If You Don't Choose Your Pain, It Will Choose You
2024-03-05 01:56:39
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Live from the headquarters of Rams E Solutions. it's the Ramsey show where we help people build wealth, do work that they love and create actual, amazing relationships. Rachel Cruz, number one.
best-selling author and my daughter and host of the Rachel Cruz show, co-host of the smart money, happy hour and a bunch of other things, is my co-host today. We're taking your questions about your life and your money. You're back. I'm back. I.
know there was a bet going on on on social media if you would ever come back.
like where's Dave? Proof? you can't count on social media for anything. Well,
welcome back. America missed you. Glad you're here.
Sharon and I have been down south for a month and a half and took a little time off. We've never done that in the entire working life, so I've never taken that much time off. but so I'm ready to be back. I'm getting stir-crazy. Proof.
I'll never retire because she would not let me. but yeah, we had fun though. We had a blast, and it's good to be back in front of the microphone again, and we can put all the fears of the YouTube commenters to rest, I guess. but, or whoever it was that was commenting. You're still here.
I didn't know that there was a commenter, but you saw there's a couple. yeah, a couple were like. I mean he may.
never come back. we don't know where he is. and usually the first show with Dave back. he's a little feisty, so oh, so read. and all of that, everyone get ready.
That's.
because I get afternoon coffee. that's what does that? so yeah. Open phones. here we'll talk to you about your life and your money.
The phone call is free and some say the advice is worth exactly what you pay for it. 888-825-5225.. Let's start with Reed in Dallas. Hey Reed, what's up in?
your life? Hey, I'm doing good. How are y'all doing? Better than we deserve, brother. How can we help?
Yeah, so I'm just trying to figure out if my wife and I are kind of living recklessly. We make, you know, good money and but we also spend, you know, a lot of the money that we have. We followed your plan. We paid off $100,000 in debt a couple years ago. Now our only debt is our house, but yeah, again we just.
kind of we spend most of what we make. Why? Why do you feel like you're? why do you? you think you're out of control or you wouldn't ask the question?
Well I.
mean we take multiple vacations a year. We go to, you know, Europe or Asia pretty much every year or somewhere in the Caribbean. I mean we do, but we still save.
about 20% of our income. Are you still doing generosity?
Yes. Okay, so you're generous, you're investing, and you're enjoying your money.
What's out of?
control?
I don't know. I just maybe feel like we should be saving more. I mean we make you know, after taxes, after 401ks, you know it's about $13,000 a month. I'm just yeah. do we need to be saving more?
I don't know. Because you're the.
saver and she's the spender.
I buy stuff too. But of the two, you're the saver. Yes, sir. And savers never save enough and spenders never can spend enough. That's just nature.
I mean I get it. I you know, I can tell you, no matter how much we save. Sharon looks at me and goes are we saving enough? Because she's the saver and I'm the spender. Okay.
Is that, is it just your tendency, or do you really have actual data points that say I'm out of control? It's probably my.
tendency. Again. I mean we both have remaxed our 401ks and saved into our own.
investment account on top of that. And how old are you? I mean 30.. And how much is in your 401ks now? It's about $200,000..
And when will your house be paid off? About 10 years. Okay. So you'll be a millionaire at 45 to 50?.
Not too bad. Do.
y'all read, you said you save 20% of your income. How, what percentage of that goes into retirement investing and what percentage you guys have saving just maybe short-term savings? that's kind of just some liquid cash on the side? Liquid.
cash. we probably have about 80,000 right now. Including your emergency fund? Yeah.
Yes. Yeah. Okay. And how much do you all in your home?
185.. Okay. Well, of course, if you're following the baby steps that we teach, you would have only 15% going into retirement and you would have only three to six months of expenses in liquid cash and everything above. those two numbers will be going on to the mortgage. so it would be paid off in five years instead of ten.
Okay. Because you're gonna put about half or three-quarters of this 80,000 on there. Boom. Now we got $120,000 mortgage and we're gonna quit, putting so that gun much in the 401k, another 5% a year, which another five or ten grand going on the house in addition to what you're already paying on the house. Yeah, you're done in five years.
Now, when the house is paid off and you're 35 start to feel pretty good then.
I would think so.
Yeah. Yeah. And I would say too for you guys, at that point you'll be 35 on baby step 7 and there may be other financial, you know, milestones y'all want to hit. Maybe you want to buy a second property in cash, right, or you like you. maybe you want to do something else that may slow down your lifestyle in order to hit these other goals that you want to have.
So that may be the case, but for where.
you guys are right now. I mean. I think that you need to. I would adjust those two numbers if I were you, because I think it's going to get you to your overall goal faster and I would institute a for a little while. you don't do it forever, but for right now at least once a quarter, go somewhere with your wife for three hours and don't do anything except look at the numbers and dream and say okay, let's get aligned on what we're doing, because I kind of think y'all put this in on autopilot and it's disturbing you, it's not bothering her a.
bit.
That sounds right. I think I was just used to. you know that kind of.
intensity. Well, you just you worry about the numbers all the time, and that's okay, that there's nothing wrong with that, as long as it doesn't start becoming anxiety inducing. but but the paying attention is a good thing, but I think the two of you getting aligned and her hearing that you're concerned about this is a good thing for her to hear. Yeah and Reed, and I would encourage you.
guys, the house will be the next big goal, but always have a financial goal, even a baby step. seven have something you're working towards. like Winston and I, one of our big goals was to build a house and we moved in in 2019 and there was probably a year I mean 2020, hit with COVID and everything, but I mean maybe a year, year and a half, or we didn't have another big goal, and you do look up and you think oh gosh, like what am I being wasteful? yeah, it's just kind of that feelings. I think there's a natural health to saying hey, there's something else our money is going towards besides just the 15% and building wealth and all of that.
but there's these other things that we're we're saving up for, and I just think that's a good rhythm to be in. it's just to kind of always have that thing out there that you're always thinking about and working towards as well. that makes you feel less like floundering. yeah, and the goal can be a.
systematic increase in your generosity and go, you know, like yeah. yeah, I want to give away X by the time I'm 40. I wanted, I want to. I want to build a wing on the freaking hospital. I don't know what.
whatever it is you want to do, I don't care, but that can be your goal. it don't have to be something you're doing for your own net worth. it can just be that, but you got it you really need to have. if you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time. that's your point, yes, yeah.
and you're exactly right. well, just feels like you don't have anything that you're.
like you feel. you feel listless and shifting. yeah, and that's a little bit about what Reid's feelings feeling a little bit untethered. yeah, exactly so. if we get an alignment and we discuss in high-definition what our dreams are, we align our high-definition dreams in our marriage and then we go okay, I heard you, but I think we're okay.
okay, now that you heard me, I think I'm okay. you know that kind of thing and just get aligned on that and say this is what we're doing. then you can make decisions like that. that's a cool thing. this is the Ramsey show.
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Tennessee 3, 7, 0, 2, 7. thanks for joining us America. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host.
Rachel Cruz Ramsey, personality number one, best-selling author. my daughter is my co-host today. Michael is with us. Michael is in Davenport, Iowa. hey, Michael, welcome to the Ramsey show.
hey, how you doing better than I deserve man what's.
up. good to hear, all right. so this basically is just a question on my life-spending habits and my saving habits. I'm a hog farmer out here and right now. I currently own three hog farms and I own one house.
it's all paid for a zero debt to my name, 31 years old, and the big question is my wife. she wants to buy another house. the problem with the house that we have now, which I don't have a problem with it, I grew up in it, it's too close to our hog sheds. so the smell is a big problem. well, so we rent a home in town that's about five miles from the farm to kind of just to please her, to get the smell.
she done it. she doesn't like smell. well, the house that we rent the landlord passed away about two months ago and he left in his will that week, you know have rights to buy the house from his daughter. well, his daughter doesn't want to rent. she wants to sell the house to us.
I have saved up a lot of money and I do not want to buy a house. I would rather buy a hog shed. now I don't own the hogs. a company owns the hogs. they rent the buildings off of me and I take care of the pigs.
I have saved up. four hundred and thirty one thousand right now is what I have, and I would rather go another two years and buy another hog shed to put on the farm. and the hog sheds do two things the company pays the bill, pays the rent on the first of every month, or never a day late, which is again. that's why I don't.
rent the people. Michael, how long you been married, four years. okay, there's a comedian has a wonderful saying happy wife, happy life. so far we're there. no, you're not.
no, you're not. you're a hog farmer that's gone. hog wild all you.
think about talks, and I love that. I think you're a business guy and you're.
great at what you do and you got it dialed in and it don't bother you and lick. your wife ain't gonna stay there, brother. she done told you that you need.
to listen to her. I need to be looking at buying this house. you need to write a check. so this in the house is only 45,000. it's a wonderful.
shut up it's.
only $45,000. you can make her happy for $45,000 and you're buying a $400,000 hog.
shed. Michael, this woman doesn't ask for much and absolutely, and to be honest with you, she's, she's the one that shows up and help doesn't. yeah, well, I mean did.
she did marry you and knowing, knowing that she was gonna live next to a hog.
shed. so I mean you must be a prize. she's coming in there. she's awesome man, look.
at you. Wow, dude, I do have twins. that is three, and our oldest daughter is six.
yeah, is she home with them all day? yes, yeah, yeah, she works part-time you're.
you're a great farmer and a great businessman. you know your numbers inside and out. you, you, you, take care of all the details. I can hear it. I've worked with entrepreneurs for 30 years.
I can hear everything about your business acumen. I think you're very, very good at what you do. you suck at taking care of your wife. you need to buy her a house to learn. you need to buy her a house, I know.
and Michael, I'll say this I feel you're gonna beat up on this call. there was a lot of eyes. I saved up this and I did this and I did this and I did that, and you guys are a team and part of a team is there's an a and a B. it's not just an a, and bring her in. she has as much weight and as much value to the conversation and what how she wants to live her life, as much as you and it I'm.
poking fun at you, but I'm having fun with you. but in all, in all truth, she's not asking for much and you can easily provide what she's asking for. she's not asking to buy a four million dollar house, correct, correct? she's not asking you to sell off your hog farm, correct. and she's not even asking you to slow down, because the 45,000 is not even going to slow down.
you're not going to build that shed within $45,000 estimate anyway. probably no a new shed now the.
dirt work and everything is about 930,000. yeah, so we got a little while to.
go anyway. okay, buying this house is not going to throw your goals off, is my point. you're on the, on your business goals and, and what I have figured out in doing this for this marriage thing for 43 years and doing this business thing here at Ramsey for 35 of those is that the best thing I can do is have no drama at home, because I got enough of it at work.
gotcha and it makes me more valuable when I'm at work. yes, yes, amen, I know I'm convinced. one of the reasons that Ramsey is successful as it is is that your mother is no drama, yeah, and doesn't ask for much, and neither does Michaels wife.
she doesn't ask for much right and she would feel valued in what she brings to the table too. yeah, and there's that and there's that extension to say yes like.
listen to her, Michael. we were looking at an investment thing a week ago and walk through it all and and she's like I don't care. and then I said, I know you don't care, but we're gonna walk through it, mm-hmm, because I want to see if your.
eyes roll. mm-hmm, I want to see that. let's see what you really you really do care, but you're not gonna say it. so I want to see. we'll see if you shift in.
your seat. I won't watch your body language while you're looking at this, because I'm gonna, you know, and because I could tell what she's thinking there. sure, we've been married long enough so that then there's about who can find a virtuous wife, for her worth is far above rubies. the heart of her husband safely trusts her and he will have no lack of gain. Proverbs 31 it is a financial principle.
if you'd like to have no lack of gain, listen to a virtuous wife. not a Cinderella, not a princess, but a virtuous wife. and everybody, as you said, has a vote mm-hmm, and then we make good decisions together. that's right. and now you and everyone in California should move to Iowa and buy a $45,000 house.
that's unbelievable. that's so fun, go go.
Michael, enjoy it. you guys will make it a home. it's gonna be great, I'm excited.
for you guys, I love it, that's fabulous, good for you, good for you, and what a.
great business guy. he really is wonderful. you're 31, you're gonna do.
great, great Olivia is in San Diego. hi, Olivia, how are you? hi, mr. Ramsey, I'm.
good, thank you. how are you better than we deserve? what's up I'm just calling? so we are on baby step three. we just got out of debt.
we are in Southern California and, just to condense my question, I'm essentially wondering should we move someplace less expensive, but leave our family, leave our church, leave everything. you know. we have two kids in order to build. well, what do you guys make? so my husband made 70,000 last year.
I work on his days off. I'm an independent agent, so I make. my taxes are like 13%. he pays. what do you I made?
30,000 last year because she have a hundred thousand dollar income in San.
Diego, mm-hmm, okay, where you guys living now? so we're in Carlsbad, California, but my head, I've been my head. we're looking to go to Arizona, so we just is the way.
you asked the question the way you formed your sentence. you don't want to leave, no, okay. and you, because you made it sound like we're only doing this for money. the only reason we're going to Arizona is for money. yes, that's the only.
reason, but right now I am like, like working so hard to try to keep my daughter in private school Christian school. yeah, you kids not you don't have a sustainable situation where you are right. no, but we have support. I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking I was gonna cry. um, we have a help right now with our family.
yeah, well, it's heartbreaking to move away from the grandparents, but you're either going to change careers to be able to sustain the situation, or you're gonna make some different choices, like not private school, to sustain the situation. something's got to give. what you figured out is the math isn't working, and that's very wise. now what's gonna give private school career change or move? really one of these three things, and all three of them are painful.
choose your pain, because it'll choose you if you don't.
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Rachel Cruz Ramsey personality is my co-host today in the lobby of Ramsey.
solutions. you can stop by and hang out with us anytime you want. if you're in the Nashville area, we do this show on the glass and so you can watch it happen, and that's from 1 to 4 central time. the cookies are homemade and they're free, the coffee's free, and hey, we love having you. we come around, stop, we come out the commercial break, get books signed and take pictures, all kinds of things.
also in that lobby is what we call the dead free stage, and Christy and Steve are on it, which can only mean one thing hey guys, how are you doing? great Dave, how are you better than we deserve? where do y'all live? Wilder Kentucky, right outside of Cincinnati? oh yeah, just across the line.
okay, welcome to Nashville and how.
much debt? have you guys paid off? three hundred and fifty one thousand eight.
hundred and forty dollars. Wow, and how long did this take? nine years and eight months. nine years, eight months good for you and your range of income during that.
decade we started at 36,000 and we are now at 287,000. well, there's a nice move.
okay, and so what do you guys do for a living? I'm a sales manager and I'm a.
chiropractor and I own my own business. okay, so you got the business, you got the.
practice working and the sales managers working, and you're kicking it way to go, you two. so I'm guessing, with this length of time, in this amount, that in Northern Kentucky, Southern Ohio, that you might have paid off your house. no, no, oh wait a.
minute, I left out the chiropractor. uh-huh, it's your fault, okay, yeah, the.
chiropractor debt of 200 was of this right. yeah, we had a small. I had a car, we had about 7,000 left on that and about 1,500 and credit card debt, but we paid it off every. you know, at the time we were paying off every month, so we paid that off and the rest was student loans. yeah, over 300,000.
yeah, well, that's where.
it ended up after all that time and interest? sure, yeah, but yeah, there was. there was a undergrad in there, quite a bit of interest there and then yeah.
chiropractic school, yeah, and his master's, oh yeah. so the nine years and eight months? I'm guessing that that's when you came out of school pretty much and just started the practice and you guys were just newly married and get things going. I'm betting okay, and but I'm also guessing that at some point in this nine years the intensity suddenly turned on. was it from day one pretty?
much so. we had just bought a house, he had just started his practice and we had no money, and I was working part-time and also helping him in his office and we realized we had an income problem, and so my my cousin told me about Dave Ramsey and I checked the book out. he checked it out, we made a budget and we wanted to start a family, but we had no money. so we had to. we put every dollar we had together and got started and I got a full-time job and I didn't just went up.
from there. yeah, and as every time the practice went, we threw it at the debt. every time they got our sales commission, do it at the debt every dollar I.
changed careers. actually, through kovat, I was laid off and then stayed home with the kids for a little bit and then, yep, so yeah, you had to. you had to during the time. how old are they now? they are seven and six, seven and six.
okay, middle of all this for all the young families. listening, you guys started it before kids, during kids. you know you're raising little ones during it, all like what? what would be the hardest thing, would you say about the journey? well,
with the kids we. it wasn't a really easy process. so they were both born. both of them required emergency procedures. the older one needed surgery three weeks after he was born oh my gosh.
and medical stuff on top of this. oh yeah, oh yeah. the second one was it was very emotional, Christy abrupted, which means she started. yeah, leading the placenta pulls away, yeah, and he had to be delivered at 34 weeks, spent three weeks in the NICU. Wow, came home for two weeks then got our.
SV and almost died again. oh yeah, you've been through it all. yeah, we had our.
deductible three years in a row of $6,000 in there as well. so yeah, so there was another 18 grand right in there. so, and I had two under two and like my, 90.
year old, grandma lived with us for three years. we were taking care of her at that time up until Cove it happened. so hey, okay, yeah, we were. so y'all had a whole journey through this nine years. it was a decade of life.
yeah, yeah, we're so excited to be here now. yeah, so, it's paying off debt, would you say. it's like. oh yeah, that was like, oh, we'll throw that in too, right, like I mean, it almost becomes that like yeah, after experiencing this with like, with your kids, it's like we can do this. if we can do that, we can do this.
yeah, mm-hmm, yeah.
it was it's. it's been a heck of a journey and it's been great with these.
kids, and we're so happy to share it with them now that the dad is 100% gone.
how's that feel amazing? never the light at the end of the tunnel felt so far away for so long, and so it's really exciting. was it was, yeah, we're renovating our house now and all cash flowing that and excited to be able to do things with our kids and change our family tree, and we're so excited. yeah, I mean nine.
freaking years. yep, from 37,000 to 287, I mean that's a quarter of a million dollar swing and two babies. oh yeah, yeah, and some Nick you thrown in. yeah, oh my goodness, yeah, Wow, Wow, amazing, amazing. what do you tell people?
the key to getting out of debt is because you stuck with it. I mean you persevered, oh yeah.
the I think the biggest key was the budget. even at, you know our $36,000 initial starting salary, we were finding, you know, $500 a month and putting that towards our debt and started that that ball moving. and you know, we were avid listeners of the podcast. you know, even when we couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel, that podcast, you know, we heard other people doing it and it really helped us out a lot to to hear about those. you know those stories and how people are, are making it and it can be done.
yeah, yeah, when we were about.
halfway down we drove by and did a family selfie in front of Ramsey. solutions out here. so little things like that was like all right, come on.
let's keep going. we can do this, we can't, I'm so. I'm so glad that you took inspiration from all these other debt-free screams and now you get to be one. that's pretty cool, because there's somebody out there with a baby in a Nick. you that doesn't know if they're gonna make it, and you're just telling them they can by your presence.
oh yeah, oh yeah, just keep going, well done well.
congratulations. you guys, proud of y'all. thank you, who was cheering you on saying.
go, go, go, go, go. honestly, we were. we were very private about it. we kept it, you know, pretty close to the chest and our family, our family knew, but pretty much pretty much kept it close to the chest, so we didn't have a whole lot of.
cheerleaders, I guess that really, or naysayers for that matter, because it was just none of your business. good for y'all. way to go, very cool.
congratulations, so proud of y'all. what's the first big thing you do now?
get the house paid off, I guess, but other than that, yeah, I get this house.
renovated and we're gonna, you know, start traveling. I really want to share the world with her, with our boys. it's something that I wasn't able to do as a kid, that we didn't grow up with a lot of money. my family had a hard time with money, all as I was growing up, so I'd really like to let them experience the.
world. amen, that's a great legacy. good for you, well done, all right, what's the young men's ages? and let's introduce them their names and ages, bring them up.
this is this is Ashby and this is Austin. Ashby is 7 and Austin is 6, all right.
have they been practicing their debt-free scream?
this morning. oh wow, okay, that's good. well, the hotel needs to know about this.
yeah, yeah, it's very good. hey, we've got the baby steps, millionaires book for you, total money, makeover book and the financial peace membership. that's the live-and-give box for you as our gift for saying thanks for coming down. we're so proud of y'all way to go. thank you all right, Christy and Steve Ashby and Austin from Kentucky, just south of Ohio.
there 352 thousand paid off in nine.
years and eight months, making 36 to 287 impressive. count it down, let's hear a.
debt-free, scream ready boys. here we go.
Wow, Wow, they are amazed, they're, they're cool.
so very cool. good for you guys, you're not firing, it's a lot of life in there.
a decade. Wow, that's impressive, and now I'm gonna show my sons the world. I love it just like that. this is the Ramsey show.
Rachel Cruz Ramsey personality is my co-host today. Danny is in Miami.
hi, Danny, welcome to the Ramsey show. thank you so much for having me very.
excited. we're good to talk to you, sir. how can we help? no kind of you're right, because I'm not really good at talking about. you know finances and stuff like that.
but the main point of the reason for my call is because me and my fiancee we're getting married in July in Montana, but she inherited a house from her grandparents after they passed away and we're right now. it's been a rental property for a couple decades, right where somebody in the front of the house has been renting and then somebody in that fish in the back has been renting out. right it brings in. right now we're renovating it, the back end of it, but we know that once we get it fixed up, total should bring about maybe $4,000 a month in rental. her perspective is that she wants to move in into that house.
the house is paid off. where is the house it's in? it's in Miami and Coral Gable.
oh, okay, but you're getting married Montana. that's what threw me, okay, yeah.
yeah, okay, so she wants to move into the house, which is paid off right just to maintain. it would be about $1,500 a month, aside from the 4,000 if we kept it rented. my standpoint, or at least my perspective, is that if there is a scenario where we can and I know you're all about, you know, cash, cash, cash, right if finding a home, using the benefit of my first home buyers, right to find a new house and then use the rental property monthly money to put to pay off its mortgage of a new house because I might, my perspective is I really want to maintain a rental property instead of just moving into the house. it's paid off.
okay, how old are you, Danny? I'm 28, good for you and she's 27 good for you. well, I share your love of real estate investing. I believe in real estate investing. I own a whole bunch of real estate.
I love it and not everybody should own real estate. you have to deal with these things called tenants, and so sometimes you shouldn't own real estate, but I. it is not a problem for me. I do conflict. well, so I can handle it, and so I'm with you on owning investment real estate.
Rachel's husband does real estate for a living, runs our family real estate and has his own company as well, and so you know, we, both of us love real estate, and so we share that with you. we do also know that the shortest distance between where you are and wealth is to become and stay debt-free, house and everything. that's why we're cash, cash, cash, cash, cash all the time, because it's the best thing for you. it doesn't affect me if you go buy a house on debt, it affects you. so I it doesn't.
once we get off the call, my life's going on and you're gonna be dealing with a debt, not me. so but but but I love you and I want you to win. I want you to go out there and be big-time wealthy, and the shortest distance is not borrowing money on a residence and keeping a paid-for inherited rental. so if you're going to follow that advice, then you've got two choices actually. one is do what your fiance thinks is okay, move into one of the properties, move into one side, rent the other it's paid for.
you have a zero debt and you're a young married couple with no debt. that's a very nice place to be in, a very unusually wonderful place to be. you have your entire freaking income to invest and pile up some money and buy your first rental otherwise with cash. and that's what I did after I went broke years ago in the real estate business by borrowing too much money. so that's one option.
the other options probably emotionally painful, but also mathematically is just as valid, and that's sell the inherited property, use that cash and buy your first home for cash. now I don't think that's going to be real appealing to your fiance. yeah, because this was her granny's place and it's been in the family, even though it's been a rental for years. it she's got some emotional attachment to it. so suggesting that might not be a winner for you probably not.
yeah, it's a good.
it's a good house. I'm in an area that's very. you know. her grandparents bought the house for, I believe, like a hundred thousand dollars. it was years ago you were talking, and now it's now.
it's about worth 750. yeah, and for 750 you can buy a.
pretty decent home in that area. if you pay cash, yeah, and sell that house and pay cash mathematically, that's fine. but she just got this. you're just getting married. there's a lot of just starting things here.
so I would not do your suggestion and I would not do her suggestion long-term, but I would do it initially and I way I would set it up with her is say, listen, I don't think long-term, we want to live in this house next to renters. but but I also and that's why, yeah, even though it's a granny's house, even though it's inherited and all that, but there's nothing, that there's nothing nostalgic about a piece of real estate in most cases. so what I would say we do is we live in this house for a year or two years and then we sell it and use the money to buy a house. but for right now we're newly married and this inheritance is fresh for you, and I want to be sensitive to that. so let's give it a little time.
but I don't think we want to, ten years from now, be living in this house, and I think she'll agree to that, because she probably done either. she's just looking at oh, I can live here for nothing and I just got this. so you know, I I would suggest you spend a year to two years in that house as a marriage investment. yeah, yeah, and then sell it and move up. but no, I would not borrow money to buy another house with your first-time homebuyer and not while you got a place to live for free.
now your fiancee is a point, but also probably unless it's her idea, would not sell it today. I don't mind the only thing that bothered me about someone's days the emotions of it. I think selling it today be a fine idea. mm-hmm, nothing wrong with it, yeah, but she probably wouldn't go for it. yeah, yeah, probably gonna feel weird to her, mm-hmm, and the family might go.
oh, she married that guy. the first thing he didn't sell off the house. well, it's because he's got sense. but you know, yeah, it's a good thing to sell it off. actually I'd be rid of it and go buy a house.
but I don't know that that's gonna work relationally in a brand new marriage situation that hadn't even occurred yet. yeah, so it doesn't occur till July. so but, but I'm trying to think about all the angles on this. but, Danny, yeah, you're thinking like most people think, that get in trouble with real estate, and that is is that the tenants are going to pay the bill. tenants sometimes pay the rent, sometimes there's tenants, and when there's tenants, sometimes they pay the rent.
there's a lot of, sometimes in there and those other times you pay the freakin payment, and so that's how that works well and there's no payment on this one if there's no. but I'm saying using it, if you're using it to cover your house, then yeah, you get to pay your house payment, dude. yeah, so you know this. this you can tell a brand new landlord when they think they're always going to get their rent, that's a brand new landlord. that's somebody who's never done it, because it doesn't, because you don't hello and there's all kinds of stuff happens.
I mean sometimes the sad things. I, Winston, was managing one of our properties and we gave this these people four months free rent because the guy was diagnosed with a terminal cancer. yeah, he was gonna die in four months. last thing I'm gonna do is evict this woman in the middle of her losing her husband. and but I can afford to be that generous if I want to be, because I don't have any payments right, right, but, and that was just a sad thing, and then she needed to move and on anyway I passed away, so it you know it wasn't a long-term situation, but you can afford to do that for people like Danny you.
don't always get your rent? yes, yes, but for me, like Danny, because the real estate game, it's always been there, but I feel like it continues just to bubble up.
every social media is made popular to be stupid again. well, it has risen of like.
hey, here's another way to invest your money and how to grow wealth and how to become wealthy. leverage. yeah, that's what they, that's. that's how most people, if they get into the game, that's where they have to start out right, is that is leverage? so what?
how do you encourage people to say okay, this is how how you start. it is cash, but do you? is there a formula where it's like okay, it's, you know, you pay off your primary home or, in detail, everything become a hundred.
percent debt free on your personal residence and then save up with no payments of any kind. you can save up money real fast and you'll probably get.
a condo or so like. you'll start small your first property, buy your first little thing and as you build it up. but I think some people it's it feels defeating. I'm like I'll never be able to get into the real estate game I was.
with a podcast this morning. we were recording it, one of these big YouTube guys and wonderful guy and he was quoting Charlie Munger. he said you know one of the things that hope he's. Charlie Munger says three things hold people back, liquor ladies, and leverage that'll set you back. this is the Ramsey show.
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. Rachel Cruz Ramsey, personality number one, best-selling author. my daughter 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's with us in Cincinnati to start this hour. hi, Paul, how are you? hey, Dave.
doing better than I deserve. how are you just the same, sir? what's up? oh okay. so about five years ago my aunt convinced my 92 year old grandmother to change her will so that only she would inherit the property that my grandma owns on a lakefront in Florida.
when she passes my grandma's 97 now and her health is not very good, I was wondering if it would be wise to try to acquire the property by means of a property tax lien after my aunt inherits it and she inevitably.
fails to pay the taxes on it. okay, so your aunt did talk to her grandmother into doing something where the rest of the family got cut out. is that what you're angry about? am I getting this right? that's right.
okay, all right. well, I don't know Florida law, but that's probably not going to work, and sometimes you hear these guys and you may have seen this. that may have been what prompted your idea these guys in the real estate get-rich-quick world and.
they say go buy tax liens and you can just. you know, you buy people's back tax position and then you become the owner of the property, and it's just easy you.
can just do it. all this I've done it like six times when I used to do real estate for a living and I was doing foreclosures for a living never ended up with a single property, because most states, including the one I'm in, have a right of redemption. that is one year or two years. so let me give you an example. if Florida has that and I don't know Florida law okay, but let's pretend Florida has a two-year right of redemption, which is pretty standard.
then you buy the property for the back taxes at the property, at the property sold because she didn't bear taxes, and you buy it for back taxes and you buy this million-dollar property for a hundred thousand bucks. okay, I'm making this up, but you follow my example. so far, okay, yes, sir, then the former owner of the property has two years to give you $100,000 to buy the property back. that's the right of redemption and you can do nothing with it during that two years. because if you do, you're going let's say you're going into $100,000 worth of renovation.
then they can redeem it for what you paid for it only and you'll lose your renovation money. right, if you take out a mortgage to do this and you pay payments on the amount, the hundred thousand dollars you borrow to buy the tax lien out and you pay payments on that. you don't get any of the payments back. all you can get back from the other owner when they buy it back from you is what you paid at the auction. so and I'm okay with that, not listen, here's what's gonna happen.
right? if she loses it and she knows she can come back and get it for a hundred grand it's worth a million she's gonna go get somebody to buy it and so she'll come back, give you a hundred thousand dollars, buy back and resell. at the instant she does that for five hundred thousand. the other guy gets a deal, she puts four hundred in her pocket and walk away. unless she's an absolute lunatic, she's not gonna walk away from a huge equity in a property tax state that has rights of redemption.
so it's just you do say that's crazy in every family, right? yeah, this is. this is a different kind of lunacy I'm talking about. this is like you're anyway. so did she at least that she convinced your.
grandmother. is your grandmother not all mentally that like? did she do it from a almost an illegal standpoint of her not being what your grandmother not sound?
mind. she was deemed not sound of mind about two months after the will was.
changed. well, I will dispute the will. I think you're better off to dispute the will on that basis. okay, because she didn't suddenly lose her mental faculties within a 60-day period of time, right? so if you've got a doctor's opinion 60 days after the will was changed, that will is probably not valid.
I'm not a lawyer, but I'm right. I believe you? okay, so I would spend my money on that angle. and really what I would do, truthfully, is I would just sit down with your aunt and say what you did was wrong, and you know it was wrong because granny was not of sound mind and this will is not going to stand. so instead of us fighting about this in court, why don't you do the right thing and let's redraft all of this?
and, you know, come to an agreement that the family is going to have even disbursement of this. instead of you stealing this from your siblings because I'm not going to allow you to steal it from my mom and dad I'm going to sue you.
so we need to. we need to work this out without the lawyers, because the lawyers are going to get it all if we use them. yeah, I would just sit down and it's not worth a lawyer for it. the property is not valuable, it's the.
land itself is worth about fifty to seventy thousand, and the house is worth what a scrapyard would pay for the aluminum. okay, so why do you care where? it's where we spent every Christmas when I was growing up? it's where I learned how to fish with my grandpa has been gone for about 20 years now, and I'd like to keep it as a holiday home for my family and maybe even live there in when.
my wife and I are up there in years. I'm sorry that you're. I'm sorry that your aunt is a twerp and is messing with the family's memories, and I'm sorry that it breaks the little boy that lives inside of his heart. I'm gonna tell you I haven't been in these situations myself many times in the last 63 years. just let it go, forget it.
just forget it and move on. it ain't worth it. go, get you some memories with your babies. go get you some memories with your buddies and the couples that you all love and spend time with them and build a new set somewhere else. that's what your grandpa did originally, and he didn't do all this for y'all to fight.
just let it go. that's not. that's what I would do. it's hard for me to do that. it's not justice, it's not.
it's not just. it's hard for me to do that because I'm a hillbilly and I'd rather fight you than not. but it just it's not. it's not worth. yeah, yeah, you just turn it loose.
it's just a. you know if it was a million, five or something. we can argue about it, but I don't for $50,000. right, he's right. he's gonna spend all his money on lawyer and the other thing that it's called.
these people are living rent-free in your head for the next three years while you're in court dealing with this. you're good, you have tenants that took up residence between your ears, you know? yeah, because it becomes all-consuming. it's all you can think about, and it's not worth. it's not worth 50 grand, just like I know you were hurt and I know she's wrong and Rachel's right.
it's not justice. yeah, it's not justice, it's just for your.
well-being. it's just wise to move on and live your life. yeah, yeah, spend the.
money and the headspace that you would have spent on this setting up a new deal and a new legacy that will cause your grandfather to be in heaven smiling at you. spend your time on that man. this is the Ramsey show.
this show is sponsored by better help. this is Deloney, and I'm always railing against social media, especially in the summer, because everyone uploads the highlight reels of their perfect bodies and perfect vacations and perfect kids, and I know they're not real, and I also know that I'm blessed beyond my wildest dreams. but I still find myself wishing my life was like other people's and, based on the data, I know this is happening to you too, comparison is wired into us, but comparison can also become the thief of joy, because we can feel like we're not enough and begin acting and thinking in ways we would never think otherwise. when it all gets to be too much, think about contacting better help. better help is a hundred percent online therapy, staffed with licensed therapists.
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something that we haven't done in a while and I'm really excited about it. it's actually that we've never done it exactly this way. we used to do a day long event called the total money makeover event. a thousand years ago. Rachel was a teenager even and would get up and talk about kids books and we had like 5,000 10,000 people in these arenas around and we would do that.
in those days. we built this conference center here at Ramsey that holds about 2,500 and we are going to fill it up with a total money makeover weekend, May 10th and 11th. there's millions of you have out there been listening to the show, and this is the thing where you get to come to Nashville. you hang out with us Friday evening, all day, Saturday, and it's all. the Ramsey personalities are going to be talking.
we're going to walk you through every little detail of this financial plan and show you how to win, and we're going to do lots of Q&A's, regardless what baby step you're on. this is going to be an all-encompassing immersion experience and we have lots of signings and lots of Q&A's all through the day. we'll do smart money. happy hour is one of the things we do Friday night. I'm going to talk Friday night when you get here, you can come in early and watch the show on Friday afternoon here at the main campus or the main building on the campus, and we would just love to have you now.
we've sold most of the tickets already. it went on sale and it sold really, really fast, which is exciting, and so we want you to come. don't wait to get your tickets. there's some platinum plus tickets, just a couple of those left. early bird pricing ends this Thursday.
if you want to come to this May 10th and 11th, go ahead and get your tickets. it's going to save you over a hundred bucks to get them early by Thursday. again, it's just. it's right here around the corner in May, May 10 and 11, and we want you to come. it's the whole campus is going to be booming with people just like you that want to win.
get your tickets at RamseySolutions.com slash events. Curtis is in Pennsylvania. hi, Curtis, welcome to the Ramsey show. hi, Dave, hi, Rachel, thanks for.
taking my call today. sure, what's up. so my wife is 23 weeks pregnant with our second daughter. during this pregnancy, she was unexpectedly diagnosed with colon cancer and we've begun treatment for that. oh my god, I'm sorry, Curtis.
yeah, we were in the middle of paying off her, trying to pay off her student loans. we got from about $160,000 down to about $60,000, and my question today is do you would you recommend that we can continue to still try to pay down? no, her student.
loans as we begin her treatment. no, okay, stop everything, pile up cash. have a baby, fight cancer, win. okay, your soul goal right now. you got one goal, two goals.
have a baby, fight cancer and win. once you get that in your rearview mirror, it'll be nothing to pay off some student loan debt. okay, how old is your wife? you said she's 30. okay, Wow, what stage is this?
stage four? so what are they telling?
your prognosis was we have to start treatment right away and we have to see how her first few rounds of treatment go and see what her response is and go from.
there. okay, all right, you've got the the hardest fight of your life on your hands, brother, and student loans are nothing compared to this. yeah, you go fight, you go fight this. you get on your knees, you pray. you know your friends praying.
we'll be praying for you guys, and you just get in there. you fight and fight and fight, and fight and fight, and and take care of your wife and you take care of your baby. they'll be time to do the student loans later, but you need every ounce of focus and energy and money that you have to win this battle first. okay, all right, yes, and then I'll just get. I'll just give you another piece of information.
so it's in your brain, even though it's pretty cold for me to do this. but I'll just tell you, when someone passes away their student loan debt goes with them, it's completely forgiven. so if she ends up in heaven with this, okay, there is no student loan anyway. so we fight. we fight the cancer.
we go win. okay, okay, and I didn't say that, because that's the prognosis, I don't know. I'm not a doctor, I'm just listening to what you're telling me. okay, but, and I know when you're facing these things, as sometimes facts are helpful. that's why I gave you a cold fact.
okay, okay, not because I don't care about you, so, but anyway that I want you to go in, and if you were, let me just tell you, I'll just. this is an expanded version of what we tell people. anyway, we tell people, just when they're pregnant period, stop, put a push, pause on your total money, makeover, baby steps and pile up cash until baby comes and mommy and baby are okay, and then push, play and use the big old pile of cash to pay and catch back up what you would have paid anyway, and that gives you an extra big slush fund when there's a pregnancy, we tell people to do that anyway, and this is like 10x that right. yeah, okay, so you need a big old pile of cash for cancer and babies, because we want babies, we don't want cancer, and we're gonna get, we're gonna win both of these. okay, oh, my goodness, son, hey, and listen, you hold on and I'm gonna have our team pick up.
we're gonna hook you up with one of our financial coaches in the area for free, and they're gonna walk with you on the financial stuff and help you any way we can so that you can completely focus on babies and beating cancer, not on money stuff. okay, thanks, Dave, I appreciate it. amen, I'm so sorry, go beat this and let us know. okay, okay, all right, we'll do. thanks a lot, just in case you thought you had a problem today.
yeah, just in case.
Wow, okay, Trinity is in Colorado Springs. hi, Trinity, what's up? hi, hi, how can we help? um, so, I was calling to get your guys's.
advice. so a little bit over a year ago I had a work injury and I ended up just getting a settlement for a little less than $80,000, and so, after putting everything aside for my medical work and everything like that, I have about 60,000 left and I was just calling in to see if you guys could kind of help guide me what you think. a good idea of where I should put that money towards would be oh man.
Trinity, are you okay? I'm getting better, but okay, what? where are you financially today? do you have debts? do you have savings?
I don't have any debt. I have I.
completely own my car, the there will be. sorry, I forgot to take out. about 12,000 of that would be set aside for my emergency fund. okay, so it would be about 48,000 left over, I guess, technically. but aside from that, I don't have any debt, nothing like that, and then all of my monthly payments are paid through my monthly income.
okay, do you own a home? no, I don't. I'm 22. okay, all right is that?
something that you're looking into. do you think you'll be in your area for a?
while now. um yeah, I'm hoping so I'm also studying right now to get my real estate exam or my real estate license. okay. so I think that as well will kind of play a factor into when I'm ready to buy a home. yeah, do you have any retirement right now?
I do. I just started. I only have about $1,000 in retirement right now, but that was something I figured you guys were gonna mention was like matching out a Roth IRA or something. yeah, I would go ahead and do.
that I would go ahead and just max it out and then I would probably put the rest, Trinity, just in a high-yield savings and let it just kind of sit there for a year or two. I mean it's 5% return right now, most of them, which is, which is great for just short-term savings, and hopefully here in the next year or two you'll be settled down in a new career, a city that you know you'll be long term, and then I would use that money for a down payment on a house. is what I would do. but I would just put in a high-yield savings account right now and go ahead and fund your Roth IRA. go ahead and max it out this year, yeah, such.
a medical aside. your emergency fund, your Roth IRA and the rest are saved towards your next house or your first house. this is the Ramsey show.
Rachel Cruz Ramsey personality is my co-host today on the debt-free stage in.
the lobby of Ramsey solutions. Chandler and Sidney are with us. hey guys, how are you good doing great welcome. where do y'all live?
Bardstown, Kentucky. it's about a 30-minute drive south of Louisville, know.
exactly where it is. it's the king of bourbon town. all right, welcome to Nashville. and how much debt have you guys paid off? sixty seven thousand five.
hundred and thirty three dollars and one cent. I love it. I love it how long did.
that take 22 months. Wow, and your range of income during that two years started.
making. it was at sixty four thousand and ended a little over eighty four.
thousand good for you. well done, well done, I love it well. congratulations you guys. what kind of debt was this? it was our house.
Wow, tiny little mortgage, good.
for you. we're weird people. I love it. you're officially weird, that's right I?
love it. how old are you two? I'm 30 and I'm 29. what's the house worth, I'd say?
well done you guys. thank you, well done, I love it, congratulations, very proud of you, good work, good work. so what do y'all do for a living? I'm a homemaker, so I.
stay home with her daughter mm-hmm, and I'm an IT director for a Catholic.
nonprofit. very good, okay, you guys very cool. so I showed us a picture on YouTube the house with the snow in the front and everything looks like a great place how.
many acres have you got with that? it's only one acre. it's in a subdivision, but you wouldn't believe it. just from that picture, it looks like it's on a farm.
yeah, big, well, that's nice man, very fun. so what sets you guys out on this journey 22 months ago, following this Ramsey stuff? well, we we first encountered.
Ramsey, I did back in 2015 and took FPU. one of my friends share one of your videos on social media. I'm like. well, this guy seems to know what's going on and took FPU, met Sydney in 2017 and we went through FPU afterwards and got engaged, got married and, and when I started this particular journey on the mortgage payoff, my employer did an assessment of salaries and saw they were not, you know, paying us market rate. so we got a substantial raise.
oh wow, and it was just the weight of it. was us like. we want to make sure we do something good with this. we want to be wise with the. with this money, there is a pretty.
heavy Paul's. going like this is a lot of money, mm-hmm. you need to be careful or.
else it'll just disappear. yeah, that's wisdom. we sat down one night and Sydney said why don't we calculate what it would take to pay off the house? okay, so I punched it into the calculator and I'm like well, it looks like three years, so we can do better than that 22 months later. yeah, well, we originally calculate.
I think. after we will. I just cut things out that weren't necessary. I think it was like May of 2024 and as things kept going on, we kept cutting, kept doing, we did some extra side jobs and we paid it off. oh my gosh, you guys, that's what.
happens when you use financial peace University is your pre-marriage?
counseling. yeah, way to go, you two. it's funny. I go take an FPU on my own, or so I thought I thought I'd only gotten two classes in. so we met.
it's like yeah, I take an FPU. look back at the book. oops, I only went to two classes. I'm an FPU.
dropout, you went back and got your GED. it's okay, well done, and you got a paid for housing. you're not 30, so that's pretty cool. that's called. that's called graduate level.
work there, good stuff. so this is one part of debt that we taught.
we tell people like hey, this is something that I promise. once it happens and you don't have a mortgage payment, the feeling it is, it's the ultimate freedom, it is that final, final baby step, would you say. that's true. how has it felt for you guys? there's a lot of security in it.
yeah, yeah, just you're.
you're right, the grass does feel different under your feet and we paid it off course in December. so yeah, I hadn't seen the grass, but but yeah, it's it's.
phenomenal feeling. yeah well, there's just no debt in the world, I mean what.
are you gonna do now to celebrate? well, we came here. now let's do something big.
well, we're gonna. we're really wanting to save up and build a nice, nice garage. okay, so that's that's been a big dream. two-car garage. we're gonna build him an office in the back of it, some room for me.
I don't know what it'll be yet, but
so that's that's the next big goal. we want to achieve a lot. well way to go you.
guys, congratulations. so do you have people cheering you on while you're doing this, or do anybody know you were doing it or big secret, or we did we told?
family and friends. our family thought we were we're nuts at first, but gotta give a big shout out to Sydney's parents. they were, they were huge supporters, as well as our church friends Austin and Andrea. they were, they were huge cheerleaders for us and I think they're currently working on their payoff right now. yeah, very good, and one thing we wanted to just mention is you know that we did have some adversity through these 22 months?
we lost my father to suicide September of 22, so, and we the emergency fund just gives you so much, I guess peace, and that we were able to pay for the unexpected expenses and counseling and all the things that come with that. yeah, and it just. it shook us and it made us actually we're like, are we sure? and we're like, yeah, it just reinforced us more about why we want to live a life of freedom. my goodness, December 22, so COVID related.
I assume it was September of 22, and no, it was a suicidist, no I'm.
saying his suicide. was it related to the COVID issues or no? there was there.
was a lot more going on and a lot of it we didn't know or see. sure, I'm sorry.
guys. yeah, it's awful, awful to go through. yeah, you're right, adversity is, I'm always mixed into the story. yeah, it's some kind, it's not just all, some kind of flavor, right, it's always in there. yeah, well, way to go, y'all.
I'm proud of you for persevering, pushing out and a hundred percent debt-free house worth a couple hundred thousand dollars. three hundred thousand, that's incredible. and you're 30 years old. you're gonna be so wealthy it's gonna be unbelievable. that's the plan.
you're gonna be able to be unbelievably generous. and and what you can do with your little girl. so bring your little girl up what's her name? and.
age, Caroline, she's two and a half and we have a second on the way, all right.
all right. well, we've got the every dollar gift card for you for a year subscription, one for you guys, and one for you to give away as our way of saying thanks and coming and doing your debt-free. scream and enjoy that, stay on that budget and keep things moving towards that incredible wealth. I'm so proud of y'all very, very, very much, for I let you go. what do you tell people the?
key to getting out of debt is just being on the same page. communicating the budget was a huge help. we're avid every dollar users. this will work, good, yeah.
you can just apply this and not have to pay us, but yes, just being on the same.
page. I mean just the encouragement. without Sydney constantly encouraging us, I could have served on, couldn't done it alone. so great Chandler Sydney and.
Caroline from Bardstown, Kentucky. 68,000 paid off on their 250 $300,000 home did it in 22 months, making 64 to 84. count it down. let's hear a debt-free scream three.
two. one, we're debt-free. oh my goodness, so great, Oh house and everything you.
know, I I'm so proud of a couple like that. and there's. they're sitting in a very affordable market. obviously they got a very nice home for, yeah, you know, 300,000 bucks there. they chose a home that they could afford and if they could pay off, is that it shows choosing one.
they could qualify with their income easily for twice that, yeah or more. yeah, it chose to be reasonable and then get it paid off. now, at 30 years old, 100% paid off, they'll be able to do anything. that's different than I'm on tick-tock whining and saying well, boomers bought their house for two black buckets of strawberries. and and so, yeah, and you can't buy a house now because I'm stuck and I'm a millennial.
well, that's a millennial. there's on their way to being a millionaire. yeah, that's. so there's your two buckets of strawberries. this is the Ramsey show.
listen, tickets for the live like no one else. cruiser selling fast. this is the ultimate debt-free vacation and I can't wait to celebrate with all the folks who've worked their butts off and changed their family trees. we will be sailing through the blue waters of the Caribbean with the Ramsey personalities.
and other special guests. a bunch of cabin options are already sold out, so
hurry and reserve yours with a $600 deposit today at Ramsey solutions. comm slash events. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today, thank.
you for joining us. open phones at triple, eight, eight, two, five, five, two, two, five. Kevin is in Colorado Springs. hi, Kevin, welcome to the Ramsey show, Rachel, how.
you guys doing better than we deserve what's up in your world? oh, just stress. but not depressed. I'll get right to it. so I've got a bad credit card debt from Wells Fargo that closed a year ago.
I put it to the back of my baby step to figuring I could get to it either sell it, paid off completely, whatever need to be done. Friday I got served with papers. they are now suing me for the outstanding debt bad debt that you know I owe the money on. I'm a little freaked out because I kind of figured you know a good, like a collections company where I could maybe sell it for less or have a little bit more time. what's the balance from a little under $12,000 after interest and all that on the lawsuit?
that. how long has it been since you paid them the last payment that they got for?
me was November of 22. it was a really rough month. it's the first time I've.
ever missed a payment, and so November 22. so you're 18, 18 months behind roughly, and why have you not paid anything in 18 months? they closed the account, but.
they'll take payment. that did. oh, did not know that.
oh, I mean you. you didn't think they were not going to take payment, you didn't I?
you knew they wanted to be paid, right. yes, I know they want to be paid. I just I didn't have a way to pay through the app and I really think anything of it.
being perfectly honest. no, no, you're no, okay, yeah. so on the lawsuit papers, does it say Wells Fargo? yes, it doesn't say a debt formerly held by Wells Fargo it.
says Wells Fargo Bank. I don't have the paperwork in front of you right now, so I.
can't read everything, but don't go check it, because it's unusual for Wells Fargo to do this. they usually will sell off the bad credit card debt and the buyer of the bad debt will sue you. that's kind of what I figured. that's what usually happens, but so this is an unusual case they made. I mean they're not above suing you for 12,000 bucks if you owe them and hadn't bothered to pay them for 18 months.
that's very possible. what do you make between me and my wife?
we make this past year roughly 130 to 140. okay, you have any money. no, we're working on paying off debt. we actually just barely got started on the plan, like getting serious a couple months ago. you don't have a thousand dollars, you don't have $2,000, you don't have anything.
but we have emergency fund plus a little bit in sinking funds for you know, like vehicle repairs and stuff like that. but
nothing serious. so so the $1,000 starter emergency fund plus a few hundred give.
or take yeah, all right, I assume your credits trashed. it's about 650. is 670 somewhere in there? it's not completely destroyed, but I we had a house fire two years ago and then because of that everything fell apart. a whole bunch of carts closed on me at the same time that I wasn't using anyway, so I didn't care and the credit slowly been building back up, so it's got a little bit better.
okay. so you have other things that are outstanding, that are unpaid as well, yes.
I currently have 1,000 a little over $1,000 on a another credit card through a credit union, a vehicle loan for 11,200 through that same credit union and a personal loan through that same credit union for 1 to 2,500 on your current. with all of those, I am current. with all of them I'm actually working on the.
credit card right now? okay, all right, do you have any other credit cards or anything that you have not paid on in 18 months, like this one? no, everything else.
is either paid up or closed.
okay, last time you told me one was closed, it had an outstanding balance of $12,000. have you got another one of those? no, I checked every single one of those. so closed means you have a zero balance. yeah, closing a zero balance or.
you know, I no longer have credit available through them like they. just I stopped using the card because what I'm talking about, man, how much other.
crap like this. if you got out there that you owe money is getting ready to sue you. this one was laying out there. you had no available. they had closed it, but they still thought you owed them $12,000.
because you do, you have another.
one of those. yes, no, you just told me you did. no, no, no, no, that that the Wells Fargo card is the only one that was out there. like that do you do? you owe money.
to anyone else that you're not current on the payments? no, okay. so the credit cards are closed, have zero balance. the other credit cards that are closed have zero balances, nothing owed. yes, sir, okay, all right, because I don't want some other monster to jump out of the closet while we're fighting this one.
that's what I was trying to help you with. okay, so here's what will happen. you will be sued on the date that they told you. whether you show up to court or not. you will lose, because the lawsuit is not about anything except do you owe the money.
and the answer is yes. have you paid the payment properly? the answer is no. lawsuit over judgment $12,000 Wells Fargo versus Kevin in Colorado. okay, so you're going to lose the lawsuit.
there's no defense for not paying except paying. okay, so it's not not. it's not anything to panic about, but that's just what's going to happen. so this is going to lead. this is going to go from a credit card debt to a judgment lien.
it's going to convert to that because you're getting ready to get a judgment on you and they won't do anything with it for probably ever. but eventually they might garnish your wages or take a lien on a bank account, but it takes them usually six months minimum, but a absolute minimum of 30 days in any state to do that. so it, what's the date, the court date there is?
in one. yet on the paperwork. there's no court date. there's no case number.
anything, then you've not been sued one. okay, now, if you've been sued, there's a court date and it gives you the court, the circuit court, Sixth Circuit Court or whatever it is you've been sued in. okay, this is a notice they served you to scare the pants off of you, which is good, because it woke you up. you needed to be woke up, so now we can deal with it. so call them you call the law firm, that's.
on it? is our law firm listed on it? yes, there is. that was actually into the question. is me right disagreed about that because I don't don't trust their.
lawyer could be. I don't trust it. well, they don't trust you. you haven't paid the bill, so this is a mutual. so yeah, just call them up and say I don't have $12,000 right now, I'm behind on everything.
I'm. I think I might be bankrupt. I don't know I'm, but I sure can't be sued and garnishing by you guys. so what can I do to settle this? what would you take?
I think I can scrape together a few thousand and I can probably do that and and give them a date. that's about a month and a half out, and then you stop paying everything and you come up with two or three thousand dollars and offer them two or three thousand dollars. three thousand dollars a settlement in full a month from now, okay, or six thousand dollars a settlement in full two months from now okay. eventually, if you keep barking at them, they'll take a deal. okay, and you have to come up with a lump sum cash.
do not cut a deal for payments, don't do that. just say I can't pay this. I only thing I can do. I can't pay payments. I can't stand any more payments.
I'm trying to stay out of bankruptcy and if I can settle this with you, maybe I can and keep talking that to him that way over and over and over until you come up with a number. when you come up with a number, listen to these two things quickly. do not give them electronic access to your checking account. they will clean you out and do not give them a dime until you have. whatever deal you have made in writing over the phone is not good enough.
they lie. get it in writing and no electronic. access your checking account and settle this for five or six thousand dollars and make it go away.
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 Rachel Cruz Ramsey, personality number one best-selling.
author, co-host of the smart money. happy hour with our one and only George Campbell and my daughter. she's my co-host today. the phone number is triple 8, 8, 2, 5, 5, 2, 2, 5. Lisa is with us in Irvine, California.
hi, Lisa, welcome to the Ramsey show, hi.
thank you, so excited to speak with the both of you. I'm a long time. oh, I'm a longtime listener and follower of the show, thank you. I'm calling to get some advice on talking to my close friend. she told me that she has added her toddler, who's two years old, as an authorized user on her credit card.
I almost fell out of my chair when she told me that because, like I said, I'm a longtime listener and I know this is a very bad idea. so I'm calling to ask how, what advice should I give to her, or is it even my business to share my opinion with her? has she asked your opinion? no, she was trying to get me to add my kids as authorized user. she told me you should do the same thing for, and I kind.
of froze a bill to build the kids credit score. people are doing yeah to build a kid? yes, cuz it's a trend. oh god, yeah. yeah, it's a whole thing that if you got, you put your kid as an authorized user, you build their credit the level of.
stupidity is painful. it just really is. I mean tick-tock, my god y'all. um, I mean it's not just tick-tock, but I know, but that's just. that's just completely asinine.
so because here's now what you've done. okay, you've opened little jr. up to like 73,000 possibilities of Russian hackers completely stealing his identity, and if little jr. stays off the dadgum grid, then Russian hackers aren't gonna steal his identity. so keep jr.
off the grid. oh my god, a conspiracy theorist. it's not a conspiracy, it's a fact you sound like. it's not a conspiracy theory. I mean, like me, identity theft happens to people all the time, but not if they're idiot parents.
don't put them on a credit card. oh my god, I don't know, I don't know how to help people. that dumb, it's just you. well, yeah, I mean Holly as her.
friends. Lisa, I don't think that there's anything you do. no, she didn't ask you.
and she's not gonna do anything. you say no, just say, listen if she says it to you again. just say I wouldn't want to expose my child to the level of identity theft that you should expose your child to.
the probability of identity theft went up 10,000 X. okay, this kid has a social security number and is nowhere else on the grid until you do this. and now you dropped them in the dadgum Internet. I mean you're asking for it. you're pointing a gun at the face of the credit report oh my gosh, at the face of their credit report.
okay, well, and it's ridiculous, you're asking for it and the.
hard thing that happens, to which, Lisa, you probably know this too, because not just the identity theft, but then things happen in life right, and parents get behind on their bill and and then they end up trashing the kids credit score, and it does the opposite effect of what they are, what their intentions were.
because they technically. technically, a user should not get the credit of the owner anyway. technically, an approved user on the card should not be affected by the credit of the card, positive or negative. technically, because they're not on the account. they're just allowed to use the account.
so it's not. it should not show up, it's. if it does, it's FICO is screwed up. because it's not. they're not a you, they're not owner on the air, it's an authorized user, but you're an.
authorized signer on Ramsey investment or Ramsey solutions checking accounts.
because you are one of the owners of this company, but if the account goes sideways, the fact that you're an authorized user does not affect you, but you're allowed to sign. it doesn't mean you own it, so what what's her purpose of?
doing it because she's an idiot. no stop, but why? what was she saying to build?
credit, it won't build her credit. it shouldn't build as an authorized user. it does not. it's not supposed to. sometimes it gets reported that way falsely, but it should not happen because you're not liable on the account.
if you're an authorized user, it just it's not here. you are legally wrong. can it happen? yes, it can happen, but here's the thing. if you want to build credit for your toddler to start with a, that's dumb be because you're setting them up for a life of debt.
yeah, this is your plan. I want my child to use credit cards and be in debt the rest of their life. what kind of horrible parent are you? yeah, a good.
credit, the primary credit cards. yeah, the good credit management helps that. improve your credit money says. what an article on tick-tock on Google. okay,
there you go. I'm telling you it's a legal issue. people are doing it only the people that are liable on the account, and you authorize users not liable on the account. okay, we have a hundred and sixteen debit card. no, I hear you.
I hear you credit card different. it's credit cards different, though? no, it's not. the authorized user is responsible for the credit good or bad, and that's supposed to be what's reported. it's not always, yeah.
so to their point, they may actually screw up their kids credit. it's possible, yeah, or enhance their kids credit. it's possible, but it's a really dumb idea because you're just asking for identity theft. you're begging for it because you put their kids because here's the thing who goes back and checks a four-year-olds credit twice a year to make sure that they've not had their account scarfed. but you put their name out there and you don't go back and check on it and you coast along thinking you're a freaking genius because you watch the tick-tock video and now you've exposed your kids credit to being completely ripped mm-hmm with and you could look up and there'll be five or six cards open in their name and you wouldn't even know it because they're not required to identify.
you are to notify you about your kid, they don't check on it, your kids not gonna get anything in the mail. that's how identity theft works. so, oh god, oh it's so aggravating. so I don't know I mean late that the overall answer. your question, honey, is this if somebody isn't asking you their opinion, your opinion, then don't give it.
I mean I got friends that do stupid stuff too, so they're still my friend, but they're still just my stupid friend. and so that's okay that you got friends that do that. they do things you don't agree with. I mean I people I love that don't know how to vote, and it's all that kind of stuff. I still still love them, but they vote wrong.
and so, um, you know, there's you just there. you have some of that right, but I'm not friend. but don't ask me, yeah, how, what I think, unless you want me to tell you that's right friend, or on the air, sure, and the problem is when you call on the air, you've automatically. so it's like our job to tell you what we think. so it's what we do here for three hours every day.
so, oh god, that's poor woman. so, Lisa, I'm sorry, you can't help her. she's not gonna, even if you gave her your opinion. she's not gonna do anything with it, because she's got her little, her little brain made up system and I'm going. she's just gonna screw up her kids life.
oh god, that's so. this is the Ramsey show.
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Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. Linda's in Pittsburgh. hi, Linda, welcome to the Ramsey show. hi, how are you better than I deserve? what's up?
hey, we, my husband and I, are wondering how he can acquire his portion of the will that his mother wrote. so she passed away in 2006 and wrote a will giving the family home to her children, and his brother has lived in the show in the house all of his life and still lives there was the will. was the will probated? the will was probated by their stepdad in 2007. okay, she passed away in 2006.
and okay, and so the stepdad. the stepdad had nothing to do with the house in the will, right. yes, it was just one of those where it was. he had the right to occupy during his lifetime, the brother or the stepdad, stepdad. okay.
so he had a life estate and the will was, and the will left the property to your husband, his brother and whatever other siblings. and sister. who, okay? was the property retitled at that time? what did Pennsylvania probate require?
you all to retitle it and put everybody's name on it? the house is in Colorado. oh, and it, at the time of probate, it was retitled to all three siblings. okay, so you each own a third undivided interest. it's called okay, right, okay, is sister still alive?
you know she? she lost her battle with depression in 2017. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, yes, and did she have heirs? no, she did not, okay. so I would suppose that your husband and his brother are now equal owners.
then you would have to seek an attorney's advice to be 100% sure. but let's play this through. that's what it sounds like. it sounds like they're now equal owners. okay, and he doesn't have to do anything to acquire it.
it already has his name on it. the death of his sister left her half left half of hers to him and half of it to his brother, and so now the two of them are 50-50. okay, it's all his name's on. the title is the property. if the property were sold, he would get 50%.
okay, okay, so now, what are y'all wanting to do? so, he had after, probably it was two. almost two years after the stepfather passed away, he approached his brother about either buying him out or selling the home, and he said absolutely not. I have no interest in selling the home and I'm not going to buy you out. okay, who lives in it?
his brother, okay, he has lived in it all his life. okay, so he's living there for free. yes, okay, he has a roommate there that pays him rent. okay, well, here's the thing if you want to, if you want to stir it up and cause this to come to an end, because this is not. this is not a fair situation.
this is unjust. agreed, agreed, okay, then your husband, how does he have any relationship left with his brother at all? well, they love each other. it's just that I didn't ask that I asked if they had a relationship in the middle. do what I said.
they love each other. there's this mountain in the middle, the house? yeah, yeah, well, it depends on how much your husband wants to invest in this. but if we want to try to save the relationship, you get on an airplane and he flies out there and he sits down with his brother and he says okay, you, living here for free is done. I'm a 50% owner in this and you can't live here for free anymore.
you have to move out. I'm demanding that. or we have to sell the house or you have to buy me out. now you decide which one you want to do. you want to move out and we rent it and we split the rents that we'd collect, or do you want to buy me out or whatever.
I'll give you a deal if you want to buy me out, but you sitting here and me getting nothing and you living here for free ends. I'm done, I love you. I hate what you're doing. to me it's nasty and it's wrong and it's unjust. and he says that to him in person, to his face okay, and then if the brother goes, well, I'm not gonna do that.
you say, yes, you are, because if you do not, I'm going to hire an attorney and I'm going to sue in circuit court to have this partnership disbanded, and the court is going to force the sale of the house to give me my half and it's going to cost me five or ten thousand dollars and you're probably never going to speak to me again. but I'm at the point that I'm tired of you screwing me over. this is how you have to handle it. if you're going to handle it otherwise, you just got to accept it and go on. and then you have to hire an attorney and the judge will demand that you sell the house to liquidate the estate and they'll sell the house and the brother will get half the money and you'll get half the money.
I said liquidating the estate is selling the house. correct? yeah, yeah, you sell the house. okay, sell the house, you get your half now or we can have the house appraised and at 80 percent. 80 cents on the dollar of the appraisal.
I'll take my half. I'll give you a 20 percent discount if you want to buy me out. How much is the house worth Linda?
From what we can tell, it's probably right around $400,000.. Yeah, this is just wrong, and your brother-in-law's a leech. he's a parasite, mm-hmm, and you're tired of it. that's why you called.
Is your husband as tired of it as you are, or is he just gonna let this go on? Oh no, he's as tired of it as I am. He's just a super nice guy. Okay, if you want, if he wants to try to be super kind to his brother, he could fly out there and try to do this very calmly and just say this is over. okay, you're gonna buy me out or the judge is gonna force the sale of the house, because when I leave this conversation, if we're not in agreement, I'm gonna contact an attorney and we're going to court and the house is gonna be sold because you living here for free is not right.
it's not fair. you've been taking advantage of me and I can't let you do that anymore, even though I love you. that's wrong. and, and if, brothers, and if you want to buy me out, I'll give you a discount on the appraisal, but I own 50%. you own 50% and you can't live here free anymore.
that's over. fly, take a plane ticket, invest a plane ticket into the relationship, try to do it nice and see if you can get him to move off. he may just think that he your brother, your, my brother's a nice guy. he's never gonna do anything and he might be right.
talking about your husband. right, yeah, I know, I know. he sees your husband as a target and he's using it. he sees, he thinks your husband's not gonna do anything. yeah, and so if your husband don't know and do anything, it's okay, I don't care.
if you want, if you want, to just let this go on. I'm not mad about it, it doesn't matter. but if you're going to do it that's how you do it I would sell it to him at a discount, because if you sell it, you're going to pay expenses anyway. right, right, and so if it's worth 400,000, I'll sell you my 200,000 at 80 percent, which is a hundred and sixty. that's a great deal.
you have 30 days to get me my money. if you do not get me my money in 30 days, I am going to begin a court proceeding. that's going to force the sale of the house and don't you know? and that's the end of the discussion. and then just go hire a lawyer and do it, and it'll take a dadgum year and it'll take ten thousand.
it'll be ten thousand dollars out of your pocket legal fees. is there a way to find a reputable attorney in Colorado? sure, that was our other thing. it's like how do you? how do you find one there without call one of our real estate endorsed local providers?
jump on the line at Ramsey and find the real estate lenders. local providers tell me I need a good real estate attorney. okay, and they'll give you a recommendation. and that's the only way. I mean I.
you got to have somebody, you that you trust, and these are high, high octane real estate agents that we endorse, and they'll know somebody. that's a quality attorney that can litigate this. but I really wouldn't you know I? it may be that when you hire the attorney and you spend five hundred dollars and he has to, he decides to send a letter to the brother that that wakes the brother up and then the brother does it because the brothers probably. he's been living this way a long time.
he's probably not going to take the first. he's not gonna believe your husband that he's gonna do anything because he's never done anything. so he's suddenly a man of action. that's gonna be shocking to the brother. this is the Ramsey show.
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debt-free stage. Ryan and Kendall are with us. hey guys, how are you howdy where?
do you guys? where do you guys live? San Antonio, Texas. ah nice, welcome to Tennessee. good to have you heard howdy, and I thought they're not from Minnesota.
good to have you guys. thank you very much. it's good to be here. how much debt have you paid off? one hundred and sixteen thousand nine hundred and forty two dollars and fifty five cents.
I love it. how long did this take? 54 months way?
to go and your range of income during that time. so we started off with sixty.
five thousand. that was my pay, and this last year we finished up at a hundred.
and seventy two thousand. well, nice, what do y'all do for a living? so I'm an occupational therapist, mm-hmm, and I do sales. ah, very good, okay. so occupational therapist, I'm guessing the 117 might have had some student loan in it.
yes, it definitely did. what was the breakdown of the 117, would you know? goodness, so the.
car payment was well, the car loan was around twenty seven thousand dollars and the rest of it was student loans, and ironically it was all my student loans. oh, I blamed it on her. I'm so sorry. no, that was, I stand, corrected. that was a part of our journey.
we had most of this loans when I graduated from college, when we first married about five years ago, mm-hmm, and the idea that was that we had to stop the bleeding and start living a debt-free life and in progress in that direction I'm taking out loans, for her master's program wasn't a part of that plan, so it that was one of the things that we actually cash flowed through, oh.
you can't load your occupational there, but waiting y'all, that's huge. wow, that's while you did this. really, yeah, you've been married about five years. you said about 60 months and the 54 of it we've been doing this. Wow, so you got married and you looked at this pile of student loan debt and you got these goals to be an occupational therapist there.
all these things are in conflict with each other. you sit down, tell me how this happened. how'd you get connected to?
Ramsey, what you decide to do all this. so I decided to pursue occupational therapy degree in El Paso, mm-hmm, right after he had gotten offered a job in San Antonio. so we made the hard decision. he decided to keep his job because we saw great growth there, and stay in San Antonio. we did long distance for me in El Paso, and that's quite the drive.
so, Ryan, on the way up, one time he decided to turn on your podcast on Spotify, and it's a couple of episodes to get to El Paso. that was my daily. that was my monthly. you can listen to a week's worth, yeah. so we started listening to it back in 2018 and, and man, there's not a lot of cell reception out there, so I have to download them and listen to them along the drive and before you know it, in El Paso, after seven hours.
and hey, Kendall, I got this great idea. I got a bunch of great. listen this. tell me what you would do. you know, and having those back-and-forth conversations, pressing the pause button and saying, well, what do you think is the right answer, Kendall?
and having that discussion kind of turned us on to this whole entire idea that you know. that is not a pet. it needs to go away, and that's a type of lifestyle that we want to live one day. so that's amazing. you guys, thank you.
absolutely amazing. and then in the middle of it had a baby. yes, in the
middle of all of it right, and that's a pause that's once or twice sweet, oh my.
gosh. okay, so what was the hardest part of this? because you guys, you did a lot, you cash flowed, school, got a different career. you guys were a long distance together. baby, all of it, but all of life and all of the money stuff, what would you tell someone is like who?
that was hard, that was the sack. we felt that one.
yeah, the hard part was saying no, quite frankly, to all those things that you really want to do. that you know you could do, but having that delay, gratification and waiting and deciding you know my priorities are elsewhere that that was definitely very hard for especially me. I have so many hobbies, so, yeah, to spend money and to be committed and heading in the right direction for years. it's tough. well good, hello.
how long was the masters? how long?
was the separation, because the masters about two and a half years. yeah, yep.
that's harsh, okay? Wow, what was the thing that you guys would say to another couple listening? that maybe may have similar story, maybe not, but they're.
trying to get out. let's just be real clear. they didn't do that separation to get out of debt. they did that separation to get your occupational therapy master okay, and you did it and your cash floated, of course. but yeah, separation was due to that, not the separation, but I mean being separate.
yeah, the better way.
of saying it was due to that right. yes, you know, it's good clarification. the school you got into versus the job right, that was, that was the decision you guys.
in my career in sales is very long-term. yeah, ideas, I'm gonna spend my whole life in San Antonio, which is a great idea to me, because I love San Antonio, yeah, but to be jumping around from location, location doesn't really give you the opportunity to build a backlog and build a relationship. so a two-year, a two-year delay, or two years of patience, really, versus the long-term career, yeah, it's, it's an adult decision you have to make and you have to commit to it totally.
absolutely so what was the thing that you would tell somebody? here's what you have to do in order to get out of this much debt, because this is a lot. you guys I mean this is hundred, yeah, six figures. so what would you say you have to do?
this. our biggest two things were consistency towards our set goal and seeing that as the bigger picture, and communication. so, even if we wanted something that we knew we shouldn't get, we would still talk about it. yeah, yeah, man, this is gonna be so cool to get later. yeah, not, no, just not now, and same with the long distance.
really it's the same two ideas. yeah, consistency, communication, yeah, whatever feelings good, bad, all the in-betweens, yes, that's.
good. so you know, it occurs to me that not only have you done this amazing hundred and seventeen thousand, but you also cash flow. this what did the masters?
cost. oh goodness. yeah, you know, that's a tough question to answer. so I filled out. probably I have no idea how many scholarships and grants I filled out.
good, during that time that was like pretty much my part-time job, yeah, going to school, and we also benefited a little bit from the Kovan mm-hmm. our loans were put on hold mm-hmm, the government ones, yeah. so we use that opportunity to not have to pay the minimums on those mm-hmm. and then I got a lot of grant opportunities through Kovan. okay, cost a ton and actual cash.
now it I'd say it's probably a 50-50 breakdown. that's great. it was the back half of the. the last two semesters were mostly my income going and contributing to that. the first three semesters, I say Kendall did a whole lot of the work, especially with scholarships.
and grants. it's great guys. okay, so you put about a hundred into that and about a hundred and seventeen into the other 100. I don't know. yeah, okay, all right, that's what I was thinking, that I'm thinking you're really in your the whole situation here.
you really did about a $200,000 move. yeah, it's what I'm guessing, and I was thinking that because that's, you know, it's one thing to pay off hundred seventeen, it's another to do it right. fifty thousand for the half and.
okay, Wow, way to go. y'all, thank you, who was cheering you on. oh gosh our entire.
family and friends. of course we still got funny looks, especially when we said no to like fun events and vacations and all those things, but they were still.
cheering us on. great job you guys. oh okay, so you have worth it, oh yeah.
absolutely. it changes. it changes my decision-making. you know, it gives me the opportunity to decide for myself what I want, what our family wants, right, and it just clears, clears your thought, clears your focus. so good for you guys, well.
done all right, let's bring up your baby. you're gonna have that in the debt-free screen. and what's his name, Nolan? and how old is Nolan? he's 15 months.
oh go, big guy. go, big guy. they always like the microphone. grab them. that's great all.
right, Ryan and Kendall and Nolan. San Antonio, Texas. 117 thousand dollars paid off in 54 months, making 65 to 172 count it down. let's hear a debt-free scream.
three, two, one.
that's how it's done, ladies and gentlemen. man, those people are.
goal-oriented with the baby. oh my god, I did a lot come here. oh, they did a lot, a lot of sacrifice on so many levels, and they did it. that's it, it's the movement, it's the proactiveness of people that stand on the stage, and it's incredible. it's incredible.
all of you listening, heroes. yeah, they're heroes, well done.
hero. this is the Ramsey show.
Luke 637 do not judge and you will not be judged. do not condemn and you will not be condemned. forgive and you will be forgiven. John F Kennedy said forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.
oh that's fun. well, folks, if you got questions about taxes, we get it. taxes are confusing and to help you get a better handle on them, we get some questions from time to time for our listeners. I want to avoid overpaying taxes each month. what do I need to change with my paycheck?
well, let's correct one thing it's not overpaying because you don't pay. it's over withholding. say withhold means I hold back. they're holding part of your check, withholding some of your check. they're not letting you have some of your check to apply to your taxes.
if you don't need to pay the taxes, you get it back as a refund, meaning you have had too much taken out of your check, too much withheld. so you're not overpaying. you just haven't too much withheld. now, once we say that if it's a simple couple ways you can do it, the simplest way is if nothing has changed, if the tax code didn't change and your situation didn't change, you just simply divided by 12 and say I need that much. you have $3,000 refund.
I got $250 a month too much coming out of my check. go to HR and say reduce my withholding by 250 bucks a month and they can do payroll adjustment and do that real simple. but if things have changed, then you use tax software, like, for instance, the Ramsey tax where soft Ramsey solutions tax software, and do your taxes. but don't you know you're just running out the taxes. see what it is, what is your taxes going to be?
and so then have that much, whatever your tax bill is going to be, have that much withheld from your check over the year. and so let's just pretend, let's say, your taxes are $10,000. well, that's eight hundred thirty three dollars a month. so you need to have that withheld from your check and of course, either way you've got to fill out a new W-4 with the HR, with payroll, to get that done. so the trick is do not get a refund.
if you get a refund, it means you've loaned the government your money at zero interest all year and they send it back to you in April with no interest. you have a stupid savings account. that's what a tax refund is a stupid savings account. so do not be setting yourself up for a refund. if you're getting a refund, adjust your withholding, because don't pay them so much, don't, don't let them take more than they need to take.
if you don't know it now, don't under withhold where you have a big tax bill at the end of the year. that's going to get you penalized and create cash flow problems for you. but if you're getting three thousand bucks a year, four thousand bucks a year, twelve hundred bucks a year back every time, that's just. you got a stupid thousand dollars or more and you got a Christmas account with it, with the freaking federal government that no interest, don't do that, and Santa Claus doesn't live in DC. this is not a gift from them.
this is your money that you gave them and shouldn't have given them, and then they give it back and act like they did something and you're like oh, I got a refund. it's like you're smart. it's not smart. it's the opposite of smart. so don't do this.
okay, change your withholding with your w-4 by readjusting to the proper amount of tax coming out now for more tax help. go to Ramsey.
solutions comm, slash tax, tons of all kinds of blog stuff there to help you.
with taxes and you'll find the Ramsey smart tax, which is our no-nonsense tax software. people are changing to it from the other one in droves. there's no upfront pricing or it's low upfront pricing. I'm sorry, no hidden fees, and if you have a complicated situation, you even go to one of our tax bros with Ramsey. trusted.
they'll help you. so Ramsey solutions, comm slash tax. Shannon is in Dallas. hi, Shannon, welcome to the Ramsey show. hi, thanks for having me.
sure what's up. okay. so my husband and I were new listeners and we did the baby set a little bit out of order, and so we had some good home investment opportunities, and so we have our mortgage paid off. we make about 180 thousand a year before taxes. the only debt we do have is a car note, which is about 50k a year.
so we've got six months emergency fund. I guess my main question is we have zero retirement, so I work part-time and my husband works for a small company, so they don't get any retirement through his job. so our plan was to save up cash and put down on rental property. but after listening to you guys, we think maybe we need to do that. well, we need to pay off the car first, obviously, but then do 15% for retirement in a raw.
so I guess my question is we're almost 40, so in 20 years will we have enough in retirement, which is 15%? yeah, if you run the calculations, I did, it was like six hundred thousand, I think, but that's without percentage increases and stuff.
yeah, and that's if you could never get a raise. right, right. and the other thing is this if you're at your, you know, let's say, you get the car paid off and you have an emergency fund. you told me your house was paid off right. yes, so you're a baby step seven.
so 15% no longer applies. at that point, you can invest more. you would max everything that you've got available Roth's 401 case. he doesn't have anything at work, though, and you don't have anything. so all you've got is Roth, right, mm-hmm, there's no self-employed income anywhere.
right, right, okay. how large is the company he works for? there's about ten people. okay, if I were him, I would sit down, talk with the owners and go hey guys, you can put this stuff together really inexpensively, right and coach them up. have them, have them sit down with one of the Ramsey smart vest or pros, and you can start a retirement plan for a 10 person company, and it costs almost nothing.
okay, okay, so.
you still start that because I did just start health insurance. they didn't even.
have that before. well, yeah, that's gonna cost them in penalties under Obamacare if he doesn't do that. so they got to do that. but the yeah, they. yeah, it's really inexpensive and and very easy to set up for a 10 person company.
I'm getting touched with those smart vest rows. that'll help you put even more in. so here's what I would do. I would max out. let's say that you could do, I don't know 20%, but you can't, you don't?
you can't find enough stuff to put it in. so you max out two Roth's. you put up whatever you can at the company. if they start doing something fun, you put something over there and you still got more money. then pile up that money to buy real estate for cash, okay, and then you're gonna end up with a net.
you're gonna end up with a net worth probably close to.
five million when you hit retirement. okay, if you do all that, Roth maxed out.
and then investing in real estate that you pay cash for and your increases in income, and you just keep doing all this stuff for the next 25 years, you're gonna end up between between three and five million. okay, that's where you'll be. six hundred thousand is just simply doing a Roth and you're gonna do more.
than that. okay, so, is that both of you guys? is that two Roth's, Shannon? um, well,
yeah, yeah, I'm part-time. okay, you can do two, you can do two, but you can do a spousal though. yeah, you can fully fund. both need Roth's, but that's only six grand. yeah, and they can do what.
they can. tell him this tell him to check with. okay, you need to go to a SmartVestor Pro anyway to sit down and set your Roth's up. so go to RamseySolutions.com click SmartVestor and they'll help you get.
your Roth started. okay, you have kids. we do, and they're teenagers. and one we just put through Fire Academy. we paid for that.
the other one, she's 17. good, so we're.
cash for cash flow in that. then, at this stage, and okay, then tell the ask, tell your husband, ask his boss to meet with your investment advisor, your SmartVestor Pro, and they can show him how to do. if you can remember this, it's called a simple IRA. it's a 401k for small businesses and it costs almost nothing to set up. okay, and then your husband can load that up and the other people will jump on board too, but he'll be able to do it.
there's almost no regulation on it. it's a very. it's why they call it the simple IRA. it's a 401k for tiny businesses like this is perfect, and so they can do all of that. and then you, you got more money beyond that that you can keep doing.
so just pile up that cash, because you don't have a house payment, you don't have anything, girl, you can have a great life and still pile up some money and you're gonna pay cash for some real estate. the real estate is gonna go up in value, your home's gonna go up in value. you're gonna be in great shape, you know. get the car paid off, though. yeah, the first steps car paid off in the emergency fund.
absolutely very good.
question. that puts a sour the Ramsey show in the books. we'll be back with you.
before you know it. in the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.
you.
hey guys, I'm Rachel and I'm George, and you've probably heard our voices before on the Ramsey show. and do we have a surprise for you? yep, we have our very own show smart money, happy hour where we talk about pop culture, current events and, of course, money. George, it's a great show, and what else do we talk about so?
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