Live Life With Less Financial Stress

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“>> Normal is broke and common sense is weird.”

So we're here to help you transform your life. From the Ramsey Network in the Fair Wins Credit Union Studio, this is the Ramsey Show. And I'm Rachel Cruz hosting this hour with Dr. John Zoloney. And we're answering your questions about life and money.

So give us a call at Triple 8, 25, 5, 2, 2, 2, 5. All right, starting us off this hour. We have Lynn in Jersey City, New Jersey. Hi, Lynn, welcome to the show. >> Hi, Rachel.

>> Hi, how are you doing?

>> Good, so you guys are kind of the type breaker between me and my husband. >> Yes. >> Just to give you some background. We are on baby step six, five and six.

“And we have a house that we're aggressively working to pay all.”

But we have a lot of equity. So we're almost at a cap of hitting about 500 for capital gains taxes. Now my husband doesn't want to pay it off, but I want to pay it off because it gives me peace. And we don't know what to do.

He's saying it's we paid off, we're going to pay taxes on the gains. We are planning to upgrade soon. >> How soon?

>> I don't know what to do.

Maybe like in two years. >> Okay, but there's going to be an element of paying taxes on the equity regardless of whether you pay it off or not. >> So we are under the 500 threshold right now. But if we continue paying it off the way we have intended to.

>> The equity goes here. >> Yes, that would be your budget. >> Correct, so it'll be above that, you up in two years. >> In two years, when are you guys going to move? And I just just asked that.

>> We're looking around two years, yeah, our family keeps growing. We owe about 250 on it and it's worth 750 around 750 or 700. >> Yep. >> So how quickly could you pay it off? >> When I work this excel, it looks about three years and a half realistically.

>> But you're going to hit that mark into years. >> Or a little bit less, actually. If I continue paying it the way we're doing it now, you're doing it now. >> Yeah, I mean, it's just my husband's like, save the money. You know, we have a 2.5 interest, let's put it into a business idea.

I really don't know what to do. >> That to me sounds like what the real issue is, is he wants to use that money for something else. >> Yeah, and I feel guilty sometimes, not supporting him, but it gives him a piece of mind, you know, just paying off my house. >> What's his business idea?

What is he wanting to use the money for? >> He has an idea of creating like video games, essentially. >> Okay. >> Has he done any work on this prior? It's still just in the idea phase.

>> He has, you know, he has, he's doing protocol essentially and we're waiting to kind of start marketing that and he wants so many for marketing. >> Okay, but, you know, I'm a woman and I love security having my house paid off. >> I'm a man, and I like the security of having my house paid off. I mean, it's not a gendered thing.

I think the real conversation is not about the tax advantages or we're going to pay tax on.

“That to me isn't the issue, the issue is, because here's the thing, I don't get on”

that road. I can make you a math case, but this isn't a math question. It's a, you want peace in the middle of your chest, you want peace in your household. And so, and you also have a husband who wants to be a video game designer, and so having a paid off house, let's you, let's him go down that rabbit hole, risk free, or with less

risk. Let me see it that way. And he doesn't want to pay the house off. He wants to invest in his video game design. That's the real issue here, making it about, instead of sending a paying taxes on $250,000,

you want to give that $250,000 to the bank, or you want to shell it around, that's fine. And even if there was a tax advantage, in my house, we call it the sole tax. I'll pay the difference so that no one can take my house from me, right? So, you can make those kinds of cases all day long, but it sounds like that's a proxy war for what's really going on.

And that is, your husband wants to take that money and do something else with that. And it's like, and I self-says, he's been on board with the day ran, season's not married, and it's helped us tremendously, Ray. And it's, and I selfish for not giving him the opportunity, even though we have financial standing to give that the cost of delaying the house paid off, maybe a year longer.

No, because I feel like this is a value system at which you guys have been operating under for over a decade, as what you just said. And so, to go off course, to me, would be like, we're deviating from the thing that we're so used to doing, which were going down these steps. In the moment that that step starts to deviate.

“And again, when we talk about paying off the house, we do say it is being intentional, right?”

Like, we are not like, oh, gosh, the house is on fire.

We have to pay it off in a second, you know, we don't want the house on fire, but it's

probably a bad analogy for this situation, but-- And some people are naturally more urgent, like, John, I feel like you're urgent too. Yeah, I got my knife all up. You want it? Yes, it's like, this is what I desire and want.

And so, my thing to him would be his, what he wants to do in the business, that can happen, but when it happens under an umbrella of no risk and knowing that we can cash flow at at any time, and nothing is going to happen to us financially. To me, that feels like a safer bet. If he wants to slow step himself into this new career path, or even if you did want to

slow it down maybe six months, and him tracing the over here, I would, I could see that being more of a case than let's not pay it off for something that may or may have happened two years from now.

Yeah, so at the beginning of this call.

“Yeah, there's a lot of might happens in a few years, right?”

And so if we come to what we're dealing with right today, what I call you selfish, that's probably, that sounds like dramatic, delony language, right? And I have a pension for the dramatic. So I wouldn't call you selfish, but if he's saying, hey, instead of paying the house off hyper aggressively and two and a half years, can we pay it off in three and a half years?

And instead of tripling the payment or quadrupling the payment every month, can we just double it for a year while I try to get this business off the ground, and he provides both of you with a ironclad plan for how we're going to spend these marketing dollars, because marketing dollars can get sideways real quick, right? And you say, okay, cool, that's different than him saying, I want to go back to paying

the minimum payment, and we're going to pay this off in 20 years because I got a dream. And so to me coming up with a compromise, we're still aggressively paying our house off, it's not delony level, maniacal paying it off, we're still getting it done in three years. And who knows if we'll move in three years? We'd like to, this sounds like it would be great, but who knows what the world will

look like in three years? But as of right now, we still have a three year plan to pay the house off, that's pretty awesome. And you're going to cash flow, whatever dreams he has. If y'all agree on that together, I don't see a problem with that.

It sounds reasonable to me that you, like Rachel said, six months or a year, okay, I'll give and we'll push this aggressive timeline. I will say, though, when my, my pause to is, and we, because we've gotten this call too many times on the show is people starting at business, and it doesn't make money and it doesn't make money, and they look up and they call like, my husband's trying to start this business

for the past five years. There's a, there's a dollar on that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, like you guys need like a, yes, whether it's a marketing budget for John Deloni. Yes, and that's it.

And that's it. And so we are moving at the speed of cash and all of it. That's my only word of caution was starting something and it's great, amazing.

“I came from an entrepreneur, a hostile, like it's wonderful, but you have to be smart about”

it and not get so emotional and sometimes people are so emotional about their business idea that they forget the numbers. So just, y'all need a plan that you both agree on together that makes you feel good about paying the house off and him getting to start something. Hey, George Campbell here, a few years ago, someone stole my identity.

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Hi, Tracy. Welcome to the show. Hi. Thank you for having me. Absolutely.

Hi.

I'm in Baby Step 2 right now.

“We have one credit card of a little over 8,000 left to pay on.”

And then we have our solar panels, which are about 47,000 left to pay on. And my husband, who has a green injury from the military, gets really, really anxious about the credit card. So he wants those to be paid off as soon as soon as possible. But as soon as we get to the solar panels, he wants to put pause on that, slow down, and

start building our emergency fund, which would be maybe step 3. And he wants to do it in like a $1,500 to the solar panel and like $500 to emergency fund. And I just wanted to get your thoughts on that. Okay, how much do you guys make a year?

We make a taxable income. I make about 54,000 a year and he makes his part time at 18,000 a year because of his brain injury. Does he get any? Yes.

He has $63,000 a month with tension and disability.

Does that include the in the 18,000? No, that's separate. That's because that's non-taxable. Okay, on top of that is what he brings home. Yeah.

Okay. I got you. How much is left on the house? Um, 460. Okay.

So you guys won't be moving anytime soon because usually those loans still lump in with the sale of the home, but you guys are probably there for a while. Well, the loan is separate from the home. We didn't do a, uh, he won't go anything. It's just, it's like a private loan.

Right. Okay.

Do you have a, this is not what you call, but that's a lot of house on your income.

It isn't. It is a lot of house on our income, but the payments that we make are 25% of what we bring in. So. Okay. Okay.

I mean, yeah, Tracy. I mean, there's, um, for, I mean, I was thinking if there was an element of moving this to baby step six, which is what we talk about sometimes with he locks if it's more than half of your annual income. And so I mean, you guys are kind of at that line.

If you did want to push it, but it is a completely separate loan versus it being a he lock, right? So it doesn't really fall necessarily in that category. And it's, I hate these things because you're stuck with it. It's not like a $47 dollar car that you can sell off.

Um, right. So is there a dollar amount that, because I, I want to honor the fact that he's experienced the worst and he's living with challenges, right? And so, um, it's not even like me being worried about something. I worry about everything.

This is a different thing. Is there a number that he has in his head that would give him a little more room to breathe? Um, he wants the three months, uh, uh, baby step three, three months of savings. And what, what, what is that for y'all?

Um, that is going to be about 25,000. So could you take three months and take a hundred percent of his disability check and put that in an account and call it? No, because we need our margin every month after all of the bills, we have, uh, only about 2300 a month to place towards the, um, our debt.

Okay. Yeah. I mean, I would be okay if y'all bumping up a little bit, but I would get, because I mean,

“how much is your, how much is the payment every month on the solar panels?”

Uh, right now the solar panel payment is only 275. Okay. It's not terrible. Um, I was just thinking of what that would free up to quickly throw at the emergency fund to get it built up more.

Uh, his, he would like to do of our available, uh, I'm just going to say two thousand, it's, it's easier to figure of our available two thousand access. He wants to do three quarters of that to the solar panel and a quarter of that to building the emergency fund when we get to the solar panels. Yeah.

I, I get that impulse to the challenge with that is you end up doing two different directions at the same time. So you just get both places way slower and people get frustrated and they quit. Right. And so you'll look up and you'll have barely dented, you, you'll still have a, a foreign

front, right, you'll have 40,000 on those loans and you'll have, I'm making up a number five thousand bucks and need it all will be happy. That's right. Yeah.

“I mean, honestly, if you wanted to bump it up a little Tracy, just to give him some”

piece of mine from what he's been through, but I would, I would, I would knock it out out of it to, I'd actually like it to student loan and it's like you just got to get it out. Maybe say, hey, look, we're going to, we're going to, let's do one month, let's do one

Yeah.

All right, next up, we have John and San Francisco. Hi, John. Welcome to the show.

Oh, Jason, hi, Jason, my bad. I'm so sorry. No worries, how you guys doing? We're doing great. How can we help?

“So I had a question regarding how much I can spend on a car, I think I'm some conflicted”

advice. Okay. What's going on? Uh, so just to give you guys some background, um, 24. I just moved out, I have 20,000 in a high-old savings account, serving as my emergency

fund and I have 100,000 in a brokerage account. Okay. And I'm kind of concerned with buying an expensive car, I've been pretty cheap, I'm up until this point, and I do want to buy a car, um, some people are telling me that because of what I saved up, that would allow me to afford maybe more car than I would

be comfortable with, um, so I kind of want to do your guys' opinion on how much I can spend on it. Yeah, how much do you make a year, Jason? Uh, make after bonuses a little under 90. Under 90.

Okay. Um, what would, what would be comfortable for you, just Jason, not us to our opinions or any friend or family's opinion?

“What could you spend on a car and feel like, okay, that feels, that feels good?”

Well, I don't know, I haven't really given it too much thought I've been kind of trying to ask around because I don't know what that is for me, um, I don't really want to complete my emergency fund or so any assets to afford it, um, so it'd be something that I kind of start saving up for now and maybe cost some investing. So you wouldn't take it out of your brokerage account?

Well, I don't know, that's kind of, yeah, I don't know, that's something I should do. Do you need a new car right now? Uh, I don't, my car is over 20 years old. Who cares? Do you need a new car right now?

No. Okay. Okay. So, I mean, do you want a new car, I'm not hearing you want one, it sounds like you're

“doing pretty well in everyone's barking at you trying to tell you what you should be doing”

with your life. Because you haven't even thought about it for yourself. Yeah, that is like the one purchase that I was in the past when I was, um, saving up and investing, that would be like I kind of in the back of my mind, like I'll be able to, if I stayed at home for a couple more months, put something more to a car, and then I kind

of got into saving more money and investing more. Jason, do you have any debt? Do you have any debt? No, no, no. No, debt.

Okay. Well, our real Assum is that your car or anything with motors and wheels combined in a household should be no more than half of your annual take home pay. Payed it with cash, okay? So for you, that would be around the $45,000 mark, but I don't, I think you need Ford

nor do you want or nor do you care, and John doesn't want you to get a new car, so he doesn't, he doesn't like new cars, he's like, I just know, I feel like you've won Jason, you've won. You're winning, but you could go upgrade your car. You could, you could do a lot of things, but you don't, you don't A, want to, that's

the most important thing here, B, you don't need to.

And any, so many young people who are find themselves successful, people start, all their broke friends are telling them what they should be doing, and what they're saying is, if we had money, we'd make even more irresponsible choices. Yes, and Jason, a step up in car is not like a step in adulthood. No.

So it doesn't, it's not a marker for anything. It's just if the AC goes out and keeps breaking down, I need a new car, that's one thing. You saw that guy that used, like, I'll go up, I use the Lexus for 20 grand with some high miles on it would change your life, but you don't need a new car, brother. Most people think making a will is some huge legal project, they'll get around to

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Play today. All right, let's go to Adam in Greensboro. Hey, Adam. Welcome to the show. Hey, nice to be on.

Thanks so much for calling. How can we help? So I'm in the process or maybe in the process of taking a loan out against the home. My home is currently paid for, but I have high interest debt on a vehicle, some credit cards and an investment property, I was wondering if you would recommend or did I consider getting

out where you saw the K-down behind just that? No, I would not go borrow. Never, ever, ever, ever. Barrow on my home to pay off something that's going down and value and then you've put, yeah, a level of risk on your home is created a whole issue there.

Adam, okay. So what's the deal with the car? How much you owe in the car? So, 35 on the car, I have another 25 in the credit and 95 on a mobile home park. How much equity have in the mobile home park?

The mobile home park, a phrase for 270, two years ago, I had a 95 on it. Why don't you sell yourself, and be free? Then you have a paid for the house, you have no debt, you have a paid for car, and you're free, man. Okay, would I, but I would be losing my monthly income on the mobile home park, you

“would rather have debt for you than monthly income on runners?”

Right now, because you're broke. I mean, you're thinking about putting your house on the block, a pay for a house. You want to, you want to put on the block and exchange for depreciating asset that you're car and your credit card debt. Right.

Adam, how much you make a year? $4,000 a month, about 60 a year, a married as well, my wife makes about $2300 a month. So, I can buy and we're bringing in about $6300 a month. And then the mobile home park cash flows, $1800 a month. Okay, yeah, so here's the deal, Adam.

First and foremost, if you went into this and just wiped everything clean, the problem

with your money isn't the high interest, the problem with your money isn't the credit card companies, the problem with your money is you guys. You guys have a car that's almost half of your annual take home pay. You probably have too much car. You probably can't afford that $35,000 car with what you bring in.

You guys have $25,000 in credit card debt. And then this mobile home park that you, yeah, for 95, like, that habits around your the consumer side of your money, Adam is not great. Would you agree? Yeah.

So, wiping it clean doesn't change you. And so that's why part of the process of getting out of debt is selling stuff, work in

It's a reminder every single day of the sacrifice because of decisions of digging yourself

in a hole.

“It's a shame you, but there's a part of behavior change that has to occur with your money”

or you're going to go right back into this whole mess. Now, tell me if I'm wrong here, my mom said was, right now, we're paying $2700 a month for all the credit, all the car loan and the mobile home park, if I really found out so how my payment's going to be $1500 versus $2700 and the mobile home park will cash $3,000 a month bet of $1800.

But listen, but I'll still be going backwards for what you all are saying. Yeah. And not only are you going backwards, I just want to paint you a different picture brother and because you've, you've thought this out and you've written it down a thousand times on the back of napkins on Excel spreadsheets, I just want to give you an alternative vision

of your life dude, complete and total peace in your house. You and your wife walk into the front door, you don't own anybody anything, you don't have the fanciest cars in the world and that's super okay, you don't own anybody thing, you're going to do whatever you want whenever you want within the limited means you'll have. If she wants to work more, if she wants to work less, if you own a half kit, you can kind

of do whatever you want.

And you don't have to always be hoping that this deal hits and this one guy pays his

rent because he didn't pay last month and this other guy, you know what I mean? Like you could Uber and make $1800 on the side for the headache you have with this mobile home park. You know I don't, I've got good tenants in it, but I know that doesn't last, okay, here's what I'm going to promise you.

“You have to decide in your house as for me and my home, we're not going to borrow money.”

And then we're going to figure out life with that principle in mind. If it's always on the table and it's always, well, this is going to catch full of this. We're going to move over here. We're going to slap it up, flip it in reverse, that's a chaos that happens every day and you need every card to land on your poker hand or the whole domino, like the whole

set of domino falls over. It's just a wild way to live, man. And after doing this atom for so long and being able to see the result of so many people who have built wealth that have actually stayed wealthy, they did it. I'd say not, not the get rich quick way was the slow methodical, yes.

And one of the number one things is you get out of debt because when you don't have debt,

your income is your most powerful wealth building tool.

You're able to take your income and instead of it going to car payments and credit cards or paying on the house and all of this, you guys get to keep that and start in investing.

“You guys get to start making money for you all and not for everybody else.”

But if you keep playing the debt game and moving debt around, which is what this would be, you put your house at risk for a $35,000 truck or whatever it is and all this other stuff. And it's not a smart move to take equity out of an asset to be paying for all this stuff. So what I would do is--

In other words, the 70,000 in debt, I thought, hey, that's possible to trade the park in the mobile home park. I would have a 170 cash, you'd recommend putting the 70,000 towards the debt and having a 100,000 in the bank and then anything paid for. That's the only other thing I would add is, this is just me talking to my brother Adam here.

I would sell that car too, it's too much car for you. Yeah. I agree. The one thing that complicated this, we've just got married and we have a new born at the house.

I've pinched pennies in my whole life and I've got a $2,000 file on this debt because $200,000 was on it. That's just-- That's just a family car, but maybe about too much car. Yeah.

What kind of car is it? What's the $35,000? It's a 24 Nissan road. Yeah. Yeah, we'll just from the income perspective.

It doesn't. Right. It's a borderline, Adam. So again, if you sold the mobile home park and wiped everything clean, I would, I would put $100,000 in, I'd probably put it in a brokerage account and I'd leave it in there

and I'd let it grow. And then maybe if you do enjoy the rental business, if you will, of having other properties, you could probably take some of that money and in Greensboro. Yeah, here in a few years, cash flow, a home, fixed it up, and rent it. And you guys have two paid-for properties at that point that's taking some rental income.

If you want to, but that's what I would do.

She may not even want to spend her money.

“I said, I mean, just think about coming home to a house with a new born that's your house”

in your car. You've got a hundred thousand. You're in the bank. Yes, making interest, like, all day. If you guys want to get back into some of the stuff, you can just take your time and walk

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Here's the question. My wife and I recently married, and we are working on our budget.

She has a $10,000 car loan, oh, I smell trouble already.

$70,000 in student loans, and only 500 bucks in her bank account. Now, I was expecting her debt to be half the actual number. The only debt I have is my house. I have an $85,000 in a brokerage account, $125,000 in savings, that I had earmark to put toward our house.

Oh, brother Aaron, together we earn about nine grand a month. How should we approach the debt? Should I have my wife use her income to pay off the debt and not contribute to our monthly living expenses, or should I offer to pay a lump sum of cash to her debt?

“I actually think you should find go watch back to the future one.”

Get your hands on a delorean, go back in time, and unmarry yourself. Because this is, you're going to be calling my show in a couple of years saying, "Are Mary just falling apart?" And I'm going to be like, "Yeah, we talked earlier, A.A. Ron, and the future is." Dude.

Dude, you kind of suck. Yeah, kind of you're the worst. The old, the old. You know, my gosh, and I get it. I get it.

People get married later. I get people who've built up their, I mean, you're getting married, and you're like, "Do I choose to put part of my savings?" You married her. You're sharing a bit like, "Oh, my gosh."

I have cash, earmarked for our next house. You're making her pay for some of the house, too, Aaron? Cash. Yeah, I think I- And I knew what you were walking into Aaron, and if it made you the way I had, you

shouldn't have married her. Yeah, you said I was expecting her debt to be half.

“The only way I'll have some grace and compassion for you, brother, is she lied.”

That's fair. That's fair. And then y'all got to deal with that. Because that is, that's a big deal. If she promised you, it's 35 grand, then when you got, y'all got married, you started

looking at each other's bills. But y'all have an income, and this is going to make people uncomfortable, y'all have $125,000 in savings, earmarked for what y'all decide is your next big move as a new couple, as a family unit, as two people who created the secret world called marriage.

Y'all have $85,000 in a brokerage account. And until you get that through your head, brother, y'all are going to be roommates, y'all are going to be running parallel lives, and you're going to go one way, and she's going to go another.

And it will always be tip for tout at that point.

Always. I made this. She made that. Well, she's spent, I mean, it will be-- I need you to throw me for Taco Bell because I said you're a time man.

Now, I will say, is she sucks with money, and she doesn't care, and she spends, it's so much more. It's not the numbers that bother me. It's the attitudes behind it. So if she is terrible, and you feel like I can't trust her in that, that's one thing.

That's not what I'm hearing. But no. But it feels like you're sitting on top of this mountain, Aaron, A.R. And you're casting down, like looking down your nose at-- That's not to believe, but me over here.

This lesser person who got a student loan. Blah. Now, actually, I actually think your other plan is actually pretty good.

“I think she should have to just work the dead off, and you can just pay her part of the”

light bill for a couple of-- come on, man. You're married. What if you play out if we-- because we have strong opinions on this side, and people get mad at us all the time. But it is what it is.

What if our opinions were that strong on the other side? And we're like, you're right, Aaron. You make her. Yeah, she still has to pay her into the deal though. Like, she still has to pay half the bills.

And she's going to be-- she may not make it. She may have to borrow money from you, Aaron. [LAUGHS] If you go down that road, that's-- Play it out how ridiculous it is.

It's crazy. Play it out. And you're married, people. Like, you're going to-- Are you going to--

Yeah, what are you going to do? You're going to Victor? She's going to pay her light bill. What if she has to pay interest? You're going to turn her lamp off?

Like, on her-- you're going to-- She's not allowed to use her nightstand lamp. Plastic plates over her plug, so she can't charge her phone. Like, what do you get to actually do, dude? Well, y'all got to-- I'm going on a date tonight.

Oh, you can't afford your plate. Sorry. Good luck. Have fun with the free bread. Yeah, we'll go to Olive Garden so you can have the bread, six.

Yeah, I'm going to get a glass of wine. You can't afford it. We're going to spend my nine dollars for the tip. Come on, man. Like, if play it out, play it out.

It doesn't-- you all need to have one check in account. Y'all get in a table, and, by the way, I'm non-be and ugly. Y'all aren't working on Y'all's budget. You handed her a budget and said, this is how we're going to live. And I get to have a right to say that because you're shameful with money.

Don't be that guy.

“Sit down and ask, what kind of world do we want to co-create together?”

What do we want to build together? Where do we want to end up in five years, ten years, twenty years, and have that discussion and then live in reality, and y'all both get there.

And by the way, here's what really pisses me off about this.

Dude, you could clear your household. Y'all could clear your household debt right this second. And you'd still have 85 grand in one account and, what, $45,000 another account. You know what that would make you way ahead of the game still. And your wife would ever education.

Her car would be y'all would be y'all's, and would be good to go. And you start from there. Yep. Like, if this was, we don't have any money and we're broke, what do we do? I get that. You have a lot of money, man.

So anyway. No, and I think part of what we see with conflict and money and marriage, because we do that, the money marriage, we can get away. We have a few tickets left, October 22nd to 24th. It's the best marriage event on planet Earth.

And it sells on every time it will wheel sell out. But if you, I think, still, if you take it left, get online and get them. Yeah, go to Ramsesolutions.com and check out the tickets and come spend the weekend.

“But one of the attitudes that we kind of see that can start to really, I mean, I think”

create a lot of resentments and it roads intimacy and a marriage is that superiority complex. Yes. With money, that someone, well, I make more. And because I make more, I get to make, I have more voting rights, if you will. Or I didn't take out it's her debt and so she needs to deal with it over here.

I didn't do that. Or he, whatever it is, there's this feeling of, I'm better with money. And automatically it puts the other spouse in a position of, I guess I'm not great at it. I'm going to let them just do it and I'll just take the, take the crumbs off the table of what's left, not even from a financial perspective.

And emotional, like, okay, I'll just sit here and let you tell me what to do right. And over time you guys, that is a, that's a bad deal. Like when you get married, there is a level of sacrifice, a level of humility and selflessness and serving each other and you're on the same team. But when that starts to imbalance, especially with money gets weird, there gets to be a weird

power dynamic. The wifey, there's taking care of the husband and she ends up being like, yeah, the kids

are being like the fifth kid or the third kid or he is so dominant over her and she, she

Like, it's, it gets weird really fast.

I mean, I feel like we, that comes up.

“Yeah, it comes up every, from almost everybody, universally, it's some shape from”

refashion because sometimes it's not money, sometimes it's the kitchens not exactly the way I wanted it and that makes me better and or the garage is not, the car's not parked perfectly in the garage and so because I would parked in perfect good, it makes me better. Anytime you feel like I am better than, right, you're, that's a recipe for disaster

for your marriage, right? Both of you are going to have things you're better at than the other skills and that's the, you make it, that's a team, right? Yes, it's a good thing. And that's a, that's a, that's a great thing.

But yeah, air and dude, like, just cutting straight man today before the day is over. Her, the debt, she accrued that are now y'all's debts are paid in full and I want you to take her out to dinner and celebrate the fact that y'all are dead free and y'all dream about what you want your life to look like because by the way, what people think, the freedom they think they're getting from being controlling like this, it's a prison with

a lock on the inside as S. Lewis calls it, your life will be miserable to trying to control another person and how they breathe and how they spend money and how they're ashamed, your life will suck too, free your whole household man, including yourself. This show is sponsored by Better Help. Hey, it's Deloni.

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I am Rachel Cruz hosting this hour with Dr. John Deloni. So give us a call at AAA-825-5225, and we'll talk about your life and your money. My oldest is 11, and she saw John the other day in the office. She was like, "Mom, can I call him John Baloney?"

“And I was like, "Sure, I think he can take it."”

That would be the least offensive thing I was calling up, so yes. I accept.

I always was like, "I'm with Dr. John Baloney, I mean Deloni."

I ask my kids if people call Baloney. Was that like a goat? It's not like a lunch meat that we as much as we did in the '80s and '90s. Yeah, it was a staple in my home growing up, but also, I got the impression they didn't have the language for this, either my 16-year-old or my 10-year-old, they didn't have

the language for this, but I don't think kids are mean to each other like they used to be. No, there's not, like, a digital channel bullying, they post mean stuff about each other. It's not going to be, like, your name rhymes with it. We're brutal to each other.

Totally. Bring it back. Bring it back. Bring it back. Bring back the '90s.

All right, let's go to Jennifer in Dallas, Texas. Hi, Jennifer. Welcome to the show. Hi, thank you so much for taking my call. I really appreciate it.

Absolutely. How can we help? Okay, so my mama served with papers, she's being sued, she's 82, she's being sued by a creditor. It's only $1500.

Oh my gosh. And she definitely have the money, she's a them social security and yesterday, she told me that she had $30,000 in debt when my debt died in 2020, so she didn't pay any of that.

“So, oh, wow, okay, it's my first question is, what do we do about this?”

I think I heard you're down, I listened to some old episodes, say that someone could call

with something like an agreed order.

Just tell him, hey, my mom's 82, she's a widow, she has nothing, I'll send you $300 in a money order and God help you don't give them, because they're going to want, they're going to say we're going to withdraw from your account and make sure you get the offer in writing. They're not expecting to get a penny of this and so you giving them money on a five or

ten year old debt of an 82 year old widow, they're going to be happy to get what they get. $300,000 is the additional debt that you just found out about, what kind of debt it is. >> Yeah, well, I just heard about that yesterday, I'm assuming it's credit card.

>> Okay.

“Is she been getting any notice from any creditors for that type of debt or just the 1500?”

>> No. >> All right, that I would just let it happen. >> Okay. >> Yeah, yeah, no, no stress, but for your fine, it's fine.

Tell me this, the $30,000, how long has she not been paying on it since, did you say $20,000?

>> Since 2020, I don't, I don't know about it. >> Yeah, no, I didn't know about that part. >> Yes, no. >> But let me ask you another, a wilder question. Is there a chance that she's off on her numbers?

>> Probably not. >> Okay, okay. So you think that that's legit? >> Probably. >> Is there a chance those credit cards were solely in your dad's name?

>> I have no idea. >> Okay. >> I didn't know anything about that already, but that wasn't until yesterday. >> Okay. >> She just said I've been served with papers, with this one credit card.

And I don't have the 1500 and also I don't know what's going to happen with this other debt. So. >> Yeah, so if I were you, Jennifer, I would just let it sit.

“>> I mean, honestly, you don't know where the paperwork is.”

She doesn't know. This 1500 I would call the creditor and say, hey, you know, she's got 300 bucks to give you. What will you settle? Because they'll usually settle pennies on the dollar, especially if it's very old debt because it's been. What's happened is that the creditors have bought bad debt from credit card company,

and it just gets getting passed and passed and passed. And so to even find the company is a miracle, honestly. So I would call them, yep, I would get it in writing, I have them email you, or by letter, but they could email a proof of settlement. And then you guys send them, send them a check.

And then probably what I would assume will happen is that 30,000. And some world is going to start possibly bubbling up. And I would just do what you've done with that. She can't pay it, so let it go bad. And the longer they don't get paid,

honestly, probably the more likely they are to settle. So I would not stress about this, Jennifer. It's, they're just, yeah. It's someone in a cubicle that has a scrapes, that's calling with a headphone. And they're going to be leaving the company.

“The turnover in those companies is like every six weeks.”

I mean, like it's just, it's not as scary as what it feels like. So. Okay. So get a dollar, like they take a box full of files like those. Yes, and they just go through them and just call yes, yes.

Okay. So get a dollar. Okay. Get a dollar amount. Get it in writing and don't give them your account.

Right. Okay. So her main concern was that she felt that since this is all already in a legal process, that she could not call the creditor. But I'm assuming that she can call the creditor.

Yes. 100%. And she has been probably not the original creditor. Probably not visa or master card or herbert. No, it's not the original creditor.

It is it was originally credit one and now it's with some sort of sure. Yeah, you know, whatever. It probably wouldn't hurt for you to call them. I'll call them a bitch. Okay.

Yeah. So I can call them even though a lawsuit has already been filed. Is that correct? I don't, yes. I don't even know if that lawsuit's for real.

Sometimes these, they have these scary letters that they just will send out. And they're blanket. Did she get a court date? She, well, they, she did not get a court date. But it does stay the law firm requested a remote hearing.

It looks like court papers. She even said, she's so confused. Okay.

Here's the thing you need.

You just need real information. So get on the phone. Okay. And just say my 82 year old widowed mother just got this thing. Okay.

What do we need to do? You say, I don't have $1500.

I'll send you $300 right now.

And we'll call this thing. Okay. Yeah. Jennifer, how are you financially? I'm just curious.

And well, I got a little like just two years ago. And I ended up filing bankruptcy because I got so scared. Oh, no. And it was before I found you guys. Mm.

Oh. Yep. So I'm, I'm, you're climbing out of a room. This is like bringing you back. Do your days like to pay it go.

Sure. Sure. Sure. What? Yeah.

Can I give you an exercise?

I want you to do. I love that. Okay. I want you to write Jennifer from two and a half years ago. A letter.

And I want you to imagine her being scared and terrified.

“You remember it's still it's still in you right now.”

And I want you to write her letter and say. In a couple of years, this same situation is going to show up for mom. And I'm going to do what I should have done then this time. I get to run it back. And this time I'm all fight.

Okay. You set old Jennifer free and give new Jennifer new power from moving through the day and get this peddley $500 nonsense off your mom's back.

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[Music] Next up, we have Tara in Richmond's Virginia. Hi Tara, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me. Absolutely, how can we help?

Well, my honey and I are in our early 50s and we have two special needs sons. We'll get six boys, but we have two special needs sons. 29 and 17 and we've been pretty smart with our money over the past almost 35 years. We're married. So we want to set up a trust for the two of them to make it so that our house becomes like their house.

And they don't have to change things. We don't have to move them. We don't have to do anything like that. If my husband and I, anything happens to us. We're not looking forward to that, but we're trying to make that.

No, you need to do that for them. Yes, have you guys looked into special needs trusts? No, we haven't. That's kind of why I called. Again, how do we start this?

What should we look out for? My dad just got a trust for his kids and assessments. And cost $12,000 in legal fees. So that was like, did he take too much? You know, I have probably every question that you can imagine.

Yes, I will take whatever you can give me. So I will say this trusts in general. It kind of depends on the situation and your estate. But when you have a special needs child, that is the one time that I see it as a requirement.

“You need to do this because it will make the transition of taking care of them so smooth.”

Now, I don't know how much specifically it's going to cost in legal fees. You will have to hire an attorney. I would ask around if there's anybody in your community. That you know of, that you trust to sit down and kind of build this out. And you guys will get to pick.

Make all the decisions that of what you want going forward. If, you know, when you all pass away. And it will have to kind of reconcile with the other children, right?

Yeah, I'm wondering that the older kids would manage.

And actually be the exit. Yes, that's right. Yeah, so they could be there again. Totally. Did they know that?

Yes. Yes, they do. Okay. Yes, so that. So this is there.

“Two years older than we have a 30 year old who is in Japan and is pretty financial in”

Great shape. And then we have a 28 or 29 year old who is special needs is autistic.

And then we have three more.

And we have the youngest who is 17 that we adopted from the foster care system. And he is. He's a lot of work. Yes. He's a very rare genetic abnormality.

So we're going to have, he's going to need care for sure for the rest of his life. The 29 year old is. It's functional. He has many things for himself and he's very sweet and well loved by people. But we, he, there is no way he could manage his future.

Yes, yes. So in that process here, you guys will look at assets. You'll see what names in we placed on which assets. The executor of the trust, different people making different medical decisions. I mean, you, you kind of paint everything out there. And yeah, the good thing about a lot of this is it skips a lot of, you know, the legal side.

When you have, especially for a special needs child in place. That is one time that we say it is worth every penny to sit down with a good attorney and math this out because they don't need to be making any decisions. Or, you know, making any calls at that point.

“And so, you know, and then I think probably even your 17 year olds case wouldn't be able to.”

So all of that played out and protected in that trust is so, so important. So yeah, but I would sit down with a good attorney and state by state has different laws and how you, how you would structure it too. And so, yep, I'd sit down and take care of that for sure. And 12 grand, it might be pennies depending on the size of your dad's estate.

So that I wouldn't be scared of that number or it might be a ton of money. And he overspent by a lot. So every situation is different. So in this, the trust that he had drawn up for his situation is different than when you're going to be doing so just, just like Rachel said, find somebody trust and no pun intended.

And yeah, get that take care of it. For sure, and I would do that as soon as possible to tear up for them. All right, next, let's go to John in Little Rock. Hi, John. Welcome to the show.

Hey, how are y'all? Hi, we're doing great. How can we help? Yeah, so me and my wife, we bought an older home. There was built in the 60s and underneath and they're called space.

There is a lot of water damage and mold. And everything underneath the house is going to have to be replaced and re-done. The estimate is about 100,000 to fix all the flooring and the network for the HVAC system. And we only owe 80,000 on the house. And so it's kind of devastating news.

We also just found out we're back to have a baby. So that's also kind of a little stress around the situation.

So we're just wondering basically, do we need to just try to sell the house as is?

I'm going to rent somewhere or we don't think it makes sense to go get alone for that much on a house that is going to be listed in the price to repair it. Well, the house wouldn't be what you owe on it is, but how much is the house worth? The value with land and everything would be about 170,000,000 I would say.

“I personally and I could be wrong. You need to check with professional in your area, but I don't think you could sell the house for more than you owe on it.”

Because in inspectors going to find all the stuff that you're going to have to disclose it. Because you know it now. So you have to disclose it when you list it for sale. And if you sell it as is and the whole property in and of itself is worth 175 grand. You're not going to get, you know, you're not going to get $89,000 after the sale of that. Got you. Okay. You got him saying?

Right. What, have you had another person come on give you a second estimate? We have. It's still, it's still going to be pretty expensive. They quoted it like 70,000. Okay. How much you guys make a year, John?

Yeah. After taxes, like 100, 100,000 a year. Okay. I wonder if you could pull this apart in stages. That's what I was thinking. What could you do right now? A little bit of work. Take a few months. Do do some more.

How long have you guys lived in the house?

Yeah.

Is there a possibility and, and do I, I don't know what I'm talking about.

I'm way over my skis here, but is there a possibility you could get the mold remediated and then do the flooring, but not put fancy floors down on top of the new sub floors. And then come in six months later and redo all the HVAC stuff.

“Is there a way you could do this in stages where you can cash flow this thing?”

But it takes you a year and a half versus doing it all at once. It's a pain that buddha be awesome right at check and go away for a month and have it all done. But it may be cost prohibitive to do that. That's true. The only thing is he said that they would have to fix the duck work because the duck work is also very old to get to the other part of the house.

They would have to have that repair too. So it's just, it just seems like everybody we look at this. It's going to be a huge expense. Yeah.

But if it's, but it's basically what you're saying is in a way.

It's kind of, it's like it's worth 70, right? If it's worth 170 and it needs a hundred thousand dollars, they're not going to, you know, when you just do quick math, that's 70, you owe 85.

“So I think about it even in the sense of a car, right?”

People are like, I have to put more into my car than what it's worth. But then you do want it fixed to get a higher value. But you don't even mean it's kind of like sunk cost perspective. And it's the home. I mean, honestly, John, I probably would slowly probably cash flowed this.

Do you guys have consumer debt? The only that we have is the home and then we do have a truck. Okay. Um, shoot. This is the part of home ownership that is so hard, because it costs, I mean, it's this stuff that comes up you guys all the time.

Um, I mean, if I were you, John, I probably wouldn't just wipe my hand. I think I would slowly start doing some repairs. I said down with G.C. and say, I've only got to go and steps. Yes, going steps. And what steps could I make to maybe break even so that if we wanted out,

we could eject at a certain point to give yourself an out if you wanted to. But I'll take this for you, brother. Sorry, John.

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Shopify.com/RAMZE. That's Shopify.com/RAMZE. Well, the 2027 RAMZE goal planner is here, and it is more practical than ever before. We heard some feedback and we said, "You know, we're going to give the people what they want." So you're going to get brand new content from Jade, John, and myself,

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So don't wait to grab your planner. So it is 4997, you can get sure that RAMZE solutions.com/store, or if you're watching on YouTube or podcast, click the link in the description. All right, so we're going-- Well, it's for sale right now, though, right?

Just as grab your copy for 4997, I think it's-- I think if you order it now, it's the cheapest it will ever be. Okay, there was a deal of that. I don't know if it's it. Okay, two different graphics.

I don't know, I'm just-- I'm reading my ad-- I'm given-- I'm just given.

I don't know. But sometimes, do what?

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You're trying to get-- Hey, here's a deal. I know. Rachel Cruz is a part owner of RAMZE solutions. She's trying to get more money out of you guys.

This thing is on sale right now, and last year it sold out. John Bloney was on sale. Yeah, man, listen. Listen, I don't know. I just-- I'm told, okay, we got to--

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It's a really good coffee. All right, let's go to South Bend, Indiana. We got Sam on the line. Hi, Sam. Welcome to the show.

All right, thanks for having me. Absolutely. Thanks for calling in. How can we help? I'm so--

I just kind of want some help trying to get kind of a roadmap for how to get out of debt, because I'm about $65,000 in debt. And I only make about $60,000 a year.

“I have a one-and-a-half-year-old at home”

and my wife is six months of pregnancy. So I'm just trying to clean this up for that. Yeah. You know, it's going to have to suffer through any of that. I love it, man.

I love your heart, brother. Yep. The kids turned everything around. You thought I was like, "Once you have kids." Oh, crap.

We got to get our stuff together. We got to be different now. What's the debt, man? So about 18,000 of it is credit cards. They're split up into two different accounts.

They've already been sold off to third parties.

And it's been a while. So I actually went into a debt consolidation program originally. And then the law firm that I was working with just liquidated and was done with it. So they kind of handed it back to me.

And I want to try to get the ball roll. And because I really, you know, started to look around the bill. I was just starting to fall apart around me. And I need to, you know. Okay.

So what else besides-- See, if 18 grand that's already gone to collections in two different credit cards, what else you got? Um, then I owe about 17,5 on a car. I just financed a few months back.

I just bought a second car for my wife and I just actually over the weekend. That was about $3,500 that they cash. Okay. I owe about $10,000 on an AC unit for my house. I blew up first year that I moved in.

And then I got my wife's card that we originally had as our only vehicle request. And they still won about $15,000 for that. And they took it. That's all right.

That's done. Yeah. That's already done. They already auctioned it off. And that's what they want afterwards.

That's the difference. Dude, what has happened up until now? Because this isn't just a matter of you being a debt. This is a matter of you. You just didn't pay bills.

Yeah. So what truly happened was around the time that everything started to slow down with COVID. I was working at a factory job. And I started to get into some credit card debt when they cut my hours.

And eventually I kind of just got tired of it and went and started doing my own thing. So I'm self-employed now. I have been for about three years. But I cleaned houses for a living.

And it was rough trying to get everything on track it first.

And then I guess I just kept knocking my wife up. And now I don't have any help. I have the ability to get out and really even get more clientele. Because I just don't have the time in the day. It's one person.

How much money do you have? I'm about five grand a month on average. And it just fluctuates in the winter time. Because I have some clients that go away. Mm-hmm.

Okay. Um, and you've been in that business three years. You said three years now. Yep. Yes.

Oh, yeah. Three years now. Okay. And you have predictable downtime. She says with certain clients.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm from about January to April. I was probably about between 1,000 and 1,500 a month. Yeah.

I'm just crying. I'm gonna go. So what are you doing that gap to earn money?

“Um, honestly, I've just been trying my best to kind of back up money aside.”

So that when that time comes around and stack up things around the house. So that I don't run out of things. I have, you know, kind of stock tiles. And I also have been very fortunate enough to when Christmas rolls around. And especially with the burden of my child.

That people have been extremely generous given me bonuses. I don't have to bank on that for the holidays. Sure. Sure. Thanks for the help.

How much cash do you have set aside? Uh, I have a thousand dollars set aside. I'm done with maybe step one. That's that's all I have after the car. What's the car?

The $17,000 car. If you sold it today, do you know what you would get from it? Uh, I want to say probably about 13 or 14 something like that. Okay. So you're a little underwater in that?

Uh, a little bit. Yeah, just from the depreciation. Yeah, because I'm just trying to think through some math here. Because for me, my goal for you, Sam, would be to get out of debt as quickly as possible. Okay. So that's going to be working nights and weekends. Your wife is going to probably feel like a single mom for a second.

Because you are working so much. Uh, you guys, I mean, I'm sure you don't have a ton of expenses to cut. But where you can cut, we're not eating out.

Like we're doing nothing.

We're not spending money except for keeping the lights on, keeping the roof over our head. Like the absolute needs, the necessities.

“Um, and then the other thing is selling stuff, right?”

And so you're doing all of this at once to get out of debt as quickly as possible. So I'm just looking at your numbers and I'm thinking, okay, $1,000 in bad debt, you know, I mean, you possibly could settle. Maybe let's just say generously, you know, half. You know, what if that went down to nine thousand, okay?

You can't do much about the, about the repo car. You can't do much about the HVAC. Um, and then the car, let's just say you have took a $3,000 hit. And if you could get a small loan from a credit union for six grand, go get you a $3,000 car, and then have that right.

That loan goes from $17,000 to $6,000. You know, you kind of, you start to kind of play with the numbers of what the, what the ideal situation would be to get out of debt as fast as possible. And, and there's a chance that your debts look in more like 3839 versus 65 at that point.

I was hoping, especially since it's been the third party as some of the,

some of the debt, and they seem willing to kind of work with you to just get anything. They will, but you're going to have to, you're going to save up a lump sum. To settle with them. Yeah, yeah, I'm right now. Like I said, I bought the car in cash, and it says me about five months to do it.

But I saved about $800 a month, so that I can, you know, buy that. So I saved up four grand within that five months. I think that, you know, but they get to take that amount right now. This is going to sound nutty, because I know I'm talking to a guy who's so tired, because he's got a newborn and a pregnant wife, and you're, you're hustling your own,

you're a one-man shop on your, on your, on your, on your business. But you can't afford, you simply cannot afford to, when, when a big chunk of your clientele goes on vacation during the, the cold winter,

for you just to hang out at home.

You got to go find other work. And you've got to grind and grind and grind. And after you get done cleaning all day, you come home and have dinner with your family. And then you go stock shelves at Walmart until midnight. And this is going to be the next 18, 24 months.

And you're going to feel like you're going to collapse, but on behalf of your family, you can do it. I believe in you. But it's going to take that level of negotiating with, with certain folks, selling stuff, cutting expenses to the bone for 24 months. And, bro, you're going to, you've dug yourself a big hole, so to fill this hole up,

you're going to be tired, shoveling. And there's just, there's, you can scroll all day, you can Google hacks all day. There's not any hacks around. You've got to cut expenses and make more money.

“That's just the only thing you can do right here.”

And the, in the wild thing is to Sam, if you can get this credit card debt, where they can settle and you do this car, and you find three grand extra a month, right? I mean, a lot of this has gone, it goes away in a year, year and a half. I mean, it's pretty wild what the, what the math starts to do,

but it's going to take some drastic changes. It's going to be a drastic year and a half for you guys to get this to play out the way that you're wanting it to. But a year and a half of it, and it's behind you, and then you've learned, gosh, such a way of life of what you're not going to go back to.

Like, that's the legacy change you're there for your kids that you're looking for. Having healthy money habits, where you actually control your money and your money is not controlling you. (upbeat music) Hey, what's up, guys? It's Jade.

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that you can do to help us spread the word as to share it with a friend. Maybe post one of the clips on social media, but just spreading the word about the show is one of the best ways we can get the word out to help people do what we want. Get control of their money, and create a life that they love,

and finally find some peace with the subject in life that can be so complicated.

Yep, we're thankful for you guys for listening and watching, so leave a comment, we love hearing from you, and share the show when you can. All right, let's head to Kansas City, and we have Andrew on the line.

Hi, Andrew, welcome to the show. Hey, how are you? Hi, we're doing great, talk to me, help. Good, I have to start off by saying, since you Rachel started it,

“I think that Bologna is way better than the name”

that John High School Football Coach called him back in the day. Listen, Andrew, Andrew is deep. I don't even know what the, I don't know what the... Yeah, it's far more socially acceptable to say John Bologna allowed. But I must have called Rachel Brouser, Rachel's snooze.

Who I like that, or Rachel's snooze. I like that. Let us snooze, oh my gosh. What's up, brother? We're in baby step three of my wife and I,

and my wife is certainly the free spirit, and I am definitely the outspoken jeep skate. And every time we talk about money, the tension is pretty high, and we overall just tend to avoid the conversation altogether.

How can we tell if we're actually pretty close on a goals or if I just need to loosen up, or if our household spending genuinely needs to be ranked in? I want money to be a conversation we can approach without fighting or dreading the finance talk.

Okay, before we get to that, because Rachel's wrote a book on this. She's the expert here, but I won't ask you a question, okay? Ask that last question again. I want money to be a conversation we can approach without fighting or dreading the talk.

Okay, let's take the actual topic of money off the table, and let me ask you a question. Are you a person your wife can sit down

“and have a conversation with and you don't try to fix her?”

You hear? You say thanks for sharing that? Even if you think it was dumb or boring or whatever? Are you a safe person that she can just talk with? The answer to the question before yesterday would have been no.

Okay. We go in seasons of that. But just yesterday we kind of had a sit down, redefined the marriage relationship conversation. We're both of a share of hearts,

and that was one of the things that she really wanted to talk about. And I totally understand, and I admit that yes, I'm a problem solver along with many other men, and that's something that I need to work on. So even yesterday after that conversation they weren't really well,

and then even this morning I was able to practice that. But we're getting there.

So historically no, but starting last night the answer is yes.

Perfect. So what I want you to work on in your home and it sounds like y'all are on it. And you use the magic word. This is just practice. And for the wives out there listening,

often a husband tries to fix a problem, not because they think you're stupid, and they're whole life they've been told the only value you have in the world is utility. Is the solution to a problem. It took me being married forever before I realized yes,

my wife likes that I can change oil on the car, and yes, that she likes things I can do around the house. But she likes me. And that was hard for you to metabolize, because I thought I was only worth my answers.

And so y'all practicing. Just talk, listening.

“Remembering she's your friend that you're her friend, right?”

You get what I'm saying? So y'all are on the right path there. That will make not only money conversations, but any conversations you have, one of curiosity and not judgment.

Instead of that's a stupid thing. Do tell me more about that. That's different than how I see it. And one of those is an invitation. One of those is a slam door, right?

All right. So we'll talk about the money thing here. Go for Rachel. Well, I was going to just, I mean, when you said we continue to fight about money,

and then you're like, but we're on baby step three. So I'm like, this is, the problem isn't the system that you guys have put in place. It's the attitude and the posture around the subject.

That's caused the strife, right? Or something's come up and get triggered in her or you. And it's like, you guys just can't come eye to eye. But I think it's probably more what John's saying is the approach at which you take those conversations.

And a helpful thing that I feel like has been good that Winston and I, and we do this with more than just money. But we see the thing that we're talking about or the tension points where we're so different. We're coming at it in such different perspectives,

different backgrounds, how we grew up with my, I mean, all of it, right? That all plays in.

And we see that subject matter is kind of the third party

And Winston and I are on the same team.

Like it's us locking arms against that thing out there. That the spouse is at your wife isn't the end. I mean, you're not the end of me to her. It's this thing out there. And what is this thing out there creating in me

or creating in her or him, you know, in my case. This strife that we just seem to have this conflict all the time. And when you can start to pinpoint that, that that's huge.

“And I think we have found two with Mary couples.”

We were talking about money and marriage, but we talked about the subjects a lot over that weekend. But having empathy with your spouse actually seeing your differences and her massive free spirit as a strength Andrew, like she gives you a gift in your life.

You would be probably a semi boring person that doesn't leave the house much. If it probably weren't for your wife, right? Who brings the bond and the levity and the enjoyment, right?

And then you are a gods into her because if she's like me,

details are not my ideal. I don't really enjoy looking at every single little thing and every interest rate and if we put it in this thing and we change here. And we do that. I mean, I'm like, it's great.

I trust you. It's fine. Go and do it. I don't enjoy that. But because of that, it actually gives me a subconscious

safety net of knowing I have a husband who's taking very good care of our family and that way. Does it make sense?

“Like there's a beauty in the differences.”

And I think that's, you know, so yeah, we can dive into the numbers if you want. But I do think there's a level of respect and care to give each other in these conversations. That's going to help tremendously.

We'll she'll have the freedom. And probably maybe even say, hey, okay, because this has been going so well and I feel this freedom that I don't get slapped on the wrist or feel like I'm getting, you know, judge.

Judge? Yes. Maybe I don't need to spend so much shirts. Like, there's more of a willingness on both parties and to do some level of change.

When you know that the other person is for you and there's a beautiful love and respect, you know, situation happening. Does that make sense? 100% does.

Absolutely. What's the number you're worried is to extreme? I would say there's a few examples,

“but things like birthdays, birthday gifts.”

She has a large family. And so, you know, when it comes time for celebrating a few birthdays, you know, maybe sometimes there's a month where there may be three or four birthdays and we want to spend, or she wants to spend $25 or $30 or $40 for a per person.

Or, you know, going out to eat a big one for her would be clones. And so I'm not necessarily opposed to spending money because I kind of train myself a, you know, let loose every once in a while, go get your, I like coffee. So go get yourself a coffee or a specialty coffee or something like that.

But, you know, where the wine is because I realize that we're still in baby step three. We had an emergency fund. Then we had a baby in April, so we depleted about half of it to pay after medical bills.

And so now we're kind of building that back up. And so because we're going to mid to late 20s or I guess I'm 26, so mid to 20s, I'm just kind of worried like I just want to get into a house. Like, I just want to complete baby step three B. And I want to get into a house.

And her, maybe goals are like, well, I want to get a different car. And I really don't care about a house right now. Maybe, you know, maybe five years, absolutely. But, you know, in 2026 or 2027. Yeah, no.

So let's have that. Let's have that conversation. Where do we want to be in five years? Yes. Who do we want to be in ten years?

And those dreaming conversations where they're like, they're like, they'll corporate whiteboard. There's no bad ideas. Like, what's your picture of five years from now? We have one or two or three little kids running around here.

Where do you want to be? What do you want that to look like? And then you begin to reverse engineer action steps based out of this. Shared vision of where you all want to be.

And there's going to be, there's always going to be pinch points.

I'll actually want a new car before one house. On a house before one new car. Well, one of those is appreciating asset. And one of those is like this. But getting beneath the houses.

I want the security for my family. I want to home her, right? And so getting to those real issues underneath the fight points. Yes. Man, it changes that.

And her to have a level of freedom within come that you guys are out of debt. You're building that emergency funds. But I do also want to enjoy my life. Yes. So there has to be a both aunt.

Welcome back to the Ramsey Show and the Fairwins Credit Union Studio. I am Rachel Cruz hosting it this hour with Dr. John Deloni.

So give us a call. Triple 8, 825, 5225.

“Looks like the phone lines are all taken at this moment.”

But just keep trying.

And hopefully we can get you in this hour.

All right. Let's go to Casey and Lexington, Kentucky. Hi, Casey. Welcome to the show. Hi.

Thanks for taking my call. Absolutely. How can we help? A little backstory. May my wife, we are in her early forwardies.

Maybe stick six. Question is, she is planning on going back to school. And we do have the money saved up for her to go back to school. But her work is willing to reimburse her. But only she takes out student loans.

What? Yeah. Yes. What kind of industry is she in? She is in healthcare.

I've heard of all sorts of reimbursement plans of all types.

But I've never heard of somebody that it has to go.

Has to be a student loan. I don't understand that.

“Has she asked more details of why the process is that way?”

I'm not necessarily know, but we for sure do have to take out student loans. That is the answer. What would the degree be getting her? Um, like, payment was. Yes.

And advancement in I'm assuming her career track. Correct. Yes. Approximately a 30,000 dollar jump. Okay.

Per year. Good for her. And how much is the schooling? Uh, 25,000. Okay.

And maybe two and a half years. And it's two and a half years doing that. Okay. Good for y'all. She must be awesome.

That's really cool. Um, and let me throw one other wrench in there before Rachel answers. I, I would want to know if. I go in and put my tuition on a payment plan to tell the university. Because I'll put you on a three or six month plan instead of writing a check on day one.

I've just never, I've been around higher ed for, for almost all of my adult life.

I've never heard of this. I've heard of blanket reimbursement and unless there's some tax advantage that the business has by paying down their employees to the loans or something. I don't know. I just never ever heard of this.

Which in any time I've never ever ever heard of something A, I can be totally wrong. But B, I would want to dig in a little bit for a sec if I'm not hearing stuff right. Okay. Because if there's paperwork that has to be done of, okay, I, I, um, and not from a loan perspective. But I'm wondering, yeah, like a payment plan here and then the school writes her the check and reimburt.

Like it's all. Yeah. And we'll, but I, I don't, and sometimes if it's attached to a loan, they sometimes have a weird repayment plan.

“And/or you have to stay with that company for at some amount of time, right?”

Like there's, there's, there's some strings attached always. What is, what are the strings on this one? It is three years. She has to be on for three years. Is that after she finishes her schooling?

Yes. Okay. So five and a half years. And she currently works there now. Yes.

Sure. Sure. Oh, bro. I wouldn't do, there's no chance. I know.

And, and, you know, my feelings on, on debt. I'm on the range of sure for God's sake. But I would gladly pay 25,000 bucks that I have for a, a degree that will reimburse itself. They'll pay for itself in, in less than one year for four and a half years of freedom for me in my wife. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Because she's one bad boss. She's one bad transfer. She's one bad. The hospital sells to another host.

I mean, any number. Has a baby that she wants to, you know, be home? I mean, I don't know what it is, but it's like. Yeah. But the freedom for my family.

Again, you hear me say it all the time. I saw for peace and I saw for freedom. I'll, I'll pay 25 grand all day long, especially in a healthcare position. It's going to be hard to lie in one year or less, shoot. I wouldn't even think twice about that.

Gotcha. I thought I'd know the answer, but she will make a call. Well, I'll tell you, Nora. I mean, I can get you the, I can, I can preach you about student loan, just something. You would actually have me kind of bound up to be honest with you.

I would have to, I'd have, I'd have principal versus principal in my own spirit. If, if she has the ability, a company is going to pay for her to go to grad school. And maybe they're going to ask her for two years or for one year. And they have to take student loans. That would be principal versus principal for me.

But this one is a no brainer. Y'all have worked out your butts off for just this moment where she can get the advancement. It's awesome. And she does not have to sign a check with, I mean, she doesn't have to sign a commitment to anybody like that. Yeah.

Yeah. Yep. I would, I would have options. That's the, the beauty in life. When you have autonomy over your decision making, like it is, that's a game change.

You're, you're not stuck in just a crappy situation.

So, yeah.

And you know how to pay it all up front?

I mean, you probably pay five grand per semester. You know what I mean, as you go through, so easy. You know, it's the, it's the same conversation. I feel like that we have to talk people off the ledge of, of student loan forgiveness, right?

If they're on the front end of it. And like, like, a wait 10 years. And this could be for, you know what I mean? And it's, this long time.

“And that's why we're even like, no, you never know what's going to change.”

In 10, 10 years is a long time, you know, and into work and to pay off what you've had, where it feels like a free situation, 10 years from now or in her case, kind of a free situation. But that's five years, right? And your fingers across it.

That's one, two, three.

Potentially, three presidents away.

Yeah, that's right. That's right. No, what's the, you know what I mean? What's going to happen? Don't get our concerns.

Catch you, Peter. We'll be all our president three presidents from now. Like who knows what the plan will be. What the world is going to be, right? So it's, when you can make decisions for your home in a vacuum.

You guys, that is worth it every time. All right. Let's go to Doug and Tampa, Florida. Hi, Doug. Welcome to the show.

Hi, how are you guys? And I were doing great. How can we help?

I guess over time they've done pretty good.

They're three energy stocks. But we're looking to make the most out of it for the next 15 years until we get to close our retirement age here. Mm hmm. What should we do?

Should we sell these stocks and put them in the mutual funds that we found that are getting close to 10% or should we just let them out? Are they three individual stocks? Three individual energy stocks. Okay.

So yeah, I'm not a fan. I sell those for the days over the day of individuals. Yeah, I mean, because because all your eggs are in one basket versus a mutual fund, you're going to have 90 to 200 stocks.

“Or even if you just did an index fund for the S&P 500, right?”

It's across all 500 companies. There's just something about that diversification that gives you such safety. And you're right. And the market's done well. I mean, when you look over, I think we did the math with Dave on the show last week.

It was like up 100% over the last four years, five years. When you look at all the combined, like it's just, it's wild with the market's doing. And to put all that risk on just three companies doing well, I wouldn't take that bet. So yeah, I would sell them to either great mutual funds or even,

I mean, you could just do an index fund too. Open up a brokerage account with, you know, Vanguard or Fidelity or, Dipper, how much are they worth? I'd say right now, probably take out a lot of our toll stocks to get the kids college stuff. We have about three, 350.

Okay. So you know what? That's enough that I would sit down with a smart investor pro. If you go to Ramsesolutions.com, you can find one in your area. And actually look for a long term game plan for that amount. Right?

“If it was like 10, 15 grand, which I knew it probably wasn't going to be,”

you could do something simple. But I probably would sit down because they're going to be able to look at different funds. The best ones to put you into and even, you know, things like, you know, tax loss harvesting, like, there's some elements at that amount of money

that I would want on my side and a financial advisor can help you with that. So check out a smart investor pro dug. Yep, and I would get those moved. Hey, guys, Dave Ramsier. Every day on this show, we help people work through real money problems

and figure out what to do next. Now, you can get that same kind of help any time with Ask Ramsay. Ask your money question and get answers built on Ramsay principles we use on the show, whether you're making a decision or just want something explained. Ask Ramsay is here to help.

It's fast, simple and free to use. Go to RamsaySolutions.com and try Ask Ramsay today. That's RamsaySolutions.com. Next, we have Kelly in Denver, Colorado. Hi, Kelly.

Welcome to the show. Hi there. Thank you so much for taking my call. Yes, absolutely. So I am going through the force.

Sorry. And it's okay, thank you. So I, so right now, I'm keeping the house. But I'm also pain will be pain. So I'm going through the force.

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So I'm going through the force. So I'm going through the force. So I'm going through the force. So I'm going through the force. So I'm going through the force.

So I'm going through the force. So I'm going through the force. So I'm going through the force. So I'm going through the force. So I'm going through the force.

So I'm going through the force. So I'm going through the force. So I'm going through the force. So I'm going through the force. So I'm going through the force.

So I'm going through the force. So I'm going through the force. So I'm going through the force. So I'm going through the force. So I'm going through the force.

So it's-- I don't have equity in the house. I would just be walking away. I mean, how did they appraise the house it being underwater? And you still have to pay him $4400 a month.

Well, the $4400 is-- Because of your income? Correct, the income. And it's-- it's-- there's a whole-- [LAUGHS]

He was not working. So you know, it gets a full reward reverse. It's not going to stay at home, Dad, but not working either.

“So if you sell the house, does this all alone money go down?”

It wouldn't go down for at least the next two years. Because it's kind of a lock-in rate for it. OK, well, you might be-- If that's the case, you're not-- I don't know if you're going to find rent in Denver for-- You may not-- yeah, you may not have a choice, but to stay in it.

And so to see until the equity is built, which will be probably another four years, Kelly. So I would find the way to cut expenses and hold on and try not to dip into that emergency fund too much until the market sim i recovers, and you have some equity in the home. [MUSIC PLAYING] You spend hours researching before making a major purchase, like a home or car,

but it's also a good idea to put in the work searching for the right insurance coverage. To protect your biggest assets, I recommend using Ramsey Trusted Pros, so you're looking for car home or any other type of insurance. Ramsey Trusted Providers have been coached and vetted to serve you like we would. Find what you need at RamseySolutions.com/insurance.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

They're too healthy. They just don't need one. Maybe they don't own a lot of stuff, so they're like, "That's not a big deal."

“But a will helps protect your family. It gives clear instructions,”

and can keep your loved ones from having to guess what you wanted during a difficult time. Like if you could imagine, someone passing away and then trying to figure out what to do with all their stuff, and I will give guided instructions to you guys and it gives a clear path. I talked about this yesterday with Jay, but I don't see it again on this hour today. Imagine you're 21, you live in an apartment, and you're thinking, "I would've thought it 21.

I don't need a will. I don't have anything. I have a guitar or an old couch." But imagine something happens to you, and you pass away, and your mom can't go in your apartment, and help pack up your clothes. Your dad can't come in with one of his friends and help move your couch out, because they're not allowed in the apartment, because the apartment has to turn it over, because they're just different adults now.

Give your family the benefit of just being able to agree with you, and not also having to fight for you after you pass. Every single body who's an adult needs a will period in the story. So go create when you guys and go to momabarylegalforms.com. And if you're not sure where to start, you can text quiz to 33789,

and we'll help you figure out what option is best for your situation.

But momabarylegalforms.com, they're amazing.

Or I went to the States, Pacific Wills, like they are awesome. So make sure to check them out. All right, let's go to Trisa and Tulsa. Hi, welcome to the show.

“Thank you guys so much. Thank you for your time and your wisdom sharing with everybody.”

Absolutely. Thank you. How can we help today? Well, it's kind of starting late in the life here to understand all this stuff. My husband is in his mid 70s, and I'm in my late 60s, but I've been trying, I got all your dad's books,

and I've been reading them, but I have a question about the emergency funds. It says best place to put in a simple money market. I don't understand where to go, or what to do if that's it. The bank, or if I have to go to a planner. I have it right now in a, well, I did have it in a no penalty CD,

but I just have to change it until to December, because it was better percent interest at the moment, but it's not liquid, so I got to get back to liquid and understand that. So I'm just trying to understand what it is. So I don't understand all of this stuff, but I don't know if you guys can know.

Did your awesome Teresa? I first applaud you for not many people in their, in their 60s want to change the way they've been doing stuff.

And so there's, yeah, that's amazing.

Well, I'm very scared. I do believe it's all gods, and I want to be a good stir. You know, leave it. Where it needs to be, you know, do what I'm supposed to. We're going to call the right place. We're going to, we're going to help you get unscared.

Is that cool? We're going to make it real simple for you.

“Yep. So I think one thing to remember, and for everyone listening,”

this is kind of a good teaching point for everyone, is that your emergency fund is not an investment. You want to see it more like insurance, right? So the percentage of what you make, yes, on it, it doesn't really matter as much,

because if we were going for high interest, we'd be putting it, you know, in the market, right? So that's one thing to remember. Also for CDs, yeah, they're not, they're not ideal for an investment or an emergency fund because it's usually have to let them mature before you take

some money out. You said that there's a no penalty one, but easy access to the emergency fund is huge. This is a big point. You don't want it too accessible. We're sitting in your checking account, and you might spend it

right accidentally. And so keeping it in its own separate account. So that is where in the book, yes, he probably did right about a money market account. And the funny thing is, the things that become more popular

in the last couple of years, it's very similar to a money market account. It's called a high yield savings account. And so you're parking money in this. And again, I know it's not an investment.

So I'm kind of like speaking out of both sides here, but it's better to have your money and something that's just growing a little versus a traditional savings account. So with a money market account or a high yield savings, you can put your money somewhere.

I mean, you may earn 3% probably run what you're making in your CD, honestly. But you're able to transfer money account to account within that. It's very easy to get to.

Even some money market accounts. You can write checks out of it. Or an debit card comes with it. You have a limit usually on your transaction, so you don't want to use it as a checking account.

But if you needed to get to it quickly, you could. So Teresa, if you hang online, Christian's going to pick up, and he's going to help you get to fair winds credit union.

I have, I've opened up accounts with them

because you can have up to 10 high yield savings accounts with them. And so that is where I would put your emergency fund Teresa is with fair winds. And it's very easy to set up. If you go to the website,

Christian can help you get to that. It's fair winds dot org and go to slash Ramsey. And set that up. But I would take money out of that CD, and I would put it just in a high yield savings account.

And again, you're fully funded emergency fund is three to six months of expenses. And so that's the number you're shooting for there. So I'll say this, Teresa, and Rachel, you can tell me, John, this is dumb,

is my homes emergency fund like the, if something happens and I need money today, I have no idea what the interest rate is. Because I know me in that if it had,

“I've got money in the high yield savings account, right?”

And I've got college savings, I got that stuff.

But as for that account, I know if it had an interest rate attached to it that I knew and watched. And is it 2.9. I've been waking hours going well, and I have to remind myself that's not the point of that money.

That point of that money is every day of my life. We're having a good time. So in my house, I have my checking account in a bank. And we opened another account under that same heading,

under me in my life's heading, and it's there. And I can't, I can't use my debit card out of it. I've got to stop and open my laptop and move it from one account to another, which takes like five seconds to do. But for me, I don't even, for that,

especially that initial thousand bucks, but for my three to six month of work, dude, I just can't get my head in that stuff. It gets too complicated for me.

I don't want to mess with it.

I just want that safety. What do you guys, do you guys have consumer debt? You and your husband? No, our house is paid for. Oh, wow.

There are everything's paid for, everything's in savings and in checking right now. I did check with a high yield savings at my bank, and they said you have to, you can only start it with 60,000.

Oh, good curry. That's thousand CD, but I don't know. No, no, I'm pretty sad. Yeah, no, that's wild. That's crazy.

No. Yeah, yeah, no, no, no, no. I think fair winds is like 500 bucks or something. Yeah, no, no. That's wild.

That sounds like they're trying to get the energy. Yeah, that makes me feel so. Everybody tells me something different in the room. Sure. And I don't have the internet,

so I work computer and literate. Even better.

“That's why you're still awesome to Risa.”

She has no, I'm trying. And I do depend on my kids once a while, but I try to do it. I still try to do it. Oh, that's good.

Okay, well, I'll say this then for you, Teresa. I love fair winds, but they are an online. Yes. Bank, they have parties around different credit unions in your area that you can go and get cash from. But I would say this.

If that, if that's not your cup of tea, then I would find a brick and mortar. That's not a, that's insane. What, what that bank quoted you. I would go down the street in their Tulsa and find a credit union. Yes, if there's a credit union in Tulsa that has a high yield savings or a money market.

That's great, too. I just wanted to do it in person. I totally, totally understood. And I want you to walk in there and say, I just want to high yield savings account. And I want to put 25,000 bucks in it, which is three to six months for me and my husband or whatever that number is.

And if they start trying to sell you other stuff, just say, I just, I just want this. And if they try to sell you more stuff again, say thank you for your time and walk out. You're in the driver seat sister. You have a paid for house. You've got cash.

You're, you are the boss here. Okay. Okay. And you are in a position of major strength here.

“Well, how much do you guys have saved Teresa overall for retirement?”

Well, actually not. Well, I mean, we do now. I mean, just in the last few years that we are here to the money and. But most of it isn't savings and of course the CDs. Okay.

Yeah, we'll getting getting that. I'm sorry. No, go ahead overall. Well, in the CDs, there's roughly 77,000. That's including that's including that's the emergency fund.

Okay. That's great. Well, and I would say any type of investing too. Check out our checkout smart vester pros. You can go to Ramsey's.

Well, you know, on the internet. Ask your kids to look up Ramsey Solutions.com and find someone in your area for investing for the future trees. That's your next step. Hey, guys.

George Campbell here. You ever feel like you make good money and still have nothing to show for it. You run into Target for one thing and somehow walk out $87 later with toothpaste

Just me. Okay.

Well, that's the problem.

“Most people don't pay attention to how they spend their money.”

So it does whatever it wants. And that's why we created every dollar. It's a budgeting app that helps you create a simple plan for your money. Every dollar simple, it's clear and it helps track where your money is actually going. Plus, you get daily lessons to do's and reminders along the way.

It's like having a money coach in your pocket. Your money's been freelancing long enough. It's time to give every dollar a full-time job. Go download every dollar for free on the App Store or Google Play. Our scripture that it comes from Philippians at 1.9.

And this is my prayer that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insights. Maya Angelou said, "Do the best you can until you know better." Then when you know better, do better. Oh, my God. All right, let's go to Gina in Los Angeles.

Hi, Gina. Welcome to the show. Well, hi. Thanks so much for taking my call today. Yes, absolutely. How can we help? Well, I am getting very close to retirement age. My husband's already retired and we're looking at our savings and investments.

And wondering whether we should leave a certain amount of money in an annuity we already have. No, I wouldn't. Yeah, no, I wouldn't. You can get much better rates of return. Less fees, everything. And the only annuity that I would, I wouldn't ever.

I wouldn't personally do one, but some people are so freaked out by the market. They kind of want that guarantee would be a variable annuity. That would be the only one if you were to do it. But I wouldn't Gina. So you guys have one currently, you said.

Yeah. Okay, how much is in that? It's 190,000 with a protected income of about 258. 250, okay. And what other money do you guys have saved?

We've got the rest of our money is in, I read for one case in high interest savings. So that's about another.

I don't know about 1.2 million.

Okay. And what the annuity, I'm just curious your thought process.

“When you guys opened it, was it just to diversify and have just another element?”

Or were you nervous about the market? Or what caused you guys to get it in the first place? Yeah. It was kind of to do something else. The market was a little bit nutty a couple of years ago when we did this.

And we are working with a financial advisor in a private company who suggested to be a safe place. And then we could start drawing against it as soon as next year. And so that would be an additional safe guaranteed monthly income. Okay.

Yeah. I mean, you guys are fine everywhere else. I just wouldn't. I mean, I'm just going to tell you what again, what I would do. And I wouldn't.

I would probably open up an index fund. Take that money out of the annuity and put it in. And just know that there's some great commissions. I'm not saying your financial advisors wrong in this. But there's a lot of high fees.

There's commission, a lot of commissions on annuities. And again, it kind of taps in to more of that fear mentality. You know, we had a lady call him. She was like in her early 90s, John. This was a few months ago.

And she just was scared to death. And I was hosting with Dave. And I'm where he was like, you know what? Just do your new ear fine. You just need a sleep good at night.

You know, you're fine. But in your 60s, that's 30. That's a good 30 years. I do, you know, hopefully 20 years of great growth that the market has been doing. I mean, you can look at historically, and yeah, there are some ups and downs.

But overall, yeah, I wouldn't. I don't see a need for it. If you'd had that money in the market the last five years. It would have gone out 100%. So what we're saying?

Yeah. It would have been gone crazy in a great way. So I think you can just make more.

“I think your money can make more than it's an annuity personally.”

All right. Let's go to Elsa in Houston, Texas. Hi, Elsa. Welcome to the show. Hi.

My question is that I need to figure out if I need to sell my house or maybe get a cheaper car. About a year and a half ago, my ex has been had to lower child support. And then it took time for that to go through the court system. Finally, that happened.

I always found out about him, more in the child support.

After I sent the agreement for the house, after I sold my other house. That was cheaper and more reasonable. So I'm trying to figure out how to keep from going under basically.

How much do you make a year? Um, 50, 50, 3000 dollars a year. Myself. Okay. And how much is your mortgage payment a month?

1850. 1850. Okay. How much is the child support? I got a loan from.

So I kind of budgeted it for about a thousand dollars a month.

And that allows for the next couple of years when basically my daughter graduates.

Yeah, that was going to be my first question. It's how much longer is this going to be a part of your life. Because if you bought a house on a even on a 15 year note and your kids older than three. This money runs out, right? Yeah.

Exactly. I have a pretty good 401k. But I have credit card debt because of going back to that court basically. Okay. And I'll be attorney fees.

So yeah. So I'm kind of stuck. I'm not sure what to do. Yeah. I mean, the house is, it's a lot for your income.

Yeah. Even with the child support $1,000. It probably is.

How much is the house worth?

I probably $220,000. I, it's a brand new house. Okay. And how much equity is that? Yeah.

Would it go for? Is there anything or how long have you been in it? I've only been in it for a little over a year. It's a brand new neighborhood. And it's not finished yet.

So I'm not sure it would sell right now for any more than what I want it. Okay. Okay.

“Are you underwater every month with your, with just your life?”

Yes. And it's very stressful. And I do have also a car payment. And I'm kind of trying to decide if I need to, you know, sell that and get a cheaper one and just pay the difference. How much?

Yeah. How much? Do you own the car? Around 34, 34,000. Oh gosh.

And it's like 500. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yes.

Okay. So just as a point in reference, we recommend that your car or cars in a household. But for you, a single car with your single income is no more than half of your annual take company. So that would sit you around the $25,000 car at the high end. Okay.

Are you underwater on the car? A little bit. Yeah. Okay. And what other debt do you have?

I'm just a credit card. And how much is that? That's around 20,000. Some of that is mostly zero percent. Okay.

So gosh.

“I mean, also honestly, I would probably talk to a real estate agent.”

We have some, we have some great trusted pros in your area. And I, I would. I go to roomsysolutions.com and find someone. You could look at different profiles and talk to a couple. One that you're comfortable with.

Tell them your situation. And I'm just wondering if you can get out of this house just unscathed and try to find. You know, even renting rent rent rent rent rent rent rent. I can also. I'm telling you, it's from the bottom of my heart.

I don't think you're going to do it, but I'm just telling you because I love you. You need a season of a two bedroom apartment. And because you owe so much money and depreciating asset in your car and credit cards. You know what I'm saying? Like this is like I'm just trying to imagine the stress you've been through with divorce,

a single mom with now suddenly like underneath you. They cut the child support like you need peace more than anything else. More than a fancy car, more than a fancy house. Yeah. Yeah.

Man. And then also I would go down to a credit union and see if they can give you a loan for maybe six grand. And whatever the difference is on the car, maybe two or three grand throw it at that. And then go and I would just get a crappy car. And let that be done.

Like it's amazing when you start to kind of see.

And these are big changes. I know I can just say this like in a sweeping two minute segment with you. But if you can find rents for 1,200 bucks and you have close to 4,000 leftover. And you have no car payment because you have that beater car. You start working to get this credit cards cleaned up, right?

And you throw an extra, you know, 2,000 at that. It's done in 2 months. You start to see the light at the end of the tunnel with a plan. But it's going to be a pretty intense plan after a pretty intense life situation that you've walked through with this divorce. So it's going to be a lot.

And I know I just probably like through a bunch over the fence of what to do to get out.

“But honestly, that's that's what I would do because what John saying you can't keep at this clip.”

You're going to continue to go deeper and deeper in the whole.

People that are going to root for you find a great real estate agent to give you the real numbers,

“the real cops and look at a real situation of what you could do to get out of the house.”

A real private sale.

Yes, number for your car.

Yes, all of it. I mean, yep. Oh, I'm so sorry, Elsa.

We're cheering for you, though.

Call us back if you need us.

“Remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace.”

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