“I don’t buy unique stocks,” says Dave Ramsey. A stupid decision and you could end up with a light of bud, tesla or a barrel of cracker

Steve de Greensboro, in North Carolina, called “The Ramsey Show” with an impressive financial profile: no debt, retired at 78 years old and sitting on a net value of $ 5.4 million. But the personality of personal finance Dave Ramsey was not impressed by everything he heard.

Steve explained that $ 1.8 million in his money – 34% of his full net value – were linked to a single actions in a taxable brokerage account. The action had appreciated a cost base of $ 58,000, which means that almost the total amount would be taxed if it was sold. “I absolutely hate paying the tax on capital gains,” said Steve.

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Ramsey understood but did not make sugar his advice. “You will exchange taxes for a certain security,” he said. “Diversification is equal to security. Or you will take the risk because you don’t want to pay taxes. It’s a simple formula. “

Steve said his income this year would be around $ 160,000, leaving room to make up to $ 400,000 in gains and remains in capital gains support of 15%. Ramsey urged her to take advantage of it. “The 15% is not only the tax, it is the cost of security due to diversification in relation to the lack of diversification,” he said.

Ramsey even sought the current income threshold and stressed that for a single declarant in 2025, the 15% tranche reached $ 566,000. “So if you have $ 160,000, it gives you $ 400,000 that you could move a year and not be 15%,” said Ramsey.

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Ramsey admitted that Steve had done well, but he clearly said that he did not believe in the detention of long -term individual actions. “I do not buy unique stocks. And the lack of diversification is one of the reasons,” he said.

Co-host John Delony Pointed examples like Enron and recent volatility in Tesla (Nasdaq: Tsla) to bring the point home. “I am itching because I grew up in Houston when Enron left, and I had friends and family who worked at Enron. It makes me nervous,” he said. “Or simply think about what Tesla was a year ago compared to what he is right now.”

Ramsey warned that an unexpected decision of the company could reduce Steve’s portfolio. “They can make the decision to do something stupid and suddenly, you might have a moment of light.”