Overcoming Fear Of Investing And Market Volatility

Brought to you by the Every dollar app. Start budgeting for free today. Normal is broke and common sense is weird. So we're here to help you transform your life from the Ramsy network in the Fairwinds Credit Union stududio. This is the Ramsy showhow. I'm Jade Worsaw N next to me, doctor John Deloneoney, taking calls from you for the next couple hours, at least. tri eight, eight two five five, two, two five is the number that you call if you want to ask your question, and we sure hope that you do All right, we've got Maria who's in San Diego, California. Beautiful. How can we help out today, Maria I forty eight years old, my husband's thirty three. We've been married thirteen years. We have one son who's twelve stay at home mom born? Maria. Maria, you're breaking up a good bit. If you can go to another part of the house or just speak directly into your line to make sure we can really hear you. Okay Should I repeat myself? No, I heard you up until then. Okay, so I've been a stay at home mom, I do not have any savings, nothing retirement. And my husband and I, our marriage is not in good terms so I I think I'm going to be walking away with nothing. So I want to know what I need to do to help myself That's a good question. What happened with your marriage? What's going on It's been volatile since we've been married Volatile like abusive or volatile yellining and screaming? What does volatile mean Yeah, a lot of yelling and screaming and he doesn't share money with me Do not know. I just recently found out how much he makes Um he does the grocery because he doesn't give me any money. Nothing. Yeah, that's that's we call it financial abuse. That's that's You're in an unsafe situation. So first I would say If y'all been together for thirteen years, you're entitled to a big chunk of what he's got And so don't just walk away. Um you're you're in an unsafe relationship becausere you're being held hostage by the person you're married to financially. So if you choose to leave, make sure you get an attorney and do that in a in a in a right way The second thing is is you'll be faced with the reality that life you wanted to have, I want to be married I want to be a stay at home parent. I want to be focused on my twelve year old You're going to have to go get a job. Maybe two.. And you're going to have to create a financial world where you are financially safe. And that might mean being in a one bedroom apartment. You're in one of the most expensive markets in the United States and so it might be moving. like there's a whole bunch of things that's going to It's going to stem from you choosing to live in this scary word called reality. This is my new reality, not I knew what I wanted it to be, but this is the facts I'm facing here With my living expenses, my eating expenses, my twelve year olds expense, all those things And we're going to have to create a world around that reality Yeah Yes I looked into I looked into all that, yes. So So Maria, you just found out what your husband earns. How much is it? And do you believe him when he said what he earns or did you find out because it was written on a paper? O how did you find out? and how much is it? He took out a HLock to pay off some debt. seventy thousand. So it was on the loan application. He makes ninety a year ninety thousand a year. and he took out a seventy thousand dollars H loC pay off all of your debt? Is there any other outstanding debt other than the mortgage that you know about No, just the mortgage and the sixty thousand. How are you positive of that U well When it comes to debt he'll share it with me. When it comes to spending, he won't share anything. Okay. What does he have in retirement savings I have no idea. I've never seen it. He has his mail routed to his parents so I don't see anything. wow Okay. do you do you think that maybe he has been saving? Like does your sense tell you that he has been or do you think he probably doesn't have much? You may not be able to answer that, but He's been in the company forty years or thirty years.. Yeah, so I think he has some type of investment, but I have no idea how much it is. you should get half of it Yeah. Or maybe not half, but half since y'all have been together. Uh huh. That's true So there might be your situation might not be as financially Emotionally and relationsationally, yeah, it's a mess, but financially it might not be as bad as you think it is. I hope it's not. What about the mortgage? What you guys now owe? or what did you owe and what's the property worth? I'll already account for the HELC So we bought we bought the house in twenty seventeen And we bought it for three forty it's still three forty right now. plus and now the helel loocks And I think the value is about five fifty Okay, so There's the numbers there, John's right, you know, since the marriage, most of this should be split down the middle that doesn't give you I don't think unless he's got this crazy nest egg somewhere, I don't think that's going to give you the ability to walk away, get your half and never have to work again. So the question then becomes What can you do for work? You've been out of the workforce for a while for twelve years. Were you ever in the workforce before you had the baby Yeah, I I work in the legal profession since I was seventeen and I had a good job before I quit my job. My son was born premature, so I just didn't go back to work And then eventually I'll do pick upp some contract work one month here and there Okay, so you feel like you have an exit strategy as far as career is concerned Yeah, but I'm forty eight. so mean that's not old. I'm competing against a younger g. Y. but let me let me you know, inform you on this. A lot of people, they they earn the most they've ever made in their fifties. L that's their clutch year. So you're approaching that and obviously you've been out of the workforce. There's some variables there, but I do want to encourage you on that and don't get it twisted. Raising kids has life experience all over it that can those are transferable skills. So let's be honest about that Um, what's What's precluding you from making that step? When do you plan on making that step? Do you still feel barriers to making that step? Let us help you with that. What else is there Well, because my marriage is not stable Divorce was not an option because I don't want to share custody. I don't know what he's going to say to my son about me. So I'd rather stay home and take care of my son, take him out from school, drop him off. helping with homework and activities and a lot, that's kind of what's What wass preventing me from going back to work because I actually went back to work for one year last year and my son didn't do well in school. so I felt like You know, I should be with him for now The greatest gift you can give your kid right now is stability Okay. Because there's no way that this is that your husband is being this Insane with how he's treating his wife And and Also being a plugged in attentive good Dad So John, be clear about what you think stability looks like because you could interpret stability as I'm not going to rock the boat right now. I'm just going to stay where I'm at. I'm not going what do you think what I would tell you is for your kid, the boat is rocked Yeah The boat is rocked in wild ways. The greatest gift To parents can give their kid is a rock solid marriage and giving your kids something to anchor into. And the data is pretty clear A, no, don't quote unquote, stay together for the kids. Fix your marriage for your kids. Fix your marriage for you and your kids benefit But if a marriage is unhealthy, it's bad, it's abusive, like yours is, then quote unquote, staying together for the kids is not good for the kids You have to ask yourself is your Personal safety and wellbe and your child's health and safety and well beinging worth your potential, I might have to share custody sometimes. And the reality is this is still his dad And so he's still going to need his father Um but sit down with an attorney. could licensed attorney and ask these hard questions so you can get a picture and you're not just living on made up stories Hey, George Camll here. Listen, if you've had your phone two or three years, your phone can now be Unlocked That means you can switch to Boost Mobile, to get unlocked, bring your own device and keep more of your money where it belongs Look, the fat cats are bigig wireless. they are counting on you, just staying put and overpaying every single month. They want you to think switching is complicated, risky, or just not worth it. Meanwhile, your bill keeps climbing like it's training for a triathlon. But Boost mobile makes switching simple and way less spendy. You bring your phone, keep your number and get unlimited wireless for just twenty five dollars a month. Yeah twenty five bucks a month, not for six months, not for a promotional period ever There's no contract, no hidden fees, and no, we changed your plan because we felt like it, email. So if you're tired of overpaying for something you already own, this is your moment to save money. Go to boostmobile dot com slash Ramsey and get unlocked today. That's boostmobile d. com slash Ramsey twenty twenty five dollars forever requires customers to remain active on Boost mobile andlimited plans backack to the phone lines where we have Leah who's in Akron, Ohio. Leah, how can we help out today Hi. So my husband had a job offer for sixty two thousand dollars a year salary U And then as he had started the position and he's, you know, talking to people with like HR and payroll He's being told that you know, of course he wouldn't get paid overtime, but he still has to clock in, clock out And if he doesn't make forty hours, he's being docked somehow, which sounds hourly and fraudulent Okay. so you' are you going to get clarity or are you simply not going to take the offer Oh, he already accepted the sixty two thousand dollars salary offer. but we got our first paycheck and they're not allowing us access to his pay stub. And based off of the number we received, it would seem that he's being paid something entirely different than what was agreed to. What does it look like he's what does it look like he's being paid hourly which we don't even know what the price is hourly. But what's paid What's the pay of? What's the payub amount there? and how far off is it? and is it? What do you mean How yout allow some mebody to see that Well, it's supposed to be on the app, which he has access to the app, but like when he goes to the tab, it essentially says that his employer has him blocked. So can he did he go down to HR and say, Hey, I'm blocked on this U, Can you fix it? and did they say no? or you how much he's paying in taxes and Fica and all that stuff Exactly. And re way that they're conducting business is they tend to just be like, oh, well, we'll get to it. we'll see, we'll talk you later old Okay, so let's back all the way about here for a second because you're ready to go to war here, okay A little bit Yeah I just I don't understand what's happening, neither does he and they're not answering any questions. Okay. Sometimes peopleeople get offered positions. I'm trying to think of like if you wentn't got a job as a state trooper, right It would say something like can make up to one hundred ten thousand dollars Base salary sixty thousand or something like that Um, but that number is clock in number It does have an hourly wage to it. and at some point in the HR process, they'll tell you that O I have other buddies who work in industries where Part of the management practice is to track hours theirre paid a salary And so I've never heard of somebody being paid a salary If you work thirty nine and a half hours' going to take money away from you That's what it is where I am having an issue with is that they're saying if you don't meet the forty hours, your pay gets stcked. But are they getting pay for hour hours're not. Sorry. Are they guaranteeing him the forty hours? And so is it is it a situation to where we're guaranteeing you the forty hours? But if you step in and say, And I got to go to a dentist appointment or something that you're not basically clocked in for those hours then they're docked. Is that exactly what you're saying So like Say he because he it's in construction. so it's very like based on the weather. And so Say of hease late or if he's u done with a job earlily. All right It'll be that forty hours L if he's done with the job early, he's not getting however much Under. I you're saying He would have to use like paayime off to account for him leaving a job early because the job is done. And that doesn't make sense. I see what you're saying. But how much of this I'm a little perturbed is that I mean, if you're not making your forty hours and you're docking my pay by how much, what's the hourly there?ure. And also if you're telling me that ite side of the coin. if I work sixty hours, you're not going to pay me twenty hours of overtime. R hck me. Two things here. One Is there a chance that your husband didn't ask what the hourly rate is when he took this job Well, I'm actually looking at the job offer paperwork now. and it says, you will be paid an annual salary of sixty seven thousand dollars per year and paid in accordance with our every other week schedule. So that's verbatim what it says. in all of the paperwork it says nothing about hourly. Okay. so let's let's do two things Let's number one, just focus on what you can control You can do one of two things right now You can call lawyer. And you can write a demand letter That's number one. Tw You can suffer through this crappy deal and he can immediately start applying for other jobs because not because of you know, an hourly or whatever becausecause I'm not going to work for somebody who doesn't have integrity And integrity is I don't know if you're taking out taxes for me and I don't want to hit with a tax bill at the end of the year also. I don't know if you're ping out Social seecurity for me. I don't get hit with that bill at the end of the year. Like that's just that's just business one hundred one. Is he ten ninety nine orZW two He doesn't even know I know everyone he's asking any kind of question. Okay, but hold on. I'm gonna put this on him. This should have been determined I'll put this on him before a contract was signed, ma'am. I gott to know what what I'm signing up for. And I got an offer letter. I would have said get it in writing and you got that. So So he's entitled to that amount of money legally because they signed a contract with him. number two. I'm going to ask Bigger questions because I would need to know, am I going to take sixty seven thousand? Do I need to pull thirty percent of that because'm I'm ten ninety nine, I got to pay my own taxes Is that going to come out? rightight Those are questions that should have been asked during the interview and they weren't I do think I mean, I will say like we were a little we were very much in need of money. Yeah You know, we, you know, obviously you can't live on like unemployment. It's unreliable. You don't get it every week. Ia But let's just control what we can control here Right Yeah. And yeah, I definitely think we'll probably be looking for somewhere else. They don't seem to be managing much of anything very well Right on. and I can I tell you this I just I'm uncomfortable with the whole thing here and here's why Why are you calling? Why isn't he calling? Why are you reading his contracts again? likeike whyy isn't he taking control of his job, his finances, his employer Well, I do like I'm a stay at home mom. so I handle our finances. Like he goes, he brings in the money, he does the work, you know, and I do the child rearing, the finances household D So like I I mean, I'm not very intelligent per se, but you are't say you know, well, I just have like a basic understanding of like a salary versus an hourly and it feels like they're really muddling it. They are. And it just doesn't it's just You know, the math isn't mathhing. Correct. You'rey. Yeah. I mean, if I were under I mean he have asked questions. He has tried to talk to the payable people and he has tried to talk to HR. But again, they just keep saying like, oh, I don't know right now We'll come back to it. We back to And that's not right R off. I'm on your side and if you're asking, is this right or wrong? I don't think it's right the way it's being handled. I think the question to go in is like, hey, am my salary exempt? tellell me what's going on. Answer my questions. If you're not going to answer my questions, then there's no solve here and that's frustrating You know, I like what John said, which is you've really got the two routes. You can either lawyer up and really try to fight this and get what you thought you were signing on the dotted line for. I don't even know if I go that far. I think I just start looking for new jobs because the benefit of him having this job right now is at least he's searching from a perspective if I have something, I have a gig, so I'm not desperate and that's going to help him have more opportunity to find what it is that he's really looking for. So there is like a silver lining to this cloud. But my biggest thing going forward is I think you both have learned the lesson of we have to ask our questions early and make sure we're getting very clear answers making sure things are documented in writing. And I have a feeling, I don't know Leah, but you can when you're in the interview process, you can start to sense what people's character is like. Are they wishy washy? Are they putting you off? you know, that sort of thing. And I think that you're going to You can chalk that up to experience at this point and going forward And I I need a job right now. I'm going to take what I can get. I support that. Yeah, for sure But if your boss isn't a person of character, I'm gonna get out of it Let me tell you what I get asked all the time. When Should I get term life insurance. How much do I need? Is it affordable? Those are the right questions to be asking So let's take a quick review. The fact is term life isn't a baby step. So if anyone is dependent on your income, you need to have ten to twelve times your income in life insurance. now. and most people are surprised by how affordable term life really is. Even if you're not in perfect health. 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Our every dollar budget app helps you find extra money every month and builds you a personalized plan to beat debt and build wealth In just fifteen minutes, you'll find thousands of hidden thousands in hidden margin. You'll feel like you got a raise. So don't live normal when you can live like no one else. Start every dollar for free in the App Store or Google Play today. All right Bro is in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Broo, How can doctor John and I help you out today So my husband is currently following a TikToker who is promoting this first Lan Hock And I'm very hesitant about it. In fact, my family gives me the name Dream Crusher because I'm just not a risk taker But Dream crrusher.ere's my big problem number one, Brooke. Your husband's quote following a TikToker That should be your first problem right there Well, that's what I say too, but he thinks that I don't really understand the process. He's following a TikToker. Right, but I look at but I'm looking at the numbers and I just don't feel I just can't see how it could work. So tell us about it. Yeah, go ahead. Tell us about the first thing This is talk. By the way, bro, this is my favorite call the whole day. There's no way a call's gonna be better than this one Are you are you arere you sixteen and he's seventeen D you get married real young Well, no, I'm actually my fifties, but we have been married for a long time. Please tell me your husband's a fifty year old TikTker. He is, he is He is. every once in a while I wake up and I just think As a society, we're doomed and this is another vote for that. Right. Well, I think it's once you you know, once you click on something then you see all of the same things And so this particular guy keeps coming across And the way that he advertises it sounds I don't know, to him, it sounds great But this first Lan HL loock serves as your bank account. I know We know why. I know, I know. why. And just to be clear, if you typically if you take a HLOC In the order, it's like you've got your mortgage and then you got the HELOC under it. So if you were to foreclose, the money would first pay off the mortgage and then the HELOock would go next W first lien, it reverses that order. So the home equity line of credit is first as the first thing that's paid, that sort of thing. My question is why? whyy do you need this? Why are you guys to the point of doing these types of things I don't think that we do need it. But see, the advertisement is that, oh, you can pay this off in three to six years which But my what's he using the money? likeike what's the purpose of the What's the purpose of it? the grand purpose in his mind. We need to get the first Lan He loock because I need to get a boat or because We're funding college. Like whats what is why The why is is the payoff in three to six years. I mean, we're trying for retirement. We're trying to get things settled before we retire So that's the attraction is to pay off this early But we don't have like this huge income like minus our debts. that we have to even throw at this hel loock That's what it seems like to me that you need, you need this huge income Right. So Yeah. The problem here is You still owe X amount of dollars Yes. And there's not a way that there's not there's not a way to not owe that much money Well, our income is okay that we we only owe two hundred twenty thousand dollars on our house. It's worth about five to six hundred thousand.. We have it at a two like I get that I get that, but here's what's important You owe two hundred thousand dollars Divide that by six years, seventy two months And I can't do that math in my head like Dave can, but Do you have that much money to put towards this No. Okay. There's not going to be a secret atomic way to make you owe less than two hundred thousand dollars in your mortgage There might be a way that you can reduce your interest rate Maybe And so technically, you owe two hundred thousand dollars after six years, you're going to be paying interest also. So there might be a way to make it a little bit smaller, maybe. You get what I'm saying? L no matter what you're doing, you still owe two hundred thousand dollars and you got seventy two months that this thing is telling you could pay it off. There's not a way to contract time or to contract money from what you owe Right. So your g feeling is right. You know why? Beuse it's just math. Yeah. well, and our mortgage is only two point seven five. Right? But yeah now you're doing Yeah, it's a daily rate of like eight percent. And not Do Is it variable? Does it vary The Sheel loock apparently would be. Yeah. Yeah. and that's scary too. I would there there's I can see and I'm trying to say this in a non incredulous way, but truly, I can see no good in this. None. I can see no good in this. And if the goal, if you guys have sat around and said, what's our goal? Our goal is to pay off the mortgage That's actually a very simple process. I'm not saying it's easy. I'm saying it is a very simple process. I pay my mortgage payment and then anything and above my mortgage payment, I apply it to the principle. And I do that as often and as many times as I can and as high amounts as I possibly can. And every time I do that, I'm affecting the amortization schedule Every time I do that, more of my actual mortgage payment is going towards the print. L that is the way it works, That is how folks do it. That's how millionaires do it And that is probably if I were to really U try to form an argument against this other than just kind of like sheer logic and simplicity. I would go back to our millionaire study, John, and I would just talk about how We've studied what the practices of millionaires are, everyday millionaires, baby steps, millionaires. I'm not talking about billionaires, I'm talking about millionaires. And what they do is they pay for cars and they never do car payments again and they pay off their home mortgage and they avoid debt and they budget their money. These are the practices of what I'm going to refer to as the four hundred a one K millionaire, the average millionaire in America. This is what they do And so For me, this sounds like a very complex pady strategy to do something that's actually simple to do. Why am I going to add steps and add gamao to something that doesn't require it and honestly adds risk to the equation. Let's let's like Let's say your home Mortgage was at ten percent And you could get a first lean H loock at two point seven five someomebody could sit down and make the case that I have just and even though it's variable interest rate. And so if interest rates go up, thank God there's nothing going on in the world or the economy that makes me anyy somewhat nervous at all about the future, right I'm being ridiculous right now So, u If you could somehow magically flip a switch where you're paying two point seven five percent mortgage versus a ten percent I couldn't say you were crazy. I might say that's not something I want to do. Yeah sure I don't want to put my house on the block again But what you're doing is you're creating essentially a line of credit You'd have to be super human to never spin this line of credit There's no way you're going to get a better interest rate. Well, the HLock is acting as the primary mortgage. But you can draw from it.. So it's a credit card at a variable rate that's higher than your more like there's no no possible win here. Yeah. and I don't like the fact that like with the temptation is there that you can withdraw anytime you want to That's right exact. And has he has he and I don't know if he's gone so far as to say, I ran the numbers like this and I ran the numbers like this and here's how much faster we could do it. Here's the exact amount of money that we've saved. I mean, obviously John or I I mean, you would have to play a perfect game, I feel like in order for this to It still wouldn't matter, though. You got a two point seven five percent. That's aw You've already won the mortgage lottery But has he done that? Has he even done any due diligence as far as to say such things No. No have on my part? Yeah. Challenge him here Challenge him here Write me a plan to where we pay off this house in seventy two months at two hundred thousand dollars the remaining balance plus our two point seven percent mortgage Here's our plan. Here's how much we have to pay off every month. Show me with your first lean HLOC math how we would accelerate that by six months or a year or two years Also with the variable interest rate that it could go up. it could go way up and with the temptation that we could spend against it It's just Total madness. If you run a business, you already know this. Bad information leads to bad decisions. And right now, AI is everywhere, but AI is only as good as the data behind it. The best AI is built on the best data. That's why I recommend NetSuite Next week is the number one AI cloud ERP and more than forty three thousand businesses run on it, including us here at Ramseay Solutions. The AI isn't bolted on. It's built in and it connects everything that runs your business. accccounting, inventory, customer data, all in one place. Because when your numbers are connected, AI actually works like it's supposed to. NetSuite's AI helps flag cash flow problems, spot inventory issues Close your books faster and cut down on manual reporting. If your revenue is at least seven figures, go to netssuite dot com slash Ramsey for a free product tour. That's netsuite dot com slash Ramsey. Im thinking about TRS Live and I'm thinking about we had some good times, man. We had a good time recording that show in front of a live audience. We went on the road back in April. and if you didn't hear, we traveled to four different cities. We did the Ramsay show live in front of like a three hundred. There a grand theater there inndeavor One of the five wildest things that's ever happened to me at a live event I've done thousands of events for The wildest thing. I know what you're going to say. I don't know. canan I give it away, Kelly Yeah, sure. The big thing that happened that we're not gonna to tell anybody. It was so crazy. all we couldn't believe that it happened. I. we were hoping I was super hoping it would happen Let's just say It happened. It happened. Yeah, it was a super fun time. It was. So we dropped the episode from Charlotte a couple of week or ago and we just now dropped the Denver episode and up next we got Phoenix and Anahheim. Those are coming in the next few weeks. So stay tuned for those. It was super fun. I think You guys will enjoy it, hopefully as much as we did. I don't know about you, John, but for me I love being in direct contact with you guys. like over the phone lines is great, but it's still over the phone lines. But if we can be in the same venue and we can breat breathe the same air like that to me is electric. I love that. So be sure to go check them out on the normal Ramsey show channel. So where you watch to the Ramsey Show normally on YouTube, Spotify, and the Ramseay network app Any other memories? say we may have had a spontaneous debt free screen that led to a spontaneous enngagement that led to a spontaneous mirriage. She got to listen to the show. It was a bless. That's good. good, good, good. againgain, yeah, go check them out. whereerever you watch the Ramsay S show, they will be there Watch them, they're fun. You get the same information just packaged in a more fun Well, and there was somet times that we would push back on folks And then like later on in the show, they would come back up or their spouse or their spouse came back up was like, hold on. And it got more fun and more fun. Y. It was a blast. It is, it's just different. It's one thing like when you guys call in, we can assume maybe the faces that you're making or we like create a persona in our mind, but to see you standing there, to see the faces that you're making in response to what we're saying It is different and it kind of changes a little bit of. I give an answer and the whole audience booz my answer. It's just fun. It' fun. It's a different element Yeah. All right. Eron is in Lincoln, Nebraska. Earon. How can doror John and I hope out today Well, I want to buy my husband a really nice truck Well we want he need to car And He's getting cold feet And we decided, you're the tie brereaker. I love this question. These are our favorite questions, Erin. So you want to get the new car. us tellell us all of it So we're in baby step six And we have spent years, you know, he and I had four hundred fifty thousand dollars of student loan debt It' paid off, you know, we'reing baby step sick We're paying off our house, but He needs like he needs new car and you want the truck, a really, really nice truck 've always wanted it. I think you deserve that And how much are we talking for this new truck? And like what model we want to know give us the gory details He wants the loaded GMC Silverado, but he'll use it. And we're the type of people that keep you know cars for a really long time. Sure. What does something like that cost? one hundred grand? the one, I mean seventy nine, eighty thousand dollars. Okay. so I'll put eighty thousand And you guys are baby step six. How much is left on the mortgage So we have four hundred thousand dollars left on our mortgage We are on track, you know, the number moves a little bit every year, but on track to payid off in ten years. Okay to that Silverado, Is this brand new or is this a year used? Like what year are you looking at Loo at brand new, there's just not a lot of good used on the market right really? Is that true, John? I'll tell you man, I want to hear what's your total net worth Like what your house is worth minus what you own it plus what you got in retirement So we're baby steps millionaires in the sense of Our house is worth about eight fifty U We make a really good income What does that mean? seven eighty a year So we make seven hundred eighty a year, you've got four hundred thousand dollars give or take of equity in the home. and what do you have in retirement Combineed between the two of us about one and a half million dollars, but the market's been good. I mean, sure, sure. you know And that's in retirement funds one point five. four hundred one Ks and a brokerage account. Okay, so you're almost worth two million, then, didid I calculate that right Okay. Um So the parameters that John was getting at and asking that and this is not just for you, Eron, might you might already know this, but for those listening, when we're thinking about whether or not somebody can afford a brand new car. This is hot off the lot. We're looking at is your net worth more than a million dollars? Generally, if it is, you can take that that big twenty twenty five percent depreciation hit that's going to happen in the first year or so. and you're basically saying I could take that cash, I could throw it out the window, let it roll out the window while I'm driving the car on the interstate home. and I'll be fine. It's not going to affect my well being in any way, shape or form. Other thing that we look at and this is not necessarily with brand new cars, but we at percentage if we were to compare it to your take home pay, we say things with wheels and motors shouldn't be any more than half of your annual take home pay. obviously at seven hundred eighty thousand dollars a year, which you guys are shoking it, like that's crazy. y'all are killing it. This doesn't even come close at all So here's here's what I'll say Arin So here's one more awkward, well notward you know, he lets me handle the money. know we sit down once a month We haven't had a car payment in a really long time. but in our every every dot like in our budgeting. paid ourselves a c payment Okay. And so For the most part, you know, I don't wan to finance it like maybe don't need most part make se hundred eighty thousand dollars. Aaron, Aaron. I'm gonna stop this conversation. But to put it toward the mortgage. Well I'm gonna tell you the most wild thing of everything that you're saying that I hear has nothing to do with the GMC Silverado. The most wild thing that I heard you say is that making seven hundred eighty thousand dollars a year, it's gonna to take you ten years to pay off a four hundred thousand dollars m. thousand two years. That's what I took away from this conversation and said that's bananas. A the is like, whatever. The truck is whatever Why is it going to take you ten years Well We're just we're That is the wor we plan for the worst case scenario. No, hold on, Do you What is that you all playing for the worst or do you I do. Yeah, exactly. And what do you mean by that? Like what does that look like? Does that look like I just squirrel away all the money into retirement instead of paying off the like What does that look like tactically for you? You know saaving for no, I got a elementary school aged son, you know, saving for his college, which I feel pretty good about now How should help, you know, we had a little bit helping, you know a now deceased parent Fancially. So you know there were some variables to where up until the last, you know, two or three years, you know, there were some I don't want to call them expenses, you know, just things that you do. maybe I got a littlehead, you know, giving. How much could they have how much could it have knocked your salary down from seven hundred eighty to five hundred Well, and so The last couple of years is the first time we've made that, you know usband was a medical resident. So we had to pay the debt. Okay. He makes nothing And I was fortunate to wear I run a business that you know finally in the last couple of years got off the ground. So So nothing that much is a re This is new new You know over the last couple years and fair enough kind of adjusting to f real m Fair enough. So listen, the I'm going to tell you I drove an zero six truck up until a year ago And At one point, just private conversation, me and Dave on the road, he was like, Hey what are you doing? And he was right I was trying to make a point to myself And so I'll tell you what I did. I went and got a fancy That same year truck, but I found one And it's beyond my wildest imagination. It's like a truck, but it's like driving an iPhone Right? It's ridiculous. and I found one that somebody had driven for about two thousand miles And they brought it back because they wanted an even bigger one They were more insecure even than me, right And but that took ten grand off of the same was it was basically a brand new truck that I got for ten grand off. Yes, but you could have gottenit is up and gotten the truck. But listen, yes, Aron Go by tell your husband to get over himself. Y'all, you make three quarters of a million dollars a year. Y'all have millions of dollars to Go get the truck. If you're waiting for the perfect interest rate before you buy a home or refinance, that moment may never come. That's why people should talk to Churchill mortgage, because rates move every day. and when rates drop, buyers flood the market, which means more competition and higher home prices Smart buyers know they can't time the market. They move with a strategy. Buy the home you can afford now and refinance later if rates improve Churchill helps you understand what you can actually afford, not just what you qualify for And with their certified home buuyer program, you can get fully underwritten before you shop so you can make moves faster and make stronger offers. And right now, Churchill has a special offer only for the Ramsay audience. Go to churchillmortgage dot com slash Ramsey offffer to learn more. That's a special website. Remember this, churchillmortgage dot com slash Ramsey offffer. This is a paid advertisement The Churchill Certified Home buuyer program is available qualifing borrowers and select loan types only. NMLS ID one five nine one MMlS consumer acccess d. orga equal housing lender. seventeen forty nine, Mathy Lean S sweet one hundred, Print wentent N to see three seven, two two seven welcome back to the Ramsay showh here in the Fairwinds Credit Union stududio. I'm Jade. This is John. We're going to Tiffany in Houston, Texas. Tiffany, how can we help out today Right. so me and my husband got married in March. We're a blended family. And about a month ago, we were getting ready on our way to go to the bank to combine bank accounts, combine finances And my husband mentioned that he would like to that he has been contributing one hundred and fifty dollars a month to each of his children. for savings and he would like to do that for all four kids now with our finances combined And I asked, is this savings for just college or is it for whatever? He said, you know, should they oose to do a trade route. it could be for a jumping for a house later, whatever And then my question was, you, well, how long have you been doing this? And he's been doing it for sixteen years? I said, well, you know, that's quite a bit more money than I have saved for my children. why don't we make it even so that they you know can have the same equal opportunities. and that created a big risk And we have since not combined finances.. So my question is what is the right way to go about this because it just doesn't settle well with me because In my mind, I think you know we should see each our children as our children. neither of The other parents are involved. his children's parent mother West and ended up accidentally overdosing and when they were three and five And my children's father has not been in their lives since they were very young. And so he's been the only one contributing to this. It's not like out it's not like grandma said, I'm giving you this money and I'm contributing for these two children. It' he's just mous, right? Okay. Right. And in fact, he didn't realize he could have been getting death benefits for them. When we were dating, I said, hey, you you could actually get this and I got him to signed up for it. And so now he is getting that income for them, which just they didn't realize he could get it. And so it's really just it created a big fight. And we're not fighting right now, but we're also not comining finances right now. so I'm not sure what the right way is to go about this because he seems very protective of this money that he saays. Yeah. let me have here is Okay. And Jade, you u Tell me if I'm wr I always want to look at An equitable starting line Right So when y' all joined families and y'all joined each other These four kids and you and him started at a new starting line. Mm Right The finish line is going to be different because two of those kids had another starting line in a previous life. Right And so I can't help but hear that you've got it's more about ego for you. I don't have this much for my kids and so it's not fair for them. inststead of seeing the blessing that this is, which is they're going to have more than they would have had. becausecause we're going to be doing the same together moving forward How old are the kids? How old are his kids and how old are your kids So min are twenty and seventeen and his are sixteen and fourteen Okay Yeah And that even changes it even further Um years or older, his your kids are out of the house, right? Yeah No, they're in college already, but they are still living with us just going local Um I might disagree with I might disagree with John on this and not in the way that saying's fight That's f Not saying that you're wrong. I just may have a different point of view on it So and I'll explain my John has explained his if you want to add more ad to it. because Don't know Like I said Varying different different D differentiffnt point of views, I don't know that John is wrong I'll tell you mine. When I think about combining money, when I think about marriage, I think about two worlds coming together like a sandwich And everything we all had is in the middle. So if it's like wheep, bread, wheep, bread, peut butter in the middle, peanut butter in the middle is all of the assets. And now it's smeared on all of us, right? Like we're just sharing it together. This is a horrible analogy. But and so that's what you're thinking. you're like, hey, if we're pooling our income, we should be pooling our retirement, we should be pooling our assets. we should be pooling everything together in the middle. Everything's the peanut butter. I thought that that's the way it worked. Wouldn't that also include thingsings like five hundred twenty nine s, wouldn't that also include all of the assets? So I kind I understand your thought process, which is Shouldn't we share everything and should be shouldn't it be completely even ground. and to John's point, I I think I see it I think it's even ground starting now. Well, I think I see it as That is the new even ground as okay, the new starting point is now we're We are We're either a family or we're trying to pretend like we're kind of over here, but I also am not over like there's part of that I'm like, I don't know. I think I like the idea of If we're together, we're together and Maybe I'm a sibling in this that before I had my own room, but now I have a stepsister and she shares the room with me. so Even though I've had my own room for this whole time, now I have a stepsister and we share a room. L but I think we're saying the same thing I mayaybe I did a bad job. So I'm saying for clarity, I'm saying that yeah, I agree. Let's pretend there's twenty thousand dollars for his kids. I'm saying that now, yeah, I think I would be okay with it being five, five, five and five Oh o. And I look at it as If he's got ten grand sa for one and ten grand sa for another and he wants to start continue putting money in their individual accounts and now he wants to start putting money in your kids accounts one hundred fifty across the board for each kid Now we're going to up it to Instead of three hundred, we're going gonna put six hundred towards each kid. That's how I would look at it. Yeah I think I would say both. I would go, okay, whatever is in this pool of like kids money I would have it equally distributed, and then going forward, I would put equal amounts I believe that that's what I now I would do I would do it differently, but yeah, I don't think it's a wrong or right thing. I think it's can you guys Meet in the middle I am going to say this and here would be my pushback. Um, thking about how I would feel as kids on this And so if my mom got remarried and and I was twenty And she married a guy who had a twelve year old that he'd been in saving money for that kid's college. I wouldn't feel as a twenty year old that suddenly you owed me that amount of money that you've saved for. It's not even a thing I think that's the attitude. Okay, I think we're getting into it. So I think part of it is attitude, which is I think you can have the u thought of I'm entitled to this and kind of be like mean or haughty about it. I think that spirit is not right. But I do think of the spirit is We are now a family and we're going to go forward like a family and we're all on equal footing together That's kind of more of the mindset that I'd have around it. And I'm not saying that's easy. I do want to say that. No, it's messy. So Tiffany, is there a way to take the dollar amount off of this thing and look at the individuals and what they need in this season of their life? That's a good that's good Well, and that's what we talked about. And he said, you know, I've been doing this and I want to keep doing this for my kids. Yeah. He said, I want to do the same for your kids. And my argument was If we're looking at it as giving each kid an equal opportunity and because they have no idea that this is even there. And it's hard because your kids are younger and so even the idea of trying to catch up is not really equal opportunity is going to look different when it comes to support Hey guys, healthcare is one of the biggest stress points in your budget. It's confusing and most of the time, it feels completely out of your control There is a better way to handle it Christian healthcare mininistries isn't health insurance. It's a health cost sharing ministry where Christians share each other's medical bills And it's not a new idea. TH ChM has been around since nineteen eighty one. It's predictable and proven, and they've shared over thirteen billion dollars in medical bills for their members. Plus, you get more flexibility. There are no network restrictions and you don't have to wait for open enrollments Let's talk about how CHM helps your budget because programs start at just one hundred and fifteen dollars a month And many families save hundreds of dollars a month compared to traditional options if you are tired of feeling stuck. Check out Christian Healthcare mininistries Right now, CHM is offering new members a fifty percent credit towards their first month of membership Go to cH mininistries d. org slash budget and use promo code Ramseay Thats cH mininistries dot org slash budget and use promo code Ramsey All right, let's go back to the phone lines where we have David, who's in Wisconsin. Hi, David, how can John and I help today Hi, Jaden Jon., How are you? Doing good. What's up? My wife and I are set to pay off her house in three weeks. and we're curious on process actually looks like, anything to look out for Do we get an official deed? Is there anything related to our insurance that we need to adjust When that stuff happens. Number one, congratulations, man. awesome. Thank you. Um Uh It's going to probably feel both amazing and Quasi anti cllimatic Okay So are you given like a big lump sum or you just taking in the final payment We've been chunking it for six years. So it'll be a chunk payment, but it's not massive by any means. Okay I'll tell you how I did it because I'm a nerd. I like to go in the bank and shake the person's hand. Jade and I were just talking offline. She would probably just hit the button from her house. I'd sit in bed Mind you, I'm in baby step six. I haven't paid off my mortgage. So I'd be sitting in bed with my coffee. I don't want to go out of the house. I just want to hit the button and refill my coffee cup. So it's gonna be up to you to have some cool celebration that y'all plan because you're gonna to walk out of the bank or you're gonna to hit the button Confetti's not going to fall from the sky And so but I want confetti to fall from the sky. You just got to set up the confetti, whatever that looks like, okay So my wife, she knows we're close But she does not know it's happening in three weeks. I got a date that we're going to go to the bank and do it. Amaze any things or suggestions that you think would be f. I mean you know her better than we could ever know her, but I would have a reservation, her favorite restaurant. If you have a weekend getaway. I mean, it's going to be life cont like It's going to be depending on your life right now, but dude, plan something for y'all to go celebrate. Absolutely. If you have a couple of friends that have been walking alongside you in this journey, then invite them somewhere and you can meet for lunch or something, I think that would be really cool M. I mean, some practical things. like I mean, you might want to update your homeowner's insurance. Yeah, I mean that kind of stuff won't change. You'll get the deed in the mail eventually, right? But they'll shake your hand and they'll just go through the process. You'll get a thing. I wanted a printout that said zero balance, right Keep that forever. Yeah, just all those documents for. Just to hold it close to my heart. Yes. Absolutely. in a file. buy your safe. Your house is still worth what your house is worth, right? And so That kind of stuff is going to say the same and the you're still going to have a You know, you're homeowners's taxes, you're still going to have your homeowner's insurance and stuff like that.ike that you're still gonna have to pay every month towards a thing or you can make it annual now and just write one big ugly check once a year. know It depends on how you want to do that. But And there's some nerdy things you can do. like you can, you know, check the property records and make sure that everything is confirmed All the liens are satisfied, everything is documented correctly. L you can do all that stuff. And I think that's good. You actually sound like the guy who would do that. So I think you should do. We talked about keeping all the doum documents forever changing and just not changing, but updating your homeowner's insurance and making sure that if the lender was listed on the policy, they've removed the lender They've updated like contact information, all of that stuff. Those are kind of nerdy things you could do. Obviously you're going to be paying the property taxes and all that yourself. But I think that bigger thing to discuss here is the celebration. The celebration. And really, I mean, we very rarely do we get this call while it's happening in process. So tell us like how much have you paid off? Tell us how long did it take? tellell us the goods of the journey. Yeah, six year journey We paid off three hundred and thirty three thousand Um This is our first home and just treated it like a something we wanted to get rid of. How old are you guys twenty eight. What? Hy cow. Bown Dude, there's people in the lobby and're cheering you on right now. You won, dude. You started at age twenty two You went out and got a I were listening to Dave when I was in college and I'm glad I found him. Oh my word. You have kids We have one and one coming in a couple months here This is probably the this is amazing. And you guys know that I'm so glad we asked the question. So twenty eight years old, did you have any other consumer debt or you just since you knew the Ramsay thing, you never had the consumer debt started wriding on the mortgage five thousand dollars I borrowed from my dad to help move. Oh my God. I he that of in about a month. And how much money were you making And like what did you start at and what are you at now Yeah, we've been married the entire time, started at about one and twenty five. U and closing in at six hundred now Th guys are rock stars Yeah, sales function. so lighting the fire and getting after it Wow, wow, wow. You're about to give your pregnant wife a big surprise. It's gonna to be awesome. That's awesome. Yeah than You know her well, set up something great. I mean, you make half a million dollars a year. Y you can have some fun with this celebration. And if y'all can get away and you know what? you want to be a gangster You take care of the childcare and I love You pay for your mom to come down and stay with the little one and you take your wife on a cool night away or a weekend away or whatever But yeah, celebrate this thing big time, man. So yeah, what's the advice you would give to people listening? And I know six hundred thousand dollars is a grand income. Most folks don't make that. one hundred twenty five is a little bit more tenable. Tell us give us the piece of advice for people listening. Maybe they don't have that income, but what would you tell them that you feel like is true across the board U If I had to put it to one thing, having a really good marriage It makes it really easy for us because we're both roowing in the same direction. and It motivates both of us when we're helping contribute to our share dream So I would say marrying up my piece of advice. I love that. I love the statement I saw recently that a great marriage is both spouses secretly thinking they got the better end of the deal. Yes Right, I love that, man. it's awesome So dude, you won you could do all that stuff Jade said. I didn't do any of that stuff. Not necessarily. That was getting ultra nerd. alsoso because yeah, I tend to overlook details. Yeah. In fact I wrote down a few things I'm going to go check just to make sure justust to make sure something's. It's been a long time but can I hope not. But you know, John, I love that call because I mean obviously he probably wasn't thinking that he was going to be interviewed, but when you embrace the Ramseay principles, this is what's possible. And what he did, he achieved the other end of the Baby Steps rainbow. and that's what we teach here. If you can be as blessed as David to never have any debt to begin with, it's such a head start. But if you do have debt, still walk those steps out guys because the time is going to pass anyway. this was a six year journey for them So if you're starting today, start at baby step one, get that thousand dollars saved. That's so important. And then if you have consumer debt, start knocking away at that consumer debt, that's baby step two. You're gonna pay off all of your debt except your mortgage using the debt snowball method. After that, save up three to six months. That's your safety net in case life happens, so you're not going back into debt. After that, yes Invest fifteen percent of your gross income every single month, that's baby step four. And beyond that, at the same time, yes, you can put baby step five money away in a five hundred twenty nine cents for kids college. Yes, you can start making extra payments toward whatever mortgage you do have. And once it's paid off, now you are in baby step seven, which is where David is going to be in three weeks where he can live give like no one else. That's the point. And if you're listening and you're like, hey, Jade, when were we supposed to even buy the house? That's back in baby step three. We call it baby step three B for the tribe, who knows. That's when you can as you're saving up your three to six months, you can also start saving up for a down payment. So that's how this works. Let me call this out. One thing he did that's really important And you said this, he makes six hundred grand. Very few people make that much money Y But here's what he also did He was making one twenty five and he worked really hard, got probably got lucky, whatever you want to say And he's making six hundred grand What he didn't do, which most people do, which what I would have done at twenty two years old is my lifestyle would have risen to that of a guy who makes half a million dollars. When I got out of college, I had a small amount of undergraduate debt My first job, I ended that first year after my first job in double the amount of debt because I just decided I wasn't going to say no anymore. And my lifestyle went way past what I was making If you can Make your first amount of money and as you get raises, you keep doubling down to keep your lifestyleifest That's how you really win over time. Here's what nobody warns you about You're behind on payments, you signed up with some debt settlement company, you're making your monthly payments to them. And then one morning, a process server knocks on your door. Surprise, you just got sued by a creditor And that company you trusted Not a law firm. They're not built to represent you if things escalate. And now you're scrambling to figure out what to do next And that's why I tell people about Guardian Litigation group Guardian litigation is not a call center. They're actual attorneys at a law firm. And from day one, you're assigned a real attorney who can represent you if a creditor takes you to court No scrambling when things go sideways, just real legal protection built in from the start The best way out of debt is still the budget, the plan, the baby steps. But if you're already in default and legal threats are coming your way, Guardian has your back. Their attorneys have helped over fifty five thousand people settle more than six hundred million dollars in debt So get real legal help at guardianlit. com slash Ramsey. That's guardianl IT d. com slash Ramsy. Attorney advertising results vary and no speific outcome is guarante All right, so if you haven't heard, Ask Ramsy is a free AI tool that's built and trained on our proven Ramsy principles. and today we're gonna break down the most asked questions that we got from the week. So there were questions around things, John like retirement savings, budgeting, but interestingly enough, the most asked question is how do I choose the right investment options I know I want to invest How do I know what to choose? Okay? Can we say this real quick I want to like, um, I have some deep compassion for folks thinking about investing right now with all of the insane amount of noise out there. We took a call earlier about a Firstly in HelLock and somebody feeling like they're losing they're far behind or they're missing out on a mortgage hack or whatever. and we hear about crypto and this and that and this Like if you're confused about investing, just know you're not crazy. Absolutely. The world is trying to make you nuts and then sell you something that is going to quote unquote give you the way, right? Yeah, I think I think youre you're right, John. And I think that's an even better way to tee this up because there's there is so much landscape out there. Yeah. You can turn on TikTok and there's somebody in their room in their slippers telling you How to invest. You can go on Instagram and you might find somebody like me and John telling you what to do. you can go on Facebook and you might find an old guy, you know you can find there's information everywhere and it can be hard to decipher and to know what's good and what actually works. The good news here is we've got thirty years of just proven financial turnaround. What we teach has been going on for so long and millions of people have done it And it works. It's what Joh and I do. I think what Dave Ramsey does. To me the most important, like I can say like, hey, I sell this product. kind of like execs and tech companies can say Look how many millions of our products we've sold. But then when you look at what they do with their kids, their kids don't touch those products. To me, the biggest biggest sales pitch for we're about say and it's not even a sales pitch because we're not making money off this, but like is this is what we do in our homes with our money for our family and our kids' futures. what Dave does with his money, this is what I do. this is what you do. It's like, this is how we do our money our families. Well, and I didn't plan on going down this road, but I think it's worth going down. What I can tell you personally, what I find appealing about what we teach What I found appealing, you know, fifteen years ago when we first started our journey and what I found appealing enough to come work for Ramseay is that should be simple to understand. Right. You should not have to have a degree. You should not have to have somebody explain it to you ninety times. You should not have to rewind the video over and over and over to get it. You should not feel like it's only for the scholars and you're down here and they're up here. If you've ever been in a conversation where you felt that, right? you're talking to people and they're like, oh, let me dumb it down for you.'re tryrying to make you feel, I hated that. With all my heart. I hate that. Money is actually quite simple to understand and it should be. And that's what I like about these principles is that, okay I can understand this. This makes sense and it's easy to understand and it's easy to put into practice. It's not overly complex and honestly give me simple all day, John So That main question, how do I choose the right investment options, right? I opened up my four hundred one K. I'm staring at the Roth IRA right here and there's a gazillion things I can choose from to invest my money. How do I do it? And so what we teach here is very simple again, We want you to spread your investments. We want we like diversification. We want you to put twenty five percent into four different categories. So if I have I'm just going to use the simplest terms, if I have a hundred dollars, I'm going to put twenty five in this account, twenty five in this one, twenty five in this one, and twenty five in this one. And there's four types that we teach. The first is growth and income funds. You might hear these referred to as like mega cap or large cap funds They're very predictable. These are giant companies that have been around forever. They generally pay dividends. They're extremely stable. This is kind of just like the Bick, like it's on the road, it ain't moving. It's your big body. That's what we like. All right, from there, the next fund is a growth fund. You would usually hear this referred to as maybe a mid cap or a large cap fund And these companies are growing a little bit faster than average. They're still big, they're still dependable, but they're having they're growing at a faster rate, okay? After that, the third account is an aggressive growth fund. These might be called small cap funds. A lot of times these are tech funds or things like that. These have a little bit of a higher risk, but they have a high growth potential We're looking at it and we're going, oh, this could really, really be something one day. And so you're investing there, again, a little bit more aggressive, not quite as laid back, right? This is like a fast car. This is a little bit more like a porsche. That what I would. You're going to have a lot more fun on the ride. Yep. And you can die quicker as it rs. That's right. And then we go to the international fund, global. These are foreign companies, global funds And that way, you're going outside of the U.S market, right? Because if things are shaky here, they might be pretty good in the global market as a whole. And so it's a way to balance out all these funds. So if we were gonna to make that a vehicle, maybe that's like emirates right, so it's aircraft. We can go everywhere in that. So that's the way we look at it for retirement investing, there's no set term. You need to stay invested for the long haul. So once you park your money in these places Assume that it's going to stay there until you're ready to draw it out in retirement. It's a long term play. okay. Key principles that we teach and this is the same thing you're going to get if you ask AI and ask Ramseay, they're going to say, don't try to time the market, right? That's not how we teach here. We say, do it every month, invvest that fifteen percent. It's like clockwork. It doesn't stop if the market goes up and it doesn't stop if the market goes down. And I'll just say, I've tried it before I've been wrong every time. You've tried what time in the market? Yeah. I'm in a whole. I'm you know what I think there's going to be a recession. So I'm going to not put in my investment. I'm going to put in later in the year.'ve I've been wrong. every time Yeah. And I live in this stuff. I live in it and I was wrong Yeah, I truly think the best way to do it is just like that dollar cost averaging every single month S and forget it. Just setet it and forget. Let it come out of your account automatically. Avoid target date funds. They shift really heavily into bonds as you age and those just aren't making the returns that we want you to make. Bonds are never the answer. That's something that we would tell you You need to be beating inflation with your investments. And so that's one of the reasons. Okay, so ask Ramsay can help you take the next step when it comes to investing and that's based on your specific situation. Ask your question today at Ramsysolutions dot com or you can just click the link in the description if you're listening on podcast or YouTube. John, did we cover it I think we got it. Alrighty then, let's go to Madison. Who's in Indianapolis? Indiana. Madison. How can John and I interest you today Hi, thank you guys so much for taking my call So essentially, I did not have dreams growing up of being a stay home mom Now I flash forward, have been in a situation where went I had my son, went back when he was four months old to get my master's degree. So I did research for two years, didn't make good money as a grad student, like all others. And that put my husband and I in a time of like great financial stress, money was very tight I graduated in August of twenty five and I was not able to find a job despite my best efforts I had our second child, a daughter in October So I was home from the period of about August until January of this year. I went back to work But I have realized how much I really do have a desire to stay home, but we didn't have enough margin in our budget. Since I started back in January, we also got a really nice tax return. So we were actually already able to pay off my vehicle. We had about ten thousand dollars left on it and we paid it off. last Friday R So that was very exciting, but we are still sixty two thousand dollars in debt That's about thirty thousand in student loans between the two of us five thousand in credit cards thousand on another credit card. Actually, we just made a payment yesterday. so's about fifteen hundred do.. On another credit card, we had to used it in both the credit cards, there are no interest currently. Okay, good, good And then my husband has a car loan as well, which is about twenty four thousand dollars. The only other piece of the finances before I get to like the question is we currently own our house. G. When we strip away our wants from our needs, it is good for our family. We hope to have Lord Willing three or four children.. It's a three bedroom house Well want to remark. We're coming up to a break that are we need to take. I'm gonna hold you over because I w to make sure John and I can help you get the answer that you need to your question. So if you'll hold on the line just a little bit longer, we'll get right back to you after these messages All right, so we're back to Madison in Indianapolis, Indiana. She called earlier. She's been a stay at home mom for quite a while and shes they've got a little bit of debt that they need to pay off. It sounds like it's around sixty two thousand dollars of debt that they're working to pay off. She is on the line and wants to continue with the help, Madison, did I get it right Very close. So I was only a stay at home mom for a period of about six months. I came back to work to help get us in a better financial position. And the question is, how long until I can be a stay home mom again? Okay, perfect question. So we've got the sixty two thousand in debt, and that was broken down between student loans, credit cards, there's a car. And you also have the house. Now, the terminology that you used, you said you own a house, it's paid for outright or do you still have a mortgage? Give me some clarity on the house. No, we definitely have a mortgage. We We still have we owe about two hundred and forty nine on it. Okay. you owe two hundred fortyineents on the mortgage So how much do you guys what's you guys' income and break it down? like what do you make versus what does he make So do you want like what our checks our bank account as or what our like technical year salaries are? No, tell me what you guys bring home in a month. Like you can tell me, we make this every two weeks or you can say in the full month, we make this combined So my husband is bi weeekly and he makes about nineteen seventy two per check. and then my checks are about seventeen fifty eight. So the grand question is, how can we make this work in an environment where you're no longer working. And that's closely tied to the debt, right? If you have sixty two thousand dollars in debt Obviously and this is just numerically speaking, you want as much money as you can going towards that debt, right? So if we were to stop working now, that would be an issue I'm I'm assuming, right No definitely. So have you guys decided have you guys plugged the numbers into every dollar and actually said, okay, if we keep going at the rate that we're going now with both of our incomes, how long will it take? And are we okay with that? Yeah, so it looks like it would be around three years. So by the end of this year, we expect that we would have this nowail down just below fifty thousand, which is great progress, but still fifty thousand dollars in debt to be on a single income Yeah. I guess the question would just be Is there Is it okay to stop before the debt is gone? Because almost half my income ually half of my income does go toward just childcare Well, that's a that that is a values question for you guys It's not it's not a wrong or right. It's completely values. If you guys say, you know what? in this season We really value debt freedom because if we do this now, it's going to set up you know set us up to be able to get the kids college funds rolling. It's going to help us pay off the mortgage faster. And when we look up and we're fifty nine and a half years old, we are going to be able to retire and we like the nest egg that we're going to have. right? You plan it out and you've decided, okay, for that reason Um, and this is not No answer is more wrong or right than the other. You could look at it and go, you want to know what We could H elongate this journey a little bit by you staying home and maybe you look at it and you go, if we do this, it elongates it by Double and playay out the numbers and we still feel like we'd be okay. And yeah, we might have a little less here or a little less here, but we're okay with that That's the that's the sacrifice that you guys have to make, but I would say this in order to make that, I would run the numbers because Money does talk And it does inform is that really the life you want? Because if you stop working today, Madison How long will that elongate your journey? How much more time will it take definitely probablybably twice or three times the amount of time that it would take. And medicine Can I tell you just an exercise me and my wife do Whenever I feel like I'm backed into a corner either and in your case I'm staying at home. And we're going to have to get by on three thousand five hundred dollars a month, which seems I don't even know how the math would work on that. with what your husband brings home or I have to stay working full time And I never get to see my kids and even half of my check goes to childcare. right? So you've given yourself an either or option. An exercise my wife and I do when we feel backed into a corner is we just make up a whole bunch of other variables and dump them on the table just to remind ourselves that it's almost never either or And here's what I mean in your situation. Um mortant is this car to your husband? Can he sell it and get a three thousand dollars car because y'all decided We want you to stay home Could you go one more year and sell that car and your're debt free And because there's going to be some and I'm just making up variables to put on the table just to prove to y'all, there's other paths we can take that's not custic option number one or costustic option number two If you sit down and say, we together really value me staying at home Or let me ask you a deeper question You never dreamed of being a stay at home mom. C part of the reason you want to stay at home is because you hate your job and you're realizing This isn't worth trading my time with my kids for. And so I'm going to continue to look for another job while I'm doing this miserable thing or I'm going look for you what I'm saying? or a part time job or all I want you to get from what I'm saying is There's almost always more than an either or path And then there's the part of it where is does the math even allow for it I don't see how it allows for your life. Yeah, because I do want to ask, what is your mortgage payment about eighteen fifty Okay, so that right there is the That is the major decider for me, almost you know, beyond the values question. mathn't math because where you are right now you're fine. It's twenty five percent of your take home, you're good But if you go down to just his income and you're making three thousand eight hundred do or four thousand dollars a month, Suddenly, you guys are one hundred percent house poor and To be house poor Madison with fifty thousand dollars of debt is curtains. like that That's an emergency. That's an emergency. and I don't think you would even enjoy your life the way it feels on a day to day basis to be in that sort of a bind. Does that make sense Yeah, that don't really makes sense. My husband is expecting to have a promotion this year and that will give us some more margin like some time when you know, debt is paid off and I mean, is it double? because it would truly need to be double becausecause it would basically need to be what you were making ue It won't be double. It's hard when you've already made decisions that you wish you hadn't. Yeah you're like, well, I'm not sure how to backtrack. What are we gonna to do? sell our house and then move into a two bedroom apartment? That's twelve or thir thousandteen hundred dollars your area. That's not gonna to get you where. Listen, what you're facing though is everybody faces that reality in one way or another. All of us face that. finger pointing at you or you made bad choices. We all do that. We all look up and go, debt, Gum it. I mean, for me, Madison, it was I look up and I go, o my gosh, if we had avoided that student loan debt, we would have been able to do this, this, that and the other. I can't go back and change it. I can only go forward from that point of knowledge and go, okay that was That wasn't the right choice for my future. I can't go back and fix it. What can I do going forward to make sure I am making intentionally the right choices for my future? And I think that's the crossroads that you're at right now. You can kind of keep the blinders on and go, but I really, really want this, and I'm just gonna kind of go forward and just hope it all works out And then you're going to look up again and go. ang it L we did not set ourself up for success. So if I had to advise you today and you did call Given the circumstance, given the sixty two thousand in debt, Given the mortgage payment and the fact that you said, yeah, we're probably not going to move and downgrade department U, and given the fact that You're not a stay at home mom looking for work. You already have a good job and you're already locked in. I would say wride this thing out. pay off the remainder of the sixty two thousand And that's going to give you Mental clarity, yes, but it's also going to give you peace financially. And then you guys can reevaluate it and say, okay, what does our life have to look like in order for me to stay home from here because it's still might look like you doing something because by then he will have had the raays So maybe now you're just doing a little bit of part time work to close that gap and you can keep that same house. Do you see what I'm saying See what you're saying Or it may be that would be good. And these are hard conversations. He may quote unquote, love where he works. But when y allall sit down and say, here's what we value, he says, I got to go get another job And or for this season, you stay at home and I'm going to work two jobs because that's what it's going to take, but It's just, yeah, donump all those variables on the table, but first ask yourselves Who do we want to be and what are our values? and what's the quickest path to get to those things? Yeah. And we're going to give you every dollar because we want you to be able to see these numbers, see it very clearly. We're going to hook you up with a year for free and make sure that you get there and you can see a clear path that you can get to together. You spend hours researching before making a major purchase like a home or car, but it's also a good idea to put in the work searching for the right insurance coverage. To protect your biggest assets, I recommend using Ramsy Trusted pros. Whether you're looking for car, home, or any other type of insurance, Ramsy trusted providers have been coached and vetted to serve you like we would Find what you need at ramsysolutions dot com slash insurance Welcome back to the Ramsay showhow here in the Fairws Credit Union stududio where we have Cassie, calling in from New York City, New York, Cassie How can John and I help today Okay, firstirst of all, thank you so much for taking my call and to get right to it. The overarching question is at what point So I'm a business owner with my husband at what point to file for bankruptcy So my situation has a lot of emotion and fatigue tied to it Do me a favor, Cassie. Take as deep a breath as you can and hold it For three to All right, exhale it all the way out All right, we're with you. You're not by yourself anymore, okay? No, you're good, you're good You're good Pie, I'm sorry. No, you're good So okay. I recognize there's emotion and fitigquue and Taluck right into your phone for you Sorry. So I recognize there's emotion and fatigue, right? So what I'm able to do and I know I'm not doing it properly. My husband is the same way. and I Honestly, I value more than anything in Gods perspective and I H kind of randomly came across the show three days ago. okay, but anyway, so My husband and I have been together for seventeen years We left our jobs And we went into business together and went from not having money to eat to Be able to growross four hundred, nineteen thousand a year It took us a long time, but in the seventeen years, we saved one hundred thousand in cash, We bought land we still have that land. And I'm giving you that perspective to kind of show you where we came from And we were just not financially prudent at that time. I don't want to focus on like blame, whatever. the most important thing is Ill obviously answer whatever questions you have but Wh are you guys right now with your money? How much do you owe Okay, here's the issue. So all of it is A EIDL because we kept putting the money that the business made back into the business We didn't like buy houses or cars. We just had that land. and we owe seven hundred eighty three thousand No eight hundred and twenty nine thousandL loan The problem is the interest on it is accruing at seventy eight dollars a day.. And no so I went from being able to pull in thirty six thousand a month. That's what and I can do better than that.' just I can now do ten to fifteen a month becausecause that's why because COVID really affected our industry and I don't want to give too much information but why don't just it insulting and and just Is hospitality in adjacent industry? Okay. But I'm going to say this, COVID was several years ago and I know it was still rippling through the economy in weird ways, but I want to bring you and I'm doing this intentionally. I want you to come to right now in the present because you're living in the past in the future and come right here with me right now. How much do yall owe y'all owe eight hundred thirty grand Okay one hundred and thirty gs. And you and your husband combined top line of your business, but what do y'all bring home each month right now because we work together on the business we always have. is more like the front face and selling. Okay, so it's combined right now,m able to bring in fifteen thousand And now we've fixed a lot of kinks in the business together because we were kind of working apart for a little while there And I can probably bring that up, but I recognize I need to stick to what can I actually bring can we possibly bring, which was kind of the mentality before and why we were in such my opinion. What's what about assets? Like what's the business actually worth Oh I don't honestly, it's not it's very another thing I've learned. It's very me based, right? I have the relationships and it's not scalable. There's not opportunity get l you can sell. There's not. equipment you say Yes, I can I yes, there are I don't know. there's probably like hundred grands in equipment that we could fell off but you have a No, no we've always rented. We own land. That's where we thousand. How much land do you have An acre and a half. Okay, what's it worth Thank. We pay cash for it, it's worth probably like three hundred thousand, I think, or O you probably O maybe two hundred, I'm not I'm not sure because we paid for it in cash back and That's okay. That's This is what I think we need. I think we need to do a little bit of research. And I think when we come out of the research, we might find some things that give us some light at the end of the tunnel because that's what you need. You need some hope right now, Cassie Uh you need to feel like There's action that you can take that's going to make this situation feel better and feel different than it does today U And so that's what we're going to help you try to find. if you If you're making one hundred eighty thousand dollars a year on your business That's a good business, okay? Yeah. canan I so here's what's going on and where there's like a little bit of or there was disagreement and now my house is Pra glad we've gotten on the same stage. Okay. whileile we did it you know, we're burning runway there, right? So So the issue is we have bnts business rents. of about seven thousand two hundred eleven, right? And Again, I know there's a lot of emotion there because the simple thing in my mind is We let go of everything. We let go of all these business rents because I can work from one office, like one area. correct But But then his argument, which I agree with, and I want to honor it for its just value is, okay, we do that, but we have two very small children, one and three, where are we realistically we could have the mental Well wait, I'm jump I'm going jump in on that because I want to know straight up, I hope that you guys let the office rental space go because you You don't need it and you need all the profit that you can get right now. So we started? I hope that you did let it go. Did you let it go No, that's I want to do that this month. I think that's imperative. You have to. You can't afford it. It's imperative. It's seven thousand dollars a month. that adds up to more money year over year and you need that money, girlfriend. like this is not even a You're if you're talking if we're in a conversation and we're talking about bankruptcy then we got to figure it out. Maybe the kids go to Auntie's house and that way you have the space in your home to work. But if it truly is just you and your husband and that you guys are the people making this engine run, there's no employees. There's no reason to have an office space that people are coming into Absolutely. you got to let it go. Am I right about that? Or O is there used to be there used to be employees. We had a bunch of employees in two different places. But ye, that has been cut down. also I let me do this for you just on two decisions. Okaykay So if you file for bankruptcy, it's a seven year process, right That is a seven. Okay. So if you let this rent go And you multiply that by five years. It's ninety thousand a year. It's four hundred and twenty grand And if you sell this land at three hundred thousand dollars That's seven hundred and twenty grand on two decisions. Yes. You see what I'm saying I do. My husband is telling me from one other perspective of okay, we let go all of that and then we don't have the mental space to do. You will make the mental sp mal space now. Yeah, y'all are drowning right now mentally. are two decisions. twowo decisions R now And in five years this is over It's over And it's not and you'll have the peace of knowing, it will be over. That's right. It might not, you might not cross the finish line for five years, but think of the rest you will feel walking away with a plan that you know, if I just execute on this plan, I pull the two levers that John just said, I have a plan. And in five years, I just keep riding that horse to the Olton rooad and I will be out of debt. You get to keep the business that is profitable. Yes, you get rid of the land. Yes, you get rid of the office space But in five years, I'm free and clear and I'm making this thing go. Oh my goodness, totally worth it. Figure out something to do with the kids. You can figure that out, you figured out the rest Hey, what's up guys? It's Jade Warshaw. Listen, summer spending adds up so fast between vacations and road trips and camp fees and events. And all the extra gas and grocery runs, money can get tight before you know it. To really get your money under control and keep it that way, you're gonna need a plan. And that's what you'll get with the every dollar budget app It helps you track your spending, free up cash to put toward debt and savings, and it's the simplest way to make a plan for your money before the month begins. So no more wondering where your money's going, you're telling it where to go. Download every dollar in the App Store or Google Play and start for free today Allright, here we go. The YRFi questestion of the day is sponsored by YRifi. When you fall behind on paying back your private student loans, it can feel like your life is being held hostage. But YRFi helps borrowers explore a fresh start with low fixed rate refinancing and a payment plan designed around their ability to pay Visit Yrefi dot com slash Ramsey. That's the letter Y R EFY dot comot slash Ramsey. remember, it may not be available in all states. All right, todayod's question comes from Savannah in West Virginia Savannah writes my fiance and I have four children. Our only debts are a truck loan and our mortgage. I'm a stay at home mom and he earns ninety thousand dollars a year. He recently became very interested in investing Not you or your marriage, but okay. I'm not against it, but I don't agree that now is the right time I have the thousand dollars in my savings account as our emergency fund, but he wants me to give it to him so he can invest it Okay I just don't know if he's doing the right thing with our money. What are your thoughts about investing while being in debt and having nothing saved for our children boy. So so many problems here. There are there are many problems but here If you don't know our way of teaching, let's just answer Yeah question. I will type in with my drama. Yeah. If you don't know the way we teach, youd go, what's the big deal? He wants to invest what a wonderful thing. And I agree investing is good. It's a way to secure your future. It's a way to love your family well. But I do disagree with him that now is the time to invest because I think this is like good better best. and the best time to begin investing is when you've cleared your consumer debt And the reason for that is two to three fold or there's many reasons, but I'll go to two to three The first reason is If you begin investing And you do not have savings Your investment becomes your savings account, John. and What happens when you need a new roof or when all four tires need to be replaced or the AC goes out is you go, oh, shoot I don't have any savings. So now I go to two terrible options. I either go to debt, I put it on a credit card, I put it on a HELOC Or I roll over and I look at, oh, that investing chunk of change looks pretty nice and I mess around and I take a four hundred one K loan or I take a four hundred one K withdrawal, and now I'm on the hook for that. And so it's so important to make sure you have the right foundation before you begin investing so that that investment can stay locked in the way it's supposed to for the long term.'s one and then part two is a little bit more I'll be honest, you can take it if take it or leave it if you want to, but I believe it's the smartest way When you pay off your debt first, if you pay off your debt before you begin investing, then you have the full power of your income working towards building wealth. Around here, we believe that your biggest wealth building tool is your income. And you do not have your full income at your disposal when you're still making payments, especially if you're making payments on things that are going down in value cars and then there's other types of consumer debt, right? So that's kind of the crux of why I'm saying what I'm saying, which is I agree with Savannah in this case. Yes You need to pay off the truck first and then after that, you need to save three to six months of expenses and then you can begin investing fifteen percent. And by the way, yeah, please do not take your baby step one thousand dollars emergency fund and invest that because then you're up the creek without a paddle. And I guess I'll just say this and we can move on U What we're seeking here is ultimately safety Like that we have enough money in the bank when we retire as we age to take care of us and safety will Like if you pull safety all the way up the river Safety starts right here And right now, the way you're describing your life is It's you verse Y fiancee Your boyfriend It's I got this savings I want to keep a sae. He wants to take my money and make it his investment like you can't y'all are not going to ever get where you want to both go, which is to a safe, peaceful place If y'all are competing with each other And so You'all need to get aligned on are we rowing in the same direction in the same boat together or Do I have my boat? You got your boat. And he sees your boat as you and those four kids And he sees his boat as wherever he wants to go and by the way, you got some of my money. so give me your money so I can get my boat further along down the road You're going to find yourself very, very exposed And so that's why we tell people to get married before you start sharing your money.' We tell people to get married before you start sharing your kids because That legal document forces y'all into the same boat and it forces y'all to have the hard conversations about which direction are we going to row together And if two people are in the same boat, both rowing in the same direction, you will get wherever you want to go way faster two people trying to row in their own direction in their own boat. That's right. That's very good, John. So there you go. w I won't make any more judgments here. There you have it. Yep. Okay. Jessica is in San Francisco, California. Jessica, you're on the line, my friend Hi thanks so much, you guys for taking my call. Absolutely. Full disclosure, I am really nervous. so pleased. Me too Me too.' Oh my God, if I'm a little clumsy. so no worries. Have you lost it to this show? I'm as clumsy as it gets. You're good. you're good how felt like a hug, thank you. I'm very I'm really new to Ramsay. I just downloaded the audio of baby steps, which I started yesterday on my newute home. Welcome to our call, Jessica yeah. so I have been listening to the podcast going back the beginning of this year. anyyway, to the reason I'm calling. I just turned fifty six this week And birthday. So Thank And I'm really feeling I'm like a combo platter of really overwhelmed, massively scared I really, really embarrassed because I'm so late to the game And I'm want to empower myself the best as I possibly can So I'm not working until I reach my expiration date on the shelf, right Tell us what you're concerned about. Tell us why you're the combination planner. be my combo pladder really want to know am I ever going to be able to retire Yeah. Well, you're not alone. There's a lot of Americans that feel that way, that feel anxiety around not just can I retire, but when I do, well I have enough money to carry me through my entire all of my retirement years. So let's play with the number California. Yeah. It's just so in the Bay arereas. Yeahnd Well, let's play with the numbers a little bit and we'll try to see if we thinkre you're getting close or if there's hope for you or there's always hope. So tell us you're fifty six years old U what do you have in a retirement savings so far Nothing. I spent my entire thirties disabled and then I rehabilitated in work and I've checked to check in my forties and then put myself through grad school. So to be able to double my earning and had started to save in a four hundred one K and then I work in tech and we had a layoff. and so I was laid off for a year and a half and just went back to work So how much is in that four hundred one k to date Even if it's not much, tell me how much one hundred and twenty seven thousand. Okay, whichich is not nothing by the way That's nothing. You said almost nothing. and give yourself credit. You have one hundred twenty seven thousand And how much are you earning one and forty one forty a year. Okay. Yeah, with about a ten percent bonus. nual annual bonus. Okay. And do you have any consumer debt? I have type two. I only have This is my only debt. I have lived debt free with the exception of a car My entire life I own my home. I have ten thousandllars on the car. It's worth twenty six. I have a two thousand emergency fund, even though Dave recommends one thousand dollars. Ill let it slide. I can't even buy a bo You can't buy a box of Kluenxs here in the. Listen. I'm not going to take you to task on that. So you've got the ten thousand dollars car, you've got a little bit of an inflated baby step one. Is there anything else that I'm talking fast because I want to make sure we can help you Yeah, yeah. and I have sixteen thousand in savings. Okay, own my home and I own my home, which is right three hundred and fifty k. Yeah. Okay I'm gonna paid for. I'm gonna to blow your mind on this. What I would do, I would take the sixteen thousand and I'd pay off the car today. Today right now. I would do it immediately. And then I would continue to invest your one se thousand seven hundred fifty dollars a month off of your salary And if you do that from age fifty six to age seventy, girl, you're going to have one point two million dollars. So you need to stop playing And feel good about you You got a paid for house. If you have a paid for house, you're gonna be just fine The Fourth of July is all about freedom, but being broke and stressed out about money all the time, that's not freedom. Look, you can change that. Right now during our fourth of July sale, select hardcovers are thirteen dollars each or mix and match Th for thirty three. If you're stressed out and living paycheck to paycheck, these books will help because real freedom begins when debt stops calling the shots. Don't wait. The sale only lasts four days. Go to Ramseysolutions dot com slash store today Dan is in Los Angeles, California. I feel like we've had several Californians. calling in today. How can we help out, Dan An, thank you very much. I'm currently in a first time situation that My house is on the market for ninety days and I'm lowering the rate every Basically theyre re every few weeks and it seems like it's not going to be Yeah. Hey Dan, do me share. Tal directly into your phone for me talking to default, you hear me better? Yeah, it's a little muffled. So whatever you can do to improve that, we would all I would to be able to get right to your question. Yeahah. goo for it Yeahes. so my concern is if Should I sell the house right now in a los Or should I keep the property with a negative cash flow? with've two thousand dollars from my pocket every month and it waits a few years. until I can refi or the value of the property would go up in a profit. So you're burning two thousand every month on it I would You're not currently, why are you saying you would because the house is still on the market is under lifted. And the rent price is lower than my mortgage Okay, right. And I'm saying you're current because of that All right You're currently burning two thousand dollars a month on it. I just want to make sure I understood that I'm burning more. I'm burning eight thousand right now. Oh, but if you were to rent it, it's only gonna to bring in six because of the market value. I see. okay, gotot it Wow. What kind of property is this? It's a property in the Hollywood Hill. I wantought it for one point six. I actually put thirty percent down two years ago. and I moved to a new primary And I thought, okay, let's rend this out. And I understood that I'm mean in a negative schedule right now. So Why do you think that is? 'causeuse I'm looking and it's showing that for your, you know, for Los Angeles area, forty five to seventy days is like average days on market. You're sitting at ninety days. No, he's trying to he's been on the rental market. He can't rent it He hadn't tri to sell yet right? I'm trying to rent it. Yes, correct. So it'sally trying to rent. You can't you've been for ninety days, you can't get a renter Exactly. So if you sold it, what would you lose If you sold it, if you put on the market today and it's sold tomorrow, what what would you like? I believe I bought it for one point six and I would sell it for one point four with this to market Tell us tell us how this is occurring this way. Tell us what do you think the barrier is for finding renters And tell us why you think it's going down in value. Did you overpay for it? Tell us what you think the problem is. I paid more than one thousand dollars square feet in the Hollywood Hills. withith today's market from what I see I think prices that' sitting on the market for more than a month or two, they just the order just dropping the price And the house is three bedrooms, it's fourteen hundred square feet. so it's not for a big family and maybe it's a little bit expensive for one person or for a couple.. So it just wasn't a good coo Yeah. And right now the rent is the rent is for seven thousand for ninety days, but I'm going to lower it to six thousand and then I'm going to be negative cash flow of two thousand dollars or I'm going to put it on Airbnb and maybe going to be break even with the mortgage because my interest is six point eight percent from two years ago. Do you think that you could realistically do the Airbnb thing and be at a break even to try to ride out the market a little while before you sell it Do you think you could realistically make that transformation. From my research, from my research, I could the breake evenven, yes I might do that in the interim. otherwise your're two hundred thousand dollars in the hole on this. Do you have that money laying around anywhere that you'd want to take that loss? Youve said you put down thirty percent. So you put down four hundred eighty on it, right Yeah, five hundred, so it's a little more than thirty percent year I don't want to take the loss. I believe in real estate that the price would go up even if I'm getting this negative cash flow, the appreciation would be better to hold this property for ten years. You can't afford that. You're getting killed right now I mean, if you can if you're Is this the only property you have? Do you have others I have others yeah. Are they doing other cashling Yeah Yeah. I don't have the same interest. I have two point seven percent interest on the others.. How much total debt do you have tied up in it in real estate in real estate I more than a million I mean, Well yeah yeah. Like how much like give me a round number. if you think you like is it one point eight? is it three million it It's about I have one property that is one point six plus one. so it's two point six plus It's about three million. Okay. And then how much is it all worth Uob I would say maybe five million Okay. Um million million million point six, so it's two point a half and then I think that If I were if I were you, not me, if I were you, I think that you understand this and I think that you might be able to make that Airbnb transformation and get this Uh att least break even for a while and you might be able to ride this out to where you're not at least you're not making any money, but at least you're not burning cash on it until maybe it's in a better position to sell. I might try that for a while. And if you're not able to do the Airbnb, then yeah, I'd probably try Id try to get out of it if I were you. because This eight thousand dollars a month loss is terrible And then even being able to rent it and still being at a two thousand dollars loss is even more terrible I'll tell you based on your portfolio Um You're you're exposed in a pretty big way Right? Yeah And so Be and here the only reason I'm saying this is because of how well, that's not even the only reason I'm saying this I'm looking at the flip side is You you have assets worth three million dollars and five million I'm sry five million dollars. Y your leverage three million against him, right Yeah. Okay. So if you if you went and sold every house you had today Tomorrow you would have a positive bank balance of two million dollars approximately, right Girls. yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, minus taxes and yada yad I'd tell you what, for me And I don't have a bunch of houses. So take this with a grain of salt. I'd sell that house and I would pocket three hundred thousand dollars And I would have a very expensive two hundred thousand dollars stupid tax And This is one of the prime reasons why man, God almighty we take a beating online because of how stupid we are This is why we say buy with cash. So if you find yourself in these moments You're at least not losing your soul, right Right. But a lot like that so that's That's what I would do. I would take the take it on the chin because you're getting hit on multiple levels. You're getting hit on the home price has devalued. the rent price keeps going down underneath you and you got a almost seven percent interest rate on this thing Yeah, you're getting punched and kick and bit all the same time And you happen to be in a position where you did put a big chunk of money down. So you're going to walk away the three hundred thousand dollars check. You'll have lost money on this particular investment. But man, you'remorrhaging right now I may have missed a point on this because I thought you said that you were I thought you told me you still owe one point six on it and it's worth one point four He bought it for one point six, but put five hundred one point six, but with today's market, I believe if I'm going to put it on the markets for sale It's going to seeit for a while if I'm going to post it for one point six again, I believe I'm going to seeit a few months and I would have to lower it to one point five And one point four from what I've seen today. Yeah, My property was on the market for three million and I bought it for two point three. So It's very slim. If you can if you can get out of it to John's point and you can get out of it without owing, Yeahah, great. If you're already, if you feel like if you list it for a realistic price and you'd already be upside down, I might hold it a little bit show Scripture andQote of the day, James chapter one verses two through three, onene of my favorites, consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters. Whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Love that. Harrison Ford said, I always see life this way. You just have to find a way to stick it out and to prevail It's almost like Harrison Ford knew a little bit about James chapter one, two and three Let's go to Charles who is in Savannah, Georgia. Hey, Charles, how can we help today Hey, how are y'all? Thank y'all for taking my call. Yes, sir. What's up Not I was just I was wondering about u investments. I live you know, I have a wife and a ten year old daughter and you know, we live pretty humble You know, we live close to Savannah and it's a rural area. So everything's a little cheaper down here than opposed to Atlanta or New York or someomewhere in California, you know, and we don't make a whole lot of money but I' C me I manage to save me and my wife had saved about sixty thousand dollars before my dad passed away five years ago and he left us he had an insurance policy of one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars and you know, we save every month and I'm Ggle so to speak. And, you know, I don't like losing money, you know, I work, my wife works We save about five hundred seven hundred and fifty dollars a month. Okay. We are about forty thousand dollars in debt with two vehicles, which one of them we had to purchase usually we don't do more than one vehicle payment at a time. But somebody hit my wife a few months ago and they toted it out Yeah, So we did have to go to get a newer vehicle. So Charie say that going back to the money you said you had saved before you get too deeply into the sixty thousand and one hundred and twenty five is that the only money you have saved anywhere? No investing, no nothing like that U I do have a CD that's about two hundred fifty three thousand dollars and I'm making about ten thousand dollars a year off of that the last two years. I do have a four fifty seven Roth with about seventeen thousand dollars in it. Okay And I contribute five percent each month I work for I work for an agency and I've got a retirement plan so they don't match me, but I do contribute five percent to that every month. And I've got a couple of ounces of the gold and silver which is that I bought, you know six five, six years ago So you know, I've gained about probably five thousand dollars on that.. And then I've got a little bit of I've got about ten thousand dollars in cash Okay at the bank in my safety deposit box and then and then I've got about ten thousand dollars in my safe Well my goodness You got money coming out your ears, my guys. You called us I thought you were like down to your last broom pole and you got money everywhere. You do. You have it everywhere. I just don't know if it's in the right places. It's not working for you like you could, but goodness you're doing good That's what I'm blinking, but you know, me personally, I don't need a whole lot, you know. Well, I think you might need more than you think. Yeah. And you keep saying that then you keep going to getting more and hiding at places Yeah, because hundred. You feel good now, but there's going be a day when you're not working Yeah, exactly. And like I say, I do have a retirement plan, but three hundred twenty five thousand dollars in today's economy, I mean, that could be gone in a blink of an eye could, but could be that. Yeah. And I do want to say this because that what you're saying, I think Charles is hitting on what a lot of people feel that are probably listening right now as they are afraid. It's like, hey, if I invest this money, what happens if the stock market tanks? And the truth of the matter is we have to think about that. Like let's think back if we think back to nine eleven, if we think back to two two thousand eight, the Great Recession You're right, the stock market did tank, but what did it do two years later It recovered. It was bounced back better than ever Yeah, and they say if you do it over, you know, a twenty to thirty year period, you're going to gain regardless. Of course. But I just like even on my four hundred fifty seven Rws. that I have through my job. that has got U likeike I say, I checked it about two weeks ago. It's got like seventeen thousand dollars in it And I wish I would have started the day I started work. Yeah. How old are you I'm forty three. Okay, here's the thing, Charles. Why you plug these numbers in Charles, let me just say this You and I have kind of a like spirit, which is K kind of an eye on what if this all goes down, right? Yes. I appreciate you saying that because I've been watching y'all's videos. Okay. and I have been I work half days on Friday and I've been calling y'all every Friday for long time. All right, I'm going to tell you something that's hard to hear. and I had a buddy of mine that's a bank executive tell me this, okay? And he was right. If the stock market implodes and doesn't come back Let's say it goes to zero The little rocks you have stored in your safe that one shiny silver and one shiny gold are going to become rocks The paper you got stored under your bed. is going to be paper Yes, I. Okay. So here's the thing Here's the line he gave me when I was doing exactly what you're doing. and I didn't have gold and all that, but I was like, what about this and what about this And here's the line he gave me that for whatever reason, it set me free and maybe it will for you and maybe it won't. But He said, John, I don't have a meteorite plan If the US stock market goes to zero, That's control Alt delete And it's going to be it's going to get Western real fast Okay And so I got planning for what happens if a meteorite hits us You know what? I'm going to solve that for when that happens And you're not even buying backhes and shovels and bullets. You're buying like gold and hiding this over here and stuffing under your mattress. and right? like so here's what I want to say Give yourself the best opportunity with the information we got in front of us. And what I would tell you, the best information based on the numbers you gave me and you gave me a lot of numbers. So I just took the two hundred and fifty three in CDs and I pretended as though you invested it today. So that gives you with the seventeen thousand. and I wasn't sure if the sixty thousand, I didn't even add the sixty thousand or the one hundred twenty five insurance because I didn't know if that was what was in the CD No the sixty thousand is what me and my wife had saved together before my dad passed away and I received one hundred twenty five thousand. And we like I say, we try to save at least five hundred because at the end of the day, between the both of us, we only make about one hundred and ten thousand dollars a year. Well, we'll call that sixty thousand. We'll call that your emergency fund and I'll do you one better. We can add the cash and the money in the safe. We can add that to it too because I think you like having cash around. So I'm not even touching that. We won't even invest that. But if we took The money from the CD, we went ahead and invested it along with the seventeen thousand. And let's pretend you told me, yeah, you guys put away maybe five to seven hundred fifty every single month. That's the margin that you can save. If you just did that and you did that, Charles from today until age sixty five, that puts you at three point eight million And that's enough for you, I assume do liver whereerever you live. Yes And let me just say, Charles, we would say, hey, invest fifteen percent. you know, pump that number up. That's not even with you doing that. That's just with you saying, hey, I got five hundred dollars a margin, and I'm just going plug that in over there. And you want to know what? I'm cool with that because I will just be happy with this call if you begin investing I will be happy if you take the money from the CDs and you invest it across the four funds that we teach here. And I do want you to get connected with a Smartfester Pro because these are people that we vet out, okay? So that means we trust them. We trust that they can take your money and that they'll treat you with respect and they'll treat you with the heart of a teacher teach you so that you'll learn and feel great about how your money is being invested. and that that money can grow for you, not just for your current family, but for your legacy. And I think that that's about as good as it gets, John That's what you need to do. All right, guys, that does it for this hour. John did not reply to me. I you toss me the ball here. There's ultimately one way to financial peace. That's walk daily with the prrince of peace Christ Jesus