Financial Advisors React To INSANE Dave Ramsey Calls!

Introduction – Reacting to Callers (0:00)

Brian: The content team’s been busy. Can’t wait to see what they brewed up for us.

Caller clips: I’m getting ready to destroy your life. This is a nightmare and I’m scared you’re going to go down with this guy. Are you pulling my leg? It almost feels like I’m working for nothing. You’re in an unsafe situation. You are very unsafe. Million dollars in debt. Is there just one of you that’s completely lost your mind?

Bo: Brian, I am so excited about this because it sounds like we’re going to hear some exciting stuff from some interesting callers. All right, let’s check it out.

$3,200 Car Payment on a Rolls-Royce (0:28)

Dave Ramsey: $3,200 in car payments. Oh my gosh. What are you driving?

Caller: It’s a Rolls-Royce Ghost.

Brian: Oh my god. One car.

Dave: Oh my gosh. What is your income, dude?

Caller: Around $320,000 a month.

Dave: Phenomenal. A month?

Bo: $320,000 a month?

Dave: A month. Are you pulling my leg?

Caller: No, I started a digital marketing company and that’s my pre-tax monthly income.

Dave: So, you’re making $3 million a year. Almost $4 million a year.

Caller: Pre-tax. Yeah.

Dave: How old are you?

Caller: 24.

Dave: That’s just insane. Congratulations. Listen, write a check and pay for the car and smile while you’re driving it.

Bo: I was literally thinking the same thing. I was like this whole, the whole problem, he has a car payment at all because we know Brian if you’re going to follow 20/3/8, one of the caveats you have to subscribe to is if you buy a luxury brand which Rolls-Royce certainly falls into that category then you have to pay for it in cash, you cannot finance that. So if he wants to drive that kind of car at that kind of income, makes sense, but you got to be able to pay cash for it.

Brian: I mean how many people, how do you argue with somebody who makes over $300,000 a month? Go drive your Rolls-Royce and smile just like Dave.

Sovereign Citizen Stopped Paying Everything (1:42)

Ken: This is beyond bananas.

George: You’re in an unsafe situation. You are very unsafe.

Caller: I have a bit of a conundrum. I have taken over handling our finances from my husband. I just say he got into the sovereign citizen thing about 7 years ago. I asked him not to make any decisions, but he did and didn’t tell me.

Ken: So, this has put you guys in a spot, I’m guessing.

Caller: Extreme spot.

Ken: Tell us what hole are you in?

Caller: That’s what he felt about the government. So, he stopped paying our taxes. He stopped paying our mortgage and our car loans and we had a home loan that we got years ago and he stopped paying all of it. So, when I took over, I took over last year and a couple of months in, one of the elders of my church gave me a number for a company to help me work on the back taxes. So, now I have that extra bill and I’ll just give you some numbers. Taxes are over half a million including all the fees.

Ken: Oh my goodness.

Caller: Mortgage. They tried to close on the mortgage. They tried to foreclose twice. The sheriff showed up and like I said, I didn’t know about any of this. I found out when the sheriff came and said, “Here’s your foreclosure papers. You need to be in court next week.” And then I told my husband he needed to pay it. So he got us caught up. And then they repossessed my car. And so I told him he needed to pay it. And I got my car back. And then he didn’t pay for another seven months. And they came out with foreclosure papers again. I told them I said, “Hold up. Wait a minute. Something ain’t right.”

George: Mary, I don’t know that we can help you in a two-minute call. This is a nightmare, and I’m scared you’re going to go down with this guy, and you’re both going to be in prison if you keep this up.

Brian: How much money is this sovereign citizen sitting on that he was able to catch them up every time? Because there’s penalties and interest, I’m assuming, associated with this, too.

Bo: It certainly sounds, I mean, obviously, he wasn’t able to satisfy the tax bill, but when the car payments got behind, he was able to write a check. So, he obviously had to have some sort of resource to be able to do that. But you can’t just make the decision that you’re not going to pay your bills. If you borrow money from someone, whether it be a mortgage company or an auto insurance company, you have to pay your bills. And if you’re earning income and you’re someone who lives in the United States of America and you’re earning income, you have to pay taxes on that. You can’t just choose not to because they can literally come and take your stuff. You’ve seen people on the other side of this equation before.

Brian: Yeah, I would definitely, I would pay my taxes. You don’t want the government mad at you.

24-Year-Old Wants Second Car (4:04)

Caller: I’m 24. I’m currently debt-free. I make $80,000 a year. I am currently maxing out my 401(k) and IRA. I want to buy a car that costs $30,000. However, I don’t want to get rid of my current car. It would just be a, you know, a play car. It’s a sports car. I have $30,000 in cash that I’m prepared to pay for this car. I’m not sure if it’s better to put this in a different sort of investment portfolio or if it would be okay, you know, to splurge and buy this car.

Dave: Oh, I see. I thought you were calling the car an investment. My face was turning inside out. Okay. I love cars. But the stupid things go down in value like a rock. That’s where Chevy got that. Like a rock. Okay. They go down in value. If you’re going to build wealth, you have to keep as small an amount as possible going into things that go down in value.

Brian: True.

Bo: Yeah, I think that’s right. Cars are depreciable assets and you need to know that when you go to buy, you’re not making money on this. And for most people, cars are simply a use asset. You want the thing that’s going to either get you from where you are to your job, that’s going to transport your family around safely. If you begin thinking about it as an investment, you’re thinking about it all wrong.

Brian: For a 24-year-old to think they need multiple cars, that’s where there’s mistakes being made.

Bo: I think the question I’d ask is, what’s the rest of the net worth statement look like? If it’s a 24-year-old who’s been, he said he’s maxing out his 401(k), he’s maxing his IRA, maybe he’s been doing that for a number of years, maybe he has enough money built up. And the other thing I don’t know is that $30,000 he was going to put on the car. Was that all of the cash he had available? Because if that was the case, then it’s absolutely a no-no. But if he was in step eight and he was funding some of these abundance goals and $30,000 is what he squirreled aside in addition to his 25% savings outside of that. I guess yeah, he gets to choose what he does with those dollars.

Brian: That’s the thing I would need. Is he at step eight?

Bo: There we go.

Brian: If he’s not at step eight, he doesn’t need to have two cars.

37-Year-Old Struggles With Purpose After Reaching Baby Step 7 (6:06)

Caller: I’m 37. My wife and I just entered baby step seven.

Dave: Yay. Wow. Paid for a house. You’re 100% debt-free. You’re rocking retirement and you’re 37. You’re a rock star, man.

Caller: Yeah. And that sounds like our net worth. Yeah. I struggle with a sense of purpose now. It almost feels like I’m working for nothing. I’ve got more money than I could possibly use. This is just north of a million dollars. So, we’re feeling great.

Dave: So good.

Caller: But I struggle with a sense of purpose now. It almost feels like I’m working for nothing. I’ve got more money than I could possibly use. When you’re working on paying off a house, that’s a motivator. So now, you know, writing checks for charity, that doesn’t always satisfy me. It’s just a check. I don’t see the end result. Leaving a ton of money to my kids doesn’t feel satisfying. I feel like that just puts them in the same problem I’m facing right now. We don’t spend a ton that doesn’t satisfy me to spend. So I, that’s a struggle when I do.

Dave: So you have discovered that money is not the answer to happiness. Yeah, that’s awesome. Very cool.

Brian: Look, we’ve often done the Jim Carrey quote where he talks about he wishes everyone actually reached the level of money that they think that they want to have so they can see how empty it is. And I paraphrase that, but it’s true. Money is only a tool. If you get all of your value, if you think this sum of money, whether for this caller was a million dollars, for some people it’s going to be $3 million. If you think that number is going to be what solves all your life’s issues, I think you’ll find it’s much emptier than you recognize.

Bo: And that’s why I think whenever it comes to financial goals, before you set the financial goal, you ought to set the why behind the goal. I’d be curious for this person. Why did he want to be debt-free? Why did he want to have the house paid off? Why did he want to build up the million dollars? And then why? Whatever the next answer to that question is, what’s the thing that he’s working towards? And there’s no wrong answer. It might be giving money to charity. It might be leaving a legacy for kids. It didn’t sound like that was for him. It may be having experiences and getting to see the world and getting to own your time and getting to do what you want because you want to do it, not because you have to do it. If you can figure out the why early on, it’s going to make your financial goals part of the process and not actually the finish line.

50-Year-Old Widow Ready to Start Retirement Savings (8:23)

Caller: I am a 50-year-old widow who has been widowed for 15 years. I have helped put my children through college and I have no retirement. So, I am ready to start retirement and I don’t even know where to begin and how much to put in.

Dave: If you were to save, invest $1,000 a month for 15 years at 65, you’re going to have right around a half a million dollars, right around $500,000. What this means is not that you’re rich and it’s really not enough, but it’s enough to make sure you’re not cold and hungry.

Bo: Yeah. I think a lot of people, maybe they didn’t start saving and investing. Certainly, she had a very tough circumstance, a widow raising kids, but one thing I love about wealth building and saving for financial independence is it’s never too late to be able to impact tomorrow. Because even in his example, her starting at 50, saving $1,000 a month for 15 years, getting to half a million dollars. If you take a half a million dollar portfolio for someone who’s 65 years old, who’s likely going to be drawing from Social Security, there’s going to be opportunities where they’re going to be able to create some sort of lifestyle. It may not be like the dream lifestyle, but doing that work today over the next 15 years is going to provide her with options in the future more so than if she buries her head in the sand and does nothing.

Brian: Yeah. I mean, the financial planner in me wanted to know more. I wanted to know what does she need to live off of? What was the earning that her deceased husband had before he passed away at 35? Because Dave might be right that $500,000 is not going to be enough, but it might be enough if there’s something else out there with Social Security or some pension maybe from the previous employer. The financial planner in me wants to know more so that I could put on my thinking cap and figure out how we find some solutions for her.

Bo: If you are late to the game, I would encourage you go to moneyguy.com/resources and check out our wealth multiplier because what you’ll see is even for a 50-year-old, even though you’re starting a little bit later in the game, every dollar that you can put to work has the opportunity to turn into $3 by the time that you retire. So, no matter where you’re at in your journey, your money still has some juice, but you got to start today.

Million Dollars in Debt (10:34)

Caller: I’m getting ready to destroy your life as you know it. We have probably just under a million dollars in debt and we want to know how to get debt free without filing bankruptcy.

Dave: Okay. How much of that is a mortgage?

Caller: The mortgage about $210,000.

Dave: So you have -$600,000 in what?

Caller: So $335,000 student loans and about $136,000 in credit cards, $44,000 personal loans, and $35,000 car loans.

Dave: Okay. How old are you all?

Caller: I’m 29.

Bo: The credit cards got me.

Dave: What in the world? I mean, is this both of you or is this just one of you that’s completely lost your mind?

Caller: Well, I have the majority of the student loans and he has the majority of the credit card.

Dave: So, why does he, why does he at 29 years old run up $100,000 in credit card debt?

Caller: Well, he’s 32, but I think it’s one of those things where you’re able to pay it down as you go and then it doesn’t happen.

Dave: So, you both have advanced degrees. What are your degrees in?

Caller: He has an MBA and I have an advanced degree in policy. I work in the government and we actually both do now at this point.

Dave: Okay. So, your household income is what?

Caller: $230,000.

Dave: Okay. All right. Is there recognition on both of your parts how absurd this situation is?

Caller: Yes, there is. So, I think we’re both a bit scared and

Dave: Okay, great. Then I’m on your team. I can skip that step. Okay, good. Okay. Well, you’re scared and you should be. You’re disgusted and you should be. So, I’m getting ready to destroy your life as you know it. Your lifestyle is considerably above your extremely good income and has been for a period of time. And so, you’ve gotten used to spending like you’re in Congress, right? This is going to be very emotional for y’all and you’re going to have to look at it through that lens and through a spiritual lens or you’re not going to make it. You’re going to have to not care what anyone thinks, including each other, because you’re not going to spend any money on anything ever for the next 3 years.

Bo: I mean, yeah, that’s exactly right. They were in such a hole, such a negative situation, a million dollars in debt. They were going to have to make absolutely drastic decisions to pull themselves out of that hole because every single dollar they have is going to have to go towards extinguishing some of that debt.

Brian: Debt is chainsaw dangerous. And if you’re not scared when you’re using it, you’re probably using it wrong. As soon as I heard $300,000 student loan debt, we all think doctors, attorneys, not working in policy. And then to find out that consumption debt, like credit card debt, was well into the six figures, $136,000 in credit cards. I don’t know how many ways that a person who’s only 29 years of age can make that many mistakes on top of each other and not get scared. I talk about chainsaw dangerous. If you’re working a chainsaw and you’re gushing blood out of a limb, quit gassing up the chainsaw. Somehow they kept cutting, cutting, cutting. Good on Dave for putting them in the perspective that life is going to have a whole lot of just suck.

Should I Get a Credit Card? (13:42)

Caller: So, I saw something the other day that said, “Poor people use debit cards. Rich people use credit cards.” I don’t have any credit cards. Should I?

Dave: So, here’s the thing. People get credit cards for mainly one reason. So, they can buy crap they don’t have the money to buy. And then they justify it going, “Well, I need to build my credit.” All the rich people that we interview say they get out of debt and stay out of debt.

Brian: But they use credit.

Dave: That’s how they got rich. They don’t pay payments all the time. Because see, there’s only one way to build your credit. Go in debt. Right.

Caller: Right.

Dave: No, you just pay them off. Why? So you can build your credit. Why? So I can go into debt. Why? So I can build my credit. Why? So I can go into debt. Why? So I can build my credit. It’s a dog chasing its tail. It’s called the great FICO scam.

Brian: We do a survey every year of all of our millionaire clients. Wealthy people do use credit cards. I mean, it’s a fact. Now Dave is spot on. They don’t have credit card debt. That’s right. I mean, if you are using a credit card and you’re not paying it off every month, shut it down. I mean, you freeze it in the freezer, do whatever you have to. You are not a credit card type of person.

Bo: I don’t think that the only reason people use credit cards, especially wealthy people, is to buy crap that they can’t afford. I think a lot of people use credit cards because it’s super convenient. There are additional buyer protections and there are benefits and rewards that you do get from it. Now, you don’t get wealthy from the rewards, but if it’s money you’re spending anyways, credit cards are a great tool that you can use. Dave says that rich people don’t use debt. No, rich people don’t struggle with debt, but they recognize that debt is a tool and it can be a useful tool when used responsibly.

Dave’s Mortgage Advice – 15-Year Fixed (15:19)

Dave: Here’s the most you should borrow and it’s the only thing I don’t yell at you for borrowing, but I prefer you didn’t borrow or that you borrow less, less, less, less and get it paid off as soon as possible. But the most you should borrow is a home on a 15-year fixed rate where the payment is no more than a fourth of your take-home pay.

Bo: We were almost on the same page. It’s just in the world in which we live. And I’d be so curious to know when that was recorded, Brian, because a 15-year mortgage right now with today’s interest rates and today’s home prices is really, really difficult for most Americans to be able to afford a house. We’ve seen home prices rise dramatically. We’ve seen interest rates increase. I do love the idea of not having your mortgage payment be more than 25%. I do love it being a fixed mortgage, but I don’t know that it has to be 15-year. I do think it’s okay, especially right now, to have a 30-year mortgage.

Brian: I like that the 30-year gives you more flexibility if there’s any flexes in your cash flow throughout the year, because a lot of people, your income is seasonal in some ways. Maybe you have a big bonus that comes in a certain part of the year or you have some restricted stock units that hit a certain point. You might like to get a little flexibility on how the money comes in and out. Even expenditure things. Think about how expensive Christmas time is versus other times of the year. Early part of my career, I did a 15-year mortgage. I liked it because it was a half a percent cheaper. But I got stuck because when I moved to my second home, there was a little overlap that I had to actually carry both homes before I could sell the first one. And that 15-year really squeezed me from a cash flow perspective.

Closing (16:57)

Bo: There are so many callers out there, so many folks who have financial questions. One of the very reasons that every single Tuesday at 10 a.m. Central, we do a live Q&A where we can answer questions just like this, because we do believe that there is a better way to do money.

Brian: Guys, we love teaching you guys that there is a Financial Order of Operations on what to do with your next dollar. So, keep tuning into our content. By the way, take advantage of all of our free stuff. Go to moneyguy.com/resources. I’m your host Brian Preston joined by Mr. Bo Hanson. Money Guy Team out.