Baby Steps millionaires, they

1:14:52

paid off the house in four

1:14:54

and a half years, making $180

1:14:56

to $250, count it down. Let's

1:14:59

hear a debt-free scream. Three, two,

1:15:01

one. We're debt-free! Jade,

1:15:09

mathematically speaking in America today, there

1:15:12

is no reason that everyone listening

1:15:14

to this cannot become a millionaire.

1:15:16

I agree. I agree. I agree.

1:15:18

It's very possible. Wholeheartedly. Those two

1:15:21

are very sharp individuals. Yeah, they

1:15:23

are. But neither one of them

1:15:25

are doctors or lawyers. Neither one

1:15:27

of them have an expensive, whatever.

1:15:29

That's right. They just work. And

1:15:32

they believed they could do it

1:15:34

and did it on purpose instead

1:15:36

of consumed and consumed and consumed

1:15:38

That's right. They looked up and

1:15:40

said toys are not the answer

1:15:43

he with the most toys when

1:15:45

he dies is dead Excellent stuff

1:15:47

guys proud of y'all well done.

1:15:49

This is the Ramsey show All

1:16:15

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1:17:10

to get on this now. You

1:17:12

can file an extension. Some states

1:17:14

have been given extensions by the

1:17:16

IRS this week due to natural

1:17:18

disaster. But if you're not in

1:17:20

one of those, it's time to

1:17:22

file your taxes. And an extension.

1:17:24

We'll give, not the IRS extension

1:17:26

for natural disaster, but a normal

1:17:28

extension does not keep you from

1:17:30

owing the taxes. The taxes are

1:17:32

still due now, and the penalties

1:17:34

and the interest will kick in

1:17:36

now if you don't pay the

1:17:38

taxes, even if you file an

1:17:40

extension. The extension is only to

1:17:42

file on filing your taxes. Again,

1:17:44

that's a normal extension, not one

1:17:46

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1:17:48

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1:18:05

gonna do this so fast it's

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1:18:09

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1:18:11

denial is not a strategy it's

1:18:13

a river okay So, in Egypt,

1:18:15

so you need to check that

1:18:17

out. Get your taxes done. Ramsey

1:18:19

solutions.com/Smart Tax. Jasmine is with us

1:18:21

in Washington DC. Hi Jasmine, how

1:18:23

are you? Hi Dave, how are

1:18:25

you? I'm good. Good, how can

1:18:27

we help? Hey, so actually, you

1:18:29

mentioning the taxes, but precipitated this

1:18:31

whole entire question. So I realize

1:18:33

through doing my taxes that I

1:18:35

had paid about. 8.8k in interest

1:18:37

this year and then I got

1:18:39

a little bit of a return

1:18:41

but not 8.8k back and I've

1:18:43

always heard a lot of people

1:18:45

say like oh like your interest

1:18:47

is like a tax write-off and

1:18:49

I've been thinking about paying my

1:18:51

mortgage off quite a bit so

1:18:53

the numbers basically I have one

1:18:55

65,000 on my principal I have

1:18:57

185 currently in a high-yield savings

1:18:59

account. That's not all my savings.

1:19:02

I do have about $40K in

1:19:04

a Roth IRA. I don't have

1:19:06

other debt. No, I don't have

1:19:08

any car payment. What's your household

1:19:10

income? It's just me. I'm about

1:19:12

$131 a year. I'm 30. Good

1:19:14

for you. Well done. Yeah, great

1:19:16

job. Okay, so you owe $165.

1:19:18

You have $185 in the high-yield

1:19:20

savings plus other money. You have

1:19:22

no debt. You make $131. And

1:19:24

your question is, should I pay

1:19:26

off my mortgage because somebody said

1:19:28

I need the tax deduction for

1:19:30

the interest rate? Well, it's that,

1:19:32

but my other concerns are just

1:19:34

the... six months that I have

1:19:36

I that leaves me with about

1:19:38

20 k I've always had like

1:19:40

30 at my six months savings

1:19:42

just that you said you had

1:19:44

40 in the other account that's

1:19:46

in my Roth IRA oh I

1:19:48

see so why couldn't you why

1:19:50

couldn't you leave the amount in

1:19:52

your high-yield savings that you would

1:19:54

denote as your what makes you

1:19:56

comfortable within the three to six

1:19:58

month range pay off what you

1:20:00

can and then cash flow the

1:20:02

rest wait why would three months

1:20:04

not be 30 k no I

1:20:06

did six six months sorry I

1:20:08

know but why would three months

1:20:10

three to six months? In my

1:20:13

head I think I'm just like

1:20:15

an over like your really good

1:20:17

saver like I want to feel

1:20:19

safe that that's there like I

1:20:21

know at one point I definitely

1:20:23

so much are you paying on

1:20:25

your house every month my mortgage

1:20:27

is 14 a little bit more

1:20:29

than 14 more than my HOA

1:20:31

is 400 so about 1850 if

1:20:33

you want to pay extra on

1:20:35

it. I do. I honestly pay

1:20:37

like I mean it just depends

1:20:39

on spurts of like I like

1:20:41

to see my numbers even so

1:20:43

if it says it's at like

1:20:45

16.527 I'm going to pay 527

1:20:47

extra just to keep numbers in.

1:20:49

But you average paying about 500

1:20:51

bucks a month extra on a

1:20:53

1400 principal interest payment plus HOA

1:20:55

right? I would say yeah, that's

1:20:57

pretty fair. So $2,000 a month

1:20:59

could go into a savings account

1:21:01

if you didn't know this payment,

1:21:03

right? Yeah, yeah, you have a

1:21:05

point. Now plus your other savings

1:21:07

that you're already doing. Yes. How

1:21:09

long has it taken you to

1:21:11

build this 185? So I did

1:21:13

maybe not the smartest thing back

1:21:15

in December. I did end up

1:21:17

two of my... For one case

1:21:19

I did end up passing those

1:21:22

out because I've been thinking about

1:21:24

doing this mortgage payoff But it

1:21:26

was only about 67 that was

1:21:28

from there and then the rest

1:21:30

was just I'm 30. So you

1:21:32

took 67,000 you cashed out a

1:21:34

$67,000 401k with the thought that

1:21:36

you might pay off your mortgage

1:21:38

with it? Yeah, you know you're

1:21:40

gonna get it. Have you filed

1:21:42

your taxes yet? I get that's

1:21:44

you got destroyed. So I don't

1:21:46

know. I put more... Okay, so

1:21:48

that was what I netted from

1:21:50

that 401k withdrawal. Yeah, but I

1:21:52

mean you got destroyed. They taxed

1:21:54

you. 10% plus your tax rate.

1:21:56

So you got hit with a

1:21:58

$30,000 tax bill for doing that

1:22:00

crap. Yeah. Oh my God. Did

1:22:02

you foresee that? Did you know

1:22:04

that that was going to happen?

1:22:06

I did. in my head I

1:22:08

feel like I should have called

1:22:10

you guys before I did that

1:22:12

yeah we would have yelled I

1:22:14

could have would have I guess

1:22:16

what I guess what I was

1:22:18

trying to understand is you did

1:22:20

that knowing the implications of it

1:22:22

but yet you're still like wait

1:22:24

but now I'm unsure about paying

1:22:26

off the mortgage at this point

1:22:28

you better be sure and just

1:22:31

gone and do it yeah you

1:22:33

took the hit for it you

1:22:35

need to write a check tonight

1:22:37

pay off the mortgage okay I

1:22:39

mean otherwise it was all for

1:22:41

not okay If you paid the

1:22:43

tax bill, no you've already, you're

1:22:45

withholding it so stinking high. Have

1:22:47

you adjusted your withholding back down

1:22:49

now that the taxes are cleared?

1:22:51

No I haven't done that. I

1:22:53

need to adjust that back down

1:22:55

so you got more money coming

1:22:57

home. You have a ton of

1:22:59

money coming home. You have a

1:23:01

ton of money coming home from

1:23:03

the adjusted W-4 and then you're

1:23:05

going to because you've been over

1:23:07

withholding to cover this ridiculous mistake

1:23:09

and you're not going to have

1:23:11

a house payment anymore after tonight.

1:23:13

So, write a check tonight and

1:23:15

pay off your mortgage, honey. And

1:23:17

never borrow from your 401k again.

1:23:19

Never, never cash out your 401k.

1:23:21

Ever. Until you absolutely have to

1:23:23

have it for food. But other

1:23:25

than that, don't cash it out.

1:23:27

No. No, no, no, no, no,

1:23:29

no. No, no. Now, and here's

1:23:31

the thing. I've been doing this

1:23:33

35 years. I've told people for

1:23:35

35 years, pay off your mortgage.

1:23:37

You know the number of hate

1:23:40

letters I have gotten or critical

1:23:42

calls from people that said, I

1:23:44

paid off my mortgage, Dave Ramsey,

1:23:46

I hate you. Zero. Zero. We

1:23:48

can bail our hate mail from

1:23:50

ridiculous trollish morons. We get stacks

1:23:52

of stuff in here every day

1:23:54

criticizing everything we do. But no

1:23:56

one that has actually been the

1:23:58

person who paid off their mortgage

1:24:00

has ever complained about paying off

1:24:02

their mortgage. I've never had one

1:24:04

complaint on that. Now I have

1:24:06

a lot of complaints with a

1:24:08

lot of people that have theories

1:24:10

about a lot of things. And

1:24:12

they're broke people with money theories,

1:24:14

which is actually kind of cute.

1:24:16

But no one who's actually been

1:24:18

the person that paid off the

1:24:20

mortgage goes. Oh, that was a

1:24:22

huge mistake I shouldn't have done

1:24:24

that I'll never build wealth now

1:24:26

They all call me back and

1:24:28

go this is the smartest thing

1:24:30

I've ever done in my life

1:24:32

Well, I mean pay it off

1:24:34

tonight if you say you pay

1:24:36

off your house and you hate

1:24:38

it You can always get another

1:24:40

mortgage exactly Just run get you

1:24:42

another one if you hate being

1:24:44

out of debt call the bank

1:24:46

up. They'll help you. They'll love

1:24:49

to help people like that I've

1:24:51

never heard of it. I was

1:24:53

laying awake at night because debt

1:24:55

free was keeping me up. And

1:24:57

so I had to go get

1:24:59

a mortgage. I've never had that

1:25:01

call. I've gotten some crazy butt

1:25:03

calls on this show in 35

1:25:05

years, but I've never gotten that

1:25:07

call. I've never gotten that call.

1:25:09

I've never gotten that call. I've

1:25:11

never heard it. That's one we

1:25:13

don't get. So my point is,

1:25:15

Jasmine, you're going to feel so

1:25:17

different. You're going to breathe deeper

1:25:19

than you've ever breathed in your

1:25:21

life. What you think, the feeling

1:25:23

of security, you think you're getting

1:25:25

from that savings account, I'm going

1:25:27

to ten exit and say that's

1:25:29

the feeling you're going to get

1:25:31

from that. having a

1:25:33

paid a paid-for It's

1:25:35

wonderful. People do

1:25:37

not equate not

1:25:39

same the same that are

1:25:41

That's wonderful. But

1:25:43

savers even discover

1:25:45

that debt freedom

1:25:47

takes a weight

1:25:49

off of you of

1:25:51

you like business. Yeah,

1:25:53

you can start

1:25:55

you ,000 a month

1:25:57

and a year

1:26:00

you'll have another

1:26:02

a ,000 in there

1:26:04

have years you'll

1:26:06

have another $120 ,000

1:26:08

in there, are up,

1:26:10

counting the other

1:26:12

stuff you do.

1:26:14

not counting the Way

1:26:16

to go, do. I'm

1:26:18

proud of you.

1:26:20

Jasmine, I'm it off

1:26:22

tonight. you. Pay it off

1:26:24

tonight.