Brought to you by YReFi. Refinance your defaulted private student loans today at YReFi.com slash Ramsey. I sent an email because I didn't think I could get on, but then I called and got on with it. There you go, Kel.
You're live right now. This is exciting. I have a two-part question. What about investment in this second part is about beneficiary.
Okay. All right. What's your first question? I started watching Dave Ramsey heavily last year.
I love his advice. All of you all, your perspectives on life and your sense of humor is just amazing. Thank you. I feel like you're talking about me there, because I really appreciate you, Kel.
Thank you. I've always been doing well financially, like pretty decent, but there is definitely room for growth and improvement, and this show has really helped me. As a social worker, I make about $8,86 annually, and I get about $4,200 a month for my rental properties. I own the rental properties outright.
I manage them myself, so there's not a whole lot of overhead. There was this one episode of Dave talked about being able to charge low rent, give grace, and fix that on due to the circumstances, and that just really resonated with me. But also, I have quite a nest egg in savings, and that comes from a financial insecurity that I once had that I'm now healing. So now I'm open to spending some leisure, having fun, and just investing more.
There we go. I've always wanted to, the properties that I have, they're all single-family homes, and so I've always, the long-term, go, I'm like, okay, I'm done with that. I want to do multi-unit, and I think I'm ready, but I'm really not sure about the best way to go about doing that. And some of my ideas just don't align with your principles, I know, but I'm just going to say them anyway.
So I'm not sure if I should finance the multi-unit, get a key log on my personal residence, where I owe one-on-one, and it's worth about $300. My nest egg is $175 cash. That's not quite enough to purchase outright, and the prices are just rising, and sometimes I feel bad for not doing this. A couple of years ago, when the prices were low, I was scared.
Sure. Okay, let me interrupt you real quick. Okay, let me ask this. So you make $88,000 a year.
You bring in $4,200 in rental properties that you own outright. How many homes is that? Mm-hmm, five. Five, and how much are they worth?
They're not worth a lot of money. They're in Alabama. They're not worth a lot. Okay, that's fine.
No, I mean, still, it's fantastic. And then you have $175,000 in just savings. Is that what you said? Different savings accounts.
One is an account where I put all the money from the rental. That's about $100. I just pay insurance. I just do the repairs.
And then the other one is just rental savings. But recently, one account had $30,000 in it, and I was just listening. It was gaining like 25% a month. And just listening to you all, I listened to the mutual trust, I believe.
And I went with LPL Financial, and I'm just there. And it's very impressive what you've done. I mean, you're in an incredible spot financially. So you call the Ramsey Show.
Yes, any of the examples or options that you gave to purchase a multi-unit, we would not go for it because they all pretty much involve debt. So I'm not going to go down that route with you. But what I would encourage you in is, you know, I so appreciate your willingness and urgency to continue to grow, right? You want your money to grow.
And what's the next thing? And I think that that is fantastic. But what happens so easily is that emotion and that motivation sometimes crosses a line of risk. And then people take on debt and then take on risk.
And they take this beautiful, peaceful life that you have where you're just not, you're making $400 on rental property. You have this incredible life set up. And then they go and kind of mess with it. And suddenly now you have a bank in your life.
You're worried about tenants. And suddenly this peaceful life has now brought on a level of anxiety and work and risk. And, you know, it takes a part of your mindset away from you and away from the piece that you have. So I want you to grow financially.
We are all about that on the show. I think that's fantastic. I just want you to do it in a slower, wiser way that's going to ultimately, for you, Kel, set you up as a whole person, not just the financial piece of your life, but every element of your life to still continue this piece that you have. So what I would do is either continue to do, because you can't, I mean, from our regards, you can't afford to go buy a multi-unit, you know, complex.
So what I would say is either continue to do what you're doing, maybe save up and go buy, you know, you said our homes aren't worth a lot. You know, maybe you go and step up in rental and go buy in a nicer neighborhood somewhere that's more expensive. You can get more rent that way. Right?
Growing in these ways that it is more within your means when it comes to cash. Because right now you're on maybe step seven. I mean, you're good. Yeah.
I'm sensing, Kel, that you gave us a real window into what's really going on here. And I think you need to be okay with how well you've done. I think Rachel nailed that. And there's the same thing that you identified at the start of the call, where you have some financial insecurity.
And you've saved all this money up and you're just afraid to spend it. But that's also driving this question, which is I feel like I need more and more and more. And I'm willing to be risky and go into debt to fill this hole in your soul. And the hole in your soul here is whatever you come from that you've conquered, by the way.
But you still have that fear. And by the way, we all have those. So you're not abnormal. Rachel's right.
You crushed it. I think you need to identify today that the same thing that's not allowing you to go spend some of that cash and live some of your life and enjoy the fruits of being disciplined is the same thing that's making you question, should I add more to my portfolio? Do exactly what Rachel said. When you can upgrade in cash, right, to better investment properties, do that.
But don't have this burning in your soul that I've got to do more to break some generational poverty or whatever you've come from. And I sense that that's probably true with you. Am I right? Yeah.
Okay. So Rachel's already giving me great advice. I say amen to what Rachel said. I want you to enjoy some of your money for a bit.
Stop thinking about adding your portfolio right now. And why don't we just take a really great vacation? Why don't we bless some people in your community with some nice, generous financial gift that's easy for you? But you begin to see the value of what you've done and allow you to soak in that.
Hey, I've earned this. I've broken this generational poverty. I'm never going back. I'm the future.
I'm the model. So let's model the way. I think that's my encouragement for you today. And I would say, Kel, too, what Ken was saying, and I think he is so spot on, is that growing your portfolio, again, that's not wrong, but we want it to come from a right motivation.
And if the motivation is out of a lack of fear or scarcity or, oh, gosh, if I don't do this, what's going to happen is you're going to get the complex, and then the finish line moves again. And then it's like, well, I probably should have gone over there. You're going to keep going, going, going, going. There has to be a level of contentment in your soul, like a level of peace.
Well, it's been about six years since I've missed an engine, so I have. I'm looking, you know, and this was a long-term goal, and I was starting to be like, okay, I think I'm ready. Yeah, that's fair. Yeah, yeah.
So then maybe your motivation is here, but I would just do it then from a tactical sense in the right, wisest way, which we would say is not with debt. It is to continue to be autonomous when it comes to your money and not have other people telling you what you have to do, because then you make totally different decisions with your life and money when other people are involved. You are in a state of autonomy, and that's where I would say, Kel, continue to grow, and you're doing great. And go take a vacation.
Yeah, spend some money on you. Go enjoy. Thanks for the call. Y-ReFi refinances delinquent private student loans for struggling borrowers.
Learn more at Y-R-E-F-Y dot com slash Ramsey.