You Still Have Time To Change Your Financial Situation

Speaker 1 Brought to you by the Every Dollar app. Start budgeting for free today.

Speaker 2 Normal is broke, common sense is weird. So, we're here to help you transform your life from the Ramsey Network in the Fairwinds Credit Union Studio.
This is the Ramsey Show alongside Mr.

Speaker 2 Bomber Jacket himself, otherwise known as George Camel.

Speaker 2 I'm Ken Coleman. We're excited to be with you.
And George said to me just moments ago, he said, hey, let's have some fun today. And I said, done.

Speaker 3 That was a mandate. Executive order.

Speaker 2 Done, if you will. We do love a good executive order around here.
Straight from the desk of George Camel.

Speaker 2 We appreciate your attention to this matter. All right, Penny is up in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Penny, how can we help?

Speaker 5 Hi. So me and my boyfriend have been together for about four years.

Speaker 5 We have a seven-month-old baby together, and I also have a 23-year-old from a previous relationship. A couple years ago, I did a parent-plus loan for my son to go off to college in another state.

Speaker 5 My son and I agreed that he would make the payments on the loan.

Speaker 5 My boyfriend believes that I should also be making payments on the loan. to get rid of it as fast as I possibly can.
And he believes that

Speaker 5 he does not want to take that into a marriage. And I agree with him, but I feel like the loan is being paid.
And I just don't.

Speaker 3 Hold on.

Speaker 3 This man procreated with you before marriage, but he's like, yeah, but go ahead and pay that parent plus loan off. I'm not going near marriage until you get that done.

Speaker 3 Am I hearing that right?

Speaker 4 Yes, you are. Okay.

Speaker 3 Just want to make sure America heard.

Speaker 2 I know, because I guess the question for you is, Penny, do you think that this is a principled financial stand or that this is a cop-out because he doesn't want to put a ring on your finger?

Speaker 5 No, I think it's the principled stand.

Speaker 2 I don't.

Speaker 3 The principle of what? That he, because he, is there any other death?

Speaker 2 He decided to have a baby with you. Isn't that where you were going, George, or no?

Speaker 3 That's exactly where I went.

Speaker 2 I think this is a this is a convenient principle

Speaker 1 to not marry you.

Speaker 2 And you've bought it hook, line, and sinker. And I, I, you know what, I'll be honest.

Speaker 3 You probably didn't expect us to say that and it's probably the last thing you wanted to hear but i think it's the thing you need to hear i was feeling the same thing george was feeling i'm putting myself in his shoes here's my best reasoning for why he's feeling this way he wants there to be closure from this past relationship

Speaker 3 and that debt is lingering in the balance that's kind of tying you to your ex correct

Speaker 5 no i wouldn't say that Yeah, I actually disagree with that.

Speaker 3 Well, what's his reasoning? Have you asked him?

Speaker 2 He don't want to get married.

Speaker 5 His reasoning is he doesn't, he wants to be completely debt-free. That's his reasoning that he gives to me.
So he feels like once we become one, that debt also becomes his.

Speaker 3 So he doesn't want it to be his problem.

Speaker 2 No, well, he's right about that.

Speaker 2 He's right about that. We teach it.
Okay, let me ask you a couple quick questions.

Speaker 2 Was there any conversation about marriage

Speaker 2 prior to

Speaker 2 the baby?

Speaker 5 There were some, very little.

Speaker 1 Very little.

Speaker 4 Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

Speaker 2 And when did he take a stand on this parent-plus loan? When did he drop this principled stand?

Speaker 5 After the baby.

Speaker 5 Just recently, which is why I'm calling.

Speaker 2 But he knew about it before then, correct?

Speaker 4 Correct.

Speaker 3 What's left on the loan?

Speaker 2 I smell already. 30,000.

Speaker 3 30?

Speaker 3 30,000. And what is the agreement? Is it written that you're not going to be on the hook for this parent-plus loan? I mean, legally you are, but as far as the repayment plan.

Speaker 5 Correct. As far as the agreement between my son and I, he will be making the payments.
But legally, yes, I am responsible for the loan.

Speaker 3 But there's nothing in writing. It just was a handshake.
Hey, you said you would.

Speaker 5 Correct.

Speaker 3 Yes. Okay, that part scares me.
Because here's the thing. They didn't trust him to take on this debt, which they'll give a 17-year-old $100,000 at this point.
So that's worrisome.

Speaker 3 And my fear is, what if he can't pay?

Speaker 5 So if he can't pay, then I know that that falls on me.

Speaker 5 And I'm willing to pay the loan.

Speaker 4 But he's been paying it.

Speaker 5 And maybe that's his fear. Maybe that's my boyfriend's fear that

Speaker 5 he won't continue to pay and it's going to fall on him.

Speaker 2 No, your boyfriend's afraid to get married.

Speaker 3 How long have you guys been together?

Speaker 5 Four years.

Speaker 4 Okay.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 You know what?

Speaker 2 I have nothing else to add. I've never been more clear about something on this show.
It's just lining up that he's using this as an excuse. So now this is a relationship conversation.

Speaker 5 Okay.

Speaker 2 Because think about what you just said. Hey, guys, here's the situation.

Speaker 2 What advice do you guys have? What are your thoughts? What do I do?

Speaker 2 You want this man to marry you, correct?

Speaker 4 Correct.

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 2 So.

Speaker 2 This is a relationship issue. Now, you're responsible for this loan.

Speaker 2 So it's not what he's saying that I disagree with. I just want you to know that I think this is a relationship issue.

Speaker 2 And we got to find out what the real real is because all of a sudden this loan has become super important to him.

Speaker 2 It's, it's, you know, to George's point, he'll have a baby with you, but oh, I'm going to stop short of actually marrying you.

Speaker 3 Yeah, I guess my point is the commitment's already happened. He just, he can't admit it yet, and he's not taking the logical next step.
And so that part is worrisome from the relationships.

Speaker 3 I'm worried.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I think this is a DTR define the relationship conversation. You know? Okay.

Speaker 3 Do you have money right now? How much do you have in savings?

Speaker 5 Right now, my savings, I have $10,000.

Speaker 3 Okay. Would it make him feel better if you had that amount in cash? In case something happened, you could write a check and be done with the parent-plus loan.

Speaker 4 Yes.

Speaker 3 How quickly could you save up enough to have that amount?

Speaker 5 I mean, a couple months.

Speaker 4 In a couple months, you can come up with 20 grand?

Speaker 5 Oh, no, I'm sorry. I thought you said 10.

Speaker 3 No, you have 10. I was like, this call got even more interesting.
I'm saying, if you had that money earmarked and you said, hey, if something goes wrong, I'll be able to cover it. Wow.

Speaker 3 And have you guys combined finances?

Speaker 5 No, we have not combined finances.

Speaker 3 So how do you guys currently split all the bills? Is it 50-50?

Speaker 5 No, I pay my own bills currently and he pays it on.

Speaker 2 Who pays for the baby?

Speaker 6 We both.

Speaker 3 Okay, so there is a split bill here and then you guys are living together yeah

Speaker 4 um yeah so how does rent work whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa there was a little pause that needs to be investigated well so we both have mortgages

Speaker 3 you guys have two separate homes correct because we both had homes prior to our relationship but you're living in one house and the other one's empty no no they live together some and that's why the pause

Speaker 5 yeah because we live together some

Speaker 4 so So who

Speaker 3 I'm just confused.

Speaker 4 Folks, I'm rarely this right.

Speaker 2 I just want to point this out. I sniffed this out really early on here.

Speaker 3 If my, okay, I have about a, I have a two-month-old. If I said, hey, babe, I got another house.
I'm going to crash there for a few nights. Good luck with the baby.
We would be divorced.

Speaker 3 Do you understand? How is this man not there full-time in this child's life?

Speaker 5 So we're trying to work on that currently.

Speaker 4 So we're trying to find a daycare that's actually closer to where he lives so we can stay out that way why don't you sell the house and live together and be married and live like a couple because that's another question this is why it's the question issue it's what i've been saying george welcome to the party i just got i just arrived you just got where i was i brought some fruitcake thank you uh penny oh penny penny listen as your friends

Speaker 2 this man needs to commit

Speaker 2 and he needs to commit all in. You got a baby together.
Go to the courthouse, get married, pay the loan off.

Speaker 3 If it wasn't the debt, it'd be another thing. He'd be like, Well, I don't like that you have your own house.
Until you sell that, I'm not going to get married.

Speaker 3 There's always going to be another reason.

Speaker 2 He doesn't want to live with you.

Speaker 2 He doesn't want to marry you. This is the problem.

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Speaker 2 All right, let's go to Tanya in Louisville, Kentucky. Tanya, what is going on?

Speaker 5 Hello. Oh, my gosh, I'm so nervous.

Speaker 2 Well, you should not be. I mean, after all, you're just talking to me and George.

Speaker 3 There's nothing on the line. There's no game show, no prizes.
That's right.

Speaker 4 We're here to help.

Speaker 5 Well, thank you for taking my call. So my question is kind of multifaceted, but the reason for my call today primarily is

Speaker 5 how do I get out of debt with a disability and only

Speaker 5 being or earning very low income? I was awarded partial disability

Speaker 5 and I do receive payments for myself and my child. I'm a single mother.

Speaker 2 How much do you get?

Speaker 5 For 2025

Speaker 5 it was

Speaker 5 including child support, the payment, and if I'm earning my max income was $3,057.

Speaker 2 What do you mean by if I'm earning my so I'm a little confused.

Speaker 3 Because you'll lose your disability if you make too much?

Speaker 5 If I make too much, they take away my disability. So I always try to work within the parameters that they gave me.
But I live in a very

Speaker 4 small rural area.

Speaker 3 So what are you doing for work?

Speaker 5 I'm a substitute teacher.

Speaker 2 And what's the max that you can earn before they would take away your disability payment?

Speaker 5 You have nine times to go above what that is.

Speaker 2 I'm not asking how many times. I'm just asking, I'm just unfamiliar with this, and we want to coach you through it.
What is the amount of money that then triggers that they say you no longer need?

Speaker 2 Because that's what this is about. They go, okay, if you make X amount of dollars, then you don't need the disability help.

Speaker 4 So, what's the number?

Speaker 5 So, for 2025,

Speaker 5 it was

Speaker 5 $1,160.

Speaker 2 A month?

Speaker 9 Yes.

Speaker 3 That's the max you can make?

Speaker 2 Yes. Okay, let me ask you a question.

Speaker 2 Yes.

Speaker 2 How much money can you actually make? In other words,

Speaker 2 take disability out of the picture. If you can work,

Speaker 2 what kind of a job do you think you could get? And what kind of job,

Speaker 2 what kind of money could you make? Have you figured that out?

Speaker 4 No. Or what were you doing before?

Speaker 2 What were you doing before? What's your work history?

Speaker 5 Well, there's been a lot. The majority of it has been in early education and childhood development.

Speaker 5 I never did graduate college, so I don't have certifications to be in the classroom, but I'm certified to do assistant teaching.

Speaker 2 So you could make somewhere between $30,000 to $40,000, I'm guessing?

Speaker 5 No, I don't think it's that much.

Speaker 5 Because it probably would depend on the school, but where I am right now.

Speaker 2 Okay, because you're out in the middle of nowhere. And why are you living out in the middle of nowhere? This is all relevant.

Speaker 4 Okay.

Speaker 2 Why are you way out in the middle of Podunk?

Speaker 5 Okay, so I moved from a bigger city with my

Speaker 5 partner, my boyfriend,

Speaker 5 at the time.

Speaker 5 And

Speaker 5 that was almost 10 years ago.

Speaker 4 We moved.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 is he he still in the picture?

Speaker 5 Yes, he is. But

Speaker 5 it's not a very healthy relationship. And he continues to tell me he's not going to marry me because

Speaker 5 I'm in debt right now.

Speaker 2 Oh, wow. This is two of these in a row.

Speaker 2 How much debt are you in? These guys are bad liars.

Speaker 4 How much debt do you have?

Speaker 5 Well, when we moved out here, I had zero, and I put the money down on the house that we bought together.

Speaker 5 Right now,

Speaker 5 since I lost my job in 2023, I started living on credit cards.

Speaker 2 How much debt do you have?

Speaker 5 $40,000.

Speaker 2 That's all credit card debt? That's it?

Speaker 4 All credit card.

Speaker 2 Okay, and you have a mortgage.

Speaker 5 No, he bought another house without me and forced me to sell the house we bought together jointly.

Speaker 3 What happened? Was there any profits there? Did you lose money?

Speaker 4 Because you say you had a down payment.

Speaker 5 No,

Speaker 5 I did. So

Speaker 5 we sold the house for a profit and then

Speaker 5 we put the they the bank was supposed to give us two separate checks, but they screwed up, wrote us one check and we couldn't close on the house if we said, no, you have to redo the checks.

Speaker 5 So we I said, okay, that's fine. We're here now.
We put it in a joint account, in a money market fidelity account.

Speaker 5 And then he invested it without my knowledge or permission and lost about $50,000 of my money.

Speaker 2 Okay. Well, I think, let's just a real quick bumper sticker and George will keep coaching you.
And I've got some thoughts on how to make more money. But you need to break up with this guy.

Speaker 2 This is done. This guy's completely not

Speaker 2 long-term material. You know it.
I know it. George knows it.
Everybody knows it. Everybody in the lobby knows it.

Speaker 5 Well, I'm living in his house right now because I'm.

Speaker 4 That's not a problem.

Speaker 2 That's not a problem. You can solve that.
You go, I'm done with him.

Speaker 4 How did you live before?

Speaker 5 So I found a house to rent in the county, but it's $1,100 a month. And right now, I'm only bringing in not even close to what the max I'm allowed.

Speaker 2 Okay, but my.

Speaker 3 But you say you're making $3,000, right?

Speaker 2 You got $3,000 coming out.

Speaker 4 No, I'm not.

Speaker 5 That's the max that I could make if I was subbing all the time. Okay.

Speaker 3 And what's the nature of the disability?

Speaker 5 Yeah, multiple sclerosis.

Speaker 3 Okay, but you're able to do substitute teaching for a certain amount of hours without it affecting that or what

Speaker 5 yes substitute teaching has been okay for me i what before this i was working working in a factory and it

Speaker 2 i my body tanked i got it was having flares all the time well first of all i don't want to minimize this at all but there there is a reality in your story where you're in an awful relationship that is not only not benefiting you as a human being in a relational capacity, it is also not benefiting you financially.

Speaker 2 This guy's a loser. He's manipulating you, all the things.
I'm just going to call it out as I see it. But here's the thing.

Speaker 2 You also have a, you have a challenge, a physical challenge that's not going away. So you're going to have to push through the best you can.
So here's my point.

Speaker 2 I have an idea of what your schedule and what your physical activity looks like as a substitute teacher. I have an idea.

Speaker 2 And so I can tell you that you're not limited to being a substitute teacher where you're at the absolute bottom rung of the ladder financially, as opposed to being an office manager or working in another capacity where you're sitting some, standing some.

Speaker 2 And I know it's hard, but we don't have any other option. I don't want you to be at the mercy of the state and you are at the mercy of the state right now.

Speaker 2 You'd be better off going out and making $45,000, $50,000 a year, getting free of this clown and

Speaker 2 getting out of this debt.

Speaker 5 I don't know that I can get get a job to pay that much because I don't have a college degree.

Speaker 2 Yeah, that's not true.

Speaker 3 That's not the factor here. You could work in any administrative role without a degree today in a school.

Speaker 2 And outside of a school. And one of the things you're going to have to consider is moving out of red dirt, Kentucky, wherever you are.

Speaker 5 So how do I do that and still pay my credit card?

Speaker 4 Because the truth is, you may not be able to pay the credit card.

Speaker 1 You're worried about the credit card.

Speaker 2 Cover your four walls first.

Speaker 3 That's food, utilities, housing, transportation, insurance.

Speaker 3 And outside of that, if you can't pay the credit card, after that's all paid, then they can kick rocks and pound sand because they gave you an open line of credit for someone who couldn't pay it.

Speaker 2 And you have a disability payment coming in every month. You told us that.
Yes. How much is that again? Let's review that.

Speaker 5 Okay.

Speaker 4 So

Speaker 4 just a number.

Speaker 4 Just a number. And my daughter

Speaker 5 together.

Speaker 5 That's like right around

Speaker 5 almost to $1,600.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 2 That's what we, that's the four walls of George. That's what you're starting with.
You also told me that you could make about $1,000 a month more without being penalized. So let's go find $1,000 job.

Speaker 2 And you've already got that, but you need to move out of this guy's house. You need to find a better economic area where there are job opportunities for you.

Speaker 2 You must happen to your life right now, or you're going to be a victim of all of this. And you don't have to be.

Speaker 2 But you got to take some initiative here. You take control.

Speaker 4 Everything's just been. I'd be looking for a job.

Speaker 5 This was the best thing that came along until I found that.

Speaker 2 That's because you're in a bad area living with a bad guy in a bad living situation. You can change this.

Speaker 3 I'd be looking for jobs outside of that area. And then once you get that job, we can move, we can rent somewhere, and we can get some financial footing that's not tied to him or this disability.

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Speaker 2 And it is like having one of us, as George likes to say, in your pocket. Now, you're a small guy.
You might be able to fit in somebody's pocket. That's hurtful.

Speaker 3 I thought it was because of my skinny jeans. It's just hard to fit anything in there.

Speaker 2 Well, the skinny jeans make you more veld.

Speaker 3 But if I'm in their pocket, that's fine.

Speaker 2 I can fit it. That's fine.
Your pocket would be pretty crowded.

Speaker 4 Good luck.

Speaker 2 Riley is up in Atlanta, Georgia. Riley, how can we help?

Speaker 9 Hey, how are y'all today?

Speaker 2 Good. What's going on?

Speaker 9 Hey, so I'm 18.

Speaker 4 I run a landscape company. I've got no debts.
Hold on, hold on, hold on. We lost you.

Speaker 2 We lost. You said I'm 18 and I lost it.

Speaker 3 Something company?

Speaker 9 I run a landscape company. Okay.

Speaker 9 Okay. So we're growing pretty rapidly.
We did about 50

Speaker 9 this past month in revenue, and we're increasing that. And I need some more equipment.

Speaker 2 Did you say 50,000? I'm sorry. You dropped again.

Speaker 9 Yes, sir. 50,000.

Speaker 4 Okay, one month.

Speaker 3 Yes, sir. Okay, and you need new equipment.

Speaker 9 So we're going to be needing some new equipment. equipment, and I've been looking at a couple different options.
I can't go and pay cash for a dump trailer or a truck just yet.

Speaker 9 I've got one truck right now, but for a dump trailer, would it be best to continue renting one when I need it?

Speaker 9 It's about $150 a day, $500 a week, or find a rent-to-own option because there's rent-to-own options that I could do. No?

Speaker 2 No, don't rent to own, just rent.

Speaker 2 Until you have the cash to buy any equipment, if I was in your business, George may have a different opinion. He'll jump in here in a second.
But for me, if I was in your shoes,

Speaker 2 I wouldn't be in any kind of crazy rush to buy cash, even though we're going to say buy cash. I wouldn't be in any kind of hurry to buy equipment until it just made so much sense.

Speaker 2 Let me explain what that means.

Speaker 2 I'm going to rent the equipment. It's somebody else's equipment.
That means they got to pay to fix it. They got their own insurance.
You're renting. If it doesn't work, guess what?

Speaker 2 They bring you out another one. You're not paying to have it fixed.

Speaker 2 And you're building that into your job. That's the cost.
So if it costs $150 a day for a thing, I'm going to, and I've got three clients in the nearby area or whatever.

Speaker 2 I'm going to take that and I'm going to put that into the cost of paying me to do my job. So that is an expense that you build in as much as possible and still be competitive.
That's how you do that.

Speaker 2 And so you have no debt, number one, no pressure. Number two, really not much of a hassle.
And you're covering that cost, okay,

Speaker 2 which is awesome.

Speaker 2 Your greatest expense item outside of payroll, George, is going to be his equipment. And so if you can get your equipment

Speaker 2 covered all the way or in a great amount, man, is that smart. And now you're stacking cash, stacking cash, stacking cash.
And I know it feels awesome. You're a young guy, 18.

Speaker 2 Congratulations on a $50,000 revenue month. That's freaking unbelievable, man.
What a stud you are.

Speaker 2 Much love.

Speaker 2 But man, it's going to be a temptation to go, I want to buy something, George. I want a machine that's mine.
And even if you pay cash, I still think

Speaker 2 that cash is better off sitting and growing and stacking and stacking and stacking until it is just not even in the same ballpark of risk to go buy something.

Speaker 2 I would hold, hold, hold, hold for a long time. It's a very conservative take, but I think it's safe.
George?

Speaker 3 I'm retweeting all of this. I co-signed that with Ken.
Riley, what does it cost to get a reasonable used dump trailer that would do the job?

Speaker 9 Around $5,000 to $6,000.

Speaker 3 Where did the $50,000 go this month that you made?

Speaker 4 Okay, so about

Speaker 9 $30,000 of that was cost of doing work,

Speaker 9 labor, and whatnot.

Speaker 9 And then I'll have around 18 or so left

Speaker 9 after everything's said and done.

Speaker 3 So you could pay cash for a used dump trailer today?

Speaker 9 I could.

Speaker 3 Okay, and so have you done the math on like the break-even point if you keep renting versus buying a used one in cash today? Because my guess is you'd break even pretty quickly.

Speaker 9 Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 9 If I buy a new dump trailer versus buying a used one, I have a break-even point half the time.

Speaker 3 Yeah, and I would buy a used one. What's the point of buying a new dump trailer? New and dump in the same sentence is ridiculous already.

Speaker 2 It just makes me itch thinking about it.

Speaker 4 In fact, I want the nastiest dump trailer on the planet.

Speaker 2 Say again? I want the nastiest, oldest dump trailer on the planet.

Speaker 4 All I wanted to do is hold stuff

Speaker 2 for work.

Speaker 3 It's not turning eyes at the red light. You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 But, George, how soon would you buy a dump trailer?

Speaker 4 I don't want a trailer.

Speaker 3 How long have you been making this kind of money?

Speaker 3 Say again. How long have you been making this kind of money?

Speaker 9 It's just been this past month. Okay.

Speaker 9 We're growing steadily.

Speaker 2 Do you offset that cost now into your jobs?

Speaker 4 What's your quota? Yes, I do.

Speaker 2 Okay, I have a question. Hang tight, Riley.
We're going to act like you're not in the room.

Speaker 4 George,

Speaker 2 why would he ever buy a dump trailer when he can take the rental cost of that and pass it off to his clients?

Speaker 3 That is true. I mean, there's a world where you go, I can be more competitive if I owned it outright.
I don't have to keep adding this expense and I can lower my prices.

Speaker 3 That's an option, but I'm with Ken right now. I think it's only been a month.
I would let this sit and see what your actual needs are six months from now.

Speaker 3 And by then, you're sitting on 100 grand of cash if you do this the right way.

Speaker 3 And you'll really be able to expand smart instead of just going, well, this was a crazy month. I'm growing.
I got to go get all this equipment. And then you find out I didn't need all this equipment.

Speaker 3 Because every time you add more equipment to your life, you're also adding some repair and maintenance costs as well. That's right.
Insurance costs. There's a lot of other things to factor in here.

Speaker 2 And be clear, I'm not anti-buying the dump thing.

Speaker 2 I'm just asking critical questions. Like, I just wanted to make sure that we know that it's the best choice.
And if buying the dump thing is the best choice, I say go for it.

Speaker 2 I just want to critically think through it and go,

Speaker 2 what's the balance here? And there's a right time to do it, I'm sure.

Speaker 3 But the key is just move at the speed of cash, not at the speed of how fast you want the business to grow.

Speaker 3 And once you have that retained earnings set aside for this, then I would say, all right, let's upgrade as it makes sense strategically.

Speaker 4 What does it cost per day to rent?

Speaker 9 About $150.

Speaker 3 And you're using that, is it seven days a week, four days a week?

Speaker 9 About two to three a week.

Speaker 3 Two to three days a week?

Speaker 4 Yes, sir.

Speaker 3 Okay, so it's costing you, what, $4.50 a week?

Speaker 9 $4.50 a week, about $1,800 a month.

Speaker 4 Okay.

Speaker 3 That's not bad if you're baking it into the cost.

Speaker 3 And so long term, if you're just sick of it and you want to own something instead of continually rent and you figure out a way to make it work financially, I think that's the right move.

Speaker 2 All right, I got to ask a biographical question. America needs to hear this.

Speaker 2 Are you still in high school or have you already graduated?

Speaker 9 No, I was homeschooled finished up school early and I'm still living with my parents.

Speaker 2 How long have you been doing this business?

Speaker 4 Five years. Oh, wow.

Speaker 2 13. So you started at 13.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 give us a range of the clients that are driving this kind of revenue, 50 grand a month. Is there some corporate places where you're doing their landscape or is it all uh personal homes

Speaker 9 it's it's all over the place we've got we're running ads some of them are referrals

Speaker 2 so it's it's a wide range so you got residential plus uh business properties

Speaker 3 yeah

Speaker 3 how big of a team is this

Speaker 9 uh we've got two guys full-time mean myself and one other and then i've got a couple buddies that come in part-time whenever we have larger jobs that need some pick how old how old are your core guys you just mentioned

Speaker 9 uh one is 21

Speaker 9 is 19 and another is 19.

Speaker 2 what are you paying those guys per hour

Speaker 9 uh about 20 an hour 25 depending on you know when i'm on the job versus not all right thank you impressive folks parents

Speaker 3 There you have it.

Speaker 2 I just don't know why we're pressuring our kids to go to college when they don't even know why they're going to college. This kid is on his way to his degree to do what he's doing.

Speaker 2 Yeah, Riley's been doing it since he's 13 and he just started off with a lawnmower. Now he's got other 19 and 20 year olds and he's paying them 20 to 25 dollars an hour.

Speaker 4 That's wild. And they got no student loan debt.

Speaker 2 Just going to leave that there for you.

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Speaker 2 All right, let's go go to Randy in Los Angeles. Randy, how can we help today?

Speaker 13 Well, first of all, thank you for taking my call. Very excited to hear your advice and talk to you guys.

Speaker 13 So our house got caught up in the January L.A. fires and burned to the ground.

Speaker 4 Oh, no.

Speaker 4 Where were you?

Speaker 13 Yeah, that was horrible.

Speaker 13 So in Altadena, the whole community, 6,500 homes got destroyed.

Speaker 4 Yeah.

Speaker 13 Very devastating, but now we're kind of an excitement mode because we were rebuilding. So we're moving past that.
Okay.

Speaker 13 Luckily, we had enough insurance.

Speaker 13 We have a lawsuit with SoCal Edison that's two or three years down the road. But we're about to rebuild for $1.6 million.

Speaker 13 Insurance will probably cover about $1.1 million. SoCal Edison will probably get about $200K, but you can't count on that.
So I'm wondering if I should draw for my retirement to cover the Delta

Speaker 13 or looking at other options because it's probably about a 400K delta to what we have for mature.

Speaker 13 Yeah.

Speaker 3 Was there a mortgage?

Speaker 13 Yeah, the mortgage is about 631. We could probably sell the property for about 800K, but we lost 500K in equity and rebuilding for 1.6.

Speaker 13 The property value is going to be really big in four to five years. So I think it would be a financial decision.
Yeah, maybe.

Speaker 3 I mean, so is the option to sell and walk away with a 150 grand

Speaker 3 and go elsewhere,

Speaker 3 or we rebuild and take on an extra 400 grand in debt or rob our retirement?

Speaker 13 Yes, basically those are the options.

Speaker 4 Oof.

Speaker 3 That's a rock and a hard place, if I've ever seen one.

Speaker 3 Uh, how badly are you wanting to rebuild versus just selling for what you can get for it?

Speaker 13 Well, we're pretty into the Al Tadena Strong rebuild uh mentality. I think my retirement has enough to cover that.

Speaker 13 I'd just like to get your opinion.

Speaker 2 How much do you have in retirement?

Speaker 13 About 2.7.

Speaker 4 All taxable. How old are you?

Speaker 13 63.

Speaker 2 Okay. You said it's all taxable?

Speaker 13 Yeah, it's in a 401k deferred comp,

Speaker 13 and Ira.

Speaker 3 Yeah. Got it.
So you can withdraw without penalty. You'll just owe taxes on the amount you withdraw.

Speaker 3 Correct. So the question is, if you deplete deplete 2.7 down to 2.3,

Speaker 3 will you still be able to retire with dignity when you want to? Does that change your retirement plans?

Speaker 13 Yeah, I probably have to work another year and a half to do this.

Speaker 4 Okay, so there's the trade-off.

Speaker 3 I'm willing to rebuild and eat the cost of withdrawing that, paying the taxes, losing the future growth of that $400,000 in order to stay where I'm at and rebuild.

Speaker 2 And not have a mortgage. Correct.
Am I understanding that?

Speaker 3 You'll still have the 631 mortgage?

Speaker 13 Yeah. I'll still have the 631 mortgage on top of the rebuild.

Speaker 2 Okay, I misunderstood. I'm sorry.
Okay. So the 400 is saving.

Speaker 4 I assume you made that clear. Gotcha.

Speaker 3 Okay. How much do you have in savings now?

Speaker 13 In savings, about 300K.

Speaker 2 Oh, nice.

Speaker 3 What's the 300K for?

Speaker 13 So the 300K was part of the personal property payout. So I don't know if I consider that savings, but you know.

Speaker 3 I mean, it's liquid cash you have access to instead of that you could actually use that you can do during your retirement? Yeah.

Speaker 3 Yeah, absolutely. Why not take like 250? You have an emergency fund or is that part of the 300K?

Speaker 13 Yeah, we have about 25K in an emergency fund.

Speaker 2 In addition to the 300.

Speaker 13 Yes.

Speaker 3 So why not use the 300 and only take 100 from your retirement?

Speaker 2 This is what I'm thinking.

Speaker 13 That's definitely an option.

Speaker 3 It would be the only option if I'm going to do this. Because

Speaker 3 if you pop in 300 grand, you would have taken or 400 grand into an investment calculator, that money is going to double every seven years.

Speaker 3 So at 70, what you're really giving up is not the 400 plus taxes. What you're really giving up is 800,000

Speaker 2 because you're unplugging all of that growth, too.

Speaker 3 So that's the part I want you to think about. And for that reason, I would use any liquid cash I have because number one, you're not going to unplug the growth.

Speaker 3 Number two, you're not going to pay taxes on that.

Speaker 13 Okay.

Speaker 3 And how much do you guys make?

Speaker 13 I make $5.50,000.

Speaker 13 My wife makes $65,000.

Speaker 3 Oh, incredible. I mean, you could probably cashflow this thing.
How long is it going to take to rebuild?

Speaker 4 Well, here's the thing.

Speaker 13 We've got like 300K in ALE, which means that they'll pay our living expenses outside up to 300K. So we could probably delay the build, keep living.

Speaker 4 So they'll pay for you to rent.

Speaker 3 Do you have rent-free living until the house is done?

Speaker 13 Correct.

Speaker 3 I would do that and stack all of your income. Dude, I would.

Speaker 2 The whole just kept getting better and better, Randy.

Speaker 3 I wouldn't touch any of the the money.

Speaker 3 If you guys are bringing in, I don't know, how much are you bringing in a month? What's your take-home pay right now?

Speaker 4 Well,

Speaker 4 about $30.

Speaker 3 $30 a month is your take-home. I guess California taxes make you still poor somehow.

Speaker 3 So could you live off of

Speaker 3 five and put the other 25 in savings?

Speaker 13 We could probably live off of 10.

Speaker 2 I was going to say the five, George.

Speaker 4 Like, what are you talking about?

Speaker 3 Well, if he's living rent-free.

Speaker 2 Yeah, but he's still in LA though man

Speaker 3 I'm just saying all right you guys have no other debt other than the mortgage

Speaker 13 just the mortgage we paid off uh 170k in uh

Speaker 13 in um student loan fees that i didn't know was accruing interest because i didn't take them out and i didn't understand how they worked but you guys show taught me about subsidized unsubsidized so i looked into it i'm like whoa we're getting

Speaker 13 you know even though we didn't have to pay we were stacking up interest so we paid that off okay good.

Speaker 3 Well, I'm just saying, you know, you put 20K a month in a high-yield savings account for 18 months. You have close to the amount you need, that delta.

Speaker 3 Okay. And I imagine it'll take about 18 months to rebuild, right?

Speaker 13 Yeah, anywhere from 12 to 14 months is what we're getting quoted, and we're going to start probably in March.

Speaker 4 Okay.

Speaker 3 Then this, this is my game plan. I'm going to stack so much cash with my future income, and then any gap remaining, I'm going to take out of that 300 from that personal property payout you got.

Speaker 2 And leave your retirement alone.

Speaker 3 And then thank us later when you retire with $5 million.

Speaker 2 That's right. So you're not going to hurt your compound interest and you're not going to get taxed.
So don't even think retirement. You got too sweet of a double win.

Speaker 3 Especially with your income. Once you buried the lead there going, well, we make $30K a month.
That really helps the situation.

Speaker 10 Yeah.

Speaker 9 Yeah.

Speaker 4 All right, Randy. I'd like to go in.
I appreciate it.

Speaker 13 Yeah. I'm feeling pretty good.

Speaker 4 Sorry for what you've been through.

Speaker 2 You should.

Speaker 2 And my goodness, just so proud of you. And I love the idea that you want to be a part of Altadena Strong.
And there's something about that, the community rising up together and rebuilding.

Speaker 2 That's pretty special stuff. So thanks for sharing a bit of your journey with us.

Speaker 2 That's crazy stuff, George. You know, I was out there in L.A.

Speaker 2 about a month ago. I went out for a football game with my oldest son, and we drove near certainly the Malibu area just because I wanted to see it with my own eyes.

Speaker 2 And that is not a great situation for a lot of people. Randy's got probably one of the better situations.

Speaker 3 Better case scenario.

Speaker 2 Yeah, there's some pretty tough stuff going out there. And I bring that up to say you talk a lot about insurance,

Speaker 2 you know, and I think it makes a lot of sense right now for you to give just a fundamental, all right, acts of God or acts of nature, whatever you want to call them, they happen at times and it can absolutely, you know, whatever.

Speaker 3 People just go, well, whatever happens, insurance will cover it. No, no, no.
You got to read the fine print to see what your insurance will and will not cover, especially depending on your state.

Speaker 3 And so that's something to look into. And so I reshop every year with my independent insurance broker.
And she tells me, hey, this is exactly what it will cover, what it won't cover.

Speaker 3 Do you want to upgrade and get this covered as well? And I go, oh, sweet. I didn't know that.
And so just doing a little bit of research can save you a lot of heartache.

Speaker 3 Because if it's not covered, you need to know you might be on the hook if this event happens.

Speaker 3 And so in a state like Florida, where flooding is very much possible, they're not going to cover a flood happening.

Speaker 3 And so people have been devastated when they lose it and they go, cool, where's my check? And they go, there's no check.

Speaker 2 This isn't covered. It's a great point.
You know, I remember watching that coverage.

Speaker 2 That was the most surreal thing I've ever seen where you could see hot coals literally flying through the air and threatening homes.

Speaker 2 And I remember thinking, just because of the nature of the work we do,

Speaker 2 how many of these people, like once you know your home is gone, that's got to be so, I don't even know. Don't even know how to understand.

Speaker 3 The grief process on that one.

Speaker 2 Just the shock.

Speaker 3 Without the financial implication.

Speaker 2 Right. But

Speaker 2 I remember thinking, I hope they're insured. Because

Speaker 2 one of the few things that you could take away from something like that, if you go, well, this is the worst case scenario. But here's what I know.

Speaker 2 Because I'm like George, because I know what my insurance covers, I can at least say, hey, I have some clarity. Yeah.
Trauma plus confusion. Yeah.
Not fun.

Speaker 3 You got to keep up with what the market rate is to build that house today. That's the part you need to keep up with on your home insurance.

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Speaker 2 Welcome back to the Ramsey Show in the Fairwinds Credit Union Studio. Alongside George Campbell, I'm Ken Coleman.
So glad you're with us. Triple 8-825-5225 is the phone number.
Love to hear from you.

Speaker 2 Emily is up in Dallas, Texas. Emily, how can we help today?

Speaker 2 Hi.

Speaker 5 My husband and I have been married for 14 years, and

Speaker 5 I have worked

Speaker 5 in the beginning. Kids came along.
I stayed home.

Speaker 5 But this entire time, he has always been in control of like finances.

Speaker 5 And I

Speaker 5 don't even know the basic skills. I never knew the password or how much money was going in and out and all that.
And I've asked a few times and I was not given any access or clear answer.

Speaker 3 So what's his answer been? When you share this very calmly and say, hey, I've never really been involved. I'd love to learn.
I'd love to be a part of this. What does he say?

Speaker 5 Just like never showing me how to do it.

Speaker 3 You know, is it defensive? Is it combative? Does he just shut it down? Does he go, you shouldn't need to worry about that?

Speaker 5 He's just like, you know, just like a very vague answer. Like, he would just not like

Speaker 5 show me, okay, this is the password. This is how you do it.
You know, this is what.

Speaker 5 So just like

Speaker 5 never showing it.

Speaker 3 And how does that make you feel?

Speaker 5 Not equal.

Speaker 4 Have you told him this?

Speaker 4 Huh? Have you told him that?

Speaker 5 Yeah. And

Speaker 2 how does he respond to that?

Speaker 5 His response is like, oh, I have always showed you. You don't want to learn.

Speaker 3 But you're telling him you do. And so, you know what? Back in the past, I haven't wanted to learn, and that's changed now.
I want to be more involved. Can you show me?

Speaker 3 It's different than saying, give me the passwords now. I think that's a different conversation.
And I think that is part of it.

Speaker 3 My wife has access to all of our accounts, but usually she doesn't even bother with the password. She just goes, Hey, can you tell me what we have in savings? And I show her.
And she goes, Oh, okay.

Speaker 3 And that's it. And so there's total transparency.
And usually there's one person who's nerdier and knows all the passwords. And that's me in my house.

Speaker 3 But if you're saying he's controlling, he's not wanting to show you things, that is a much deeper issue. There's either one, one of two things, maybe both.

Speaker 3 He's super controlling or he's hiding something.

Speaker 5 Yeah,

Speaker 5 I think, I don't think he's hiding anything. I think you just want to be in control because he thinks he doesn't have the confidence in me.
He doesn't think that I can do it right or well.

Speaker 3 You're not even doing anything right now. We're just saying, can you show me, can I have access to it? You're not like making investment moves and moving money around.

Speaker 5 Right, right, right.

Speaker 5 And so I got a full-time job. I'm a teacher now.
And I told him that, hey,

Speaker 5 you know, I will

Speaker 5 give you whatever money you need, but I just want to keep this account separate only in my name so I can learn how to manage money. Since I have not learned that in past 14 years,

Speaker 5 I, you know, whatever we need, you know, I'll just participate, but I just want a...

Speaker 5 accountability, I want a transparency. And he's just got really angry and told me that he's removing us from removing me from

Speaker 5 our finances and keeping our finances.

Speaker 4 That's not okay.

Speaker 3 That's not unity. You don't get married and then decide, I don't want you to be a part of this section of my life, which affects you directly, by the way.

Speaker 3 And if something happened to him today, you'd be in alerts. You have no clue how to access anything.
You don't know what's where.

Speaker 4 Yeah, and have you shared that fear

Speaker 4 on top of you wanting to be the case?

Speaker 5 That has always been the case. Like, I don't know a lot of things

Speaker 5 because I don't know.

Speaker 4 So

Speaker 2 why do you think why do you think he got angry over all this?

Speaker 5 It's like he's like, you know, it's not your money, it's not our money, it's not, it's our money.

Speaker 5 And it's, you know, um and I'm like, okay, yes, it's our money.

Speaker 5 Um, but you know, it's just like I wanna make sure that if something happens, like for God forbids, if something happens to you, I have the ability and and the skill to manage you know the money and yeah and it sounds like it's falling on deaf ears though like you say it and all that makes a lot of sense to just about anybody and he's now gotten angry about it now he's shut down and he's like i need to make some changes i am removing you from our joint banking account

Speaker 3 so this conversation went from hey can i have access and he went you know what i'm removing your access

Speaker 2 this is like sit down and be quiet You have, you have pushed.

Speaker 5 I wanted to just get an opinion. Like, I don't know.

Speaker 4 An opinion on what?

Speaker 2 What specifically can we opine on?

Speaker 5 Opinion on, like, who, like,

Speaker 5 I think it's a very extreme.

Speaker 4 It's very extreme. Yeah.
He's out of the way. You guys need marriage coming.

Speaker 5 I want to make sure that my judgment is right. And I just wanted to get an opinion of an outsider who doesn't know him and me.

Speaker 2 Yeah, you're right. He's wrong.
Something is really going on. And

Speaker 2 I'm digging here.

Speaker 2 Is this a him problem

Speaker 2 or is there some cultural stuff going on here?

Speaker 5 This is a him problem. Okay.
This is a him problem. Yeah.

Speaker 5 And I.

Speaker 4 Because what I mean by that is did he come from a culture?

Speaker 2 Did he grow up in an environment? And I'm not talking about.

Speaker 2 I'm not talking about nationality.

Speaker 2 I'm talking like, did he grow up in a home where this is the way his dad was and the dad before that and like it's just because I guess my point is it feels like there's more to this than he's just controlling now I could be wrong but that's what I mean is that's all he's ever known when I right when I look at his parents his parents both manage okay equally okay gotcha and so yeah and I don't see the same pattern in them well okay the reason I ask that is because that tells me something that tells me this is he's got control issue problems yeah it's not it's not cultural in other words his environment growing up he's now doing this how do you spend money i'm curious it does he is he upset when you spend money is there you guys i'm guessing there's no budget to be spoken of but if you went and spent a hundred dollars anywhere you want i give him i give him i give him i tell him everything ten dollars i spend i tell him everything he will however go ahead and you know buy an expensive thing without even asking me he he did that a thousand dollar purchase didn't even ask me what what did he buy

Speaker 5 uh he bought like you know like uh outdoor something how would you know if he made a ten thousand dollar purchase

Speaker 3 yeah i wouldn't know how would you know if he went into fifty thousand dollars worth of debt

Speaker 4 yeah

Speaker 3 do you guys have debt that you know of

Speaker 5 i mean we have a little bit of credit card debt like a little bit of

Speaker 5 you know, I don't, he's not that reckless, but

Speaker 5 it's just like, I feel like, you know, he just want to have control in certain areas and he just doesn't want me to

Speaker 5 any kind of independence.

Speaker 4 Not at all.

Speaker 2 He wants you to be seen sometimes and definitely not heard.

Speaker 5 Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah.
He wants to give me just a little bit of, you know, freedom to say that, oh, I'm a good husband.

Speaker 4 Well,

Speaker 2 I got bad news for you this is a this needs deep counseling and a real professional but if he acted the way he did over you just saying hey i'd like to be involved in our accounts i don't know how he's going to act to the old marriage therapy request yeah i hate to say it but you're gonna have to draw some lines and right now you might need to go solo uh yeah i think that's where we are headed actually we are headed to the counseling and because i'm being told that i have issues not him that's called gaslighting

Speaker 4 Oh, bless.

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Speaker 2 All right, Nick is joining us in George Kimmel's old neck of the woods, Boston, Massachusetts.

Speaker 2 I feel like you should welcome into the air Boston style.

Speaker 3 Hey, Nick, what's up, my guy?

Speaker 6 Howdy.

Speaker 3 How are you guys doing? The funniest thing is almost nobody in Boston has the accent. Right.
Very disappointing.

Speaker 3 How can we help, Nick?

Speaker 8 No, we hate it.

Speaker 6 So my mom recently passed.

Speaker 4 Oh,

Speaker 1 so how recently?

Speaker 6 Thank you.

Speaker 6 About two months ago. Wow.

Speaker 4 Dude. Oof.

Speaker 9 Yes.

Speaker 6 And she worked for the state. And I inherited $340,000.

Speaker 6 And at that time,

Speaker 6 everything is very disorganized.

Speaker 6 She didn't have a will. So I ended up becoming the voluntary administrator because she doesn't have a lot of assets.

Speaker 6 So the only thing that's getting distributed is life insurance. And now we found out there's a pension as well.

Speaker 6 And when I came to the $340,000, I was being pressured to divide it up between my two younger sisters. So my mom had me when she was a teenager, got the state job.

Speaker 6 signed up this paperwork for the life insurance back in 2000 and probably forgot about it. And she has the pension that she's divvied up between my siblings, my two sisters, and myself.

Speaker 6 So now I'm being pressured to divvy up this money, and I pressured she was on board for that.

Speaker 2 Who's pressuring?

Speaker 6 My grandfather and my mother's ex-boyfriend.

Speaker 1 Hoi.

Speaker 2 Your grandfather.

Speaker 2 Which is presumably your mom's dad.

Speaker 4 Yes.

Speaker 2 And then the ex-boyfriend?

Speaker 6 Yes. So my mom originally wanted my youngest sister, the 16-year-old, to go and live with him instead of her father because he's not that great of a man.

Speaker 6 He ended up abusing me and her when we were younger. Oh, man.
So, and he financially abused me. So that was the other thing is she doesn't want him having access to my sister's money.

Speaker 4 Okay, I interrupted you.

Speaker 2 Sorry. So you were saying I'm feeling pressure, but.

Speaker 6 Well, I'm feeling pressure, but I did want to give them money

Speaker 6 and then I we were taking care of my mom's dog and the dog attacked me and my two-year-old son we had to go to the hospital it was a really traumatic event like honestly worst experience of my life I wouldn't wish that upon anyone

Speaker 6 and I wasn't met with any humility or even care for my son they were making accusations that I instigated the dog attack

Speaker 2 after it was proven that I didn't make it up the sisters at first the sisters were yes the sisters and and i'm sorry so they were did you say a moment ago, I didn't want to give them money or I did want to?

Speaker 8 I did.

Speaker 4 You did want to.

Speaker 4 Okay.

Speaker 9 Yes.

Speaker 2 And then the dog

Speaker 2 dog incident happens. They treat you like crap.

Speaker 6 Yeah, and then it just is a mirroring of my entire childhood where I'm treated like crap by everyone.

Speaker 6 And I just, I don't want to give someone $100 plus thousand dollars to treat me like crap the rest of my life.

Speaker 6 Especially when like literally weeks ago, I was trying to figure out how I'm going to put food on the table. Like I run a small business

Speaker 6 and it's a really tough this year. You know, I run a service-based industry.
It's a luxury service, to be honest with you, washing windows.

Speaker 6 So not many people have that money in their pocket this year.

Speaker 6 So kind of struggling and then we come into this money and I'm gonna divvy it up and then I get attacked and they're treating me very poorly,

Speaker 6 not even caring about my two-year-old son.

Speaker 6 And then once they find out that there's money involved, one of my sisters has changed her tune and she's now nice. And my mom always said that she was Too-Face.

Speaker 6 And my 16-year-old sister that I was really trying to like set trust up for has gone like no contact with me and everyone says that she hates me.

Speaker 2 Well, that decision got real easy.

Speaker 3 So let's walk through the options here. Number one, you don't give them any money and they continue to not like you.

Speaker 4 Right?

Speaker 3 Option number two, you give them the money and then you end whatever is left of these relationships.

Speaker 4 Correct?

Speaker 3 Yeah. Because nothing's going to salvage the relationship.
There's no world where we're all happy now and they're good people.

Speaker 3 And so you just option one, it's going to weigh on you probably to not give them any money and it might make your life more difficult as they continue to make your life a living hell.

Speaker 3 Or you give them the money and say, listen, this is all you're getting. We're done here.

Speaker 3 Don't contact me if that's what you want. If you want to go, no, contact because

Speaker 3 they no longer are serving you in any capacity. This is no longer even family.
This is a business transaction to them.

Speaker 3 Yeah.

Speaker 3 So you give them each, what, 113 grand

Speaker 3 and call it a day?

Speaker 6 Yeah, that's what they're looking for.

Speaker 3 I mean,

Speaker 2 what would you do, George? Let's answer that.

Speaker 3 I might do it for the peace of mind because it's going to weigh on your conscience. And again, in reality, they're never going to stop.

Speaker 3 And they're going to just try to trash you, your reputation, your life, come after you. I don't know what these people are capable of, truthfully.
You know them better than I do.

Speaker 3 But for me, I'm going, you know what? This is worth it. I'm writing a check to give me peace of mind that I did what I thought was the best I could do.

Speaker 3 And because there was no will, we don't know what mom would have done.

Speaker 4 Right?

Speaker 6 Yeah, well, and that's the thing is I tried to,

Speaker 6 I had like a chat GPT write up a mock will and just try to really specify what her wishes were around my 16-year-old sister. And that was met with extreme hostility.

Speaker 6 And they were trying to make me out to be the bad guy in the hospital. And I was like, guys, like I'm going to have to handle this stuff with family court and probate and all that.

Speaker 6 So I'm just trying to figure out what mom's wishes are. And they didn't want to hear it.

Speaker 3 Well, AI is never going to figure out what your mom's wishes were.

Speaker 10 Bad decision there.

Speaker 6 Well, no, no, no, no, no. I meant write up a will for me to fill in.
So, like, the will was already written up. We could have the notary come up from the hospital.

Speaker 3 This is when she was still alive, you're saying

Speaker 6 this was when she was still alive. Like, we had probably.

Speaker 6 So, she was still coherent and things like that. And I asked the nurse if she was to have a will wrote up and she wanted to sign it, would it be legal?

Speaker 6 And they said, Yeah, as long as his notary was there.

Speaker 6 And when I brought that up to the other family members, and it wasn't to go through all the assets, it was really to focus on my 16-year-old sister, what her wishes were around her.

Speaker 4 How old are the siblings now?

Speaker 6 16 and 21.

Speaker 3 Okay, because I wouldn't be giving a 16-year-old $113,000.

Speaker 2 I'm not giving either one of them.

Speaker 3 I might do this later on when they're adults and say, hey, here's it and have it in a written contract of here's how much you'll get and when.

Speaker 6 Well, now the other thing is, do I put this in a mutual fund and set up a trust for them with conditions?

Speaker 6 You know, because like I don't want to give a 21-year-old $100,000

Speaker 6 and I don't have a steward assigned to me.

Speaker 4 I'm going to tell you something.

Speaker 2 Nick, here's the deal. I'll give George the final word on it.

Speaker 2 He's already given his opinion. George is way nicer than me.

Speaker 4 Probably about to drop the hand.

Speaker 2 Probably because he's slightly more neurotic than me. He doesn't want to have to deal with it.

Speaker 2 I think the trust idea would normally make sense.

Speaker 2 It doesn't make sense in this case, George and Nick, in my opinion, because the minute you say to them, to the 16 and the 21 year old, one's two-faced, the other one has cut you out of their life.

Speaker 2 And you're going to say to them, you'll get this, your $100,000, your share,

Speaker 2 at this age. And if you meet these moral conditions, they're going to freaking lose their mind and they're never going to get it anyway.

Speaker 2 And I think your gut is the one you go with here. And I think you were thinking at first, I'll give them something.
And now I don't think that makes any sense. And I'm going to go extreme.

Speaker 2 I think it's extreme, but I think in this case it calls for that. I cut them both out.
There's no way you're gonna be able to ever figure out what mom wanted. She didn't take care of it.

Speaker 2 She made it your problem. You stepped up like a good son.
You're a good man. You're gonna make the best use of that money.

Speaker 2 I just, I'd be okay, George. I'd sleep very well at night not giving them a nickel.

Speaker 3 And you're sure, Nick, there's no legal obligation here to give them anything because there was no will. No.
The courts decided it should all go to you.

Speaker 6 $340,000 is all life insurance money from her work.

Speaker 3 And you were the sole beneficiary?

Speaker 3 And why was that? Why did she do that? Because of your age?

Speaker 6 When she, I was her only child when she first got the job.

Speaker 3 Okay, so she just kind of never got around to changing it might be the real reason.

Speaker 9 Yes.

Speaker 3 Versus if she was able to today, would she add me as beneficiaries?

Speaker 2 We don't know.

Speaker 3 We can't play that game. That's the question mark.

Speaker 3 So I don't know, man. This is a real tough personal decision.
You got two options. I don't think either one is wrong.
I wouldn't fault you for either one, but I don't know.

Speaker 3 Peace of mind is worth something. So, I would just think about that.
You know, these people better than I do.

Speaker 6 You got it. Thank you guys for your time.
Yeah.

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Speaker 2 The Ramsey Show question of the day is brought to you by YReFi. When your private student loans are in default, it's easy to feel ashamed or stuck, but YReFi will not judge you.

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Speaker 3 Today's question comes from Alexis in Connecticut. My husband and I exceed the income limits when it comes to retirement account contributions.

Speaker 3 We've heard about the backdoor Roth IRA option, but it seems a bit complicated to manage every year. Are there simpler alternatives or other strategies we could consider?

Speaker 3 I mean, I don't think it's that complicated to manage every year. And if you want help with it, you could use a financial advisor who could help execute a lot of the pieces for you.

Speaker 3 Are there other simpler alternatives? I don't think there's anything much simpler when it comes to tax-advantage retirement options. Now, it depends on what your retirement options are currently.

Speaker 3 If you've got a 401k you've maxed out, that's a great place to go, especially the Roth option. You got the backdoor Roth IRA option.

Speaker 3 There's a mega backdoor 401k option that you might have access to with your company. You can check with your HR department.
But that one is even a little more complicated.

Speaker 3 So the Backdoor Roth IRA is simply this. You contribute with after-tax dollars to a traditional IRA, and then you convert that to Roth.
So it's two steps.

Speaker 3 And I don't think it's as complicated as you're making it out to be. You said you've heard about it, but you haven't actually done it.

Speaker 3 So I would do it first before you decide it's much too complicated. There's lots of videos on this online.
And again, you can reach out to a SmartVestor Pro on our website if you want help with it.

Speaker 3 If it feels too complicated, that's what they're there for to help you understand this stuff and to not make it so overwhelming. But good problem to have, yeah, very good problem to have.

Speaker 2 And you talking about super megas and backdoors, and it feels like a child.

Speaker 4 I don't know, man.

Speaker 3 What's better? What's better? Mega or super mega? It feels like we're naming Charmin toilet paper. It's like,

Speaker 2 how about we just simplify the whole process, Congress? But that's too much to ask.

Speaker 3 That's a lot.

Speaker 2 Carol is up in Knoxville, Tennessee. Carol, how can we help? help?

Speaker 7 Hello, guys.

Speaker 7 So I have a situation of

Speaker 7 I own a home in Iowa

Speaker 7 and

Speaker 7 my in-laws have been renting it from me for 12 years.

Speaker 7 Now my landlord is retiring and

Speaker 7 has offered us the house that we've been renting the same house for 12 years.

Speaker 7 But I can't seem to get my in-laws out of my house. So

Speaker 7 I want to sell it, but

Speaker 7 they're not medically or physically able to move on their own right now. So I don't really know what to do.
Should I keep renting it to them or should I sell it?

Speaker 2 Well, I feel like the way you set that question up,

Speaker 2 there's not that secondary option you gave us. Should I sell it when you can't even get them out of it? And it doesn't sound like your husband's much help.
And then you said they can't get out of it.

Speaker 7 He's told them that they, you know, we want to sell it by this time, by this time, by this time, the last two years.

Speaker 3 Where would they be if they weren't renting from you guys for the last 12 years?

Speaker 7 They were renting before that another house. Okay.
We got an opportunity to come down here and we kind of wanted to keep the house as a backup plan in case this didn't work out.

Speaker 7 And,

Speaker 7 yep, here we are 12 years later.

Speaker 2 Well, so the great news is, is that that your husband's on board with selling the house. I thought maybe that was going to be an issue.
But the bad news is, is he won't actually be a man

Speaker 2 until his parents that it's time for them to move on. Now, the issue of they can't physically leave, is that true?

Speaker 7 Yeah, my mother-in-law has gotten really bad where she can't even walk now. My father-in-law has had a heart attack.
It's 11 acres, and he just, he can't do it all himself.

Speaker 2 Right, but I guess what I'm trying to understand is we want them out, but they actually can't leave.

Speaker 4 Right. Well, is that true?

Speaker 2 I mean, you guys could go help them move.

Speaker 3 Like, can we put them in like a wheelchair into a van and put take them to a different house they rent and you guys do the actual moving process?

Speaker 7 Well, I have even offered to like buy a trailer for them to move into until they found something else.

Speaker 3 Well, what are you charging them for rent right now?

Speaker 7 Honestly, it's been ridiculously cheap. They've only been paying my mortgage, which is now paid off as of five days ago.

Speaker 2 Okay, you guys are being taken advantage of. The more detail we get.

Speaker 3 Do they have enough money to rent elsewhere? That's the question.

Speaker 7 I don't really think so.

Speaker 4 I mean,

Speaker 4 what is the apartment on 500?

Speaker 7 I honestly don't know, but it's probably roughly $2,000 a month.

Speaker 4 Okay.

Speaker 3 And they're not going to find rent for $500, I assume, anywhere in the area.

Speaker 7 No, no.

Speaker 7 So are you guys from

Speaker 3 you're going to have to subsidize their rent elsewhere if that's what you guys choose to do? Because otherwise they're on the street. What are the options here?

Speaker 7 Right. I don't want them on the street.

Speaker 3 Put them in a home?

Speaker 2 Sounds to me like you're holding on to this house and they're going to live in it until they aren't alive.

Speaker 7 My husband says the same thing. My dad and I built this house.
And my dad passed away in 2007. And I just can't go back there no more.
I'm done.

Speaker 4 How old are they?

Speaker 2 No, I get that part. I guess what I'm saying is...

Speaker 4 Yeah, go ahead.

Speaker 7 They're like 72 and 73.

Speaker 3 Okay. And there's a chance they could live another 20-plus years, right?

Speaker 9 Probably not.

Speaker 2 I was going to say, that's generous.

Speaker 7 They're physically

Speaker 7 in bad shape.

Speaker 3 People can live into their 90s, even if

Speaker 3 they physically can't get around. So I'm wondering, is there a condition? Is there a cancer or something that says, hey,

Speaker 3 this might be ending in the next five years?

Speaker 2 Right. Well,

Speaker 2 I guess my question is,

Speaker 2 as their health gets worse,

Speaker 2 they're not going to be able to stay in that house anyway, and they'd have to go to an option that's not even on the table right now, but all of a sudden becomes the option. Am I right?

Speaker 4 Yes.

Speaker 2 Well, I guess my point is, is that based on what George and I have heard, even though I hate this for you and I think it's manipulative, it sounds to me like until that becomes the

Speaker 2 situation and where their health requires them to move out,

Speaker 2 you're kind of stuck in the situation.

Speaker 7 Yeah.

Speaker 4 And your husband hasn't taken any initiative.

Speaker 4 Right.

Speaker 7 Well, he's told them several times, you know, we need you guys to find a place to rent.

Speaker 2 Well, I appreciate that. He's still.

Speaker 3 They're not going to get on Google and go search.

Speaker 2 They're not moving. He's told them, and they literally aren't even listening to him.

Speaker 8 Correct? Right.

Speaker 7 They've tried, and she got scammed.

Speaker 3 Scammed in a rental situation where they gave them a deposit that was fake or what?

Speaker 7 No, they wanted them to go buy some Apple cards and stuff to go see the house and for the down payment.

Speaker 3 Okay. And she was able to go buy these Apple cards?

Speaker 4 No.

Speaker 4 Okay.

Speaker 3 So how did she go?

Speaker 4 She didn't.

Speaker 7 She tried to send her husband, my father-in-law,

Speaker 7 and

Speaker 7 they were going to go meet her somewhere to give him the cards.

Speaker 7 But he has to carry her to the truck.

Speaker 4 Well, here's what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 Unless your husband, I understand you don't want to go back because there's some kind of pain there with you. That's not why we're talking today.

Speaker 2 But unless he wants to go back to Iowa and hand-hold them, that means he finds the place. Make sure they don't get scammed to buy Apple cards or what in the world is going on in Iowa.

Speaker 2 But unless he, as their son, goes back and cleans this mess up, then you're holding until it takes care of itself. That's what it sounds like to me.

Speaker 2 So if you guys really want them out, your husband needs to grow a spine and fly back to Iowa and solve this problem.

Speaker 9 Right.

Speaker 2 And if it's not solvable as you're painting this picture to us, then they're staying there till they can't stay there.

Speaker 2 Right. And at this point, it's not a financial burden to you, not much of one, other than upkeep, right?

Speaker 7 Well, yeah. Yeah, it needs it needs some stuff.

Speaker 4 Well, we'll do that later.

Speaker 2 Yeah. As long as it's inhabitable by them, don't spend a nickel on it, right?

Speaker 4 Right, right.

Speaker 2 It's a tough one.

Speaker 7 Yeah, because that was my fear, too, because I could take out a personal loan and

Speaker 2 fix it.

Speaker 3 No, whatever you do, do not go into debt over the situation. Let this go.

Speaker 7 No, I don't want to do that. Well, because I won't get it back.

Speaker 3 Either you let them stay and you can't sell, or you try to get them to an assisted living, senior living, or a rental that makes sense for them financially. But either way, this is going to cost you.

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Hayden is joining us now from Asheville.

Speaker 2 Excuse me. Yes, Asheville, North Carolina.
Hayden, how can we help?

Speaker 8 Hey guys, can you hear me?

Speaker 2 Loud and clear. What's going on?

Speaker 6 Awesome.

Speaker 8 So I'm just kind of looking for some information.

Speaker 8 So I'm actually enlisting into the Air Force in about three weeks, and then I will go to basic training from there. So kind of what I'm looking for is just

Speaker 8 kind of some advice on what should I do while I'm in the service, just try to get better financially

Speaker 8 and then just kind of grow it while I'm in. If I do choose to get out after my four years or make a career out of it, I've got a few things.

Speaker 8 Like, I've already got my IRA set up. I've got money in my bank accounts, you know, pretty good on that.
I do have a truck that I just purchased, so that is a kind of a debt that I took on.

Speaker 4 Oh, it's a kind of a debt.

Speaker 3 I would just say it's a debt.

Speaker 8 But yeah, that's kind of just what I'm just kind of calling in and asking for advice on what I could do while I'm in.

Speaker 4 Sure. How old are you?

Speaker 8 I am

Speaker 13 25 in February.

Speaker 3 Cool. And what will you be making?

Speaker 8 Starting out, I will make about $2,700 a month, and then I just progress with the rank as I go through.

Speaker 3 Okay. Are you living for free?

Speaker 8 Yeah, I mean,

Speaker 8 I'll live when I'm there. I'll live for free because I live in the dormitories and stuff.

Speaker 2 Sweet.

Speaker 3 Okay. So you can make $2,700 work and you've got a truck payment now to deal with.

Speaker 4 Do you need this truck?

Speaker 4 Well,

Speaker 4 yeah, it's kind of a trick question, Hayden.

Speaker 3 The answer is you do not need this truck. How much was this truck?

Speaker 8 It is, it was $53,000.

Speaker 3 Now tell me, now tell me on why, why on God's green earth does a 25-year-old young man who's got a bright future ahead of him need a $53,000 truck?

Speaker 3 So

Speaker 3 here's what happened.

Speaker 8 I had a car. I've had a car for about 10 years and the warranty was about to run out and everything.

Speaker 8 And I will say this, my family has helped me with the payments so far.

Speaker 8 And, you know, but when I get started and get established into the military, then I will take on the payments. So it's kind of a

Speaker 8 little push from my family just because the car, the vehicle that I had was the warranty was gone, and then the miles was just going to get too high.

Speaker 3 I'm still looking for a reason why you needed a $53,000 truck that you couldn't afford.

Speaker 2 You could run for Congress. That was such a good deflection, sir, on that direct question.

Speaker 2 So, one more time:

Speaker 2 why does a 25-year-old going to the Air Force need a $53,000 truck?

Speaker 3 While he makes $32,000 a year, by the way.

Speaker 4 Oof.

Speaker 3 How much is the payment?

Speaker 8 The payment is $8.25 a month.

Speaker 4 Oh, my word.

Speaker 3 I can't breathe, Hayden.

Speaker 2 And your family's paying all of it?

Speaker 8 So, yeah, so I'm paying the insurance on it. And then they just, because we just, the payments just started coming out at the beginning of this month.

Speaker 2 Yeah, so you don't even know what it's like to experience it.

Speaker 3 And you're asking me how to grow your investments?

Speaker 3 Do you understand how diabolically inverse those two things are?

Speaker 3 That you're paying interest on a depreciating asset that's almost twice your income while asking me how to build wealth.

Speaker 3 Do you find this ironic?

Speaker 13 Yeah, that was

Speaker 8 a concern of mine when the vehicle was coming up.

Speaker 4 Here's how you build wealth, Aiden.

Speaker 3 I'm going to be honest: you sell the truck while you can and get out from underneath this payment.

Speaker 3 How much could you sell it for?

Speaker 4 Well,

Speaker 8 I bought it pretty much brand new. Like, it had one owner, and it only had like 6,000 miles on it.
So I could probably

Speaker 8 make my money back on it.

Speaker 3 I would attempt to do that. Do you have any money saved?

Speaker 8 Oh, yeah. I mean, I've got

Speaker 8 thousands of dollars saved.

Speaker 4 How much exactly?

Speaker 8 I've got about 20,000 saved, and then I've got some cash of probably 8,000 to 10,000.

Speaker 3 So here's what I would do. I would sell that truck and then take $10,000 and get yourself a reasonable used car.

Speaker 3 Maybe 15 would be the top end limit out the door after taxes is what you're going to spend on this thing, making $30,000. Because you told me your stated goal is to build wealth, right?

Speaker 3 Absolutely. So if that's the thing we're aiming at, then we're going to spend as little money as possible on toys and depreciating assets.
And we're going to get out of debt and stay out of debt.

Speaker 3 Is this your only debt to your name right now?

Speaker 8 Yeah, this is debt. This is my only debt.
No credit card, no loan, no nothing.

Speaker 3 I'm telling you, if you sell this car, get out of debt, stay out of debt, and then you have all of your income at your disposal to actually build wealth with,

Speaker 3 we can get you a game plan to build some wealth and invest. But right now, that $800 a month could have been going into an investment, but instead it's going to Toyota.

Speaker 11 Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3 And so I would get out from this truck and see if you can take it back to the dealership that screws you on this deal. What's the interest rate on this?

Speaker 3 It is

Speaker 8 8.24.

Speaker 4 Cool, cool, cool.

Speaker 3 What if you could make 8% on your money instead of lose it? Wouldn't that be cool?

Speaker 6 Yeah.

Speaker 3 That's what I'm trying to trade here. I'm not mad at you for wanting to enjoy your life.
I'm mad because it's robbing from your ability to build wealth for you and your future family.

Speaker 4 So I would say, hey, mom, dad, thanks for enabling this bad decision.

Speaker 3 I want out of this thing.

Speaker 4 You're off the hook for the payment.

Speaker 8 Yeah, I mean,

Speaker 8 they talked to me, talked about it, and they was like, well, we can do it, you know, while you're in. And then when you get established, you you can take it.

Speaker 8 But my biggest thing is I, I don't have property in my name. And I would, you know, we all know how property and the value is.
And I would love to get started on property as soon as I can.

Speaker 8 And of course, with the truck payment and stuff, that kind of puts me, that puts me in the middle of the day.

Speaker 4 Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 All of your goals are in direct opposition to your actual behavior. You're saying I want to own property.
I want to build wealth. I want to invest.
And yet we're going backwards.

Speaker 3 And so I want you to undo that decision as quickly as possible so that you can actually have some money. Because you save $8.25 a month in a savings account.

Speaker 3 You'll be able to actually buy something one day.

Speaker 3 But if you continue down this path of taking on a payment, trading it in, getting another payment, then you're going to be broke for as long as you can remember.

Speaker 3 So I'm wishing you the best, man, but this truck needs to go yesterday. Yeah.

Speaker 2 And then walk the baby steps out. We'll give you total money makeover as our congratulations gift.
Let's also give George's book, Breaking Free from Broke.

Speaker 3 Please read the Carloans chapter.

Speaker 2 Read the Carlos chapter as a follow-up. That's good homework.

Speaker 2 But the point is you're going to have a great chance to live very affordably while you're in the Air Force. And we thank you for serving our country.
You're a great American.

Speaker 2 But take advantage of that. And so saving and investing while you're there, not going into any debt, getting out of all debt now.
And all you got to do is get rid of this truck.

Speaker 2 And by the way, you're going to meet opposition on that. Because what George just laid out for you is very countercultural, included in your own family.

Speaker 3 They're going to be laughing when you roll up in that new truck you get, the new DU truck. That's almost $10,000.
Right.

Speaker 2 But I mean, how much do you need any kind of a vehicle when you're on a base? That's what I'm wondering.

Speaker 3 You're just tooling around to the local Wendy's, I guess. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 I mean,

Speaker 2 catch a ride with the other guys

Speaker 3 in their fancy trucks that have $800 payments. That's the way to do it.

Speaker 2 There's the deal. You ride around at somebody else's.
Are we still, by the way, in America, are we still on the upper end of $700 on the average amount of car payments or has that gone up?

Speaker 2 Do you know?

Speaker 3 It's over $700 now.

Speaker 2 Over $700. Yep.
Okay. I thought it was high.

Speaker 3 And what we are, we're actually headed to the amount of student loan debt we're in, equal to car debt. That's what's crazy.

Speaker 2 Did you hear about Trump's 15-year car note? Is that going anywhere?

Speaker 3 Well, I heard a rumbling about this. I could not find any credible sources that said they were working on a 15-year car loan.

Speaker 4 I can't either. It was mentioned.

Speaker 3 The latest mention I heard was the seven-year car loan has now kind of been normalized.

Speaker 3 15-year car loans, I don't believe, exist unless you're talking a luxury, exotic car, you know, that's hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Speaker 2 It was floating around the internet when the 50-year mortgage was thrown out.

Speaker 3 Would anything shock me in America today that's going to cause us to be more broke? Why not? To have our fancy toys? Why not?

Speaker 4 Well,

Speaker 2 the guy in charge likes the debt.

Speaker 3 He's not scared of debt because he'll just bankrupt on it, I guess. That's his M.O.

Speaker 2 What's up guys, George Camill here.

Speaker 3 What if I told you that you had thousands of extra dollars hiding in your budget right now? Listen, I know how crazy that sounds. You're thinking, dude, I'm broke.

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Speaker 2 Welcome back to the Ramsey Show in the Fairwinds Credit Union Studio. I'm Ken Coleman.
George Camill is alongside, and we're happy to have you with us. 888-825-5225 is the phone number.

Speaker 2 Michelle joins us now in Phoenix, Arizona.

Speaker 4 Michelle, how can we help?

Speaker 5 Hi, guys. Thanks so much for helping me out.

Speaker 4 I appreciate it.

Speaker 5 I guess my question is, how do my husband and I get out of $270,000 of student loan debt combined on one income?

Speaker 2 What's his income?

Speaker 5 We make $92,000 a year gross.

Speaker 4 Okay.

Speaker 3 And what are your options for increasing income? Are you able to work outside the home right now?

Speaker 5 So I am a

Speaker 5 freelance writer. I've been a publisher

Speaker 5 for 11 years and a freelance writer, but a lot of the companies I write for don't pay me.

Speaker 3 They don't pay you?

Speaker 3 Nope. What do you mean, like you did the work and the payment never came through?

Speaker 5 More of they're all saying that there's budget cuts. And if I want to get my work out there, I have the right to help people for free or not get paid.

Speaker 4 Okay.

Speaker 3 Yeah. No.
Is this a scam? This is not how the world works, even in the freelance writing world.

Speaker 3 They set a rate, you know, and they say, hey, we'll pay you $150 to write this thing, and then they pay you to write that thing.

Speaker 5 It changed a lot with the last recession in 2008, and I write, but the books don't pay very well for advances and royalties.

Speaker 4 Okay.

Speaker 3 Are there other writing jobs that you could get? Because you're saying you're able to work full-time. Nothing's stopping you from doing that.

Speaker 5 I can work remote. I have a little munchkin at home school, so at night I can write.

Speaker 5 I'm happy to do do it i i've i'm always i've always done that um but i've even been looking at teaching work i'm i have two master's degrees so i can be a teacher um but i haven't been able to get hired online like remote asynchronous

Speaker 2 hmm well okay i appreciate all that but there's an old phrase and i'm going to ask you to finish it where there's a will there's a

Speaker 4 Way. Okay.

Speaker 2 And I appreciate that you've tried to get the online professor. I think you should still be trying for that.
I think that's a great idea.

Speaker 2 But I think with all of the freelance in today's economy, the freelance work, because of your varied skills of writing, there's a lot of different type of writing you can do and none of this nonsense where you're writing for free.

Speaker 2 But you may need to get outside of the writing side of things and look at what other online,

Speaker 2 you know, or work from home roles that with your two masters, with your writing experience, there's a lot of transferable skill there.

Speaker 2 I mean, you should be thinking in the $50,000 to $75,000 category at a minimum with those two masters. What are your master's degrees in?

Speaker 5 English and creative writing, but I have a unique niche that's needed. I actually help kids and teens who are struggling with life issues, such as...

Speaker 5 if their parent died or if they're living with alcoholic parents or they're struggling with Boeing, those are kind of

Speaker 5 that I touch in.

Speaker 5 There's not a lot of help for them. And if I don't write for free sometimes or write, then they can't get the information that's needed to help them.
So I'm kind of in a,

Speaker 5 if you do it for free, at least I'm getting the information out to those kids.

Speaker 5 But if I stop writing, then the information stops. So that's why it's, that's why I kept doing it.
If you're wondering why I keep writing for free.

Speaker 2 We're not judging you, but my point is, is you can't only do so much of that. Right now, you need to bring in more income to help your husband.
Do you agree or disagree with this?

Speaker 5 Oh, no, I agree. I'm just having trouble

Speaker 5 finding that.

Speaker 4 You know what I mean? I've been clients.

Speaker 5 I've been applying like crazy.

Speaker 2 Well, but it's not about applying like crazy. I'm going to give you my book, The Proximity Principles, so we don't have to describe the entire book, but you have to get into a very strategic

Speaker 2 system of contacting people. And I'm not talking about applying on LinkedIn or applying online.

Speaker 2 I'm talking about talking to real people who can make real connections for you because there's a lot you can do. But you need to be targeting targeting something

Speaker 2 in the $50,000 to $75,000 range. I would take all those masters, all that skill, all that experience, and I would expand.
I would put it,

Speaker 2 you know, if nothing else, put all of your work experience and expertise into ChatGPT just for fun. Just put it in there and go, what would you suggest?

Speaker 2 You've got to start opening up your eyes to possibilities. Because you guys need more income.
Now, I want to bring George in. Let's assume we get more income.
Okay.

Speaker 2 George, systematically walk them through what they do.

Speaker 3 So you've got how many total debts

Speaker 4 out of this 270. I have

Speaker 5 most of that is my student debt. He's at like $65,000.
The rest is mine.

Speaker 5 And then we also have a mortgage and I have credit cards and we're in some collections right now because everything kind of just got a little out of control.

Speaker 3 Okay. So you've got the majority of it is student loans and that $270,000 does not include your mortgage.
That's all all consumer debt?

Speaker 4 Nope,

Speaker 4 straight student loans.

Speaker 3 The $270 is just student loans.

Speaker 4 Yep.

Speaker 5 $250 is our mortgage.

Speaker 3 So you have $250 on top of the $270.

Speaker 5 Yep.

Speaker 3 Okay. What are your monthly bills right now if you add up the basics, food, utilities, housing, transportation, insurance, and minimum debt payments?

Speaker 3 Oh, four walls.

Speaker 5 If we're just talking four walls, it'd be $5,400, but the debt are put to like $7,500.

Speaker 3 And you guys are bringing home like $5,000?

Speaker 5 Like $5,400.

Speaker 4 Okay.

Speaker 3 Which is why you're going into credit card debt.

Speaker 5 Yeah, it's just kind of

Speaker 5 like we're taking our four walls and then we're trying to pay them, and then it just got into a mess. So we stopped paying the collection.

Speaker 5 So we're trying to concentrate on the four walls like we're learning from you guys.

Speaker 5 But it's kind of blowing up in our face at the moment.

Speaker 3 I would agree. I think this the charity work passion project stuff needs to stop because we need to cover our own household right now.

Speaker 5 Do you agree?

Speaker 5 Okay, yes, I agree.

Speaker 3 I would be finding anyone I know that works at a place that is hiring for any role that I am somewhat qualified for.

Speaker 3 So you think about content writing, copywriting, grant writing, adjunct professor in creative writing or English. Have you explored all of those?

Speaker 3 And do you know anyone who works at a place that has those positions?

Speaker 5 Yes, I've been applying like crazy. I've been reaching out for networking contacts.

Speaker 5 I'm connected to all my old editors. They're connecting me to other editors.

Speaker 5 I even reach out international. I have some friends international getting me at their university so I can teach remote online, anything you can think of.

Speaker 3 I'm jumping. Can we look elsewhere for now and just do side hustles that have nothing to do with writing, just to bring some income in the door?

Speaker 5 The problem is I don't have any family support so my husband's on call at work and it means no one would be able to watch my munchkin that's why i have to do like remote when i'm home what does he do for work

Speaker 4 he

Speaker 5 is a manager at a facility company

Speaker 3 and is there any upward mobility for him to climb up the ladder and make more make six figures

Speaker 5 he's been trying so we've been he's been applying the interviews but he hasn't you know we're still trying but he hasn't gotten one yet we're both trying everything we can think of And he's been looking at other companies.

Speaker 5 So we've both been networking.

Speaker 5 It's just kind of a, we're both kind of stuck to his eye, but we're trying.

Speaker 3 Yeah, the only variable that can move right now is the income. The debt's not going anywhere.
There's nothing to sell off.

Speaker 3 We can't sell our master's degrees that we paid a quarter million dollars for. So what we can do is utilize them to get that better job and make more money.

Speaker 2 Yeah, and this is a full-time job now. This isn't a, well, we're stuck.
We're trying and nothing's happening.

Speaker 2 No, it's nothing's happening yet, but we're going to continue to move like the mouse in the maze, always moving towards the cheese. Hang on the line.
We've got the proximity principle.

Speaker 2 It's my gift to you. You need to read this, or if you want the audiobook, we'll get that for you.

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It's a lot of slashes and dashes, George.

Speaker 2 Ramseysolutions.com slash health dash coverage. Or, and this is the easy way to do it, click the link in the show notes if you're on YouTube or podcast.

Speaker 3 Well said. No notes.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Stanley is up in Mobile, Alabama, where George hailed from

Speaker 2 college. Love that.

Speaker 4 Stanley, how can we help?

Speaker 8 Hey, how's it going? I hopefully got a quick question that you guys can answer, smack a little bit of sense into me.

Speaker 2 We will determine that, Stanley. We will determine that.

Speaker 8 Absolutely. My question is: Should I gift the remainder of my daughter's wedding budget back to her?

Speaker 8 And I can give you a little bit of the background. My oldest daughter from my first marriage just got married.

Speaker 8 When they initially got engaged, my wife and I, her stepmom, we set aside $10,000.

Speaker 8 And that was kind of, hey, this is going to be your budget.

Speaker 8 My daughter and her husband, they decided that they were going to do a destination wedding, come down here, get married.

Speaker 8 And so it actually ended up being a lot cheaper. And originally it was going to be about $5,000.

Speaker 8 My wife and I thought, cool, we can, you know, set aside this $5,000 and that would be a nice little, you know, like wedding gift, wedding present for them.

Speaker 8 As things went on, a couple little expenses, you know, with wedding planning typically as they always do, kind of arose.

Speaker 8 So my wife and I, we stepped in and we said, hey, don't worry, we got some money for this. We'll cover you guys.

Speaker 8 My wife did a ton of planning for this wedding. She did the lion's share for this, and we never quite really felt like she got a thank you.

Speaker 8 Then to also add on top of it, my daughter, while not a bad person by any means at all, but there's a few little things financially that we don't agree with that she does.

Speaker 8 You know, she finances cars. As soon as she paid off a new car, we were so excited for her and then she turned around and bought another one.
And so we're kind of

Speaker 8 sitting there a little uncomfortable with it. But then really the icing on the cake is she bought a house with her husband and her mother.
So the three of them bought a house together.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 8 yeah, that's something that we definitely don't agree with. And so now we're sitting here, the wedding's all done.
And we're like,

Speaker 8 we now got about $3,500 back, and we're just a little bit hesitant of if we should gift this back to her or not.

Speaker 4 Yeah.

Speaker 2 I mean, okay, George, I don't know what you're experiencing right now, but I'm listening to the setup of this question, and I'm, and you finished it, and I'm going, this is not your idea to give her the $3,500 back.

Speaker 2 You just gave us a great case as to why you shouldn't. Whose idea is this?

Speaker 8 Well, no, this was the original idea. Now, my daughter doesn't know that there's this extra money with the budget.

Speaker 3 That's a big question. Did you promise them, hey, we have $10,000 to gift to you for the wedding?

Speaker 2 Whose idea was this? Answer the question. Was this originally the idea? If you didn't spend any of it, you'd give her the extra.
This was something you and your wife agreed to?

Speaker 8 No, no, not at all. Again, my daughter doesn't know that this

Speaker 4 extra money.

Speaker 2 But whose idea is this? Was it yours? You said, I'll call Ken and George today and see what they think about the $3,500. Was it your idea?

Speaker 4 Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2 Well, you just talked yourself out of it, I thought.

Speaker 3 In the question, it sounded like you needed to process it out loud in front of us and a few million people. And you came to your own conclusion.

Speaker 8 Probably, uh, probably correct.

Speaker 3 Because here's the thing: you're not going to have peace about giving them this money. You're going to resent them, and they don't even know you resent them for it.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 And they don't even know the money exists. You did what you said you were going to do, which is help cover the cost of the wedding.
You did that. You didn't promise them a certain amount.

Speaker 3 You didn't promise them if there was any money left over, they'd get it. So just hang on to the money.

Speaker 1 Agreed.

Speaker 8 Well, another little layer that I might add in is, so I have two more daughters with my current wife that are,

Speaker 8 they're about 10 years younger than my oldest. So again, wedding planning isn't on the horizon, but we're trying to sit here and we're trying to be like, are we going to be fair and equitable?

Speaker 4 And we need to be. Stop.

Speaker 2 Stop. Stop.
I can't. I can't.

Speaker 4 I can't bear it.

Speaker 2 I'm trying to save you from yourself.

Speaker 2 This is a separate deal.

Speaker 2 You gave her the wedding that she wanted, and there's $3,500 left over. I don't know where fair and equitable comes in.
That's my opinion.

Speaker 2 Now, America may disagree with me, George may disagree with me, that's fine, but I think you drive yourself crazy here.

Speaker 2 So now all of a sudden, so now all of a sudden, if you give her the $3,500, that makes in your mind the $10,000 whole. And so the other two, well, what if weddings cost a lot more?

Speaker 2 I don't even know how you did the wedding for $6,500. Listen to George talk.
He tells me all the time about the average cost of wedding.

Speaker 3 Yeah, that's like the DJ alone. The donut wall is going to cost that much.

Speaker 2 Are you with me, George?

Speaker 8 I will say it was It was the three families we went in together.

Speaker 8 And so we put up $5,000. So, I mean,

Speaker 2 total.

Speaker 3 Are you guys in a better financial spot now? You have no debt?

Speaker 8 Yeah, we're baby steps four, five, and six.

Speaker 8 We're in great shape.

Speaker 8 I'm hoping my soft goal is to call you back in about five years for one of those millionaire theme hours.

Speaker 8 We'll be able to talk to you guys then.

Speaker 2 I'd put the 3,500 towards the younger two daughters.

Speaker 4 Okay.

Speaker 2 You know what? I can't believe I'm admitting this, George, but you'll be very proud of me. Hit me.
I have been putting a set amount away above and beyond all the things

Speaker 2 because I have one daughter and she's 16.

Speaker 2 And I hear you talking about the cost of weddings and I'm like, hey, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 And I know your daughter. She's going to want a nice wedding.

Speaker 2 She is. And you also know my wife.

Speaker 3 And she's going to want her to have a nice wedding.

Speaker 2 So, you know, who's been putting money away for over two years?

Speaker 3 Wow. I'm proud of you, man.
That's big.

Speaker 2 So I would, I'd put,

Speaker 4 that's what I would do with the 35-foot. Yeah.
Or unless there's debt or anything else, obviously.

Speaker 3 What you can do is use it for your other financial goals, and you got time to save. You got 10 years.
And so it's up to you how you do that.

Speaker 3 You may want to invest outside of retirement for a goal like this since you have a long time horizon. Park it in index funds, you know, for 10 years and just kind of stack money away as it comes in.

Speaker 3 And as you feel comfortable, set set a goal for how much you guys want to invest per year. And there's no fare.

Speaker 3 It doesn't have to be exactly what the other daughter got because who knows what weddings will cost 10 years from now.

Speaker 4 Yeah, I agree. Absolutely.

Speaker 2 Well, thanks for the call, Stanley. George, this brings up a good point.

Speaker 2 You and Whitney will be invited to Josie's wedding. Oh, I can't wait.
That's wild to think about.

Speaker 1 You're going to do your part and get a really great gift.

Speaker 3 100%.

Speaker 2 No cheap, George.

Speaker 4 No, no, no, no, no, no. All right.

Speaker 3 No, I'm going to get her FPU.

Speaker 2 And then I'm going to have to have a gluten-free

Speaker 2 that would be nice for your guests to think about their set of items for you. Yeah.
So that's why I'm investing now. I'm a little.

Speaker 3 You're hoping the gifts are nice enough.

Speaker 2 No, I'm just going to offset the cost. I don't know.
I think I'm just.

Speaker 3 Now, weddings,

Speaker 2 giving myself some therapy right here.

Speaker 4 I cannot believe it.

Speaker 2 But it's going to happen. And it's going to happen before you.
It goes fast. Yeah.
And so you know what I decided? I was like, I'm going to get ahead of this. So, so it's a fund.
And it's, guess what?

Speaker 2 Ain't nobody going to be asking me for more money.

Speaker 3 Well, whatever's in there is what she gets.

Speaker 2 But it's going to be nice. Okay.
My point is that I'm not planning on that entire fund going to her wedding, but it'll take care of business. Yeah.

Speaker 2 But my point is, I'm not getting caught with that deal. No.
I'm not getting caught with, oh, I've got to come up with more money kind of a deal. Well, I've got to do that.

Speaker 4 However much money

Speaker 3 that's the budget. And if she wants to save up with her future fiancée,

Speaker 2 let's fast forward, let's say 10 years from now. What do you think is a reasonable amount for a wedding, George? Because you're tight.

Speaker 3 Well, here's my thing how many people are invited you invite 250 people that's gonna be an expensive wedding you got 40 people uh let's we can have a super high quality let's go 150.

Speaker 3 150 you're probably in for 20 grand in this area minimum kelly the producer is saying minimum more what do you think the number

Speaker 2 give me a number she's saying 50

Speaker 15 10 years from now from 10 years from now yeah at least 50.

Speaker 3 Keep saving, Kenny boy.

Speaker 2 Keep saving. Sorry, folks.
I'm going to have to step away for a moment and sell some stuff online.

Speaker 3 Skin's about to sell his kidney.

Speaker 2 George, is it Jamie? Is it getting hard to breathe in here?

Speaker 3 You are wearing a sweater.

Speaker 2 I'm gonna sweat through that. Chest is tight.

Speaker 1 Do you want to keep more money in your pocket and not Uncle Sam's? Then listen up.

Speaker 1 There are tax deductions and credits you could maximize before the end of the year by connecting with an experienced tax professional like a Ramsey Trusted Tax Pro.

Speaker 1 They know the tax code inside and out, so you don't have to. And they can help you file when tax season rolls around.
Get a trusted tax pro by going to ramseysolutions.com/slash tax pro.

Speaker 1 Ramseysolutions.com slash tax pro.

Speaker 2 By the way, George and I were just talking for a brief moment, just a little continuation here for a moment, because

Speaker 2 I think this tradition ought to be brought back.

Speaker 2 I was joking with George, and I said, you know, I've only got one daughter.

Speaker 2 So once she finds the young man that she wants to marry and he wants to marry her, he's got to come to me and offer, you know, pretty good sizable offering of cattle.

Speaker 2 You know, I think she's probably worth a thousand cattle, a thousand head of cattle, you know. Endless.
But maybe I'll do a hundred. So is it goats?

Speaker 3 Is it cows?

Speaker 2 I mean, this is a thing that used to happen, George. You looked it up.

Speaker 3 And I had to explain to Ken that's an HOA violation in his neighborhood.

Speaker 2 No, no, I wouldn't ever take possession of them. I would just immediately resell them.

Speaker 3 So it's old school, but but maybe we should bring it back when did it end it never ended it never ended but it was no single date but i would say hundreds of years ago is a safe bet for good reason

Speaker 2 they're not bringing it back and neither am i but it would be fun to kind of look at the young guy and go all right uh here's what we're talking here It'd make me nervous.

Speaker 3 I'd go, I'm not sure I want to marry this gal because my father-in-law is insane.

Speaker 2 Oh boy, that's fun to me. I don't know why.
I'm having a good time. Well, in the lobby here in Ramsey Solutions across from our studio, we have a lovely couple, Jose and Maria, if I've got that right.

Speaker 2 Hi, how are you? Hi. Where are you guys from?

Speaker 15 We're from LA.

Speaker 4 All right, Los Angeles, LA?

Speaker 2 Yes. Yes.
All right. And I guess you're here on the debt-free stage to do a debt-free screen.

Speaker 4 Yes. Absolutely.
Oh, I love it.

Speaker 2 Okay, give us the numbers. How much debt did you pay off?

Speaker 15 We paid off $215,000 in four years.

Speaker 2 $215,000 in four years. I love it.
And what was the range of income?

Speaker 15 So initially we

Speaker 15 Man, we started off pretty low. But over the course of the years, our income began to increase.
And currently we, together we make about $1,115,000.

Speaker 2 So $115,000. So what would you say you started at?

Speaker 15 I think we started at about

Speaker 15 $98,000.

Speaker 2 98,000, so making 98,000 to 115,000. Okay, very good.
And what was the debt made up of?

Speaker 15 Well, car loans, refi loans,

Speaker 15 credit cards, student loans,

Speaker 15 solar panel,

Speaker 15 everything we owned, we financed because if we can get a payment on this, we're going to find a way.

Speaker 4 Yes.

Speaker 15 Absolutely. Everything that we own, we financed.
And it just became a regular form of living, a regular part of life.

Speaker 15 And it became something that was just

Speaker 15 out of control.

Speaker 3 So what was that point, would you say, when you were like, this is insane? Why are we doing this? We got to figure out a way out of this.

Speaker 15 Yes, so

Speaker 15 we were sitting down doing our tatses and we looked at each other and said, wow, we do pretty well with our income.

Speaker 15 And yet our money comes in and it comes right out. It comes in, it comes right out.
And our debt's still the same. And we're paying bills after bills after bills.

Speaker 15 And it seems like we're never going to end.

Speaker 14 There were even moments where we were overdrawn and I'm like, how is this possible?

Speaker 14 How is it even possible? And that was really the turning point.

Speaker 4 So how did you connect?

Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go ahead, George.

Speaker 3 I'm just curious how you got connected to the Ramsey stuff.

Speaker 4 Well,

Speaker 14 through my wife, really.

Speaker 14 You know,

Speaker 14 we had known about the Ramsey show, and she would listen, I wouldn't, I'll be honest. But when she brought it up, I was like, no, no, I don't want to do anything.

Speaker 14 No, you know, we're not going to be able to travel. We're not going to be able to go to the World Cup.
We're not going to be able to do all the things that we do. No, and

Speaker 15 Disney passes.

Speaker 14 Or Disney passes, yeah. And we even got into this big fight.
And then finally,

Speaker 14 I was like, all right, I'll go check it out. And we went to...

Speaker 14 I started taking one of the classes and

Speaker 14 that's how it really began.

Speaker 15 Actually, we also had a friend,

Speaker 15 a friend, Carla and Edwin Paes, who also came to the show and became Jeff Free. And we saw their Jeff Free scream a few years ago, and we became instantly inspired.

Speaker 15 And so that's when we decided to do the actual plan. And so the four years that it took us to pay off, we were following the Dave Ramsey's,

Speaker 15 I guess, program, but intensely with FPU. That was within the last six months that we really did.
And we were more aggressively and paying everything off.

Speaker 15 But I think if we had done the plan from the very, very beginning, we probably would have paid everything off within maybe about two years, maybe even less.

Speaker 2 That's interesting.

Speaker 15 Because the program really does hold you accountable and really does teach you the principles that are based on the Bible, which was really convicting to both of us, right, Amor?

Speaker 14 That's really what got me. And, you know, when it got to the biblical aspect of it, I was like, okay, you know what? I'm sold.

Speaker 14 I'm all in. Let's do this.

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 15 And I think the hardest part was probably week two or three when we were challenged to take a step of faith.

Speaker 15 And for me, it was cashing out the little bit of savings that we had for our daughter's quinceñera, which to us is a huge deal in the Mexican tradition, right?

Speaker 15 And we had a little bit of money saved, but then we had this enormous amount of debt, right? And so we thought, why do we have all of this debt? Yet we have a little bit of cash.

Speaker 15 FPU says, put it into the debt, right? That makes sense. And we thought we were betraying our daughter, right? And I remember crying and just like really debating with him, like,

Speaker 15 does this have further implications? You know, what is my daughter going to say? And so that was one of the hardest things because we really had to rely on God to, for his provision, right? That

Speaker 15 his love and value for her was not based on just

Speaker 15 a ceremony of coming of age, but it was beyond that. And also our faith in that he would provide for something like that, right? Because he cares about things like that as well.

Speaker 15 And now that we are in baby step number five,

Speaker 15 we're in baby step number five,

Speaker 15 we're actually going to start

Speaker 15 cash flowing for her quinceñera in about six months. We'll be done with that.

Speaker 4 Awesome. Good.

Speaker 2 Yes. That's fantastic.

Speaker 15 But Alonso also did a huge

Speaker 15 sacrifice. Do you want to tell them? Yeah,

Speaker 14 I had just just leased an Audi. And I think it was on the third class where

Speaker 14 I turned and I looked at my wife and I said, you know what? We're returning it. And she was like, what? And I was like, you just got it.
I was like, nope, we're returning it.

Speaker 14 It's a bad investment. That's what Dave Ramsey says.

Speaker 14 I go, the Lord has us covered. I don't know.

Speaker 14 you know the outcome of it but I know we're going to be covered and this is what we need to do and May May of this year I returned it the lease is actually over in December but we finished paying it and I'm like nope let's return it and they tried selling me

Speaker 14 like four more other new cars and these deals and I was like nope I don't want it we're good and yeah they it was tough but we were able to to do it we're back to your old Honda yeah we're back to my old Honda and it's still going good good for you so what would you all tell people the key is to getting out of debt if you could single out one discipline

Speaker 4 Whoa. You want to go first?

Speaker 14 Support each other and encourage each other. Pray together.
And

Speaker 14 there's going to be moments of frustration. I know

Speaker 14 there was times where I'm like, I'm done with this. I don't want to do it.
But the outcome

Speaker 2 is great.

Speaker 15 Along with that, I would say also find a community support because I think the class, again, it made the world of a difference. I knew about the principles of FPU through the show, right?

Speaker 15 But it wasn't until we were in the class together with Irene and with Anja that we really held each other accountable, learned from each other.

Speaker 15 We got on the app and all of those tools made such a huge impact. It kept us on, it kept us accountable, it kept us on track.
The monitoring, the graphs, all of those things made a huge impact.

Speaker 15 And it does give you those rewards, right? The chemical rewards. I mean, and I know this.
I'm a therapist.

Speaker 2 All right, listen, speaking of rewards, if we don't let you you get to the screen, we're going to run out of time.

Speaker 2 So, are you guys ready to scream? Yes, yes. All right, that's why we're here.

Speaker 4 Here we go.

Speaker 2 We got Jose and Maria from Los Angeles. They paid off $215,000 in four years, making $98,000 to $115,000.
Jose and Maria, take it away. Let's hear your debt-free screen.

Speaker 4 We are debt-free.

Speaker 4 We are back.

Speaker 3 How about that, George? Just in the nick nick of time.

Speaker 1 We got it.

Speaker 3 What a story. A lot of sacrifice.
You know, Jose liked the finer things in life, but they weren't doing fine emotionally and spiritually. And now they're truly free.
So proud of them.

Speaker 2 Our scripture of the day comes from Proverbs 17:9, Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends.

Speaker 2 And our quote today from Bernard Meltzer, A true friend is someone that thinks you are a good egg, even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.

Speaker 2 Thank you, Bernard.

Speaker 3 I'll ponder that.

Speaker 2 Oh, that's funny, George. Casey is up in Long Island, New York.
Casey, how can we help?

Speaker 9 Hey, guys. Thanks for taking the call.

Speaker 9 So I have a heating and air conditioning company that is starting to fail, and I don't know if I should start reinvesting money into it or kind of call it quits.

Speaker 2 Okay, well first we need to try to identify or do we know why it's failing.

Speaker 11 So about a year ago I

Speaker 11 inherited a property that I started focusing more on than the business

Speaker 11 and the

Speaker 11 tech that I had working for me that was like the senior guy, if you will has been calling and sick too much,

Speaker 11 losing a lot of accounts.

Speaker 11 So I've seen it happening. It's not like a shock to me.
I didn't wake up this morning and be like, oh, no, the business is failing.

Speaker 4 But

Speaker 11 when I initially started working on this other property, I knew this was going to start happening.

Speaker 11 As far as how fast it's happened is a little more concerning to me since he's been, you know, he's kind of on his way out as well. So now

Speaker 4 like you're firing him

Speaker 11 i mean i i don't think i'm firing him i think he's kind of quitting himself he's been calling in sick you know at a two out of every five days you know okay and you're not working really in this business you've neglected it

Speaker 11 i for the most part you know was it just you and him doing like the back end of it you know was it just you and him prior to you getting this property it was me him and then I was training another

Speaker 11 younger fella.

Speaker 2 So this is a super small business.

Speaker 2 So the way you set it up is, should I reinvest in it? And I was immediately like, well, I'm not going to tell anybody to reinvest in anything that's failing until we know why it's failing.

Speaker 2 And now we know why it's failing. And it's failing because you just literally have not been doing anything.
And you got one guy who maybe he enjoyed doing it when you were involved with him.

Speaker 2 Maybe he didn't. Maybe life is changing for him, whatever.
But the reality is, is that this company is you.

Speaker 2 And the thing that's curious to me is that you said, I knew this was going to happen. In other words, I knew the business was going to start to falter if I spent time on this property.

Speaker 2 So I got to believe, Casey, that means that you thought this property was going to make you more money than this business. Is that the logic there?

Speaker 2 No.

Speaker 2 Then why would we knowingly buy and put time and money into something that we know is going to hurt our primary business.

Speaker 11 So, this company is not the primary business.

Speaker 2 It's about your primary income?

Speaker 11 No.

Speaker 3 What do you do for it?

Speaker 2 Well, that would have been nice to know.

Speaker 2 What is this? A side hustle?

Speaker 11 Yeah, I mean, I started this about seven years ago. I've built it up to a $500,000-a-year company.

Speaker 2 What's your primary income?

Speaker 11 It's last year I netted about, well, no, I'm sorry. I had taxable income about $500,000.

Speaker 4 Doing what?

Speaker 11 Laundromats and real estate.

Speaker 2 Okay, well, that would have been nice to know five minutes ago.

Speaker 2 Perfect.

Speaker 3 So this is one of several businesses. And you're saying, should I try to keep this one alive? No.
No. You clearly don't care about it.

Speaker 11 I do. I do care about it.

Speaker 4 Oh, my gosh.

Speaker 3 If this was a human being, if this was your wife and you neglected her, I said, man,

Speaker 3 I know I care about her. I just neglected her for the last nine months while I I worked on this other thing.

Speaker 3 Dude, you don't care enough about the business to keep it alive, and I would not put a dime into it. Reinvesting is not going to do anything if there's nobody to do the work.

Speaker 2 You clearly care about this property, and then you've got, and by the way, kudos on you.

Speaker 2 You got a half a million dollar income that's, you know, just reoccurring income because you've got all these laundromats. So I don't know why you would try to express to us that you care about it.

Speaker 2 Because you called us going, hey, guys,

Speaker 2 should I give this thing a go or not?

Speaker 2 Which means you were on the fence. Well, I wanted

Speaker 11 in the beginning, I was hoping for just an unbiased opinion regarding

Speaker 11 what other incomes I had.

Speaker 2 Well, but my point is, yeah, I appreciate that.

Speaker 2 But the reason we wasted all that time and me not be able to give you good answers because we have to determine whether or not this is a smart move for you to put money into this business.

Speaker 2 I'm thinking it was your primary income because I didn't have any other evidence.

Speaker 3 So now we know you don't need the income.

Speaker 4 So no. You need focus.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 you're chasing too many rabbits.

Speaker 3 Yeah. So what's going on with this property? You inherited it.
You put a bunch of money into it. Are you trying to flip it? Are you trying to rent it out?

Speaker 9 No, so

Speaker 11 the property I inherited, it was in a trust for the last 20 years. Their trust finally came due.

Speaker 11 Lived in my grandfather's property. He had a laundromat in there, which I'm currently operating.

Speaker 11 And that needs to be renovated. It was neglected for 20 years.
Nobody literally did anything there.

Speaker 3 Okay, so you've been investing into that. Are you doing this all with cash or are you in debt?

Speaker 11 No, this is all cash. And I'm primarily doing it myself.

Speaker 4 Okay.

Speaker 3 So do you want to focus your time?

Speaker 3 What's your real question here? Because I would drop this business. What's at stake here if you cut the HVAC business completely?

Speaker 11 Nothing besides

Speaker 11 $7,000 left on my truck payment.

Speaker 3 You told me you didn't have any debt.

Speaker 11 Well, that's business debt, not personal debt.

Speaker 3 Buddy, Casey signed on that. That's Casey's debt.

Speaker 11 Okay. All right.
Sorry. The business has $7,000 in debt.

Speaker 3 You have $7,000 in debt. So you can sell the truck, right?

Speaker 11 I mean, I could pay off the debt.

Speaker 3 Are you going to keep the truck?

Speaker 11 Yeah, yeah. No, I use that for

Speaker 4 everything. Other things.
Okay.

Speaker 3 So pay off the truck today and sell whatever equipment that you don't need anymore and just be done with the business.

Speaker 3 That's a better deal than investing into a business that will continue to fail because nobody's got their eyes on it.

Speaker 3 And then just put your focus on what really matters, the stuff that you really enjoy that also has the most ROI for you. That's what I would do personally.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I agree. And to your initial question, there's really nothing to reinvest.

Speaker 2 You just got your senior tech has found other opportunities or feels like he can take advantage of you because you're so checked out.

Speaker 2 It's one of the two as to why that's two days a week that the guy's sick.

Speaker 11 Well, I don't know if it's really that or if he's actually really having medical issues.

Speaker 2 Well, the fact that you don't know tells me that you're hands off. So reinvesting is your time.

Speaker 2 So maybe for 30 days you get back involved and you pay attention and then you see, is this thing worth shutting down or is this thing worth keeping?

Speaker 2 It's going to be pretty simple. You're so hands off right now, you don't know if the guy's got black lung or if he's just messing, you know, he's just lying to you.
You don't know.

Speaker 2 No, no, I mean, I'm not.

Speaker 11 I see him every day. I talk to him every day.
I'm doing all the back-end stuff.

Speaker 11 The reason why the business started failing is I stopped doing service calls.

Speaker 3 And you're not going to start, is what I'm saying. Yeah,

Speaker 3 you don't have the time or passion to reinvest, and therefore just get out of the business.

Speaker 2 Yeah, now I'm more convinced.

Speaker 4 Now that I'm

Speaker 11 also been interviewing, trying to hire more technicians. The van that we have, we have two vehicles.

Speaker 11 The one has 175,000 miles on it. It has been more in the shop than it's been on the road lately.
I wanted to buy a new vehicle to get another tech out there. That was the reinvestment part.

Speaker 2 Okay. Well, we're taking information as you give it to us.

Speaker 11 I don't know how much to give without, you know, you know what I mean?

Speaker 4 Well, it's like

Speaker 2 when you ask for advice, uh, just future advice for you, when asking for advice from other people, give them all the information at once, it makes it a little easier. Uh, George, I'm with you.

Speaker 3 I don't think getting a different van for the work is going to solve this because you still got to find people who care.

Speaker 3 And I don't want to work with a guy who's, you know, got one foot out of the business who doesn't care.

Speaker 3 So, I would maybe sell the book of business for what you can get for it, and maybe that'll pay off the truck and just be done, man.

Speaker 3 Yeah, and uh, you don't need to run 19 businesses, no, you're doing great.

Speaker 2 Sounds like the laundromat business is really good.

Speaker 4 That's the cash Long Island.

Speaker 2 Who would have thought?

Speaker 3 People got to do laundry.

Speaker 2 I've got to get myself a laundromat.

Speaker 2 What would I call it, George?

Speaker 2 What would be a good name for my laundry?

Speaker 3 I think just laundromat. That's what people look for.
And they look for laundry. I think just keep it clear.

Speaker 4 It's good branding. All right.

Speaker 2 Hey, folks, remember this. There's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.