The Best Calls of the Year So Far (Part 5)

Anna or Anna is with us in Los Angeles. Hi. How are you?

So I've been working for some time now and I Thought I did a okay job for building up my personal wealth, But I also like to hear your opinion about how I'm doing this far.

And one thing. I don't know what what I was thinking, but I did take out a home equity line, the purpose of purchasing other properties. So far, I've been paying it off the highest. It was close to six hundred thousand. But based on my calculation, that's back in 2019 and I should be able to pay that off, completely off by next year.

I mean, what's your plan?

So sounds like because I, like you, keep buying rentals with more debt.

when you get in the real estate business, one of the things they do is they take a hammer and they break your risk meter. We don't even know how to measure risk once we're in that business, because we just buy crap. I mean, it's just like we go get a getting a mortgage. it to buy an investment property is like. That's the only way to do it.

in our minds. You can't do it. You can't do it. People in the real estate business really believe that it's just not true, but we believe it to be true. so But what you're starting to feel, the weight of the risk that you've taken on that no one in your world talks about.

But you're starting to feel it, and that's what how you ended up talking to us. So yeah, what are these properties worth total? You owe a million on them. What are they worth total?

You don't use home equity loans ever again. You don't borrow again to do that because you've got great cash flow when you have no mortgages And that that's gonna be the way to go. Yeah, it's gonna be a really great position out there. So now I'm curious, Dave, so you wouldn't sell? why not sell one of the houses and knock it out that way?

No, it's what I'm saying. Okay, I'll pick out one of those property, All right, and and or the income. but I'm in the end, if it takes you two years to do this and instead of a month, Right, that's okay. Okay, there's nothing on fire. Yeah, but you do want to aim at having a debt-free portfolio and Aim at and stick with the promise to yourself that any additions to the portfolio we're doing with cash Yeah, as soon as we get first and foremost get to debt-free.

Then when we add something later, we're going to do that with, You know, without borrowing money to do that. and folks, I understand that the get-rich-quick real estate world and borrow all you can on real estate out there is out there. it's always been out there and I understand it's real hot again. that tic-tac has made it really a big thing again and You guys get on there and there's all these goobers on there that have no life history, That you know, they're 14 years old and they're buying houses and I guess he's figured it's a bunch of crap, you don't? I mean When I was 22 years old out of college, I started buying houses, nothing down.

I Bought four million dollars worth. I had a 1 million dollar net worth by the time. I was 24 years old. I made $250,000 cash taxable income doing flips in 1984. That's $20,000 a month in 1984.

You don't put that in today's dollars. That's a half million dollars a year. Okay. No, I don't know what neighborhood you grew up in, but the neighborhood I grew up in we call that rich. It was fun.

I was having a blast Until I found out about risk and the banks called our notes And we spent the next two and a half years of our life losing everything we owned. we were sued, we were foreclosed on and with a brand-new baby, a toddler and a marriage hanging on by a thread because my poor Wife thought she had married sir. Galahad turns out it was goober.

and There we were bankrupt and at 28 years old. I got the opportunity to start completely over, Because I followed the exact same Crap you people are seeing on Instagram and tick-tock, and you're all walking around acting like you're smart. You're not. you're straight-up, freaking stupid. Quit doing it.

I Walked it and don't tell me you know what listen. a man with an experience is not at the mercy of a man with an Opinion. this is ridiculous. you guys, I've walked the exact path that some of you are signing up for right now. now, not her.

She's got a different situation. She's moving away from the debt. She's calling about that, but this zero down, nothing down. I'm gonna get rich in real estate is Absolute bullcrap, broke. people shouldn't buy real estate.

It makes them broker. That's why they call them brokers. This is the Ramsey show.

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I started my freshman year of college and I've been day trading for about a year and a half. My closest one, of my closest friend, is a up and coming hedge fund manager, So I get a little bit of information from him, but I'm mainly an investor. about a Year ago, a year and a half ago, before I started really day trading. I was only a referee. That's my only job I have because I'm in college.

So I might make $500 in a weekend and I would take Probably about $300 out of that 500 and put it into we bull to invest and then just keep the other 200 to live off. and I'll just keep doing that. and at one point I asked my mom for $3,000 because my arm, my father, had just paid all of our child Support at one time, myself a year. It was $40,000 and I was still trying to you know.

Why do I need money? Yeah, did you lose all your money? Yes, so you suck at day trading and you want her to give you money. Not really, because, yeah, really, you lost all your money. you suck at it.

I don't have any money in my brokerage account, So I took the rest of it out because I didn't want to go any lower. for how much money?

Let me give you the numbers on this. Okay.

20 year old day traders who referee. it's the numbers approaching a hundred percent.

Mm-hmm don't do this anymore.

And your mother's right. no, she should not give you money. I would not give you money Because you're gonna lose it.

It Gives me more money to invest. at a certain point. My mom told me, like her mindset, She nobody in the family investor does any of this good? Cuz, I don't want to like. you told me that I was stupid.

She's right. No, I was. I was first investing. This is what she told me that I was dumb for investing or taking half my paycheck in this investment. But I I recently just found out day trading and at first I didn't day trade.

So that's where it had brought me up the amount of money. I bought some as Dow Coles and bought some.

You are, you are the recipe of a disaster. sir. Please don't do this anymore. Your mom is right. She smells a rat and it's you're gonna hurt yourself.

son. Stop it. I don't think I'm gonna talk you out of it, because I think you're convinced yourself, but dude, I mean Listen, if eight out of ten people that walk down the street Named a street get attacked by a bear and killed, Don't walk down a street.

I Mean this is it? it's not. I mean. Why do I think that? what am I going to get a bear suit?

I mean, no. I mean don't walk down a street. eight out of ten people that walk down the street, a bear kills them. Son, that's what I'm telling you, you know, and please don't act like you're different.

Boom. Oh my gosh, this this and that. It's not gonna bring that, but it's gonna bring a level of stability and build a really great financial life for yourself by starting Great habits. I'm like just slow down. if you have debt, Dennis, pay it off, Have some cash in the bank to save.

I mean you're hot, you, you hustle, you, you're looking for opportunity. It's just your momentum and your focus is just geared in a way That's really risky and you're not going to come out better on the other end.

I had a friend that was in a hedge fund and a guy comes to me. He goes. Hey, my buddy over here has been doing gold trades and we're gonna buy some futures. on the gold trades, the last 11 times that he has picked the future date and our purchase rate on the thing. And if we put in 5,000 bucks, we'll get 50,000 out.

the last he's 11 for 11 on his last five. Guess what? I put in 5,000 bucks, the twelfth one. He missed, Which means you lose the whole 5,000 bucks. Mm-hmm.

You either get 50 or you get nothing. That's how that works. So that was my gold investment. because I'm just as stupid and dumb. I mean just as everybody else.

I had to try it because I'm smarter than everybody else. Let me tell you, pride goes right before the fall. Once you think you find somebody's got it all figured out and they got a system. Yeah, bullcrap, Okay, the only system that works is long-term Investing in long-term track record things where 80 90% of the people doing it make money, Not where 80 90% of people lose money, and you think you're the freaking exception. This is how Vegas is operated.

Everybody thinks they're the exception, and that's why Bellagio has nicer furniture in their lobby than you do, Because you paid for it, you people that thought you were smarter than the house. That's why they have Chalouie or whatever. that Architect is crazy. What is the name of that famous sculpture that does the light? Oh, I know Chalouie or whatever lighting in the lobby of massive blown glass.

Yeah, probably, probably, truly, truly. Is that it? The guys in the booth are trying to help me with my hillbilly, but yeah, it's like a million-dollar Fantastic right over the run over, right over where you check in and guess who paid for that. stupid people, That's who paid for that. Okay, people that thought they were gonna beat the house.

I'm a 50-50 story. Oh god help us. you and Dennis go invest together.

Yes, and thank you for earning some extra money and so. But I think your mom is a precious lady. I love her. She's got some sense. mom.

Don't give Dennis any money There you go, Not for day trading. Sorry, Dennis, you didn't get what you wanted here. But you will always get the truth, because we love you and we don't want to lie to you. We want you to have a good life. And so we're always going to tell you the truth, Even if it's fun, this is the Ramsey show.

Dr. John Deloney Ramsey personality is my co-host today. John. in quotes. That's not his real name.

In other words, From Louisville, Kentucky, not his real place. in quotes, big secret call coming in. So John.

Well, the first thing I did when, when I found out that a one was, was research, and it said

Lately.

And then I'll and then I'll let them know. yeah, I'm not, I'm not gonna keep it from them forever, But like, you know our parents and stuff. We haven't told any of them We had. we had another incident about a month after we won the lottery Incident. I don't want to call it.

my wife's great-uncle passed away.

have you got a decent car I?

Do you hate it? Ridiculous, you know, it's not. I know actually. that's why I'm there, cuz I kind of like my job. Okay, for you.

I think you should. I don't working. Yeah, yeah, it's gonna make you a better employee, because we have you've gotten some great investment advice. I.

They're. they're doing well, doing a job good. I like everything you're doing, And it's not. it's not anyone else's business. Right.

That's what I hope, and I don't think you're being like Hermit in a cave weird, Unabomber, weird or something like that. but I think you're just being wise, because what you have at what you've Discerned is that some of the people in your life could not handle the equation.

Rose, Rachel was born. So by the time, Rachel 16, it's, you know, 17 years since the bankruptcy and we had, you know, I was a multi-millionaire again, Okay, we could buy whatever car we wanted to buy. we could go on whatever vacation We wanted to go on, and it wouldn't affect us. We had good money. Okay, but the kids had no idea.

and our kids had a double problem. one is their dad's in the spotlight, and Everybody knows us right, because we're known in the community And talks about money. no duh. And if they had that and they knew that we had millions of dollars as a teenager, I don't think they could have processed it. So they did not know.

they knew we were okay with money. They knew we have the principles that we teach and we made them live the principles that we teach. But they did not know X number of dollars was the net worth, right? I only disclosed that to them after they graduated from college, and I involved their spouses, because by that time two of them were married, and So I sat down with three of my kids and two spouses five of them and we started Unpacking what our estate plan looks like, because they're adults at that point and I told him up front, I said listen, Here's the deal. We don't own anything at our house.

We're people of faith. So God owns a bunch of stuff. He's asked us to manage more than you know, And you're getting ready to know now, and you get to decide how you're going to react to that. Are you going to react and continue to be productive and generous people, or are you gonna be, in using your words? And I'll never forget it a waiter, right?

Because if you're a waiter, you're not going to get access to any of this. We're gonna take it away from you, Because God wants you to be productive. He wants you to be whole, He wants you to be excellent in the marketplace, and he doesn't want this to destroy you. He wants you to have the opportunity to serve a lot of people with this wealth, including my grandkids to come. and so, as for me, in my house, we serve the Lord, and It's not our money.

It's his. we're managing it for him and someday you will take over the management, But you will not become the owner. if you think you're the owner, You won't get to take over the management and we. that's how I unpacked it And then, when I unpacked it, I was really pleased that they weren't freaks and they've continued to live really good adult lives, and it's not ruined of them That their dad has. you know, dad and mom have a bunch of money that they manage, you know, so all that.

So I think you can start to build some lessons into your teenagers now, So that in five years, when you have that conversation, they're ready to shoulder the weight of it. What do you think, John? All right. Yeah.

And when they it's kind of like those movies, you get to the end and it like the sixth sense, right? And it goes. dude, you realize, oh, no, I missed the whole story. and now I have the whole story. one day, when you sit down and say, hey, I'm, you know that school that I paid for, and you know, you and your wife are about to buy a house, I'm gonna pay for your mortgage, and here's actually what we're sitting on.

and here's I like who. I'm honored by who you have become. They're gonna go. oh man, I picked up all these lessons from my mom and my dad. They're also gonna learn that money isn't what makes it isn't your identity, your identities and being a great dad, It's a guy who still got up and went to work.

It's a guy who still kept the same Toyota that he'd already paid with cash before it. like you're doing everything. So, right, It's so healthy. It's amazing. You're healthy.

Yeah, man.

My sister called me the other day and said what was your big splurge, and my answer was patio furniture. I'm not a big flashy guy. Well, I think you need to increase gradually the enjoyment of this money. You know not to not, but not in the name of the secret. not a name.

the spoke exposing the secret. But you need to increase the enjoyment and you need to increase your generosity factor Systematically. you need to say. All right, this year. We're gonna spend $400,000 on this or that.

create some neat memories with your kids. Yeah, do some things intentionally with this, without just kind of Rolling up an extra million bucks into the budget this year. You don't have to do that. Although you've got it, but yeah.

That's a NetSuite comm slash Ramsey.

Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey personality, open phones, a triple-a, 8 to 5, 5, 2 to 5. you jump in and we'll talk about your life and your money. Joe is with us in Springfield. Hey, Joe, welcome to the Ramsey show.

Well, I bought a new one earlier this year, And so my question number one is should I sell that truck and downgrade, get something a little bit more economical? So that I can pay it all?

No, I have. I have about 40 in the bank right now.

My wife kind of lives yellow. I kind of live like a. we might live to be 500 and It's just. it's been 15 years of just kind of. we've sat down and we put budgets together and it just did that.

it doesn't stick on one end and it does on one, and just kind of learned to compromise to keep the marriage happy and.

well, that's funny and we shouldn't know. we don't have to. You move on, you know, you can either dwell on it or you can just move on and and then you borrowed $40,000 truck.

Yes, well, I'm a sales guy, So I have to have a truck less than three years old and so many miles. I get paid 850 a month for my truck allowance and whether you have a car or not,

That's right, and that's where I would rather talk to 850 and throw it on the house. We're in great situation on the house. house is worth about six, six in a corner. We're down to about 270 on it.

you're just a quarter. No, you haven't, you guys, it's not fixed. What do you? but what do you do? Well, I think you need.

if you can't, if you and your wife can't sit down and dream about a future that you're willing to control yourselves for, Because you're not controlling yourself, You have no self-control in your household. if you, the two of you, can't find a house or a dream, Then, in high definition, that the two of you can agree to that is worth Working towards together and worth not spending everything we make to cause it to happen. Then you do need to sit down with a marriage counselor, if that's the case.

and I feel like you and I are full and pulling further and further and further apart, and I love you too much to be frustrated at you all the time, because I know that's hard to live with, and I love you too much For us to pretend that we're all joyful and happy once a year at Christmas and we've tried to throw money at our friends and family Instead of being a warm, safe place for them to come land. Would you build something different with me? that's a different conversation than honey. Look at my spreadsheet. Look at this.

if you just would do this, then we could get out of this crap. One of those. she's gonna go to her defense and that defense is probably way older than you And that's probably been there since she was a little kid and then you go to your defense because she starts bombing you back. And it's different when you take ownership and say I want my wife and I want a family, that I want to unificate, a unified Front here. I want a unified vision of what we're gonna do, and I'm scared to death.

I'm gonna lose you.

That is just absurd to me. My brain can't do it anymore. My mind can't do it, Psyche, my spirit can't do it anymore. So we've got to develop a plan for the future that we're both willing to work towards, and I want to do that with you. Let's start fresh, a fresh a reset.

not, we've got to get on a budget So that. but that will lead you, by the way, to a budget, and it's not a spreadsheet budget, It's an every dollar budget, but it'll lead you to the two of you working together to Implement the plan that you have agreed to together, that both of you had a vote in I.

I've tried to fix you. I'm sorry, Let me tell you the truth. I'm scared to death and there's a different. there's a different approach there. Someone can enter into your space that way instead of having to swing back at you.

It's tough.

So, um, there you go And the 850 is coming in, whether you have a truck payment or not, so that doesn't justify it. our question of the day is sponsored by neighborly, your hub for home services. Most American homes have dozens of appliances and chances are, at any given time, something wrong with at least one of them. Mr. Appliance, a neighborly brand, offers expert appliance service on your schedule.

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He has a bad habit of going to the ATM to withdraw money several times a week. a lot of times It leaves me with a balance too low to pay his bills. I've had numerous talks threatened to stop helping, etc, etc. He apologizes, apologizes and promises to do better than in a few weeks. He's right back to the same situation.

I don't want to be disrespectful to him. But is it real? It's really stressing me out. What do you recommend I do?

Yeah, you're making this too hard. You're sabotaging everything. I'm trying to do to help you.

So I'm either gonna turn this over to you or you can hand me your ATM card. Yeah, that's easy. Yeah, I can fix that, and it's not a flex, and it's not. it's not showing your muscles, It's just saying hey, I'm choosing to not do this anymore. I can't?

you know, this is, this is an absurd dog chasing It's tails keep pulling you out of the pool and you just keep jumping in if you want to stay in there.

and And see, it's so cyclical. Yeah, it's a, it's circular. here. It's a dance. The whole thing is circular.

It's ridiculous.

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey solutions, it's the Ramsey show where we help people build wealth, Do work that they love and create actual, amazing relationships. George Camel, Ramsey, Personality co-host of the smart money happy hour, is my co-host today. open phones at triple eight, eight, two, five, five, two, two, five. That's triple, eight, eight, two, five, five, two, two, five. Paul is with us in Minneapolis.

Hey, Paul, Welcome to the Ramsey show.

Okay. Why is this one different?

Well, we're, my wife and I are both retired, uh-huh, I'm 61, she's 58.. We retired with the mortgage and I've got a number of different opinions from our financial guy. I've got friends that work in the finance industry. I worked for a bank in 30 years and I guess just looking for another opinion, Maybe one with a little bit more credence, and some of the others I guess.

I guess it just Okay, let me rephrase the question. Maybe a better question is if we decide to do this, is it a process over multiple years to ease a tax burden? do we just bite the bullet and Take a hit and do it once, or how?

So.

What's your mortgage payment?

Good. What's your mortgage payment right now?

You wouldn't go borrow on a paid-for house in order to have more money to invest. And so write a check and sleep better tomorrow tonight, pay it off tonight, hit the submit button and then, when you go and you get the Mortgage release in the mail, make a copy of it. Take your shoes off, walk into the backyard, have a mortgage burning party and tell me that didn't feel good.

I Know downside to this. You know, you're a million. you're gonna. you'll be okay either way if you don't follow our advice, if you follow those idiots advice. But if I've got a financial person that's telling me to stay in debt, I'm getting a new financial person.

Period because, George, we studied a hundred ten thousand one hundred sixty seven millionaires. the number of them that told us that they became wealthy Because they borrowed on their home in order to invest was precisely zero. none of them Leveraged their personal residence to build their wealth. none of them. And so the idea that I continue to leverage my personal residence in the name of building wealth is an asinine Based on the millionaire data.

Well, we're seeing so much more of this because people have the record low mortgage rates They don't want to let go of. Dave. Yeah, I have my mortgage, you know, but I got your mortgage rate beat. You know what? My mortgage rate is.

It's a great feeling, Instead of worrying about what the markets doing. So yes, it hurts to write that check and lose that much money lose quote-unquote But you never really had it if you owed it to the lender in the first place. Paul, pay it off son, pay it off You're. there's a bunch of intangibles that you're not even considering in this decision. you're still acting like it's primitive math, Or at least the idiots advising you are.

so you're gonna sleep different. your wife's gonna look at you like a hero. Never, never once have we had a wife said, you know, my husband borrowed deeply on our mortgage and he's my hero never came up. I love the Kermit vibe. She had.

Miss piggy meets Kermit. Oh, well, it's best. I can hear. Oh, it's the best I can do. And I, as with us are, is Anna or Anna.

It's Anna. I'm sure, and she's in Grand Rapids. Is it Anna? Is that right?

Thank you, yeah, so I couldn't have done it without you. so, Um, but I have my three, six months of expenses. I just finished that up and I'm wondering now if I should be investing my 15% or if I should Be saving for a wedding that my boyfriend and I are planning to have in about a year and a half. So I'm wondering if I'm waiting for that wedding. Okay, perfect.

Now. We got to put it on a credit card. For sure. Yeah. So what do you think you're gonna spend?

some have a detailed budget, Not a general goal. Lay it out. Okay, there's so much we're gonna spend on the photographer. There's so much we get on the dress. there's so much we spend on the Reception and Treat it.

I'm sorry, but treat it like a project. you're managing a project. You are so, you have a timeline, you have a budget and you, you know, you stick to it. What must be true? Well, we can't have that.

We got to have this instead. if you don't have a very specific thing, Then you'll line item deal, you'll get into a mess there, but that sounds reasonable. I would say for the wedding first.

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Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. Luna is in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hi, Luna. Welcome to the Ramsey show.

Hi, how are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up?

it's gonna be all on loans, but I don't even make over, like the threshold to make. You know, pays taxes. So I, I make next to nothing. my family all lives, paycheck to paycheck. But the one saving grace here is like my grandparents.

They have a trust And they say that I have 10% of it When they die, and I'm wondering like Is it possible to borrow from a trust or get it early, or what? What can I do? because I'm just looking to pay for my living expenses to college.

Not knowing what, what, what day, what, what direction is up or down.

He said I have to learn a whole bunch of them. So he makes fun of doctors and it's very difficult and Intellectually difficult. and and you love animals. Obviously, it becomes a man emotional process, too. So, Luna, the answer to your question is no, you cannot borrow on a trust unless the trust has Written into it the that option.

I'm gonna bet you that this one does not. and Can they release? who is the trust? your grandparents formed the trust for their money to leave to their grandkids?

I.

I Think it was down a little bit right now, but it was like 2.7 million dollars.

You no longer would be in the trust. Okay, He could choose to do that legally. You want me to tell you what I think's gonna happen. you're not gonna like it. Well, yeah, but I think your grandfather loves you.

I think your grandfather loves you and he's gonna see how fragile you are and that you're probably not in really good Emotional shape right now. to go, take on something like the Battle of vet school. It's gonna take a lot more strength than you've exhibited in this call to do that, and I'm not picking on you, honey. I think you've been hurt and you're still hurting, and I want you to have some healing and be going at vet school from strength rather than from weakness. and I Got a feeling your grandpa might say that.

does that sound like something? he might say?

I've walked them through their dissertation. I've worked with law students. I've worked with medical students like. I Need you to hear what Dave's saying that probably the greatest gift you could give yourself is to get a One, if not two, jobs where you are working really close with animals, because it's what you love.

and Do that hour in, hour out, day after day, week after week, month after month, and make sure.

We've only talked to you for two minutes, honey, But you sound very hurt and very fresh and very raw in talking to you. And that's not a. that's not saying you haven't done hard work already, But you've got some more. you got some more. healing to do is what it sounds like, and if we're wrong, we're wrong.

you go Do what you want to do, honey? You're a grown-up. You're allowed to do what you want to do. You called us and we're gonna tell you the truth, because we love you.

I've met with countless people over the years who are sick and tired of being overweight and They say today is the day like that I start. None of those folks are gonna be successful if the next day they start running a marathon, that's not how that works. They start walking around their neighborhood. They hire a personal trainer and slowly start lifting weights. It's a slow, gradual process.

It's gonna take time because you have to heal. you have to change your entire way of doing life and to build your muscle tone. That's right. You got to build your body. And so I want you to hear me a day, save, say later, not now.

Yeah, not, this is not. you can't do this number not, never, not right now, not right now, and.

Okay, let's clear something up. if you listen to the show for 10 seconds, you know We hate debt, and some people, just for some reason, don't hear that. I don't know what they think. you need debt and credit cards to build your credit because you need a credit score to buy a house, right. Wrong truth is, if you're living a debt-free lifestyle, eventually you won't have any credit score.

So when you're ready to buy a house, you got to find a good lender, like Churchill mortgage, Who can do what's called manual underwriting, and that's where they personally review your financial history to approve you for a mortgage, Like we did before. there was a FICO score. We actually made sure you had a freaking job and stuff. Wow, Yeah, so this way you get to avoid the whole credit score game where you borrow money to raise your score, So you can borrow money. so you can raise your score.

so you can borrow money. so you can raise your score. So you borrow money, so you can raise your score, So you borrow money. sounds like fun if you're a bank or a dog chasing its tail, that one too, Which are usually dizzy, No pun intended. It might sound crazy to some people, but the best plan for your future is avoid debt.

get a real estate agent. It will help you find a house You can actually afford, get it paid off as soon as possible, and we recommend agents who are Ramsey trusted. These are agents that are high octane, high protein. They didn't get their license last week and they're not your uncle, Charlie, who's guilt-tripping you. This is your freaking house.

It's the largest asset you have. so you can buy a house without a credit score and you can work with an absolute professional. and you need to Ramsey solutions comm slash agent to get a Ramsey trusted real estate agent. Ramsey solutions comm Agent Nathan in Oklahoma City. How are you?

I'm doing? well. How are you, Dave, better than I deserve? What's up?

And apart from that, I'm just, you know, kind of saving money and living living life every day, really. But I need a goal and my goal is to get more money, but that seems really kind of boring. Honestly, I mean just to do it that way, and I'm not a hundred percent sure.

And if you go screwing around with, get rich quick, trying to be cool, You're gonna lose all of the progress you have made And you got. you know, One of the things I ran into when I first started coaching wealthy people years ago was they had this latent Guilt like I've got two million dollars, but I don't feel like I'm doing it, right? Like there must be something sophisticated. These smart people are doing stuff I don't know how to do and they're the ones with the two million dollars and they're doing very simplistic, Primitive, basic things and they got wealthy. But they, you know, they certainly did not buy crypto Right, right.

They certainly are not doing nothing down tic-tac real estate, You know, they're. they're not trying to get rich quick. They're not trying to do a double, a Double helix backflip family partnership that they read about on Instagram, Because it's a surefired way to lose your butts. what it is, you know, I mean, come on. Yeah, so just what's just slow, You know, tortoise, the tortoise in the hair.

The hair was the sexy, cool one. He lost the race, the tortoise was ugly and.

steady and predictable and boring.

Please be boring. Well now, Dave. all of us tortoises don't have to be ugly now.

You've done, got personal, Dave? Well, yeah, no, and seriously, but the I mean, the point being the plan. Yeah, Is all all of your smart friends who are broke but wear clothes? they can't afford drive cars, They can't afford to go on vacations. They can't afford.

all of your smart friends will make fun of your tortoise. Right, that's right. But they're the sexy hairs. They're the ones that the rabbit. that's cool.

They light all the look, you know, they look like they got it all together and they got nothing, nothing, nothing, nada. It's almost like got a headache. That's all I got. It's almost like we want there to be like this Secret of the wealthy that only a few people can get their hands on. and then I really wanted that, because I'm really smart, Math, uh-huh.

And so I knew if it was complicated and difficult, I could do it. That must be it. Yeah, I would be able to do it. And so just show me the complicated double backflip barrel of fish hooks. Yeah, I'll get it.

I'll be able to do it. pride comes right before the fall, right before it. Nope, any, any Joe can do it. You just got to be steady, boring. You know.

what you can do is you can pay very close attention to your accounts, Mm-hmm, and Just go. Okay. Yeah, I'm gonna be steady, but I'm also gonna make sure that suckers maximizing. That's right. That is not gonna be 80d.

I'm not gonna take my hand off the wheel, hand off the wheel, hand off wheel, I'm gonna drive straight through, but I'm gonna be very diligent and go Okay, this, this accounts for this, this accounts for that, and I'm and I'm goal oriented, And those are things that you are, Nathan, that are very good. And obviously I Was being a little bit traumatic to make sure you got the message, but but you've done very well. Now I would also say, in his situation, We we recommend everybody work with a smartvest or pro or somebody with their investment. But a guy like him really needs that accountability To not get like, oh, the markets being weird, or I feel like I could. my guy told me about this thing over here.

I need to be trying. he's not gonna function in fear. He's gonna make. he's gonna make bad decisions. I agreed, Mm-hmm, That's where it's.

that's why I was stopping him on, because I know that guy cuz, I was him. Yeah, cuz, I cuz, I'm smart. I don't. this is too slow, You know, and and that's. that's about the time.

You're about to step on it. So just.

Jonathan's in Lexington, Kentucky. Hey Jonathan, what's up?

I have a project car that I've had for about three years now. I haven't been able to get much done on it, and I'm wondering if I should sell it.

I didn't ask that. I just said your goals have changed. I Probably love the car, but I don't have a goal of owning it because I don't even know what it is yet. But I probably like it. What is it?

31 Nissan 390x. really

That's pretty.

I Have new educational goals. I have investment goals. I have these other goals. when I bought the car. I didn't have those goals.

now I've got some competing goals and the cars further down on the list that I hear. that's it. Your priorities changed. Car car went down the list. Is that right, Jonathan?

Yeah, sell it just because you'd rather do other things. I think this is the Ramsey show.

Yep. Just 10 minutes. You've got this. pick up financial peace, kids at Ramsey solutions comm slash store. That's Ramsey solutions comm slash store.

How are you? I'm good. How are you guys better than we deserve? What's up?

We've been to court two times over custody issues, a lot of nonsense really. his dad's just really hard to get along with, And so. but in those two times it cost me around 20 to 25 thousand dollars in court, returning fees and everything else. So, and I'm trying to just gain some traction on.

Maybe preparing for that in the future, because I feel like it's not going away and Still being able to pay off my dad. I really just don't know what to do. Hmm. I'm sorry, Ashley, That's really yeah, that's a, that's a really hard situation. How much, how much money do you make a year?

So I work as much overtime as I can and I tried. Last year, I made around a hundred hundred thousand, and then this year. It's probably gonna be between 80 and 90.

All together is probably around 90,000 and it's a mixture of vehicles to the well, my vehicle alone and then, and I have some credit cards in a Line of credit at the bank. What do you owe in your car? At 25?

And.

I'm not sure. I can't think of anything else. That's only 45.. That's only.

It doesn't cost me anything, but we went in together to get it. so So your name is on the. is it on the deed, on the, on the loan, on the title of the truck? Yeah, yeah.

Oh.

He needed you to co-sign it.

No, no, he, I mean he's doing good with his money, you know, he. no, he's not. he took out a $50,000 truck loan.

Why are you on the loan?

Hopefully within the next year.

Nuts crazy. Yeah. Yeah. So, all right. So you're getting married.

when did you say? Probably within a year. Okay. Uh, why are you waiting?

Or don't, But don't wait around on some mythical Island to come sailing up some mythical ship to come sailing up to your island when everything is going to be right, Because the things you've been facing, part of your anxiety and part of the things you've been facing with mental health stuff, is Not just your ex. It's this pile of stuff on you and all of these.

Untied knots, knots that need to be tied. Okay, right. You don't have closure on anything, all these open-ended things. or there's open-ended, this, open-ended, that, open-ended, this. There's no closure anywhere, and that creates angst.

it creates anxiety. So Yeah, you've got to get some, some predictable order, not chaos. The more areas of your life you can get non chaos in, the faster. Your anxiety is going to drop. I'm not a mental health professional.

Dr. John Deloney is. I've just heard him say that. so I said it. Okay, but that's the truth.

okay, so, and these, you know, and the debt and the pile of debt you guys have, you have, and now you guys with this $50,000 truck, is part of where your anxiety is coming from, because you don't you feel trapped and now you're. you're worried about the Next time the crazy ex comes at you. How are we going to cover that? Meantime, I got a $48,000 truck note.

That's what I would tell you to do if I loved you, and I do so. I want you to do that. Okay, and then we want you to Take this wonderful income you have, and you have a fabulous career choice, Because you'll always have a job and you can always make money when you're a nurse. It's just a great job. And actually, I would sell your car.

work like crazy. people live on beans and rice, rice and beans. Get married and let's get the credit card debt paid off. I mean all of it.

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey solutions, it's the Ramsey show where we help people Build wealth, do work that they love and create actual, amazing relationships. Jade wash, all Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today. as we answer your questions about your life and your money, We're gonna talk about you right in front of you, baby, open phones at triple-8, 8 to 5, 5 to 2, 5. The call is free and some say it's worth exactly what you pay for it. Kim is with us.

Kim is in Asheville, North Carolina, starting off this hour. Hi, Kim. How are you? Hello, how are you better than I deserve? What's up?

So We had already paid him a large fee to use him for financial planning, And I guess my question is should this be of concern to us? We have discussed this with him. What did he say? He says that we don't understand what it's like to run our own business and Just basically was, you know, he was very rude about it and said his business would go on with or without us. Ooh.

But I mean, I'll just tell you, right, I almost feel like you open with that. if you're, if that's part of your story. That's what's informed you.

I'm walking. Yeah, I'm walking anyway. Asian. I'm walking anyway.

then they wanted to, you know. And then he unpacked it and found a vase that they were responsible for. they don't want to refund him for the broken vase, So he stops payment on the check. They sue him. Well, that's a valid story.

Sure.

and the bankruptcy was not I. you don't understand What it's like to run a business. the bankruptcy was I did some stupid, but things I learned from it And I'm not doing them anymore. The check was the moving company misbehaved and I used that as leverage and it got out of hand and they sued me, But they had no basis. that judge threw it out.

Yeah, he blamed his ex-wife for the bad check. I don't care. you see what I'm saying, that if you had gone that way, Then he would have redeemed his credibility if he'd have been smarter and done what Jade said and set up front What was going on? It's part of your story. That's fine.

Mm-hmm. That's fine. Mm-hmm.

Dave Ramsey got sued, But the basis of the lawsuits are zero, didn't, absolutely did not occur. But it doesn't matter. you can sue somebody for anything in America, so I don't mind telling you that that's happened. Okay? But I still got.

you know, I've still got. if you want to be pissed at Dave Ramsey Randomly, you can find places on the internet that I did all kinds of things. I didn't do.

He's defensive. He sounds like he's pointing the finger blaming. It doesn't sound like it's gonna be a fun work environment for you to work with.

Thank you should walk away, and you already had walked away, so you already knew the answer to the question. Yeah, she did. Well, I she probably wanted to know if there's some way she could force him to get the money back. I wouldn't put any effort into it. I just move on.

I don't think you're gonna turn him into not being a jerk. Yeah, I think he's already got that one down. Well, if he hasn't done any work for them yet in that capacity, Oh, I feel like a good person would say hey, you didn't know this. Here's your money back. even a not good person knows that some customers are worth more or more trouble than they're worth.

and if I'm her and I Disagree with her. I mean if I'm him and I disagree with her, she's more trouble than she's worth. Here's your money back. Yeah, go away. Even if I, even even if I'm not a good person, It's just it's worth it just to get rid of them.

Absolutely, you know, we fire a customer around here and misbehaves ever so often. I you can't call here and cuss at our people. We don't allow you to do that. Yeah, we'll give you your money back till you go away. You know, that's all right.

I don't put up with your junk, because some customer service People in America, their whole job is to get cussed at by rage a holiday, And we don't our customer service people. I don't listen and just tell them, no. Yeah, we don't know. Wait a minute, We don't talk like that here. doing that, Just call somewhere else and be pissed off.

take your money and that we're gonna use here and use it for counseling. You need it, you know, like I, just move on right? But yeah, I mean it's. even if you're on the other side of it. It's worth it to get rid of them.

And I don't think, Kim's, that I think Kim's figured this out.

Yeah, The sad thing is is that now she's questioning all financial people or planners. Yeah, whether or not, I'll tell you what, you know. SmartVestor Pro will sit down with you. They don't charge you a thing because they make a commission. Yep off of Selling you a mutual fund for your, for your Roth IRA or your kids college fund, And they don't make anything unless they sell you something.

So people are all suspect about that, but they're the good ones. they do it with the heart of a teacher. That's why we endorse SmartVestor Pros. we don't have any fee based financial planners in our system. Yeah, they're up front fees.

Not because I'm mad at them. They just don't like us Because I endorse mutual funds. Yeah, and you know, Because here's the thing. There's the thing in the financial world is worth talking about this in the 20 seconds. We've got called the fiduciary and you see, there's one company running and they're lying about it on their TV ad during Football.

I saw it last two or three weekends. I can't think what it's called little green sign in the background, but like we are fiduciaries, We are fiduciaries. We don't make anything. unless you make something. we are fiduciary.

No, the word fiduciary means a person of trust. Can you trust someone that gets a commission? Yes, If they're trustworthy, All real estate agents are commission based fiduciaries and they should put your interest first. They just they did. but just because you get paid when they make a sale doesn't mean you can't have integrity.

That's right, That's absurd. So that's the financial world right now. This is the Ramsey show.

Listen, the housing market is crazy and if you've been on the internet, Here's the sentiment affording a home is impossible and you're doomed to be a renter for the rest of your life, right? Wrong, George Campbell here? Listen, finding a home you love within your budget is possible, and I'm excited to help you get there with our brand new course How to buy a home you can actually afford, from saving a down payment that fits your budget to making an offer that sellers can't resist. We'll cover it all. So if you're ready to seal the deal on the right home for you, Take the course at Ramsey solutions comm slash course, that's Ramsey solutions comm slash course.

George Campbell, Ramsey personality, is our co-host today. open phones at triple, eight, eight to five, Five, two, two, five. thanks for being with us, America. We're here to serve you. our joy comes when we can show you what to do, And then you actually go do it and it causes you to win bing, bing.

That's how that works, That's. um, that's what this has been about for 30 plus years now, and it continues to be. Jody is with us in Springfield, Illinois. Hi, Jody. Welcome to the Ramsey show.

So I am ready to start retirement and I don't even know where to begin and how much to put in.

Yeah. So what do you make?

I.

That means most of your income can go toward investing. So you have zero saved right now, right? What do you have in the bank?

so I'm, I'm on the Dave Ramsey boat, I Just I'm scared. I, it's to a point to where sometimes I cry because I'm like, what am I gonna do? Mm-hmm, You know, because I don't know, because when my husband passed away, You know, I used, like life insurance and all that kind of stuff to pay my house off. So, yeah, you know, We had a roof over our head and all that kind of stuff, Because my kids were seven and ten when all of this happened. Wow.

we got to put our own mask. now Put our own mask on, and that looks like investing for retirement as aggressively as possible. Do you have a retirement plan through your employer?

You have no debt. No rent. No, nothing. Okay, correct. If you were to save, invest $1,000 a month for 15 years at 65, you're gonna have right around a half a million dollars, right around five hundred thousand dollars.

Really yeah, okay. What this means is not that you're rich and it's really not enough, But it's enough to make sure you're not cold and hungry. Right, because it will produce. then let's just get. let's just reverse engineer this, which is very interesting.

Okay, Let's pretend it produced 10% a year on the mutual funds after that, and That you retired and had no retirement income, and I suspect you probably have a retirement with your government agency, don't you that they furnish you a?

Pension.

Yeah, absolutely, which is nothing, which is horrible, but that's okay, All right. So if you had a half a million at 65 or 67 or whatever, and it was invested at 10%, 10% of five hundred thousand is fifty thousand a year. Right, without touching the nest egg, without touching the goose, It will lay fifty thousand golden eggs a year.

Wow, and so you'd actually be making more retirement than you are now.

So, okay, so you're gonna be okay, that's the point. you're not gonna be rich. But even if I'm, if my numbers are off a little bit and they might be one way or another, Actually, they probably are off in this case, because you probably will not be making 36,000 for the rest of your life. You'll probably be making more, and so you could invest probably more later. agreed, Right.

Yeah, so I did that based on $1,000 in your current income. So Yeah, so I want you to sit down with a SmartVestor Pro and we don't know how the scenarios will compare to actual life, But you can run some scenarios, like I just did, just to get the idea that I don't have to cry.

Because if you'll start now, Jodi, and you'll start investing Close to $1,000 or more than $1,000 a month, you get your budget tight, and you do that. You're gonna be okay.

Matter of fact, you're gonna be better than okay.

I Got it. I'm on it. I'm doing it today. I love you. You're awesome.

Call us back. Let us know how it's going. Okay?

Numbers actually give you a result that gives you hope when you run math. Okay, you know, got $100,000 in debt. I'm never gonna get out. What's 33,000 a year for three years? I mean, it's 2,600 bucks a month and you make 150,000.

shut your whining up, you know. All of a sudden the numbers give you might give you hope. right, the math gives you hope. in her case it's thousand dollars a month and for the next 15 years, and Not missing a month and getting started immediately and getting good returns and good mutual funds, Which probably that 403 B does not have. that's why I directed her away from that.

You know, let's go first to the Roth IRA. more control, more options, a lot better options, a lot better mutual fund options out there. Now I can be off and if you all want to argue both my numbers, that's fine. But here's the point. get with it.

You know, and you know, I might be if I'm half wrong. She's still gonna have twenty five, twenty six thousand dollars a month coming in, Our twenty five, twenty six thousand dollars a year coming in versus nothing, Which your little plan you critique, critic people out there creates nothing. That's what critics create nothing. Well, the new one, Dave, is. well, million dollars isn't enough anymore, Dave.

That means a half million dollars is half of not enough, But it's more than you got if you be broke and crying about it. Hello Yeah, we'd love for you to have multiple millions, But I mean in this case you could see five hundred thousand would still change your life. the way she does. The only way she's gonna get to over a million is she's gonna raise her income substantially. So she could invest twice as much.

just two thousand a month. Yeah, for 15 years, at 12%, my mutual funds have averaged 12% less 30 years. my personal portfolio And I'm not a genius. The market is averaged 11.8% in the S&P. So, by God, shut up and go, do it, You know, so could you?

could you end up with a million dollars in 15 years? Yes, two grand a month, That's it. Roughly. I mean there. it is.

Ding, ding. This is the Ramsey show.

I've been there. It's the worst, but you can flip the script with an every dollar budget. It helps you track spending and expenses in real time. So you always know what's happening with your money. Talk about a weight lifted off your shoulders.

start feeling in control of your money again. Download the every dollar app today for free.

You can also probably check it out on Ramsey solutions. I imagine we've got it on the website, but either way, borrowed future. oddly enough, Dr. John Deloney is one of the guests on the documentary. back when he was in higher ed, We interviewed him before he was Ramsey personality.

So that that's um. You didn't know. that was your interview for the new position. I did not know I was. I was.

it was a job interview.

Yep, for sure.

Anyways, um, I have told my kids, I have a 21, 19 and a 17 year old girls and I've told them since they were in middle school, We will pay for college, But you have to live at home and you have to go to a school that we approve us. You have to have good grades, but we will cash flow your school. We're not doing that. We have been very Transparent about the struggle we've had with debt, that the night, you know, the sleep that we lost.

She wants to go to a state school, But she wants to go to WSU, which is over in Pullman, which is six hours away cool, and they require you to live on campus and that you have to have the food program, which is about 2,500 to.

She's opting out of your, out of your rules. She opted out. Yes. Yes,

Absolutely,

and I've dealt with My entire career has been spent sitting with parents, and you drew a hard, hard line, a very hard line. And you say clear line, a very clear line. This is the way this is gonna be. and she said cool, I'm going that way. and So the other side of a very clear, very firm hard line is other people can say well, Then I don't want anything to do with that boundary.