Why Debt Is Never the Solution to Your Problems

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this is The Ramsey Show. It's where we help you win in your life. We want you to win with your money, win in your work, and win in your relationships. The phone number is 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225.. I'm Ken Coleman, and I'm privileged, proud, ecstatic, to be joined by the graceful, the one, the only, the inimitable, Rachel Cruz.

Oh, well, thank you.

They told me, and so I am, on behalf of the American people, saying happy birthday to Rachel Cruz. Thank you, Ken. Are we allowed to tell people how old you are?

Thank you. I guess. I don't know. I don't know what age you get to, that you're like. ...

I don't know how old she is, but I'll leave it up to her, folks.

I'm 36.

Oh, whoa. She's almost an adult. This is exciting. Almost. You're almost there.

I am the spring chicken of the bunch when it comes to here as the host.

Are you the youngest Ramsey personality?

Mm-hmm. I am.

Even younger than George?

Oh, gosh. George, no. I am older than George.

That's awkward. You only co-host a show with him, Smart Money and Happy Hour.

You know what?

I think we .

He's a little bit younger.

He's a year younger than .

Big plans tonight?

I'm heading to Atlanta, Ken, for- A book signing. ... my last book signing tomorrow in Atlanta.

As fate would have it.

It's a book program. I'm glad for where I am. Yes.

Children's book.

Yes. Tomorrow, from one to two, I'll be at the Barnes & Noble. Where? In Alpharetta.

Yeah, I know that one.

Mercil Crossing? Is that right?

Over there, near North Point Mall.

Yes, possibly over in there. Yep. But from one to two tomorrow, Atlanta. Yeah. Come, hang out.

Yeah. For those of you that are planning to come or now want to show up, bring a cupcake. Rachel loves chocolate, and we'll keep celebrating her birthday the day after. It's very fun. It's exciting.

And just given us a great acapella. I'll make some calls.

I'll make some calls, maybe for hour two, hour three. We'll see what I can pull off.

And I need a happy birthday song for me, Ken. Oh, I'll sing. I know you will.

Maybe I'll- You actually have a pretty good voice. Maybe, going out to the break, I'll sing Happy Birthday to you. We'll see. America wants to hear that, so stay tuned. But first, Maria is joining us in mild stomping grounds, where I went to high school, Rachel.

Happy birthday, Rachel. Oh, thank you, Maria. You're welcome. I have a $12,000 credit card debt that is on an emergency low rate of 3% until November. And I am considering debt settlement for that credit card so that I can pay a lower amount in a lump sum.

Well, what was the debt from?

From my previous marriage.

Okay. Was it your debts together? Was the credit card under both of your names? Yes.

It was debt together. And we are getting divorced, so that's what I ended up with, because the credit card is under my name.

Because it was under your name, so yeah, it's going to you. Okay, so here's the thing with debt settlement, and usually when your debt goes into collections, meaning if you don't have the money, because I'm assuming you don't, do you have the money to pay this?

I don't have $12,000.

So with the debt settlement, usually with these companies, Maria, there's a lot of fees. There's a lot of twistedness, that a lot of people, they get in a position where it ends up harming them more than it helps them. And honestly, Maria, at this point, my goal for you would be able to pay this off, even if it is paying minimum payments at a time, and then start working your way to putting more money towards this every month to become completely debt-free. Because the debt settlement for you, is it just because, I mean, why don't you want to just pay this off over a period of time?

Well, I don't. I have a low income.

all over. Yeah.

And this debt is making me anxious, so I can collect some money. I can get some money to pay the debt if the debt settlement is not going to harm me that much. I know it has some negatives.

How much do you make a year?

I wanted to try to do that directly with the bank.

How much do you make a year?

$32,000.

$32,000.

What do you do?

Administrative work.

Do you have kids?

And I'm going to school. No. No, they're adults.

Okay. What are you going to school for?

My undergraduate degree.

Yes. In what? What are you pursuing the degree for?

Oh, in what? Management.

Okay. So why don't you quickly outline for us, because I want you to understand the negatives, and you understand there are negatives to the settlement. What are they specifically for you?

Well, it affects the credit. Of course. I know that. It affects my credit.

Not a big deal there. We'll explain that. Keep going.

And also the fees that have not been disclosed to me.

Exactly. Yeah. So what ends up happening in these situations, Maria, a lot, is people in your situation, they will contact a debt settlement company, again, and I don't want to say easy way out, because I know you're in a really hard situation, so I'm not saying that phrase flippantly, but really hoping that this is the thing that's going to help them get out. And then what ends up happening is they put you on some type of payment plan, that there's a lot of fees. You can't keep up with that.

It's with a credit union.

Okay. Well, that's good, because at least credit unions, those are better than big national banks, because you can actually talk to a person. And I almost would just go down and tell them your situation, show them your income, and just say, hey, I'm not going to be able to pay this off for a really long time. And if I'm able to get together and see if you can do some type of settlement, even with them, versus having to use a middleman. Because these middleman companies, I just don't trust them, Maria.

And Maria, even outside of that advice, you need probably a second job right now, while you're getting trained in school, to get a much better job. A second income, even if it's 20 hours a week, would really give you some margin that you're going to need. Don't move, folks. We'll be right back. This is the Ramsey Show.

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Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my call.

You bet. What's up?

Yes. So my quick question is, I'm wondering if I should go back to school for an MBA or I'm really just trying to increase my income because I'm trying to move out of my fiance's parents' house.

Okay. All right, so walk me through the direct line that you see between this MBA and you making more money, so you can move out.

I guess that's kind of my struggle, is. there's not a whole lot of direction, I guess.

So let's walk through this a little bit more, okay? How long would it take you? Goodness gracious. I apologize, America. You just gave me a swig of water.

I did what I could.

I've been talking all week at Entrez Leadership Summit. The voice is tired.

Probably roughly two years, I'd guess.

Yeah, that's not helping you get out of the house.

Yeah, and how much would that be, Kyle? Have you looked into programs?

I'm seeing. if I would... I probably wouldn't go, unless if I got substantial financial aid. Right.

All right, so let's talk about what needs to happen.

I'm making, I think we're close to $4,000 a month combined.

Wait, combined? You and your fiance are making $4,000 a month?

Yes. So now...

What do y'all both do? What do you do? Yeah, yeah. What do you guys do?

I drive a bus right now, and she works part-time in school.

Okay, so it was a trick question. The answer to my question is you guys need more income. You don't need a degree. And you're in a situation in an economy in the Indianapolis area, very strong job economy right now across the country. You're driving a bus.

About $25.

Okay. So she's a part-time because she's in school. So does she have any bandwidth at all to actually work beyond going to school and doing the part-time job?

A little bit.

A little bit. Okay, so we need to determine what a little bit is. And is she picking up, is that 10 hours, 15 hours? That's what she does. And then for you, you know, 25 an hour, not bad.

Are you 40 hours a week, Kyle?

I just recently started picking up about 40 hours, yeah.

About 40 hours?

Yes. It's just under. Okay.

So we got to get better jobs, and you don't need an MBA to do that. We need a second job. You don't need an MBA to get that. You just don't. And so what is she going to school for?

She's going to school for, to be like a physical therapist.

Okay. And how long does she have left in her undergrad?

She's one year away.

One year away. And then what comes next? Because there's more schooling, is there not, for the PT?

Well, I think she, or I guess it's physical or exercise science. So I don't think it's necessarily a therapist.

Is it her undergrad? Yeah. Yeah. So then she has to go on to PT school. then, if she wants to be a PT.

Yeah. All right. So you see where we stand here? We've got a series of decisions that we're going to have to make to allow us to live, and we're going to have to live on way less than we make while we're in this season, her season of getting educated to be able to be a physical therapist. So for you, you're the one with a little bit more freedom here to make some decisions.

And I guess one question is, because I have a business administration degree, but when I was doing it, I kind of was just going through the motions and didn't really retain anything. So I'd like to use my degree, but I really don't have any direction on what I can do because I feel underqualified.

Well, you're underqualified because you've never done anything.

It's more experience, Kyle, honestly, especially with a degree that's more general, like that. Getting in the field and actually doing something, that's going to teach you a whole lot more than probably sitting in those classes. I'll be honest. And I'm not trying to knock education, but there's a truth that like, I mean, unless you're going to like PT school to actually, like, you know, know tactically, very specifically what you're doing, but like, you know, a comm major or a business major, like to a degree, you'll get some accounting classes, you'll learn some stuff and the basics, but how things really function in the real world is going to come from that experience of you actually getting in there. And you'll start at a very entry level, you know, I mean, like, you won't be high up, but as you start again, having that experience and then slowly moving up, I think is really key.

Kyle, what would you do? What would you try tomorrow? If you knew you couldn't fail and it was going to give you a nice bump and you didn't have to commit to it for the rest of your professional life, but you go, I've been wondering about this. I think I'd like to do this. If I knew I could succeed, what would you choose tomorrow?

I mean, I'm really passionate about personal finance, but.

But what?

I feel like I would have to grow my own business.

Not true. Not true. So to dovetail off of what Rachel just said, she's absolutely right. You should go on RamseySolutions.com and look at the Smart Investor Pro section. These are financial professionals, personal finance professionals.

I've been doing this show for over 30 years, and some of the saddest calls I have taken are from situations that are completely preventable.

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

How am I going to eat next week? Yeah.

In the middle of all that grief. It's terrible. Life insurance is the one thing, especially as a mom with three little kids, that I'm like, so big on for people to get, because it's inexpensive. Zander is the place that Winston and I actually get all of our life insurance.

It doesn't cost much, because Zander shops among a gazillion different companies. It doesn't cost much. You just have to admit that someday you're not going to be here. You got to say it out loud, and you got to say, I'm going to say I love you to my family by taking care of them, and taking the time to put this stuff in place. It costs no stinkin' pizza.

Welcome back, America. You're joining the conversation about you, with you, here on the Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz joins me. Thrilled that you're with us, 888-825-5225..

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my call. I just have a quick question, pretty new to the Baby Steps. We're in Baby Step 2.. All we have left is our mortgage and a HELOC.

It would be part of Baby Step 2 if it's less than half of your annual income. How much is the HELOC?

It's $17,700.

Okay. How much do you guys make a year?

I make $5,350.

Okay. Yeah. I would put that in Baby Step 2.. I would just go ahead and, yep, act like that's just consumer debts. Yeah.

Yes. We have $7,000 in savings. Okay.

That's awesome. So great. Yeah. Honestly, I would throw a chunk at that. I'd keep $1,000, throw $6,000 at this.

I'm 30, and my wife is 29.

Okay. That's great. Yeah. I mean, you have time, but I would still be pretty aggressive towards this, because you guys can knock this out pretty quickly.

Yeah, yeah. And I have a side hustle that also makes about between 10 and 20.. We just had a kid, though, so I have to be kind of limited with that. But I guess navigating, and I would just take the side hustle money, and instead of saving it, just throw it right at the HELOC.

Yep. That's exactly what I would do, for sure. And then any extra money you guys have that you can squeeze out of your budget and live on nothing, and see if you can even throw an extra $6,000 this year out of your regular income at it as well.

Okay. Okay.

Awesome. Thanks, Ryan. Yeah. Thanks for your call. Congrats on the little one.

Yes. Absolutely. Chris is up next in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Chris, how can we help?

All right. Thank you for taking my call. So I just had a quick question. I know that you guys have talked about being upside down on loans and taking out personal loans to cover the difference. My situation is a little different.

Yes, I would. How much do you owe?

It's about $3,600.

Okay. Are you able to pay it off pretty quickly? Do you have any savings?

No. We just started doing the baby steps, so I only have... My wife and I, we only have $1,000 saved up, and that's all we have right now. Okay.

How much do you guys make a year?

I make about $55,000.

Okay.

When's the tax bill due?

It doesn't say on the note that they gave me specifically. We just filed our taxes, and then we got this notification a couple weeks afterwards. It just gives me the total amount that's due.

Yeah. I'm just curious. I've never had this happen to me, so I'm just curious how much time you have.

Oh, wait. I'm sorry. I misspoke. It says May 19th, 2024..

Okay. Now, here's where I'm going, because I would try to come up with as much cash as I could, and so I'm thinking, how much can I sell? Can I sell $1,000 worth of stuff in my house? Can I find stuff in my house where I could come up with 1,000?? I'm just trying to give you some ideas here, because I'd like you to take a big chunk out of that.

Yeah. I mean, I would do as much as I could. Yeah. I mean, Ken's right, but past that date, I don't know, just the IRS and stuff, I'm like,

it's just, yeah. I'm not saying. I'm just saying up until. You can pay the thing on the 19th, if that's what they say, I would be working and making as much money as possible to pay that off.

Yeah, for sure. But if it goes past that date, then I would be okay for you to take out a personal loan just so to get the IRS out of your life.

Yeah, 100%. You definitely want to do that.

But Ken's right, Chris. I'm like, yeah, it's $3,600.. I mean, if it was 15,000, this would be a different conversation of the intensity. But if you guys can come up with this, do you have other debt?

Yes, I have student loans and that's about 26,000.

Okay.

Chris, do you think you could come, how much money? do you, be aggressive here, how much money do you think you could come up with between now and May 19th, between working and selling stuff?

I think we could come up with a little bit of it. I'm actually in the National Guard, so I'll be leaving for my annual training during most of that time. And so my wife will be with the kids.

Oh, I see.

That's tough. Putting the damper on us, trying to get a second side hustle between now and then.

What about selling stuff? If Rachel and I came over to your house, this feels like a potential reality show, and we came over and we just started walking through the house, could we come up with $1,500 worth of stuff?

Maybe $500.

All right. I'm just saying, $500 is no joke. I'd be selling everything. But I will tell you, I say this, it's a little easy for me because Stacey's the queen, Rachel, of selling stuff on Facebook Marketplace. I mean, queen.

There's always that meme that's like, I'm going to get murdered at my house for $4.

I got to defend Stacey's honor on this one. She's always, we're meeting people in the Kroger parking lot.

Oh, even better. That's great. Because you know how I know this?

I'm the delivery boy. Stacey sells it.

Oh no, you're going to get murdered.

Not at Kroger.

Hey, you never know. Have you not listened to some true crime podcast, Ken?

Here I am trying to help Chris and millions of other people, and now you just freaked.

everybody out. Don't get murdered, Chris. But see if you can sell some stuff. Oh, my gosh. Get some cash.

And you're worried about me getting killed in the Kroger parking lot. And you're going to pick up perfect strangers. I don't, I don't see the difference. I feel like Uber is more dangerous than that. Uh, I'm kidding.

I don't know if I could jump through some hoops.

When was the last time you sold something online?

I'm not going to lie. I never, I don't, uh, Winston has, I don't know if I have, cause. here's the deal for me. It's not worth it. I'm like, I'm going to, I would go to a consignment sale before.

Oh, we do a lot of that too.

Yeah. But I, I don't know. I'm like, I just don't, I don't know. I don't have the energy. I've never thought I'm not detailed with it, but Winston sells it.

I'm like that too. We, it's, it's funny. We, it's Stacey, if Winston, for you, it stays for me. Sometimes I'm like, why are we doing this? Because I just simply don't want to drive to Kroger.

For $15 or whatever.

You're going to meet so and so, yeah, I get that. Trust me. But for people who really, you know, you're like, you need to scrape every penny together.

Oh, sure.

The American, our friends, the minimalists, I, they could tell you there's thousands of thousands of dollars in people's homes. That's all I'm saying. If you hadn't come up with money quick.

TVs. I mean, just, yeah, all of it.

And if you're really worried, hire an armed guard, give the armed guard a little bit of a piece of the sales. You're like, Hey, I need you to, to come with me to this transaction. I know, but you get, you scared America. So now I'm trying to like meet them in the middle. All right.

I'm going to drive.

Oh, you're driving.

I know. It's, it's one of those, it's a four hour.

It's one of those tweeners.

Right on the, and we're going to be in North Atlanta tomorrow for the book signing.

You're going to be in Alpharetta.

So then I would hate to drive down through Atlanta to get to the airport. Cause you're already North. So we're getting, we're close to Nashville. So I'm driving.

Barnes and Noble and Alpharetta. Yes. I know. I know. I know where that is.

Mercel crossing. I think it's what it's called. Uh, I don't know. Marzl crossing, one to one to two tomorrow.

So that'd be fun. She's going to be signing copies of the new children's book. Second in the series. I'm glad for where I am. Really fun little book.

That in LA, you know, and Dallas. I've picked some traffic.

You pick some, yeah. Well, boy, you got to really love you to get to see. you tell you that. All right. Let's go to Deb, who joins us down at grand Rapids.

Hi. Um, happy birthday, Rachel. I had to fit that in. I thank you so much for taking my call. Okay.

Okay. Where are you living now?

So I invested in and co-partnered with a good long friend of mine and we bought my mom and dad's homesteads flying here. And it is covered. If something happens to him or me, we get the house. So that's where that is. It's paid for.

Okay. Okay. So you, so no mortgage rent. Nope. You're okay.

Do you work, Deb?

I do. I work from home. I'm self-employed. Yeah.

What do you, what do you make?

Um, I actually work for a network marketing company and I have for 24 years.

What kind of income do you make?

Um, now I make 35,000.

How long do you plan to do this? You're, you said you were 62?.

Yes.

What's the, what's the outlook?

Well, the outlook looks like. I have to keep working.

Exactly. Right.

And, and I know, right.

Yeah. And that's not a whole lot of money, even though you've got no house payment.

I know. I know. So I, um, I have my car, um, that, that is 15, six that I own it. And in the baby steps, I have my every dollar set up. Thanks to my sister.

Yes. Yes. Yeah. I would get this car paid off with the 85,000, just so that you have, you, you don't have a car payment coming out. Um, every month I would keep a thousand there.

It's skinny, but I trimmed out a whole bunch, because, you know, I know that I have to be drastic for sure.

Yep. Yep. Yep. Okay. Um, yeah, I'm just trying to do some quick math here.

I, I thought I heard you say you're moving into this homestead with someone else. Is this right?

So I sold my really, my nice home that I redid, and it was only 25 years old. I thought I was going to retire there, but it was the only house that was down, done out of the, I have a friend that we invest with, but, um, we, I have a side helpful with him too, but it's not making anything yet. Um, yeah.

But I'm asking, I thought you said, and I could be wrong. Are you, is this friend moving into this homestead with you as well?

Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is my home. He has his own.

So you guys are just buddies.

Oh, we have grown up together. Neighborhood. Yeah.

And you're invested, you've invested in some stuff together.

Yep. Okay.

And has that panned out? Where is the rest of that money? Yeah. Where's your money gone when you've invested it?

What's that mean?

Well, you said I've done some, go ahead.

I'm sorry. So we bought my mom and dad's home when they passed and then he moved in here and he continued to take care of it and pay, you know, the taxes and that. And then I took my inheritance. And then, just when I sold my house, I paid the rest of my half off. And then I moved in here and he moved into another house.

So I'm sorry to get us on that. I just, I was trying to figure out what, if there was a relationship situation, and here's why I I'm, you know, look at 62, yes, you're going to have to work probably 15 more years. You're already going to be in an uncomfortable situation. I think you're mentally uncomfortable. I think you need to embrace the uncomfortable.

Okay. We'll quickly, Deb, before you, we get off here. You said you use your inheritance to buy this. How much is this property?

It's valued at probably $250,000.

I mean, that's an offer. I mean, you'd have to go buy something in cash because I don't want you.

Yeah. And that creates more expense for her.

So in that case, yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't know if it was like a million dollar property or something that I'm like, use all your inheritance or something there.

I'll tell you what, actually, do you, you know what I, one thing I would consider is if you had a girlfriend that you were really close with, you guys are getting up in age, she's single at some point, maybe considering selling this homestead, invest the 250.

Yeah, I know. And the rent, the hard thing with that is that it will continue to go up. And I don't want that variable expense into retirement.

She has no expense in this home.

So at this point, I may stay put, but I mean, but it's a good point.

I would consider it. Yeah.

Float, float all this by your SmartVestor Pro, because they're going to be able to look at even, you know, if there's tax advantages or something, because you'll be able to dip into some of, well, you don't have retirement. I was going to say some of your retirement, but.

There's only so much that can, that can happen in the next 15 years.

But hold on the line, Deb, and they're going to pick up and direct you on where you need to go to find a great SmartVestor. But yeah, I'm with Ken. I think upping your income is going to be huge and investing as soon as possible, paying off the car and having that emergency fund. I hope that helps. Yeah.

Thanks for the call, Deb. Good hour, Rachel Cruz. I want to thank our fearless leader, James Childs, and our merry band of folks behind the glass that keep us on the air. Thanks to you, America. We do it for you.

It is. Words of affirmation.

You are America's financial sweetheart.

Thanks, Ken.

I think that's probably true. I'll take it. I don't know anybody else that could knock you off that pedestal. You know, yeah, I'm going with it. I'm staying with it.

I'm going to say it. Yeah. You like it. I like to be, you know, I'll be stern, but I need to be stern. I'm going to be kind.

You're very kind. Yeah. Very kind. So we are here for you. She'll answer your money questions.

Rachel and Kim. Thank you so much for having me. Uh, I'll tell you, I'm a long time listener, but it was my first time calling and I'm just honored to be amongst you. Um, I had a question. I need, I need some more paycheck in my pocket.

Uh, Rachel, what is your Randall? What is your wife's name?

Her name is Vivian, Vivian.

Happy birthday.

Hey, April 25th. It's not too hot, not too cold. All you need is a light jacket. Name that movie.

I have no idea.

You know, I don't know.

Randall, anyone, anyone, anyone miscongeniality. We'll get to it.

I promise you, she's a little more cultured than I am, I guess.

gift?

Well, it's a, it's this, it's this purse that she wanted. now, Rachel's problem, she's, Rachel's, the problem that my paycheck's too small. She starts putting all of her outfits on Instagram, and my wife just goes on there and tries to start clicking on all of them. And, and so my, our budget's upside down.

Are you okay, Rachel? You think this is a prank call?

Wait, Randall, are you for real? Hold on.

I'm sorry. I think Randall's for real.

I'm sorry.

Is she really buying?

Would you?

Well, I bought a purse for my birthday, Randall. I'm like, there's just too many coincidences.

You just bought a purse?

I got a purse for my birthday when I was in LA.

What'd you get?

She is a devout, she is a devout, Rachel Cruz fan.

Oh, does she have the Rachel Cruz wallet?

She does. Wow. And my credit card is back in the back drawer and I screwed up.

So, so have you already purchased the purse or are you thinking about it?

Oh, you did? No, I charged it. I'm giving it to her tonight and I'm scared she's going to see that bill.

Right. Take it back. Right.

It's not been used.

Take it back. If she's going to be upset that you charged the purse, then she'll be okay if you take it back.

Well, here's the problem. I can't take it back. It's a real, a nice purse.

No, you can't.

They don't. No, I got this purse. I had to go all the way to Los Angeles.

Okay. All right.

There it is. Randall from Birmingham went to Los Angeles.

That's really good. Happy birth. Happy birthday, Rachel.

God, that's your husband, Winston.

I literally was like this.

I was 50, 50.

Wow. What an honor.

Can I also say?

That's a really good impression.

That's actually good. I didn't know you had action chops.

Winston has good impressions. Folks. I bet you can do Ken, do Ken, Randall.

Oh gosh. I don't know if I can do Ken right now.

Let me just say this America.

You're looking at it. I have to be looking at a picture of Canada.

Yeah, well, that's true. Hey folks, America. This is the one, the only Winston Cruz, Rachel's beloved. And, uh, I did not know my friend. I've known you a long time.

You little stinkers in the booth.

I, I literally thought this was a real Randall from Birmingham. I was convinced because, because he kept, he kept going at it.

Now the Los Angeles thing, that was, that's when I figured something.

Boy, I'll tell you what I, my jaw, my cheeks hurting because of the hook Winston just put in. Winston, that's no joke. That's actually very, very good.

And then I started to, well, she sniffed it very first. I went on pretty hard.

Yeah. Yeah. When you said about the linking, I was like, someone's, someone's making fun of me.

I was ready to go.

Vivian is definitely linking.

Are we allowed to know what kind of purse this is, or is this private?

I was going to get to that part and I was going to say Goyard.

A Goyard purse.

I know what it is.

I know. It's a very nice purse. And I, I'm wearing a Walmart dress with a designer purse, people. That's what I do. So yeah.

There you go. You don't have to justify it with your Walmart dress.

It's just a nice purse.

Is that really a Walmart dress? I'm distracted.

Actually, I linked it today.

You linked it. I don't even know what that means.

No, it was a very nice gift. It was actually his idea.

Vivian already bought it.

Vivian.

Vivian.

Vivian.

By the way, Randall and Vivian from Birmingham feels right. Something about.

I didn't, I didn't have a job picked out yet, or my wife's name. So that was off the cuff.

Wow. Very impressive. We really, you were. How sweet is this?

Very, very confident.

I know. I do have to ask a question now that we have Winston on the phone. Cause. America wants to know this. I feel.

I'll let you say.

I have two ears and one mouth. And so they're always, they're always listening.

Atta boy. So you knew she wanted it.

They're always listening. Yep. Yep.

And you guys were in LA for her book tour together.

Exactly right. They don't ship anything. So you got to go in the store and do the dance.

There's no e-commerce.

Did you, did you take her in there and tell her, or did you get it and then present it?

I said, we're going to Rodeo Drive when we go out there.

What did you say? We didn't call it Rodeo. Total Randall fashion.

Randall would say it's Rodeo. That's how you spell it. That's correct.

Rodeo, Rodeo Drive, babe. I was like, Winston, don't say that in the store, please.

I, I am so sad that I missed this expedition.

Love you, babe. Thanks for calling in.

Oh man, what a prince, what a prince of a guy. He doesn't like doing that kind of thing, but he crushed that.

Man.

Boy, I am gullible, James. I was on the hook with Randall until the very end. I need to wake up, folks. I need a cup of coffee. I'll do that on the break.

And it's a great assessment. We've known multiple people, even within our family, have taken it and it's, it's really, really good. You guys, it's very accurate.

Thank you very much.

I think it is one of the best products that we have. So it's, it's incredible.

And the bottom line is, this is the reason it's powerful is because it's, you are answering about you and you get a mirror and you go, okay, now I see who I am and I allows me to figure out what I want to do and where I can do it. So you can get that at Ramsey solutions.com slash store. All right. To the phones. we go.

Hi. Yeah. So I'm looking for some guidance and help about the potential purchasing a family home that is in my dad and aunt's name, like the right paperwork or the right way to get the right price and without ruffling feathers.

Okay. So what's the situation, Anne? Tell me kind of how, how this came about.

Yeah. So it's my grandma's house. She passed away about four years ago and the house is in my dad and aunt's name. Um, we have been living, me and my family have been living in the house for the last three years, kind of helping just with, um, like snow removal and lawn stuff. And we've been paying not necessarily rents, but enough to cover the, um, property taxes, the insurance, the utilities, and they're looking at selling now in the next, kind of over the summer, probably the next two to five months.

Yeah.

Um, and everyone,

When you're saying ruff, who, whose feathers would be ruffled because you guys have been living in the property and you're wanting to buy it, you're not expecting it as a gift. So is there other family that may want in on it or?

Well, I think that, um, probably my aunt would like to get the most money she can out of it. So I guess agreeing upon.

a purchase price is going to be big.

Yeah.

Has she floated a number?

Including fueling?

No. Have you run? cops mentioned the area of what it would just sell if they just got a, if they just had a listing traditionally, I think it would list.

that like one, 30 or something.

We say, I think, do you, how do you know that?

Well, we live in a small town where, like pretty much all the houses were built at the same time and they really similar. Okay. Most of the ones to get listed are between, I'd say, a hundred thousand to some have been up to one 50.. If they've been remodeled a bit more than that.

And Rachel's. Rachel's making a very key point here. You need to get a real estate professional and maybe two different real estate pros who can come in and run cops on this and show you, and they literally can print this out or email this and say, this is the range based on real, real estate numbers, not your opinion. And you're going to need that. If you're going to sit down with the aunt, cause you're worried about so we're going to take, we're going to take out all opinions here.

Yeah. Is anything owed on the house or is it paid off?

Uh, yeah. So nothing old, and we'd be coming in with enough. We plan to pay cash for it. You and my husband. Yeah.

Yeah, for sure. For sure. Yeah. I mean, I would definitely still, um, have a professional at some capacity. Yeah.

Do you know a realtor in your area?

Yeah. I know some real estate people. I don't, if they try to get involved, they won't just expect that they would have a real estate agent, though. You can be pretty upfront about, we just want a great.

And, and this is, this is easier than you're making it. Just if you know somebody and they're a friend. go, look, this is all going to be a family deal, but I just need a pro tell me how to run the comps, and I'll be honest with you. Um, I actually think you can figure this out on your own. I I'm not going to go to the wall that I know this for sure, but I think if you go to like realtor.com, which is actually run by realtors and I'm not endorsing that site, but if you go to a legitimate site like that, I believe you can run comps on your own.

Great. If we end up not using a little bit of the things that are paperwork aspects, like, I guess I don't know the next step with that.

Yeah. I would probably get a real estate attorney. Yeah. I would probably get a real estate attorney. just, um, and yeah, a couple of hours of work, it won't be that difficult, but you just want to make sure that the title and everything, you know, is transferred properly.

Yeah.

And, and again, and she'll be able and she'll, and she'll come away with some money, which is great, you know, I guess her and your dad will split it 50, 50 when you guys buy it, um, for what you get. But I would, yeah, I would get a real estate attorney, um, and pay just a couple of hours, probably of their time, just to look over everything and make sure that everything is, um, titled correctly and all of that, uh, the deed, everything. So make sure that that's all, that's all smooth.

Yeah. All right, Anne, thank you so much for the call. Appreciate that. You know, it's always best to just remove emotion and opinion when doing any transaction with family. Yes.

Cause it's emotional as much as people like, you know, and if it's been, it's the grandmother's house, right. And so, um, and I don't know their relationship, but yeah, I mean, like people, there can be some things that go sideways. if you don't do it, well.

And you, didn't you have a sense, didn't you feel like? maybe she was worried about the aunt, uh, it was the aunt, yeah. Asking too much for it, or more than they were willing to pay.

And that's the other thing, Anne, you don't want to overpay, or not, Anne, I'm sorry. Um, you don't want to overpay for, or? no, it wasn't overpay for it either. So if aunt is like, no, I want, you know, I want to make sure I get a hundred grand out of this. So we're going to sell it at 200 and be like, well, I'm not your, I'm not your buyer.

Great advice. All right. Phone number is 888-825-5225. quick break. And we'll be right back.

Yeah. I mean, this is a hard one when you get into, you know, being an MD or law school. I mean, it's a, it's obviously a.

I can speak to the law school. I'll bet you didn't know this.

Oh, do you know? Give me a.

That you, now I know this is, I don't believe this is true for medical school, but I know for a fact, this is true for law school. There are law schools around the country, not the prestigious big name brands, but law schools around the country that if you score high enough on your LSAT, which is the law school entrance exam, you can in fact get a free ride. This is an absolute fact. So, you know, you can take the LSAT as many times you want. It costs you money.

That's right. That's right.

You can actually get a free ride, full ride, based on your LSAT score for law school. I do know that for sure.

Yeah. That's amazing.

I wanted to point that out. I'm sorry.

I interrupted, but I wanted to point that out. Well, I was going to say, because that, you know, we find it's interesting hearing people's stories where we talk to people that are like, yeah, I, I had my tuition and got cut in half because I did X, Y, and Z, right? Like whether it's like working for a certain, you know, medical group or we, whatever it may be, there are hoops that you can jump to. It's hard. And they're not like out there, obvious.

Yeah, it's absolutely great advice. All right. To the phones we go, 888-825-5225.. Gainesville, Florida, actually is where Michael is. Michael, how can we help?

Hi, how are you? My name is Michael. Like you say, I'm calling because me and my wife, we are looking to purchase a house in the near future. We have around $10,000 in the bank right now. And I was wondering if I, if we, if it would be wise to move that money to the high yield savings account.

Yeah, I would think so for sure. How long do you think it'll be until you buy a home? Do you know, Michael?

Okay. Uh, right now we're able to save around $3,000 a month. Me and her, we have no debt. We pay little rent, and I'm thinking saving for a year and see how the markets react in, in, in a year from now. But if the opportunity comes before that, at least, you know, my money's not sitting in the bank earning any interest.