Don't Let People's Opinions Influence Your Financial Decisions

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“notifications, comparison, and our bodies are on high alert.”

You don't have to carry it all alone. Go to betterhelp.com/raims, you can get 10% off. Normal is broke, and common sense is weird, so we're here to help you transform your life. From the Ramsey Network, and the Fair Wins Credit Union Studio, this is the Ramsey Show. And I'm Rachel Cruz hosting this hour with Dr. John Deloni, so give us a call and AAA-825-2525,

talk about your life and your money and your relationships. We are here for you, the phone lines are open. All right, kicking us off this hour is Grace in Boston. Hey Grace, welcome to the show. Hi, thank you so much for having me.

I really appreciate it. Absolutely, how can we help today?

“So basically, this is kind of a real mess, I'm drowning.”

So I'm drowning in a lack of transparency over the course of the past three years. We sold our house three years ago in 2023 when I was expecting our fifth child. Bottom line is we had to move because we had real difficulty in Massachusetts finding an education that wasn't completely crazy. We were pretty conservative, and I just found that the state incredibly difficult to navigate.

So we moved closer to the kids' school, but in the process we never had a contingency,

and we just sold our house without having a place to move into. Most of our short, we moved into my child at home, which was sitting empty, luckily. And we sold our house and made $700,000, also sitting in 2023, and I moved half of that money over to a kind of second dairy house that we purchased. And so we were left with 325 of which we spent.

And my husband borrowed $50,000 from me in 2024, in 2024, I also borrowed about 75,000 of from my family, my mother, and then in 225 last year, I asked for an early inheritance, and early inheritance, because my husband said that we were going to, we were looking for a house. We were actively for the past two years looking for a house. So unfortunately, when we sold our house, there was a delay on the other parties, and for

closing, so it went from 30 days to 90 days, and in that time, the interest rate really went up. So we kind of got our intention to buy a house, really got boarded, and in that time period, I don't know if my husband was making any money, because we seem to have gone through considerable amount of money kind of just waiting to buy a house, and so I needed a little bit more money

to put down as a down payment, asked for 240,000 that was last June, and since then I've gone through it.

“But it didn't go through it to a down payment, correct?”

No. It didn't go right now. It just sends June, so about 11 months ago, just daily living. So as I said, we're in a very expensive state, Massachusetts. I was paying for a ton of healthcare costs, so one of my children is sick. I was paying for just different medications

out of pocket. In January, I kind of woke up and said, "Do we not have health care?" And my husband said, "You're using the wrong pharmacy," and then in February I said, "Do we not have health care?" and he said, "Yeah, I don't know if we do." So I immediately went on now health. And since February I have told my husband to leave until he can find a job. So he owns his own company with telling me for the past three

years since we sold our house, he was making $30,000 a month, and we were in good shape and he was managing everything, and then I pushed him, pushed him, pushed, since December to find out some transparency around some issues and kind of threatened to hire a financial planner, which he was not into, and I then said a lawyer for some transparency. And he said,

"He'd show me the loans, he showed me the loans, and then finally, two months later

I found out just last week that he took out $650,000 in loans. Oh, my $4,50,000 are personal, $200,000 are business, all since 2021, none of which I've known about." So, obviously, we added the $4,50. I have no idea. So he said that he's made a dent, and

took out?" And that's when he said, "He showed me the $6,50, he paid in the past few years,

“$200,000 towards that." And you guys are almost a million dollars and just consumer debt”

from loans. True. Okay. Okay. So, this is all new to me. This is all extremely new. I know the crisis is all new to you, and your husband borrowed more than half a million dollars lied to you about it, and all that's true. Okay, 100%. And you borrowed $240,000. Well, I guess from the, you got it from the inheritance.

Yeah, I mean, but here's what I want to point out. Like, you have, your mess is very

much financial, no question, but your mess is much deeper than owe you a million dollars. Right? Meaning it's a lack of communication. Meaning, like, the moment your husband took out a $50,000 loan from his wife, you stopped being his wife. You became his banker. Right. And you became his, like, the whole dynamic here is such a mess. Right. Can I just, can I just add one thing? You're right. When we, when he asked for

me that $50,000, it was literally one week after we moved all of our stuff into a rental. Well, we were waiting. He said, let's just rent a place until we can find a place.

And the language you used was he borrowed $50,000 from me. Yeah. And you're, he borrowed it.

“He said, I'll pay you right back. But that's what John said. That's what I'm saying.”

Like, I would, I can't ever imagine asking my wife to borrow money because it's all hours. Right. And if, if she's going to say, hey, we're so broke, I need to go ask for an early inheritance, like Old Testament style. I would, we have to sit down. We, we would talk about that. And we would make plans for what we're going to do next. And we're not perfect. Don't get me wrong. But that's what I'm saying. Like, you're running to concurrent

businesses inside your house. You're both spinning out of control. And you're both getting

money from different places. Sometimes telling the other person's untimes not. His, his whole

he's dug is way deeper than when you dug. But you're both digging your own holes. Right. So, like, you've got a huge mess. How can we help? Right. So, well, I mean, I'm fortunate to have the house that I grew up in. And that's where we're living. Okay. But why? Well, we're living in this town. Do you said, there's been about a rental that you rented and you bought another house? What are you all doing? Yeah. Correct. He told me we haven't found a house.

This was back in 2024. We haven't had a found a house yet. So, let's just rent a place. But you were already in a home, right? You're in your childhood home, right? Yeah. But he just, you know, I didn't, I didn't know the financial mess we were in. And he said, I know you don't want to live there. So, you know, what's it? Okay. So, you're not in your childhood home right now. You're in a rental. We are back. That was 2024. Now, it's 2025, 25, 26. We're

in my childhood home. Okay. Yeah. You, so you were in your rental. Okay. And you had $250,000 that you took from. And then where where is? You said we went to buy another property with that $250, where did that go? No, we, I just, we lived on it. Okay. Mom, you know, at Grace, we have to head into a break. I'm going to keep you on the line. Yes. Because I do want to kind of untangle some of this to really help you because I, we want to be able

to give you a plan. So, stay on the line. And we will, yeah, we'll come back after this break to break down a little bit more of the financials to get you guys on a path. And

“then definitely the relational side was John can speak into. Because I think that that is,”

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Lender. Alright, we are back and we're going to go back to Grace and she's in Boston and to recap the call if I can, who's a lot of details. So Grace if I don't get this correct, I just want to make sure you're married, you guys back in 2023 sold a house but didn't have a house. And so there's been a big mix up within taking money from loans and inheritance. A lot of

things have happened even medically this past year and all in all close to a million dollars

and just consumer debt loans. And what's kind of where we ended, I guess, to a degree. Does that all sound pretty correct? Okay. I just want to add a couple things. Actually, he had been divorced three times when I met him. He had also been bankrupt twice

prior to meeting him. And when I met him, he had four boys from two-pire marriages. So they're grown up. He doesn't pay alimony or child support at this point in time for that. But we've been married for 16 years. So we have our own five children. So Grace, let me, can I talk to you directly, but you know that like I'm on your team? Is that cool?

Of course. Okay. What you just told me gave me even more fuel to the fire I was feeling during the break. You married a guy that has been a financial disaster. He's really struggled. He also had kids from multiple, you knew who you were signing up to do life with. And yet, you have

continued. And by the way, he's down the phone. So I can only talk to you. You have continually said, well, whatever, I trust you, you said this. And so I want you to also hold some of the huge half of the responsibility here in that I didn't ask questions. I started spending

money. I burned through a quarter million dollars in three or four months. Paying medical expenses

without even asking the question, do we have health insurance? That's not his fault, right? No, no, 11 months. Or 11, whatever, 11 months. That's still a lot of money to just rip through, right? And not to sit down with my 16 year spouse and say, hey, we have this big thing coming up with our kid. We need to navigate this thing together, right? And so it's, there has to be a, not only do you, or in now you're threatening him to hire a lawyer

“or want to see transparency, I think the only way you guys can even have a prayer to make”

it through the financial mess, much less the relational mess is that you sit down at the table, both of you, no threats, no, no, that stuff. And both of you say, both of us have contributed to this. I for a year had a free house to live in much all the home. And I complained about it. I didn't want to live here. And then he went and rented something. We had no money. And then we did this and we bought this other house. We're not going to live there

because that's our special rental. But everything just has to stop. Everything has to stop and say, we have created a mess. The only way forward is if we get on this either we divorce because of the financial infidelity, or we have to say, we have to live differently, starting today. Do you what I'm saying? And if you don't, if you don't feel any shred of ownership over the position you're in, there's no path forward for you because you're just going to walk in and blame

and blame and blame and blame and blame. And he's going to either shut down like he's been doing

“the last 15 years or he's going to head off on a separate path. And so both of you have to sit”

down and say, we have created a mess. We haven't asked the right questions. We have lied to each other, or he had to say, I lied to you, whatever. And we have to get to this baseline of the marriage we had as over. Do we want to build a new one? And here is all of the excavated foundation from the old marriage. We're starting at dirt. Do we want to rebuild a new thing together? You know what I'm saying? Yeah. It's that level. And I would say, on your end, Grace, I mean, tell me what you think

of this of, yes, he, Grace, you know, I do, I'm with John, like there was a level of responsibility

that, yeah, you didn't take, but also he did hide half a million dollars. Yeah. Oh, I mean, yeah,

even more. So the trust is broken on both ends, probably. Maybe more so on your end. And so learning a path forward to rebuild that trust because the goal will be you guys working together. And if that takes a journey and probably it's going to take a lot of therapy and all of that right

when you guys sit down and say and do everything, you know, what John was just saying,

“the end goal is that we are a household and financially in big decisions and everything that”

falls in that bucket, we are doing this together. We don't make decisions about money without each other. And I would say even more of a microscope because of his past financially, of how he's act, I mean, I have how he's handled money. He's file bankruptcy twice. So even more, even more scrutiny, that every purchase we are going to, we're going to be on a, on a communication level that is probably more strict than the average couple out there. Right. Rachel, I've sat with Dave and Sharon,

and Sharon, that was that 30 years ago, was their bankruptcy and still to this day, Dave and she, they have, they have resources to the end of time and they still talk about major purchases together because that core, that core seed was planted 30 years ago of, I didn't know how bad this was. And so from here on out, we agree that we're going to talk through these things together. So that's, that's the goal for you guys from a marriage perspective grace, from our position,

like what we see is what we want for you all. But financially, how to dig out of this, what are you guys making right now a year? Are you working, is he working, what's going on with income? Well, see, this is the thing. Just to back up, I did not just follow up with a turn up truck. I asked questions. I hired financial advisors. I tried to do a Sunday night meeting with him every week, and he'd fall asleep. He would say he's too tired. Now's not the time. This has been going on

for not just three years, but ten years. So we sold two houses before that, just to kind of make and meet, so it's been a pattern where he scorched the communication issues. So in terms of me taking

“ownership of my sauce, yes, I do. And I think that I agree with you, but it's hard to talk to someone”

who is constantly stating things that are untrue. Like, he makes 30,000 a month. Which maybe that was true during COVID? Maybe not right now. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know, because I ask him,

could I get some bank transparency? Can I just see what the stream of income is? And he always says

it's complicated, or I'm working on the numbers. Okay. Let's take it out of money. Let's say that he has a history of cheating on his past wives. And then you all get together. And every week, you want to sit down and talk to him and say, I want to reestablish trust. Can I see your phone? And he says, absolutely not. And all of a sudden, you see hotel receipts show up at the house. And you're like, I didn't stay there. Who's there? And he goes, it's complicated. Would you stand for that?

No. No. So what I want you to see is, like, when I say responsibility, absolutely, you've been trying for 10 years. Painting back, we've been doing the same thing. We've been trying to run the same play for 10 years and it's never worked. Right. That's where the ownership is. I don't want to say this is your fall and you're, I want you to just take ownership. Okay, I've put up with this for 10 years. I'm done putting up with it. Yeah. And then when it comes to the financial advisor,

I've hired a guy. I've hired a woman and neither person is right. They're always. Yeah. And that's

what he has. And so gross. I've real quick. We have, we have about a minute and a half. So I want to just real quick. No, you're good. How much are you guys making right now? Do you know what he's making? What are you making? No idea. No idea. What are you making? He said 30,000. He said 20,000. Now it's $1,000,000. It ranges. Okay, you're not saying. Punchly sued. Yeah. The company is falling apart right now. Okay. So what is under your name from a debt perspective? Because right now, in my head, you

guys are two separate entities. And we kind of were like, that doesn't need to be the case. It does need to be the case right now because of everything. You're not safe. But what are you? I don't have any debt. I don't have it. But you're your mom, right? You borrowed $75,000 from her at one point. You know, I don't have any debt right now. I just have this keep caught asset right now that I'm trying to keep. It was going to be foreclosed on because he wasn't making the payment.

I took ownership of it three months ago. Is your name on the deed? Now it is. It is now.

“And how are you, is it paid for? No, I think. How are you going to pay the mortgage every month?”

I just am tapping into that early inheritance. And I have me. Okay. Or are you planning on going and making it income? I make very little money. And I have a teach on the side. And then I have them. So really, so my advice for you of what I feel like what we can say right now is, yes, keeping everything separate right now. And you have to take care of you, Gray. So yeah, you are probably going to have to go making income because this 250. And the way it's been the pattern in the past, it's going to be gone

in three months if you're not careful. And so you need to start your job. You need to be doing a budget. And you need to be taking care of food, shelter utilities, transportation. And then the whole mess of the marriage and his finances is going to have to be untangled. And that's going to take a while. I'm probably some professionals to step in and help.

Or they don't have any at all. I 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 good punch. And oh, you're telling me, in front of 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. I mean, you're going to have a crisis here. And, you know, 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.

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Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. Well, it's May and the Ramsey cash giveaway is officially here. So you can enter every day from May 1st through the 31st. There's one grand prize winner who will get $10,000. Plus, there will be $1,500 winner every single week in the month of May. And you can enter daily to increase your chances of winning. Plus, be sure to check out our sale that is going on right now

and kick off your summer with some assessments and books and all the things for just $12. So go to RamseySolutions.com/giveaway now to enter. No purchase necessary to win. All right, let's go to summer in Baltimore. Hi, summer. Welcome to the show.

“Hi, how are you guys? Hi, we're doing great. How can we help?”

Good. So I was wondering, should I accept financial help from my parents for tuition knowing that they're in debt? I am so grateful that they want to help me. I just, I feel so guilty knowing that accepting that money knowing that they're in debt. I'm not sure exactly how much debt that they're in, but I know that they have consumer to house and car loans and things like that. Okay. How old are you, summer? I'm 23. You're 23. So is this your first

time entering college? Are you getting a master's? Like, what are you going after to gray-wise? So I already got my tier degree and I cash slowed that. I finished my third year cash slowed it. So I only have about a year and a half left for you. I paid my tuition so far throughout, but I think the burnout is starting to hit me and they're noticing so they're getting a little bit more adamant about helping me with school. My gosh, well done, summer. So you

look like literally, like, worked your way through. Yeah. Yeah. That's amazing. And so then you've had

conversations with them that it's just kind of tough and they're like, "Hey, let us help." And what are they saying they want to help with? Or they want to pay for everything outright for the next year and a half or one semester or... There wanting to help with half each semester. Okay. Okay.

“So for me, Rachel, we'll hop in here. For me, summer, I mean, I think every friend I have outside”

of this ecosystem that I where I work has some sort of consumer debt. Yeah. Whether it's a mortgage that I've got one friend. I take that back. One friend who's a banker and he just thinks it's dumb to have personal debt. But beyond that, every friend I have in it's a values judgment, right? They all make great money. They just choose to live their life differently than I do. And so for me, the question would be less about, we have a different value and it comes to having a

card alone versus not. And the question I would ask myself as a kid is, "Are my parents harming them? Are they doing something that I know is going to be detrimental to them?" Or, do they have a lot of money? They have pretty good money and also they make car payments every month. Yeah. So that's where I kind of feel like I get into a rock in a hard place because I know

“that they're not fully set up for retirement. And that's what gives me a lot of anxiety”

accepting that kind of money, knowing that they could be putting that towards their own retirement,

They were not going to. Yeah, that wasn't decided because of your own college and they want to

help with that and they stopped their retirement to help you. They were never going to do it in the

“first place. Probably. No, they weren't. Yeah. They feel that I think your heart is great. And I would”

probably feel the same way if I'm like, "Golly." So I think trusting your guide is what you need, but I also don't want to put guilt. John, you can probably talk more about this in the past. That's like, "Oh, just be like, yeah." Don't put someone else's situation on you. You've not made these decisions for them. They have made them. As your parents, they have offered to help. And I don't know. There's a part of me that I'm like, they're making these decisions.

I don't think this would change their decision-making one way or the other. So it's not like you are adding to this, you know, I don't know. You're stopping some motivation of going in the right

direction. But again, I know you don't want to keep digging them deeper in it. There's a part of

me that would accept it. Is that bad? No, I would take somebody's help. I think the, man, I've mentioned this several times the last few days on the show. A friend of mine, Becky Kennedy used this psychologist in New York. She goes by Dr. Becky. She reframe guilt for me.

“So I'll ask you this question. Is it against your values to accept help?”

Do you hear me somewhere? You know, you could out there. Is it against your values to help? Is it against your personal values to accept help? Period. Yeah, it sounded like there was more. There was more. There was more. Question mark. Yeah, just, just, just, yes, you know what? Help with what? Yeah. Um, I guess not it. Okay. Is it against your personal values to pay cash for

college? Um, no. Okay. Is it against your personal values to ever accept money from somebody who

isn't debt? No. Okay. So if those are your values, then the thing you're feeling is concern and and frustration with your parents and you're choosing to take their issues and try to carry them on your own. And if you as a 23 year old, they're already doing the math and you're like, they're probably living with me one day. That might be your reality, right? And also, maybe not, maybe they don't tell you everything. Maybe you don't know. They have a pension or like who knows

what their situation is. But if you're not doing anything to violate your own values and by the way, if it's against your values to ever take a dime from somebody who doesn't who is in debt, then don't take their money because that would be a violation of your values. You'd feel guilty because I violated my core values. If it's not, then I would be grateful for the gift and going about my life. If your guts as if I take money from them, it's going to come with a bunch of strings.

They're going to start asking me what my grades are and why and you just, you've been doing it on your own, you want to grind it out for 18 more months and be finished, then stay on the path. Or they expect to be paid back at some point. Yeah. Yeah, they're going to call you and say where's our money? Yeah. Powering money versus it being a true gift would be a good amount at all.

“Yeah, would be a good amount though. Yeah. And so, and if you want to sit down and have a conversation”

as a 23 year old, I can tell you it's probably not going to go well. But if you say, hey, I would love this gift. I'm concerned about Y'all's financial situation. Yeah. Yeah, I'm curious. How do you know that they're in a bad spot? I mean, I know you mentioned Carlons. This is maybe I'm passing. They talked about it. But how do you know that they're not contributing to retirement? Or, yeah, these kind of things that you've thrown out. Have they told you?

Or, you guys have talked about it? Um, I'm nosy. So I ask, I ask if they have a Roth IRA, separate them their 401(k)s, and they don't really know what it is. Things like that. Gotcha. I know that they have 401(k)s that they're at least my dad does, but his work. And I've seen it, but again, it's not, it's concerning to me for their retirement. I get, I get worried for them, because they're so hard to tell. No, absolutely. And I think one of the best things, you know,

and it sounds like you guys have a good relationship that you can at least have somewhat of these conversations, and not that you're going to try to change them because that does no good of really pretending like you can come in and swoop in and save the day on their financial journey. But I think, I think it would be, you know, fine to continue as much as they want to open up and talk. Maybe not open up about their numbers, but just talk about the idea of money,

the philosophy around money, you know, those kinds of things, and, you know, and bring it up in conversation, like, man, debt just seems to bother me. I don't know why, I don't know where that comes from, like, what do y'all think about? You know, you know, you just have, like, more casual conversation with your parents, so it sounds like you guys can have those. I'm like, I have that with my parents, like, whether it's theology or politics or whatever,

I have different opinions sometimes, but it's always an interesting conversation, so I would be curious,

you know, what things you can bring up or talk about in a casual setting that you can maybe share some of your experience of, I mean, obviously, you listen to this show to a degree to call in, of, like, yeah, I've been listening to this thing, or I've seen this, and I thought that was fascinating, or, like, compound interest, I had no idea, my gosh, like, look at this calculator, I'm rambling solutions, so I'm like, like, whatever, I don't know what it is, but I am curious

that there can just be conversations where you get to share some of the value systems that which you've placed money, which might be different than them, and actually, again, not in a weird teaching way, but open up and talk about it and they may actually learn something. Or just something as simple as, I'm nervous to take this money, I'd rather see all invested for your retirement, and see what they say to that. Yeah, yeah. So, summer, you're awesome, we appreciate the call,

yeah, if something goes sideways or crazy, call back on a day, John Sear, and he can pick up and tangle that. Thanks for the call, summer. Hey, guys, George Camel here. Listen, we need to talk about your phone plan, because for a lot of

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compared to 12 months on the boost mobile unlimited plan as of January 26th, see website for full details. All right, let's go to Becca in Louisville, Louisville, hey Becca. Welcome to the show.

“Hello, how are y'all doing today? Hi, we're doing great. How can we help?”

So my husband and I just got out of debt two and a half weeks ago. Congratulations, Becca. Yesterday, thank you. Well done. I'm on fire yesterday. Oh, of course it did. Because what? I was wondering if we should go into debt for a new call. Of course. Yeah, for sure do that. Stop. No, Becca. Becca. Oh no, okay. So what happened to the car? What caused us to catch on fire? You shouldn't drink gasoline and smoke at the same time. So actually, I was at my OB appointment

because I'm also almost seven months pregnant with our first baby. Oh my gosh, why not? Well, congratulations. I went inside and they were in the, and they're talking about a car on fire outside. I thought nothing of it turned out with my car. We think it was a battery short or something like that. But I mean, there's no way to really know for sure when your car catches on fire. What I was on fire? Oh my gosh, everyone was okay. And that's good. So that's terrible.

“Okay, did insurance like jump in at any point? Like, are you like, are you getting any money for this car?”

So we don't think so we only had liability on the car because it wasn't worth very much. And we didn't owe anything on it. Okay. So we're probably not going to get anything from it. But we do have about $5,000 to spend on a car. Beautiful. Okay. And the reason that I'm calling really is I feel like I may be being emotional about getting into debt. My mom and my sister, they're both also Dave Ramsay fans and they're also debt-free.

And I was just thinking they were saying, "Well, Becca, you know, you're about to have a baby. You want to make sure you have a reliable car and that it's safe for you and your baby. And you don't want this to happen again with him in the next few years, maybe. I mean, I agree. We don't want the car to come in down on a car and get some nicer. So I'm just wondering if I'm just being too emotional and I should go into a little bit of this.

No, no, you know us too well. We're not going to, we will never steer you that way.

And I agree with them. I don't want this to happen again. I don't want your car to catch on fire. So like we can agree around that. And they're trying to love you well.

They have the best intention. Yes, sure.

First of all, I'm just wondering if I'm being a little bit too emotional because I'd literally

just gotta... Listen, as a guy who's had a wife who's been seven months pregnant twice, I don't think there's such thing as too emotional. Yeah, you're right on track. You are perfect just as you are. And your motherly instincts of like, oh my gosh, I want to, I want to think to be safe.

But I mean, tell you, there's safe $5,000 of course out there, Becca, just so you know. Like, when we were kids, well, not even me. I grew up in the late 80s, early 90s, even when my parents are in the 70s. I'm like, no, everybody just, like, so there's a range on what safety means. And for some people, safety is a brand new car.

Some people rely ability on X, Y, and Z is what, like that can mean a lot of things for a lot of people, but I could tell you that there are Honda civics out there that are safe as they come. Right? Torquimory, or a canary, or like, you know, you will find, you can find a safe car.

“Now, do you want to drive a $5,000 car your whole life?”

No, of course not. So my, I wouldn't care. So I drove a $4,500 pre-ass with two kids in it. And I'm a big tall guy. Yeah.

And I was in Texas. And it was a season of shame for me, but that car was awesome. And it was cheap.

And it got incredible gas mileage.

And it's still on the road today. It's still out there. That's freest. I totaled it. And they got repaired it and resold it.

So like, like, all I have to say is, let me, let me phrase it this way. Had your car not caught on fire, were you going to go buy a brand new car anyway? No. Okay, consider this your first big post babysitter to challenge by the universe. Okay.

Okay. Yeah. And I know that's hard. Do you have other cash available besides this $5,000 just for like medical stuff? Or like, I don't know, I'm thinking through the baby and all of that.

I mean, technically, yes. Okay. I mean, that's good, that's a good thing. Like, I would want some level of emergency fund, especially if you're going in too. Exactly.

Laboring's level, which is great. I'm not telling you to spend money.

“I just want to make sure that this $5,000 isn't the only thing”

keeping your head above water financially. How much is in the other account? Just as an emergency fund. I mean, we have probably another $1,500. Okay.

Okay. So I'd probably buy $35,000 a car. Yeah, how much, how much, how much should you guys make a month? Like, what were you put, or no, yes, this? Like, how much extra per month were you throwing at debt three, four months ago

that you now have in margin because you're debt free? So my husband, um, he's a firefighter, his salary is what was paying for, like, our living expenses. Okay. And then all the extra money will not extra money. But the money that I'd make with my job, which is only around

anywhere between a thousand to two thousand a month because I do contract work. Okay. We're going toward the debt. Perfect.

But I mean, that's not going to be coming in for the first few weeks after.

Have a baby. No, that's not going to make me, like, kind of freak out. 100%. But I will you have $2,000 in May and June. Most likely.

Go closer to 15 probably, but yes. Okay. Is your possibility for two months and I know his partners will get on him. Could you drop him off at the fire station? Well, I, I would, I would do that.

But he drives a manual car and I can't do that. Okay. Oh, well played. Has been well played. I'm really, I mean, we have, we have a, we also have a farm.

So I have a farm band. I can drive for now. But there's nowhere to put a baby in that car. It's not makes sense. Sure.

Okay, but for two months, I need a car right now. This is a, I need a car for when I have a baby. Okay, that's great. Well, so what I would say probably, Becca, honestly, is I would drive that farm band until you have the baby and then that, and then hopefully you'll have three to

$4,000 saved before the baby comes extra than what you have right now. And so let's just say it's, let's say it's three grand. And then you have five grand for the car. I would probably wait and buy an $8,000 car or even, you know, I would buy an $8,000 car in three months.

Yeah, once the baby comes home, everything's good and everybody's rocking and rolling. Yeah. Then you'll go get an $8,000 car and take that van up to the fire station. And when those guys are sitting in their recliners. And by the way, I'm making jokes.

Inside jokes to my friends or firefighters. But have those guys clean that van out for you to make it awesome.

“That's great. Yep. Yep. So that, that's what I would say.”

I would not buy anything right now. And I would save, you know, $1,500, $2,000 in main June and then go get an $8,000 car and $8,000. You can get, you can get yours, but you can do great with $1,000. Yes. So that's awesome. Well, Becca, I'm proud of you. So stick to your guns. Don't fall back in.

You can do this. And I promise you and your baby, you guys will be safe.

Hi, I just, I wanted some objective advice on whether or not I should spend $6,000 to

get a certification that will advance me in my career passionately.

“But I won't be actually making any more money. What does that mean?”

So I am a teacher and I love obviously working with the kids. But the content that I'm taking right now is feels kind of like beating my head against a brick wall. And I want to, I already have my masters. I want to go back to school to get $18, grab hours in English that way. I can speak to college level English. Are you able to teach college level English? My mom was an English professor and she just

retired. That's one of the single hardest jobs to get right now in a college campus. Yes. So I would be teaching dual credit, which would be on my same high school campus. Okay, great. Yes. I know I would be able to roll into that position in at least

“to the next two years. What's the stipend for that? Or is it just the same?”

It would be basically the same. Okay. I honestly, if you have cash and it's $6,000 and it's going to move you to a position that's going to allow you to teach what you want to teach and give you 10 years of like work satisfaction, the doing a thing that you love. I don't have a problem with it. Yeah,

do you have six grants, Sarah? Yes. I would have it. We would never borrow it. We would be able

to work it into the budget. I guess my main question is because I have three kids and 11 year old twins and a four year old. And so when I'm looking at the next five big years, I'm looking at braces and cars and y'all, you don't work it out at your at your house. Like I have a bunch of guitars that if I added them all together would be more than six thousand bucks. But I do that because I love it and we could afford it, right? And so it brings me joy. And what you do and I think you guys will be

able to cash flow the break everything else, right? You just you work in life as it comes and this is the next step in life for you. And if you have it, you guys can do it. Then yeah, because you see it more as a passion, not as I, oh, I'm going to get something that's going to advance my degree and make more because that's on the case. Running a business is hard work. You're the CEO, the accountant, and the sales team. You don't have time to moonlight as your own benefits department.

That's where health trust financial helps. In fact, health insurance is one of the biggest and most confusing line items in your budget. And most of you are overpaying because you're stuck figuring it out alone. You don't have time to figure out all the fine print about networks and deductibles. My friends at health trust financial have been helping Ramsey listeners for over 20 years. Their focus is simplifying health insurance and serving people with empathy. No pressure,

no games. They give you clear, unbiased advice that fits your life and your budget. Most of their clients save hundreds of dollars every month. That's real money. You can put back in your business or into the baby steps. So stop wasting your time, your energy, and your money. You run the business. Let health trust financial handle finding the right health insurance. Go to healthtrustfinancial.com today that's healthtrustfinancial.com. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show and the fair wins

credit union studio. I'm Rachel Cruz, but Dr. John Deloni, and we are hosting this hour of the show. So give us a call at triple eight eight two five five two two five and we'll be answering your questions about life and money. All right. Let's go to Dominic and Pittsburgh. Hi Dominic. Welcome to the show. Hey guys. So so I'm graduating college this spring from what's your university and I just got let's like a week ago. I just got a job offer for $85,000 for an engineering job. Nice

in Newport News, Newport News, Virginia. So it's for like a naval shipyard. So I've never actually

been to the area before, and I'm trying to figure out if that's enough money to move there and actually start building a life without putting myself in a bad financial situation. $85,000? Yeah. As a single 22 year old? Yes. Uh. Yep. I think you're good. Yeah. Let's

“try and to like go back and forth to the moon. You should be good brother. How much debt do you have?”

Okay. Well, I actually have no student debt and I have a paid off car. Nice. So you just need to know that like half of America just drove their car into uncoming traffic because

a perspective. The median household income is 62,000 in America. Household. That's that's two spouses. Okay. Yeah. Honestly, I've been doing a lot of research because I'm kind of, I'm just nervous

about moving to an area that I've never been to, especially because I mean, I've, I'm going to

call it in West Virginia. So what part of Virginia are you moving to? So it's close to Virginia Beach. It's like the Southern coast. It's like Norfolk and Virginia Beach area. Yeah. So I'm out by the tried and like eight, I would get a wood bedroom apartment. Mm-hmm. And yeah, I was looking at one bedroom apartment and it looks like they would be about $15 to $1600 a month. Yeah. That's about right. Right. And don't furnish it with a bunch of stuff. Listen, right now in a really nice house

on our back patio, my wife, me and my wife and my son, my daughter, we had breakfast this morning

“on a box with a, with a like a sheet over it. Okay. And I mean, it works to work. That's what I'm telling you.”

Like, we need to, I need to buy some outdoor furniture. That's totally on me and my wife's been after me to do it forever. But I want you to know like, we had a great family breakfast this morning over a box with a sheet over it. So you're going to get yourself into trouble if you get the nicest apartment or you're going to try to buy a house in a town. You don't know anything about. And then you try to furnish the whole thing like all bananas. Don't do that. Go in as low and

slow as you can. And also ask your incoming firm if they have a real estate office. A lot of those folks or do they have places where they can say, hey, this is a great neighborhood. This is a

good apartment complex, et cetera. Like, every place I've ever moved, they always set me up with

somebody who could help me navigate that system. And so yeah, that's something. And 85 dominant,

“you're good to go. I'll take it. And you'll continue to, yep, move up. It's amazing. All right.”

Let's go to Cheryl in Fort Lauderdale. Hi, Cheryl. Welcome to the show. Hi, thanks for taking me call. Yeah, absolutely. We've been pushed along, baby, stepped here and I am literally down to just I paid off credit card. I paid off the heloc, I paid off fun car payment. Good for you. Now we have one more car to go. Thank you. I realized part of all this, I was supposed to pause on contributing to my kids' college friends. And I looked into it to see if I could pause it. And

I can pause it. And technically, I can even take that money out. And the state of Florida, they have this sort of pre-tape college plan that you can pay into that. I gave them my kids a young. And I've paid in $31,000 at this point to both kids. And I owe 38,000 on my car. So my question is, do I pull that money out and put it towards this debt and have my car paid off in the next two or three months and then start over or do I save some of that or do I just pause

it and leave the money where it is? Yeah, how much, how much do you make a year? We're household in here. Are you married? Yes. We'll make about 220 a year. Oh, 220. Okay, that's great. No, I would not unplug the investment there and I would, yeah, I would just continue down that you got $38,000 a car debt and so how much, how much extra can we throw at this? Or do we sell, do we sell the car? You know, just to be done with it? So yeah. I would have some major gastrointestinal

issues pulling out an investment that's building one way to pay for a depreciating asset the other way. Okay. Because the moment you put you pay $30,000 that $30,000 on it in one year, that car's

“going to be worth less than that. Right. Where is that money would have been worth more than that?”

Yeah, am I all this will be off to college in six years? So I just, yeah, retirement and college and stuff is one. I mean, if you had like a random stock or something and you wanted to sell it just to be debt-free, but the the kids college and retirement, all of that, if you've already plugged things into those, yeah, I would, I would just cash flow the payment of this. Y'all make 220. How quickly can y'all just buckled down and get this thing knocked out? We're trying to. We still kind of struggle

with the budget thing. I have two boys in travel baseball so we're just trying to understand what's monetarily messy, necessary every month and working really. What could you sell the car for, Cheryl? I'm just curious. Are you underwater on it? I know. I could probably get 45 for it. I have probably just sell it and be done. Sell it and be done. You'll get a used use something because you're saying you're trying to save save two, save a couple thousand

between, you know, the next two months. Right. So here's what I've heard you say is your priorities.

Travel baseball and whatever some coach tells you, you'll need to fork over, followed by a depreciating asset car, then hopefully kids education. All of that seems backwards.

whatever depreciating asset, me and my wife are driving around town, come second, and then extra

“curricular activities will come after that. And that's just a values judgment.”

Okay. So yeah, y'all make enough things, you make enough money, Cheryl, to just... Yeah, y'all are rich, y'all, y'all do well. Pay this off, okay. So you have that option. But if you're, if you're itching that badly to get out of this car payment, then sell it. I would sell it in a heartbeat more than, yeah, dip it into your kids college. Okay. Okay. Which I know you probably don't want to hear that out.

Just everything I keep hearing, I thought maybe I was supposed to stop because it's just, all it does is it locks in the forwarded tuition rate at what it was. Yeah, and the prepay tuition, we're not big fans of any ways, but if that's the program that everything's already in, I don't know if you can shift or what that looks like. So it's probably a different conversation. If you're able to do that, the prepay tuition thing kind of locks you in, and it's not the

best option. But yeah, there's a... I don't know, I'm like there's the value system conversation, John, like what you were saying. But also, you know, our cars have such a grip on us. Like they really, really do. And it's not a bad thing. And again, I think you guys can... That grip is not as tight as travel sports, though. Good. God Almighty. Okay. We'll get John on that ramps in a little bit.

Cheryl, you know, hey, y'all are killing it. You really are doing awesome. For not being great at the quote unquote budget thing, you've paid off another car, you've paid off credit cards, a heloc. I mean, you've done it. You guys have done a great job. And you're at the end, you're probably as exhausted. But yeah, because you're that tired. College for a car. Yeah, I might get rid of the car. I'd save up three to four grand.

“Go get a $15,000 car. That's what I would do. But you guys are awesome, Cheryl.”

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HELP.com/Ramsie. All right, we have Devon in Pittsburgh up next. Hi, Devon. Welcome to the show.

“Hey, Rachel and John, right? Hello, hello. How can we help today?”

So I guess I'm coming a little too late to the realization that I might have not chosen the best cause degree for making money and now I want to make money. So we're trying to figure out what the best course of action going forward is to, you know, long term raises our family income. What's your degree in? English literature. I love to read. So do you know my bachelor degree is in? Sorry. Do you know what my bachelor degree is in?

I do not. Humanities. Oh, that's a grade. That was my second option. There you go. You went one step further than I like your degree is more specific than mine. On the hierarchy, my degree was less than yours. And so I would not blame your current situation on your degree. I would blame it on, I don't blame anything. But I would say yeah,

That's fair. I guess I don't have a clear direction of where it's going there. There you go. That's

“that's a more honest question. So you got a degree. You've proven to some future employer.”

You can work hard for four years and get a thing. And great. And so the big question is what do you want to do besides read books and write? It's a great question. If I really let myself a dream that sounds crazy. So I mean, let me you too, brother. I guess you're crazier than what I'm doing. I would love to be like an outdoor adventure. Do an outdoor adventure camp for young boys. Okay. Why is that crazy? I don't know where to get the money from the start, I guess.

You go, you take a job making less than you think you're worth at working a camp this summer. And there's openings that camps all over the country. And while you're doing it, me and Rachel are mutual friend Michael Easter is here in the studio. And he has one of the most successful steps on the planet because he's an extraordinary writer and a great researcher and thinker. And so you go work at this camp and you open a sub-stack and you write about it all summer.

You start to learn about, you know, men specifically, the struggles, all of that. And yeah, start making a, start making a side gig at it. All of this is how hard you want to work. Right, exactly. I'm willing for the much right now. I'm driving for Amazon, got the every dollar, doing five households. And Mary, we have a kid. We're setting a kid in September. That's awesome. So go find a boy's range to work at. Go find a summer camp to work at and get

after it. There's no path forward without disrupting it. Yeah. And there might be a season two Devon. I'll just say as a wife when I had a baby. Oh, here we go. There may be a season of like,

I'm going to take an office job for a hot second. Get our stability under us. Then we get to make

a move towards the thing that I want to do. Or in the summers, we do this. And then we have to do

“something else over here. Right. I mean, you guys are, you just graduated. Are you guys 22, 23?”

Or 25 and 24. 25 and 24. Okay. So there may be, you know, a season from a financial standpoint that you, you know, do something you may not love, but at least hopefully it's in the realm at which, you know, you can either do something on the side that you're enjoying. But what, what are you good at? Well, what would you say? I'm a really gifted writer. Yeah. So maybe there's a job within that, right? Copy editing, ghost writing. You know,

you mean like plugging in what you're good at, too, and not just your passion. But I think working towards what were those things can intersect, could create a great life or spec writing. And those jobs with AI are getting increasingly hard to make the living. But man, if you're good at substack, I pay money for only a few substacks, but I do pay money for them because they're good. And I value the what I'm getting right. So yeah. But that's just wrap after wrap after wrap after

wrap. Yeah. So there may be a journey ahead. And we dearly miss Ken Coleman, our friends. But I'm still going shout out. Shout out as a book. Find the work you're wired to do. We still have copies. Yeah. Well, let's down the line. We'll hook you up on. Yep. So Christian will pick up. But yeah, take that assessment. Because that, I mean, I do think generating ideas is really big. And you may be in a season where again, and I'm kind of, I don't know. I heard this message.

I was like, you know, it's kind of good. Like, work on what you're good at, your talent. And then that provides a great living for your family. And if that crosses with your passion, quote unquote, like that way, too. Yeah. But this whole idea of just chasing your passion and doing whatever you want, you know, may not be a season where you're able to support your family. And that's okay. But like, find what you're good at and make some great money doing it. And then I do think

your life. I mean, you are in just one small chapter of your life right now, Devon. And it will continue in the opportunities and doors. I mean, you said this every year on the show, where you were,

what was it eight years ago? It was like three different houses. My first graduate school class was at the

age of 26. So I year after his. That was my first master's degree class, right? And so yeah,

“you got a whole adventure ahead of you. But I do, I do remember this. I do remember pacing around the”

house at 25, thinking I was failing everybody. And so I get that sense in his chest, like, I can't, I'm not going to make it. Not doing enough, or yeah, yeah. But man, I take action. And you said you worked for five, if five summers with young people and you developed a passion, reach out to those contacts and see what's available or volunteer local church. There's so many

board, but man, get asked. And what's wild, too, is we love young life in our house. That's

“where once and I met. And but they have, you know, property site families that live on these camp”

properties. I'm saying, like, all year. And that's like where they live. And that's their job, it's taking care of his buddy. He's texting me all the time. Hey, do you know anybody who wants to move to New Mexico or to New Southern Missouri and work on this camp? It's a fun adventure for you guys with a baby and like, yeah, no rent. Yeah, no rent. And you get paid to do it. Like, I don't know, maybe it's something fun like that too, Devon. Thanks for the call. All right, let's go to

Holly and Milwaukee. Hi, Holly. Welcome to the show. Hi. So I am currently in the middle of leaving my

HR job to potentially go part-time. And I'm struggling with whether we made the right financial

decision. Okay. Why did you choose to go part-time? I was burnt out. I was a head of HR company out in the Milwaukee area. And with three young kids, I have a five, three in two year old. Oh, wow. Yeah. So you want to be home more? Is that your hope? Yeah, and actually I've been in talks with the kid's school about potentially doing two days a week there. Oh, I got it. I'm around with the kids. Yeah, that's great. Well, are you guys able to survive financially

“on you working part-time and your husband working full-time? I think so. We have to the numbers.”

This is kind of one of the most irresponsible things I think I've ever done. Not having something for sure lined up before leaving a job. But you guys able to take care of your necessities and may in June. Yeah, so we have close to $40,000 in our savings right now. Okay. 28,000 of that is dedicated to our emergency fund. And I would say our monthly spending and what we need at everything with a little cushion is about $5,000 a month. Okay. What has your husband bring in?

He, it's based on commission, but roughly about 6,000 net. Okay. So you guys can keep your head above water. You're not having to dip into the savings, which is his, right? Right. Yeah. Yeah. Holly, you're not overly irresponsible. You're so, you're so kind of you. They're like so like not kind. That was so heavy to say, you guys have $40,000 say. Yeah. Do you all have a lot of debt? We have a $13,000 vanbon that we're aggressively trying to pay off. Okay. And then we have

97,000 left-hander house, which should be paid off for $40,000. Yeah. Holly, I want you to change your narrative from I'm leaving this job to want, want, want to. I want to stay. It's been more time with my really young kids. Okay. Yeah. Because you're talking about this like you're failing. Like you're, you're, you're, you're making an affirmative choice. You're a hard driver, Holly. Yeah,

you're going to do a thing. That's amazing. It's awesome. I, I just, I don't want to let me have

been down. You're in, oh, sister, you're not. You're not. Yeah. You're not. Yeah. So many working moms, I know, there is this like, it's a guilt factory. Well, that and they, and they carry that they have provided for the family financially. And now when that's gone, they're like, it's not even I do anything. It's like, I feel bad that I'm not contributing. We're, you're good, Holly. Enjoy the summer with your children. You are fine. You guys live on that 5,000, don't go over.

Go get a part-time job at the kid's school. Pay off this van once you get a job. You guys need to pay this off with the money you have saved and write into the sunset. You're doing great. I'm doing great. If you run a business, you already know this. Bad information leads to bad decisions. And right now, AI is everywhere. But AI is only as good as the data behind it. The best AI

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If your revenue is at least 7 figures, go to net suite.com/Ramsy for a free product tour. That's net suite.com/Ramsy. Okay, so I think a perk about working at Ramsey Solutions is what we'll be sitting in the studio doing a show on the glass, and we'll see guest walk in to do other shows. So the Ramsey Network

walk through. And John and I were like, oh my gosh, is that who we think it is? So we just

grab the favorite people in the whole world. He's supposed to be on with George Campbell, or he is going to be on George a show. But we grabbed him to do a segment here because John and I both love him so much. But Michael Easter is here. Hi, Michael. Welcome, welcome to the show. So I was introduced to you because of your book, The Comfort Crisis, that I read, and this was probably, when did that come out? What year was that? 20, it's about five years ago now. Five years ago. Okay, so I bet it was probably

four years ago when I read it because I had been out for a while and I loved to read and I kept seeing it float around all these lists. So I'm reading the Comfort Crisis and we were on vacation. So I'm only pregnant. She was in Cabo. I was by a pool. An infinity pool that was overlooking the ocean. There was a resort involved. Yeah, overlooking the ocean. But the whole premise of the book, which I want to get into, because I think it does tie into people sacrificing and getting out of

debt and like what it does. But the whole thing is like we are too comfortable in our world today, from like not only a physical standpoint, but an emotional environment to all of it. Like we have created such comfort around us. So we don't grow. You don't push yourself when you're comfortable.

“Right? You have to be, you know, you know, not being up. So I'm reading this book and I'm thinking”

about my friend John Deloni and I was like, John, with love this book. So I put the book out where I'm at. And I just take a quick picture and I send it to John, a text that told me like, John, you have to read this book. This is, this is straight up your alley. And I was like, hey, I read it like a year ago and be just look at the photo you just sent me. And it's like an infinity pool, the ocean. And it says the Comfort Crisis and the Comfort Crisis.

It's basically like, don't become comfortable. But your, your book, the Comfort Crisis and then

scarcity brain, you follow up has burned through this company. It's become like a thing that we all talk about and all of our meetings all of the time because it was so impactful for all of us. Yeah. So give us the premise real quick, because I do want to tie this into the, the financial side, but give us a premise of the Comfort Crisis for the audience. They kind of get this idea or yeah. Quick rundown is the world has become more comfortable over time. In every way,

right, we have to walk less, we're, we're not hungry anymore because we've got food everywhere. We just engineered discomfort out of our lives, which is good in the grand scheme of time and space. It's nice to be comfortable. But at the same time, we've lost these things that keep us healthy, happy, and that teach us something about how to be a better human. So tying that to the financial element, when you're trying to save money, that is hard. When you are on Amazon and you put

that thing in your car and you go to buy, it's going to be so great and then you hear your voice in your head or Dave's voice and you go, "Oh, I shouldn't buy this right. Not clicking buys,

“really hard." So I think that all growth happens through doing things that are hard.”

Yes. But some is going to improve your life. It's going to be uncomfortable in the short term, but the point is is that you get these long-term rewards by embracing that. I love that, okay. In every business talks about how do we make a transaction less and less, with less and less friction, right? I just went and bought lunch. And now I just wave my phone over a box. And by the way, based on a sub-stack, you wrote the other day and we'll talk about that

in a minute, I didn't even make eye contact with the guy. He was looking somewhere else. And so we've extracted human interaction out of all these things. And so he stuck this thing out. I weighed my phone over it. We had a robot to robot interaction, no personal connection, but it was all so frictionless. And it didn't feel like a real exchange. But it actually took 11 bucks or whatever out of my account. That's real money. That's real sweat equity. I put into

that thing. Yeah. And I will say the faster you can do something, the more likely you are to do it. So this is why there's one click buys on Amazon now. This is why companies are, especially online, like removing steps to make the actual purchase. So we've really increased the speed of all these

“things that I think can be poor decisions. But it's like you just make it so what happened?”

Yeah. Or my first mortgage, I just sit down with a lender and we went through of stack of papers.

Now it's, you can get online and we'll clear the right now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So from the purchasing consumer standpoint, it's taken out any level of discomfort. So you are more likely to spend and not save because the saving creates, you know, pushes patients and delay gravitation, which you were just saying is so difficult. To speak to the families, because there's a lot of listeners that they're trying to get out of that consumer debt. They're deep in credit card debt,

student loan debt, car debt. I mean, it's just all of this. And have gotten to a point where they're like, I'm so sick of this. I'm done. I'm going to get out. And we teach that when you get out of debt, you have to sacrifice your lifestyle. All of what you were spending, you know vacation. You're not going out to like you are limiting everything and throwing anything you can at that debt. And it is so hard for people to call in and they'll say, how do I say motivated? Because this is so

difficult. So, speak to some encouragement that this idea of sacrifice and what you're putting yourself

You don't owe anyone anything. Like, what that sacrifice is actually doing to the character

“who they are and what's happening inside of them. Yeah. I'll tell you a story for an example.”

And then I'll pull out a big picture. When I was a professor at NYU, you know, I had a student who crazy and debt, just like she's married, she had kids so much debt. It was totally ruined in their life, causing a lot of marital problems, causing problems with what they could do with their kids, what programs they could get them into. She started following Ramsey's stuff. She's like, it was the hardest thing we've ever done. But she got out on the other side of that and then she

could put herself through college, which means she could earn a higher income. And she's like, that was so hard in the meantime. But now that we went through that, I look back on that. And I go, that's one of the most rewarding things we've ever done for our kids because that taught them a lot, for our marriage, because it brought us together and also personal fulfillment.

So to pull back, when you look at what gives human beings fulfillment, it's never the easy thing.

It's the things that we had to struggle through. Good example. If I ask any parent,

“what's been the most rewarding thing in your life? Like, what's most important to you?”

Most people are going to say their kids. Yeah. It is my kids full stop. Then you ask, well, is that always easy? What's the most challenging thing? Like, it's the hardest thing. Yes, exactly. Now, you can apply that to any situation in life. You know, marriage, finances, whatever, realize that that, almost think of that as that hardship is like, that is a signal that something important is happening, that is then going to improve your life later.

So you can actually get to a point where you feel that and you go, something good is about to happen.

Takes a while to get that mindset shift. Yeah. It's always going to be hard in the short term,

but once you've gone through a few reps, I think you start to see that as something like, aha, here's the opportunity. Yes, it's going to suck, but I'm ready for it. Yeah. Let me, let me, for the listeners out here who are new to my police here. And you know, this unipersonal friend's off air, but your voice has rang through my mind so often the last five years that has reframed how I teach marriage. It's reframed how I help people who

are struggling with their kids, like trying to manage their kids. And it all started from an idea you had an article you read about the 2%. Right? And that's based on the 2% of people at the airport who will use the stairs instead of the escalator. And at 2 a.m. when we're Rachel and I are on a live event somewhere and we're schlepping through the, it's like, take the stairs to alone and I'm like, I will, but here's where that has expanded my whole life. When my wife and I have

“a conflict, it's easy for me, honestly, to get some flowers, to pretend that conflict didn't happen”

and then to go about our regular routine. And it has developed, it is given me a new language that is, the tension is the doorway. If my wife and I have a discomfort, I'm going to take the stairs. Let's have this conversation, let's get to the root of this thing so that we can get to where we want to go. And Michael, I gotta tell you, it is transformed my marriage, it's transformed how I parent my kids, it's transformed everything. The 2%, real quickly, how did that, how did you come up with that?

Honestly, it comes from a strategy. Yeah, it came from a study and that always just sat with me,

because I feel like it's a metaphor, right? 100% of people know that taking stairs is going to be better for their long-term health and well-being. Yeah, 98% of people go, no, I'm just going to do this really easy thing. Yeah, that's going to feel so much better. But those 2% of people, like that can become a metaphor. Yeah, and I want everybody to know, Michael has a brand new podcast, a 2% podcast that I personally subscribe to, and I pay money for his sub-stack, it's that good. And I like to hit my

friends up for free stuff. I don't, not for this one, because it's worth every penny, the 2% sub-stack by Michael Leister, go check it out. Michael, thanks for being here. And just the encouragement to the audience, it'd be the 2% but the sacrifice at the end changes you. I appreciate it. So yeah, thanks for jumping in, last minute. Of course. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me. As a mom, I plan for everything. I plan the budget, snacks, lunches, backup outfits and the

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But here's what we all need to realize. Planning for the future isn't fear. It's love.

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wait anymore. Because you're a mom first. Which means you're always planning. So go to

mamabearlegalforms.com and use promo code Ramsi to save 20%. Mamabearlegalforms.com code Ramsi. [Music] Dude, uh, being around Michael Easter makes my life better. You like him. He's just a good human. Great human being. Yeah. I'm glad he swung by. For sure. So I know thankful. thankful who you have done. Well you guys, we wish that we could

get to every call on this show. But if you have a money question, we have an answer for you. You don't have to call in on the show. We love you too because it's always fun talking to you guys.

But if you have a question, you can head over to ask Ramsi. So this is our free AI tool that's built

and trained on proven Ramsi principle. So AI, you put all the stuff in it of what you want to spit out. So they put all Ramsi stuff. So shows over the past couple of years, transcripts from live events and books and articles like anything and everything Ramsi is in this. And it's crazy how accurate it is and how wild I know people have like a love hate relationship with AI. But it is crazy how quickly it starts to like learn you and know you and like it is wild. So we've had

multiple people put their specific situations and then keep coming back to it and it remembers you. And it's not going to just tell you how wonderful and great you are and we've got to hug you like

some other AI products. I feel like please be nice to me. No, but it really is amazing. So check

out Ask Ramsi again. You can ask your question. You go to RamsiSolutions.com and you'll see Ask Ramsi there on the website or if you are listening on podcast or YouTube you can click the link in the description. All right. Let's head to Lindsay who is in Charleston. Hi Lindsay. Welcome to the show.

“Hi. Thanks for taking my call. Absolutely. How can we help?”

So I'm calling today because I recently got married in December and my husband has actually offered to pay off my student loans. Nice. My question is should I let my husband pay my student loans off? Absolutely not. I'm just kidding. Yes. Well, let's talk bigger picture here. What's causing you to hesitate? Do you are you still seeing this as his money? Your debt and you guys haven't really combined money not even tactically, but even emotionally like this is our household and our household

has this amount of debt. Our household brings in this income. Our household has this much savings as a household. How do we tackle our money? It's still more pretty divided emotionally for you, right? Yeah, a little bit. So I owe about $20,000 a left and I think my hesitancy kind of comes in because I don't find that it's his responsibility to pay on my debt. This is the only debt that we have I guess together, but it's really I look at it more like it's my debt because I was the one that chose

to go to college for a few degrees. Yes. And so I kind of like is this really his responsibility

“if I've done the one paying it all these years? So you have $28,000 that how much does he have saved?”

So he has, I mean, we have a net worth of $700,000. How much is that? Like how much cash do you guys have? I'm actually not entirely sure how much exact cash we have. Okay. So let me ask you a weird question. How do you know he can pay it off if you don't know how much money you guys have? Did he just say I'll pay it off for you? I do have like an understanding of how much he makes and his net worth, but money isn't really I guess an issue in that regard.

He can definitely pay it off and there's there's no problem. It's more of like I just don't know if he if I show out him to do that. If I feel like it's my responsibility. All right, let's say that he had when he was a kid. He fell off a slide and hurt his knee. And then next year he's plan pick up basketball and his knee blows out all the way. Are you going to look at him and say well you brought that bump knee into our marriage so that's yours. No. No. So when you get married,

It's he all's money. And like the research bears this out. It's not just rams. He

“running our mouths like the psychological and economic research says it couples that share a single”

checking account. Not even a checking account and you each have your own on the side. Because that was part of the test. A single checking account forces you all to say who are we? Who are we going to be? Who do we want to be? And how much do we have? And so just that one act of sharing a checking account forces couples to come to the table and talk about values, talk about dreams, talk about visions, and then talk about how to get those dreams and values and visions out in the real world.

And it just as a shapeshifter for couples. And so this is not your debt anymore. This is yall's debt. And it's not his money anymore. It's yall's money now. And so sitting down and having a bigger

conversation about who are we going to be with our money is where is, I mean, this should have been

your your pre-marital counseling should have covered that. But you're already married. So that's the next immediate step you'll need to take. Okay. And make fun. Yeah, in Lindsay, we know we have found the fastest way to build wealth. The fastest way from point A to point B is to be completely debt-free. Have an emergency fund that you can tap into when things happen. Be investing into retirement and other things have a paid off home. And you just start living your life. And when you have kids,

you invest for their college, all of that. But but the no debt and investing aspect and no debt. I mean, even like no mortgage. Like everything is paid off right to the ultimate. That's our baby steps. That's our baby steps six. Okay. It's paid off house. So that's part of the Ramsey plan. But we find people that can build that build wealth quickly with their net worth. They're all in. And so if you guys together say, hey, we want part of our legacy to build wealth, not just for us.

And just to be rich, right? But to when we have a family, to be able to change our family tree, to be able to bless others and be generous. Like we want to use money as a tool in that way. And we're going to work towards being good managers of that. The fastest way is to get out of debt. And if that's our goal as a as a household again, as a couple, okay, fastest way to get out debt. Let's get out of debt. Like tomorrow because you can. So check it off, right? Like I mean,

there's a there's a path of least resistance here. And it's not you taking advantage of or all that.

“And I hear you saying like I just want to take ownership of what I've decided. But I think John just”

yeah, painted a really great picture that when you marry him, it's all of you, right? And we're in this now together. Can I ask you this, is this, um, and the way I'm going to ask is going to sell me and I'm not meeting to be mean, okay, same team, right? We good? Yes. Okay. Is it your ego that doesn't want him to pick this up for you? Or is he not very forthcoming with finances? And that's kind of his domain. And you feel small talking about money around him. No, he is very open about like how much he

brings in. And everything, um, it gets more me. It's like a personal thing. Okay. Um, that I'm just like, I don't know. I guess I look at it a little differently of like, you know, I brought on this debt well before I even met him. I went to school, whatever. And so I'm like, is this, like, should he be held responsible? Would I do understand? He married all of you for better or worse. And you can tell I'm like, oh, I have some guilt doing this. You don't talk through it. Like

or tell him, I've been holding back a part of myself from you. Yeah. And I've been trying to hide this part that I'm embarrassed about or ashamed about whatever. And we're married. I'm going to put all of me on the table here. Yeah. And do you all share a single check in account? No, we don't.

“You should. Yeah, I think this could be a good meeting in the minds tonight, right? I mean,”

sit down together genuinely and just say, hey, what do we want this part of our marriage to be? Because you'll have those conversations. What do we want? This part of our marriage with holiday is still like with family and where we split time. What do we want? You know, our marriage still like when we want to go on a vacation with just the girls or just like, I mean, you'll have these conversations in marriage. How do we want our marriage to be? And money is part of that.

And the quicker you guys can get on the same page, Lindsay, honestly. It's going to, it's going to create a level of unity with you all. That is, that's so beautiful. And the early or you are in this marriage and to create a great pattern starting now is really big. So we are, we are so big on couples are one. You share everything. You're together. You are transparent. You talk about big decisions when it comes to money. You're on the same team. You guys are on the same team running

a household. And when you look at it that way, not only do you build wealth faster, but there's a

better relational sense. And I'll never understand couples who share DNA and make humans, but

humans together. But this is my money and that's your money. Like this is just bizarre a world.

Put it all on the table. Do you think he would, what would you want that Lindsay? Would you want that

“level of unity and working together? Or are you kind of like, I think I'm open to it for sure.”

Okay. How do you think he would respond to it? I think he is more, he is definitely the one that's all for it. I'm more of this one. Okay. I'm just, yeah, it's an ego thing. I need to get over it. Yeah, no. I mean, you don't just get over it. Push through and understand that about yourself and bring him to the table with it. And it's a beautiful learning. And yeah, yeah, yeah, you guys are gonna learn to write. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show in the Fairwins Credit Union Studio.

I'm Rachel Cruz here with Dr. John Deloni and we are answering your questions at Triple 8-8255-225. All right. Let's go to Orlando and we have Rick on the line. Hi, Rick. Welcome to the show. Hi. Thank you. Absolutely. How can we help today? Well, I have a question because I did the

calculations for the net worth and it turns out that I have more than a million dollars of net worth.

However, congratulations. Yeah. However, really all of that net worth is in my home, my primary home. And so last year, I got into some, I didn't get into, but you know, my business went south. Business went south. It wasn't making money. I was keeping it afloat with some personal guaranteed loans. And it just wasn't making any money. So I decided to close it down and move to another town where I got a salary job in the same in the same industry. So

when I left my home, I rented it. I rented it out. And the current rent there

pays for the mortgage of the home, plus the pay for the rent of the new home in my new town right now.

And some expenses of the original home. So it's being rented out, but I also have a large amount of debt. And the debt, I can't keep up with the debt. It's, I can't make really all the monthly payments each month. So my question is, should I sell my primary home where all my equity is in order to pay off the debt to, in order to pay off all the debt? And then I'll have some proceeds left over. Well, my, my answer's a little bit different because you're currently not living in that home.

“You're living somewhere else. Are you going to be going back to that primary home at any point?”

And so, because you own two homes, is that what you're saying? And I own one home and I'm renting into your rented where I'm moved to. Well, you be living where you are now, probably for the foreseeable future. Yes. Okay. Okay. So regardless of debt or not, I would say don't be a long, distanced landlord. So I would be, I would, I would sell your primary home anyways and depending on your financial situation, take the proceeds and buy something in the new city or use it for a

down payment or what that looks like and then go about your way. But you're, you know, your situations are a little different because I would still sell the home, but how you use the proceeds of the home now may not be a for a down payment and maybe to clear up this consumer debt. So how much debt total are the loans? Okay. The loans in the debt total is 300,000. 300,000. And was that business debt? Is that what you said? You, you, you, took out the loans for your

business that you closed? Yeah, but also had some back IRS tax debt. Okay. I have a 105 tax debt to the IRS, which represents about four years, but I'm in a payment plan for that. It's not like I'm a delay point in or anything. I'm in a payment plan of paying it monthly. And then there's 150, 954 K in personal loans for the business and credit cards because credit cards too. So Gotcha. And the credit cards is what probably 50 grand? Yeah, at least. Okay. So that's the 300.

“That's how it's broken up. How much equity on the stock? The 300. The 300 also includes two”

car loans and two car leases. Four cars. All right. Yeah. He's driving on cars. Myself, my wife, my two children who are now and once they're both in college. Okay. How much car debt is there? 57 K. Okay. We break that which per which car? Yeah, that's the four cars complying together. It's two loans. Okay. Oh, purchase cars and two leases. Okay. All right. And how much equity is in the home?

Maybe our hope close to 2 million. The mortgage balance on it is 230. Okay. Why do you think it's

going to go for 2 million? Because it comps in the area. The houses are going. The comps in the area that I've seen right now are about 1.6, but the features inside the house. It's a really remodeled recently in the past few years and it's high end upgrades of all the six trees inside. Okay. Okay. So we'll say worst case scenario 1.7. Okay. Just for the sake. Okay. And so, so yeah, I mean, so yeah, hopefully you would clear, call me, you know, 1.4 is 1.3 possibly.

So if you did clear out the debt, you'd have a million dollars. What could a million dollars buy real estate wise? Where you are now? I've been looking in pretty nice home. Very good.

“Okay. How much do you have an retirement and investments?”

Okay. Retirement myself. My, my 410 is 10,000. And I have some investments. I have about 60,000 in the stock market and use it for trading stock options on and off. Most of my wife is doing that. Okay. Does she have any retirement? She had 30,000. No, not right now. Nothing in 401k. It's on in the stock market. Okay. But she has an additional 30 invested somewhere. Okay. And how old are you guys?

I'm 62. 62. Okay. Yeah. Um, I mean, what I mean, I would not make the mistake, which is kind of what you made with the primary home that like, and you said that opening this call, that so much of your net worth is tied up in real estate, which is not going to be great. I mean, having a paid for house and retirements awesome, but if you don't have any money to eat with, then it kind of negates the purpose. So I would then. That home is the mortgage is paid off in six years.

Okay. Well, but you don't have any money, brother. You'll be 68 years old with $10,000 from retirement

and a $2 million house. Right. Yeah. So I would, I would diversify a lot more than you have,

Rick. So I would sell it regardless again, because you guys aren't living there anymore. I would see this as a gift that you, that you all have done so well, paying down on the home, and it's gone up in value, which is amazing. And I would use it to clear my debt, and I would make a contract with myself and my wife and my family that we do not go into debt anymore. We don't play that thing. So we're done with debt, and then I would look, and I would probably sit down with a financial

advisor and just say, hey, when we run out the numbers and when we want to retire, how much, how much would we need? What does this look like right now? Because I mean, if you got a million

bucks sitting in the floor, I would not go spend it on a million, now that I know your retirement

situation, I wouldn't go buy a million dollar house. Brother, I'd buy a $350,000 condo and put

“$6.50 in retirement. That's what I would do. Mm-hmm. Like, uh, uh, you're, you're going to have to”

just to sell it. That was one of my questions I was going to ask you also about what to do with the proceeds. Yep. So the goal would be to have enough in retirement that you guys feel good with, and granted, you're still going to be working some, so you'll still be contributing, but also have paid for real estate. Can we get, can we get that both done with this million dollars? Because in fact, that's life changing, right? We're going to get a small house for 400,000,

get it completely paid off. Yeah. And you can get a nice small house for 400,000. We're going to be paid off. Be all done. Put 600 grand in the market. But when this does rig, it shifts your expectation of lifestyle. You're leaving a $1.6 $2 million home. Yeah. That one is so hard. It's too least cars. And you're choosing a more simple lifestyle for peace and the ability to retire with dignity. So screw whatever one else thinks. You know what I mean? Like, from the looks of things,

the ramgysolutions.com and check out our smart investors in your area and they'll help you with the investment side of what to do with that extra money after you sell your house. Yeah, but there's

“going to be a level of humility that it's going to take to do this rig. But honestly, it's going to”

create more peace in your life. Hey, guys, Rachel Cruz here. And I love summer. There is more fun on the calendar, more time with your people, and way more chances to make memories. But you know what else there's more of? Spending. Oh, between the extra groceries and gas and camp fees and family trips, it all starts to add up so fast. And before you know it, money stress starts to steal the fun

money, track your spending, and find more margin in your budget so that you can put extra cash

towards the goals that matter most. Enjoy your summer without the money stress. Download the every dollar app in the App Store or Google Play and start for free today. Ramsey show question of the day is brought to you by why ReFi. If your private student loans are in default, and you're not sure what to do next, why ReFi can help you explore refinancing with a low fixed rate and a payment plan based on what you can actually afford. Go to why

ReFi.com/Ramsey. That's the letter Y, R, E, F, Y, dot com slash Ramsey. May not be available in all states. All right, this today's question comes from Maggie in MISIS, I, P, P, I. I am a 50 year old single woman earning $53,000 a year. I have $25,000 in credit card debt card debt and a personal loan from my father. I realize now I was very irresponsible and I've shredded the cards. I have my $1,000 emergency fund and I want to tackle the debts, but after all my bills are paid, I have 150

bucks a week left to eat and pay for gas. The minimum monthly debt payments are more than that amount should I pay the bills or buy food to be able to eat? Oh Maggie. Yep, so a couple of things.

So you always want to eat first. So when you're in a dire financial situation where this is

literally paycheck to paycheck, before the creditors are paid, before the credit cards are paid, you pay food, shelter, so you're rent or mortgage utilities and transportation making sure you

“have gas in your car and all that is good. So that's what we call your four walls because without”

that, then you start putting the priority of your own self and survival, right, above mastercard. So yes, you need to make a list Maggie and list out everything and see before after food, shelter, utility, transportation. Then what is left is where the minimum payments come in and what

the magic is going to be for you and this is making $53,000 a year is going to be extra work because

income at that point is your problem and so it will be working weekends and nights and it's not going to be fun, but if you can bring in an extra two to three thousand, whether it's waiting tables, bar tending, I don't know what it is dog sitting, I don't know what that looks like, but I would make it a goal, which means yeah, you're going to be working 60, 70 hours away. 80 hours a week. Maybe a lot, but only for a short period of time because if you think about this and if you

can do it and you can get three grand, you know, a month to be able to throw at this debt, I mean, it's an eight, eight, nine months you're done, you're completely done, then you get to quit everything and go back and live on your salary because when you don't have payments, you actually have margin at that point. So it's kind of this like season of sacrifice that is what I see,

“that's how that's the path I see out for her. And the way I've had to navigate these tough”

seasons of my life is to make a commitment in her case, she's 50, it's it's I'm pretty dramatic as you know Rachel. But I like some sort of commitment ceremony, if I had to do it again today, I'd probably write a letter, but some sort of commitment to 52 year old me, I'm going to do this stuff right now for future me. And for whatever reason, when I'm doing it for somebody else, it makes it easier than doing it for myself sometimes. And so I'm going to work like crazy, I'm

going to not do stuff, whatever, in service to 52 year old me. And it might be writing a letter to 52 year old you talking about the sacrifices you made at 50, where you would work full your full time job, you would eat a ham sandwich that you made or a pinburn jelly sandwich on the way to stock and shelves at a grocery store until 11 at night, get up the next morning go again. And you're just going to know for nine months, I'm going to be really, really tired, but I'm going to knock this thing out.

“Yeah, I hope that helps Maggie, but yeah, I think it's a tough situation.”

Yeah, prioritizing is really big when everything is that condensed money wise with your expenses. So priority member food shelter utility transportation. All right, let's go to Rebecca and she's in Portland, Oregon. Hi, Rebecca, welcome to the show. Hi, thanks for taking my call. Absolutely. How can we help today? So my husband and I have been working on the baby steps. We're on the baby

car needed work that cost more than the car was worth. So we and we might have been to be at 40 minutes

“daily to and from work and so we needed a commuter car and so with 6800 in savings, we spent $6,500”

on a car that immediately needed $200. Here's a work because of a higher problem caused at a dealership. And so now we financed the work through the shop. It was zero percent interest for 24 months. So I just said we decided to do that instead of put it on one of our credit cards that are paid off. And so now we have $3,300 in debt. My grandmother set up a stock account for me when I was baby. It's grown to about 38,000. And so I'm just curious would you guys recommend

caching it all out, taking out what we need for the debt, letting it sit until retirement or what

I should do. We also have my husband has two shoulder surgeries coming up in the next year. And we do have an HSA was about $4,000 in it, but that's not going to cover the short surgery fully. But we do get financial aid through the hospital as well. We're kind of like a lower income. Okay. I fold so. Sorry. How much debt did you say the dealership was? I know it was zero percent interest for 24 months, but 28,800 through the repair shop.

Okay. Gotcha. Gotcha. And then you still have, did you say 25,000?

25,000. 25,000. Okay. Perfect. Did you get your $5,500 card? Did you have it inspected?

“Well, yeah, that's what we took it in initially for. And yeah, I mean, we had already purchased it”

by the time that we had the tire problem. So, usually the inspection comes before the purchase, right? Yes. Yeah. We, yeah. We've had good luck with cars and we're hoping we wouldn't have the same luck and we didn't. Yeah. No, that's okay. So you guys have $53,00 total of debt. You have $38,000 in the stock. What kind of stock is it? It's just individual stocks. It's like Disney home depot. That type of thing. Okay. Is it in like a mutual fund or it's like 10 individual stocks?

It's individual share. Okay. Yeah. Gotcha. Okay. Well, the short answer is yes. I would cash those out to pay this off. Okay. And yeah, you'll probably be paying depending on how it was all looped to you from your grandmother if she actually had it in your name. Yeah. She moved it to my name when I was 18. Okay. Gotcha. So yeah, there may be some taxes implications in that. But just, you know, be aware of that.

But I would, yep, use some of that. And then I honestly would not stay in single stocks like that. I probably would end up caching everything out and just moving it to an index fund. Yeah. Like an S&P 500 or something. You know, but no brokerage account and just do it through that. And you can do that on your own if you wanted through fidelity or vanguard. You know, there's some easy companies that make it pretty easy. Just because I don't like the single stock mentality anyways. So

that's probably what I would do. And then when you have that, yeah, to be able to take some of that, to pay off to 5300. And then you guys prepping for, which I'm thankful you know about the medical ahead of time. So with everything, you said you guys have the HSA 4,000. And then you have some covered

“how much out of pocket will you have to pay? I'm not sure yet. We haven't gotten an estimate from”

the hospital yet. Okay. So you know that he needs both. Okay. Yep. So do you have any idea? Have they given you any range? No. No. Okay. So I would find that out because it's going to help you guys to plan and to know how much you guys need to set aside per month. How much are you guys making a year? Oh, we make about 68,000 a year. That was last year. I recently just got my certification for my job and work kind of like, so I'm, and I'm also up per promotion. So we're kind of looking for additional

ways to earn and there should be a couple of good raises coming up soon. I'll tell you my one concern about doing this is you guys have been working hard to get out of debt. And I know you felt squeezed, but you haven't fully metabolized. We do not go into debt, right? Yeah. And so my fear is you're going to cash this out and it's going to kind of become just kind of just in case account. And so

debt off, we're never going into debt again, and this is not going to become just kind of a slush fund.

Hey guys, Dave Ramsey here. Every day on this show, we help people work through real money problems and figure out what to do next. Now you can get that same kind of help anytime with ask Ramsey. Ask your money question and get answers built on Ramsey principles we use on the show. Whether you're making a decision or just want something explained, ask Ramsey is here to help. It's fast, simple, and free to use. Go to RamseySolutions.com and try ask Ramsey today.

That's RamseySolutions.com. If you're working the baby steps, the fastest and best way to do it is by using every dollar.

So this is more than just a budgeting app. It is the plan that is built right in. So you can

track your progress, get personalized recommendations and coaching for your situation. It's going to help you free up more money and work the plan up faster. I mean it's like having one of us walk with you every single day and showing you the next right step and holding you accountable. So start every dollar for free by downloading it in the App Store or Google Play. All right, let's head over to Jessica and she's in Savannah, Georgia. Hi, Jessica, welcome to the show.

“Hi guys, thank you for having me. Absolutely, how can we help?”

So I am coming into a little bit of a bonus here. My husband and I are both military and

I am just wondering what your guys' recommendations are for where I should put that toward.

So we both have a car loan and then we have our house loan and I'm just wondering if we should put it into that and pay those things off and then where we should put the extra money after those are paid off. Okay, great. How much is the bonus going to be? So the bonus after taxes is probably going to be about $30,000. Okay, and then I'll probably have another $15,000 bonus towards October. Oh, nice. Are these military bonuses?

Yeah, but it's special don't tell anyone. I hope you get five of them. I hope you get 50 of them. It's a madness of that. I love that thank you. Just keep the bonuses rolling. It's my tax dollars.

“Keep them rolling. Keep them going. Absolutely. Just get how much is the, how much are the cars?”

How much does that you guys have on them? So my cars are about 20,000 and then his is about 25,000. Okay, how much do I'll make a year? A little over 200,000 probably. Okay, if you finish. Okay. Can I make a guess? Yes. Is either one of these cars either a Jeep of some sort or a Dodge Charger? Oh, absolutely not. Yeah. All right, dude. Buck of the trends. Buck of the trends. That's everything. Whoa. All my military buddies, all of them.

Either have a Charger or a Mustang of some sort or a Jeep product of some sort. You know, I do, I do have to embarrassingly admit that my husband does have a Tacoma, which is if you know very common as well. Hey, you know what though? It's a Toyota product. It will drive till the end of time. I support that. We love a Toyota right around here. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Sure. Okay. So the 30,000 would take care of obviously the 20,000 and take the other car loan

down to 15. And then you said you're going to be getting 15 in October. I would love for you guys to start. Yeah, so all that to say yes, I would throw the bonus at the cars. You'll have 15,000 dollars left on the trucker, whichever car that is. And yeah, and I would still be working to pay that off. And then the money you get in October, hopefully that car will be, you know, you'll oh, I don't know, 7,000, 8,000 on it, right? If you throw some money. I should say, I should also say,

we do have about like, I just, you know, we were talking about money last night and was like, oh my god, we got to find out where we should put this, but we do have about 50,000 dollars in cash right now too. Oh, good grief. Lead with that next time, Jessica, cheese.

“They're in the lead, Jessica, 50 grand. I'm sorry. I just don't like, I think it's because we're”

young enough where I just feel like I don't know exactly where I should put the money into. Like, do I pay off the house that much? All that we might move in, you know, a couple of two years or so. You know, do I put it into like a TSP? What do we do? But we're already contributing like

let's talk. I keep moving money and don't know where to put it. Yep, no, and that's common. Okay,

“so the Ramsey Baby Steps, when you walk through them, baby step one is a $1,000 emergency fund,”

check. Baby step two is get completely out of debt, all your consumer debt, which means you're going to be selling stuff, working extra sacrificing, any money you have saved, uh, Jessica, anything that's out there, you throw at your consumer debt to get out of Baby Step two. And so you guys are at that set, which means you can be done tonight. You can be both cars off tonight. So you're done. Yeah, and you'll have $5,000 left of that $50,000. And then when you're

$30,000 hits that bonus, you're going to have $35,000. So then you get to move on to Baby Step 3, which is a fully funded emergency fund of three to six months of expenses. So you guys are in

pretty, you know, stable jobs, uh, any kids? Are you guys have kids? No kids. No kids. Okay,

how much would it take to run your household per month, would you say? How much money do you guys need? With no car payments? Um, $6,000. $6,000. Okay, so I, I mean, I probably would put you guys at a three month, and we say three to six months, but you guys don't have kids, stable jobs. So if you wanted to do a three month, you know, you could, which would mean you would need $18,000. Okay. Um, so when you, yeah, when you look at all of that, then what's left, then

where we need to decide, okay, we have some money left. What do we want to do with that? So the question is, yeah, do you throw it at the house? Baby Step 4 is 15% of your income into retirement. So I actually would lower some of your, what you guys are putting away down to 15% and throw the

rest at the house. Okay. Um, and as you pay it off, it's okay because even if you guys sell

a move that you're building an equity at that point as you're paying it down. So you're not losing that money, right? You're just putting it into an asset. Um, and, and, and paying it down. Do you guys think you really will move though in the next two years? Yes. You will. Okay. So there, I mean, you could keep it in like an index fund or something right now, or even just a high yield savings account because I am thinking when you guys move, if you had some money saved

for a down payment and contingent upon the sale of your house that you have now, would work as well.

“Um, yep. So that, that's probably what I would do, honestly, is I would put the remainder.”

I would have two separate high yield savings, okay, one that has the 18,000 in up for your emergency fund. And then open up another and just put some of that cash in there and then look up in two years and just say, okay, when we sell our home in two years, how much equity is going to be in there, plus how much it think we can be saving and all together, what would that look like? Um, to maybe buy something, but the military families, I know.

Yeah, I would rent. If you're jumping around, you're probably going to want to rent somewhere. It's a good point. Sure. Sure. I think the other thing is that, like I said, every couple of months, we did all of a sudden feel like we had so much money to be paid some in the house, some in the cars and whatever not. If the cars are paid off and then all of a sudden we have like another thousand dollars a month that we're not spending. Yep, what would you suggest putting that

“into, like, how much do you really put into your house all up front?”

Well, if it was me, uh, when I bought my house, I hope I don't move for 10 years. And so I'm going to put, I'm going to be more aggressive paying it off. Like my friends and military, they get moved every two to three years. Um, one of two things happens. They either barely break even because there hasn't been enough time for the house to appreciate. And they still got to pay realtor fees to exit or, and you know, you've got friends like this, they have this trailing mortgage in like three

or four different states. And they're trying to rent them out to other military families. And it just becomes a nightmare, right? And so for you, since you know you're going to be moving in two years, I wouldn't, this is just the delonies. I wouldn't buy a house until I knew I'm going to be somewhere five to 10 years. I would agree with that, just otherwise I would rent and I would rent a nice place because y'all are doing really well. And I would put all that cash in a high-alt savings account

for the day we can walk in and pay cash for the house we're going to live in for five or 10 years. For sure. Yeah, when do you think, because the difference on, I'm, and I'm with John, I'd be renting. So any money you get from equity, I would put into a high-alt savings account. The only question I have is are kind of our threshold of investing, which means like putting it in like an index fund or something, versus high-alt savings is about that four to five year mark.

So if you're not going to be buying anything, because you guys are going to be moving around and renting, for if you're not going to be buying anything for the next five years, I almost would just open up an index fund and start throwing cash in there. And because that you're going to have great returns on that and you're going to be able to write out the market because you don't need it for five years or more. Honestly, that's probably what I would do. And then, unless you

and buy something then. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Well, I appreciate that information so much.

“The index fund is different than the like being guard fidelity at the P500 is correct.”

No. Oh, all in there. Yep. Yep. So just look into that. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. You may open up like a brokerage account on the inside of that, put an index fund. And here's the main thing we're doing differently than what you're doing. You'll get a big check and you'll try to spread it out all over the place. We want you to knock things out one at a time so you actually make progress. All right. Let's cut to the chase. It's easy to get discouraged about crazy house prices and

interest rates. But when you have the right real estate agent to help you buy and sell the right way, you'll have confidence to make smart decisions. Ramsey trusted agents aren't just experts

who guide you through buying or selling. They're people you can trust to have your back from the first

call to closing day. Find a Ramsey trusted agent near you at RamseySolutions.com/agent. That's RamseySolutions.com/agent. Our scripture of the day comes from 2nd Corinthians 9/8 and God is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound an every good work. Dolly Parton said of her, a peacock that rests on his tail feathers is just another turkey. Do you see she came out with a video? No. She had a cancel vagus and she's having some health stuff

but her doctors, she's going to be great and she's going to be looking younger than ever.

I mean, she's just hilarious. You know over here on the 12th shelf. Like right in the middle of

like we're all these shops and restaurants are my kids and I've walked by there a thousand time. That's her place. I had no idea. There and she lives in Britain. She has a place where she stores her bus and all. Okay, yeah because her house y'all she lives like a mile from me. Wow. And then she's been there for since like the 90s. Forever. We just all love Dolly. She's the best. She is. She's a gem. She's the best. She's on my bucket list to meet. I want to meet her.

I just wanted to be present. Oh, she should be present. Dolly, I'm going to write her on next lecture. She's probably too young but. All right, we're going to go to the phones and we have Richard and Tennessee up next. Hi, Richard.

“Welcome to the show. Hey, thanks for having me. Absolutely. Absolutely. How can we help? What's up?”

So I've recently became disabled and I'm not able to provide like I've been doing for my family. And I'm going to be getting a pretty large settlement about $25,000 minimum. I'm just wondering what can I do to turn that into some type of profit? What happened, bro? I was involved in a car accident on the left me paralyzed. Oh my God. I have a history and I have to see there's pretty bad from it now. Yeah. I'm not sure if I've ever before that. So obviously, I'm not allowed to

rap so I can't do that anymore. Yeah. The 75 seems awfully low for for for an injury that takes permanently takes away your line of work. Yeah. That's the law you're really so that he's going to get a lot more. Yeah. It's just he said we're going to copy your medical bills at least and those are all paid. So now I know for a fact I'm going to get at least $25,000. What's he saying? He said

“you may we may be getting more. What does that mean? Like if he had a ballpark, what was he?”

I know you're probably being conservative with the 75, but what could it be? I'm trying to be conservative, but I mean, he said that he's pushing them and he's trying to push closer to $200,000. Yeah. For whatever it's worth, man, because this injury takes away your livelihood, which is truck driving, I would push pretty hard to expand that as far as possible for future earnings, but that's not what you're calling. But, man, I hate this for you. And now I'm so sorry.

Which are you able to do any level of other work or will you be out of the work force for the foreseeable future? Right now it's kind of too early to tell. Okay. But doctors, not really saying anything with me positive and negative, so I think they're kind of questioning it too. Okay. Is it classified as a TBI? Traumatic brain injury? Yeah, it is.

it's not. Yeah. I'm glad the doctors are just keeping in neutral because nobody knows, right?

Yeah. Does your wife work? Yeah. No, she doesn't. She's 70 of full time caregiver for me because I have to be monitored 24/7. Okay. Are you, um, do you guys have kids? We have one kids. You have one. Okay. How old? She's five. She's five. Okay. And so she'll probably be in school next year. I'm assuming kindergarten. Yeah. Starting the fall. Okay. Because I'm just trying to think how to make this money work for you guys, but also

that it doesn't just disappear in expenses when there could be pairing with some level of work or income coming in. You know what I mean? Well, there's two. I want to say this. There's two. One of my oldest closest friends on the planet is a long time TBI survivor. And there is a program.

“I know it's a federal program. I think it's a federal program and possibly a state program too,”

where she might actually receive compensation for your care. Mm. And so I would look at that and also look at your Social Security benefits as a side benefits. Oh, okay. Yeah. I'll do it here. I'm on SSD. Okay. And what does that pay for again every month? 16, some year to month. Okay. Yeah. It's not going to keep food on your table, but it's something. But check in, have her

looking to the program that she can qualify as basically she'll get paid as a full-time caretaker

of you. And that's a pretty remarkable program as well. It's not going to make anybody rich, but it will keep your house over here. Yeah. How are you guys paying for things now? Your bills and everything? So right now we're on just poor-everness systems pretty much. Okay.

“So do you guys have any details? We have 8,000 into that. Okay. What is that? What kind of debt?”

Oh, that's from a car that I had to turn back in after my accident. Oh, geez. They didn't just take it. Uh, they were kind of like threatening, and I just said, you know, there's really nothing we can do. So just come and get it. I got a volunteer repo on my credit report.

Hmm. Shoot. Okay. Um, so for now that, how, when will you get the settlement? You know?

Into this year. Okay. So you guys have the rest of this calendar year to survive. Yeah. What we do? Okay. And government assistance, what's coming in a month with that? Uh, just the 1678. And then the health insurance is locally covered now. And then the food counts for the kid. Oh, me. So after we pay all of our bills, we're left with about 300. And that's after putting on the savings. How much are you putting in savings?

About 15%. Which comes out of the of the 1600. Okay. So it's like 200 bucks. Or something. Yeah. Okay. And when you say you have $300 left, is that after food, rent is paid everything? Everything. Okay. Okay. And you're putting someone's at. So you, you could put $500 a month in savings right now. It's kind of what you're looking at. If 300 is your margin. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Um, you know what? I mean, honestly, Richard, I would

probably, I would, I would stick to that regimen as much as you can until you get this payment. And I'm praying by the end of the year. You'll have some answers with your health. Possibly freeing up your wife to a degree to be able to go and and provide and work if you can't. Because the goal would be to be bringing in some level of income and that this settlement is put aside

“and that you guys can use it if you need to on a big purchase, like if you're to replace a car.”

But that it's invested and it is making money. So in that case, yes, I would put that settlement. I would, I would take some out and put an emergency fund to the side and a high yield savings account. And then beyond that, again, try not to live off of this because the goal would be to invest it and just let it let it grow. And so you can do that just like in an index fund or something. But between now and the end of the year, my goal would be to be putting some money in savings

and start building that up because if you guys can do that, that's that's pretty remarkable. I mean, if you're able to put, you know, 500 bucks away, I mean, you'll have $34,000 by the end of the year. Which is, yeah, you'll have your living lean for sure. And I hope that it's 10x your settlement than what you think it's going to be. For sure. Which I feel like it should be. Yeah, I know what I'm talking about. Future earnings. Yeah. And just, yeah, ask about that. But yeah,

but the idea that it's like it is just, it is touching go month to month on bills and cash flow.

Remember, you guys, food, shelter utility transportation before even debt is paid. Take care of that.

“And then beyond that, make a list of priorities of things that you, you have to have, right?”

And if you have kids, young kids, which are both working daycare, it's going to be right there.

Close to that needs line and insurance. Like, there are some things that have to be covered. But the idea is that you, you have a plan and it's written out and you're able to follow it.

“Because that logic side is so important when emotions and the scaring us of reality can wash over.”

And you can make bad decisions if you, if you focus on that. Yeah. And you're, there's not a way to take 75,000 dollars and turn it into, invest off of it and make that into a livable income per year forever.

“Um, the best thing you can do is to take that money. And like Rachel said, get an emergency fund,”

but put the rest of it in. You're, you're thinking of weight on the road with that money. Yeah, absolutely. Sorry, brother. I know I'm so sorry. You're called back. If you need more help for sure, we're here for you.

Thanks to everyone of the booth, John. Always a fun show.

And thanks to everyone listening and remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial piece. And that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace Christ Jesus.