Robert
Appearances
Health Chatter
Pediatric ER Concerns
Yeah. I'd like to know, with the crisis that you're experiencing in the emergency room, how is that affecting the other patients?
Health Chatter
Pediatric ER Concerns
Can you hear me? Yes. Okay. I'm having a little technical difficulties at times. But as I'm sitting here thinking about this, what message do we want to have community to know about the issue? And what can the community be able to assert to help?
Health Chatter
Pediatric ER Concerns
in terms of trying to address the issue, because it is something that, you know, as Dan was saying, mind-blowing to me, to think about, you know, young people having to be boarded in the emergency room. And so what is it that we should be, what should we know? I mean, so that's, I want to just put it out there like that.
Health Chatter
Pediatric ER Concerns
and that's it's just that's it's wild all right clarence what do you what do you this is really sad and disturbing go ahead it's very very sad and disturbing but i want to i want to know what uh impact does the substance abuse issues have on the number of young people coming into the department as well because i think that um
Health Chatter
Pediatric ER Concerns
Is that, I mean, with the increase in substance abuse and those kinds of things, is that also a factor in you seeing more young people?
Health Chatter
Pediatric ER Concerns
What you're saying is that right now the hospital system or the system is not set up necessarily to deal with those young people with both of those issues, right? I mean, it's either you're in one silo or you're in the other silo. And you're saying that there's a need for a special silo, right?
Health Chatter
Pediatric ER Concerns
Let me do a follow-up question. Go ahead, Clarence. Let me do a follow-up question because you brought up something. You talked about the lack of practitioners. What kind of effect is this having on the practitioners who have to work in this environment?
The Ramsey Show
Small Changes Now Mean Big Wins Later
Hi, Dave. Hi, Dr. John. Net worth is just over $1.1 million.
The Ramsey Show
Small Changes Now Mean Big Wins Later
Mm-hmm. So $475,000 in retirement. Mm-hmm. $325,000 in real estate. Mm-hmm. $100,000 in checking, savings, emergency funds. Mm-hmm. $70,000 in mutual funds. Mm-hmm. $70,000 in paid-for vehicles.
The Ramsey Show
Small Changes Now Mean Big Wins Later
And how old are you? I am 37 and my wife is 31.
The Ramsey Show
Small Changes Now Mean Big Wins Later
Best year was last year, 275 for the household, and worst year would be when we both started out of college. We were about 45 each, so 90, and I'd say average was about 160.
The Ramsey Show
Small Changes Now Mean Big Wins Later
I am in construction engineering, and my wife is in, she's a manufacturer's rep for a steel company.
The Ramsey Show
Small Changes Now Mean Big Wins Later
I do. In what? Civil and construction engineering technology.
The Ramsey Show
Small Changes Now Mean Big Wins Later
Oh, I'd say $80, $60 to $80, just recently, too. Still have them. I'm a fan of the Costco pants, though.
The Ramsey Show
Small Changes Now Mean Big Wins Later
Well, my wife drives a 2023 Palisade, and I drive a 2020 Ram 1500. Good.
The Ramsey Show
Small Changes Now Mean Big Wins Later
Oh, I would say more on TV, unfortunately, but we do do a lot of driving and trips together, and when we do drive, we listen to books on audio.
The Ramsey Show
Small Changes Now Mean Big Wins Later
Absolutely. What should they do? Absolutely. I'd say surround yourself with the right people and make sure you're on the same page as your spouse regarding money because I'm telling you right now, life gets real easy when you guys don't fight about money.
The Ramsey Show
Draw a Line in the Sand and Say “I’m Done!”
Hey, guys. Hey. Hey, so I'm looking for a little guidance here. You know, back in 1980, long before I became a Ramsey disciple, I purchased two Northwestern mutual whole life policies. They have a cash value of $96,800 and a death benefit of $150,000 now. I'm just looking for a little guidance on, you know, is it worth my while to cash this out, pay the taxes, and reinvest it?
The Ramsey Show
Draw a Line in the Sand and Say “I’m Done!”
Or is the train too far down the tracks with that significant death benefit?
The Ramsey Show
Draw a Line in the Sand and Say “I’m Done!”
I would deduct the basis. I would probably end up, my calculation, I'd end up with about $78,600 to invest.
The Ramsey Show
Draw a Line in the Sand and Say “I’m Done!”
I'm very financially secure and no debt at all.
The Ramsey Show
Draw a Line in the Sand and Say “I’m Done!”
Well, I mean, last year, interest in dividends, it came to about $4,000. So, and that, you know, after I paid the interest in dividends, it was just, you know, do I set that up?
The Ramsey Show
Draw a Line in the Sand and Say “I’m Done!”
You know, I mean, I've worked hard, I've invested well, but also, I mean, I've got to give some credit to Ramsey. I attacked my mortgage first, and I did not spend money that I didn't have.
The Ramsey Show
Draw a Line in the Sand and Say “I’m Done!”
The things my grandmother taught me. I mean, it was very, very, very simple, and... Yeah, I'm done well with it.
The Ramsey Show
Don’t Become a Victim of Your Circumstances
Hey, guys. Appreciate you taking my call. I guess I've got kind of like a decent problem to have, but it's kind of a problem nonetheless.
The Ramsey Show
Don’t Become a Victim of Your Circumstances
I think I've kind of been, I'm 25. I've saved about like 200 grand. Um, I don't know what for, and I'm making about like one 20 a year. Um, but I kind of like, I kind of like live like a rat cause I don't need too much. Like every time I move, I get a place with a cheaper rent and then I've gotten promoted every year I've been there and I make more money.
The Ramsey Show
Don’t Become a Victim of Your Circumstances
But for me, it's kind of like I've been very removed from the present. I feel like I don't know why I'm saving the money. I'm kind of from out in the sticks. I don't really like New York City. I like fishing and eating wild plants and stuff. I kind of don't have much reason to be in New York. But it's like a really good job. But I'm not present.
The Ramsey Show
Don’t Become a Victim of Your Circumstances
Yeah, exactly. And you guys also mentioned the term lifestyle creep, but for me it's kind of like... Maybe that should happen. I can be a little bit more present.
The Ramsey Show
Don’t Become a Victim of Your Circumstances
So I work in financial services. I work in risk management at one of the brokers in the city. Very prestigious is my guess. I do. Yeah, and that's, like, another thing. It's, like, you know, that probably attracted me to it, and I do like my job. Like, I actually, as far as jobs go, like, I enjoy it, but I also kind of burn myself out.
The Ramsey Show
Don’t Become a Victim of Your Circumstances
Again, I kind of, like, pathologize the kind of, like, live-to-work thing. Well, you know why?
The Ramsey Show
Don’t Become a Victim of Your Circumstances
So my favorite States are like Vermont and Maine. Um, I, the thing is like, I think I could go like an hour up the train line from New York and be like, I've been up to like Terry town and like sleepy hollow up there. And it's awesome. Like it's trees and rivers, all that junk, um, not junk, but all that stuff. And, um, my, my, my concern is like, do I overdo it or underdo it?
The Ramsey Show
Don’t Become a Victim of Your Circumstances
So I felt like I've been not present for like, five years after college or four years, whatever. And now I'm kind of like, do I like yo-yo and like live in a van for a year and like start a YouTube channel and go fishing?
The Ramsey Show
Attack Your Debt Instead of Letting It Attack You
Hi, thank you for taking my call. So my question is, I am a stay-at-home mom and I haven't worked in a long time. My husband and I, we are in debt. And since I've been starting watching your content, I am just done with it. It's working. Yes. It is. So this year I am being very intentional. Um, we have about $18,000 in credit card debt and his truck is about $45,000 every home.
The Ramsey Show
Attack Your Debt Instead of Letting It Attack You
Huge, um, huge payments, almost a grand a month. Um, so yeah, so I, I just want to get those credit cards out of the way, get his credit better, maybe refinance the truck, um, get better interest, you know, and, and see the money because he makes, okay. Like he makes about $12,000 a month and we are just getting by the money comes in. The money comes, goes out next month, start from zero again.
The Ramsey Show
Attack Your Debt Instead of Letting It Attack You
So, uh, since December, um, I haven't worked since 2013. Um, and I don't intend to work. He likes this. I do too. It works for our family, but I got a side gig, just helping a friend for a couple of months, you know, I'm making about $230 a week. And then I said, well, this is going to go towards credit cards because we just going to bang these credit cards.
The Ramsey Show
Attack Your Debt Instead of Letting It Attack You
I don't want to see these payments anymore. Um, And the money is just going into the account and disappearing with our normal bills, you know? And I'm getting very frustrated because I'm like, I'm, you know, I'm doing this. It's a little extra and it was supposed to get the credit card. So anyway, being in that, um, also one of my huge goals was to go back to homeland to see my family.
The Ramsey Show
Attack Your Debt Instead of Letting It Attack You
I haven't seen my family in about, um, 16 years. Where's home, Roberta? It's Brazil. I'm from Brazil. I was born and raised in Brazil, and then I moved here in 2008.
The Ramsey Show
Delayed Gratification Is a Key Ingredient to Building Wealth
Well, it's a million, don't forget, it's a million four plus the other 200 and what do they call paid-up additions? Okay. So it's 1.6 minus eight. Yeah, all right. Well, minus six, yeah. So it's a million. So look at the statements and the death benefit amount for each one of these things added together is just over a million. So why walk away from that payout for...
The Ramsey Show
Delayed Gratification Is a Key Ingredient to Building Wealth
Hey, Dave, thanks for taking my call. Sure, what's up? So I'm calling to talk about your favorite financial instrument, the whole life insurance policies. I have a question about policies that my parents bought years and years ago, and hopefully you can help me figure out what to do with these things.
The Ramsey Show
Delayed Gratification Is a Key Ingredient to Building Wealth
Um, so, uh, long story short, me and my family, me and my parents and my brother opened a small business about five or six years ago. When we did, we borrowed money against my parents, whole life insurance policies to help fund, uh, the real estate purchase and construction. It's a dog daycare boarding and doing facility that opened five years doing well, profitable, growing. It's in good shape.
The Ramsey Show
Delayed Gratification Is a Key Ingredient to Building Wealth
Uh, the first two years we didn't make any payments on those loans. So the unit grew as a capitalized the interest. Then I started making monthly payments on those loans, uh, for money that we were making in the business once we became fairly profitable. Uh, so here's my question. Uh, these loans, they, there's six total loans, uh, excuse me, six total inch policies.
The Ramsey Show
Delayed Gratification Is a Key Ingredient to Building Wealth
And my parents took out about $1.4 million in, uh, in face value insurance. plus the additional insurance they purchased over the years as they were, I think they made some overpayments in the past, things like that. I have borrowed about $600,000 against the policy. So here's my question. What's the remaining cash value?
The Ramsey Show
Delayed Gratification Is a Key Ingredient to Building Wealth
The remaining, the net cash value is that today is about $200,000 and the death benefit as of today and all of them combined is about $1.06 million. Uh, my question is, do I bother paying these loans down? And if I do, do I use your snowball effect and go for the lowest balanced loans first? Or do I pay them off all evenly? Cause, Technically, they all have the same interest rate.
The Ramsey Show
Delayed Gratification Is a Key Ingredient to Building Wealth
It's basically like one large basket, right? So am I even benefiting from the snowball considering there's no minimum payment on these things, right? I can pay them at any time, any way I want. I could make the payment. I could not let the interest capitalize. You know, you can manage them any way you like. So what do I do with them? Should I pay them? Should I not?
The Ramsey Show
Delayed Gratification Is a Key Ingredient to Building Wealth
There's also an extra $200,000. They also, over the years, purchased an extra $200,000 of insurance by overpayments. Paid up additions. Yeah, paid up additions. So they actually have a million-dollar in-depth benefit. But you are right, though, by the way. My parents... So they have an interest in our small business. They have income through that. That's actually my second job.
The Ramsey Show
Delayed Gratification Is a Key Ingredient to Building Wealth
I have another job where I'm a trader. I flip the syndicate market, you know, I trade IPOs. I borrowed money from my parents to seed that as well and gave them a percentage of what I make off of that. So basically, my parents have income through me. Do your parents have other wealth? Yes. How much? The business insurance. How much?
The Ramsey Show
Delayed Gratification Is a Key Ingredient to Building Wealth
Uh, so I, I'm going to be honest and I don't have total transparency, but I'm going to say all in, they probably have assets that a million and a half dollars in addition to all this. Okay. Yeah. So yeah. And, and the income, even though they are retired, they have income from two businesses that I run that they have interest in.
The Ramsey Show
Delayed Gratification Is a Key Ingredient to Building Wealth
I had a funny feeling you'd say that.
The Ramsey Show
Delayed Gratification Is a Key Ingredient to Building Wealth
No, you're right. You're right. Well, let me ask you this, just because you definitely understand these instruments better than I do, right? So say I was to cancel these policies today. They're not yours.
The Ramsey Show
Delayed Gratification Is a Key Ingredient to Building Wealth
Well, you're right. We'll put it this way. They basically, I've been managing their finances for them other than some just assets that they own that somebody else has helped them out with because they're both kind of, frankly, you know, they're a little older and both a little bit underprivileged.
The Ramsey Show
Delayed Gratification Is a Key Ingredient to Building Wealth
So they basically ask me what to do with these things and do, you know, they, they take my advice and trust me and I, I don't want to put them in the wrong direction here, you know? Okay. Um, but, but say, say that I advise them, say you should close these things down today. Right. So they do that. They get out of it.
The Ramsey Show
Delayed Gratification Is a Key Ingredient to Building Wealth
What the net cash value that's left at that $190,000 check for that one 90 and then they have the 600 that is owed to them from the start of our business. Correct. And, and that's it. That's it. Right.
The Ramsey Show
Delayed Gratification Is a Key Ingredient to Building Wealth
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Okay. That all makes sense. The only counter I'd have to help convince me here, Dave, is... So there is... Say that they were to pass away soon, unfortunately, right? I mean, my parents, to be frank, they're, you know, they're elderly. There's... just over a million dollars of death benefit left over after accounting for the loans, right? No.
The Ramsey Show
You Have to Know Where You Are Financially to Know Where You're Going
Hi, George. Hi, Ken. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. What's up? So I got married about six months ago, and I'm trying to dig us out of this ginormous hole of our prior divorces, some poor decisions, and a severe case of can't-say-no-to-wife-itis.
The Ramsey Show
You Have to Know Where You Are Financially to Know Where You're Going
Yeah. No, unfortunately.
The Ramsey Show
You Have to Know Where You Are Financially to Know Where You're Going
So, but yeah, so long story short, We're probably about 250K in the hole right now, not including the house. Part of that is, like I said, divorces hit both of us pretty hard. I also got in a car accident in December and then lost my job the next day. So I had like three or four months span that was really tough on us.
The Ramsey Show
You Have to Know Where You Are Financially to Know Where You're Going
Um, but I am trying to, you know, we, we make decent income, so we have enough, we have a little bit of margin. So I'm starting obviously baby step two, um, trying to get going on that. But the thing that kills me is I understand the concept of the smallest, the largest, but the problem is almost all of our small debts are all 0%. And we have large debts that are 28%.
The Ramsey Show
You Have to Know Where You Are Financially to Know Where You're Going
And it drives me nuts that I'm going to spend 12 months paying off $15,000, $20,000 worth of 0% while the 30% is accruing $1,000 a month in interest. And I was thinking, you know, we can take a HELOC, cut that rate by 70%. It adds another $800 to $1,000 that we can roll into the snowball and get done, you know, eight months to a year faster.
The Ramsey Show
You Have to Know Where You Are Financially to Know Where You're Going
I recently sold my video game collection for like $5,000. Hey, that's a start. But that was painful.
The Ramsey Show
You Have to Know Where You Are Financially to Know Where You're Going
Yeah, I'm looking at getting another job to try and bring in some more income to tackle this.
The Ramsey Show
You Have to Know Where You Are Financially to Know Where You're Going
She's there. She is in the other room.
The Ramsey Show
You Have to Know Where You Are Financially to Know Where You're Going
She's in the other room.
The Ramsey Show
You Have to Know Where You Are Financially to Know Where You're Going
Yes. She's actually volunteered to get a second job as well. But she did that before with her ex-husband who had no ambition at all. So I don't really want her to have to do that again.
The Ramsey Show
You Have to Know Where You Are Financially to Know Where You're Going
The smallest two are, I think, my Apple card is like $500, and – I think there's a Samsung card that's like $1,500. Both of those are at 0%.
The Ramsey Show
You Have to Know Where You Are Financially to Know Where You're Going
Yeah. I mean, we got like, uh, 2,200 and then, uh, that starts to jump from the 2,200. We got, it goes up to about six.
The Ramsey Show
You Have to Know Where You Are Financially to Know Where You're Going
$2,200 is, well, that's another Apple card. So the way they do that is installments on your phone. I don't care.
The Ramsey Show
You Have to Know Where You Are Financially to Know Where You're Going
Theoretically, yes. I think there's only two payments left on it.
The Ramsey Show
You Have to Know Where You Are Financially to Know Where You're Going
I understand that. I wasn't really saying I'm going to switch to paying off the highest one because I know that doesn't work. I know what you said.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
Well, we try to be really wise with our income, and I'm afraid we may have made ourselves artificially house poor. Tell me more.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
Yeah, it tracks. So almost two years ago, we took out a construction loan and built our forever home out on the family property next to my folks. We didn't get the land. We didn't build our home in someone else's land. So that was smart, I think. Um, the issue we is we kind of painted ourselves in a corner when we did it because we did it in an adjustable rate mortgage.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
And now it's forcing us to in a situation where we're kind of having a snowball pay off the mortgage before the adjustment hits. So I'd appreciate your perspective on whether it'd be a better choice to continue power paying this mortgage or maybe loosen the belt a little, live our lives and plan to refinance before the adjustment happens.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
Um, December of 33 is a 10-5 ARM at 5.375. Okay. And we built it in March of 2020. So it was like the worst time in modern history to both retire from the military and build a home.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
Before 10 years is up is what I'm thinking because we're able to make the payment and stuff right now. So we built it for $675,000, but we only financed $549,000 because we tried to pay as much cash as we could for different parts. The builder worked with us really well. What's your household income? So my military retirement is $35,000 and then I have a VA disability of $45,000.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
That part's tax-free. And I do have a phenomenal job. I'm making $190,000.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
$3,100 is the mortgage. And we're taking home about $9,000 a month. Because I have some payroll deduction for the Roth 401k. I'm at 9%. The company matches 6%. And they also have an ESOP loan. of an additional 5% on top of that. And then we're real generous, so I got about 18% of my income going out of our take-home to tithes and just being generous.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
So you're saying, hey, we can pay this thing off before it adjusts. Right. I think it's a great goal to have. Because we snowballed our dead, I mean, I've got both of our vehicles. I think the youngest one is 16, and the lowest miles is like 230,000.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
We're still driving Junkers right now. I figure one of them is going to blow up here pretty soon. It will.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
See, I was – And should I still do the full 15%? Yes.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
You know, I used to, but it's because it's been a marriage of three. God has been in our relationship since we got married back when we were 19. Awesome. We just hit 28 years. Congratulations, dude.
The Ramsey Show
Your Future Self Deserves Better Choices Today
I was really good at picking up the pieces after I made a bunch of mistakes.
The Ramsey Show
It’s Time To Cut Debt out of Your Life!
I'm doing great. Head just spinning a little bit. I woke up this morning and the car wasn't in my parking spot. What? Yes, yes. What?
The Ramsey Show
It’s Time To Cut Debt out of Your Life!
Yeah, they didn't tell me that I was behind, but I knew I was behind for sure, but I didn't know they were just going to come and take it.
The Ramsey Show
It’s Time To Cut Debt out of Your Life!
I'm just being optimistic. I mean, make $25 an hour, you know.
The Ramsey Show
It’s Time To Cut Debt out of Your Life!
I'm sure I can. If things in the trunk, I definitely can get rid of. Okay.
The Ramsey Show
It’s Time To Cut Debt out of Your Life!
Not at all. She's not happy. She's kind of never been in this situation either before, so it's the first of both of us. Is she broke, too? You said what happened?
The Ramsey Show
It’s Time To Cut Debt out of Your Life!
Is there another option besides reinstating this car? No.
The Ramsey Show
It’s Time To Cut Debt out of Your Life!
Right, but we're on spring break, so I have like four days until I go back to work.
The Ramsey Show
It’s Time To Cut Debt out of Your Life!
We put in vacation and PTO for these days, but yeah.
The Ramsey Show
It’s Time To Cut Debt out of Your Life!
About... $2,400 each every two weeks, so about $4,800, $4,200 around there.
The Ramsey Show
It’s Time To Cut Debt out of Your Life!
All combined, probably a good $1,400 besides the cost, so around $2,000.
The Ramsey Show
It’s Time To Cut Debt out of Your Life!
God bless your budget policy. It's missing a lot of things.
The Ramsey Show
It’s Time To Cut Debt out of Your Life!
He doesn't know, George. Yeah, I was about to say, it's miscellaneous things, everything.