Live Audience Money Questions in Denver

Cliff and I have been married for two years now.

We currently reside in the house that Cliff used to share with his ex-wife. [MUSIC]

“You want to sell it or do you want to burn it to the ground?”

Should the guy pay for all the dates? Or is there ever a time to split it? You asked her out, you pay. You put it on credit cards that I'm now paying for. [MUSIC]

Sir, you're done, you don't get to talk anymore. How do couples continue to stay aligned over time when one spouse is more financially anxious than the other? If you're scared, can you blink twice? [MUSIC] Have you ever seen somebody brings eyes?

No, I like myself the way I am. Well, you know what, I actually believe you. We both are kind of slowly putting up finances together, but you're not married. Wrap it up, oh me. [MUSIC]

[MUSIC]

Normal is broke, and common sense is weird.

So we're here to help you transform your life. From the ranging network brought to you by fair winds, credit union, live from Denver, Colorado. This is the Ramsay Show. [MUSIC]

Oh, to all these lovely people in the room, and of course those watching wherever you're watching,

“however you're watching, welcome to this special tour edition of the Ramsay Show.”

So excited to be here, and we're going to get right to it. It's the Ramsay Show, except there's no phone calls. They are live in the room. The good news is we can't hang up on them. The bad news is we can't hang up on them.

Your personal brand is on the line. And by the way, I meant to mention when I got so excited when we started the show. What happened, Ken? I didn't introduce you guys. Alongside the lovely, the incomparable Jade Worshaw.

I thought I was talking about him. You've changed some love. [LAUGHTER] I love it. I love it.

The handsome, the wise, George Camelase Joe.

[LAUGHTER] I mean John Deloni, I'm sorry. Dr. John Deloni. We get mixed up a lot. We get mixed up a lot.

It's an uncanny resemblance. I know. And I'm Dave Ramsay. No, I'm Kid Coleman, it's excited. Exciting to be here.

OK, we have a couple up here. OK, so I've got Cheryl and Clifton. Not the big red dog. No, I love that. OK, let's share it.

That's Clifford, Ken. Clifford. Close enough. That's like Montpillier. Well, I just-- that's like George Camel.

Dude, it's six falling off. I know. Yeah, I probably didn't get enough sleep last night. Sorry, Clifton. You're a dog, DAWG.

OK, Cheryl, what's the question? We have a little debate going on. We're hoping you guys-- Are we settling a debate? Yes.

As a baby, we're a Supreme Court justices. Yep. So Clifton, I have been married for two years. Now, we created a very big blended family. But between the two of us, we have nine children.

Oh, my gosh. Yeah. And we currently reside in the house that Clif used to share with his ex-wife. Well, listen to it.

Who's audience is on it right now? This case is not going to survive some regions. I'm pretty sure. We have an extremely low mortgage that would-- How much?

We have 225,000 left on it. We only pay $1800 a month on a home that's big enough to hold all of us. I would like to sell it and move to a fresh start, because it has bad judo in it for me.

Come on. You would like to stay pay it off and save for our retirement and a long trip that we plan to take when we get the last kid out of the house. OK.

And how many times, like hours, just give me a general idea. How many hours you've spent talking about this? Look at the face of a hundred. How about a hundred?

“Do you want to call it how you want to burn it to the ground?”

If we could get the money out of it, and then burn it, what's it worth if you sold it or burned it? Five to five, 30. So you walk away with a nice chunk of change and free of that. So Clifton, this is fascinating, a couple of hundred hours.

That's why I asked that question. And after a couple hundred hours, you're here live on the Rams you show with three people that are going to settle this debate. Are you not picking up the signals?

In other words, what is your after all of the conversation? What's keeping you hanging on to this house? Honestly, we've gone around and looked at multiple other homes, and we just haven't found something that's the equivalent.

What do you mean by equivalent? Just the bedrooms have been smaller, the number of bedrooms. I just want to make sure that we have enough room in our house.

Everybody, if we wait two more years,

we have child graduating here in a month, and then the next one graduates the following year. So if we had four kids still living with us in the house, then we could get a smaller house. OK, I hear you.

Now I'll tell you. And by the way, I'm going to do my judge part. I'll get out of the way. I want to know, Cheryl, when he says, I'm holding onto it because we haven't found something that works.

“Have you found something that would work that you could make work?”

Cheryl, tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing about the truth so help you got. The two bedroom apartment down the street. I knew it. I knew it.

I knew it. Walting tomorrow. Clifton, I've been doing this long enough to know I just put you in a corner. And your wife is asking you to listen to her.

You're bringing data to a feeling's fight. Yeah.

And you're going to lose.

We could go up to about $3,000 a month and still be with in the Ramsey Parameters, but-- [LAUGHTER] There you go. Yeah.

OK. Is it over the shoulder? No. I like it to come in. I got you in it.

There it is. I'm ready to rule. I don't know if you have any further questions. John, any further questions? I want to-- there's a point of clarification here.

You said that you all could move all the way up to $3,000 a month in monthly mortgage and still stay within 25% of your total take home pay. Yeah. So the one question I have for the defendant

is, brother, what are you doing?

“I think about to lose my head according to Ken here with his--”

But before he rules, let me be like for real. Is there a deeper attachment for you to the house besides the numbers? It's actually a size of it because if we could wait that two years, I mean, I love my wife tremendously,

but if we could wait that two years and get a smaller home, the financial things we'd have there. I have a question for you, sir. If roles were reversed and you were staying in this awesome house that, uh-huh, yeah.

If roles were reversed, would you be wanting to hang on to this house? I honestly, yeah, I think I would be able to come with you. Oh, really? For the short time. Short time.

That's to be the short time, though. Two more years in your mind is a short time with the ghost of the ex walking around the house. We've already lived in it for four years. Oh, geez.

Oh my god. All right. The role in favor of Cheryl. Lift it. Sell the house.

[ Applause ] You get to do it next. Put it on the table and-- All right. My role is the current house is indeed haunted.

And for that reason, I'm out. [ Applause ] I not only rule for Cheryl, but you serve as you go to jail. [ Applause ]

Straight to jail. And, and before we move on, James. Don't you all wish Dave was here tonight. What is it, what if Dave could be here? Because Dave--

What would Dave say?

“I think I got a message from Dave to you, Clifton.”

Are you ready? I'm ready. Shuck it up, Buttercup. [ Laughter ] Thank you, guys.

Your big grace sports. Give us a long. [ Applause ] I've waited my whole life for that moment, I think. How's the hair look?

Is that all right? Okay. I can't keep that on the whole time, but I'd like to. Give it a little more. Yeah.

Let's go to Trayvon. Give him some love. Trayvon! How are you? I'm doing good.

How are you doing? Good. Tell us where you're from. I'm from Corpus Christi. Nice.

Okay. What's your question? So my question today is-- It's lovely to meet all of you out today. It's the honor.

Change your approach to the baby steps. If you were to read on today, face-in-high, rent, and low wages, why are prepping for marriage? Wow. No, I wouldn't.

Because doing so would make me the exception. And I think that when you go through life with that behavior, that I'm the exception, I'm the exception to the rule, it gives you the opportunity to cop out from a lot of hard things.

That being said, I do think that there's challenges. Like I want to validate the fact that there's challenges.

There's always going to be a generation that faces challenges

at the previous generation didn't face. And I think that you're feeling the way to that right now. The advice stays the same. So what's the part of the-- there's something that you're wanting to go the other way

on and tell me what it is and what you want to do instead. I think I want to invest more, maybe, like-- so I know it's like, obviously, I know the baby steps.

I want to save a thousand, but I'm like, is that enough for today? Kind of like, how far the dollars goes and everything?

No, I mean, a thousand has never been enough to be honest with you.

I mean, there's a lot of arguments for that, but it's not supposed to be enough. It's-- I'll tell you what it was for Sam and I, and I think that these guys could probably chime in the same way. A thousand dollars is enough to make you get creative.

It's enough that win and emergency strikes.

“You have to dig deep and go, okay, the washer and dryer”

went out if I had credit or if I had more money, I would just go over to Lowe's and get something or buy something with Craig's list or, you know, second hand, whatever. But when you don't have any money to spend,

then you go, okay, what can I do? Well, my mother-in-laws down the street, I can wash the clothes here, I can dry them at her house, right? And you start thinking way more creatively. My buddy is good at fixing things.

I think I can call him over and he can, right? So that's what a thousand dollars helps you do. And then, yeah, it's enough to cover, you know, a flat tire and little things like that. But don't let that be the thing that stops you,

especially if it hasn't stopped you yet. I would hate for you to think towards the future and go,

that's something that could potentially stop me

and not test it and try it. - I'd love to know your quick numbers. So how much debt do you have? - I have about, like, six thousand. - That's it.

- What's the six thousand? - So I have like, my car is a majority of it, but I have five thousand and five thousand for my car, then as far as my, I got some tax stuff, maybe like a thousand.

- Okay. - 1500 year on that. - What kind of income do you have? - I make around like 4,000 a month right now. - Okay.

And when do you expect to be debt-free? If you're mapping this out and you're getting after it, when do you think you're debt-free? - Come in. - Six thousand, come on, man.

- Yes, and it's not a lot right now. I'll say like within the next four to five months. - Get answered. - Okay, I don't, four to five months. - I mean, make it 90 days.

- Make it 90 days. - I'm with John, I'd like to see it. So here's where I'm going with this, all right? So on the other side of that now is baby step three. So you have a $48,000 income, quick math.

What's a good emergency fund for him? Three months worth of expense. - I would start with 18. - 18, you feel good about that number? - Okay.

- All right, let's fast forward, all right.

“So what's on the other side of baby step three for you?”

Baby step forward. And what are you doing in baby step four? - Helping out crowd. - Yeah, I mean, yeah. - Investing 15% is 20% yes.

- And how old are you right now? - I'm 29. - 29. - Yeah. - James, do you have, can we do a quick investment count?

- I got it. - I got it. - This got you. - This was the, this was the heart of your question, wasn't it? You were like, I want to start investing.

I feel like I'm 29, I'm almost 30. And paying off this debt, you were going, I'm not investing. Am I right? Is that what I heard?

- You have, I want to add one other thing too, sorry. If I want to, like obviously preparing for marriage, how much should I be putting towards a ring and, you know, from that standpoint as well? - Is she here?

- Yes. (audience laughs) - She's right here to my left. - Well, but which is the bigger question? Saving for the ring or hey, should I get out of order

on the baby steps? You know what our answer is? - Yeah. - I've already made the point. - Right.

- You're not far away from being able to be into baby step four. And Jade's going to do a little investment calculator. So, picking up at what 30 years of age? - Yeah, I'm a pick you up at 30. Do you already have anything in there?

- What do you mean? - Do you already have anything invested? - Any four or one? - K, you're anything? - Yes, I do.

- How much? - About like, $3,000. - Okay, so I'm going to put that in there. So, we'll start this at age 30. Assuming you're going to save up the 18,000.

You have an engagement ring to buy. You have $6,000 a debt to pay off. Let's say that, and this is very conservative 'cause I'm just going off the $4,000. I'm not doing it off your gross amount.

So, let's say 600 bucks a month, average rate of return, annualized will say 10%, okay? So, if I calculate that from age 30 to, let's go with 65, is that sound good? - Yeah.

- Okay, that's going to be drum roll, please. - Oh, very nice. - $2.375, million.

- Million. - Million dollars.

- And that's assuming nothing gets better from here on out. So, the bear, like the bar is low here. - So, Tray, what do you see, we just did. - Don't go out of order. - Yeah. - You're a young man.

You're going to be very wealthy.

“You should see the smile on the face of that lady next to you.”

When she saw 2.375 million dollars, you didn't think he added in and did you? Look at her, she's like, what's up? Look at this. - It's not even like, yeah, once you guys get married,

you're going to be contributing to that. Like, you guys are going to be off the... - That number's low is what she's selling you. - Right. - You got us? - Yes, I got it. - Yes, sounds no.

Do you want to add, you want to weigh in on the cost of the ring? - This was a hot topic insurance. - I think so. - I think, ma'am, next time she needs to weigh in. - Have you picked out the ring? - No, not yet. - Have you given him any guidance?

- Not a time. - Not a time. Did you listen, Trayvon?

what that number is without saying anything?

- I say between 48. - Oh, you went ahead and said it. - Okay. - I'm like, I'm trying to make it easy on him. - So, 48, how do you feel? I feel great about that.

- I feel really good about that. How do you feel about that?

“- I mean, honestly mine was lower than his.”

- Okay. - Great. - Bro, lock this down now, lock it in. Do you want to say a little something to her right now? Have you already asked her? - Not right now? - Yeah, no, yeah, no, yeah.

- Okay, we got you. It's going to be big time. - Yeah. - 'Cause Jake and Sing, I mean, John's licensed somewhere on the internet to do something.

I mean, we could just get it. - We'll wrap this up tonight.

- We can play John Legend right now.

(laughing) - I love it. Hey, everybody give a try on some love. It's awesome. (applause)

Okay, who do we have next? Lauren, give Lauren some love. Is she comes to the mic? Where is Lauren? Yeah.

Come on down. Hi, Lauren. - Hi. - Oh, do you have with you? - My husband. - Oh, very nice.

Tell us your names and where you're from. - My name is Christian. Oregon from West Africa. - Okay, great, yes. - And I'm Lauren.

I'm from Reno, but I live in Denver. - Okay, great, all right. So what's your question? - So it's, I don't know if we're gonna need judgment. - Well, I can go get the wig.

We'll see what happens to you. - You might need to, we'll see. So we've been following the Ramsey Plan for, I don't know, eight months, and we've paid off about 120,000 of debt.

(applause) - Yeah. Definitely, most of that was my student loans from graduate school, very little credit card debt. We have no card debt.

So we moved through the steps pretty fast and we're now, like, in steps six, about. And we disagree on the percentage for investment, right now, because we started investing, like, probably in last couple of paychecks

to the maximum that we can. And now we're in the step where we could start putting more toward our mortgage. We have a 15-year mortgage, and it just feels a little tight. And I can't get him to see that it feels a little tight.

- Okay, tell us your position, you'll start with you. So what is your position on how much? - Well, I would like to be within the, like,

15 to 18 percent, and right now we're at, like, 22 percent.

- Oh. - Oh, investing 22 percent. - Yes. - Yes, it is, like, let's go. - Well, and all fairness, so we're both 38,

and we have not saved much for, you know, we don't have a ton in our 401(k)s. He has much more than I do.

“And so I think the, I won't speak for him,”

but I've heard the argument in his eyes. - So Christian, why are you wanting to invest more than 15 percent? What's the fear driving this? - Well, thank you, Ken.

Maybe because it's the number. So at the beginning of this month, I saw this talk market tank, and I told her, well, let's mess through 24,000 for IRS limit for a year, because I'm a CPA, so I was definitely heard that.

So as you said, no, Ramsey says 15 percent, I said, I think they said at least 15, not at most 15. - Well, you're in baby steps six, is that what I heard? - Yeah, so, yes, so, yeah. - Yeah, so, are you putting anything extra towards the house?

- Well, that's where I was telling her that, since what is going on on the stock market now, and I thank for me, the good opportunity to buy. So I said, well, let's throw in the 24,000, a month for each, so that after a year,

when the markets start going up, we can back up from the investment, and now throw in the mortgage. - I hear you Christian, your thought process. I get it, you're like, hey, I'm gonna take advantage

of the stock market while it's down, it makes sense. It does, you're just not in that spot to do it yet. Right now is the time to throw any and all extra money that you guys decide at the home mortgage and start paying that off.

If you're doing the 15%, that is great as if you want me to bust out the calculator again, although I have a feeling you've calculated this. - We do it all the time, yeah, I feel like, you're gonna be just fine because the thing is,

if you go ahead and start paying this mortgage off, when the time comes, if you wanted to invest, 25%, if you wanted to, I mean, you could really just go hog wild on this. I think you're very, very excited

and for whatever reason, and I tell people this all the time,

“paying off your home mortgage, that's an investment too, right?”

It's still an investment, it's just in it on a different median, right? So I would go ahead and follow the baby steps and do it that way and go ahead and do the 15%, for now.

- But, you're facing the same butt. - The thing did I think of. - Okay, we don't, are you a J, no, we're in, let's go.

think about our mortgages like around 2500, so for me, that's where most of the big asses spend, besides other childcare, but, I think, we still have a margin, but, she does not think so. But, you probably do have the margin. I'm just saying, put it towards the mortgage because how much is left to go on the mortgage? Yeah, like maybe a thousand.

- No, no, I mean total, total, oh, about 250, 250, here's what I think happens.

I think it's, because the money is the money, right? It's either going to one investment or another. What it is is it's very daunting to look at a $250,000 mortgage and go, well, I'm going to chip away at that little by little. That feels mentally daunting, what doesn't feel daunting is, I have a goal to save up 250,000 over here, right? And so I think it's just your mind going to what you think is going to be the easier play. When, really, it's the same thing, you're still, you know, the house is still getting paid down, you're still going to be able to have the money to invest later.

“So, think about that because I have a feeling that that's what's pushing you is, it feels daunting to pay off them.”

Who here is on baby stepsics? Is it daunting to pay off the mortgage? - Yeah, yeah. - There you go. - And Christian, can I throw something at you? And tell me if I'm wrong, man, okay? In my house, my wife sleeps just fine with a mortgage.

She slept just fine with her payment on her Karola.

It doesn't have a visceral response in her. I can't breathe if I owe somebody money. I wish I could just snap my fingers and say, it is what it is. It a great gift she gave me was to say, "I don't have this same anxiety in my chest that you do about money, but if it means this much to you, I'm in." Let's do this thing, like, let's make sure we're putting money in retirement, whatever. But all four go of vacation, all four go fancy stuff because I love you enough that if we do this thing.

On the back end, when we paid our house off, you better believe we went on the stupidest vacation I could imagine. But it was a gift she gave me because she said it's you and me a writer died and if this means that much to you, if we can still keep putting money away, I'll be a part of this thing. And so even if you just set the numbers aside, I'm hearing this mortgage weighs on you. - Yeah, it'd be great to be completely debt-free.

- Okay. And I also think this, and this is a totally new variable that we haven't put on the table yet. I think you could get really far. If you sold like two of those suits you have.

“- That's what you've done. - You look incredible, man. - That's true.”

- Yeah, you know, I would just tell you that Christian is really important to her. And you need to lean in on this because you're going to be fine. Get on, you're on, you're every day on the website, according to your wife, like we're looking at the investment calculator. You know you're going to be fine. Nobody needs to tell you that. But to her, I think John just laid it out beautifully. And I'm going to put the pressure on you.

Man to man. You got to listen. You and Clifton, man. You guys need to form a group. - I will come in tonight, so. - You will give in. - Okay. - Good to last question. - Oh, any tip on making the budget meeting, blazing and consistency stands? Okay, is this, so you're the nerd, yes?

And you're the first script. - He's a big nerd. - Okay, what do you think, Jade? This is interesting. Make it fun. - Make it fun and clean. - You may question this again. - I mean, marijuana's legal. I'm kidding. Don't do that. Don't do that. Don't do that. So I'd like to hear from Lauren, what causes the budget meeting to not be fun.

- I could tell you right now, can I guess, can I guess, here's what happens.

Christian brings the completed plan. And then Lauren says, okay, but food costs more than $9 a month. - Christian's like, first, let me turn this suit this way.

“And then he says, I think we can make it.”

- Right, you know how to fix that, don't you? - Yeah. - Without a doubt, yeah. - Make him eat rice and beans and you eat real food. - You know, yeah, like our kids don't need to eat, like they'll be fine, you know? - Okay, so it sounds like for you, it's, you're walking into a persuasion. Like you're walking in, having to already have an argument prepared.

- Definitely. - What would happen, uh, what would happen if you sat together? And as you go down the line items, you decide together what the amount is versus, Christian already having one set, and you having to agree to it. Is that better or worse? - Um, there's just so much negotiation on every single thing, and then it's still the same argument. - Christian, buddy, you got to loosen the purse,

the purse strings, yeah? - You realize you pulled off the greatest negotiation of all time getting her to marry you, right? Take the dub, man. Take the win. You got to relax a little bit. You got to hear this from her. - All right, here's the plan. You bring a completed budget instead of on the table. She for the next six months has to change at least three, preferably five line items by $1.50, $5 out here. And you got to be like, I love you for making

together. You all are co-creating this marriage together. And also, you've got to set a skills, like you're good at numbers, you're good at budgeting stuff, and you also have to practice. I'm going to trust her to also give us some fun and some joy in this house.

“- And I'm going to do my best to try to help out. - You need to loosen up.”

- Let's go. Here's a bottle of red wine. The next budget meeting. Look at me. The next budget meeting. You drink about half of that before you start. Okay? All right, give them some love. That's fun. Oh, man. Quick thing, John, I wanted to see you up real quick. You know, just couples in here. A lot of people watching this on YouTube. Obviously, everybody in the room. But this idea of knowing how you're, I want you both to speak this, knowing how your partner

is wired about money. You got to get that first or else the budget meetings, like Charlie Brown's

teacher. - True, false. - Yeah, it becomes a proxy war. It becomes a place that we have a fight that really the disagreement is about, I don't feel safe in this situation. And the greatest gift you can give to your spouse is safety and trust. And so, if you'll keep having this fight about,

“I think this line items wrong and I made this budget back all the way out and ask yourself,”

why is it so important to me that this thing be mine and only mine? And ask yourself, what is it about owing somebody money that scares me and then put that on a table and share that together? And let's get beneath the budget fight and let's get to the real connection underneath it. - Jake, give us a word to couples on getting on the same page. - Oh, um, that's a good one. You know, Sam and I, we've vacillated between who's the, the spender and who's the nerd.

And so there's been seasons where I'm the spender and I know what that feels like to be shut down and then there's seasons where I'm more nerdy and he's wanting to spend. So I think just having grace for where each other is in the season and to, to John's point, really getting underneath it and go challenging yourself to ask why, why do they value that so much? And then when you can understand it, it's easier for you to, um, you know, meet them halfway. If you can try to understand it a little bit.

- Love it. All right. We're going to go next to Stephanie. Everybody give Stephanie some love, Stephanie. - Hello. - Where are you from? - I'm from Salt Lake City. - Salt Lake City. Very nice. Okay. What's your question? - So I'm currently on baby step two and so with all the knowledge and information I'm going through, it's extending into my family now. So my main, main question is, how do I talk to my siblings about their money habits currently? Um, you know, like they want to buy the expensive

things. They want to look this successful, but I was hoping to get some more, you know, encouragement to them to like, let's, let's talk about financial security and what it looks like. - How's that going so far? - Without damaging a relationship. Um, I get the nods, you know, I get the, okay, cool. - Do they ask? - Do they have they ever asked? - Um, no, it's more like, oh, you, um, you need money to pay for your, your car payment or to buy the latest jersey or, you know, someone's coming into

town for a concert and they want to, you know, borrow the money so that they can go, but they'll

“pay me back when they get paid. - Yeah, I think where the hardest things for people is when you have”

loved ones that are making choices that you know aren't healthier good for. It's hard. And it's really

hard when they don't want your advice. They would never ask for your advice. And in fact,

they take your advice as, as in a front or an attack, right? I think in, in pitch and I, I think the greatest gift you could give them is to just live peace. Don't only money money, buy presents with cash, like be a such a radiant, joyful presence because you don't know anybody, anything, you're free that hopefully, when, when the, when the, when the damn breaks and it will, they know, oh, oh, I know, there's a light in the dark somewhere and I, oh, I'm going to make that call.

- And that call may never come by the way. - Yeah. - And you grieve that and you go to the next right thing, but I've just made it, dude, I've ruined, I've got several of my oldest friends, the friends I've been friends for 30 years here. They'll tell you. I have ruined it.

- I like to meet them later. - They're incredible. I have ruined

parties dinner get together by trying to over-advise and lecture and I'm, I can be so annoying. So I just a few years ago, it's like, I'm going to stop giving advice to people who don't ask for it. And what I've given myself is peace. I have much more pleasant dinners. And weirdly,

And so, if they're not asking for it and you've tried and they just give you that,

no, I'd like you're trying to sell them essential oils. If you sell essential oils, stop, but like,

“like, I think it's like half the audience awkwardly, so I scan. I got a buddy who's”

like in congestive heart failure in his wife's, like, just put some thieves oil in it. No! Oh, I forgot, we're in Denver. You've got to read the room, buddy. My bad, my bad. You said that in half the room went. Oh, yeah. This is my quick take. Next, we're going to go around and ask each other who you voted for. No, well, you know, it's interesting. I want to flip it for you. How many siblings do you have? I'm the oldest of five. Okay, has there been a time

where one of your siblings started advising you or started telling you about something that they were excited about or who they were voting for or where they were going to church. Is there ever been a situation like that where they were a little enthusiastic to you and you were like,

okay, thanks. Yeah, the oils. The oils. Yeah. Really? Essential oils. Well, that's like big and

“salt lake, right? Isn't that like ground zero? That's interesting. That's why it smells so good.”

Salt lake, I think it smells nice. In the whole city? Yeah, I think so. It's whafting. It's just whafting out of everybody's houses. Okay, so back to your situation. You didn't like it, did you? You felt a little uncomfortable. We're, yeah, for sure. That's what you're doing to them. And I'm not picking on you. I'm just putting the shoe on the other foot there. And I think John's advice is fantastic. I think you just got to live it out and just grace. A lot of grace. And when you feel

tempted to go, but I do this and Dave Ramsey says that, don't just live it out and I think you're going to be okay. Okay. And you got your own journey to win, you know? So the best thing you can do is walk through the baby steps to get really healthy. And now they're looking at a model of what they want in their life and John nailed at its peace. How close are you to pan off everything? I still probably have about a good two years. Okay. Two years.

Will you call into the show when you're, when you're there? Well, yes, yes I do. I plan, I will play in it and it just, I hope my husband's on there. Well, it is with me when he, when I make the phone call. Is he here tonight? No, he's done. He's back home. Okay, great. Same thing with your husband. Don't be preaching all the time. Just say, hey, I think this makes sense. What do you think about it? Ask questions. One of the things I learned way too late in

life in dealing with people in general, family, coworkers, and I, you know, made a living asking questions, but it took me too stinking along in my personal life to stop making statements. I was making too many statements with my kids, with my wife, with my father, too many diagram statements. I was just one big giant conviction. You know what I'm talking about? And if I can be real for a moment and I, you know, when you guys weigh on this, I'll just see this

very quickly. Maybe just to help a lot of people in the room. I had to realize that while my conviction was pure and my heart was pure, it wasn't coming across that way. I was too busy making statements. And when you make a statement, it's like me throwing a ball right out here in the crowd. And when I throw a ball right here, what are you going to do? You're going to react, you're going to defend yourself, right? I don't want to hit, get hit in the nose. And I think John,

I don't know if this holds up clinics where I did. Yeah, but, but I was throwing balls at people's faces with statements. I'm a serious, as I can be. I don't mind you laughing, but I'm telling you what I was doing. And if you shift this and John is more about this from his clinical and his educational stuff. But when you shift it to a question, the defensiveness goes away. Instead of throwing something at you, I hands you something. And if I hand something to Jade, she takes it. And then it

serves it. John, you need to finish that. Even better than, well, maybe she doesn't take it for me. But I took it, I just tossed it away after. Even better, you're not handing them something, you're inviting them, right? That's the idea. And I think that's a, I think that's a, that's a gift. There's the old, and you may even know the Theologian who said this, but preach every day to everyone,

always and use words only when necessary. Right? So let your life live this piece, right?

Stephanie, you're awesome. Everybody give Stephanie some love. So fun. John, I gotta go back to the essential oils thing. You're hating on them a lot, but you have a pretty

“funny story about your own experience with them, I think you need to tell the audience. I think we are good.”

Then maybe James, he said, "I got for real. I was clearing brush out of my house in the woods

and so I got them, what I thought was like the healer kind. I got the stuff called a regular oil, and I rubbed it all over myself. Well, I was, like, parts of my arm were falling off.

And my wife came in and I stepped out and I was like, hey, is this, she's always like telling me,

like, you're such a baby, such a whiner. She looked at my arm. She's like, oh, we have to go to ER now. And I was like, it's Christmas Eve, and she goes, we're going to the hospital now. Like parts of my arm were coming off. And when I got to the hospital, it was one of greatest, like, when he said this, I was like, you're my doctor for life. This guy walks in in a rural Tennessee hospital, Christmas Eve, and he goes, hi, I'm, I'm Dr. Brachston. Let me just

get this out of the way. I'm working at a dock in the box ER on Christmas Eve in rural Tennessee. I'm clearly not very good at my job. I was like, you're my mother. I thought he was going to

say you just delivered a goat or something. It was awesome. So no more essential oils for me.

You forgot to put the, you have to put a carrier oil with it. Well, it's like, that's like,

“now we're at Hogwarts. And I believe, do you believe it? Is that right?”

I'm, I, my wife, someone else can't put directly. You have to put it with a, it's too strong. You can't triple stamp a double stamp. All right, listen, raise your hand if you ever get weird, spam, text, or emails. All right, listen, I joke all the time. I hate being online. And here's the truth. I am online. My whole life in career is online. I'm on podcast social media, YouTube, everywhere. And because of that, my personal information is all

over everywhere. And somebody whispering to me. Wow. It was in, it was in our, it was in our inures. I thought you were saying, John, you're doing this terrible. No, that's just a voice in your head. Oh, does anybody have an oil for that? Yeah. We can rub it on his scalp right now. I'll rub it on your scalp. But it'd be great. We're going to have to edit this back. Is that cool? It's okay. Just keep going. Do they know that we're doing an ad? We're doing an ad, John. John has the subtlety of an

animal. Uh, yeah, just start back over. Hopefully the whispering will stop.

“This is a live radio show. So I'm doing an ad. Are we cool?”

Hold on one second. Not good. Good job. If you do want me to read it, I'll tell everybody,

raise your hand. If you ever get weird spam text or emails. Right. Listen, I joke all the time that I hate being online. But that's my whole job. I'm on YouTube, I'm on podcast. I'm all over the internet. I'm everywhere. And because of that, all my personal information pictures of me, my stories about my, everything is also online. But even though you don't host a national show, your information is also all over the internet too. And we all know this in your personal life,

in your professional life, your reputation matters. Think about how many years you've spent building trust, getting momentum, your character in consistency is what people know you buy. And all of a sudden, your entire reputation can go up, just like that, because data brokers are posting your

“data online without your consent. So that's why all three of us use delete me. And we recommend that”

you do it as well. This is, and you think about this, your phone number, home address, old email accounts, all your family's info. It's all out there. And it makes you vulnerable to spam and scams. So this is dangerous stuff. Okay. Delete me goes to hundreds of those data broker sites, removes your stuff. And this is the best part. They keep going back and remove them. So you don't have to worry about it. They take care of you. And you can get right now 20% off an annual plan.

It joins to lead me dot com slash ramsy. That's joined to lead me dot com slash ramsy. And that John is how you do a professional ad read. I'm sorry. I mean, I felt like we were in that commercial where they bring the backup cubion. I was like, Jade, yes, you're in. I was ready. You were in. Oh, John, you're not good at trying. Okay. You did good. Hey, while we're here in Denver, we decided to get out on the streets and talk to people about money. If you had a $1,000

emergency today, just out of nowhere, what would you do? Go to my savings. What do you have in savings? I don't want to tell you that. Honestly, I don't know. I don't know. I'm not too good with my money. What would you call? Uh, probably my family. I would cover it because I've saved. You got the money. It's not even a blip. I've saved enough money where I could easily pay it off. My father is a wonderful human being. And I would probably say, hey, Dad, please help me. I'm crying.

Do you think about things like having an emergency fund at the stage of your life? Not as much as I should. For instance, my car desperately needs new tires and I have to put that off and put that off.

say? I need new tires. Say, well, that's, you know, that's the problem you have, isn't it? They ask you how you are. You just have to say that you're fine and you're not really.

“Right now, if you have a $1,000 emergency to hit you, what do you do?”

I can just pull for my emergency. You've got it in the bank. What do we call that in Ramsey land? Baby, stop number one. You got it. All right. You thought it was a trick question. Hey, by the way, while we're talking about amazing partners, you know, we're very careful at Ramsey on who we endorse Fairwins Credit Union. As you know, they're the title sponsor of our studio in Nashville. We'd love to see you guys come see us. And they're helping us make this tour

happen. So we're really grateful to whatever executive at Fairwins Credit Union made this happen. So we want you to know great, great organization. We trust them. Go check them out. All right. Now, we'll do something fun. I'm ready. Okay. Everybody's been asking us questions and we will continue to do that. But now, John, Jay, this is our turn to flip the script. In other words, we're going to ask you some questions. Okay. We want to hear from you what you think. So,

Jay, I feel like you're the fairest of us all. Ladies first. What you want to know from the audience.

“Hmm. I want to know, should the guy pay for all the dates or is there ever a time to split it?”

Oh. What's say here? If you're dating, this is for my singles. Who's got an opinion? Raise your hand because we want to hear you. Right here. Tell us your opinion. My opinion is that when I ask my boyfriend out or when I ask another person out, I pay and when someone else asked me out, they pay. Now, that being said, I don't assume what happens if they're in a relationship. Like, married? No, dating. You jumped really fast. What is your question? I don't want to

contact from you. What do you think? If they're, well, if they're not dating, would it, what's the first thing she just said if I ask a person out, then I pay. Yeah, they asked me. I'm saying now if you're like dating for a long time or six weeks in, I want it's your question. I'll be honest.

I'm always like the guy pays. Me too. I'm old school, dude pays. But I also,

“crowd is good. That got a good, got a good response. Decent response. If you think that you should”

go, is it Dutch? Is that the term? If you think you should go Dutch, let's hear your applause. Okay. That didn't, that didn't hit right. Very progressive people. Very progressive people are very broke, dude. Okay, yeah, yeah. I want to know about that. I want to know a guy is opinion on this who is, yeah, who feels it in their wallet. Do we have a guy? Who's brave enough to say something? Go against, open the top. I see him. It was a bold

handraise. Okay, we can't, can we get a mic to him? We can. All right, hang on. This is exciting. What is your answer, sir? I say regardless of your financial situation, you asked her out, you pay. Let's go. But if she, what if she makes the plans? What if you're just talking and she's like, "Oh, I'm going to go to dinner. Do you want to come with me?" Is that how that sounds? I don't know. I was offended on behalf of women. I was for your voice.

I've never asked a guy out. I don't know. Is it Tinkerbow?

Doesn't change, still pay. My guy. I got a daughter right next to you. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Now who wait a second, ma'am? You don't just take over the show. That's just, that's his wife. Who are you? I'm his wife. Here's wife. Okay. Please, please tell me you paid once. No, no, but I'm saying is he put it on credit cards that I'm now paying for as his wife. Yikes. This guy thinks he's a knight and shining armor. And his wife says, "Hold my beer."

And she just jasted you off of your steed. No, sir, you're done. You don't get to talk anymore. You got to know when to hold him and no one to fold him, sir. I'm with you, brother. The gesture was right. But you're right. But you shouldn't have put it on credit cards. But you're still right. Look at this guy. Won't let go. You thought you were doing the right thing at the time, I get it.

No, I agree. I get it. We can get it out. Absolutely. It's done. And hey, is that your daughter right next to you? Sweetheart, listen to him. Not the credit part, but

Okay, here's what I want to know. I like this relationship tension. We love it.

What's the last money fight you had? Who wants to share Dr. John's in the house. Right here in this lady, she was like the little kid in elementary school that was like right here down front, right here in the middle. Raise your hand, man. So they could see. Oh, I wish I could see his. Is your husband with you? He looks. He already knows what it is.

Edge of my seat. About two weeks before things giving the oven stopped working. And we had somebody come out who charges $100. And he said, "Stove's fine. I could pick it apart and find something wrong with it, but nothing wrong with it." Okay, I go to make cookies about a week after Christmas. Burn them because I couldn't regulate the temperature. And I said, honey, we need a new stove. And he said,

"No, we don't." And I said, "You use the convection setting." Oh, that's a little blow.

He's so like the golfer who's always blind in the club. So I was so mad at him. I was so mad.

I'm like, "We need a stove." And I was thinking back, like, "Well, me got married." And I was like, "When I was single, I could just go buy a stove." I didn't have to talk to somebody about brain, stove. Like, I could just go buy it. And he's like, "No, we don't need a stove." And I'm like, "Okay, I'm not baking anything. I'm not baking. I'm not baking. I'm not, I'm not heating up a frozen pizza." What was your reply? Hold on, what was your reply to that? We're going to go get a stove tomorrow.

And a boy. I had just gotten a profit sharing check for work. I had cash in the bank. I'm like, "We get spend the money on the way to the hardest through the stomach." Then he went and baked something. He was okay, the stove just worked. But we got the stove, so. He got baked cash, baked cash. President, stay week, and they had a great sale at home. So you guys waited? This saga started in Thanksgiving and you waited to February.

He wouldn't let me buy a stove. Well, to be fair, you can always go buy cookies at the grocery,

“but they're not the same. I get it. Well, this feels like a pretty mild fight, Dr. John. What do you see there?”

I think what you did, actually, ma'am, is like, if I could get every couple on the planet to do it, you did, it is here's what the story I'm making up. I need a new stove and you won't let me have it. Here's how I feel about this thing. And then most importantly, here's what I'm going to do, because I can only control me. So I am not cooking anymore. And you let it go. And then you got your stove. So well played. Well played. Well played. Absolutely.

All right, any other quick questions? We got time for one more. Was it dumb as thing you've ever done with money? Yes, let's go. Somebody raise your hand. Right over here. This gentleman, we got time for just one. This gentleman in the hat. It better be super dumb. Went to Las Vegas for a car drag racing show. I like how this is starting out. I came back with a 2012 Camaro SS. Had no intention to buy it. How much? 20 grand. Gone now. Don't have it anymore, soldier.

Were you with her at the time? No, no, no, no. Because even you mentioning you bought a Camaro she went on. She had her hand on her head. She's embarrassed. No more. Miss the car, but glad I don't have the

“payment anymore. All right, I think what James did the fearless leader saying we have time for one more.”

We have another dumb thing with money. Come on. And then room this size. There it is. Is that cleaning? Okay. I see that hand. It's another dude with a hat. This could be exciting. Another Las Vegas story. There's a theme. We went to Las Vegas win.

And what was your daughter's second? Who are you checking with there? My wife.

Oh, was she on this trip? Yeah. All right, so what happened? By the time sure. We did get rid of it. After we started following Dave Bramsey, but we got it. Amped it off. We were just paying the maintenance. Well, I have something for you all. You get the stupid tax award. I'm just going to come on down. I actually think I could throw this. Get right there on the, I'm going to show my skills. Okay, you ready? Can you catch? Oh, boy. I'm a little nervous.

Here we go. Look at that throw. Oh, he got it. Hey, that's it. What they did going to Vegas and by the time sure, that's, that's dumb. I, I, I tell you a story I heard recently. This is the dumbest thing I've heard somebody do with money. A guy took out his girlfriend and paid for every

“date with a credit card and then he married her and made her pay it all back. How cool is that?”

Well, I tell you, which that guy was here? That would be awesome. We would roast him. Oh, man. That's really good. Okay. We are ready. Our next question is David. Everybody give David a hand. Thank you, David. David, where are you from? A little town of Fairplay. Okay. Very nice. Who do you have with you there? I have my teenage son, Halton, and a few weeks ago on the show, Dr. Deloni said, make sure to embarrass your children as much as possible on behalf of all therapists in the country

for future business. So I drugged my son with me here. So, and he looks a little angry.

Thank you very much, sir. All right. What's your question? So, we've been on the baby steps

about a year and as a single father working three jobs and nonstop, you become your losing motivation after a while. It starts to look daunting. So my question today is, as I look at this and I try to stay motivated, I've got a pickup sitting in the yard that I've planned to be my 20-year

“pickup. It's paid off. Should I part with that and try to rush the process a little further?”

Or should I just continue nose to the grindstone and get this done in a hopefully another year? How much you have left to pay off? 32,000. How long have you been tripping away at this a year? How long have you been a single dad? Eight. Eight years? How much does it truck? What would it get you? Well, I put it up for sale and got no offers, but it's the Kelly blue book says should be about 32,000. Yeah. Oh, wow. So it's worth the amount that you have left.

But it's six years old and even though there's not many miles on it, I can't seem to find a buyer, but I'll continue. Do you think it's overpriced? Do you think you're charging more than somebody would pay? I'm just going by Kelly blue book. I don't know. But I don't know if I want to part with it because I was hoping with the low miles it'll be there forever. That's the part I'd run to play out. I'd want to play out. What's your fear around that?

Selling it and then what? Just to have Nav at Junker have some kind, you know, when I've got something that hopefully will last longer than the year that I'm still stuck. How much longer do you

“have to go? Yeah. I really think I can be done in a year. Oh, I keep the truck home. Keep the truck.”

Yeah. That's something to hang on. Like that's the finish line. How great would it be to only work one job and drive that truck around? No one has no debt on it. Look at that. That's awesome, but when you hit that point in the year in, you're like, can I continue doing three jobs for how many hours you're working? I lost track. Yeah. Silver 80, usually. What's your son's name? Halton. Hey, Halton. This right here, brother, is what a man looks like. Okay.

Let's say to be, brother, no debt is perfect. I know he's not perfect, but this is what you do. When you got kids and you're trying to grind it up by yourself, you work three jobs and you are so tired, you can't even see straight. And this isn't not by your hand, but it's in your lap. You've been able to pick up some extra stuff around the house. You able to help out. Hey, Dad. I want to make dinner once a week. Your brother's just to help out a little bit

to take some of this from him. I want to tell you, this is awesome. And brother, this is how legacy's changed. You got one more year left and this thing's over for effort. Okay. Don't quit now. You're so, you're crushing. Okay. Okay. I'm bringing this back to Jake because

I feel like we're on the rails. You show now because I'm always sell the car and you know this.

And you're always like a little more thoughtful about this, but I'm also going to throw something out to both of you. So we're going to talk about you while you're seeing it. Okay. It's going to be great. I wonder if for just a short season. He backs it down to two jobs. It's going to push his payoff date back a little bit and not a lot. But just enough to get a little bit of breath. It's kind of like when I train for that half marathon that you love to do. It's that it's that

little, it's that little two minute break goes a long way. It does go a long way. And I'm not saying

“you should do it. I'm just looking out for a good job in just 18 months instead of for a season.”

Yeah. For a season. I got to tell you. What are you thinking? I like that idea. I, there's not a whole lot of sentimental value in the truck. I think all for sell the truck too. I think I'd let it go. Now mathematically he can keep it. But if I were in your shoes,

I'd cut it loose. I think so. Okay. So I'm actually with Jake because but I'm always scared to

stand. She's so scary and so tight. No, I'm kidding. It's what we love about her. I know. She's amazing. I think your problem is you're trying to sell it in fair play. It's a tough economy right now. And $32,000 for anything is tough. So I think you got to expand your pool. And I'd find some friends in a larger area, listed on Facebook, marketplace, all the places. But I think if you get that truck in, in a larger pool, you can sell it. And boy, I, I think that'd be great. You're home

free, man. You're spending time with a kid more importantly, you're smelling life and just enjoying life. I would sell the truck, but I think it'd go, you got to put it out somewhere else. So I say sell the truck too. What are you putting towards, if you don't mind, you don't have to say this. But what's your, what's the amount of margin you're throwing extra at the debt every month? So that varies because my side hustle's very. So sometimes it's 800 bucks, sometimes it's 3000 or 4000. Yeah,

I think if you're in that three and $4,000 range, you're going to save up for something so fast that you really want after this is all set and done. I think I drive a piece of crap for just the

That's the question. Well, I want to know what the audience thinks. If you would rather drive a piece of crap, let me hear from you. All right. So what I would do, and by the way, I want you to know,

I'm not just saying this, my wife, Stacey, if she were here tonight. When I took her on my first date,

I was driving a 1982 Mazda 626 with 274,000 miles on it. And the cool thing about it was it was New Year's Eve. It was really cold. I went to pick her up and I could take the key out of the

“ignition and let it keep running. That's how big of a piece of crap it was and it actually was”

due to brown. It was a turd on wheels. And it was for a season. And I'm just saying nobody cares in fair play. Nobody. And if you're embarrassed by it, park around the block. They don't know. Oh, I didn't bad embarrassment. It's best functional. That's all. Well, I figure you know a bunch of guys in fair play that can keep some piece of crap going for a while. Right? Maybe. Yeah, you do. All right. Hey, this is a great. Oh, I got one thing for him. This is great. I love giving out

awards. You guys, okay, if I do it. Yeah, I do it. This is a single dad. Three jobs, 80 hours a week. Oh, yeah. The last container of uncooked rice and beans served. This is true. Come on down.

This is a meal. I mean, that's what you eat in the piece of crap on the way to the third job.

Give him some love, everybody. This is a great dude. All right. Okay. So our next question. This is fun. It's brought to you by Y ReFi. How many of you've heard us talk about Y ReFi? Have you heard about? Yeah, it's great. If your private student loans are into fault and you're not sure what to do, Y ReFi can help you explore refinancing with a low fixed rate and a payment plan based on what you can actually afford. Go to YreFi.com/Ramsy that's YREFI.com/Ramsy. It may not be available in all states.

Jade, tell everybody who's up next. Who we waiting on down here? All right. Up next, we got Lauren, see on the mic. Lauren, ladies and gentlemen, give her some love. Lauren, where are you from? I'm from Salt Lake City as well. Oh, wow. Do you know the other person from Salt Lake City?

“I do not. That's great. Do you sell essential oils? I do not. Do you use essential oils?”

I do not. You can stay. What's your question, Lauren? So about six months ago, I had my first disagreement about money with my boyfriend, particularly about debt and it didn't go very well. Tell us what that means. It was about a car release and I have been listening to you guys for a while, so I was really excited. I was like, no, no way, no chance. Like, let's save up, pay cash, and I think I came, I know I came on a little strong. He felt a little shut down. And so since then, our conversations

have been a lot more surface level than I'd like them to be. We're both in this. We want to further our relationship and we know that that means having deeper money conversations, but it just feels pretty daunting. So I'm just curious if you have any advice on how to navigate having those deeper money conversations after a bad first impression. I hear from you that you're taking ownership of melting this poor boy just because you want to lease a car. Is that fair? Yes. Okay. So the path

forward is, I want to take you to breakfast. And I say this all the time. Here's why I like breakfast. The sun is out. It's in the morning. Nobody's like over. It's going to pay for sure he's paying. Maybe you'll get lucky and he'll put on a credit card and you can pay it off later. I'm going to kick this thing till it's just. So all right, um, and use I words. I want to tell you, I totally like came on too strong. I have a real big like thing about debt and I just melted

you and I'm sorry. And here's the magic. I learned this from my friend Jefferson Fisher. Can I do this one over? Can I try this again? And if you all can get that in your relationship now, when you're married 10 years from now, everybody says things off the top of their head. They get mad. They get frustrated. Being able to stop and say, I said that wrong. Can I say that over again? And the person that you're with hasn't of grace to say, go for it. Man, you'll, you'll,

that will cut off so many of your arguments, future resentments and fights and whatever. But you go first,

“say, I mess this up. Let me tell you, debt leasing. Here's the thing it does in my chest.”

Here's what debt means to me. Here's my story growing up. Here's why I believe in this stuff.

Tell me your story about money. Like Ken said, ask questions. Be it invite. Be curious. Not judgmental.

you're going to get to the heart of these values issues, right? Curiosity over judgment every time.

Unless he tries to lease a car and then you just. You know, it's interesting. We get these calls nonstop on the show, right? Getting on the same page. And it's just a constant theme. And I'm going to tell you something that's back to the same conversation that we've been having. But I think we got to emphasize it, right? It's like they're not going to jump on board with you. Until they know they want to be with you long-term. Let's just start there.

If you're dating a point, right? Like, let's just see if we're compatible on everything else.

“Now, money is massively important. I would never compromise your principles on that, right?”

On what you believe. But it's a little early. And we're not saying that to judge you. But like, let's just ease into it. How long have you all been together? About a year and a half. Is he already looking at rings? Yes. Oh, that's a little bit more advanced. Yeah. Is he here tonight? No, he's not. Oh, that was going to be rich. I was going to get him on the mic, John. I like this conversation because it opens up the

greater conversation of his philosophy on debt in general. And I might try that. John, you can correct me if I'm wrong. But I might back the conversation out instead of focusing on this one thing and just talk financial philosophy in general. What are your views on? And if I were you to Ken's point, I would don't share your views yet. Look, seek to learn about him, ask him a bunch of questions and just listen because I find, and I know you make fun of me when I say this.

But when the love goggles are on, and one person says something, other person, oh, yeah, I agree. I feel that way too, right? Just let him talk and really get a sense of who he is and what he thinks.

“And then you can take that information and marinate on that for as long as you need to then come”

back and say, okay, when when we spoke about this earlier, now you're repeating back a bunch of things that he said, he knows that you were listening. And now you can really attack it from having chewed on at a little while versus kind of going to protect in the moment. But he's not going to be open and vulnerable unless you come and say, hey, I, I, I, I blew this like I attacked you and I came after you, I went full day of Ramsey on you and that wasn't super cool, right? And throw us under the bus.

Yeah, yeah. You know, like I listen to this and it really speaks to me and understand this, Rachel wrote a great book. And I talked about it on the show all the time because I think it's so vital in relationships. Know yourself, know your money. And so one of the greatest things you guys can do right now. And I love Jay's advice to kind of step back. This is where again, you just want to know what was money like in his house growing up. He's bringing that to the marriage.

By the way, he's going to bring in what his, what his mom did. He's going to expect you to do that.

We all do this, by the way. First year of marriage is brutal. Nobody tells you about it because

“you got two unique individuals bringing their environment with them. I'll never forget. It was like”

our first week back from our honeymoon, we're in our nice little apartment. And I got home for more about six, I think. I changed clothes, turned on the news was nerd now fully expecting Stacey was making dinner. About six, 45, I'm a little hungry. And I'm looking, we're at a two-bedroom apartment. Where could she be? She's in the bedroom, what I call "fotsin' around," organized and doing all kinds of stuff. And I go, so what's for dinner tonight? She goes,

I don't know. I haven't even thought about it. I was like, I had to go sit in a living room and go, what if I'd done? Because in my house, Barb had dinner on the table. And can see in your just showed up like he was an old king. You know what I mean? And he's a caveman, God love him. But that's what I was expecting. Am I right? I mean, so what? Bring in this in on money and everything else. So early on before this relationship gets serious. Let's just see what he thinks about

money in general. And hopefully after enough questions, if he's a healthy guy, he'll start asking you what you think. Can I ask you a more question? Oh good. Are there other things you run over him on? I'm going to bring those to the table too. You don't have to share them in front of the internet. I just get really excited. I've learned so much from you all and I just want to

bring that here. And he's always so ready for the next step in our relationship. And I just want to say,

well, I just want this, this reassurance. So let's talk about this thing. So that's probably why he loves you because you're passionate and you're excited and you're driven. That's awesome. And it's telling him when I'm about to melt you with my excitement and passion or whatever. Sometimes that excitement can turn into judgment. It can turn into beating you up over stuff. Let's come up with a way that you can say what's pause, right? Let's back out for a second.

Yeah. And man, handle this stuff now. It's going to be awesome. Lawrence, see everybody. Give her some love. That was great. Thank you. Thank you so much. Up next, we're going to go to Macy. Macy, come on down. Oh, there she is. Macy, how are you?

Oh, I'm from just north of Seattle and Michael T.O. But I go to college about two minutes away

from here. Oh, well, thank you for making the trek. Yeah. So, I did drive. I didn't walk. So, I'm sorry. No judgment. So, I am a college student, like I said, and I work about 50 hours a week. I'm paying for college in cash and my parents are helping me some, but they're the money that they had to help me recently ran out. So, I'm just working on feeling like I'm burnt out. And yeah, I recently stepped back from working on Saturdays for a little Sabbath situation. But then I

feel a little guilty for not working during that time. So, I'm just wondering, yeah, oh, also feeling left out from like the college experience and life. Yeah. Yeah. I want to recognize this young lady. She is absolutely crushing it. So, I'm letting them jump in here, but I just want

“to ask, when you took that Saturday that Sabbath, which I think is so wise or such a young lady,”

amazing. How much does that? If you were to do that a couple times a month, I'm just throwing that

out there, not suggesting it. How would that put you behind the eight ball financially, with it, put you in a bad spot, like you're running that tight? No, it wouldn't, but I just still feel like I either need to be working on homework or actually working so. Okay, let me challenge you, okay. I learned this from my friend. She's a psychologist in New York. Her name is Dr. Becky Kennedy. She works with kids. She's amazing. She taught me this recently. Is it a violation of your core

values to rest? No. Do you think people are wrong when they rest? No. Okay. Gilt is a good natural emotion that our body feels when we violate our own values. I don't think what you're feeling is

“guilt. I think you're managing somebody else's stories and expectations that they've put on”

you your whole stinking life and you're trying to make them okay and you're paying the price for it because you're burning out. Whose story are you carrying every Saturday morning just because you slept until eight o'clock? I feel like I just don't want to disappoint my parents. Yeah. Okay. Taking a break is good. Okay. Co-dependence needing them to be okay so that you can be okay, we'll burn you alive. Okay. So, feel that on Saturday mornings and say, that's not mind to carry.

I'm going to go do something fun. I'm going to go to the game. I'm going to go hang out with my friends. I mean college and I'm working my blood. I'm working so hard and rest is good, right? Sabbath is good. Restoration is good and here I say we applaud you. It's awesome. Yeah and I want to add that friends are huge. Friends are huge on long journeys. Do you have a couple of girlfriends that you're thinking of right now that they know what you're doing? They know your schedule and

they're exploring you. They're cheering for you. I mean just picture one Saturday with them and just being a young kid and enjoying life. You know, friends, people that are for you will be like a

“jolt to your system. So, I agree with John, I think you have to plan this, no guilt, no shame.”

I mean look at you. You have the disposition of the sun. I mean you really doesn't she? Yes, what greater are you aiming? I am a sophomore in college, so I'm 20. Okay, can I tell you this? I'll get choked up so I don't mean to. I won't make eye contact. With him, my pot-look freshman in college roommate who is now my smart restaurant pro who handles my family's future is right there. Our, my, a friend, a great friend, Kristen is sitting right next

to him. Right next to Craig is his amazing wife Melissa. I met them in college, you're age into this

day. They're still right or die with me. Okay. Don't miss this opportunity to make friends that will show up when your things are low, when things are good, or when you win the YouTube lottery, and you show up in their town, and they come right. Don't miss this opportunity. What can just said, man, friendships and relationships are everything. Cool? Yeah. Take a Saturday. Thank you, you son. Nice to see you're awesome. Thank you. All right. Up next, oh boy, you know what this is,

we got a couple. Gail and Eric, everybody give them some love as they come to the mic. Do I need to get my wig out again? Is this a settle the debate? It's done.

who's gonna ask the coach be up close to the mic so we can hear you? All right. How do couples continue to stay aligned over time when one spouse is more financially anxious than the other? The anxiety served us really well when we were working to build a nest egg, save money for a kid's college education, but now that we're starting to approach like retirement and thinking about spending money, it's really hard to picture, spending any of the money for retirement.

So what baby step are you on? So like, like, probably like seven. Like seven. Wait a second. Wait a minute. If you know the crowd, you're wearing the show. There's no problem, please. Yeah, so we could pay off the market if we wanted. Okay, so how much, so what are you comfortable sharing? What's your nest egg situation?

So we we own a essential oil business. Get out wizards. There we go. I love you man. That's good.

“That's what I played. So we we've been following Dave from like the really early days with like the 15”

percent. So five million. Okay. And so which one of you, not that I have to ask, but this is for the show. Which one of you is the anxious one with money? The one with the the question. Well, I knew on the piece of paper. But believe me, I knew you had to get that question exactly right. You did a good job. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. So let's dive into this thing. What is it that you want to do Eric that she doesn't want to do now that we've been

gazell intense and we're supposed to be intentional because we've been living like no one else so that we can. And Gail is like, I'm not ready. We're not I'm not ready. I know you aren't. Yeah, Gail worries enough for the three of us. Yeah. Yeah. That's funny. So what do you what do you want to do? Let's let's I want her to hear what you to share. You guys have talked about this. What does it look like now that you want to do

and she's like, no, we're not spending a nickel on this. Yeah, I mean, it's probably just being a little bit more extra having it with some of the money. Uh, well, it's the last thing you only have five

“million dollars. Yeah. And we want to hear specifics. I think he's scared. If I could get it. Yeah.”

If you're scared, can you blink twice? He's scared. He just did a job. He's terrified. Gail. I'm very sorry. Yeah. Paul's. Yeah. Paul's as well. Gail, what's what's your what's your core fear? That we've run out of. Okay. Take me to take me to the table when he pulls up the laptop. It says honey, we're we're out. We're out. Take me to that table. What's that fear? That we're out of money. That's the top. Get beneath that. What is that fear?

Uh, that like we would be broke. And then we'd be like, uh, like a burden on our future. You have a picture in your mind. You got, yes. You're a burden on your children. Yes.

Tell me about that. I would never want to be a burden on our children. We've worked so hard.

How would you be a burden on them? We've worked so hard. No, no, no, how would you be a burden on them? By not having any money. And then what?

“And then failing. Yes. Where have you seen that story in your life?”

Um, I guess like my like my. Yep. Yeah. Like I kind of think like to say it. We know. Go ahead. Like like my like my like my like my parents did great. And they saved like so much money and worked so hard to like make sure that they wouldn't be a burden. So I feel like I have to do the same. So you picked up all of their fear. When you thought this is how I'm supposed to act. Uh, that makes a lot of sense. Yes. I want to know. And then for a long for the ride.

I'd love to know what actions need to take. I'd want you to play it out in order,

which actions have to take place that you would blow through five million dollars.

The lead pizza ovens going to take us out. And truly, like I would love for you to write those things out. Okay. And look at them logically and go are these rational or irrational. Okay. I would love for you to do that because the truth. I mean, we're laughing at it, but pizza ovens not going to take you out. And in 20 pizza ovens are not going to take you out. Two homes in Estus Park and you'll still have $2 million left.

Hey, Eric, what do you do for living in how much do you make? Uh, some federal government. I said a humble civil servant. I should say. Do you both work? Yes. Combined income. 600. Stop it. Okay. No. No. No. No. I mean, okay. We're going to get real for a second. All right. Eric, I'm putting you on the spot.

I'm a serious as a heart attack. I want you to look at her and not us. And I want you to tell her something that you really want to do that's going to cost some money.

Corvette, definitely. No, no. Say the mic. Say it the mic. Go ahead. Corvette. A Corvette. And how much would said Corvette said you back? Because don't tell me you don't know. You look at it when she's not living. So it's the new one coming out. Yeah, what's that going to cost? Yeah. Well, budget 140. How about that? 140. Look at Gail right now. She's breaking out and hives. Meanwhile, meanwhile, you have this. I know you have cash aside from the

from the 5 million. How much is just sitting in cash? Like 200 for a emergency. Okay.

A Corvette emergency? No, not that. No. She ain't. No, I'm not. She ain't. No, I'm not. She ain't. She ain't. I know. No, what do you blinks twice to here? Listen, if you were to go, have you ever seen somebody freeze-eyed? No, no, I like myself the way I am. Wow, you know what? I actually believe you. Yeah, yeah.

“So people say that and I go, yeah, that's not real. Here's what we tried. Here's the thing.”

It's they they call it exposure. Okay. The path to stop this nuclear reactor in the middle of your chest. Okay, is you have to practice. You have to go right through the middle of it. And so what that means is you have to look at data and see 140,000 dollars we can write a check. And literally we would not feel it. We wouldn't feel it. Nothing in our life would change at all except my husband would get these really goofy sunglasses and cruise around town in his new

car. And I'd probably look pretty cool sitting next to him in it, right? That is the only thing that would change in your life. And I want you to feel that feeling. And then go do the next thing.

Right? Because here's what you're doing. You're you're there will never be enough for you to

quote unquote feel safe until you go right through the middle of the word what's enough.

“Because you're going to get 10 million and then you're going to be like, well, I don't know.”

Let's get right. It will that finish. I will never move and you're going to be 85 years old and you're going to have a big retirement account and you're going to have a really terrified husband sitting in a rocking chair on the other side of your porch, right? He's so repressed that when I asked him to share something, he went to the top of the list and said $140,000 car. Let's do a $25,000 vacation. Can we do that? And you spent a lot of the time, ma'am, in the spa.

All right. Hey, I got something for you. You're the ultimate nerd. Here's some nerd. Oh, I'm dropping my pack. Oh, boy. I got you. I got you. Come on out and get your nerd glasses. There you go. You've been a good sport. There you go. There you go. Oh, boy. Thank you, Jade. All right. Who we have next? We have Christina up next. Let's get Christina down to the mic. Everybody give Christina a hand. There she is.

So I have to defend his honor. Who's? Oh, it's the wife. It's the credit card guy. Figures he would send you to fight his battles plan. He's filming. No, listen to this. This man. So when I met him, he had a lot of credit card debt. He did one of my every meal for me, which is noble. When I told him, hey, we should do the Dave Ramsey plan type of thing. I really say it in that way. I kind of was like, hey, we should do this. And he was like, okay.

And then he started listening to Dave Ramsey and he's like, we should do this. I was like, yeah. So he stopped all of his credit cards. He turned his spending completely around. We have paid off probably over a hundred thousand dollars since we get married three years ago now. We have fostered or children. And we have had two more babies. Oh, wow.

And he works his butt off. What's his name? His name is Mason. Mason. He's amazing. I just needed to,

oh, by the way, this is my daughter also from another marriage, but he asked her permission to marry

“me. So if you want to know why, I married as a Mason. Mason. You get to hardcore Rockstar award.”

There he is. He's been a great sport. He is. So fun. You're an awesome lady. Thanks for sharing that. I love it. You married well, brother. Mason, you're a good sport. This is what happens when you speak up at a live event. You know, let this be a lesson to you. There it is that you rock award. Is that what that is, John? Yes. Yes. Okay. Let's go. There's a couple of, uh, in our culture, dude, men get kind of kicked a lot. And there's, yeah,

some several pretty, I mean, there's some pretty lame ones I can see him, but there's some amazing

kind of words. Yeah. You good. Oh, you weren't talking about me? No. Okay. John, you're up next.

All right. Everybody, uh, raise your hand in this room if somebody depends on your income. Kids, spouse, aging parents, somebody. All right. If you have people in your life who depend on you, you need term life insurance. And here's where people get confused. Insurance is not a baby step. You don't get to insurance. Like it's a milestone. You put it in place so your family is protected while you're working the baby steps and beyond. Yeah. That's right. And getting term life

insurance is so easy. If something happens to you, it's going to replace your income so that your family can keep going. They don't have to worry about losing the house. They don't have to worry about losing the income. Everybody's taking care of. And you can have peace about it. It's not an

investment. Remember, it's not a wealth-building tool. It's simply protection. We would recommend

you get 10 to 12 times your income. It's very affordable. It's straightforward. And it does really exactly what it's supposed to do and nothing more, nothing less. We recommend Jeff Zander and their team. We've been recommending them for over 30 years. They're an independent broker. What does that mean? That means they work for you, not for the insurance companies. They shop top companies to find just the right policy, adjust the right price, no gimmicks, no upselling. I was using

Zander before I started working at Ramsey because I trust them. Just the right coverage for you. Bottom line, life insurance is not a baby step. It's part of your financial foundation. If someone depends on your income, you need term life insurance. Term life insurance is the way to say, I love you. When you can no longer say, I love you yourself. Go to zanderwithazee. That's zander.com for instant online quotes. All right, fantastic. Ladies and gentlemen, John Deloni, Jay

Warson. I would love for you to share the dumbest thing you've ever done with money. I don't know. There's a lot of dumb things. I want a good one. I want a good one. I'm gambling. I suppose.

“I'll tell me about this. Just, you know, casinos. I do a lot of dumb things with money. Really?”

Is this a daily thing? I like to spend out of my means. A lot of online shopping. I'm one of the people that if I see an ad on Instagram for anything cute, I'm just going to add to car buy immediately. Recently, it's sent to follow my children $2,000 for a car and he did not get. Uh-oh. We'll keep it g rated and just credit card debt. I spend $600 on hot wheels one time. Honestly, move here. It's kind of expensive. But, you know, I'm getting myself back up. I'm getting myself back up.

I'll give my belly button tattooed. Wow, that feels painful. Can we take a look at that? Yeah, that's okay. Wow, look at that. How long does that take? It's like about, I think, two and a half, three hours. Wow, how much did that cost? Three and a half or more bucks. You think it would be dumb for me to spend any amount of money on a tattoo? No. Look at me. You think I could pull a tattoo off? Absolutely, man.

So up next, we have Aaron, but before we get to Aaron, I want to remind everybody this whole night, brought to you by our friends at FairWins, Credit Union. Thank you so much to FairWins. Well, alright, let's go to Aaron. Is this you, Aaron? Hi, how are you? Hi. Where are you from? I'm originally from Chicago, but I've lived in Denver since 2001. Okay, what's your question? Well, I have been following the Ramsey program for about a year and a half. I'm on baby steps six.

And I noticed you guys do a lot of events for like couples, like love and marriage and things like that. And I was wondering, as a financially responsible single person, if you're ever going to do singles events. Oh, boy, John, that's like your Super Bowl event, isn't it? What do you think about that?

“I think we might have done it tonight. I know. We started, didn't we?”

She wants to finish that. Oh, who is CD-Aber ion? I did not. I only saw a back of heads. Listen, before this thing started, we got to talk to a select group of this audience. There's a single guy in here. He started his own business and his mom is here. Now he's with a woman, but they're not together. Oh. They made it very clear they're just co-workers. He might be right here on the front row.

I would like to interview his mother first. Well, you just made that real weird. Yeah.

I do think this is fun. I will tell you if there is a single guy in this audience that would like to meet Aaron. Now is your moment. Do we have a brave soul? I won't linger. Aaron just relax. I got this. Like some romantic music. Well, you know, I might break out of some very wide if somebody makes a move.

“Anybody going once twice? Wait a second. I see movement over here. What is happening?”

They're pointing. This guy, he does not look receptive.

Isn't that? You know, you're pointing too. No, the guy with the truck.

“He has an awesome head off truck. But he lives in fair play. Oh, the single dad. Okay. I didn't see you there.”

It's dark. Oh, boy. This would make my career if we pulled this off. All right. Any single guy that wants to meet Aaron and

if she's willing to go on a date with you, Ramsey Solutions will pay for the first date.

You just got to tell our team. We'll pick somewhere nice. That's the best I can do. And they're paying because we're paying, you know what I'm saying? I love that. We'll give him an envelope. Just to see if they're in the real deal. You know what I mean? The guy's got to break it out. Get his 20s. Oh, gosh. That brings up another question. Oh, go. You go on a date in the guy bus out. Coupons. Yes. Is this good or is this bad? This is fine. This is fine for you.

Oh, that is instantaneous biophilia. We go on. We're happy to see you later, Felicia. This help Dave says it over here. See you later, Felicia. This is what when I make fun of Dave. This is what he says. Hold on, me. So I get this. Shut up, can't. Okay, Aaron. I don't know. It's not a part of John's master plan. It does. No, we won't. We probably put up on your list. We'll put on list. I'm afraid of singles events because

it's a mixture of very awesome people and that's life. No. I least everybody follow Ramsey if you guys do the effect. If it's, you know, I just realized something for decades, three plus decades, Dave has said, be like weird people. And if you get a bunch of weird people, it's like a dog West. We need to say him to the singles crews. Oh, Lord have mercy. I'm not going on that one. Now you're talking.

I'm not going on that one. Are you going to anchor that one? Zero chance. George Camel will, though. Oh, that's fun. You're a great sport. Everybody give Aaron some love. Thank you. All right. I do want to ask James Shaw's a question really quick. What if we did a singles

“hour on the show? And we only took calls from singles about money and dating. What do you think?”

Do we ever get enough? I think it has to be video calls to make it real quick. And we would post

their cell number on YouTube in the lower third. James, I'm going to bring to that.

I think if anyone's going to create like a like a Ramsey dating app, I think it would be your brand John so I think we need to figure this out. I think it's a whiteport session. I think we need to figure it out. We are in that at least. We do. It would need the app would have to have a place where you could like put your credit report in so we could see if you were debt free or not. I think that's a great tool. It would filter it. All these dating apps filter for height and how much money

do you make? We just want to know if you don't need money. You don't know photos. No, no, no. Just tell me stuff. No. I think you got to see if they match on baby steps and values and then we show them the photos. That makes it interesting. It's probably a horrible idea, but I'm just

“fresh. I'm ideating right now. It's off the cuff. All right. We'll move on. Where is Nelson?”

Is there? We're going to give Nelson some love. Nelson. Where are you from, sir? Greeley Colorado. Get close to that mic. Oh, like Greeley's in the house of these family members? No, no, no, no. Okay, great. Oh, no. Are you single? No. No. My girlfriend's area. Oh, that's awkward. Okay. That's great. How long have you been in the Ramsey gang? I'm not going to lie. I just found you guys to be honest. And it's through my girlfriend.

Where is your girlfriend? Right here. Right. She was the purpose of the young lady that said she should pay. Did you ask him out? Yeah, she did. And did she pay? Huh, no. No. Eyes. Okay. Oh, yeah. So she paid because she's the one that asked me out. So I feel like you changed your answer there, front of all of us. Maybe. Have you ever

done? Have you ever run for office or anything like that? You'd be great. You would be amazing.

Yeah, to be great. Anyway, what's your question? About a year ago, I was actually in an accident. A car accident, a guy on math rear ended me. Oh, no. That's okay, man. Yeah, send me to the hospital and everything. But because of that. Yeah, I didn't know what I was going to do with my life at that point. Things kind of changed. I was in flight school through my community college and because of the concussion and everything like that. Unfortunately, I couldn't continue.

Oh, man. So sorry about that. No. And it's one of those things to where she helped me through like to change my life or help me change my life. And so while I was home, she kind of got me with you guys. And my question really is, I'm getting a large settlement

what to do like the first steps on with this large chunk of money that I've never had this much

money before. What should I do with it or how should I invest it? Do you feel comfortable saying the chunk of money? Yeah. So right now, my bank account is sitting at around $60,000. Okay. And that's the only chunk will there be more in disbursements or that's a total right there. Okay. Where are you in the baby steps are you familiar? Not too much you show me, but not really. Okay, great. She says for

“no debt. Yeah. So because of the accident, the first round of settlement she convinced me you should”

just pay off all your debt. You're going to zero everything out. You'll have no money in your bank account, but you'll have no debt at all. And how much was that that you paid off? It's about 35, 40,000. Okay. So you paid that off. We're able to set some money aside for baby step three like an emergency fund. Yes. Okay. So this money essentially, it's not your mark for anything, you've started investing 15%. Also, yeah. I'm trying to figure out exactly like to be on a

what to do with it. Are you able to work now? Yes. Okay. Are you going to have lingering recurring health issues that this money is going to be. You're going to need it down the road. The VA has been able to help me with it. Okay. So what's the living situation are you renting or you thinking

of buying? That's what I'm looking at with this money first off. We're currently just renting.

She actually is, well, I don't want to steal her thunder or anything like that, but we both been kind of slowly putting our finances together. Okay. I'd probably keep this money in a high yield for a while. It sounds like the next thing on your list is probably going to be a residence of your own. Okay. And you're going to want to down payment for that. I'm guessing 60 is a great place to start. I don't know what real estate's going for around here average price,

but my guess is it's pretty pretty. A lot of chuckles from the yellow infection. My guess is it's

“rather high. A little steep. A little steep. Exactly. That's what I'd be thinking of. And I'm guessing”

it's shorter than a five year horizon. Yes. Yeah. So yeah, I keep it there. The hard part is going to be you were given a windfall. And that's what caused you to pay off your debt. And for most of us, maybe not most of us, for a lot of us, the way we pay off our debt is we go, oh, the way I was living wasn't working for me. It wasn't sustainable. I have to change my ways. And then we put in a bunch of effort to change that. For you, you're going to have to make sure that you have had

that aha moment. Otherwise, the $60,000 is going to get pittled away on the same things that the original $30,000. Do you see what I'm saying? Yeah. So that's going to be your personal home work that you're going to have to work through. Okay. But I think you've got it. One thing I heard, John, I heard you guys are slowly combining finances, but you're not married. Now, so we've been dating since 2022. Oh, just don't not married. Wrap it up. I know. Take four to eight thousand dollars.

“Look, she just looked at him. Yeah. She's like, I've been telling him. So eight, here's the thing.”

None of us would have a job if everyone's plans worked out. You're up here because you were sitting at a stoplight and somebody changed your life like this. Right. And so I'm going to strongly recommend you all been together for a long time. She's a pretty amazing woman. She's walked with you emotionally, physically, like, spares like she's with you. Right. Right, right, right or die. Yeah. Okay. Hey, what are you waiting for, man? And be, um, yet even though I would not combine

finances until you are officially married. I wouldn't buy a house together unless you're married.

Because here's the thing, I know it. Y'all, it would never happen to us. The number of calls we've

taken over the years of we were engaged for four years. We were together for a long and then something happened and we broke up and we don't have the legal protection to untangle everything. And so I wouldn't combine your money. I'd keep your money separate from hers until you're married. And when you the day you get married, you get one checking account. Everything goes in one. We're not going to slowly combine. Dude, we're getting married. We're going to put this thing in here and then we're

going to do writer die till death to his part. Okay. All right, is that cool? That's awesome. One thing, if it's okay with you guys, uh, can I get her up here real quick? Come on. It's not like that. Please tell me. Oh, my heart. My heart. But what's the matter with you? I know it's out. Dude, that is not a cool head thing. Oh man, less or hard. I thought it was about to happen too. I was going to sing. I was getting my very white voice. Yeah. Okay, Nelson, what's happening right now?

really big to her. She's been going through a very, like, when, like you said, like this, all this money and everything came in my lap. I was able to pay off that for her. She's been fighting. She's

“been fighting and paying off debt slowly. So, she applied to, to try to do, um, uh, you have to stay free”

scream on your show. And, um, yeah, I just want to give for that opportunity. If that's okay. What say you can? Well, Nelson, you put me in a tough spot, buddy. I'll try to defy scream for a will you marry me. Wow. Dad, do that James. I'll just pay things real weird. Nelson, have you ever won? Did you just say I'll take that? Did you take that? Wait a second. Yeah. I'll take that. Okay. Get down on one knee. Wait, like Katie, get up there. Wait a minute.

I gotta get my phone out. Can I take it? Yeah. Can we get my phone out? This is exciting. I gotta get my Katie's gonna hold the mic for you, Nelson. Do it right, my man. Get down on one knee.

“Oh, boy. So, Royce, um, you've been everything to me. Um, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you.”

You've changed my life and ways that I never thought that was possible. Um, and, um, yeah,

I never thought I would be in a situation where I could, um, love someone as much as you. And, um, I want to know. Will you marry me? She said, yes, ladies and gentlemen. Wow. Nelson. Nelson, while she gathers herself, tell us your, your, your bride to be his name. What is her name? Uh, Royce Ogden. Royce? Yes. Okay. Let's give the mic to Royce.

Royce. What is going through your head right now? Tell us. I wasn't expecting any of this. No. Hey, neither was John. That's the best part.

That never worked. That never worked. I'm just stunned right now. Okay. We're going to James.

We're going to pay this off. So, you guys know how we do this on the show. This is going to be amazing. Okay, Royce. How much debt have you paid off in how long? Tell us your story. I paid off about $35,000 worth of debt. In how long? Uh, 24 months. 24 months. Awesome. That's awesome. Tell us what the debt was. What kind of debt was it? It was primarily credit card debt. And a little bit of medical debt and well paying off all of this debt. I stopped twice to cast cash flow.

Two emergencies with my health totaling about $25,000. Wow. You're so amazing. What happened 24 months ago where you said this is it? I'm getting debt free. What happened? I was watching a lot of the financial YouTube videos trying to figure out what it was doing with my life. I just got an awful work injury and it was just so hard to make ends meet on only 40 hours a week, which is insane. Once I sat down and I did the math, I realized I was hemorrhaging about $400,500

a month just because of my debt payments. And if I hadn't had them, my work injury would have ever been an issue. Wow. 35,000. 20 plus 20 plus 60. And plus you cash. Well, I mean, it's unbelievable. All right. So for people who are sitting in this room and who are watching on YouTube, they're blown away

“by what just happened. What would you say to them is the key to getting out of debt?”

I think the key is probably setting the goal and walking yourself through getting there. There were a lot of points so it felt like I just wasn't making any progress and it was hard and the medical issues kept failing like setbacks, but really, it was an absolute blessing to be able to get through them cash flowing instead of taking out any more debt. And during this time, you were also loving and honoring a veteran who was struggling with his health,

too, right? Yes. It was because of going through all of this in the Ramsey process. It was about

halfway through this that his emergency happened. You're an amazing woman. Yeah.

A question. Both of them. Awesome. Having all of these changes took it from an emergency

I know you couldn't make it in Nashville. We're going to do it right here. And these people are

“going to lose their ever-loving minds. Are you ready? Do I hold the mic away? No, no. Give it all”

you can. You do, Alyssa, you do your screen the way you want to do it. I'm going to do a version of it. Okay. I'm going to lead you through this. Where are you from? I'm from Greenley, Colorado. Okay. Here we go. So we got Royce from Greenley, Colorado. She paid off $35,000 and $24, months while cash flowing. Another 25 with health emergencies, dragon, poor Nelson along. God bless

his heart. She's helping him. She's an amazing woman. You are the poster child for anybody who

lays eyes or their ears on this show. You can do it and they can do it. Let's hear your debt free screen, count it down. Three, two, one. I'm Gen 3! Wow. Wow. Wow. Okay. We're going to keep this moment going. We didn't plan for that, but we did plan for this. And you know, it's great. I see women snodding all over themselves. Men are wiping their eyes. You too are such great sports. Thank you for that. Okay. Here's

what we're going to do. Okay. We thought it'd be fun. Jade, get your calculator out because

we're going to do something. Here's what we want to know. If you have become debt free in the last

year, will you stand up? We're going to a group debt free screen. If you've become debt free in the last year, stand up all around the building. Wherever you are, stand up if you've become debt free in the last year. Yeah. You can clap for them. That's cool. Look at this. All right. So here's what we're going to do. Jade's got our calculator. James is back in Europe. I'm going to go around the room and we're just going to quickly get the amount that you

“paid off. Okay. Is there anybody up in the upper deck? I see. Okay. How much did you pay off?”

268,000. Excellent. Anybody else up top? 40,000. And anybody else up there? 36,000. Got it. Did I get everybody up there? 7500? 75,000. Thanks. Are you up to date on that? I got anybody else up top. Okay. Now we'll come over here. And I don't think I see. Okay.

Ma'am. Your number. 47,000. Sir? 300,000. Amazing. All right. Next. Right back here.

This couple right here. Ma'am in the white coat. The guy at the hat. 100,000. Okay. Couple right sit down. Couple right in front of them. 28,000. 28,000. Ma'am right here. Well, rounded up to 56,000. No. I got it. You got it. You did 5,930. Don't mess with Jade. Okay. Ma'am right here. 90,000 right here. Yeah. 60,000. Okay. Great. And we already got yours. But let's get the number 35,000 for Royce. This couple. 235,000. Deb, our favorite person in the world.

102,000 and right here in front. 120. Did I miss? Oh, sorry.

“Wow. I'm going to put it at 150 then. We'll go 150. Wait a go. Is that everybody?”

All right. Jade and James will check your test. What do you got? Boop, boop, boop, boop. One point. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Drum roll, please. In the last year, this room has paid off. That's correct. You say it? $1.74 1 million dollars. How about that? Wow. So now you can stand back up. Wow. For those of you that sat down. Now you can stand back up. You've paid off debt in the last year.

And then John's got to fund us. Yeah. All right. So anybody else in the room who has debt free, who wants to join us in this debt free screen stand up. Everybody. Everybody. No conditions. debt free all around the house. Up and down. Let's do a group debt free screen. John, would you like to count this down from three? Let's, I'm going to do it. Don't be the weird people that count up. No. Yeah. Yeah. That's so true. And your Colorado, you paid off $1.7 million. Plus,

everybody else who stood up here. Let's count it down and do a giant Denver debt free screen. Three, two, one. Yes. Here for yourself. Come at that. Wow. So fun. Congratulations. You guys are amazing.

we didn't Charlotte. It's so amazing to get out from Nashville. Our beautiful headquarters and

get out of a road to the show, but we couldn't do this. We are sitting and standing on the shoulders

“of an amazing team. If you're on the Ramsey team, would you stand up or if they're behind cameras?”

Would you give some love to our amazing crew, James Childs, Chris Wright, let our entire team. These men and women are fantastic. So I just want to say thank you to them. Final word, 30 seconds from your heart to these people, John. What's on your heart for them? It's easy to get stuck in you owe money. Childhood was hard. You got debt payment. You got carrex. Listen to me. You are worth the work to be well. You're worth the work and it's hard

and it's long and like you amazing single father with the awesome truck that you're probably going

to sell. Listen, you're worth the grind. You're worth the work. You're worth being free. Thank you for being here tonight. That's so good. I'm just reflecting back on all the stories that we heard tonight and all of you were so brave to share with us and I'm so grateful that you trusted us with your stories and I just, I mean my favorite verse, Galatian 69, you know, don't grow weary and well-doing at the right time, at the proper time. You'll reap a harvest of

blessing if you don't give up. If you don't faint, I'm thinking about Royce. I'm thinking about our friend who was smiling like the son who was working so so hard. I'm thinking about that single dad. I'm thinking about all those stories tonight and guys trust and believe you will reap a harvest. If you don't give up, if you don't faint, please don't give up. Please keep going. I just know it. You guys have such a wonderful beautiful future in front of all of you. Keep going.

Hey, Ken, before you give your last words. Nelson Royce, I like y'all to be my guest in October for the Money Marriage Conference in Nashville. If y'all can make it there, I'll pay for your tickets, okay? Cool. Very nice. Well, John Jade and to those of you in the room and those of you watching on YouTube, wherever you're watching, how are you watching? The word that keeps popping up to me

“tonight is I've just been able to observe is strength. Just tremendous strength and I think that's”

what I'd want to share with you. You know, there's so many stories in this room and of people that

are watching and we'll never hear those stories, but the commonality between anybody that wins with

money is strength. The journey is so very difficult. No matter how much debt you're paying off with, there's 20,000 or 200,000, we've had people on the air that paid off $2 million. The struggle is absolutely real, but you have the strength to do it. And I'm reminded of story after story after story in the time that I've had to sit on the Ramsey Show and listen to everyday women and men who have just overcome so much to get peace. And for those of you that are still on the journey,

you didn't stand up tonight. I don't want you to feel left out. I want you to feel inspired by looking at the men and women around you who stood up. The men and women that you saw on camera, as you were watching on YouTube, you're listening. However, you're taking this night in. I want you to understand that there's no difference between them and you. You can do it. You have the strength to do it. Focus on your life. Nobody else is life. Focus on what you can do in the moment.

One foot forward every day. Just one foot and keep the eye on the prize. This Philippian said,

“I'm looking at the finish line. What does the finish line look like for you? Where do you want to be?”

Keep it top of mind and you can win. And I'm telling you, we believe in you. On behalf of the over thousand Ramsey Solutions teammates that are supporting us back in Nashville on behalf of Dave Ramsey who couldn't be with us here tonight on behalf of my colleagues, Dr. John Deloni and Jade Warsaw. I want you to know we love you. We appreciate you. We believe in you. We're behind you. You can do this. Thank you guys. You've been an amazing crowd. Thank you.

[Music]