Break The Debt Spiral And Regain Your Life

Brought to you by the every dollar app, start budgeting for free today.

“Normal is broken, common sense is weird.”

So we're here to help you transform your life from the Ramsey Network and the Fair Wins Credit Union Studios. This is the Ramsey Show. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host George Campbell.

Number one, that's selling author and Ramsey personally. Coho's just smart, money happy hour on the Ramsey Network. He's my coho today. Open phones, a triple eight, eight, two, five, five, two, two, five, Elizabeth is in Seattle.

High Elizabeth, how are you? Hi, I'm doing well. How about you? Better than I deserve, what's up? I have a question about debt transfer cards.

I've been following you for years,

and I know you always say don't do it.

But I'm kind of at a loss. I don't really know where to go, because we're grounding and can't make even our minimums, because we have kind of a lot of debt. How much debt do you have?

I have about 15,000 credit cards. How much other debt do you have?

“I say probably 13, just under 13, for our car,”

and 35 for our school. OK, and what's your household income? Around 3,500. OK, you don't have a credit card problem. You have an income problem.

Yeah. Why do you make 3500 doing what? It's between the two of us, my husband and I. We both foster jobs about a year ago, so we door-sport drives and substitute teach.

We're both also applying for more consistent jobs as consistent income.

You don't need to apply for these jobs.

You need to get a job. It's been a year. Door-dash does not support a family. No. What were you guys doing before?

My husband worked as a CEO for a real-term company, and I worked in the ministry that my church closed down. And I lost my job right as we had our child, the same month that he was born. And in three months later, my husband

got fired from his job. So very deep dive. We were making over 6,000 together at that point. Yeah, okay. That's where we concentrate on.

Not trying to find some trick to cause $15,000 in credit card debt to go away. $15,000 will cause that to go away. That's what fixes it.

And so we need to go get $15,000.

And that is about income.

“That's what's occurring to me is I'm talking to you.”

I think if I were you guys, I would step back from the debt issue and step forward into the career crisis. And say, both of us have got to land something immediately that is a substantial real job.

Why did your husband get fired? They wanted to cut budget costs, and they hired a management company, rather than paying a CEO. OK.

And how large a company was he, the CEO of, how many people were working there? It was only him and one office staff, but they serviced, I think, 60 realtors. Mm-hmm.

OK. And so he was doing administrative work for the real estate company. Yeah. There's really more than, not, I mean, the CEO

is not really a proper title. I mean, it's a title they gave him, but he's not running a huge organization. He's not running an organization even with 40 people. Because the real estate agents all wrote work for themselves.

They're just running a shelter, and he's just trying to keep the thing he's hurting cats. So OK. So what was he doing before that? I'm before that.

He worked for another real-term company at a project manager. The net role ended. They wanted to keep him on, but there wasn't-- it was for a specific project in it, and so it--

So sounds like he knows the real estate business and I'm wondering if there's some place in the real estate business that he lands and gets out of the door. He has a hard time real estate.

We've got to the door now to the job. I'm sorry, say again. Yeah. He is in the final process. He has an interview tomorrow for the final process of a job

that he's getting, but it's half of what he was making. So we will still have to door-dash, but it's a job, it's something. What will he be making? 60. Here's making.

That's an upgrade. That's a good start. And then you've got to land something that you can do with a child and with a new baby and so forth that you can do from home and or work arounds of some kind.

But Elizabeth, the deal is that $15,000 in credit card is very easily overcome once you guys get your income

And then you just live on nothing.

You don't go out to eat and you attack these credit cards

“with the vengeance, because you remember how pissed off”

you were and how stressed off you stressed out you were. And you get rid of them, right? You can do that, but you can't do it on $3,500. You can, but it takes forever. And $3,500 is really not, it's not really not your world.

It's just the world. You found yourself in after a couple of tragic career situations. And now you land back into good stuff. And you look back in the rear view mirror five years from now and you go, well, that sucked.

That was a period of time and sucked. And I'm sure glad we're not living there anymore. But you go and clean up everything so that you do that. And don't use these credit cards for anything. - Yeah, they're closed.

- Good. - The credit cards are closed. We're just trying to get out from under it now.

- So first thing is you take care of food,

shelter clothing, transportation and utilities. Make sure your family's okay, your shelter,

“pay your rent, pay your house payment, pay your car payment.”

If you've got one, you did have one, you're 13,000. And you keep gas in the car and those kinds of things. But credit cards are down the list of things that we're going to do. They're the last people that get paid on the list. - It's an unsecured debt.

They can come after the car if you stop making the payments. - Yeah, and it's your transportation. So make sure you've got the student loan on a hardship deferral temporarily. And so let's get to the cash flowing around here again.

And then just begin to clear these credit cards off and as fast as you possibly can. Ben is in Salt Lake City. He ain't been what's up. - Not much, how are you?

- Better than I deserve, how can I help? - Hey, my question is more of like a career question. I have been a driver for UPS for the last six years. And they have been tanking volume recently, dropping accounts and just driving volume down.

And I haven't been working a lot lately.

“And now they're offering a $150,000 voluntary buyout offer”

to leave the company. - That's exciting. - Yeah. - What were you making? - I'm $44,73 an hour. - Okay, it's about 90K plus--

- So what are you gonna do with your life now that you're not at UPS?

- That's the million dollar question

'cause I'm 31, I-- - 155, I was not a question here. - Yeah, I don't know. Like UPS has been great. They've had great benefits, great pay.

And they've charted it and cared my family, but if I pivot and go to a different career, I'm gonna take a significant pay cut and-- - Why? - I'm just 'cause I've been looking

and applying for jobs and had any of these and just anything pivoting from what I'm making currently is just gonna be a paycheck right off the bat. - Well, what do you wanna do with your life that makes $100,000 a year?

Let's go be one of those. - Yeah, you know, I've already tried to, you know, a drive in passion to, you know, go to the police academy, but you're in right along and talking with local officers, it's awesome how to get into these thinkers,

a lot of people with military backgrounds, degrees and criminal justice. - It's not figure out what we can't do. Let's figure out what we can do. - You got a little lunch pad here

if you take this by-out. Yeah, let's not sit on that. - But I'm not gonna go take a dumb-down job. Let's use this as a chance to go live your dreams. - What is the dream you wanna be?

- Now go be that and use some of this $155,000 to get two old up to do it. (upbeat music) - Murphy's a law means if something can go wrong, it will. And it usually happens when you're not prepared.

That's why a big part of what I teach is staying prepared for whatever curve balls life throws. Have a fully funded emergency fund by term life insurance and get a will from mama bear legal forms. Because the last thing your family needs

is trying to figure out what you wanted after you're already gone. I've seen families torn apart because no one wrote things down. A will spells out exactly what you want to happen

after you've passed away. No questions, no court dates, no family fights, just clear directions and peace. It's one of the most loving things you can do. And on mamabearlegalforms.com,

completing your will is fast, easy, and affordable. Peace of mind for your family takes about 20 minutes with mama bear. And unlike a lot of other online will companies, the price you see at the beginning is the price you pay

at mamabearlegalforms.com. Go to mamabearlegalforms.com

Mamabearlegalforms.com promo code Ramsey. (upbeat music) - Bruce is in Columbia, South Carolina. Hey, Bruce, how are you?

“- I'm good, thank you for taking my call.”

- Sure, how can we help? - Well, I'm 64 years old and I've been working for 46 years. And I have a little different alignment on retirement than my wife does.

And I have a lot more debt than I should have for somebody that's made to kind of money I have. And I am trying to figure out how to pay down over $230,000 in debt and within the next year and possibly get retired by 65.

- Okay, where are you gonna get 230,000? - Well, my income is I make 100 and around $60,000 a year.

But the problem is, is my wife's income is around $30,000 a year

and we have 20,000 plus in credit card debt. And $12,000 on a car. My mortgage is 118,000, I have a second mortgage at 36,000. And I've been paying down to credit cards but every time I turn around and look,

it's higher than it was six months ago. - How'd that happen? - Well, non-nuff boundaries, non-nuff conversations. I'm trying to get myself in.

“- Have you guys got money saved, you haven't missed it?”

- I have a 401(k) 310,000, I have an IRA that's, between my Roth and my traditional IRA, it's 425,000, the Roth portion of that's only about 55,000. - Yeah, so you're not, you're not going to retire

with 230,000 paid off in one year. You don't have the money. And you're spending, your household spending's out of control. So even if you did retire debt-free, the debt's going to come back.

- Yeah, I'm coming to that realization. - Yeah, you guys can't live on 160,000 how you're going to live on retirement income. What would be your retirement income? - Well, probably about half of that.

- Yeah, you can't live on 160, you can't live on 80, you agreed? - Right, yep. - And the best thing is not big enough to support retirement, it's a good mistake.

- I mean, it's a good mistake, but it's not a great one.

So yeah, it sounds like you guys have never really

addressed the issue, and the two of you're going to sit down and go, hey, we're up a creek here. We've got to cut up these credit cards, and we've got to get rid of these card debts, and we've got to get this mess cleaned up.

We're going to be working to wear 80. - Yeah, and the only other income I have is I do have an annuity.

“- Now, why do I think you're not going to do that?”

'Cause you're just completely changed directions after I told you what to do. - No, 100% it's not- - How long have you been married? - 36 years.

- Yeah, this is a come to Jesus meeting, I'm talking about. We're going to sit down and go, this is broken, and we are going to fix it, starting now, that's the meeting tonight, no televisions on.

Nothing in the background, no dishes being washed while we're talking about it. This is, we are screwed, and we have screwed ourselves, and we have to fix this now,

and never go back to the old ways.

We're going to get on a budget, we're going to open that Ramsey every dollar app, and the two of us are going to start acting like grown-ups, not like a couple of children in Congress, spending money we don't have.

We're going to cut up the credit cards, and we're going to clean up as freaking debt, so we don't have to work till we're 80. And then you get yourself used to living on $80,000 a year,

and then when you retire, you can live on $80,000 a year, because you've got a couple of adults in the household, instead of children. And children can be 64, by the way.

That's what you've kind of think, and you're going to treat the symptom rather than the problem.

And the problem is, is that you guys spend more than you make,

and you don't have a system and you're not in line, and you're not agreed in your marriage, after 36 freaking years on how we're going to do this. And so this is going to run off until you're 90, and you're going to be eating dog food.

And this is where this is headed. So you've got to go back, you've got to go to the source of the problem, which is not her, it's both of you, but it includes her.

And so she's going to get to hear a word that you haven't told her in a long time. Here's the word, no. We're not doing that. We are broke people.

And you have to start acting that way, or you're going to, you know, this thing's going to fall in on you.

“And that's what you're starting to feel,”

and there's since the desperation is creeping up inside of you. The good news is you've got a year, maybe you've worked two years, maybe you worked three years,

and you clean this up and end up with a half million dollars

in your nest, take us to the 300,000, and you've got no debt, house, and everything's paid off in three years, because the two of you got very, very serious starting tonight, ready set go. I don't know if you're going to do it or not.

- I keep thinking about that old day of quote, you worked too hard to feel this broke. For 46 years of a career, making six figures, which is way more than most Americans, and you've got nothing to show for it.

And that breaks my heart, 'cause we know retirement is not an age, it's a financial number. And so I wish you could just ding a, hey, I'm 65, time to retire, not if the math says you can't.

And so that's the hard truth. It's been 36 years of compound at bad decisions. It's going to take a little while to clean this up, and you guys need to be unified. - Emma's in Los Angeles, hi Emma, how are you?

- I'm good, thanks for helping me out today. - Sure, how can we help? - Yeah, so my husband and I were wondering if it's a good idea to pull from our roster, IRA, to pay off the rest of my student loan debt. - No.

- Okay, that's my thought. - You know, I'll sound like you're a retirement age. You're going to cost you millions and millions of dollars in the future, you. So how much student loan debt have you guys got?

- It's about 9300 and that's just my student loan, and if we're only done, we have left. 9300, like 9300, correct. - What do you guys make? - We are on a variable income.

My husband is a study income, so he makes about 5600, and then my income varies from anywhere from nothing to 12,000 months, I'm a wedding videographer, and so it just depends on the season that I'm in as far as, like, if I was a wedding or not.

“- How many times do you have a 12,000 dollar month?”

- Last year I had about three or four of those. This year I haven't had one yet. - You guys, what can you guys live on his income and just pay off the student loan in the next time you have a good month? - It's possible, yeah.

My work is very slow right now, so I'm kind of like a tricky season with that. - No, no, but I mean, since you get a 12,000 dollar month, just pay the stupid thing off. - Yeah, I think we could probably manage that.

- Yeah. - It sounds like you're spending and you can't be counting on your income 'cause it's too volatile. - Correct, very correct. - Yeah, so we're sure income go when it does come.

- Our expenses are not covered fully by my husband's income. - Okay, so you can't live on his income. - Okay. - Not fully.

- Why are the expenses so high? Is it your mortgage or rent or what? 'Cause not the debt. - Yeah, I mean, our rent is kind of high. I mean, not ridiculous for the area,

but it's about 20, 100 and then between just insurance, we have two kids, yeah, it just adds up. We're in the process of like, we're finding things and trying to get really, really serious, especially since my income has been so scary lately.

- Yeah, good.

“I would make a budget and pretend like you have to live”

on his income and cut the expenses down until you can fit that. - Yeah, I would, I'd get for every dollar budget out. And then that takes the pressure off of your business and when your business starts making a loan,

you have one of those good months again. You just blink, palth-student loan. But no, the student loans are not your problem.

The problem is that you're not living on his income

and your income's not dependable. And that's what's throwing you guys into a tizzy. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Finally, mortgage rates have dropped

People who've been sitting on the sidelines

“are about to jump back into the housing market.”

So if you've been waiting to buy, this could be your window, but you've got to be prepared and do it the Ramsey way. You need to contact Churchill Mortgage. Their home buyer edge program

gives you peace of mind in a wild market. You can cap your rate for 90 days. So if rates go up, you're protected. If rates go down, Churchill will drop yours automatically and get this, Churchill will even back your offer

with a $10,000 seller guarantee. So if your loan falls through due to financing, the seller still gets paid. That's how confident Churchill is. Plus, when you shop as a Churchill certified home buyer,

it's stronger than pre-approval. It makes you look like a cash buyer, which makes your offer rise to the top. So don't let this moment pass you by. Get ready now, go to ChurchillMorgage.com

to get started today. That's ChurchillMorgage.com. - This is a paid advertisement. On buyer edge and seller guarantee are available for qualifying borrowers

and select loan types only

“and not available in all states of locations.”

In the MLSID, 1591. In the MLS Consumer Access.org, equal housing lender. (upbeat music) - Everyone to see the person who's calling to ask a question. Everyone what they look like when they're calling here

and asking, be kind of interesting one. - Yeah. - Well, you can experience this. The Ramsey Show is going back on tour. We're going to do live Q&A with the audience

and tape one of these shows. Raw confessions, crowd debates, local debt free screams, Charlotte, Denver, Phoenix, and Anaheim, all in April. These are small venues, we're only having about 300 seats

'cause we want to be able to talk to you guys and take questions from you. Last time we put this out last year, it sold out in 72 hours. So get your tickets at RamseySolutions.com/events

or click the link in the show notes if you're listening on a podcast or on YouTube.

“Again, Charlotte, Denver, Phoenix, and Anaheim”

in April, just in a few weeks here. And we're going to be in those cities and taking questions live, studio, audience. It's a different vibe, I'll tell you that. But it's also kind of fun, isn't it?

- I love being out there. We've got some even more fun interactive stuff planned for this next run. - Kelly is in Raleigh, North Carolina. Hi, Kelly, how are you?

- Hey, guys, I'm good, how are you today? Better than we deserve. What's up? - I have a question, I listen to your show all the time and get some of your feedback that I internalize.

But my fiance and I got engaged last November and we planned our wedding for April of 27. We were looking to buy a house, hopefully in the next couple of months we have the money put away for it. - Why are you waiting to get married so long?

- Couple of reasons, one, we wanted to focus our money

effort towards the home first.

And then my brother and his brother are also both getting married. Want an April this year, want to September this year. So with the help from our parents for our wedding, they're both giving us a little bit of money to have a bigger and more fun wedding.

So we've, how long are you today? - I'm 26 in my fiance's 29. - I would beg you to not buy a house with someone that you're not married to. - So would it be worth it them to go to a courthouse

and get married before we buy a house? - Yes. - And then just have the wedding next year? - Yes. - Okay.

- It changes, it changes so many things because I've just sitting in this seat, taking calls from people that have problems with their money, have run into so many different ways that they can go sideways

because basically from a legal standpoint,

you've just got a general partnership with no partnership documents. And so if something goes sideways like, I'll give you a horrible one. This is not gonna happen to you guys, okay? But a guy in his fiance bought a house together

and she died in a car wreck and so without a will. And so now he owns the house with her mother. - Okay. - 'Cause he's not akin to her. So her house was left to her only remaining kin

and by the way her mother was crazy. So my crazy future didn't happen mother and law is now my partner in a house. Does that make me throw up just a little bit in my mouth, right?

You follow me? - That's a little scary. - Yeah, that's kind of crap we've talked to over the last 30 years and so we don't want that for you.

because now we've got a situation. It's also okay to wait after you've been married a while to buy a house. You guys may be not, you've kind of got this plan on folding here, I'm with you.

But we always laugh and say marriage is different

than shaking up and it takes about a year or being married and know how close to your mother and law to buy. - Yeah, and I hear that because I live with my in law and my future in law.

“- Is that driving, I think that's driving this decision?”

You're like, get me out of here. - Hey, wanna a house? - Okay, yeah, courthouse. - Yeah, yes, part of it, no. We're gonna consider renting.

- Yeah, you could go rent something. You could go rent something but courthouse and rent for a year and then buy is ideal courthouse and by after the courthouse is next best thing, please do not buy a house or someone you're not married to people.

It is a disaster. I mean, there's just no way you can break up. I mean, at least when you're married, the divorce, there are laws that dictate how things are split up and judges will dictate how things are split up.

But, you know, divorce situation. But when you're just, you're shacking up in your own house with somebody you used to sleep with, it's just really a pain in the butt.

- Never seen it. - Never seen it.

- It's less than that when they call in. - Yeah, it's just a problem problem problem problem. So, there we go, good stuff. Spencer's in Boise, Idaho, high Spencer, what's up? - Hey Dave, my question is,

“I'm 24 years old, I'm in college and I'm fortunately”

had about $15,000 in credit card debt, which I am planning to pay off this summer with a good internship I landed. - Good. - The problem is my parents are pretty adamant

that once I pay off this debt, they want me to rebuild my credit and kind of dive back into the debt world to build up my credit and I'm kind of worried about that. - See, you want to fight off the lion

and then your parents would say, "Hey, jump back to the lion's den, it's good for you." - Okay, pretty much. - Makes sense. - Yeah.

- So, are they paying your way through college? - They're helping, yes, yep. - Okay. - All right, well, I mean, there's a couple things here. One is, if they're paying for your school

and you live with them, you have a different level of obligation to honor them and to be kind and to the so forth, right? If you're standing on your own and you're out of school and you're doing your own thing

and your mama's dad still have an opinion, it's, they don't get to vote anymore. That's how that not how this works. So, but then the second part of the discussion is what's wrong with their theory, okay?

Their theory is based in the, the idea that you need to go get credit

“means that they believe that the best way”

to have a wonderful life is to purchase things and stay in debt the rest of your life, that that's the best way for you to get things and to have a good life. They believe that.

And their theory is wrong, they're belief is wrong, and that's at the core of the discussion. So, they're not bad people, they're not trying to punish their son to do something bad to their son.

They actually do believe a lie that the best way for you to have a good life is for you to have good credit so that you can buy anything you want anytime you want on payments.

- Right. Well, and so how do I have this conversation with them? 'Cause I think I'm not obviously agree with you and I think they would normally agree with you like they're not terrible with their money.

They're always, you know, trying to need to stay out of debt

and stuff, but they just, there's only one reason to build credit, mom, and debt, and that is to go into debt. And I am really, don't like debt. And so I really am not gonna build my credit

because I really don't wanna be in debt. It's the only reason to build your credit. It has no other value. - Sure. And if you want more info on this,

I wrote a whole chapter on this in my book covering every single objection. So you can read that and then have the conversation with them. Say, hey, I know you're worried about me getting an apartment, there's easy ways around that.

And I know you're worried about me not being able to get a mortgage one day, there's a way around that. And so you just have to realize you can rise above the system instead of being stuck in the hamster wheel. - Yeah, hang on.

We'll send you a copy of that book and read it. And might be fun, thanks. Hey, listen, I just read this chapter. You guys read this chapter with me and tell me what you think.

And because I just don't, I don't wanna be in debt, mom and dad. And 'cause here's the whole, the whole FICO thing is 100% of your FICO score is based on your interaction with that. It's an I love debt score.

If you don't borrow money, you don't know the FICO score. Ta-da, just like that. - And I've lived it. I mean, I paid off my debt, didn't have a score. Still was able to rent apartments all over town,

even ones with a landlord, not apartment complex. I was able to get a mortgage through manual underwriting.

You're like, you're gonna have to jump through so many hoops,

you're gonna be exhausted. It was a nothing burger. It was just like, well, you know, a criminal background, can you pay the deposit? All right, you're in.

- Yeah. - You have the money to pay the mortgage? - Great.

“- You got a tax return in 12 months of rental history?”

- Great. - It's not that difficult. - Problemo. - Yeah. But the only reason to get credit is so you can get into debt

so that you can get credit so that you can get into debt. So that you can get credit so that you can get into debt. So you can raise your FICO score so you can get into debt. So you can raise your FICO score so you can get into debt. - I think it's a scam, boys and girls.

- Round hog day and only the lenders win. (upbeat music) - This show is sponsored by Better Hell.

I am here on this show because some amazing women in my life,

like my mentors, my friends, my wife and my mom because they invested in me. They're all extraordinary. And one of the common themes I've heard from all of the important women in my life

is that between the responsibilities and expectations that the world places on them

“and the expectations they place on themselves,”

they are under incredible pressure every day. Women are often encouraged to overlook their own emotional well-being to care for everybody else. Therapy offers a space for women to learn how to navigate those competing expectations,

learn how to set healthy boundaries, and learn how to communicate what they want and what they need. To do that, I recommend Better Hell. Better Hell is an online therapy platform

that matches you with a licensed therapist based on your goals and preferences. You can message your therapist and schedule sessions right in the platform and with over 30,000 therapists, they have the right person for you.

And if the first therapist isn't the right fit,

you can switch anytime at no additional cost. Your emotional well-being matters. Find support and therapy. Visit betterhelp.com/ramsie to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, HELP, dot com/ramsie.

(upbeat music) - It is in Jacksonville, Florida. Hi, Ed, how are you? - I'm good, Mr. Baby, how are you? - Better than I deserve, what's up?

- Well, excuse me. So my question is, I've got around 300,000 in equity in my home and I've got a total of 240,000 in debt with 140 of that being the mortgage. Some pretty bad debt within that 100K.

And I said I sell my house to get out of debt, start over on 43,000, zero retirement, the house is my retirement. I've had a really rough couple of years and pretty tough events have happened.

And trying to get out of this financial prison, if you will, and there's no money left over to save and I just don't know what to do. Should I sell the house? Refine as the house.

Stay put. (indistinct) - What's your household income? To mine with my wife, it's 140, was me bringing in a hundred and her bringing in 40.

The only caveat to that is after my employer, paid health insurance, which is 1700 a month, I'm taking home about 5,000 after taxes. - Okay, and but you're getting a tax refund. - That's another thing.

Oh, the IRS, 7,000 that I'm making payments on, that I have left from being my wife being self-employed. I'll go back to 22 that were making payments on some of my tax replying goes to that. - Okay.

- But that should be paid. This year's tax refund with my monthly payments, I'm really hoping to have that paid off by the end of the year. - Yeah, okay.

- And how much do you owe on your truck? - 39,000. - And that's of the hundred. - Yes, sir. - Sell it, sell it, sell it.

- I'm 10,000 upside down. I would have to come out of pocket to be able to sell it. I just don't have it, but that would still be selling a house. - Yeah, you borrow, you know, go to the credit union borrow the 10K and then get your $2,000 car to drive

while you get this misclaimed up. The 40% of your problem is the truck. - Okay, so find a way to get the 10K to get out of the truck. - Yeah, I'm gonna go go the credit union borrow it

“or who's the, who's the other money to on the truck?”

- All I find at you, the only problem with that Davis, I'm gonna credit take a hit, we had a house fire in 23

and I had 40 of that, but I had to bake bar,

Rob Peter to pay for the find the other 40, which I did, but my credit took such a hit during that time that I'm in the rebuilding phase of my credit. - I don't want you to rebuild your credit.

All I does is a sub-prime lender,

“they're screwing you, you have a 16% interest rate, don't you?”

- It's not that bad, it's not that bad, it's not that bad. - It's not that bad, they do promise will, they have a sub-prime program, I work in automotive finance. - Yeah, well, you're getting destroyed by that car and by the nine and a half, that's, you know,

and you can't keep doing that in the name of quote, rebuilding your credit for the opportunity to borrow money again, that I'm trying to break the spiral without selling the house and I sell a car 14 times for a cell of house.

- The house isn't the problem and it sort of doesn't change the behavior if you do sell it. That got you into this mess. And then you still gotta go right somewhere, don't you?

- Yes, sir, and that's horrible too, 'cause it's gonna cost double with, but more you do, it's just getting my hands on the table.

- So let's get a hold of this amazing income,

you guys have and just clean this mess up. You sell the truck, you got 61 left, make a 140. Now it's an easy math problem. Let's live like a brooch, but you're right, you could do, you do have scratch up the 10 grand,

it's just scratched up 40 grand to get a house fire redone and that made part of this mess as well. So I would rather you have 10k on a credit card than I would have 40 on a crock truck. And you know, that's moving in the right direction then.

And again, get you a hoopty. That's not real popular when you're the finance manager at a new car dealership, but I don't really care. You know, I don't care what your buddies think about what you drive.

I care about you and you winning. And so appearances are not something I'm willing to invest in at any stage of wealth building,

but certainly not where you are head.

So yeah, you've got to do something to break the cycle.

“And I think selling the house is awfully desperate”

when you're sitting on a 40,000-hour truck. So I'm finding a way to get that 10k and I'm getting rid of that thing. Austin is with us in Nashville. Hey, Austin, what's up?

- Hey, Dave, how are you? Better than I deserve, how can we help? - Good deal, yes. So I'm recently engaged. My fiancee will graduate from grad school in May of this year

and we'll get married in May of 27. My question for you is, is together. Currently, we have about $50,000 in savings. And we'd be going into our marriage with about $100,000 worth of debt, 50%

would be hersting loans, and 50% would be on a fairly low interest rate piece of equipment for my business. My question is, is it smart to use some of our savings or all our savings, x, y, is the pay off of one of the loans or should we hold on to the savings

and pay the loan a dollar? - There's not a wee or an hour, you're not married. - Okay. - You don't pay somebody's bills that you're not married to. - Well, I guess I'm looking, you know, next year

when we are married. - Won't you just get married? What are you waiting on? (laughs) - Well, we're waiting for this.

Nah, I guess we're waiting to get married. - Why? - But, well, we know what we're gonna do. - You're already playing house and acting like you're married. What's the big deal?

- Oh, no, we're not playing house. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - Well, you said we have savings. - Oh, watch your safe, like a fleece. - Okay.

- Well, you guys individually.

“- I mean, if you want to live to continue to live separate lives”

until May of 27 when you're married and you work on you getting your debt paid off. She works on her getting her debt paid off. She would use her savings towards that and you would use your savings towards yours.

Until there's a wee, at the point there's a wee, we combine everything and we attack it together. We combine income and everything else. - That's what's her degree in? - Speak therapy.

- Good, excellent. So she'll be able to make some good income to offset the student loan sheet took out, right? - Right. - Yeah, good.

And let's get that done. - That's what we're looking at and you know, and my business is going well too, but I guess just the big thing is is how, obviously we want to knock our debts out

as quickly as possible, or individually, you know, that's the goal, but should we take out of savings to do so? - Yes, or, yes, okay. - And you should stop adding to savings

until you get the debt cleaned up 'cause the debt is sucking the marrow out of your cash flow.

And you're writing checks every month to other people instead of to yourself.

“And that keeps you from building wealth.”

And so your first impediment, your first blocker

for building wealth is the debt. So when you clear the debt, you don't have any payments in the world. Now we got money. And then we built an emergency fund

of three to six months of expenses, and then we start putting 15% of our income away towards retirement, and pretty soon you'll be a millionaire doing that. But you've got to get rid of all these stupid payments

and talking about interest rates, and I don't give a crap about interest rates. My interest rates are zero 'cause I haven't had a debt in 30 years. And so that's my interest to zero.

I got your beat. And that risk on the businesses is bigger than you think.

All it takes is a few bad months.

And now you can't pay the equipment. And we get that call a whole bunch. The business failed, but I still owe a bunch of money on this equipment. What do I do? And you're selling it for pennies on the dollar

trying to clean up the mess. So I would move forward, clean it up this debt, and maybe by the time you're married, you both are debt free. How cool would that be?

That's an idea. No, okay. Yeah, that's, that's, and-- You some of the savings and future income.

“But only after your married, do you combine everything?”

And when you come home from the honeymoon, now we have debt, and now we have savings, and now we have a dog, and now we have until then it's your dog, until then it's your problem, right? And of course, the dog piece on the floor, then it's your dog.

So it doesn't matter, even if you're married. So that's how that works. I know that line. Look at what your dog did. Yeah.

And to which I say, look at what your daughter did. But yeah, who's cleaning up the mess in the Ramsey house? Oh, that's a bell of the bear dog is my responsibility. And Sharon made that clear. Yeah, just because the bell of the bear dog eats Sharon's stuff.

Oh. And so it's definitely-- Bell of the bear dog stays on serious probation at all times. You've got a line item in the back of the floor. I've got a fourth or fifth set of earbuds for my wife,

recently, yeah. Yeah.

“Would you please put those things where the dog can't get to them?”

Is it still in the dog? The point is the dog's fault. Is it passing through or is it still in the dog? I have no idea. I don't want to talk about it.

That's someone else's problem. Statistic show that half of Americans don't have enough life insurance, or they don't have any at all. They don't understand this, John. Why don't people want to take care of their family?

They think they're going to die or something? Well, I used to be one of those guys. I didn't even think about it. And one of my buddies said, hey, the only reason to not have life insurance is if you hate your wife and kids, and I immediately went and got term life insurance.

That's a gut punch. Oh, you're telling me, and for decades, Dave, I've sat across people who've lost a spouse. They've lost somebody important to them. Me too. They don't know what to do next.

Me too. You're going to have a crisis here, and you got two options while you're sitting and talking to a young widow. She's concerned about how she's going to invest all this money properly, and not miss this up, or she's concerned how she's going to eat tomorrow.

That's exactly the two options. In terms of your dad-gump family, and her life insurance can replace income pay off. Dads cover funeral expenses, so your family can actually have the opportunity to just be sad. Yeah.

To just miss you. That's exactly what it's supposed to be. It's saying I love you to your family, term life insurance. You have Zander and the team of Zander Insurance makes it easy and affordable. I've used them personally for 25 years, that the only people I'd trust go to zander.com

or call 800-356-4282. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show in the Fair Wins Credit Union studio. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, George Campbell Ramsey personality, number one bestselling author and co-host of smart money-happy hour on the Ramsey network is my co-host today. Nate is in Nashville, hi, Nate.

How are you? I'm doing good. How are you? You're going to have to reserve, what's up? So I'm an independent, songwriter and music producer, so my income is very inconsistent and

I've had a lot of good years and a lot of bad years. So me and my wife have been okay with that kind of inconsistency and income until last year in December, our baby had to be delivered extremely prematurely and at the same time my wife was diagnosed with lupus. So both our baby and my wife have been in the hospital pretty much all throughout the

beginning of this year and with all of this kind of medical uncertainty basically that we're

a catalog sale which in music is kind of like selling a business is just getting a lump sum for all of the songs that I've made and I have the option to do that and I'm kind of wondering if it's a smart move to just take the sale and invest that money and move off of the interest or if I should just keep working and try to maybe find a way to make my income a little more consistent.

Yeah. Nate, I'm sorry you guys are going through this. It rocks your world when the baby's sick and when mom is sick too it's double. That's a tough thing and when you're an artist it particularly is rocky. So as you guys, as you know I'm in Nashville and so I've got lots and lots of friends

in the business that have so catalogues and so I'm fairly familiar with it. Typically what happens in your world is that your money that you make from the songs is the value that the catalog has, right? And so what typically happens is you know and everybody else knows if you think about it is when a song comes out of particularly if you get a good hit it'll peak within a few

months and then depending on how big a hit it is it'll continue to feed out and pay out but gradually the the payout deteriorates over time on every song. Agreed? Yes. So it goes up, big nice thing, big splash everybody's smiling everybody's happy.

We collect a statue or two and then we go on and start but then the income associated with a hit from five years ago is way different than the income associated with a hit this

“year and so what you're trying to figure out is is and that's how they value the catalogues.”

They value them based on what they think they can make on it over time. Yep. Yep. And so they're looking at that deterioration and so anything you write the year after you sell the catalogues yours, you're not selling your future here, you're only selling

the past ones and so that block of income starts at one level and goes down every single year when they buy that catalog. Right? Right. And so that's how they're valuing it.

That's also how you make the decision as to whether you want to keep it or not. Some artists, friends of mine, want to keep it just because those songs are like their babies, they don't want to let them go. They're very attached to them emotionally. They think a legacy for them.

Yeah.

And others view it on a pure business factor and go, you know, I can get X number a million

dollars for this thing and I'm going to keep on in the business and I'll make my future there but this gives me a lump sum to stabilize my life which is sounds like kind of how you're thinking. So what are they offering you for the catalog? It would be around four million.

Good. Oh, you've done a great job. Congratulations. You've had some good stuff, man. All right.

How old are you? I'm 33. Yeah. You're doing good here for you. Like what are you normally making in a year?

“Well, my last year was my best year and I made just about a million and that's why I'm”

a little bit not sure because if I do a deal at an LPM deal or to the last 12 months, I would get like about a times four on my catalog sale but I'm also not sure, like it's I continue to write maybe I can make that number go up and then my catalog sale could be worth, you know. There's nothing to say you could or not another catalog.

That's true. You know, it's just this is one block of song to one library. Okay. And so, but here's the deal. Okay.

So, if you got four million a day but you would get a million next year and eight hundred

the next year would you rather have that stream of income because that stream of income is going to be there. Great. And so, you know, what I would say is if you project that you're going to make a fourth of this in the coming 12 off of this catalog, I'm probably keeping that because you're

going to get a million of the four million right now and so we're only got a three million dollar swing and what have you got three million dollars for, you're going to get that three million in the next five years. Yeah. Yeah.

“I think just with just seeing how crazy these swings can be in music and just not having”

that certainty especially with. Well, it's not a horrible deal and it's a fairly standard process. Like you said, they're doing about four X on the LPM so that's not a that's a fairly standard formula and they're not ripping you off. The question is do you what do you want and it sounds like with your family situation that

you can restart your career fresh with four million dollars in an investment, which if you

Great. And forever and that's without you forever producing future income. Yeah. And on top of that then and you've got that for your baseline to operate your household on and relax and then you still you still go to work every day.

You're still good on there sitting right every day like you were desperate and broken hungry, but you're not desperate and broken hungry anymore, but you're still right like there. You still work like that because my experience with the song rotters is it's you know, you have to work every day.

Yeah. It's not it's not random.

“You guys, you guys grind those things out most of the time, right?”

Yeah. And then, you know, I haven't been able to do as much this year. I really haven't been able to do much at all just with the medical situation and so that's it. Yeah, but I'm not talking about I'm not, I'm not, I'm not shaming you about that.

What I'm talking about is just because you've got four million dollars in a mutual

fund doesn't mean you can quit work. Right. That's the way. When mom and baby are healthy and you're ready to go back to work, go back to work tonight.

You've got a talent. Go use it. Okay. Don't get lazy because you've got four hundred k or four four million dollars and you're making four hundred k.

Do you believe a talented enough to go create another million dollar a year of future? No question. How long can you get into it? Yeah.

“I think I can, I think I'll be able to do it.”

I'm, I'm just putting myself in your shoes. I'm taking the deal. Yeah. I am, too. I like what it does for you to stabilize your life.

You've got a family to responsible for. You're not just a kid with a guitar in a room with too much coffee. You know, yeah. This is there's, you now got other stuff going on. So I'm with you, man.

I'll take the volatility of the stock market over the volatility of the music industry. Oh, no. It's not, it's not that.

I've always very predictable.

It's going to go down. Yeah. Exactly. It's very predictable.

“We just talked about the stream of income deteriorates.”

The S&P 500 doling on up over time. Yeah. So I'm going to take 400 k a year off of that four million, live on that or 300 k. And live on that and let that sit there. Get with a smart vester pro.

You know, click at Ramsey Solutions night and get sit down with one of the folks. We recommend they'll sit down and put together and believe me. They're in Nashville. They've worked with catalog sales before too. I don't know what it is.

It's a fairly, you know, in our, in our community, we're in a music community that's a fairly common occurrence. [ Music ] If you're looking for a more budget friendly way to save on medical costs and stay true to your values, Christian health care ministries is a great option to think about. CHM is not health insurance.

It's a health cost sharing ministry. A biblical community based way for Christians to share each other's medical bills. That means no enrollment deadlines and you can choose any doctor or hospital you want. That kind of freedom is big, especially if you're self employed between jobs or you just need something that fits your budget better. CHM has been around for decades.

Faithfully serving the Christian community. And many members save hundreds of dollars a month compared to traditional health insurance. And that margin gives you breathing room when you're working the baby steps and trying to stewards your money well.

And right now, CHM's offering new members a 50% credit towards their first month of membership.

Get started at CHM ministries.org/budgets and use promo code Ramsey. That CHM ministries.org/budget and promo code Ramsey. [ Music ] CHM's season is upon us to get free checklist and guides that will help you file. Go to RamseySolutions.com/Taxas.

Brandy is in Tulsa, high brandy, how are you? I'm good, Dave, are you? Better than I deserve, what's up? So, my husband and I, we together have about $65,000 in debt. 50,000 of that is our auto loan, which is about a thousand a month.

And we're barely staying current on it. We are behind on rent, which just started in February. The deal with that was that we were working at Job where we got the house for free. And now, but the job only paid like a thousand dollars a month. So, obviously not sustainable.

Our bills are about $3800 a month. He does have a new job now that is bringing in $3600 a month as of February 1st.

We have not filed taxes yet.

We should be doing that this week. Our plan is to get current on rent. And then about half of that, the O, the last boss we had about half of, we're expecting about five to six thousand return. So, we're going to owe him about half of that.

For what?

“We're just wondering, like, how do you owe him thousands of dollars?”

The guy you worked for? We, well, my husband actually broke a piece of equipment that resulted in adopt that much to fix it. Yeah, but that doesn't mean your husband has had he borrowed the equipment, or was he operating the equipment while he was being employed? He was operating the equipment while being employed.

Why does that make your husband liable?

He feels bad for breaking the equipment because that doesn't make him liable. You're broke. I don't care how bad he feels. Okay, if George drops it as computer that I own on the way out of the studio today and breaks it, George does not have to pay for it.

Yes. Okay. Does that, does that work? It works when you have employees.

“Did he sign some agreement saying that he's liable for any accident or damages?”

No. Yeah, he did tell him that he wants to pay him that, that he's owed that. Why?

He did come to us with an agreement.

Why? What basis does the employer think the employee has to pay for broken equipment? What's the found the moral foundation of this? Craig Craig. I think he was just my husband's stupidity.

This is a month of his pay. You guys, okay, number one, the landlord is on hold. Period. I mean, the former boss, if you ever pay him, it's not going to be any time soon. Number one.

Number two. Sell this stupid butt car. This car is insanity. What is this thing? So, I do have a question on that.

Now that you bring up, it is a 2025 dodger ring. Yeah, better thing. Yeah. We brought it last year. We're making about $5,000 a month.

And we had that job for about a year and a half. It doesn't mean you need to be stupid. I know. $8,000 dodger ring over $1,000 a month. It's killing you.

How far underwater are you on this thing? It is worth, by telling Google, about $26,000. So, what? How is that even possible?

“Do you guys drive this thing to the ground already in a year?”

We drive about 35,000 miles a year. Why? But during that time, we were traveling more for work. And we traveled about a round trip. Did you trade a car that has upside down into this deal?

I'm third. Did you trade another deal? Another car that was upside down into this deal. You roll over negative. Because even at 35,000 miles, the dodger ring goes should not have lost half of its value in one year.

They suck, but they don't suck that bad. Yeah, so we had about $10,000 of negative xc on the old vehicle that we rolled into. Okay, that makes $2,40 down to $26 because you drove it to the ground. Okay, that makes more sense, at least. Is there any other debt?

We have $9,000, about $9,400, about $5,500 of that is personal loans and the rest is credit. Okay, all of that's on hold until you get your rent current and keep your truck current until you figure out what to get out of this truck. And the landlord and the x-employer does not get any of your tax refund until you are out of debt. And even then, they probably don't get any money. You do not pay for broken equipment when you work for someone.

That's not how life works. Okay, if I own a heavier equipment operation, I got six bulldozers, one of the guys breaks bulldozers, he didn't have to pay for it.

Okay, the owner's taking the risk here. The owner takes the risk, that's not what owning a business is. Even if the guy made a mistake and tore it up, it's still on the owner not on the employee. And so what you guys are engaging in, I don't understand the moral code by which you've come to this decision or your husband thinks he's liable. He's not.

There's no code I've ever been around that says he's a vibe. He might feel guilty, but he's not lying. He feels bad for tearing up the guy's stuff that that he should do.

“That's an honorable man, but it does not make you need to pay for it.”

And for sure, you don't pay for it when you're rents not current and you can barely pay your car payment. So you guys got to get rid of the car and get current on food, lights, water, transportation, and rent. And don't get behind on those things again.

And never again, never again by a car owned at the rest of your life.

This should be the last one. Because you guys are handcuffed. This thing has a gun to your head. You have nowhere to go. And I'm not sure how you're going to get out of this truck.

It's a mess. You're going to need to save the difference. You got two bad deals tied together here. And you're 50% you know, sub. I don't know how you're going to do that.

He's going to need to make a whole lot more money. And I don't know if you're working outside the home, but I think you're going to need to get a job as well.

“Yeah, you guys are all going to have to be working all the time for the next three years.”

We clean up a lot of this mess.

But you got you because everything you've touched has gone backward for the last two years. You've gone back. You've gone deeper in the whole deeper in the whole deeper in the home. And you've got to turn that around and income turns that around. And then stop doing ridiculous decisions turns that around.

And so if you go near a car lot to buy a car on payments again, I can't help you. You've got to stop that. It's just destructive. And so. Oh, man.

What a mess. We're seeing a higher and higher percentage of people taking on car loans over a thousand dollars. It just keeps going up.

And let me also tell you guys out there, this is the second or third time today that we've taken these calls.

So here's your order of priority.

“And you do not violate this order of priority.”

The first thing you do with money that comes into your household without exception. You buy groceries. Not restaurants. You buy groceries for your family. Your family eats before you do anything.

The next thing you do is you keep the lights and the electricity on. You have to have that to operate. And almost everyone, and even in a horrible crisis can put the money together to do those two things. The next thing you do is you stay current on the rent. So you're not freaking homeless.

You stay current on your mortgage, you stay current on the rent. Period. The next thing after the rent is current is the car. Not the car and then the rent. You did that backwards, Brandy.

You keep rent current because if they take the car, you at least got a place to live. If they take the house, you're living in the car. We don't want to do that. [Music] Hey guys, George here.

Listen, 99 times out of 100, when people say, I don't know where my money goes. It's not a math problem. It's a behavior problem. They're not budgeting. Then they're shocked when their bank account hits triple zeros.

Well, here's the deal. Winning with money is about doing the boring stuff consistently. And that includes banking someplace that helps you stop guessing with your money. Like, fair ones credit union. They're not going to fix your habits.

That parts on you. But they do support people who are ready to take control of their money. At fair ones, you get a high yield savings account with a great rate to help grow your emergency fund, a checking account that won't nickel and dime you, and up to 10 free savings accounts, so you can organize your money on purpose.

Because when you stay disciplined, your money gets predictable. Manageable. And boring in the best way. So, if you're ready for a bank that helps you be intentional, open your smart bundle today at FairWins.org/Ramsy.

And get the Ramsey B-Wear debit card to go along with it. That's FairWins.org/Ramsy. Ensured by the NCUA. The Ramsey Question of the Day is sponsored by Y-Refy.

But Y-Refy can help clean it up.

“Y-Refy helps borrowers refinance with low, fixed rate payments, and get a clear plan forward.”

So, you can clean things up and get back to making real progress. Go to Y-Refy.com/Ramsy. That's the letter Y-R-E-F-Y.com/Ramsy. Might not be in all states. Today, we've got two related questions.

First is from Craig and Georgia, who asks, "What will the market do?"

Based on what's going on in Iran. And Allen in Indiana asks, "My daughter is going to college in August. With the stuff going on in Iran, should I change her 529 plan to an age-based investment?" So, day people are spooked by what's going on. It obviously affects the economy at least temporarily.

And so, they're wondering, "Should I make any changes to the way I'm investing right now?" No. That was easy. You should not change a thing. Okay.

If you go back throughout history, every time there's a burp in the geopolitical world, every time Donald Trump burps or Joe Biden burps, or there's an October 7th attack by Hamas and they kill innocent babies in Israel, or there's -- there's Ray Lee's now and the United States bombing the crud out of Iran for a few days. When you go back through history, you're going to see that generally what happens

there's a one or two day, sometimes a 30 day period of time, that the market will go down. Those that ride roller coasters only get hurt if you jump off in the middle of the ride. Give me an example.

“Anybody remember that little thing COVID?”

There was a little thing we had called COVID-19. There was a little problem we had a few years ago. And it was going to crash the entire world economy and everything. And the market dove when everything started sheltering in place and everybody had to go home. All these things started shutting down and all this.

The market dove and it went down and down and down and down and down and down and down. Fifty-seven days later it was back up to where it started. Yeah, when the bomb first started falling on, I ran the other day. The market dove, it went down a couple of points. It's been a week or two, it's back up.

The market is basically flat as of this recording for this year. And net net out of all the ups and downs and backs and forth.

If you jump in or jump out every time you see a bad report on CNN or Fox, you're never going to stay invested.

And you're never going to make any money. And so no, you don't do age-based investments for 529s for God's sakes. And you don't ever do that. And you don't sit and fret about what the market's going to do based on a war, if you even call it a war. Based on a series of bomb runs.

So, I mean, again, the markets just are not that tender.

“And here's the thing, you should never put money in mutual funds that you're going to leave along a week.”

You should never put money in mutual funds that you're going to leave alone for a month. You should never put money in mutual funds that you're going to leave alone for six months. You should never put money in mutual funds that you're going to leave alone three to five years. And over three to five years, all of these problems that drive the market down become a distant memory. And all you will see is a trend line overall up.

So here's my investing strategy, time in the market beats timing the market. And what you're doing when you get spooked by this is your timing the market. And what you're really doing is you're selling low and then you're going to buy high because you don't know when the bottom is. So what do you do? You cash out hoping that you're going to get, you know, avoid this big dip. And then what happens is when you get back in, it's already back to record highs.

And so you're really lost out because the best days usually happen after the worst days. So what Dave and I are doing, we're not changing our investing strategy at all. Yeah, and your daughter goes to college in August by August it'll be a memory by the next August. And by the way, you don't need all of her 529 money.

First year she goes to school. If you do, she didn't have much in the 529 start with.

And so you're just going to take out enough to pay for that year or that six month or that semester. That's all you're going to use. And so the vast majority, let's say you got enough for four years in the 529. Okay, the vast majority of what you need is not going to be used for two to three more years.

And it's a much smaller blip on the radar, no pun intended, than COVID was.

“COVID was a real thing in terms of what it did to the market.”

But it recovered dramatically fast after that. And so you go back and look at March of 20 and watch what the stock market did. Go look at the chart for March of 20 and you'll see it come right back up in April and May and June. And these age-based investments, they for people that don't understand what it's doing is moving your investments to more conservative things like bonds. As your kid gets into the college phase, so that sort of stabilizes.

But what you're missing out on is the returns. Look at the last three years.

It was up 23 percent, 25 percent, 17 percent.

And if you are half in bonds, you're not going to see those returns. And you've affected your kids' ability to go to college at that point. So no, no, no, no. If every time you get afraid by watching the news, quit watching the news. Because, you know, it doesn't matter.

You know, like, we were going to Cobbo the other day and some of my friends and wives are like, "Oh, they had problems with Mexico. You can't go to Cobbo." Like, it's not, it's in, it's in can't come. I mean, it's like, they got to take the problem in Chicago. So I'm not going to Nashville.

“That's just dumber than Crud and people's perception of stuff.”

So, I'm canceling. What are you canceling for? We're not even, we're not 1,000 miles away.

I burned a car in Chicago, so you're not going to Nashville.

I mean, that's just dumb. So it's the same thing here. It's overreaction. The fear porn that the news media just spreads all the time. And so turn off your televisions. A good idea for your investing strategy.

And just get off the box website. Because it's just the world's coming to end. The world's coming to end the world. Chicken little lives there full time. The sky's falling. The sky's falling.

Now, when phones here at Triple 8, 825, 5, 2, 2, 2, 5, James is in Raleigh, high James, how are you? Good, yourself. Better than I deserve. How can I help?

“So I went through my financial transactions the other day.”

And on my life's phone, I found that she has spent a minimum of about $5,000 single one person because she has a addiction to paint pills that we're currently trying to get under control. And she is dealt with five or six people over the course of the last year. And I've been noticing more and more money.

And I had about $600 saved up. And that went missing. And every time that I ask her about it, or the money went, she can't give me a straight answer. Well, if your wife has addicted to drugs,

take her off of all of the accounts. Well, I did.

And that was the problem is that she will grab my phone while I'm asleep.

I'm a truck driver, so I'm home to maybe three. Put a passcode on your phone. If she's an addict, she cannot have access to funds. Okay. And at this point now, I don't want to leave her because we do have two kids together to both get rid of silk school.

That doesn't mean she has to have access to funds. She has no access to money, period if she's an addict. It's not good for her. She should kill herself. I don't care about what she's saying.

I don't have to explain it. You get no money until you are a clean of drugs. Period. I'm not explaining. I'm telling.

I'm protecting you from yourself and I'm protecting us from you until you get off these pain pills in your dry. And so we got to get you some help for that, baby, to all I love you. We're going to walk through this together, but you've got no money. I'm not giving you.

You have no access to no money, no how, no where when you're doing drugs. Period. That's a, that's a, that's a, that's a non starter. You're just going to start with that and end with that. And make sure she's actually getting the help she needs to get healed, man.

And then when she gets healed and becomes trustworthy again, worthy of trust, then we start working this like two functioning adults together. But until then, no. (upbeat music) Angela is in Phoenix.

Angela, what's up? Hi, good afternoon. Thank you for taking my call. I'm excited to see you guys next month in Phoenix.

Glad you're coming. How can we help?

“I wasn't a car accident in April of 2020.”

I'm okay and went through several physical therapy sessions.

Like maybe sessions. I was represented by law firm. Such forward in 2023. But case closed and I only got $4,000 settlement after everything set and done. And they told me everything was settled and was asked to shine the client directors.

And I was only 24 at that time and nothing. No, it's nothing anything better. Fast forward to 2036. Last week I got an email from physical therapy. But I owe them $3,800 because the law firm didn't pay them.

And I didn't have to pay for it. These six years from now, I was able to confirm that everything wasn't legitimate. And I just don't know what to do. Do I just pay that? Do I just pay that?

No, not law firm. The physical therapy. I know.

You said the law firm was supposed to pay it and they didn't.

Yes, they did. And when did you call the law firm that was supposed to pay it and didn't? They did. They told me. Did you call the law firm that was supposed to pay the bill?

Yes, I did. What did they say? They told me that at that time. They said they cannot do this. No, I'm talking about this week.

Yes, this week you got a bill that they were supposed to have paid. Did you call them this week and say, how come I got a bill that you were supposed to pay? It's not even a bill of just an email from money. Did you call the law firm? I did call the law firm.

Okay, geez, what did they say?

They said at that time in 2023 before they close the settlement. They cannot get a hold of the physical therapy.

“That's why they asked me to sign the directive client that I have to take care of everything.”

But from what I can remember, they told me everything was settled, even the medical bills from the hospital. Okay, so you signed off knowing at the time. They have a piece of paper in their file that says you knew at the time that they had not paid the physical therapy. So they told me at that time that everything was settled and I don't have to worry about anything. And come six years after the physical therapy was emailing last week about it.

I got that. What I'm trying to figure out is what the law firm is, what Sir excuse for not having paid this. And how did they say it was your fault? They said that time they cannot get a hold of that physical therapy. That's what they told me last week.

That doesn't matter. They still have to pay it. Whether they got a hold of them or not. You're telling me for three years they haven't been able to get in touch with the physical therapy place? No, from 2023 they didn't settle it. Yeah, okay.

Well, I think I'm going to be talking to the lawyer that was supposed to have paid the bill. And I don't really want to hear any excuses about why they didn't pay the bill. And they need to call the physical therapy company and get this settled. Because that was their job originally. That was their job originally.

They withheld money from your settlement to pay your bills. And then they didn't do it. Yeah, the settlement was 14,000 and it only got 4,000 in total. Which means you got nothing by the time you pay this bill. So the only person I made money on this was the lawyer.

Oh, there's a shock! Okay. Oh my gosh. Well, I'm going to be all up in the business of this law firm saying you guys were supposed to

“pay this bill and you didn't and you need to contact them and you need to negotiate this.”

And if it does land back on you, Angela, you probably can settle it for 4,500 bucks. And just tell me, it's a 6-year-old bill. And you haven't gotten it so far in six years and I'm not paying you. The law firm is supposed to pay you. But I will give you $500 for settlement and full.

And then you can go after the law firm that's supposed to pay it. If you want to do that. But if you want to settle it, that's fine. Or you want to dump it in the back in the lap of that law firm. I'm dumping it back in the lap of the law firm.

I'm going to have some real stern conversations with them about how they should have taken care of this at the time. And I'm not sure I understand what your deal was with him completely. But it sounds like they were supposed to have taken care of this and didn't. And I'd find some documentation right now.

It's well, they said five years ago that they were going to do this thing. So what did you sign in writing? What did it say? Yeah. But a medical bill, regardless of how what the story is, a medical bill that has been

And so I just make a $500 off for it to go away and they'll go away.

“And give them 500 bucks and get it in writing and keep the piece of paper forever.”

Once you settle this. That's probably your easiest route. But there's something about the justice, the injustice of the law firm being the only one that actually makes any money on this transaction. Oh, geez.

Don't get me started on one of those billboards that she caught one of those numbers. They took her to the cleaners on this one. Getting 70% of the payout. No, they got it all. Well, she said she got $4,000.

Yeah, but now she was 3800. Which they didn't really want to have paid. And if they had paid that, she would have got nothing. So they got it all. That's my point.

That thing's net some of zero. I'd be the squeaky wheel. Yeah. So I'm getting up up in some folks business here at a minimum. Just have some fun with this.

And then there's nothing more fun than yelling at lawyers.

That's about like one of my favorite thing. The past time for Dave. So I'm sorry about that. Sorry you're facing that. If you want the easy way out, I just said let for 500 bucks.

Call the physical therapy people and say the law you're supposed to pay it. I don't know what. I'm going to turn it over to them. Or I'll give you 500 bucks for settlement and full. But I'm not giving you 3800.

Period. Not going to assume me. Laura's in Washington D.C. Hi, Laura. How are you?

Hi. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's up? So my question is how to be navigate wanting to start a family.

But still being in baby stuff too. Just start a family.

I don't wait to get out of debt to have kids.

What are your concerns? What are you worried about?

“I think we just feel anxious and fearful that everyone says having a kid is a big expanse.”

It's not. I don't eat much, they're tiny. Yeah. You really don't? Do you guys have anybody saved?

No, they're in babies tip too. You got 1,000 bucks? Yeah. Okay. So let's just stack up cash once you're pregnant.

And for the next nine months, we're just going to save and save and save. And once you and baby are home safe, we can push play on the debt snowball. But for now, just make your minimum payments. No, right now for now, you pay full debt snowball. You pay everything on the smallest debt.

When and if you get pregnant, then you push pause on your debt snowball and pile up cash. Instead of reducing debt until baby comes. Okay. And then you use that cash to pay on the debt if baby comes. I mean, I'm sure you've got health insurance, don't you?

Yeah. Okay. Covers labor delivery, right? Yeah. Okay.

Good. You can find out your deductible. You're out of pocket money. What's your household income? 240 crores.

240,000 dollars? Gross. Gross. Yeah. Well, it's not gross at all.

That's pretty cool. Yeah. I was dead. I think you can afford a baby kid. Okay.

People have babies or sex. I don't care. I mean, you're in good shape. You're fine. You're fine.

There's nothing to be anxious about. Yeah.

“But you do have to focus and be thoughtful.”

But children do not cost $300,000. They're not. It's not that big a deal. I mean, little money on some diapers and formula. And they don't take up much room.

See, unless you go crazy, you go spend $100,000. We're doing the nursery that the kid doesn't even know it's there. But that's you going crazy. That's not the kid. That's you.

And so, but I mean, they just need a place to sleep. And so, I was with a guy the other day. Where he was? And he was telling this story. Oh, I know where it was now.

And he said, when he was born, his parents lived in a one bedroom studio apartment. And they had a dresser drawer thing. A gesture drawers that they bought at a garage sale. And they opened up the top drawer. And that was his pass in that.

That's incredible. That's old school right there. That's how he started out life. And he doesn't even remember. And he's a well.

He's a wealthy guy. That's incredible. So, yeah, the kids don't cost much. You just need a dresser drawer. Just 31.

[Music] [Music] Welcome back to the Ram Z Show. In the Fair Wins Credit Union Studio. I'm Dave Ramsey.

Your host, George Campbell. Ramsey personality is my co-host today. We're so glad you're with this open phones.

Marie is in Philadelphia. Hi, Marie. How are you? Hi, good at how are you? Better than I deserve. What's up?

“So, my husband has committed financial instability three times.”

And every time that he was caught, we had to refinance and all of that. So, he runs up debt behind your back and lies to you. Yep, yep, 100%.

And I told him the third time.

If he does it again, we will divorce. I'm not doing this anymore. So, he did it again. Are you divorcing? I just happened like two weeks ago.

The third time was two weeks ago. The fourth time was two weeks ago. And then I found out he did not come clean. I found it. My friend is financial whatever for a company.

And she helped me do a credit strike on him and we found it. So, are you divorcing them? I checked in yesterday. All mine to see how to get divorce papers. Yeah. I'm still going back and forth.

I just, yeah.

We have been married 41 years together.

My question is, I have, so I'm homeschooled our five children. We have 11 granted. I started cleaning business. It just me. After our son, youngest son graduated.

So, I've been taking that money. And we put it into a savings and we consider it like fun money. So, we use it for vacations, house projects, whatever. My question is, do I go and get his name off of that account?

“You need to go see a divorce attorney and let them advise you on what you're allowed to do”

in the state of Pennsylvania while filing divorce. Whether you can take names off of accounts or not. If you can do that there. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, you've got to protect yourself in any way that is legally allowable.

And you certainly need to take pictures of the account so that you know that that money is there. And if it disappears, then you've at least got something to hold against him. You know, while you go through the divorce and, you know, for instance, if it, how much is in that account? My account is $7,000. Oh, so it's not much, okay.

And he's never touched it, that's fine.

I haven't, well, we used it, yeah, we used it for him. No, I mean, he's not stolen from it and lied about that account. Not, not that I know of it because, okay, so I'm dyslexic with numbers. He knows that. But he always has paid our bills.

He's always on our finances. And I put, my guard down last year, I should not have done it. He went and started using a credit card. And I was just like, some of the guns, I just, you know, can't believe that you did this for the fourth time in our marriage.

So I, yeah, I don't know because, Well, the $7,000 is probably going to be used as your attorney's fee. Okay.

“And so do you guys have any, do you guys have any, do you have any assets?”

Do you have any money in the marriage? We have nothing. No, we have nothing. You want a house? We have, we want a house, that's it.

What's it worth? No. We have, my daughter's mother-in-law, she's a realtor. And she says she thinks she can get between five and six out a hundred thousand. What do you owe on it?

It's an acre lot. Uh-huh. What do you owe on it? Nothing. It was paid off five years ago.

Okay. So have you guys attempted marriage counseling? We did when he did this the last time. And it got better. The problem was so we, he said, number credit cards.

We had no credit cards and we took in a trip for a 48th anniversary last year to youth all. And they would not let us read a car unless we had a credit credit card. No, that's not true. Okay. Well, he, I don't know.

We, he said he tried. They won't take debit cards. They won't take checks. They won't take cash. He said, "I can't do rent a car.

You have to have a credit card." So he tried. I think it's capital one. And so he did. And I should have taken it.

And I asked him either day. I said, "I want the credit card." He said, "No." And I was like, "Okay." Well, there's that.

Is your name on any of these debts or cards?

So we consolidated so they take out 600 every month from our checking account.

And I guess a border with the, the companies to pay off whatever.

“Did you work with a debt debt settlement relief company?”

One of these scummy companies out there? Yes, what should I do? Yes, that's what we're with. Okay. Yep.

Should have $80,000 in debt on credit cards, and you have a $500,000 paid for house. And do you make enough to live on? I do not. I only work two days a week to other three days. I see.

How are you going to eat? How are you going to eat? That's my, yeah. I'm going to have to work full time. That's the only way.

Yeah. How old are you? Me, um, 60. Okay. Um, Marie, I'm so sorry.

I wish, I wish marriage counseling would have fixed this. Um, but it, it sounds like your husband is just, whatever. I don't know what he is. But um, do you know where he's spending all this money? Is he an addict?

Some sort? No. So that's what I checked on.

And, um, my friend made a finances for Armstrong.

She said everything shows. It's just gas and food and one will unload. It's all like petty stuff. It's like, I don't understand. I, yeah.

I don't know. What does he make? It's frustrating.

“He only makes, uh, he's almost made 60,000 last year.”

He had a job. The same job for 35, 36 years. And they closed up. It was a printing company. And course, you know, computers took over that.

So, um, he got a better, he got a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job. And he didn't have a job.

“Because the interest rate is unbelievably in the penalties are unbelievably high.”

And then and more importantly than that, they have almost unlimited power to screw up your life. Gotcha. They can just show up and take all the money out of your checking account. They don't even have to ask a judge. They just do it.

Okay. So this six or one thousand. What I'm thinking is that probably in the next one, two, three, four, maybe five to six months. I could have had the six or one thousand paid off. That's good.

That's good. You don't have any money in savings. It's not retirement. Uh, in savings. Well, that's the $3,000, that's about it.

Okay. That needs to be $1,000. And we throw the rest of it at the taxes. And then let's forget that budget done. And you and the husband sit down.

Look at that budget. And goes. Oh, we're going to do that. Oh, we're going to do that. Oh, we're going to do that.

Oh, we're going to do that. Oh, we're going to do that. Oh, we're going to do that. Oh, we're going to do that. Oh, we're going to do that.

Oh, we're going to do that. Oh, we're going to do that. Oh, we're going to do that. Oh, we're going to do that. Oh, we're going to do that.

Oh, we're going to do that. Oh, we're going to do that. Oh, we're going to do that. Oh, we're going to do that. Oh, we're going to do that.

Oh, we're going to do that. Oh, we're going to do that. Oh, we're going to do that. Oh, we're going to do that. Oh, we're going to do that.

Oh, we're going to do that. Oh, we're going to do that. Oh, we're going to do that. Oh, we're going to do that. Oh, we're going to do that.

Oh, my goodness. You know what? I'll turn this house up. I'll turn these bank accounts that we have us at down. Good.

Shaking the mix. Is he on board, too? Oh, yeah. He's what he had no choice because he had been doing the budget for 43 years. And I'm like, OK, we're going to do them together.

So it's somewhat my fault. But as of right now. Where do you learn how to budget? Congress? No, I love it.

You guys are great.

“That's why you're going to do good sharing.”

I'm proud of you. It's been 15, 20. Okay, you're slipping through your hands every month. Now we just got to get control. Yeah, it's good.

You're going to be able to knock some stuff out fast. Hang on. We're going to send you copy the book. The total money makeover to make sure you get all your questions. I answered.

It takes you to the baby steps on steroids. And as you're working through this, you're going to want to know a few of those

And you call me back anytime.

Get out. I got a feeling you're going to do good. She's on fire. Yeah. She's spunky.

She's on fire. Fire up a burn these bank accounts upside down. Shake all the nickels out of them.

“That's what the couch cushions up looking for some change.”

I'm telling you, this is going to happen. Tie is whether it's in Milwaukee. Hi, tie. How are you? Good.

How are you, Dad? Better than I deserve. What's up? I had. So I'm new.

I haven't.

New to listening to your show.

And. By the way, it's a great show. Oh, welcome. Good to have you. Yeah.

I had a question. So my fiance and I were getting married. I was married in October. Good. We have a we have a wedding to pay for.

And then we also have. Around we have some student loan. That is well. We have some money saved up. How much do you have saved up?

We have about like 50 to 60 thousand dollars. Okay. And how much are we spending on the wedding? The wedding is going to be a little pricey. It's going to be around like that 50 to 60 thousand.

And it's going to be a big wedding. Both of our dream weddings. We both want all of our family members and friends there. So what's your income? My personal income or my fiance.

Or both. It's around one. I'll say one. 80. Yours is.

And what's ours? 190. Mine's. Well, mine's coming. No, that that's yours.

You make 200,000 a year roughly. What does she make? No. I make like 120. Oh, and she makes 80 year.

She makes around 80 to 90. She just got a raise. Okay. So I think she's. And you got how old are you guys?

We are. My fiance 26 and I'm 25 turning 26. Okay. You're right. That is a pricey wedding.

It is not in the range of insanity based on the fact that you have such a wonderful household income. Okay. So, but it's getting close.

“So you need to put together a detailed project management budget for the wedding.”

Because otherwise you'll have scope creep and you'll spend 70 grand. Right. So you need to say, you need to. Now listen to me. You need to lay this out and say, this is how much we're going to spend on the dress.

This is how much we're going to spend on the orders and the reception. This is how much we're going to spend on the videographer. This is how much we're going to spend on the venue and detail it out. And then stick to that plan and then put the number at the bottom. Let's call that number 50,000.

That's plenty. Yeah. And then manage to that number and then take that 50,000 and set it in a separate account right now. For the wedding, wedding is off the table now. Box is checked.

Now we start moving with everything between now and the wedding. A viewer income that you can free up to throw towards your debt. And she starts throwing any money. She has towards her debt until you're married. Okay.

So you would power up the wedding and cash. Yeah. You have 50,000. Move the 50,000 to the wedding account. That's over.

Now we focus on the debt with all of our income. And we don't let the wedding creep above 50,000 because we manage your budget. And the two of you sit down and plan it like two grown-ups instead of two people wanting to fairy tale. Because that's where people end up spending a hundred grand when they meant to spend 50. You got a big wedding and it just gets bigger.

Mom and dad just started throwing people on there. I wouldn't know anything about that. (upbeat music) Hey, good folks, Dr. John Deloni here.

“Don't you think life is too short to hate Mondays?”

Listen, you're worth loving the work you do and where you do it. So guess what? Ramsey Solutions is hiring.

If you're ready to join an amazing team that's all about changing lives and spreading hope,

we want to see your application. Right now we're hiring for technology sales, marketing, writing, copy editing and creative roles. Check out all our job postings at RamseySolutions.com/curriers. That's RamseySolutions.com/curriers.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music)

Hi, J, how are you? Good. I'm well, baby.

Thank you for taking my call.

Sure. How can we help?

“Well, how do I, how do my wife and I change our mindset after we've been spending,”

practicing really the baby steps for so long and now we're retired, and we live spruzzly and how do we change the mindset to want to spend some of this money and enjoy the fruits of our labor? Good for you. So what's your mistake?

What's your net worth? That work is about 2.5 about half of that in our home and half of it in retirement fund. Why to go? What do you live on here? What's your take you to live?

We have a monthly income with two retirement, two social security in an annuity of about $94, and we usually can live pretty comfortably each month on that. So we don't really touch the retirement on much at all. And we're going to do a big trip or something. Yeah.

Well good for you. Well done. Very well done. How do you guys? 26.

We've been married 44 years and been practicing the principles since we got married. Way to go. Proud of you. Very good. And you started with nothing in your multi-millionaire.

Yes, we are. Praise God for that. Yeah, way to go. Very good. Good work.

Maybe steps millionaires. All right. Well, a couple of things Sharon and I have learned to do. One is even though you've been living very responsibly and very adult like for a long time. One of you is more of a spender than the other one.

Yes. Who's that? That would probably be me. Okay. My house is me too.

Sharon's the natural saver. Went in doubt. She saves, went in doubt. I have fun. And so yeah.

“So you can lean into that a little bit and say you need to initiate some of the things that”

we're going to enjoy some of this to me in dollars, we're 66. And one of the things we instituted around our house is when we have a fun idea. We like a trip or something we want to do with some of the money we work hard for. We say why wouldn't I? Yeah.

Why wouldn't I? I like that. You've to prove to yourself that it's a bad idea. Friends call up and they've got a house and tell you rod and they say, hey, come up and go up.

We have three days and we say, why wouldn't I? Yeah. And we go. And so that kind of stuff. So that's a good thing we're looking at.

The next thing is that learning to enjoy the money is an underdeveloped or atrophied muscle. And so you've got to work it out. You know, you've got to start working out the spending a little bit. You have to responsible spending muscle has to be built up. And so when you say, okay, we're going to take this trip.

Oh, that didn't kill us. We're going to upgrade Mama's car. Oh, that didn't kill us. We're going to put $10,000 in each of the grandkids accounts for their college. Oh, that didn't kill us.

When you do a few things like that, it kind of got to go, oh, I didn't die from that. And I'm not homeless and pending to listen.

I've still got $2 million after I did all that.

You know, and so you start to, you know, your brain starts to reset and go, I can do a few things. And it doesn't kill me. Right. Right. The next thing is as we increase our generosity.

Yeah. Which removes any guilt from enjoying some of the money. Yeah. So if I, if I put $100,000 over here and help this situation with this ministry, I can spend 10 or 15 on sharing and me and not thinking about it.

Right. And so there's, it's not technically an offset spiritually morally mathematically. It's not an offset, but your generosity muscle seems to be attached to your spending and enjoyment muscle. Yes. I appreciate that.

Well, we've been fairly generous. And I think that that's not as much of an issue as just maybe going over over the top on a over the top type of vacation. Yes. And, you know, 30 or 35,000 on a cruise and say, you know, it's one of those cruises where you don't have to.

“Where you have to wear something besides flip flops, board shorts and chin top.”

Yep, the dinner. You know what I mean? Yep. I'm with you. Yeah.

And I, you know, but again, 35,000, you know, you got a million two sitting there in the 401k.

It's making 120,000 a year or 150,000 a year in growth. If you don't even touch the nest egg. And so the third, you know, the 35,000 is not damaging you. You start spending 350,000 on something. Now we've got to stop and think about it.

Yes, sir. But you're not, that's not usually what we're talking about in these conversations.

You know, if I just burn this money in the middle of the floor, does my life really change?

“You can burn 35,000 in the middle of your floor, your life won't change.”

And that gives me permission then to enjoy that much without because I'm not being irresponsible. If it, if my life changes, when that amount of money is burnt in the middle of the floor, then I'm starting to be irresponsible. Yeah. Have you in your life sat down on nice date and started dreaming about, yeah, here's the annual plan. Here's the vision for what we want to do this year and just map it out.

Well, we have a map for this year. We've got invited by some friends to go on this trip for 2027. And so that's when this all kind of came up and I thought, well, Well, I wouldn't have to call and get some. There you go. That was a chance. That's that question.

Yeah. Yeah. I love it.

And what I do, Jake, I'm real frugal and it's hard to break me from that.

What I do is I force myself in the every dollar budget to put a line item that makes me a little bit. Draw up a little or I go, oh gosh, I got to spend that on myself. I'm going to give that much money away and then you guys keep each other accountable. You guys get to come up with your own. And over time, it'll be a nothing burger.

You know, over time, if as you've spent more and more money, you go, I didn't hurt as bad as I thought. Yeah. And I'm just looking okay. I'm 66. I got maybe what 20 years or something.

God willing. How bad can I screw this up? You know, I really can't at the stage. You know, I did something like Jay, we did so much that it'd be, you'd have to really concentrate to mess it up in the next 20 years. Well, there's a part where the compound grows in the mess but it's over.

Well, you'd have a hard time spending all that before you go. The goose is laying a lot of eggs and you'd have to eat a lot of omelets in that 20 years. You know what I mean?

“That's what it had to really bust some stuff up.”

That would be the thing. Congratulations, Jay. I'm very proud of you. Tom is in level Kentucky. Hey, Tom, welcome to the show. Hey, Dave. It's not our speed to you. Thanks so much for taking my call.

Sure. How can I help? Yeah. So more than I need help with the real estate decision. We've made some mistakes in the past when it comes to real estate and hoping not to make a mistake this time around. So I'm active beauty military. We currently live in Kentucky.

Actually, we're upcoming PCS. We're going to be moving to New York this summer. And this will likely be my last move before retirement. So we're only going to be in New York for about five to six years at the most. So my main question is, we have a rental in San Antonio.

We owe about 120 is worth about 270. We're trying to decide whether we should just continue to rent that house or sell it and use it as a down payment to buy a house in New York. But my concern with that is the fact that we're only going to be there for such a short amount of time. I'm not sure, you know, with the current market and the uncertainty if that's a good decision or not.

Well, the first we decide if we're going to buy in New York.

If we're going to buy in New York, then yes, I would liquidate the San Antonio input it as a down payment. And if you're selling and sell the house in Kentucky, if you own one there and put it to his down payment, if you're going to buy. Now, if you're going to buy is answered by this. The community that you're moving into in New York is it a military-only community or is it a community that has some military in it? Yes, so it's actually a west point in New York.

So we have the option of living off those and just taking that BH that monthly housing allowance. We're applying it towards the mortgage or we could live on post. And which case we would not receive that amount of money. It would essentially be like renting while we're there. Right. Okay. So if you're off post, are those homes only is most of the people living in those areas military? Because that's a small community, isn't it?

“Yeah, it's pretty small and you need to kind of smaller towns and villages around and west point.”

Yeah, I'm thinking if you get ready to resell, you probably have a lot of competition because of the other people that they're moving out. They're military. So you may not get great appreciation. Study the appreciation and study the speed of sale. If the appreciation is good and the speed of sale is good, then go ahead and buy. But if it's because there's a lot of competition, if it's slow to sell and slow to appreciate, then I would not buy.

Hey guys, I've got big news. The Ramsey show is going on tour and this is your chance to be more than just a listener. You get to be part of the show. So here questions, ask live and experience the kind of momentum that only comes from being in the room. We'll be in Charlotte, Denver, Phoenix and Anaheim with a limited number of seats in each city.

Our scripture today saw him 84/11 for the Lord God as a son and shield.

The Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk, who's walk is blameless. Our Bernstein said successes often the result of taking a misstep in the right direction. June is in Grand Rapids. Hey, June, how are you? Good. How are you? Better than we deserve. What's up?

I am just calling my husband and I bought a business this year in January. And I am just wondering if it is time for me to quit my corporate job and strictly just work for the business only that we purchased.

“What's the business? What's the profit on the business?”

It's going to be $400,000 a year. And we've purchased it already. So we have profit 80,000 already for January and February together and we have paid $40,000 on the note so far. So we're trying to pay it off. We have a note through the owner.

What's how much is your note to the owner?

It is $780,000. Okay. And what do you make? What do you make in corporate America? 75,000. Okay. Do you, if you quit and go to work at the business, does that lower payroll at the business?

So I'd be making $45,000 because I'm currently making $45,000 at the business now. So I am working in for both corporate work. What are you doing in the business? I'm doing AP and AR. Okay.

“And any of you got other people doing that as well?”

Nope. It would just be me and my husband doing it together. So he currently works for the business and we have accounting me and it would be six employees.

Okay. But my point is you're not saving the business any money by going to work there and you're not making the business any money by going to work there.

Correct. Yep. So it's a net loss of 75,000 to your household. Yes. Yep. So we are... Why is it your itching to do that?

Well, we got married in 2013, bought a house, paid that off in three and a half years, sold it after eight, bought a new house, paid that off in three years. So we're completely that free except for the business loan. Right. So we have a five and eight year old. So corporate businesses just getting really, really trust on work in 12, 30 hour days, not eating lunch, not eating a break.

So are you wanting to work part time in the business and stay home with the kids, essentially? Yes. And that's worth the 75,000 reduction in household income. For you to have it. I would I would be making 45.

And making 45 now. So I'm making 75 corporate. But you're making 45 out of the business now. Yes. Yeah, so the net loss is 75,000. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And so, well, I mean, you're going to be making the same money at the business and your husband's, and the profit is all your both of yours. And you're plowing most of the profit into debt reduction.

“So you can clear this debt in two or three years, right?”

Yep. That's your idea. And we have 15,000 in a money market account and we have 45,000 in our savings. Good. Good. Okay. And 250 in retirement.

Okay. Yeah, I wouldn't put anything else in retirement until you got this debt cleared. But it's a baby step six debt. And, you know, so you're in the right place. I, you know, as long as you guys are able to keep your lifestyle really, really low and reduce that 700,000, very, very quickly.

I don't quite think you can do it in two years, but I think you can do it in three. That's like 268 year toward the debt. Little over 20 grand a month would clear this. Yeah, that was our plan is trying to pay off in three years. Yeah.

I like that. I like that. Yeah. I like that. Yeah.

I like that. Yeah. I like that. Yeah. I like that.

Yeah. I like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And it changes the equation. I'm not going to get a year off if you kept working.

You could do it in two years if you kept working.

And so your trade-off is one year of you're going to be in debt one year longer because you come home. Okay. That's the bout that you put that in one hand and put home in the other hand. And there you go.

That's your balancing act, right? That's the scales of justice, so to speak, right? What tips? What tips? The scales here.

“I think I'm coming home because I think you're burnout on the corporate crap.”

I am. Yeah. And I think you've got the margin. Is this business really, really stable? Very predictable environment.

Yes. Yeah. My husband's working there for 15 years and the gentleman who sold it was selling it to us is giving

us a heck of a deal on it for as much profit as it brings them every year I believe.

But the field that I mean, what I didn't ask what the business does. But whatever the business does is a predictable environment for the coming three years. Yep. That's an electric motor shop. So due operations for factory motors, I go down, you know, refrigeration motors.

I go down air, you know, AC units. I go down. Yep. Okay. All right.

Very cool. Yep. I would quit. Okay. That was easy.

Well, what an easy. But thanks for talking to three with us. It's interesting to see all the different variables that go into that decision. And to try to say, okay, what would I do? And, you know, that's, that's where we are.

To, you know, the quality of life when you've got that kind of income coming in, the quality of life starts to be a big decision. And her being able to not work 12 hours a day and not put up with the, I mean, she, they're using her up for 75 grand. I mean, they're, they're just, that's just crazy.

Wanted to small portion of their now household income. Yep. So it's an easier decision. Chases in Kansas City, high chase, how are you? Well, great. Thank you for taking my call.

Sure, let's see.

First off, I'm some two years old.

I only make her not like 600 a week together. I honor to my name. I don't have a whole lot going on right now. But my dad, till then, 75, 16. And I was kind of battling my stepmom to get his pickup truck that he had.

“Because it was about the only thing he had to his name.”

I didn't get any inheritance and nothing from him. But now I've got this pickup that I put a couple grand into to get running. And Kelly Blueberg says it's worth about 30 grand. And I don't know if I should be ready to be ready to keep it. You should keep it.

Yeah. Yep. No questions asked. Nope. You can be very confident.

Yep. And it's just simply this. There's only one of those. And this is a monumental event in the landscape of your life. You were 16 years old and your father committed suicide.

That's a defining episode. And you can use it to define it for good. And say I'm going to address whatever he didn't address in my life so that I go on. And I'm victorious moving forward. And I'm going to go be somebody.

But if you, there's only one of these trucks. And so you don't have 30,000 in it. You don't have 30,000 dead on it, right? Yeah. I guess I don't have to go to my name right now.

Well, I mean, but that's a different set of issues. Okay. Selling the truck does not fix your career problems. Yeah. You need to go get a career.

Get some work. Start working like a crazy man, working 40, 80 hours a week. And start getting some money coming in. So you don't have to ask the question about selling the truck. But this truck is an emotional item.

And if you're the 30 year old version of you is going to look back at the 20 year old Chase and go I wish you had to sold that truck. Yeah. That's why I decided that's so quickly. And so, but having said that, you also have got to get this other parts of your life together

Really quick. And so, I mean, like by the end of the week, I want you to have six jobs. I want you working like a crazy man where you're just all you do is work in Stack Cash. And then when you get a little bit of wiggle room, you can start to pick a better job and pick a career

field once you get up off a survival. You're not even surviving hardly right now. Yeah. What are you doing for work? I work at a ticket building material delivery company.

I'm making about 20 an hour and living on my own. Yeah. You hang on. I'm going to send you Ken Coleman's get clear assessment and his book. Find the worker wire to do.

“I think you just need some some soul search and right now and get that purpose.”

Chase, if you're not going to go work 60 to 80 hours a week and work six jobs Starting right now, you do need to sell the truck. But I would rather see you as your older brother. Say, keep the truck because when you're 30, I think you'll be glad you have it.

We'll be back with you before you know it.

“And the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace.”

And that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace Christ Jesus.

[BLANK_AUDIO]