Ramsey said that he and his wife, Sharon, made it clear to their children that the Ramseys view all of their assets as responsibilities from God. “Our job is to manage his stuff his way for him,” said Ramsey. “So the kids have no rights. And what we explained to them was, if they inherit something, all they’re inheriting is the right to manage it. They don’t become the owner any more than I’m the owner.”
Ramsey compared the situation to being like the expectation that a manager at Burger King will follow “the Burger King manual” instead of running the restaurant like a McDonald’s.
“When they do inherit [my wealth], all they do inherit is the weight of it and not the privilege of it,” Ramsey said. He acknowledged that receiving the inheritance is a privilege, but “if you view it properly, it’s a responsibility rather than, ‘I hit the lotto.’”
Ramsey said the caller should not view the inheritance as a way of threatening the daughter if she doesn’t behave. Another point the financial guru made, which Ramsey said was difficult for him because he is “extremely loyal” to the people he loves, was that “if someone’s misbehaving and you give them money, you magnify their misbehavior.”
“Absolutely,” the caller agreed. An “extreme” example Ramsey gave was that of a heroin addict. Giving that person $1 million will “kill them because they’ll overdose.”
“So you magnify their problem,” he said. “You don’t help it by throwing money on it, whatever the problem is.”
Ramsey noted he does not know how the caller’s daughter is behaving but encouraged a “manager or a stewardship perspective,” adding, “that’s the way I would talk to her about it.” The caller should be clear to his daughter that he loves her but also that he “can’t in good conscience leave [her] managing God’s stuff when [she’s] not following God. [You] have to report back to him.”
The caller agreed that Ramsey was coming at the topic with a “different spirit” from simply threatening the daughter over her bad behavior.
Cohost Dr. John Delony offered his thoughts as well, starting off by saying, “If you want to make sure there is never any complete reconciliation between you and your daughter—who sounds like she went through some sort of divorce growing up, something like that?”
The caller said yes, it was a “pretty rough divorce” and that his ex-wife “kept her away from me for six years, so [there’s] still kind of estrangement. But she’s taken steps to following God, so she calls me with advice, I guide her. She got saved maybe a year ago, so I just want to make sure we do this correctly, and we don’t want to stunt her in any way.”
