"My Dad Wants Me To Give Him My $300,000 Trust"

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33:19Daniel is with us in New York. Hi, Daniel. How are you? Hey, I'm doing all right, Dave. How about you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I'm 29, and I'm planning on going back to school because I'm a radiological technician or an x-ray tech, and I'm trying to figure out whether or not I should keep investing or if I should stop investing to pay for school. That's how I go. How much is school? So they charge$800 a credit, and it's for an associate's degree. So it's going to be$48 ,000. That's not including fees, textbooks, and travel, because I have to travel once a semester as well. And I'll be doing clinicals depending on the site.

34:03So do you know the all-in number? I do not know the all-in number. Rough guess is$60 ,000. That sounds right. What do you make now? Right now I make$58 ,000. So how long is it going to take you to save$60 ,000? I'm actually pretty close to that because I was supposed to be getting married next year. Unfortunately, things didn't work out. So I have$54 ,000 in the bank right now. Oh, okay. Is this a full-time school? Yes, it'd be full-time. It'd be full-time. How are you paying for food while you're in school? So I'm still at home with my family because I was figuring stuff out for a while, and my ex at the time were going to move out.

34:45So I'm still with mom and dad at the time. How old are you? 29. Okay. You said that. I'm sorry. Why x-ray tech? How'd you pick this? So I work as a security guard in a medical facility, and one of our departments is imaging. and this seems like it's... I've always been interested in capturing images and stuff and working with photography. I never really got around to it, though. I was always interested but never really applied myself because I was too lazy. And then I decided to make a major change and trying to start pushing my life forward and make big changes, and I think this is the right one.

35:26How long does it take to get through the school? The school is online. How long does it take to get to the school? What do you mean to get to the school? Same question. How long is it going to take you to graduate? Oh, two years. I'm sorry. I thought you said to get to the school. Oh, I'm sorry. It'll take me two years to graduate. So you can't do any kind of work while doing this program for two years? No, I'll be working full-time. I'll be working full-time as my security guard. I work from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., and then I finish my shift at 2, and then I'll be going to class from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

36:01Fantastic. I don't see why you need to stop investing. Do you have any debt? I have no debt. What does your current investing program look like? What are you doing? So I was investing 6 % into my company 401k. They matched back and put 2%, and then at the end of the year they put 5.5%. So at the end of the year they matched 7.5%, and then I was investing into a wrong job. If you keep investing, you don't have any overhead to live, and you're earning money. You would have the money to get through school with the$54 ,000 if you keep investing. So it's not really an either-or, is it? No, it's not.

36:40Okay. So let's start school today, and let's keep investing and keep working. Ready, set, go. Yeah. I'm already enrolled. I should be starting January 5th. I'm just waiting on a meeting. Yeah, okay. So the only question we had then is, do you stop investing? No, I don't think you have to because you got$54 ,000 and a full-time job. So you'll have the money. The investing won't keep you from completing school mathematically. No, it will not. Then keep investing. Yeah, absolutely. That's easy. That's easy. Okay, took a minute to get through your whole story. But yeah, that's good. I like it. Very good.

37:19Proud of you, man. Go get it. He's got a plan. He's executing a plan. How cool is that? It is cool. I loved his answer. Quick little lesson for people. Here's a guy that is trying to figure out what he's doing. He called himself lazy. A lot of self-awareness there. And he's a security guard in a facility that has a craft that he's intrigued by. He clearly does his homework. And he goes, I've always been interested in capturing images. He never probably thought of being an x-ray tech. But now this is what I would call a new trade. And this is a very, very essential, if you remember that stupid, word that was thrown around during COVID.

37:54This is a good trade to pick up. He's got some opportunities, Dave, to branch off of that. So this is a great move here. It's a good first step in his medical career. That is correct. Yeah, it's not the end. No, no. Puts him on a good ladder. But also, your book, The Proximity Principle, he's in proximity. That's right. Very smart. With something that he ends up doing, although it had nothing to do with what he was actually hired to do. That's right. There's a good chance, by the way, that when he finishes the program, he he comes back into that same building. He just changes out the work clothes.

38:24And I love that, you know. You know, I wonder if they would pay for it. It's very possible. It depends on the demand. Do they need people? And this is key. Great question, Dave, because here's the thing. If you were in a field or planning to go into a field, do an extra set of homework assignments to go. What's the need across the nation? Not just in my locale. Does this industry, are they having a hard time recruiting people and getting people in? In that case, Dave, you would see a lot of companies go, we like you, we'll invest in you. The deal is you got to come work for us. It's a great deal.

38:59Well, he's already working for them. He's already in the building. So it's an employee benefit to pay for continuing ed to work for us in a different department. Like you said, change clothes. And the correlation, by the way, Dave, is always, is there a higher demand from employers? They need people. They usually do, especially in the medical field. Jeff's in Springfield. Hey, Jeff, how are you? Fine. I hope you're doing well. Better than we deserve. What's up, brother? Well, I'm a 68-year-old semi-retired guy that my wife passed away four years ago, unexpectedly. When life goes on, I call it Jeff 2.0.

39:40And I'm retired. I've got a great pension. I get about$80 ,000 a year in my pension. And I have about$80 ,000 in investments, including 401Ks, and my house is paid for. I just looked up at my clock, and I'm running short on time. What's your question? I recently found reconnected with a old girlfriend and the problem we were talking about getting married the problem is she's a health professional got$100 ,000 in student loan debt and some other bills and I said my house is paid for I'm pretty much debt free if we go any further in the relationship should I get a prenup and things like that No No.

40:28No. Y 'all just work on getting that debt paid off. You got 80 coming in. She's got money coming in. Y 'all reach over and get that debt paid off. You know, you don't want to live. Listen, if you're 68 and you live to 88, that's the next 20 years. You got a student loan hanging over your head. Nah. If you're going to get married, clean it up. Y 'all, it's not$800 ,000. It's just a handful of money. You can do this. You can do this. No, we don't need a prenup for something that small. If you got, you know, if you got$8 million or something, you may want a prenup. but you don't. So now I think you guys talk about it a lot, about what you're going to do.

41:04Maybe even get some pre-marriage counseling, which sounds a little weird when you're 68, but do it anyway. And yeah, and get on the same page. Be aligned about what the plan is and what the expectations are. But I'd be combining everything. If you're going to combine your life, combine your life. This is The Ramsey Show.

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43:26Welcome back to the Ramsey Show in the Fairwinds Credit Union Studios. Ken Coleman, Ramsey personality, number one bestselling author, is my co-host today, Hey, Barbara's with us in Wyoming. Hey, Barbara, how are you? I'm good. Thank you. Good. How can I help? So I'm retired. I'm 66 years old. I have a federal pension and Social Security, a little bit more than$60 ,000. I'm on baby step two. The last two debts I have are federal taxes and state of New York taxes. I've been working with a national tax preparation organization to settle these debts. I've already paid for negotiating on your behalf for the federal debt is part of the whole package.

44:22But when it comes to state taxes, there's an extra charge. So my total debt to the state of New York is about$30 ,000, and that's with all the penalties and interest and everything. They want to charge me$6 ,500 to represent me to the state of New York. And they don't want to give me any information as to past success ratios. ratios. I've been trying to get some information to help with this decision, and they've been stonewalling me. I don't really know what to do at this point. You're very wise. Well, thank you. You smell a rat, don't you? I do. They've done everything they were supposed to do up to this point.

45:15The federal's not settled, is it? No. No. Not settled. so they haven't done everything they're supposed to do well they've actually figured all the taxes they've done all the taxes oh that was hard any tax prep idiot can do that well it was complicated I've done ok so they figured out all the taxes that's great but they have not negotiated your federal tax liability down at all no not yet so after you do that successfully I'll think about the other well except that I just so I left New York a couple years ago so there's no more debt stacking up to New York and so I just gave them all the paperwork to do the federal taxes so we're not to the point of negotiating with on federal taxes well I'm just going to wait until the federal taxes listen I would not do it They're not going to successfully do this.

46:21The vast majority of the tax settlement companies collect$5 ,000 to$15 ,000 and don't do anything. They don't have the ability to do anything. On the federal level, there's only one way that your federal income taxes are reduced, and it's called an OIC, an offer in compromise. And they have to prove that you are completely broke and impoverished in order to get that through. I've seen a handful of those go through in 30 years, and I've seen thousands attempted. So that's on the federal level. I've never tried it with New York, but they're very, very difficult to do at the federal level. And these companies are on cable TV.

47:00Former IRS agents work for us and give us$10 ,000 and we'll settle your debt. Don't bother us unless you've got at least$50 ,000 in debt. And, you know, it's a bunch of crap, okay, because it just can't do it most of the time. I am very suspicious that this is exactly the same thing. Oh, okay. Well, they seem pretty confident that they can do it. But you don't. Because they're stonewalling you. You know why they're stonewalling you and won't give you any answers? It's because they don't have any. If they told you the actual percentage success that they had, you would laugh at them. Well, they said they saved people a billion dollars.

47:40but they don't tell me how many people and how much each person and all that you keep making your own case we don't even have to answer this call if you just listen to that last sentence you said you keep making a fabulous case as to why you shouldn't do this let me share something with you these agencies have no more pull with the IRS or the New York state government than you do I'm just telling you good luck, try calling the IRS today I don't know what New York's rules I do know what the federal rules are on settling debt. Okay. But if you want to find out, just go on RamseySolutions.com for free and click on our tax prep folks in New York and contact them and ask them if they can negotiate a$30 ,000 income tax bill that is delinquent, including penalties in New York.

48:34And ask them if they can do it or if they know someone that can and what they would charge. and put that piece of data beside the piece of data that you've got, and you'll probably have a bit of a chuckle. My guess is, Dave, and I'm not suggesting she do this, but Barbara, I would relax on the New York thing. The chances of them— Oh, no, they'll hunt her down. They may. It's New York. They'll hunt her down. I don't know. You have way more confidence. She's in Wyoming. She's hard to find, but they'll hunt her down. Eventually. I want her to deal with it, but I'm not panicked about it. But we're not worried.

49:08And 100 % chance I'm not going to pay$6 ,500 to whoever this mystery company that has saved billions of lives and fed starving children in Africa and all the other bull crap. Yeah, just bull crap. All right. Up next is Bea in Phoenix. Hey, Bea, what's up? Hi. Hi, Dave Ramsey. How are you? Better than I deserve. How can we help? Yes. So I just recently bought a house in Phoenix, which I'm really proud of. Good. However, my family's not really happy for me, but that's a different scenario. My dad is in debt. He's thinking about declaring a second bankruptcy. My family is asking me to possibly have him move in with me because he's pretty much borderline homeless.

50:02And you don't want to. Why didn't he move in with your son? Oh, he doesn't have a... I'm the only girl. No, I'm sorry. Who was suggesting that he move in with you? Oh, my aunt. Oh, well, tell them to move in with them. They're making it my responsibility. No, it's not your responsibility. It's their responsibility. It was their idea. You thought of it. You do it. Don't sign other people up for your charity work. Yeah, the thing is, they only have a house of their own. I stayed. They have a rental, and it's got a floor in the living room. That's where Dad sleeps. It's their brother. Yeah. Yeah, they should take care of their brother instead of trying to get somebody else to do it.

50:52You don't want to do this. That's why you called. I'm giving you permission to not do this. Okay. Matter of fact, I'm telling you not to do this. Why are people mad you bought a house? oh my well my aunt she guilt trip me says she wanted to combine fine masses with me and this is the one that wants you to let dad move in yes this woman has a lot of opinions about other people's stuff yeah she's a good person to love from a distance further distance than you've been loving her from i don't know why you give all these ants It's all this power. Yeah, I just go, you know, it's like an anthill. Oh, my God.

51:32Running around everywhere, getting bit by ants. It's awful. Ouch, ouch, ouch. You need a little more distance between you and crazy ants. And tell the ants to let your dad go over there because you can't do it right now. It doesn't work for you right now.

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53:31Ramsey Show Question of the Day is sponsored by Why Refi. You can't change the past, but you can change your next move. Why Refi helps people with defaulted private student loans. You can refinance them to a payment that fits your budget. Visit whyrefi.com slash Ramsey. That's the letter Y-R-E-F-Y dot com slash Ramsey, not in all states. Today's question comes from Gabriella in California. We didn't hear about the Ramsey Show until after we purchased our first home. We went with a 30-year fixed rate mortgage and a payment that's over 25 % of our monthly pay. Should we pause investing and put that extra money on our mortgage so we can refinance to a 15-year fixed mortgage and lower our payment to the recommended amount?

54:19No. No, I wouldn't go through all that. What I would do is just make sure you're managing your budget really, really carefully and begin to reduce your mortgage in your baby step six. So if you're out of debt, you have your emergency fund in place, you're working four, five, and six together. Four is 15 % of your income going into retirement. Five is kids college and six is reduce your mortgage until it's paid off. So when you get it reduced down a ways, if you want to restructure, if it becomes worth it, if you can get a lower interest rate, It might be worth it to refinance and take out maybe a 10-year or a 15.

54:56But that's years from now after you get it reduced. In the meantime, know that your mortgage is too high, and so resist this justification. My budget's tight, so I have to take out a car payment. Don't go back in debt. Don't blame your house because you made the decision. if you cannot exist without taking out debt for other purchases because your house payment's too big then you need to sell the house and move down but i don't think that's the case here i think you can work through this i wouldn't have signed you up for it as you know but i think you can work through this and get there i think it's possible yeah there's no mention in this of other debt but if there is obviously you're going to work our baby steps and you're going to reduce expenses in other areas of your life.

55:41And look, if you've got to get a better job or work an extra job for a while, you have to make the margin that you've already eaten up. Exactly. You've got to make sure you cover it. You can't let this bite you at the end of the day. Jeremy's in Cincinnati. Hey, Jeremy, how are you? I'm doing well. Well, I guess that's all true. I wouldn't be calling you. So anyway, may God continue to bless you. I really appreciate what you're doing for people. Thank you. It's very challenging to find a solid source of help. I have been struggling and dancing with bankruptcy for essentially seven years. Wow. Everything started.

56:24I'm not in it. I started the process post-divorce, but at the advice of the attorney, he's like, well, wait till this happens. Now wait till this happens. and essentially got in a position where I borrowed money from family and I wasn't able to run them through the ringer to go through a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. I'll try to make this as quick as I can as your call screener requested. I'm essentially$120 ,000 in debt,$20 ,000 out of a car loan at a very high interest rate because of my credit score. There's roughly$4 ,000 in back taxes from 2021. a$13 ,000 parent-plus loan that I owe money on, and the rest is unsecured debt that I've accumulated either from back in the divorce or over the years of having three kids.

57:17How much of this is family debt? How much do you owe your family? I don't owe my family anymore. I thought you said that. So what's the unsecured debt for$90 ,000? What is it, credit cards? mostly credit cards and some loans uh yeah okay what do you make trying to get through uh my current salary now is 141 000 that's good my my get that my i am currently being garnished for a hundred thousand from one credit card company and my spousal support my child support had expired just last year. And then the guardsmen came in, and my spouse's support's roughly$1 ,200. Aside from other bills that I have,

58:09before anything, I'm bringing home roughly$5 ,000 a month. And I started back down the track on bankruptcy again. But again, I'm not a year out from having my family being pulled into that. Now I don't want to do that to them. Referential treatment. I am. Okay, so let me ask you. You said$100 ,000 worth of garnishment. What are you talking about? No, no, no, no. Not$100 ,000 worth of garnishment. I'm saying$1 ,000 a month. Oh,$1 ,000 a month. Garnish. Okay, so you make$140 ,000, and they're taking out$1 ,000 for that, and they're taking out how much for child support? $1 ,200. Spousal support,$12 ,80.

58:50Okay, so that's$2 ,200. That's less than$30 ,000 out of the$140 ,000. So that leaves you$90 ,000 not counting taxes. How big is your tax refund? Oh, I don't usually get any refunds. Good, okay. And then, so how much do you have coming out for 401k?

59:11That is, I'm maxing out at 6%. Yeah, okay. All right, so here's what I'm going to do, Charlie. You're making a lot of money. It's just going back out the door. What do you think you're spending it on? All these payments. This car payment's outrageous. It's$1 ,500, isn't it? My car payment is$438 a month, but it's a very long loan at a 13 % interest rate. Okay. One of the other things that's in the mix here is I do have, I am one-third owner of my mother's home from when she passed, and there's currently no settlement with my brothers and I on liquidating at least my share. But you're not paying anything on that.

1:00:01No, I'm not paying anything on that. You might get some money out of it someday. Okay. All right. So here's what I'm doing. I'm still not finding$140 ,000. So I temporarily would stop your 401K. I'm going to put you on a beans and rice budget. You don't eat out anymore. You don't go on vacation anymore, and you're going to make every dollar behave. But because$140 minus$2 ,200 minus$500 for a car payment, you've still got a lot of money that is unexplained here, and I want you to go find it. I'm going to give you the every dollar premium budget, which is going to guide you through this whole process.

1:00:37But more than anything, Jeremy, you've got to make every single dollar behave before the month begins and then execute on that with deathly efficiency. And, you know, you've kind of been, it feels like you've kind of been wallowing around in this for so long that you've kind of lost your footing and lost, you can't get a handhold, you can't get a foothold. And so I want you to just back up three steps, take a deep breath and dive into cold water and go, okay, fresh start. Clean eyes, clear eyes, fresh start. Now, look at the math only. Where the flip is$140 ,000 going? Because you sure hadn't explained it to me in this.

1:01:17And I want you to go find that for your sake. You don't have to explain it to me, but you need to go find it. Cut up the stupid credit cards. Never touch one of those dadgum things again. They're destroying your life. And then let's list your debts smallest to largest and begin to attack them in that order after you start paying minimum payments. But you can stop the 401k. hey, you can put the Parent Plus loan on temporary hardship, and then you can turn around and start attacking these other debts that you are paying monthly on, get them cleared up, and then come back to the Parent Plus loan and clean it up later.

1:01:50All of these things are gettable. They're very doable. And whatever that one that's got the garnishment on, get that thing, get it done. Get it knocked out. And, man, I would just pump it that way as hard as I could hit it. But the math here says you've got great hope. Your voice does not say that. Yeah, I would recommend that you even get a second job. Target$30 ,000 to$50 ,000. What would it take? How could you make an additional$30 ,000 to$50 ,000? Now, you've got good income, but I think you need some intensity right now. We've heard enough debt-free screams that when we hear these people say, we worked every second that we could, and we made so much money.

1:02:31I think right now you need a jump start of intensity. And I would have looked to sell this car. This$20 ,000 car has got a$400 plus payment to it. You need to go all in, scorched earth, more income, and beans and rice. That thing needs to be paid off in the next 12 months or you need to sell it. You need to get fired up here. So you clean up those credit cards. You clean up that car loan. You start cleaning up a bunch of this. And all you've got left is the unsecured. You can start plowing through this stuff like a snow plow, baby. but you can start knocking them down just like dominoes. It'll happen.

1:03:03We've seen people do it all the time. Hang on. We'll sign you up as our gift to the expanded version, the new and improved every dollar.

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1:05:01Megan is with us in St. Louis. Hey, Megan, how are you? Hey, Dave. I'm a fair mid-win today. How are you doing? About the same, other than I'm better than I deserve. How can I help? Well, I need help understanding or framing how. How do I tell my mom I am starting to resent her after some financial choices that she's made? Okay. How old is your mom? She's 60. And how old are you? 32. Okay. So why does it affect you? So she has been a successful medical professional in the physical therapy practice world. She had three clinics and was a single mom and supported me and my sister for the majority of our life.

1:05:51And as an adult, we had mutual respect for our business decisions. and five years ago she sold her clinics or her interest in them and her home to move in with her long-term fiancé. And she took those proceedings and made his dream happen of opening up a diner. And they did that at a somewhat opportune time where other diners were liquidating their equipment. They were able to purchase that, and it's been very successful over the last five years. However, as the diner got stronger, their relationship got weaker, and they broke off the engagement, and she moved out earlier this year. He then bought out her interest in the diner, but not directly, not in one month's home.

1:06:44He is paying in monthly installments. And her investment there was about half of her profits from the sale of the business in the home. And at this point, it's going to take another 15 years to recoup that. So how does this affect you? Well, we've been in a family dynamic where we go on vacations together. We plan holidays together. And she's made promises to me and my sister about being included on a home purchase and planning a wedding. and I'm going to be engaged. And she promised that she'd like to be committed to that. And now I'm having those feelings that she had the finances to make her fiancé's dreams come true.

1:07:26But now where is that money for our dreams when she's saying that the money just isn't there? You're not going to like me. That's okay. If I need a kick in the pants, go for it. I'm going to tell you right now, I already second whatever his motion is about to be. You're 32 years old. Okay. You sound like an 18-year-old whining that your mommy didn't give you something. Your mom's a single mom, grew something from nothing, screwed up with a bad choice in men again, and lost her money, and you're whining about your wedding. You're 32. Go pay for your wedding and love your mother. Sure. Absolutely.

1:08:16Yeah. Just, I mean, she's a warrior princess. She raised you girls from nothing. She had nothing, and she built this thing out of the dirt with her hands, and then she lost it. You should be heartbroken for her, mad at the twerp with the diner, not worried about yourself. I have been. I have been. But you've been mad at him because he got your money the way you're acting.

1:08:45Yeah, we've been on vacations where I've covered the bill I treated for her 60th birthday trip earlier this year. Yeah. Well, if you don't want to do that, that's fine. Or if you can't do that because you're saving for your own wedding, that's okay because she made these choices. You don't have to cover her travel bill. But on the other hand, I don't think she, you know, she's not obligated to pay for a 32-year-old woman's wedding as a single mom who lost her money to a bad relationship. Yeah, I think that's where I have to identify where those feelings came from. Yeah, I think if I were you, I would parse out the two things.

1:09:25Number one is, what are you required to do for her? Nothing. She'll make it. She's okay. And, you know, let her go, let her release her on what she was thinking she was going to be able to do for you, but now has messed up and is not able to. And so, yeah, any expectation that she gives you money should turn and not be there anymore and turn into gratitude for what she's already done for you. Yeah. And on the question, Lee, you worded it. How do I tell my mom I resent her? That implies that you haven't said anything yet. I think it's OK to communicate two emotions that I heard that you're that you're mad and that you're sad.

1:10:11And I think as an adult, you honor your mother, but you can have an honest conversation. I think it's probably important for you to get that off your chest, but in a way that is respectful and honoring and then move on. But you got to acknowledge that you're mad and you're sad. but mainly though sad for her yeah not mad because i didn't get something well it's okay for her to say i'm mad that she made this promise and she can't keep it but we got to move on you know what i mean like it's like it is what 30 seconds that's what i'm saying but go ahead and deal with it because she's misplacing the way the question is framed i'm misplacing my emotions toward all towards my mom and and i just think that that's unhealthy this is a lady who did well for you so So if you want her on vacation, you set the terms in your mind, you and your sis, and you go, this is what we're going to do for mom.

1:10:55We're not going to resent her. We're not going to be gripey about it. And you just move on. Or we don't do it. You don't do it at all. Don't have her on vacation. I don't, you know, I'm not able to do this right now because I'm saving for my own wedding. And that's a perfectly reasonable answer. She did make her own bed in that sense. Yeah. but but um but no i um yeah i mainly i'm going to be sad for her and deciding how much i'm willing to do to help her my concern for myself needs to be close to zero in this you're too old for that that's exactly right that's my point yeah i agree with you move on that's well just move on with it and um it's um and here's the thing i i think dr john were here he would say you're probably playing these tapes over and over like 42 times in your head every day, it'll be really good to get the tapes out of your head and just let them go somewhere else.

1:11:48Just let them go off into the sunset and just then just smile and go, mom messed up. And she did good for a while and then she messed up and that's just mom. Yeah. That's right. Well, to your point, you can't be full of gratitude and full of anger at the same time. So let's just be an adult and let's focus on what we're grateful for. This woman did a lot for you. Yeah. Against the odds, by the way, single mom, Three clinics? I mean, she's not a doofus. She just doesn't pick men well. Fair. Yeah, that's good. All right. Cynthia's in Toronto. Hi, Cynthia. How are you? Hi, I'm doing good. I'm honored to talk to you both today.

1:12:25You too. How can we help? Okay, so this is probably a silly question based on a few callers back, but I'm a new listener and I thought I would still ask, so what does gazelle intensity look like in baby step two when it comes to stinking butts? For example, I want to put$150 a month each to my car fund for repairs, a pet fund for like an older dog, and vacation and gift funds. Not to actually take a vacation, but say, you know, if we go on a camping trip or something like that with a big family, it would equal to$600 a month or$7 ,200 a year, and it would be about$1 ,800 per category. So I just want to know what you guys think about that.

1:13:02Okay. I only do the bare necessities when I'm in baby step two on, you know, we're in gazelle intense baby step two working the debt snowball. So the sinking funds would reflect that. We're not going on vacation, period. Not spending$7 ,000 a year on vacations. Not while we're in baby step two. No. Yes, we've got to keep our car repaired. So, yes, you need to have a monthly account, monthly line item in your budget that can build up. And, yes, that can be called a sinking fund for car repairs because you do have to do car repairs while you're in there. And if you have a dog that you're fairly sure is going to have some issues, then, yeah, that's an ongoing budgeting item that's going to happen.

1:13:44And you're going to deal with it no matter how intense you are. You're going to deal with the dog situation. So you need something there. But that's not$15 ,000 for a pet in the middle of this. This is, you know, it's a few hundred dollars here or there for some vet bills. And so anything like that, if, you know, your tires need to be replaced, that's part of your car repair, right? But car replacement, no, we don't need to worry about car replacement right now. We're getting out of debt. We'll worry about that after we get out of baby step three. And so only the things that are necessary to operate the house bare minimum that fall into sinking.

1:14:16Those are the only sinking funds we fund at that point. Really good question, by the way.

1:14:38Dave, we got a lot of calls on this show where life happens. One day someone's healthy, they're working, providing for their family, and then a curveball hits. You know, we hear it all the time. A car accident, a cancer diagnosis, a heart attack, and suddenly everything changes. Yeah, and that's why you've always said that having term life insurance from Xander is essential, because it protects your family if the worst happens. Yeah, that's right. You need 10 to 12 times your income in coverage. No gimmicks, no whole life junk, just straightforward term life protection. But there's another piece that people often overlook, and that's long-term disability insurance.

1:15:17Yeah, it's important to understand the difference between them. Life insurance steps in when you die. Disability insurance steps in while you're alive but can't work. So it replaces a large part of your income so the bills still get paid while you get back on your feet. Now, if your employer gives you free disability insurance, great, take it. If it's discounted there at a better price, take it. But if not, Xander can help you find the right plan. Whether you're single or married, it's not optional. If you're going to be out of work for a while, then you need to make sure the money's still showing up.

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1:16:34Brian's in Wisconsin. Hey, Brian, how are you? Better than I deserve. How are you two today? Just the same. How can I help? I'm a caller, long-time listener. My wife and I are on baby step six. We make about$425 ,000 a year with the bulk of that coming from my employment. I work as a software engineer with consulting work on the side. We have a high savings rate, just over$200 ,000 a year. Wow. My work life balance, it sucks, non-existent, and it's taken a toll on my mental and physical health. I'm doing this because my wife and I, we plan to have kids soon, no kids right now. And I'm also worried that my skills might be obsolete in the next three to five years due to the advancements in artificial intelligence.

1:17:23So my question is, is it possible to sort of be too focused on savings and sort of delayed gratification? And should I shift my focus to maintaining my health and a decent work-life balance, even with the uncertainty of the future job market? Well, you already know that you should do that. Okay. You know that. And the way you phrased the question tells me that you know that. You just wanted someone to agree with you. And yes, I think you're very wise to observe to that. So here's what's happening. You are. We always talk about in every marriage, there's typically a nerd and a free spirit. I'm the nerd at my house, the detail person.

1:18:06My wife is the free spirit. My daughter, Rachel, is the free spirit. Her husband, Winston, is the nerd. You're definitely the nerd at your house, and it shows up not only in your career field, but in your approach to this entire phone call even, okay? So you're a very detailed, very focused person. You like systems. You work systems. It made you a good living, by the way, which is wonderful, okay? But you've gotten completely over the edge into that world, and you've lost all the other beautiful parts of life focusing only on the ones and zeros. And so you're exactly right. You're very self-aware.

1:18:43You're very wise to say, I need to back up. I need some art and some science in my life, not just science. And art is the romance of my wife, the beauty of some children that need to be on the way this week. Come on, dude, get some kids. And, you know, it's the best thing that'll ever happen to you. And no, by the way, you're not going to be unemployed because of AI. You're going to be the guy that tells AI what to do. Now, if you're writing lines of code, yeah, you may be not writing lines of code anymore in four or five years. I don't doubt that. I got a feeling AI is going to be writing most of our code, and I'm fine with that.

1:19:23But somebody's got to tell the stupid thing how to do it because it's artificial intelligence, by the way, like artificial sweetener. And so we're using, you know, I'm not in your world except that we have a lot of digital products and a lot of digital people here. And a lot of our software engineers are convinced that they need to get above AI and boss it around as their new job description in the future rather than do what it's trying to do right now. And that's just my take on it as an entrepreneur. But I don't think you're going to be unemployed because I think you're already considering how you're going to pivot to take advantage of the new technology instead of it taking you out.

1:20:01Yeah, Brian, two quick questions here to focus on this balance issue. How much of the$425 is your income? About$370. Okay. Of the$370, you mentioned your job, and then I heard consulting. So break down the income, your income, of the$370. How much is consulting outside of your 9-to-5? You know, it's split right down the middle. My 9-to-5 is half of it, and consulting is the other half. Okay. How many hours is the consulting taking up in a week? About 20 hours a week on top of my 9 to 540 hours a week. All right. So I just wanted to tactically start to break that down because Dave's right. I agree with everything you said.

1:20:45So now we need to look at, okay, we've been in the scarcity mindset, you know, all the savings. So we need to dial back the 60 hours. So if you're looking at, you know, I hate to tell anybody to take a step back in income, but the reality is you need to take a step back in hours. So we're looking at 60 hours a week, and that's what's causing the big part of your pain why you called today. So you've got to adjust that. That's where we go in, and we tactically make some changes. But you've been doing – I can just tell by the way you're handling this. You've been doing technology a long time. This is not your first ride.

1:21:18Yeah, very true. Over 10 years experience. Exactly. And so you've navigated changes, disruptions before. This one's a little bit more of a tsunami than a minor disruption. But you're going to navigate this and you're going to be fine. There are people that are going to be taken out by it. If you think you're going to be a Dev1 coder five years from now, you're not. People, those of you listening, okay? I don't think that's happening. There's not going to be much of that happening. But there's a lot of stuff we're not going to be doing. But that's okay. There's other things we can do with this technology.

1:21:51But you've got to have a brain that works the way your brain works to be able to make AI do what it's supposed to do. And so a brain that works, I can't make it do what you can make it do, in other words, because my brain is not set up that way, and I don't have the knowledge base that you have. So I think you're going to be in a really good position. And that raises another question, Brian. Is the consulting work the exact same type of work in the 9 to 5, or is it slightly different? Same work, different fields. One is law, and the other one is health care. I just wonder, as a part of this transition, as you begin to kind of scale back so that you can start a family, get the stress out of your life, I wonder if the consulting is not eventually a business where you work for yourself and you kind of make yourself even more insulated from the threat of AI.

1:22:40Just something to think about. I'm not putting you on the spot to answer that, but there's something to this. Some pivot there. There's a potential. I'll say that. There's a potential pivot. If I were sitting with you in your living room walking through the next five years, I'd want to look, what is the future of the consulting business, and how could you add to or full pivot? Are you literally writing code right now? I am working right now, yes. No, I mean, not this second. I mean, today, your job description is you write lines of code. No, we're telling AI what to do, which is kind of what made me call in.

1:23:16Who knows what this thing's going to do in five years? Yeah, but I mean, today you are, okay, so you're a senior engineer. Okay, I got you. All right, because you're killing it income-wise. I'm so proud of you. Very well done. So you're very smart. You're a planner. You're a thinker. You flowchart stuff in your brain. You can't keep from doing it, including your own life. And so, yeah, so that's what we're doing. We're saying we're agreeing with you. Yes, I would take a step back, not six steps back. And by the way, when you're at home with your family then, be at home. Turn off all screens, including television.

1:23:54Yes, sir. Just relationship. So don't substitute Netflix binge-watching for work and call that family life balance. It's not. And sometimes we can do that, too. We just move from one to the other. Well, I was at home, and she was sitting beside me. No, that doesn't count, okay? Yeah, but you got caught up on Downton Abbey. I don't think that's a plan, okay? So anyway, yeah, I think you're a great guy, and I think you're going to be a great dad and a great husband, and you already knew you were going to do this before you called. And then the question is, you know, you've got a really good nest egg already built.

1:24:32You've got the ability to earn a great income. And here's the thing I know about folks. Regardless of the field, once you have made X number of dollars, your brain tells you it's possible, and you will naturally gravitate back toward X number of dollars plus. That's right. Once you've broken the threshold, once you balanced on the bicycle the first time and your eyes light up and go, I can actually do this, then you have a tendency to be able to do it again rather than a tendency to end up making$25 ,000 a year at Walmart. That's right. It's not what you're doing. So you're going to gravitate towards a half million dollars a year the rest of your life or more.

1:25:17You're just going to have to change how you do it and how you add value to the organizations in the brave new world that we live in. But you're going to do it. I can tell. You're that guy. And I employ a whole bunch of tech folks, so kind of know what I'm talking about. I can tell when somebody's got that thing, that swagger that allows them to do it, and I think you do. I think you're going to be great at it. So, yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes. Good question. Very good discussion. Thanks for calling in.

1:26:14guitar solo

1:26:26welcome back to the ramsey show in the fair winds credit union studio ken coleman ramsey personality number one best-selling author is my co-host today nazareth is with us in houston hey nazareth how are you hey dave hey ken it's a honor to speak with you guys you too sir how can we help well um i wish i was calling to talk about my own more of my own financial situation um you know because i'm doing the baby steps getting out of debt right now um which is a lot of what i've heard you call the stupid tax because i'm 28 and i've made a lot of mistakes a lot of mistakes over the years, but I guess one of them has led me to moving back in with my parents, with my daughter, who's now four years old.

1:27:23And anyways, I've been here, and when I first moved back in, I was still being pretty irresponsible, like just kind of floating through life, and I've really gotten my act together these past few months, And crazy things have happened to where my mom left my dad about two months ago, and I took over all the bills and all that. But now I'm looking at my father basically owing about$10 ,000 on property taxes. And if it's not paid within a month, the house is going to go to auction. So I'm just juggling a lot right now, and it occurred to me, okay, well, maybe I can call the Ramsey show, and I got a hold of you guys.

1:28:13Wow. So your parents' finances are a mess, and you have taken over them with two whole months of experience controlling yours. Yes, sir. Okay. What do you make a year? Right now, before taxes, I'm bringing in about$3 ,600 a month, sometimes a little bit more, sometimes a little less. Okay. And what does your mom make? Well, my mom, she doesn't live here anymore. She actually moved to another state. Oh, I'm sorry. Your dad lives there? Yes, sir. Oh, and what does he make? It varies, but I'd say on a good month, he's making about$3 ,000 to$4 ,000. And why have they not paid their taxes? It was just a lot of infidelity throughout their marriage, you know, on all levels, including financial.

1:29:19It's never being on the same page about things. so they don't have any money i guess you wouldn't have called me you would have just paid the taxes yeah okay yeah well um my father he he has about two thousand in his savings account give or take and um yeah but my mom definitely uh no savings like that and and you're in touch with her you Do you have the ability to get in touch with her? Yes. Yes, I do. Okay. All right. And what's the house worth? I'm looking at this number here. Let's see. If I see this correctly, oh, wow. It says a judged value,$215 ,000. Okay. What's that? What are you reading there?

1:30:14This is the notice of sale. Oh, that had anything to do with reality. What do you think the house is actually worth, dude?

1:30:25I'm not sure. Probably like around$150. Okay. All right. And what is owed on it? Nothing. The house is paid off. Oh, okay. All right. Wow. That's really sad. So I would tell you to go to RamseySolutions.com and click on real estate, a trusted real estate agent. Get one of our trusted people and tell them what's going on and see if they have any knowledge of property tax in Texas that I don't have. There's a possibility you could apply for some kind of a thing. take your dad's$2 ,000 and maybe$2 ,000 a month for the next four months or whatever and clear the thing, right? There's a possibility they have some kind of a program for that.

1:31:24Or there's a possibility they give you these notices and then it's a while before they actually do it. It's not really 30 days. I want you to get more knowledge than just the threat in the mailbox. And I don't know. I don't have the knowledge to give you. Yes, sir. Well, I spent about two hours on the phone with these tax office people, and because they were on payment plans in the past, it's pretty much said that the house will go to auction January 6th if it's not paid in full.

1:32:04Like I said, I wish I was calling. Yeah, and you don't have the money, and they don't have the money, so what's our option? There's two options. Neither one are good. Your dad can file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, and that will stop the auction. Okay. And before I lost the house at auction, I would do that. But I really think that it might be a good idea for your dad just to sell the house. Your dad and mom sell the house now. Mm-hmm. Get an investor, call one of our Ramsey-trusted real estate agents, and let's sell the house and pay the tax before the auction, okay? Because they're going to lose this house, and you guys don't have any money to stop them.

1:32:52And so, you know, you can go into Chapter 13 bankruptcy, but all we're doing there is kicking the can down the road because your parents are going to screw that up. I'm curious. How many years of the property taxes? What's a year's worth of property taxes on this house? Do you know? um well it's it varies but i think it goes all the way back to 2020 for about five years worth right so here's the this is kind of an outside the ball uh outside the box idea here but does your dad between all the stuff they have do they have six thousand dollars worth of stuff that you can sell quickly plus his two that gets you or wait wait wait we got to get uh we got to get eight more sorry my math was bad for a second eight thousand does he have eight thousand dollars worth of stuff uh yeah i think so and i i i have um that's the quickest turnaround on this thing i mean to be honest with you if he really has eight thousand dollars worth of stuff and what's his car i would do that uh no not really through his cars but he's got a lot of um because he's a welder he's um yeah he just builds fences so he has a lot of material steel here and um yeah get Get it sold.

1:34:05Yeah, it's just kind of... Yes, sir. Yeah, get it sold and get the money and go pay the taxes. That's it. But your dad's going to have to get off his dadgum butt. Mm-hmm. Or he's going to lose his house. And it's not fair that you have to do this for him. This is supposed to be a grown man. Mm-hmm. I mean, this guy's, what, 60 years old? Yes, sir, 62. Yeah. So maybe he ought to act like it. Hello. So, yeah, I don't really want you fixing this for him, But if he's got the assets, if he's got a bunch of junk around there, he can take salvage or whatever and sell it and scratch up$8 ,000 to go with his$2 ,000 to get this thing paid.

1:34:44That's the answer. Other than that, yeah, you can file bankruptcy, but it's not going to work because it's going to crash. If he catches it up, that's his only shot at making this work. And your mom needs to sell her car and put some money in it, too.

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1:36:05This time of year, I get a little confused about the terms. It's Cyber Monday week. How do you have a Monday week? I'm so confused. How do Black Friday sales last for 10 days? This is still happening. Fridays are now 10 days and Mondays are now weeks. Okay, well, but we're going to join the parade. So the deals are in full swing at Ramsey. We got hardcover books, audio books, assessments, all with prices as low as$6.99. Don't wait. These deals end this coming Sunday, 12-7. Go to RamseySolutions.com slash store. Or if you're watching on YouTube or podcast, click the link in the description. I need to make a confession, Dave.

1:36:52Our audience knows this. When you're not here and I read these things, I get a little upset. I wonder if you've approved these things. These are really good deals. I'm not sure I'm making much on these books and assessments. Did you approve of these deals? I had nothing to do with these deals, actually. I always do, don't I? I'm like, man, Dave is killing me. These books of mine are so cheap. Yeah, prices as low as$6.99. That's hardcover books, no less. Must be an overstock on something. That's all I'm saying. There it is, folks. I confessed it. I confronted it. We don't know how these deals got there.

1:37:24They're good deals, that's for sure. Brian's in Dallas. Hey, Brian, what's up? Hey, Dave, how's it going? better than I deserve. How can I help? Hey, Dave, I'm closing on a property here soon in the next couple of weeks and wanted to get your wisdom on a few things. So first of all, thanks for taking my call and just some context for who I am. I'm 27, making about$100 ,000 a year and the property that we're closing on we have the means to put down for the down payment which is great but as I was crunching the numbers and looking at our savings we were thinking about possibly taking out a 401k loan or withdrawal to help with the down payment now I know I've watched some of your videos and you you've explained not to do that and things like that so So just call in to get your input and get wisdom on creative ways we can put for the down payment.

1:38:27You already have a down payment. Leave your 401k alone. Yeah. Yeah. Keep your hands off of it. Okay. If you can't afford the house, then tell them and see if you can get out of the house deal. But don't mess with stinking 401k, like you said. That's for obvious reasons. your wealth is going to come from paying your house off and from building your 401k, not from destroying it. And borrowing on your 401k is never a good idea, ever. There's no circumstance. And withdrawing on a 401k, of course, you're going to get taxes and penalties and everything else. And you're not even able to withdraw a 401k while you still work there.

1:39:05So no, I would not ever use my retirement money to buy a house, ever. No, wouldn't do it. And I wouldn't do it to increase your down payment when you already have your down payment. Ryan is in Indianapolis. Hey, Ryan, how are you? Good. How are you doing? Better than I deserve. What's up? Yeah, so my dad passed away a few months ago, and he set my mom up pretty well. He's a lifetime farmer, built a pretty good net worth, very conservative. and by the time he has a trust set up and by the time that all the ground and equipment there's still room for about one and a half million dollars of cash that we could put towards the trust and my mom is considering disclaiming that cash to go ahead and give it to myself and my two brothers.

1:40:04And I'm a little concerned about taking on that much cash. My brothers went through a divorce in his lifetime, and we want to do what we can to protect what my dad's built his whole life. And I want to pay off my house, and that's what my mom would like to see me do with the cash that she'd give me. And my suggestion was to put it in the trust, leave it there, and I take a loan from the trust instead and kind of pay back the loan or pay back the trust instead of the bank to keep it from becoming a marital asset right off the bat. So the million and a half would be yours? Well, it would be split between myself and my two brothers.

1:40:56Oh, so you would get a half a million dollars? Yes. So you don't trust your wife with a half a million dollars? It's not that I don't trust her, but, you know, we've seen what money can do to families. Half a million dollars is not that much money. It's not, but it can be spent very quickly. Wait a second. Wait, wait, wait. You paid off your house. How are you going to spend it? well i'm saying that you know if if my um if i pay off my house i've got more income now coming in in from my so be on a budget with your wife that's what's wrong with your marriage ryan uh it's very hard to control financially um if if we're not on a very strict budget and and an allowance, essentially, it disappears.

1:41:56But wouldn't paying off your house make it even more stable? No, more money to disappear at this point. Yeah, but... Yeah, because he can't get along with his wife. Right, so... How long have you been married? Six years. Okay. I would not accept the money until you get your marriage healed. Your marriage is a mess. Oh, that's what, you know. No, I don't want to create some kind of a faux backflip, double limited partnership trust crap so you won't deal with your wife. No, I don't want to do that. You need to deal with your wife and then get your marriage and your life straightened out, and then we'll talk about properly handling wealth.

1:42:46But there is no legal mechanism that makes people that aren't behaving behave.

1:42:56You're dreaming, Ryan. You can't have your cake and eat it too. You're going to have to deal with your home. Your home is a wreck. When you deal with your home, then it's a safe place to bring a lousy half million dollars into. But your home isn't safe for a half million dollars right now. So don't put a half million dollars in it in any shape or form until you get your marriage worked on. And quit trying to dream up some side angle crap to not have to deal with what's right in front of your dadgum nose. You've got to deal with this. And if you don't, your marriage is going to end. And there's no, all this crap is going to get drug into a divorce court no matter what you do.

1:43:42and you know you're all your little schemes and crap aren't gonna work so you can't control this you've got to heal it there's a difference now you're gonna do what you're gonna do but i would not accept the half million until you finished marriage counseling that was successful in creating a healed grown-up relationship with my wife you don't trust your wife that's a bad place to live, dude. Yeah. Yeah. It's six years and to not have any kind of financial stability and trust, you could feel it all over him. So, wow, wow, wow. Yeah. I like that advice. Yeah. You and your mom and your brother are trying to connive something up here against your wife.

1:44:25This is a bad medicine, bad juju, dude. Really bad. Well, you know, he mentioned his brother's divorce. So he's feeling like snake bit too. Yeah. Because of his marriage. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, no kidding. Self-fulfilled prophecy if you're not careful. Yeah. But no, mama needs to just, you know, the one who needs to trust is your mother, maybe. But not you. No, you don't need that money anywhere near your house right now. Because you've got other issues that are much more important, much higher priority than a lousy half a million dollars are paying off your house.

1:45:19We'll be right back.

1:45:34We'll be right back.

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1:47:08On the Zoom call coming up now is going to be Becky and Brian. Hey, guys, how are you? Good. Wonderful to have you guys. Where do you live? Madison, Wisconsin. Okay. Well, Merry Christmas. I see the Christmas tree in the background. You guys got it rocking. Good work. Yeah. How can we help you guys today? Thanks for taking our call. Yeah. I'll let my wife take the question here. Hi, Dave. So I own a small business, a medical aesthetics practice here in our hometown. I'm a nurse practitioner, and I've built my business debt-free. I have no debt here at the business, and I make pretty heavily purchases every month that I just pay off with my debit card, you know,$10 ,000, sometimes upwards of$20 ,000 for products.

1:47:57And so my question is in regards to getting a business credit card and the downfall of what that would be. I think we kind of live in the Ramsey mindset. We're debt free. I only purchase things if I have the funds to purchase them. So that is was my question. What what the harm would be in getting a business credit card for points? Well, if you only purchase things if you have the money, then a debit card will work, right? Correct. Okay. And so your only motivation is points? Well, I mean, yes. Well, I was thinking of if I have to purchase it anyway, should I be trying to get something in return because I have to then have additional funds?

1:48:47Yeah. And so is your business working? Are you making money? Are you successful? I am. Good. Good for you. Congratulations. Well, that's where you make your money in running your business well and in being who you are and providing the service that you provide. That's where all your profit comes from. That's where your prosperity will come from is in being you. I can tell you're probably really good at this. You can see it kind of in the camera right now. And so you are the secret sauce, not some side hustle gathering up points. And so I've concentrated at Ramsey on helping people with their money or helping people with their leadership or the different things that we do here, not in trying to gather up something on the side.

1:49:31I just go do what we do with excellence, and that's where all of our prosperity has come. And because the points are a scam, 78 % of them are never redeemed. That's crazy. Eight out of ten. And by the way, if you spend$100 ,000 on this and you get 1%, that's$1 ,000. So there's no formula on planet Earth that says spending$100 ,000 to get$1 ,000 is a formula for wealth building. That's a really, really, really silly trade. Your time and your brain calories are worth a lot more than you'll be spending chasing a couple of points here or there that are$500 or$1 ,000 here or there that you make back.

1:50:16You can make that in 20 seconds doing what you do if you concentrate on that instead of the other things. But instead, they got you concentrating on their business model, which is to get you possibly into debt. Because one month, things are a little tight, then you don't pay it off, and then there you are. That never happens with a debit card, though. So we don't have any credit cards at Ramsey, and we teach entree leaders. small we coach about 10 000 small businesses uh all over america to use debit cards and just don't bother with the points um because i'm that that that momentary flex where you change your brain from doing what it does so well to going over here and trying to beat up city bank for a one percent the the trade-off is not worth it your brain is worth more working on things that matter Ken?

1:51:05Yeah. One of my vices, you two, I'm confessing this, is late night ice cream. It's a real problem. And I'm at the stage in life where late night ice cream comes with a consequence. So you know what I do to avoid late night ice cream? You guys want to take a guess? Don't eat it. I don't have ice cream in my house. There's no ice cream in the house. Ken. I know. I know. What kind of a father are you? The kids can go get it. there's an ice cream shop in my neighborhood but you know it's a simple little idea but you get the point and Dave's right there is it's not just the one month it gets a little tight and we got a little security blanket it's also a temptation and if it's in the freezer there's a good chance I'm going to walk by and grab it and get a bowl of it and so you just got to be very careful what this is psychology there is psychology and money and Dave has figured it out what I don't think people realize sometimes is how much psychology are in the baby steps because he sat and he listened to people for years and years and years and develop something that is not just about momentum, but it's also about the psychology of money.

1:52:15And I think that we can't forget that the points seem to be a real benefit, but what it's going to do is potentially trap you just like those late night calories for me. So that's my take. You guys are awesome. You're an incredible couple. You guys said that so much more nicely than we thought you were going to. Well, thank you for coming on. Yeah. Hey, that was pretty risky. You guys took a big risk jumping on here. So thank you for doing that. And, you know, the joke we always use is we've never met a millionaire who said I made all my money with my points. And so that's what it all comes down to.

1:52:44So, hey, thanks for joining us. That's Becky and Brian. Good job, you guys. All right. Fun. So we've integrated a few of these Zoom calls here or there because so many of you watch on YouTube and on video and Spotify and some of our other platforms are now carrying video as well. So we want to make sure we're kind of including all that in there. So something new. I've done talk radio for 35 years, and now I get to do Zoom calls. Well, I will tell you selfishly, I don't know if you feel this way, but I really enjoy it. I've been able to do two or three of these now, and I enjoy it because we can see emotion.

1:53:15We can see things that sometimes we can't always hear. We've learned how to hear things. But if you have to be careful, though, I think I'm nicer on the Zoom calls. Oh, really? Yeah, I think I need to. I think I need to not. I don't need to fall for that. something about looking at their pretty cute little faces and i don't want to destroy them well that boy that is an interesting take right there will you be tough dave looking right at somebody i gave him the right answer but i wasn't i wasn't snarky no you were very wasn't mean you were very christmasy sometimes i was very christmasy yeah that's it santa dave is on the video calls by the way quick question i'm gonna get you some ice cream ken coleman at the break by the way that was the truth that is a crazy thing right that's the truth well everybody's got their vice whatever your food vice is don't you know you know one of our one of our senior leaders here eats a thing of graters every night you know i'm talking about i do he has this whole ice his whole he has one freezer full yeah of graters and he eats it one little thing every night if i could pull it off i would i i love it affects your pickleball game it affects the waistline which then affects the pickleball game no question uh i had a question for you've been watching and analyzing coaching people for a long time he's no longer on the call but i thought brian uh i thought he he was he was in he was on our side of things oh no kidding it was pretty obvious she was totally set up yeah she knew she was she did but he just sat right back and just just let let us handle it yeah he'd already told her what we're gonna say and she knew she did that was not he's a smart guy though yeah that's a pro move that was i'll let dave handle that was yeah just step back and step back and let someone else i saw the same thing you did i was like look Look at this guy.

1:54:55He's back there. No sweat. I'm going to let my wife ask this question. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. She has the question. I think Brian got the answer he wanted. Good for him. But speak to that, Dave, on the real temptation for small businesses, how realistic what you said could happen. These days we're hearing as much as 60 % of small businesses have credit card debt related to the business. Yeah. Starting and or operating the business. Yeah. That is mathematical suicide. You know, we know that, and I don't know if the stat's true, but it's been around so long, everybody believes it. 80 % of small businesses fail in the first five years.

1:55:34It's an SBA stat. That's right. Okay. And that's probably true, but it also includes businesses that never really started hardly. But of those we do know, and I do think this is true, the number one problem is cash flow. Cash flow means they don't have any money. It means because they have debt payments and they don't pay their taxes. and those are the things destroy cash flow and that runs you out of business. So we do know that's true. So stay away from that crap and run your business. That's the idea.

1:56:23you

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1:57:17Our scripture of the day, 1 Peter 4.10, each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms. H. Jackson Brown said, Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. Plenty of movement, but you never know if it's going to be forward, backward, or sideways. That's some real depth right there. Every hiring manager should read that quote. That's the truth. You know, H. Jackson Brown did a book 30 years ago called Life's Little Instruction Book. Yes, classic. That's what this comes from, I'm sure. and it was notes to his son, one-liners like this to his son, and it became a huge bestseller.

1:58:07And I met him back in those days. I was just starting. The first book had just come out. I didn't know that. I'm very jealous of that. He's from Nashville. Is that right? Yeah, he's from here, yeah. Octopus on roller skates. That's pretty cool. It's good movement, yeah. Morgan is with us in Tampa, Florida. Hey, Morgan, how are you? I'm doing better than I deserve, Dave. How are you? Just the same. How can we help? I was hoping to get some insight on whether my husband and I can upgrade our hunk of junk of a car, even though we're temporarily down to one income. So I can fill in some details for you.

1:58:41Do you have the cash to do it? Yes. So we're in baby step four, five and six. we've got about$60 ,000 in cash that includes$20 ,000 for the emergency fund and$10 ,000 for a business that I'm hoping to get off the ground after I sit for and hopefully pass the bar in Florida. Good, good for you. We were looking to spend somewhere between$10 ,000 and$20 ,000, hopefully a little closer to$20 ,000, but I just feel a little weird about kind of raiding the war chest while we're kind of a little bit in a little bit of a crisis right now. I mean, can you cover your bills with one income? Yes. So we can.

1:59:21You're not in a crisis. You're just not in a time of prosperity. Yeah. I guess that's more accurate. It just feels a little weird to kind of read the war chest. Well, it's not really a war chest. The war chest is labeled emergency fund. It's 20. The war chest is labeled 10 for starting a business, and you're not touching either one of those. Okay. So I think you're using the wrong term. Yeah, and that means you got 30 more, and you know what? Go for it. You got to access savings. Get a$10 ,000 car, and then when things get a little bit more stable, you can always sell that. What's the hunk of junk worth if you sold it?

1:59:57I don't think it's really worth much. I think the blue book on it is like$2 ,500. Okay, so$2 ,500, and you put$1 ,200 with it, and you get a$15 ,000 car. Okay, it sounds more straightforward. I guess just feels like a very emotional decision. Well, it is because you draw security from the savings, and that's why you call it a war chest. You get security from looking at those numbers, more than you do from looking at that hunk of junk upgraded. That's probably true. It cost us like$2 ,500 this year, and now we need another$2 ,500 repair. Nah, I don't spend$2 ,500 on a$2 ,500 car. Don't do that.

2:00:41Okay, I guess that makes it an easy decision. Yeah, just sell it as is and let's move up. You don't have to move up all of it. We're not going to buy a$65 ,000 car hoping you pass the bar. That's not what we're talking about, okay? I mean, this is very, very reasonable, what you've described, and you're paying cash. And you're probably not going to drive the car that you buy but about a year. Okay. Because it sounds like you're going to start your own practice once you pass, right? That's what I hope, yeah. I'm licensed in Pennsylvania, but we recently moved. So sitting for the Florida Bar hopefully will pass.

2:01:16So it's not reciprocal? No, not in Florida. Florida is very protective of their attorney, unfortunately. Very interesting. Okay. All right. And so you have an existing practice back in Pennsylvania? So I left my job with the federal government. I work in a really niche area of law in veterans' benefit. So right now I just kind of want to focus on the bar and then hopefully get that up and ready. What type of practice are you opening? I want to keep it the same. So veterans benefits, mostly disability veterans law is what I'm hoping to do. I did that for about three years back in PA. That's interesting.

2:01:52Okay, cool. Good for you. The good news is you're probably going to ramp it up pretty quick. That's why I was asking all the questions. That's exactly what I was about to ask. Realistically, how long, if you pass the bar before you're up and running and making money? I mean, so the outlook on that can be anywhere. Cases can take anywhere between like seven months to a year, and that's kind of what the$10 ,000 is for. That can kind of cover my base operating expenses for a year. I won't have an office or anything like that, so it will cover like the legal research and all those kind of ancillary costs.

2:02:21But again, you guys are already covered all your basics with your other income. Yeah. I think it's really just wanted that stamp of approval. I feel a little bit of peace about it. Yeah, I appreciate it. I appreciate it. I love that. Yeah, but I guess our other point, the reason we're asking all that questions is that the practice getting up and running is yet further insurance in addition to the savings numbers that this is a wise decision. Okay. That's why we're asking all the questions. So you got a one-two punch, wise and wise. Because if you told me, oh, it might be five years and this might fail and I've never done it before and I don't know what I'm doing and we may never get my income back.

2:03:01And ask yourself this, what are the chances this$2 ,500 hooptie blows up in the next 30 days? I'd say pretty high. At which point you've got to get a car. So let's do it. Remington is in Memphis. Hey, Remington. Remington. Hey, Dave. How are you? Great. How can we help? Oh, it's just trying to plan future stuff. Um, we're looking at building a house next to my parents and sister, and then also my brother. So having a little family compound area, um, trying to figure out if you recommend doing like a, only doing cashflow for the money or 15 year mortgage. Uh, we don't have the, you know, the funds to cashflow right now.

2:03:50but then we also have an offer from my dad to help cash flow up front and then to avoid red tape from the bank and then switch over to a mortgage. That one I would stay away from. I would just get a construction loan and build it and put it on a 15-year fixed to the degree that you can't cash flow it yourself. And, of course, you've got to make sure this is on a separate plot. If you build a home on someone else's land, you're screwed. Yeah, it's our land. No, it's not our land. Well, my wife and I. Oh, they've parceled it out. It has a property line, and everything inside that property line is only owned by you, not your dad.

2:04:35Correct. He recently split it into three to me and two of my siblings, so we own it all now when we're looking at And if something happened to you and your wife were widowed and she wanted to sell it, she can do that. Right. Okay. She might not want to live there. Okay. You might not want to live there 10 years from now. Everybody got that emotionally figured out? Yeah, I mean, we live nearby right now, so we're able to set those boundaries and stuff now. Okay. You got a separate parcel, but that doesn't mean that somebody's not saying, well, dad said we could never sell it. He gave it to us, but he said with the stipulation we could never sell it.

2:05:21And now then you're screwed. We don't want to do it. I don't want to get I do not want to get trapped. Some blessings are a trap. And those are called curses. So, no, don't just make sure that there's lots of movement here, lots of lots of places and things that can be done. If our lives change and shift, then nobody's going to be permanently pissed off for the next 42 years over one little piece of dirt. And that's what happens. So be real careful with that part. And you pay your own way without your dad. And then you'll be in good shape. So good question. I just have to believe, though, push back on this one, that family compounds come with the expectations that we're all there for ever.

2:06:04Yeah, that's the problem. That's what I would wonder. That's the problem. Yeesh. It's very, very difficult to have reasonable lives. And then who wants to buy a house? You're in the real estate world. Who wants to buy one house, a one-off, in a family compound? Yeah. Okay. It's a problem. It's a problem. People don't think these things through. That puts us out of 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.