Start Small and Keep Moving

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start budgeting for free today. [MUSIC] Normal is broke and common sense is weird. So we're here to help you transform your life. From the Ramsey Network and the Fairlands Credit Union Studio,

this is the Ramsey Show. I'm George Campbell here with Dr. John Deloni. Taking your calls at triple eight eight two five five two two five.

“That's how you get on the air and have a conversation about your life.”

You're my Joshua, kicks us off in St. Louis. What's going on, Joshua? Hey, thank you guys so much for having me on the show. I appreciate it. Absolutely.

Tell me. So a little bit about what's going on is it seems like we can't catch up financially.

I, so me and my fiance, we have about $100 and $10,000 coming.

And then, what is going on is we have a house payment of $150,000 left between $150 and $180. We have two car payments, one is a mini coupe and that is about $600 a month. And then we have a Chevy Colorado that is $738 a month. And it just seems like we are following behind more than we are catching up. Yeah, those car payments will do it to you.

And you said them, the mortgage balance is $150,000, $180. Yes, what's the amount to pay the balance? The monthly payment is $1,500 a month. OK. So as soon as the checks come in, you've got like three grand gone already.

Yes, yes. OK. And are you guys combined finances? It's because the way you're talking, it sounds like you live together. Your money is pulled together.

Everything is pulled together. We live with each other. We have one bank account. We both have 401(k)s, but after that, we have, I don't know where else to begin with. My financial.

This is all new to me. We got you, man. You called the right place. We're probably going to tell you to sell the mini coupe release. But I'm glad you got it.

I'm glad you called it. John, what have you said? Regardless of, they're being gathered on it. Just the mini coupe are on principle. The miniature truck, I can be all right with.

But hey, but no shade. I drove a Prius for a long time, but we're on the same team. But there is some truth to this. We got to figure out what these cars are worth compared to. What is owed on them and see if it's worth selling these things?

Right. And this is, this is like an important context for the call. Are you done with this? And what I mean by that is, are you done with the stress?

“And, and, because here's the thing, you've got two roads ahead of you.”

You can keep going, Sam, row, you're going on, drive the cars. You want to drive, live in the house. You want to live in. And, y'all make in six figures, but you feel broke, you can keep doing that, and that's hard.

Or you can have 24 months of challenging a challenging road with you and your wife and y'all can be free. Either path is hard. But if you're, if you're done with this, then George will give you the path that will get you there guaranteed every single time it works.

If people just do it. Otherwise, we're going to give you some principles and we can sink in by on and call it. Yes, I am completely done with it. I mean, it's getting to the point where I'm about to refinance our truck payment. We can get it.

No, no, no, no. Don't do that. Okay, we got you. We got you. Yeah, don't do that.

If it has the word "finance" in it, let's just take that off the table. Yes. How about that? Fair deal. Okay.

Can I explain it really quick? You can. So, to refinance, I am going through Ally and they have me at a 13.09% APR.

Now, I was going to go to a first community credit union and they offered me a seven

and a half person with adding on one more year. But my payment instead of 738, it will go down to 438. Well the goal is to throw more at the debt, not have a lower payment. Okay. If you could have a hundred dollar payment, but that just means it's going to take even longer

to pay it off and even less is going to principle.

“So have you figured out what both cars are actually worth if you sold them private party?”

No, not yet. I do believe the mini-coup would be around a $28,000 dollar so in the Chevy Colorado, maybe a $20,000, $20,000, $20,000,000. Okay. What's left on the loans?

The loan for the mini-coup is $36,000 and then the Chevy Colorado is at $20,000. Oh, man. How are you that far under water on the mini-coup? What happened? Did you trade, like, roll over negative equity?

No, it's, we both had jobs where we got it and then one of us lost our job for a little

more over time so I'm working about 50 to 50 out of five hours a week. How much is she worth? Um, actually it's a he, he is working 45 to 40 hours a week, making 30 bucks an hour. Okay.

So here's what I'm going to recommend.

I would split your finances for the purposes of this debt pay off journey and you focus on your consumer debts and he focus on his consumer debts and then we can attack this a little more strategically because right now it's all pulled and it's depending on who's more motivated and whose debt comes first instead if you just made a list of all of your debts, how many are there?

“I have the truck payment and the house payment if you want to.”

The mortgage is in your name only. It's in both of our names. Okay. You sold this truck, you would be completely consumer debt free. Yes.

Yeah. You walk away with two grand. You said it's worth 22 a year, 20.

So there's some good news there.

You are pretty close to being completely debt free. Do you have anything saved up in the bank right now? We have about $700 combined. Okay. So here's baby step one, $1,000 and a starter emergency fund.

I want both of you to have your own $1,000 starter emergency fund and you can do that with the next paycheck. What that means is we're not eating out. We're not going to invest a dime into those 401ks. We're going to pause all of that down to zero.

We're going to start selling stuff around the house on Facebook Marketplace. We're both going to pick up a side job to do these journeys together. Now, the cool news is you have some built-in accountability. You have someone else to say, hey, remember we said we're not going to do that. But the other person needs to be just on board as you are.

Otherwise, you're just going to be dragging them along with you. Okay. So do they feel the same level of urgency that you do? Because you're the one calling it like it. Okay.

Yes.

“That's why I would separate and say, hey, that mini-coup, that's your debt.”

This truck is my debt. I'm going to focus on getting rid of this debt. You can keep it if you want based on your income. But it feels like you have the urgency to go, I just want to be free. And if you can scrape together five grand and use the two that you profit from the truck,

you go get yourself a $7,000 vehicle for now. Free up that payment. Okay. And here's the reason, like the meta reason why we're telling you to separate is call after call after call after private conversation.

I have with folks, two people are dating. They share everything and one person ends up paying the other person's truck off. And I don't want to project this on you. But then there's a breakup down the road. And there is zero recourse.

None. There's nothing you can do. There's nothing you can do. And so you end up having paid somebody else's debt and then they're gone.

“And I wouldn't wish that on anybody, but that's what I'm saying here.”

So yes, you all each take full ownership of your debts. And man, it sounds like you only have a values conversation, too, which is, are we aligned on we want to be free as a couple as a household or I'm going to do this by myself. And this is going to be a value set that I have. And the hardest thing about this is not making the debt the villain and said it's

looking to the mirror and going, hey, it's not the mortgage, that's the problem. It's not the car payment. It's the guy in the mirror. Please don't agree. I'll play a shell game with debt.

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What's going on, Lewis?

Hey, guys. How are you? Listen, I am calling in a long time listener first-time caller,

but it's really just focused on this affordability crisis we're all dealing with.

“It's no secret, but I'm a young adult and I just feel stuck in so many different aspects”

of having to navigate it and I just kind of wanted to maybe touch some things that you guys and see what you think. Yeah, let's zoom in. affordability crisis is a great headline for the news, but it doesn't speak to the daily reality.

Are we talking, I can't afford DoorDash or I'm going to be evicted from my apartment. There's a big difference. No, no, no. I live at home still and I am trying to navigate the next steps of a relationship, moving out into my own place, do I rent, do I buy, next steps of my career, it hasn't expanded

as fast as I thought it would, having degrees that I do, I graduate my bachelor's in 21 and then my master's in 22. What's your master's in? I have my MBA and I work in human resources and I did that as a concentration in school and every job that I apply to, it's like, oh, this is an entry level position and then

they want three to five years of experience and it just brought those my mind, it's like, what are we doing? So I don't want to, I don't want to be an old guy because the affordability crisis, like things are very, or much more expensive, there's no question about it, okay. Right, right.

But what I'll tell you is, as a guy who got his master's degree and then got my first

“PhD, I had the exact same experience and what I think has shifted is, I went in knowing,”

I've got to work this job and I did it at university, I got to go get this associate dean of students job and I got adjunct at three different colleges in the evenings and on Saturdays and I got to work on a PhD at the same time. That was just what I knew to be true and what I hear now is, I don't want, I don't want to do the other stuff.

I thought that when I got this thing, it would just like the gravy treatment roll out and

I think that's new and so telling you, like I do it as a, I've never not lived with a roommate,

ever. Yeah. Before I got married, like that was just what we did and even we had a nice apartment there was several of us living there and so it's, it's you saying, okay, I had this dream and maybe somebody told you this and they did, I will say this, you were sold a bill

of goods if you just get MBA, you're going to make $250,000 and you can do it every one. And you'll buy a house as soon as you're out. That's not true. That's not true.

And it was, it was much easier for me relatively speaking to go about a house. No question. Who was in John's favor? A little more. But the, the work ethic and the, I got to get roommates.

I got to get friends. I'm going to live in apartment. I'm going to have a good life and I'm going to have to work in the evenings in the weekend so that when I get my three or five years, I'm going to be super far ahead of the next person in the interview line.

Right. So it's both in. Yeah. Yeah. I wouldn't even necessarily disagree with you.

I definitely think that where my head space was at, like I, I have certain expectations for myself and I had expectations for myself at that time. I don't know if it was just with the way that the pandemic rolled out in the timing of when I did it. That was awful.

It was awful. Absolutely. And I, I mean, I fortunately, I was commuting to a school that was right down the street for me. And I, I don't have any student loan debt.

I was able to work through school and pay my way through it. Okay. Pay my way through my master's. So what are you looking at?

What, what are you unable to do right this second?

The sides go by a big nice house, right? Yeah. And by the way, I didn't have a house without, uh, for Micah countertops, until just like a house or two ago, right? So like, what, what are you not able to do right this second that not that you realize, um,

I wish I could do it. And I just can't.

“What are you not able to do right now that you think you're getting ripped off?”

That isn't fair. I, you know, I, you, I, you do it the difference. The question a little bit. Yeah, okay. And I'm glad you can kind of renovate me here.

I got, you know, notes here and all these things I wanted to talk about. But, um, for, for me, it definitely feels more like I'm feeling stuck in what I'm doing. Maybe I'm not making enough to start my life. Fortunately, I'm, I'm not in a, of debt situation. Um, my parents are, are fortunately not charging me rent right now.

So I'm able to save as much as I can and I have a nice little nest that going. Um, but, you know, I, I can afford these rates. I can afford to put, um, you know, a mortgage, you know, just by myself.

So there's, there's a timeline here.

“Um, but for me, it's like, do, do we, is it smarter to rent?”

Yes. By that time. Yes. It's smarter to buy and be putting equity into an asset. Um, and, and my, because I'm only making, you know, like $40,000 a year.

and my current job, how old are you? - Given, I'm 28 years old. - Okay. - Given my education background, given how motivated I am to grow in my career,

am I in the right career? You know, I, I, - Well, you got a cause of the foundation in human resources, you said, right? - Right.

- So you want to be, I leadership in human resources. If I, if I snap my fingers. - Yeah. - So that, that you still take job. - It's gonna take five years of doing what you're doing

to get into the leadership role that gets you to the next leadership role.

So just know, they don't hand out leadership roles

just 'cause you got the MBA. It's going to take her, a grind. But it may not be as long as you think. If you, I mean, you're a sharp guy. This could happen a lot sooner for you than most people.

But let's focus on a one year goal versus the, well, I really wanted to have the six-figure job with a house tomorrow and be married. Let's just focus on one thing at a time. So you have no debt.

You're making 40 grand a year and how much do you have in savings? - savings account right now is about 23. - Great. So let's call that your emergency fund plus some.

Maybe it's a future down payment. Maybe it's a engagement ring. Who knows? You've got a lot going on in the next couple years. - Sure.

- So I would not be like, I got to be investing and I need to be saving.

“I think you're trying to do a lot of good things at once”

and you're not making progress. And part of it is, you're income. You're right. You should be making more as a guy with a couple of degrees by 28.

- Yeah. - Like the average college, you're gonna help either. - So there you go, all right, is this company not paying me enough? What is the market right for this kind of position? Should I try to be applying for other companies?

- Or do you have to have a heart, like I just recently talked to a friend of mine who's a tenured professor and we're walking through their finances. This is just a personal call.

And I said, I hate to break your heart here but you would make more money if you became the manager of a local Starbucks. - Yeah. - And if you want to do this job,

you want to talk about this particular subject with new students. Fun, it's awesome, it's a great life. But you're making a choice to not go make more money and have a different kind of life

because you want to do this thing. - So you kind of ironic because I, you know, like daily, I'm jumping on LinkedIn and indeed and I'm looking up career advice coach.

And here I am on McCall with you guys

“or I don't know if you've heard of like strawberry,”

it's like another, you know, webcam I am. - Yeah, you're career coach or something. - Yeah, but I worked with a great career advisor and I'm connected with her and it's fantastic. But like the fulfillment that I get

from having conversation sometimes with people about their career aspirations and their finances and things like that, like I would love to be in you guys a seat. - You know what I mean?

Like it's just like, it's just ironic that here I am in this like crisis. (laughing) You know, I'm here with all these notes and I'm like, okay, well, what's my next step?

And maybe it's just 'cause I overthink everything, but it's like... - Yes, there's that. - Most people in their 20s are on the struggle bus trying to figure it out.

So just know, you're not the only one going like, I'm not where I want to be yet. You shouldn't be. - I'm in your 20s. - Most people might age, you're still trying to get

where they're going. - You're lucky you're figuring this out in your 20s and not in your 40s or 50s. - Yes. - So you're an actually a really good spot.

If we just find a better job, half of your problems are solved, then you can say more. - Or if you stay in that job and you do some adjacent things,

like if you go, I went and ran with the crisis team and helped out police officers in the middle of the night. And I got paid like seven bucks an hour to do that. - Right, and then on the side, I went and you have a master's degree.

You could teach, you could add junk to business classes online for a company, right, for a university. And then when you're three to five year window comes through and you've been working in human resources,

then all of a sudden you've got a really nice resume where you've sat with hurting people, like big time hurting people. And you've been doing the thing day in and day out and you've got some education where you're back

in the classroom, now you've got a wide portfolio. But some of this, like George, you just nailed it. No one is gonna put you in charge of a thing unless you've done that thing for a while. They shouldn't at least.

And so you can out-degree your experience and you're just gonna have to ride that out. But bro, you're in a way better position than you think you are. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)

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a 50% credit towards their first month of membership. Go to CHMministries.org/budget and use promo code Ramsey. That's CHMministries.org/budget and promo code Ramsey. Greta is in Pittsburgh, up next. Greta, welcome to the show.

Hi, well, excited to talk to you guys. You made it. Thanks for calling. What's all I had to talk to you? I feel weird.

I'm glad it's you guys and not date. I'm a little scared of him. We are too. We are. Lots of respect.

No, it's great, man. What's up? He is.

“Anyway, so my husband and I are working on our wills.”

And we do not have a lot of assets right now. We are working on that.

But we both have a million dollar life insurance policy each.

And we have four send to be five kids. So I don't know. I'm going to the worst case scenario. But like if we both die, do we want them as a secondary beneficiary and how do we set that up?

Hmm. That's a great situation. What's the age range? What's the age range? I've talked about this.

So, yeah. So right now, we have an eight year old and then one do in December. Okay. We've got eight, five, three, one, and one on the way. That is a party.

Did your house? Yeah, dude. It is a disco ball in the living room of that house, man. Good to be all. The fact that you're asking this tells me that you are doing a great job with your state

planning to even be thinking about this. So I'm just so proud of you for calling in with this kind of question. And it's a good one. Because you've got to think about those scenarios, the what if scenarios, because they could happen.

And so there's something you can do so a simple will is a great start. People then go, "Well, I heard I need a trust."

Well, it's not always true.

There's ways to set this up where you don't need a complicated, super expensive trust to get started. You might just need a testamentary trust that's inside the will. Okay. So that can then specify.

So you're spouse, you know, he'd be the beneficiary on yours, he'd be the beneficiary on his. And then a secondary, you can have the kids as beneficiaries, but you don't want them as first because the life insurance company cannot write a check to attend your old. Right.

So it would go to whoever the guardian is. Have you guys selected that? Okay. Yes. So we do have a guardian.

It's my brother's husband, my husband's brother. Okay. Wow. We're getting weird now. My husband's brother and he is at the moment, the secondary beneficiary is that how we

would do it and then specify in the will how the money would go. So I wouldn't make him the beneficiary of the money. You can still make it the kids, but then they would be an appointed trustee. So with the testamentary trust inside the will, you can then name the trustee and name the guardian.

So the trustee manages the money, the guardian takes care of the kids. They don't have to be the same person. And sometimes shouldn't. Right. Some people are great with kids, terrible with money or the opposite.

Yeah. I kind of feel like it should be different people. That's the way my will, we ended up, we've got more than one property. So we ended up with a trust, but that's the way of mine is. The one person that I've a trust with the money that will be the executor and then the

people who would take my kids.

But I want, with $2 million, I would guess, you're not going to need $2 million in cash

to raise five kids, right? So you might think at 21, we want to distribute some of this money at 25 or whatever so that's when a trust could help you. And instead of naming the kids directly inside of that life insurance policy, what you do is once you have the will in place and you have the trust, the testamentary trust, you

can then name the trust, created under your will, as the contingent beneficiary.

“So that's how we have it in my house, for example.”

Okay. And then the trust lays that all out. So the testamentary trust inside the will can say, hey, they're going to get this much at this age, this much at this age in the rest at 35.

18, they get whatever's left or gets split among them, and you don't necessarily want that, because I remember myself at 18. But you also, something to think about, you've got five kids. Okay. Uh-huh.

If your brother-in-law suddenly has his own family and suddenly has five more kids, he might think of you house. Right. He already has two. Okay.

Right. And so sometimes these things can get cat, you can cap your, the person who's taking your kids by saying only for expenses and food, right, or whatever.

“And then your kids can't get the soccer practice, because all he has is a jetter, right?”

So like, it's, it's thinking through it big, but I hope this is all hypothetical and right. It is. It is. I got to make it clear, John and I are not lawyers as much as we could have an awesome

lot. Yeah. Please don't listen to us. Ask why or no, but I would reach out to an estate planning attorney to get this specifics in every state has different laws.

And so I'd reach out to a good estate planning attorney in your area and explain,

hey, here's what we're trying to do.

What's the simplest cheapest way to set this up? I don't want to set up a huge expensive trust that we don't really need. Can we just do test entry trust? Yeah. If I have a second, that's the second very question.

It's like, is this like, what would be a reasonable expense for that? Do you have any ballpark numbers or? Well, the test entry trust should be like a couple of 100 bucks. First is a couple of $1,000 for a full blown, you know, revocable trust that you would set up.

And so that's kind of the ballpark again. It's going to depend on the complexity in your area and who you contact. But I would just get a couple of quotes say, hey, here's what I'm trying to do. Can you help me set this up? And MamaBareLegal.com is a great place to start to do a simple online will.

And then they can tag on top of that with their trust. So that'll at least be a good starting point. Have something now. Wait until you have the attorney to set this all up, just go ahead and get something in place.

And I'll tell you this coming from, from, I was, my first wheel ever made was in Texas,

where the probe, there's basically no probate. And I've learned now that I don't live in that state anymore, and I talked to people over the country more than I ever did, man, some states have probate that is wild. Like the judge wants to approve every t-shirt that is bought for a child. So I think for me personally, that would play into it also.

Okay, and do you get around that by having someone administering the trust? Yeah, if you have the testamentary trust, then it bypasses the probate process. And you set up all the details through that wheel. Okay, that's the thing I'm looking to learn about is just that my kids are taking care of.

“And I'll tell you, for a couple of thousand bucks, if that's what ends up being, we'll do”

the soups and nuts for a cup to me, that is a, when I would classify as a soul tax. I'm a sleep at night, I paid a couple of grants expensive, I'm all good with that. If somebody comes back and says 15,000 or something out of the woods, then find somebody else. But for something, what it sounds like, what you're dealing with is relatively simple. You don't have 50 properties, and you don't have, or you don't have two property.

Like, this is just going to make sure our kids are lined up, and if something happened to us, they'd have a ton of money coming their way, that's a good idea to think through it. And Greta, because it is national make a will month, which I'm celebrating all month long, I'm actually making a gift to you. I'm going to give to you a free will through Mama Bear, so hang on the line, we'll send you

that. And on top of that, but wait, there's more John, we've got our investing essentials event coming up, and we actually are dedicating night to all to this estate planning topic of, how do I not just build wealth, but then protect it? How do I protect it from the government's, you know, grubby hands with taxes?

How do I be strategic to that? How do I pass it on? I have to destroy my children and making sure that I leave the legacy I want, and so investing essentials is coming up. I'm going to gift you a live stream ticket to that so you can access the virtual event.

So you're getting the whole kick and caboodle here, Greta. Congratulations. Very exciting. For anyone else that wants to join us, Dave and I will be doing this event September 1st and 2nd, 2 night virtual event called Investing Essentials.

We're going to unpack Dave's investing playbook, wealth planning as well.

And he's going to talk about, kind of unlock, hey, here's what the Ramsey family does.

Here's the conversations we have behind the scenes. Here's the things that Dave has set up to avoid paying a bajillion dollars in taxes legally. So we're going to cover a bunch of that in this event with all new content, reducing taxes, 529 plans. How do I build wealth from my kids?

Now that I built it for myself. How do I pass on character and wealth? That's a good thing to do. Take it started at 199 bucks. You can get your today, RamseySolutions.com/events or click the link in the show notes if

you're on podcast and YouTube. And John, even as we've been exploring this event creating the content, it is fascinating how much stuff that there is to know.

“There's so much out there and you're like, what do people need to know?”

Because we're trying to pack this into two hours per night and you're going, how do we do like a masterclass on this with that overwhelming, with Nurtary and jargon?

Here's an important thing.

I want people to know about the wills versus trust conversation. I think people get into it and they realize there's so much to it and it just creates inertia. So here me say, every person, everybody, 18 or older needs a will, period. Get a will start there and then if things get more complicated, then go from there.

“But yes, if you want to go down every rabbit hole, man, it's like, yeah, you can go.”

And we're going to actually walk through the wills versus trust situation and probate all of that in the event, but you're right, John, every single person, get a will. If you love your family, get a will, if you don't, you do what you want, it's right. Hey, I want to talk to you for a second about love and not love, like in Titanic or something. I mean, responsible love.

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“Ashley's in Dallas, Texas, up next, what's going on? Ashley, how can we help?”

Hi, yes, so I am kind of in a bit of a pickle. I am trying to figure out what to do about my car. I am amongst those things, but essentially I am a little bit of background on a single parent, I would talk to her, and I also have a disability, so I've been kind of struggling to figure out what to do for work for quite a while, even before baby, but I'm just now trying to

figure out some type of job for the situation, get back to work, however, I've been using my car for work before baby and now, and so on the same summer that I can keep this car as a very nice car, and it's paid for, just don't know if I can keep it, because I am. What's making you want to get rid of it?

“Just 'cause it's too nice, or do you have other financial problems that this can solve?”

'Cause you're not going to free up a car payment, so you're going to, you know, what's it worth if you sold it? I would say I think private party values about 8,000, so you get 8,000 and you're going to go buy another car, right? Right.

And you're going to have to find a car at least as good as that. Is it a reliable car? No issues. I think it's a reliable car. I just had to replace the alternator a month ago, so that's kind of what brought this up.

That was a pretty big expense, I'm not making very much money, I don't have any savings. How much are you making? And from where? So, I'm making about, I want to say that a thousand per month. Is that part-time work?

Yes. Okay. So, you're not on disability as far as income goes? No, unfortunately, I tried to do that a long time ago and it was denied for disability. What's the nature of the disability?

I have a mess, it's a lot of different things, vision issues, mobility issues, fatigue,

Do you have health insurance?

No, I don't have that either. I'm trying to figure out what's the next best move, the car is good, but it also has 257,000 for health. Wow, so what kind of car is this? It's 2015, Lexus RX 350.

Okay.

“So, you definitely need income, we know that, do you have any other debt?”

I think I have about 2,000 and debt, luckily I got debt free, I mean, I was debt free right before I had my baby, but now I've probably accumulated about 2,000. Okay, and there's no child support or anything coming in, you're just on it. And child support is about 6,000, on top of your thousand. Yes.

Okay, so currently we're trying to get by on 1650, how much are your monthly bills adding up

to? Okay, so honestly, I want to say about 2200. How are you finding the gap? Negative, I was doing it through like a stock that I was awarded to my previous stock, but that is down to like maybe 1200,000.

Okay, so we need a plan ASAP, I'm assuming you got pretty much nothing in checking, they're savings. Okay. Yeah. So income is the name of the game, with your disability, have you looked into work

that you could do full time?

“Yeah, that's what I am trying to figure out because whenever I try to do work to that level,”

my symptoms start to get worse and then I'll usually have relapses, but happens. Are you on any medication for the MS? No. Okay. Are you seeing a doctor?

Yes, I will be seeing a neurologist within the next month, I finally got some help with that. Okay.

Because I know I've got some family with that and the medication can be a game changer,

but it's also crazy expensive. And so that's why I'm asking about the health insurance, if we can get you a decent job that has some health coverage, that alone would change your life, especially as a symbiab. So then it becomes, again, we can't coach you here to help you find the job live, but what are you doing for a work right now, part-time?

“Yeah, so right now, I am doing MS on and Toyota is the only thing I can think of.”

You're just doing the same really fast stuff. Yeah. Were you working before? But, you know, that's what I was doing. I was doing Toyota before I had baby, but before I had baby, it was manageable, my rent was

a lot less, you know, of course, my expenses were less. So, you know, no family, no community around you. You know, that really, unfortunately not, so I was like, maybe I can just like, I mean, I know the cars and really the problems, but then I'm afraid of another big repair. Yeah.

I was very lucky to have somebody to pay for that. I, I, you got a lot going on, and if I'm, if I've got one like meta thing, I want to tell you, is you have to metabolize, you can no longer do this by yourself, and whether that's getting with the local social worker, whether that is getting with an MS group there in Dallas, with which there are several, whether that's going to a local church and sanity, some support.

You're going to have to open your hands up and say I need some help, because you're really close and I'm saying this because I love you, okay. This is not a judgment thing. This is just math. You're really close to you and your baby being out on the street, I don't want that for you.

Yeah, I agree. And so, you're going to find yourself pushed to knocking on doors for help. Go ahead and do that now. And if you can't, if it, I mean, man, I can't even imagine being at war with my own body, like you are, right, I can't get that because I don't experience it, but intellectually,

I just think that'd be a nightmare. Make it a part-time job for you to constantly be looking for resources and calling people and not just sitting out blanket emails, but calling and calling and calling. Even if you're laying down on the couch, calling for resources and support, reaching out to neighbors again, going to local church and saying, hey, I need some support.

You all have any resources here, like you cannot do this next stage by yourself, okay?

It's, it's beyond admirable that you're fighting this health battle and you're trying

to squeeze in what work you can and raise a kid by yourself. I mean, you have strength that I could only dream of having, and you've reached the end

“of that of your ability to carry all this by yourself, is that fair?”

Yeah. Okay. You're worth having people in your corner, but people in your community have to know they need to be in your corner, okay? And it was, you're going to need a lot of nose, you're going to need a lot of frustrations.

I want you to keep looking at that baby, I want you to keep looking at yourself in the mirror, and keep looking ahead and probably if you forget in the doctor's appointment, who's paying for that appointment? Yeah, there's an MS through organizations, or organizations, sorry. I love it.

I was hoping that there would be organizations that would help with medicine costs and things like that, especially for folks in your financial situation and your single mom situation, become your own, you and your child's best advocate. And sometimes advocacy is rolling up your sleeves and getting a sort out and going fighting

and sometimes advocacy is finally having the courage to say, I need a bunch of help right

now. And so make that your other part-time job right now, because you're running out of, you're running out of runway and I'm worried about you and I'm worried about that baby. Yeah, at the root here, there's an income problem and beneath that, there's the physical health. So if we can get our health in order and manage, now we can fight and go work, we gotta get

our thoughts, we can get our income up, and then we can get to a better place and upgrade the car. Well, selling the car does pretty much nothing for you other than maybe turning into a different repair on a different car. And so I don't want to trade one problem for another right now.

Let's focus on your health and your income first. Thanks for the call. I'm all about practical ways to save time and mental energy, especially during the summer when life gets busy.

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I'm George Campbell, joined by Dr. John Deloni taking your calls at AAA-825-5225. Reneisha is in Los Angeles up next. What's going on, Reneisha? How can we help? Yes, hi.

So I wanted to know, should I return a cruise that I pay for all my credit cards? Now that I'm starting Bb step number two. Wow. So the cruise hasn't happened. You booked it.

“And you're telling me you can get a full 100% refund?”

I would pay a hundred dollar penalty fee, and then the rest of it would be refunded. Yes, I would do it yesterday, because that hundred dollar penalty fee is so much smaller than the interest you will pay on that credit card bill. And it will jump start you, like in three or four months when you get tired of this thing in the grind of paying off your debt is really kicking you.

You're going to remember, no, screw that. I gave up a cruise for this. We're doing this. Okay, how much money will you get back? It will be, I was nine hundred, so eight hundred and fifty two dollars.

Okay, great. How much debt do you have? Total. All together, including my student loan debt, 255k. Woo!

Okay. So this cruise is symbolic. This is not like the difference maker and you be coming debt free or not. This is you drawing a line of the sand saying I'm done. Are you a physician?

No, I am a mental health therapist. What are you making? Oh, no. Currently, I'm still an associate, it's so about 70,000 a year.

No, no, no, no.

John can tell me how much an average mental health therapist makes who's licensed.

I'm guessing like over, maybe over a hundred grand, but not quite one fifty.

“That's right, that's why we're six figures, yes.”

I would say that. Okay. What kind of mental health therapy are you talking about? Just regular, clinical, therapists, I do, cotton to behavioral therapy. Do you have your own practice?

No, no, no, I work on under a practice. And your private practice is going to pay you as a clinician over six figures? No, as a licensed professional, now my private practice, I probably end up in either doing my own practice or doing like growth therapy or headway. One goes flat one, but like that, it's, it's all based on how many clients you take.

The more clients you take, the more money you make. Sure, a hundred percent. Man, you owe, you owe a lot of money. Yeah. What, what other kind of debt is this?

So two hundred and nine is students, 24K is my car payment and 22 is a credit card payment. Or credit cards. Oh, goodness. Okay, so this is the same credit card you used to book the cruise.

What? What is your credit limit on this thing? Um, the will is two different credit cards altogether that makes a 22, but the one that the cruise is on is a $17,000 credit limit. Okay.

And you're ready for baby step two. You called in saying, "Hey, I'm trying to start baby step two. Should I return the cruise?" So are you full throttle on this thing? Are you ready to cut up the cards?

Yeah. That pause will so long.

Because here's what you're looking at, okay?

You're looking at probably three years of you working clients full-time. And then you see in groups on Saturday morning and you do in private practice work if you're sight will allow it. If the contract you have allows it and you see people in the evenings and you get into contract with the police department to go do like crisis work in the, like you're going

to be working all the time for three years.

“And you have to have to say I want to be a mental health professional that can sit across”

from my clients and I'm fully whole because I have agency and autonomy on my own life. Just like you're going to try to help your clients with, right? Absolutely. Yeah. So you just have to know the same as you would say, like with a client, you want to go

from A to B it's going to be tough and you have to make some transitions and I'm going to walk with you. You're going to have to make the same commitment to Reneisha. Mm-hmm. Is that fair?

That's absolutely fair. Yeah. Are you single? I am. Are you renting?

I am. Okay. Get your own place. I do. All right.

I'm trying to think of some solutions here. What's your rent every month? 1271. Okay. That feels painful.

Thank you. Oh well, so they asked her the mirrors. Okay. Okay. Got it.

Good. Okay. And what's the car worth? Um, worth? Or what's owed?

I'm not sure. You owe 24. So what is it worth? Let's say you sold it private party. What could you get for it?

You think? Um, probably like 20 to your old car with low miles. But you're still a little bit underwater on it. Mm-hmm. All right.

I'm just trying to find some quick fixes here to get you some margin because I'm guessing right now. If you did an every dollar budget, you laid out your income for the month, which I assume is I don't know how much you're taking home. Is it like four grand a month?

Yeah. Okay. So four grand a month. So what you're taking home, are you doing any investing right now? I do have some investments, but I don't know the market doesn't seem to be making

me anything out. But yes, I do. Well let's just pause that. The good news is you don't need to look at the stock market for a long time. Yeah, you're good.

You're not going to be a player in it. So I would pause all investing. Do you have anything that's non-retirement? That's invested. Yes.

A single stocks or something? Yes. The market, mutual fund, I think they're called. How much is in there? Like 1200?

Okay. So you'll at least have a starter emergency fund. Do you have anything else in savings? Just general savings, I have a K. Oh, great.

Well that's what a H-Y-S-A. Yeah. Okay. But you're telling me that you could scrape together like nine grand right now. Yeah.

855 from the cruise.

“Let's call it 10 grand you have to start.”

So a thousand dollars is your starter emergency fund, which means nine grand can go to your next smallest debt. That feel pretty good to make some progress.

Now you're halfway through that first debt.

Almost halfway. Yeah. As the credit card is at the next smallest debt. That the other credit card is the next smallest debt. The one that the cruise is on is the second one.

Um, 83 hundred. Boom. You just paid it off. Done. How good does that feel?

One debt down. And then you're going to cut it. I would cut up both cards because the good news is they'll still let you pay them off even if you close the card and cut it up.

“And so if you're serious about this, that's what you need to do.”

Because you're here, you put the cruise on the credit card, you're likely going to put other things on the credit card if it's still available to you. So as a promise to yourself, I would get rid of them. Yeah. Same as if somebody came in and you run a group on a Saturday morning and you're talking

to brand new folks who are walking into AA, you'd say the first thing you had to

do is got to give all alcohol in your house. Yeah. That beer fridge and the garage has got to go. Yeah, fridge and the garage has got to go. The secret stash under the counters.

Got to go. Everything's got to go. Okay. Because right now, how much margin do you have every month to throw at the debts? None.

Not much. Yeah. Exactly.

And so if let's say you put $500 a month towards the debts, guess what?

It would take you forever, eternity, to pay it off. So instead, what if we made a plan to pay this off in like 40 years, that's 63K a year? That's a little over five grand a month. Now we have a very tactical goal of what we need and you just told me, you make four grand a month.

So you can see there's a big math problem here, which is why John was saying, you've got to get nine jobs for the next couple of years in this house.

“You're going to have to, there's going to be a strong possibility you have to swallow”

your pride on some things. You have a graduate degree, you are a mental health professional, and Saturdays and Sundays, you're at Walmart or Best Buy, Sling and Boxes. Like I'm going to do whatever it takes to set me and my house free. As your business grows, everything becomes more complex.

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Today's question comes from Garrett and Iowa. Garrett writes, "I'm 64, I'm married, and we'll start drawing social security in January. We're a consumer debt free with a paid off house too well done, man." We have about $70,000 in retirement and about $600,000 in CDs, which are about to mature.

CD rates have plummeted recently, and the best interest rates we can currently find is about 3.5%. What should we do with the cash as the CDs mature? We like to get about 25 grand from both the 401k and the cash to use each year to combine the social security number with our social security, which would leave us about

45 grand a year. Whoo! Okay, let's talk about CDs. These are called certificates of deposit and people in their 60s love these for some reason.

My own dad, it's like text me, he's like, "Hey, I'm looking to get into some CDs and I'm like, "Why?" Why? Because usually what it is, it's people who are scared to put their money into the market because they don't want to lose it.

Which is a valid fear, right? I get to accept my whole life.

You know, that's what he's saying.

“He's saying the best interest rate they can find right now.”

As these CDs mature, he's like, "Hey, once I'm done, the best place I can find is maybe a high yield savings at 3.5%. And he's saying I want to do better than that." Why would somebody put their money in a CD at 3.5? Or put their money in a high yield savings account at 3.5, but CDs lock your money up.

That's the problem. The CDs have to mature to actually get that interest rate and they used to be much higher. Now high yield savings accounts are pretty comparable to a lot of CDs. Now you can get your money whenever you want.

Now the high yield savings account is a variable rate so that rate can change tomorrow. It can go lower. The CD you've locked your rate for that period of time for that 3.5 years ahead for worse. For better and for worse.

The rates could go up and you don't get to see that. So what I would do personally is sit down with an actual financial advisor and map out a plan to help this money grow for you because if this is essentially, they got 70 grand of retirement.

“So to their name, they have about 650 grand in a nest egg.”

That's not a huge amount to go from 64 because we know the stats. If you make it into your 60s, there's a good chance you make it into your 80s. And so think about what the next 30 years looks like for this money because if you were in the stock market the last five years, your money would have doubled. And so I don't want you to be spooked by the market because you want to keep your money

more liquid. I would put a huge chunk of this into the market and a good financial advisor can help sort

of squash the fears you have and put you into things that basically track the market.

Good growth stock mutual fund over time will net you probably 9.10, 11 percent returns, which is far better than the 3.5 that we're talking about here. Now in the meantime the next year, it could be down 10 percent, down 15 percent, up 20 percent. We don't know. But we do know that the longer it's in there, the higher chance you have of making money.

So if it's money you don't need for the short-term future, I would be investing it instead of saving it. That's the key. And let me just say this. This isn't a huge nest egg.

There is a chance. What is it every seven years? So at 71, that this 600K is 1.2, right, if it's invested well and the market returns over the next seven years.

But here's what's awesome.

You've set yourself up Garrett. You don't own anybody anything. Not for credit cards, not for cars, not for your house, so well done dude. You've taken so much risk off the table. And now it's just a matter of using this money wisely, not using this money desperately.

So good job dude. Thanks for the question. All right, let's go out to Kenneth and Riverside, California. What's going on, Kenneth? Hello, hey, happy to be here.

What's up, man? Hey, so I had a question, so my wife and I got married a little less than three years ago. We bought a house, but 30% down we eliminated all our debt except for the house. We still owe 448K on the home and I really want to try and pay that off as soon as possible. About a year ago, I started saving, saved up about 130K, was hoping to put that into

the principal refinance, plates are still not great. So I'm asking about the idea of recasting the loan to save about 900 a month and then keep putting that into the home as well.

“What's your income every month and what's the mortgage?”

The mortgage is 3800 and our combined income after retirement and you can just give me after taxes, but don't include all the retirement health care because that'll kind of muddy the waters for us. Okay. My personal manual math.

Yeah, so take home actual is about 10K for us. Okay, a month. So that mortgage is taken up a good chunk of your income at like 38%. So you've been saving all this money to are you doing it for the purpose of recasting? Is that why you saved up the money?

Yeah, I was hoping to put it into the principal and if rates went down, I would refinance, but if they didn't, I was thinking maybe a recast could get that monthly payment down to where I could save money on the interest and maybe put that back into the home. Yeah, I mean, it technically will. All it's doing is applying it to the balance and then recasting the math to go, okay,

and now your mortgage payment is lower, the balance is still the same, the terms are still the same. So it's sort of artificially making you feel better, but if you currently make your mortgage payment, the same thing is happening. You're paying the extra 900 toward the principal right now.

Oh, I thought that was going towards the interest. You'll see on your amortization schedule how much is going towards principal and interest, but it's not like a magic trick. It's not necessarily going to cause you to pay off the house faster. Okay.

Because if you just take your current mortgage and make extra payments, you'll knock it out. And so that's where I'm asking about the mortgage comparatively, your take home pay. It's a lot of your take home pay. You guys bought too much house, and I'm glad you have this lump sum. It can sort of make it closer to that 25% I'm assuming if you applied it, but what I would

in savings on the side. Okay.

And the recast will cost you a couple of hundred bucks, and it gives you some, if it gives

you some peace of mind, and you do see that lower payment good, but I don't want you to stop from making extra payments and get too comfortable without lower one. Yeah. Yeah.

“I think we want to get this thing paid off within 10 years, so either way we're going”

to get this thing gone from our lives, I think. Good. That's awesome. I remember this, every payment you make towards the principal balance drops the total amount of interest you're going to pay on that loan.

Okay. Yeah. True. Of course. Because they're going to charge interest on what's there.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So then maybe I'll still put it towards, put the lump sum towards principle, and maybe keep it.

That sort of thing. Hoping that just sort of gets you to that 25% mark, but I still would use all the margin you can to throw it at the mortgage if you guys are in baby steps 4, 5, 6. I assume you are. Am I correct?

Yeah. We're in six. We have no debt and we're fully funded and emergency fund and a good chunk of retirement as well. Awesome.

Yeah. I would be investing 15% of your total household income. Do you guys have kids? No. Not yet.

Okay. Five and then you're on the six point, put an extra on the mortgage. Yeah. How long did it take you to save up the 100 grand? I took me about 130 was about a year.

Wow. How'd you save that much? We don't really, we don't have any other expenses really. We don't have any car payments and we don't even really have enough electric bill because

one of the, one of the debts that we knocked out when we first got married was a solar bill

which was 30 grand. So we knocked that out when we got married. Well, you said you're bringing home about 10k a month. So how did you save up under 30 in a year? Mathematically.

Yeah.

“I mean, we just didn't, I think there were a couple bonuses as well and.”

Okay. In there. Well, yeah. Your savings muscles. Fantastic.

How would you say that? I would retool that to go like now this is the mortgage pay off muscle. And so every dime you were going to put in savings for that mortgage lump sum, I would just throw it at the mortgage because seeing that balance go down does something for you psychologically.

And once that mortgage goes down to 200 and then do 100,000, now it's under six figures. Now you can see the finish line. That's when it gets real. So I would set it even a more aggressive goal for someone in your shoes. Five to seven years.

Let's knock out this mortgage now. Yeah. Yeah. Take your way for a day, dude. Take your time.

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What's going on, Lisa?

Thanks for taking my call today.

I'm actually calling with a question relative to investing for my mom. She's recently gone from four sources income now, just just only one source to income. She too, like some of the earlier callers, that is a CD lover because she's scared of the stock market and doesn't want to invest in the stock market. She's debt free, she owns her home, she owns her car, but she only has, you know, she

has a pretty decent nest egg, but I don't know how to get her to do something other than putting it in a CD and now with CD rates being so low, she really needs to have her money work for her. Has she lost a lot of money in the past or does she just come up from a generation where no, he just does, yes, it just didn't know.

She's 87, she doesn't really, you know, want to put any money in the stock market. She does need that money to help her through bills in such because she doesn't own her

“own home because, you know, life is expensive, right?”

Yeah, do you know how much her bills are every month? I would say that as she, she's more bills every month than herself, the security, so I know she does need to use. And you don't know how much your social security is? I do, I think our social security is about 1800, she has basically 520,000 dollars in CD.

Okay, and do you know when those are going to mature? That's what she's asking me last week, what am I going to do with my money? Right.

Well, here's what you can do.

I don't know. Some people are logic people, some people are motion people. I would try both. Yeah. And your shoes.

You could show her what her money could have been. She's been investing for the past five years instead of having it in the CD. Right. And she would see it would have been a million dollars. I know.

And that should scare her. There is actually more risk in her trying to play it safe than her being in the market because inflation is eating away at her money every day. Okay. She's barely keeping up.

“How do you, right, exactly, that's what I see and I don't know that she, I mean,”

I've sit down with her and I mean, she does her own bills.

I mean, she's amazing, right, at 87 years old, she does a great job.

Yeah. But I just say, she's got, I said, Mom, you can't keep eating away at the five 20 and expect to keep getting money. I said, you, you've got to keep that principle so that can make money. I mean, I don't know how to get, I mean, I guess I don't know who to turn to and try

to find somebody that could have... Well, we'll she even trust the third party because I know a lot of 87-year-olds are like, I don't trust anybody. So if you, if she met with a financial advisor and sat down, someone who can help her understand this, is it an actual knowledge thing where they could kind of go, no, here's

what we're going to do. We're not going to put your money on black on the roulette table. It's not disappearing into the business. We are buying tiny pieces of the most successful companies in America and the world.

“And here's the past returns, show her it's been negative 10%, then up 20%, then up 25%,”

then up 23%, right, and do you think that that could generate her monthly income off from that? Yeah, and then at that point, she can withdraw, but at least then it's not dwindling down as fast. And the good news is she's 87, she's good news and bad news.

She's not going to live to be Methuselah, she's, you know, we all have a certain time here on earth. There's a good long life and makes it to a hundred, but we don't need a 30 year retirement out of this 500,000, it's what I'm trying to say. Right.

The other thing you could do Lisa is, and by the way, I'm an over-emotional person. I don't know if you can tell. Like, comically dramatic. And so I, even sometimes, if my mind is made up on a thing, even the most logical responses, I'm like, oh, you must be...

It's going to fall off. You must be crazy too. I don't try logic on John. Oh, yeah, yeah. I got to hit him where he hurts emotionally.

And I, I do think it would be worth doing this. If, if you know how much she draws from that five 20 or 540 every month, do you know how much what that number is? Yes. Well, see, I'm, I'm not, I can't say that right.

I don't, I personally don't know about that. I don't want to say it, but I'm, let's just, let's be, let, let me say that. I bet you, she sometimes takes two to three thousand dollars. Cool. So, I, I would, I would ask this.

Um, mom, can I, can we work through a spreadsheet real quick?

At $3,000 a month, right, $36,000 a year, this money is gone in this many, in this many years. Right. I know. And I fear it.

“But I think taking the fear out and just putting it on paper and saying, we don't know”

what the next five years will look like.

If you put this in there five years ago, it would be a million bucks.

I mean, that's what I'm so sad about. I know. But in the area that long, it's like, it just got her to put it in there. I know, but listen, any, this is going to sound, this is me now trying to be logical, even I just said I'm dramatic.

Any time you spend on what could have been as a waste of energy in time, because you can't change it. I know. And so, it's a matter of sitting with her and just saying, I love you, mom, you do, is your money, you do what you want to do.

You'll be out of money by this date. And you all may look at it and say, you know what? You can draw two thousand bucks a month. And if you, if you make it to 95, you've got enough, right? Or maybe you look at it and it's like, oh, you could go to 104th.

Like, you know what? I might even have this conversation. I love you, mom. Don't take more than this out a month. >> Okay.

>> And so, so, let me see it this way.

“If you want to sit down and have this conversation because of the regret of the last five”

years, I'm saying this is nice as I can, but that's a U-Problem. If you haven't sat down and said, okay, at a $3,000 a month, $36,000 a year draw, it's going to be around for this many years. Do I think mom is going to live to be 97 because I'd be what 360 grand. So if she lives to be 100, actually, this money doesn't run out of, if she just withdraws

straight principle and puts it in a high yield savings account. >> Yeah. She just had under the mattress and just used the money. There's a reality in both sides. >> Yeah, and it might just be like, oh, I'm actually really sad that my mom's getting older.

And I'm trying to grasp at things I can control, and that's helping me avoid, like, oh, I may have a mom's 87. I'm going to lose her someday. >> Right. >> Oh, I know.

I just, the world reads a white, the reason why she doesn't have those sources of income is because my dad died in December 23rd. >> Oh, I'm so sorry. Yeah. And that's coming up this year.

>> Right. >> Pardon me?

“>> It's going to be a different Christmas this year, right?”

>> Yeah. >> Well, it was a different Christmas. >> Oh, yeah, last year, I just wanted to be able to live and have fun because she worried about money. >> Right.

>> So the bet, as a guy who is prone to worry, the path through worry is writing it all down. >> And as my friend, Dr. John Delone, he once said, facts are your friends. >> Back to your friend. >> So she sits down with the advisor and he maps out, hey, if we put

on to the mattress, here's how long the money will go for, here's how much you can take out.

If we invest it into this, maybe we do half in the stock market, here's what could happen.

That will either give her a real picture of her options and then she still gets to decide. >> Yeah, because, well, I like that idea. You're saying, take half of it, give it to them and they'll let her keep to 50. >> Exactly. >> Yeah.

>> And you can just a little bit at a time. Maybe we'll start with my money. >> 10,000. 50,000. >> And you can always, and again, they'll show her, hey, you can get the money out.

It's not stuck in there. It's not a vending machine that's going to eat your money. And the longer you keep it in there, the better off you're going to be. And all of that can help her with this, but another part of this to think about is what is she actually need to cover, and you can help her with that of the budget.

If I came on, here's the gap. We really just need 2,000 bucks a month. And here's the math on what your next day is and what could be. And also the reality of long-term care could be down the road. We don't know.

100 grand a year for in-home care and nursing home, whatever it may be. And that is going to, that's it, there's a much higher chance of that depleting the nest egg than her trying to use it for her living cost-living expenses. So I wish you the best, you're an amazing dog. >> Back to your friends.

>> Yeah. >> You're a wonderful daughter for even thinking about this. You care a lot about your mom, and I think that tone's going to come across in all the conversations. Good luck.

[ Music ] >> Hey, George Campbell here. Listen, if you're behind on debt payments and drowning in debt, I already know what you're thinking. You're not going to afford a lawyer to help.

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Victoria is up next in Omaha, Nebraska. What's going on, Victoria? Hey guys, so my biggest question is, how do we begin cutting costs drastically and even begin savings? We have no money saved.

“How do we do that without making our family feel constantly broke?”

We need help setting boundaries with our 12 and 8-year-old. We want to involve them in our goals, but they just don't fully understand and that's okay, they're kids, but we are just so sick of having paycheck to paycheck. We need to replace our furnace and AC and start our savings and we're just, we're no wear close.

How long have the kids been running the house? We do kind of pride ourselves with our discipline, but I guess with that, I don't know we don't really give them consequences, we just say like, hey, quit asking why, like the answer is no, like in the story, I guess we maybe don't follow through when it comes to money.

Let me give you a path, okay, you ready? I want you, are you married? Yes, 10 years. Okay, I want you and your spouse and your kids, but I want you and your spouse to pre-game this.

Okay. And I want you all to create a set of family values together. Okay.

“And if you want to put it on, go to Michaels or Crafts Etter or something and by Hobby Lobby”

and by a canvas, if you want to put on a piece of wood, some construction paper and I want you to frame it and put up in your living room, right above your dining room table. Awesome.

And that way, here's the thing, when your kids say, but why, but why, you can point to that

and say, because that's who we are. Yeah. And so in our house, of course, I do, I want my kids to want things as fine. That's developmentally appropriate, like you said, right? It's normal.

But my kids know, oh, dad doesn't borrow money because that's who mom and dad are. That's just who we are, right? And so it takes, it's kind of like, why don't we kill that guy? Because we're not murderers. That's like who we are.

And so the, the, and then George asked a good question, I got to tell you, the greatest gift you can give your two kids right now is for them to see two united, like writer die, motivated parents, doing a really hard thing together to set their family free over the next two or three years. And what you're going to create from that is two kids that know, like my mom went back

to college.

“And I mean, what's the college for the first time in her 40s?”

And then got like this big fancy professor job in her 50s and got tenure in her 60s. You know what? I can't say the words, I can't because I've watched a woman do it. And so when this job came up, when when I was 40 years old, that I could quit my job I'd worked for for 20 years and go be a YouTuber, right, like I was like, oh, I could

change in the middle of my life because I had a road map because I watched my mom do it. Yeah.

And we always say more is caught than talking around here.

Yes. And so I promise you that it's not going to cause them trauma for them to watch you sacrifice and said it's going to create character, especially if they know this is who we are. We're anchored into this thing together. And then you and your husband have to suck it up and go do it together.

Right. Yeah, my husband and I are both well, especially my husband kind of stuck in that mindset of just lack of them, like the kids have never been on a vacation, the kids haven't been able to experience like sports and stuff because like we just don't. Where is the money going right?

I'm trying to tie that, I'm not much to you guys, but before you there, I want you to double click on what you just said, it's not because you all can't figure that out.

It's because you all don't prioritize that. Right. Yeah, we don't. So don't blame a bunch of other stuff for the fact that you and your husband have to look

in the mirror and say, we've chosen to never allow them to play sports or to never make

that a priority for us. Yeah, true. And that the responsibility of those decisions rest solely on you and your husband. Right. Right.

And by the way, you're 12 and eight year old. If you all once a month set up a tent in the backyard and could hot dogs over a solo stove, they would remember, they would tell that story at your funeral, they'd have a blast. That's true. Right.

And so all this smoke in our minds of our kids are going to our kids are going to do our kids take a lot of cues from, almost of their cues from the pulse and the temperature of their household, their parents. Yeah. If they ever go to therapy, they're not going to say, well, we never went to Disney.

So that's why we're here. They're going to say, we're here because I watched my parents live in scarcity mode. They're quite stressed out. Now, they make it a therapy and say, I was going to play soccer and mom and dad didn't prioritize that and that'll be a fair criticism.

Right. Right.

“But if you want to live your life out of fear of a criticism, your current eight”

year old might make in 25 years, that's going to be a miserable life. Let me give you a line. Your kids don't get a vote because they're kids. What they need is regulated anchored parents. And if they like sleeping in a warm house in the winter in Nebraska, we got to get this

furnace. Right. So we have a priority here. And so right now, it's four walls, beans and rice. We're going to cover basic food, basic clothing, transportation, housing utilities, and

other than that. We got to get out of this situation. We got to get out of debt. So have you guys actually put this on paper? Have you done an every dollar budget to show?

Here's our income. Here's where all of our expenses are. Yeah. Got the whole, what you guys call, just like a napkin, napkin mask. OK.

What is it revealed? Yeah. Because you're saying paycheck to paycheck, is it an income issue? Is your lifestyle inflated? Is it payments?

Is it a car alone? No. So it's, well, no, it's not an income thing because we bring in 7,000 a month. And then our average expenses are about 4,000. That includes obviously like mortgage.

We do have one car payment but I can't sell it. I know you guys push it. I just can't because I use it for my LLC, I'm a house cleaner. OK. So I just need a car that I can rely on.

How much is left on the car alone? I want to say 15. OK. Cool. So that's five months.

It's gone. Five months. It, because you got $3,000 extra every month. So if you said we bring in 7, we spend 4 on paper, on paper and spend 4. There should be 3,000 left over if we do this right.

So five months, the car payment's gone. How much is that payment? $350. Boom. You just got a $350 month raise.

“How many houses would it take you to clean to get $350?”

Uh, maybe like two or three. OK. So you just got a day of every week back. Yeah. Right?

This starts to change your life. And now you can save up because you know how to save up three grand a month to throw towards the debt plus this new 350 so now you got 3350 saving up in an emergency fund. Three months we got 10 grand. That's a new furnace.

Yeah. So just to clarify though, and I just need to hear it from you guys because I kind of just need to slap in the face just like we're cutting cold turkey like end of story. Yes. Like we're not going to five below.

We're not. No. But listen, it's not for five years. We just showed you a plan to do all of this within the next 12 months. Right.

And by the way, your eight year old is responsible for the rice and your 10 year old is going to make the beans. And you know what? They're going to love it. They're going to have a good time.

Right? Yeah. No.

They complained that first.

“I said we're having the Ramsey special and it's not Gordon.”

Yeah. Different Ramsey. Different Ramsey. Different Ramsey special and thankfully my daughter's mild and she's like it's not so bad.

Let me tell you this, the three of the top meals I've ever had in my life ever were with Dave Ramsey. You know why? Because he can live like no one else. And he also gives like no one else, which is why he paid for that meal because I couldn't

have afforded that meal. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? So there is another side to this thing once you get there. Yeah.

I'm making a party. Go, okay. We're going to do a competition. Each of you are going to make a meal. I get to be the judge.

Yes. You can yell at them like Gordon Ramsey. I'll be really fine. You can smash the kitchen. Combined both Ramsey's.

But what we're saying is sacrifice doesn't have to mean we're all miserable.

No, sacrifice can bring you together in a powerful way as a family.

So you get to decide Victor. You guys have the income to do this. There's not a lot of debt. This is a pretty solvable problem.

“But it takes all of you getting on the same page for the next 12 months going.”

We want a different life on the other side of this for the next 12 years. And it's Mom and Dad saying this is our house and as for our house we're going to choose peace and freedom. Welcome back to the Ramsey show in the Fairwins Credit Union studio. I'm George Campbell here with Dr. John Deloni and yours up next in Kansas City.

What's going on Andrew? Hey guys, thanks for making my call. I'm looking for advice. I'll just have a move forward. My grandpa passed away about a year ago and him and I had hung out five years prior to

that just traveling around the country and during that three to five years he would consistently

“tell me, "Hey, when I die, this truck is yours, you know, and he usually say that."”

And when he did die a year ago and when he came time for the will, I reached out to his kids and my dad, my aunt and uncle, and I said, "Hey, you know, Grandpa said, you want me out of the truck? Is that in the will? Is that just, you know, and they also don't mean no."

And I was surprised because he's never not followed through, but I just said, "Okay, and

I want to respect him, not contribute any conflict." My aunt, I met with my aunt yesterday and she told me that, "My grandpa actually left a note attached to the will on a legal piece of paper saying that I could give my truck and signed it and she told me that when it came time I really will be between my dad and my uncle and my aunt, that my dad and my uncle said that they

were not going to speak of this note and to never mention it. And so I was just looking at, I was looking for advice." I mean, if what your aunt said is true and it sounds like based on your time and relationship with your grandpa that sounds plausible and sounds more than plausible, it sounds like that's probably true.

I mean, the first thing I would be in your situation is absolutely heartbroken.

At my dad, my father betrayed his own dad and betrayed his son in this way. You want to meet? Did this go through Pro-Bake Court? No, he had a trust or a will and so there was an executor and a lawyer and as far as I know where they executed all through that.

“Have you, have you, have you, do you live by your dad?”

No. Do you have a good relationship with him? No.

My grandma passed away and my grandpa and I have always been best friends.

My grandma passed away and my grandpa and I, you know, almost every day, every week. When I grew close to my grandpa, I had a five years ago, my uncle and my dad started adding conversations, saying that I was only growing close to my grandpa for many reasons and they started saying they just started talking in that way. I mean, they can talk all they want, but if it's noted in the will, it's a legal binding

document. But are you saying this was like a loose note attached? Yes. It was like a sticky note because I don't know that it's going to hold up in court. Yeah, it was written on a legal piece of paper that was sitting on top of the will and

it said that it's the truck and it was signed and my answer to it was all in my grandpa's handwriting. And I don't know your state law, so I would talk to him to turn to figure out what your state law says about does this count, do you have a, can you access this physical evidence or did they get rid of it?

I don't, where is that no store that my aunt told me yesterday was that the lawyer that was with my aunt uncle and my dad in that meeting said that legally, they did not have to honor that note because it wasn't in the will, like you guys, it was not enforceable.

And so if they wanted to ignore it or not on it, then they were free to do that.

And then my aunt said that my uncle, you know, said that, okay, let's all swear to never

mention this and this never happened. Man, there is so much dysfunction. Yeah. I mean, that's one of those things that maybe is legally right, I don't think it's morally right.

I think your dad and uncle did you, did you wrong?

“But here's the thing, I don't know what kind of recourse you have, unless, I mean,”

how old are you, I'm 36, yeah, I mean, I would say I'm thinking of my 16 year old son when I say this, I'm trying to make some like masculinity statement, but I would have a man to man conversation with your dad and your uncle and your aunt has to know that she's going to be right in the middle of it and it might not be in two brothers versus sister.

Did she tell you to swear you'd never say anything, I mean, this sounds so dysfunctional,

so middle school, you know what I mean? Oh, absolutely, she said, she said, you can't, she said, you know, I've sworn to been that I would never say anything that no one would ever find out. So she said, you know, she didn't want them to ever find out. So what she did was she did something that was morally wrong and then she has been carrying

that sender block around for a year and then she just handed it off to you and said, you carry it and don't tell anybody. Bro, it's heartbreaking, it is what it is, but legally, he's probably correct.

“And I think you, I mean, if I'm you, I have all I need to know about a dad who had”

dishonor his son and his father in this way. And you're 36 and I would make my way through the world with that insider information.

I don't see any way you get this truck.

Are they using the truck right now? No, they just don't want you to take a question in the law. I'm sorry. Like is it collecting dust somewhere or are they actually driving it? No, they liquidated it immediately.

Yeah, it's gone. They just sold it and took the cash. Yeah, my dad, I asked about it and your, my dad said he drove to the dealership and sold it. And what could he do?

Yeah, it's gone. And I mean, you, you, I do that I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know. But I think your grandpa had every intent to give you this truck, but he didn't do a great job actually making it official because this should have been in the will properly witnessed you know, state specific all of that to your laws.

And I don't think based on what the other attorney said that there's any recourse here. But also relationships are over. Right. My dad has said, hey, there's a few things I want my daughter to have it. I want your brother to have this and this is going to be yours.

And we're all moral adults and so we're like, yeah, cool. It's not like when he dies, we're like, ah, he didn't write it down anywhere. You know what I mean? So I don't think your granddad's out to lunch. That's probably, I can see that being handled like that all over the place.

You know what I mean? But your, your aunt lacks all moral courage. Your uncle and your dad are immoral. I mean, they're non-integrious people. And so my rule of thumb is I don't still do business with folks like that.

I don't do relationships. I mean, they chose that money from the truck sale over their relationship with you. And more poorly, they're their relationship like honoring their dad's wishes. So it is what it is. But yeah, you especially are not going, I can't see a legal course.

“If you want to go talk to your attorney, go for it where you could go get the money for”

the truck. That seems like it's way down the road, but, um, sorry, brother. I hate this for you. Hey, guys, Rachel Cruz here with big news. The 2027 Ramsey Gold Planter is here, and you can get it at our lowest price for a limited

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And here's what some people don't realize about wheels.

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So if you're ready to create one, and if you don't have one, that means you're ready. Go to mamabaryleagle.com, and if you're not sure where to start, you can text the word quiz, Q, U, I, Z, to this number, 3, 3, 7, 8, 9, and we'll help you figure out which option fits your situation. Jamie is in Sioux Falls, up next, what's going on, Jamie?

Hey, good afternoon. So I have a question about comb and equity and all that good stuff. So my fiance and I are getting married in 2028, and we each currently want to. So far away. So I have two kids who I've raised, one's already out of the home, moving independently,

and one leaves for college in the fall of 27.

“So that's why we're waiting just a little bit longer.”

You don't want to live with your child, you're like, let's just wait and just want

to swap the child for the fiance. Well, I think exactly. We're in two different towns, so I'll just let him finish high school here and then I'll move on with my life. Cool.

Okay. Sorry to derail. I'm always curious. Oh, yeah. Good.

We're good. So my main question, I would love to be debt-free sooner than later. By the time we're married, I'll be 46, and he's a little bit younger than me. He'll be 38, but that's beside the point. But with both of our houses, I'll be moving into his house.

And what I question is, when I sell my house, should I put the equity that I receive into his loan to work towards that financial goal of becoming debt-free? But I didn't know like what the financial, you know, there's my name needs to be on his house, or if it would be considered a gift, or if I'd still have to pay taxes on my equity that I receive, things like that.

What is your house worth today? I would say it's probably around 220. Okay. And what'd you pay for it? Um, 85.

Okay.

“So you're not going to have any taxes with the capital gains exclusion, so you're good there.”

Okay. Okay. So what I would do is, it's not going to be paid off by the time you move. Um, no, if it won't, I'll still, oh, probably a little bit, but yeah. Okay.

So whatever equity you get, let's call it 200,000. Sure. You could put that in the high old savings account. So immediately going to move in with him, like it's going to like, I'm selling the house, we're getting married, and then immediately moving, or is there a gap in time?

No, I'll probably move in once we're married when I sell my house. I don't know if it will be right away after or not. Okay. So there's not really any urgency. It's not like it's on fire.

We need to throw all of this at the mortgage immediately. But I would just not get a high old savings account knowing that we want to earmark this for mortgage pay off if there's no other debt to our both of you consumer debt free. Yeah, so he only has his house debt and I only have my house debt. Great.

What's left on his mortgage? 180. Oh, fantastic. That's a pretty cool start to this marriage. If you guys can be completely debt free, house and everything.

“That's what my goal is, and he likes that idea too.”

I would absolutely make sure your house is on the, on the deed as well. Oh, yes. I think when you guys are married, that's very fair. I'm a big fan of this. I think if you're married, unless you're in some super high income tax bracket and you're

starting to move stuff around in different ways that don't apply the 99.9% of us, y'all's needs need to be on everything, both in those names. I joined checking account, joined savings. Yep. And we're planning on, I've talked to him into doing that and he's on board with that.

He better be. You're about to make this guy dead free. This is awesome. I know. If he feels bad, but I'm like, we're joining our lives together.

It's going to be our money. It's not mine. I do know. There you go. And you guys are going to be building wealth together, hopefully for the rest of

your lives. Right? Right. So this is just one, one pretty big financial decision that marks that moment of saying, this is who we are.

We're a couple of new vines, everything, because we're a one team one dream. We're going to build wealth together. My retirement is your retirement. There is no, well, this is mine. This is what I brought into the marriage.

Right. I mean, I'm really proud of you guys.

So a lot of couples that are older, their 30s, 40s, 50s, whatever it is, a second marriage.

They've a really hard time letting go because of the past wounds in the baggage. Sure. Sure. Well, I've been on my own with my kids for 15 years. So you kind of, you move on pretty, you know, after eventually.

Yeah. Wow, that's fantastic.

And I'll tell you, like, here's a thing I did and it was all accidental.

I had bought a car and I went down to the dealer and negotiated it and bought the car. And then I surprised my wife and went down and I didn't have cash for it. So I took out payments. But I bought her a car and she, one day when the registrations came, she said, hey, just say in this out loud, my name's not on anything.

Any of these cars. And it feels like you, it, it, on paper, legally, you own the, and I said, I was like, oh, gosh, I, I hadn't even occurred to me. And so adding her to both of the cars, these are both our cars. I might drive one, she might drive one, but these are our cars, right?

And so yeah, I like, any sort of asset like that, I like, it both couples names on everything, especially, especially, especially if you're walking in and dropping $200,000 on Yoll's house, then you all need to be on there and he's fine with adding my name. There's like no angst against that, but do we have to refinance it to get my name on it because he has a really low interest rate?

That's where it won't matter. Because you're paying it off. Oh, okay. That's true. Yeah, because the house was paid off, you could still be added to the deed.

I got nothing to refinance on my house. So you know what I mean, that's not, they're not in extremely tied together.

“But even if you, let's say you have to, then in your situation for me, that'd be a no”

brainer. I'd refinance it and pay it off the next month. Oh, that's true, too. Okay. Is that just for the mortgage?

Your name doesn't need to be on the mortgage. No. Because there won't be a deal. This is just the, so the deed is separate, then mortgage, okay? Cool.

Way to go. Congratulations. I would send you a way to gift, but I don't know that I can wait till you. I don't have a job. Let me tell you this.

Don't get excited and get married and then pay off this house and not put your name on there because you're, you just don't do that. Put your name on. Do it. Yeah.

Oh, man, that's a, that's a good one. John, I don't know what it is, but it's funny that people who, and I, this is just a, me just saying this out loud, this is what I've seen. Couples who are not married that are living together have no problem combining financial lives for some reason and people who are adults getting married and then they move

in together have a really hard time combining finances. What do you think is behind that? That's a good question.

I've never even thought about that, but you're right.

“My guess is, because I always tell them people, "No, why do you combine finances?”

You're not married." Then we can't, we can't convince the couples to combine finances that are married. Yeah, that's a good question. I think people get married. There's a sense that I want to hang on to some, some of me and so this is the way I,

I can pretend to do that, that this is mine and that's yours. Even though we are not doing this thing, there's this desperation to hang on to my individual ness. Right? I think it's just scarier.

It's a bigger step and so you feel like I have to protect myself a little more. Well, it's even protection. I think it's just more, it's the illusion of identity. I'm losing myself and this is the way I can hang on to myself. This is my money and it's like you make 40 grand and it's like that's mine though, right?

And then the other side of it is, I think a lot of couples move in together because they think they're going to be able to pool everything and it will be easier for them. And so they just dump everything into a bucket and they think that's going to solve all the problems and it often creates more. It's like, well, instead of then milling each other, we'll just pay this out of one pod.

We're going to win roommates. Exactly. That's very interesting. I didn't think about it like that. And then he buys, because I mean, I tried various stages of that with different college

roommates. No, I do. We're all just going to get the milk next time. That's the answer. That never works out.

It always falls on one person.

Yeah. Who's then a resentful of the rest of the roommates? Or all by the electric bill, you buy all the groceries and this dude's not buying great groceries. But if you're wondering out there, what do you do if you're about to get married?

I always recommend whoever has the checking account, just make it a joint check account. And you can add someone's name to it.

“That's what I did with my wife, joint savings account.”

Join high yield savings account. You can get it at fairwins.org/Ramesiqueet that I'll set up in minutes. It doesn't take a long time. It just takes you letting go of this illusion of control that I'm still going to be my own person.

You are. And also, you are one. Together. Hey guys. Rachel Cruz here.

I love summer. There is more fun on the calendar, more time with your people and way more chances to make memories. But you know what else there's more of? Spending.

Oh, between the extra groceries and gas and camp fees and family trips, it all starts to add up so fast.

And that is why I love the every dollar budget app.

Because it helps you plan your money, track your spending, and find more margin in your budget so that you can put extra cash towards the goals that matter most. Enjoy your summer without the money stress. Download the every dollar app in the App Store or Google Play and start for free today. Ramsey's are free AI tool built and trained on proven Ramsey principles and we're going

to break down one of the questions we got this week. I've recently gotten married and we are paying off $40,000 in student loan debt. Should we wait until we are debt free to get a will? Here's your answer.

“Marriage is exactly the right trigger to get a will in place and know you should not wait until”

you're debt free. A will costs you a couple hundred bucks max, protects your spouse right now. Something happened to you today. Out of will, there is still a process in place. The state gets the decide what happens to your assets and who makes decisions for you.

And that can be a long, painful process. And that's a risk you don't want to carry while grinding through the debt. And at Ramsey, we use Mama Bear Legal Forms for our wills, our entire team uses it. So when I got regardless of your financial situation, you need to have a will in place. And if you're unsure about what next step you need to take, ask Ramsey's here to help.

I love getting messages like this John, they asked me a question in the DMs. By the time I see it, they say, oh, nevermind, I used Ask Ramsey gave me a better answer. I didn't get a couple, come on, man. I agree. They did say it sounded just like me.

So I wonderfully trained Ask Ramsey in my voice. That's a, that's a dark, snarky voice. I would love for them to be able to choose your character like you can choose the deloney and there's like a rabbit trail of like seven minutes before it gets to the answer. Yeah.

It's only a long time. I can't breathe where you said we start with a breathing exercise, I'm going to write it a letter to our dads, I'm going to hug our wives, and then we'll tell you to roll over the 401k. Exactly.

I love it.

“All right, Brian is in Green Bay with Wisconsin up next, what's going on, Brian?”

Hey, guys, how you doing? What's up, man? You guys? Doing great. Good.

My wife is a fan of John's and I'm a fan of George, so such a bull. Something for everybody. Right. So I guess our question is, we're looking for strategies on helping our adult children come back this whole spot out of these days that capitalism is ruling

their lives, and there's nothing they can do about it, and it's everyone else's fault, but they're all. Whoa. What's caused them to feel this way? Uh, social media, I suppose.

Okay. Do they do they work jobs? Yes. For like, public companies or what? What do they do?

No. No. Where housework? So I'm just wondering, at the heart of this, is someone who's frustrated because they're not where they want to be?

Yes.

And so our oldest child is never really going to be a fan of effort.

Yeah. Capitalism rewards effort, and so if you're not a fan of effort, you might like socialism a little bit better. Right. Although if you look through our history, socialism ends up with a lot of people giving

a lot of effort they didn't want to give. Yeah, and we've never been shy about, you know, spending some kids that we struggled a long time, you know, for years and years trying to work in two jobs, both the rest, working to opposite shifts when they were kids, just to keep food on the table. Yeah.

There's no shortage of hours that either one of us put in, but our oldest is just like, well, that was you guys, and it shouldn't have to be that way.

“And that, you know, it's so persuasive on YouTube, and yeah, here's the thing, Brian.”

You and I both have to metabolize this, as just guys who worked, I've worked a lot of jobs and take a lot of pride and think of our families. I can spend a lot of energy being angry at the message, right, that actually you should just wake up every day and have whatever you want handed to you. Right.

And I also have to be honest and say, that's an appealing message. Oh, it is, right, and so I'm not going to get mad at you for like an appealing message. You're right.

That sounds, that would be incredible.

It would be, and it's not reality, it's not real, right. And so it's less that and more, you're not going to convince that message, the neuroscientist and the tech folks are more powerful than you and I. They just are. Right.

And so the only tool you and I have in our toolkit for our kids is relationship and

house.

It's, it's good all-fashioned, I love you.

Relationship. Right. We've told them that, you know, if it comes down to it, he can move back if he, if, you know, if he actually has to get started on the job or we can't get a job, it's good, it's too legal for whatever reason, but it will come with conditions.

Of course. Of course. No, he has to use right live by our rules. We're not going to just let him lay around and play Xbox all day kind of stuff. Of course.

Of course. I don't think people aren't here really lazy. I think what he's just missing some mojo. He didn't know that like, oh, you can do something you enjoy that has some purpose and add value to society in people's lives.

Or you can do something that is adding value that you, maybe you don't necessarily enjoy, but doing that gives you the life that you enjoy. Right? Yep. Yeah.

“That's why we tried to coach him with and all of our kids, you know, find something”

that you like.

You don't have to be good at it.

You can learn to be good at it. Of course. You know, find something that you're passionate about or that you're interested in for the just passing glance. Yeah.

Yeah. I think, you know, John, John's onto something here. I would not try to argue them over to your side, because it just becomes a political debate at that point. It's just a lot of emotion.

Instead, I would get to the root of the pain points that they're feeling, go, oh, here's what's really going on. They spent their whole lives going to school, doing all the stuff, they're working a warehouse job, they don't like, they're not making enough money to accomplish any of their dreams and goals, and now they're frustrated.

And so they're looking at the system as the villain. And that's a great villain, because there's so many things wrong with the system isn't there. There is corruption. The system is undefined.

Right? It's undefined. For all of you in history, if someone didn't like hard work, then there was a penalty for that. And now, if you don't like hard work, and by the way, I don't love the grind.

“But like the grind has certain outcomes over time, right?”

But now it's become heroic, right? The new heroism is something's happening to me, instead of look what I scratch and clawed and made happen, or look at the benefits I received and how I maximize those benefits. That's not that's not heroic anymore. That's manipulative, and that is taking advantage of people.

Right. So you're trying to get in those debates is fighting a losing battle. I wouldn't even engage in it. I call them and ask and tell them, I love them. How you doing?

Breakfast. Hey, I'm done arguing about this. Go fishing. We do. I don't we don't engage with in much anymore, because I'm not on those subjects.

We do in writing over to, you know, certify with the rest of the family, come over for dinner once in a while. Whenever he had the chance, he usually had usually worked very odd shifts, like, you know, 10 to 5 a.m. or something. So, for a little difficult, any work odd days, so you know, a lot of times it didn't match

up. So, we've already tried not to go into that, well, we can fix it for you, motor. Yeah. Because he doesn't want to hear that. And so, a few times we have what slept, he'll get mad and go away and then come back

a few months or a few weeks later. What's the ages? Yeah. The oldest is 26. We've got two, twenty, two year olds in a 17 year old.

Okay. Yeah. That's a pretty normal phase in your 20s, because you're trying to figure it out. And everything you were told, you realize it's kind of a little bit of a lie from well-meaning people.

And so, there's a sort of, like, the lightbulest to get paid every month, like, I remember that. I remember that.

“I remember that exact thought in my head.”

I've created this every month for the rest of my life, and I was like, oh, man. So there's a reality to what they're facing, and I would lean into that empathy versus, hey, what's your experiencing is not real? Right. And the definition of capitalism, I don't think is going to solve this, even though they

would go, oh, yeah, I agree with that. Competition is good. Yeah. Individuals should have the right to, like, own stuff. Yes, applying demand is actually a healthy economic model.

I don't think we're going to get to that level of logic. No. No. And we're, I guess our main goal is to just get them to, you know, fully accept, and not the like it.

I don't, I don't like when I was in my 20s to accept that, you know, what they put in their life is basically what they're going to get out of it. And if they wait for life to happen to them, then it's not going to be fun. Hey, man. I mean, I think we can all agree on that behind this test.

It's up to you. That's what capitalism says.

And if you believe it's up to someone else, then that day will never come.

And eventually you'll get frustrated enough, hopefully, to go, I'm going to do something about it, because no one else has yet.

Hey, guys. Ramsey here.

Every day on this show, we help people work through real money problems and figure

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

It's fast, simple and free to use, go to RamseySolutions.com and try Ask Ramsey Today. That's RamseySolutions.com. Our scripture of the day, Luke 1610, whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.

“Well, Ferrell said, before you marry a person, you should first make them use a computer”

with slow internet to see who they really are, ain't that the truth.

John is in Fayetteville, Arkansas. What's going on, John? I am three months behind on my mortgage and I don't know what to do and I was just calling you some advice. Well, I'm in construction and work slowed down and I fell behind and then being able

to get caught back up seems like it's impossible. What's your mortgage payment? 2200 a month. So are you 66 in the hole right now with this next month, Lumin? Yes.

Is it just you? I, as far as income, yes, my wife's home with our, we have four kids and our youngest is autistic so she stays home and homeschool sales. Oh, my goodness. As construction is slowed down, it's going to sound like we're picking on you.

I'm not mean in that in any way, okay, trying to know that.

“As to construction is slowed down, have you taken two or three or four jobs?”

Because this whole, this whole house sits on your shoulders. Yeah. I, like, I'm looked for like other stuff like, but like around here is, like where I live is not, the job market is seems like it's not very good. Is that in construction specifically?

Yeah, in construction in general, yes. No, I'm talking about, I'm talking about like you, you wake up and you don't have a job that day and so you're, you're driving over, you're delivering Amazon, you're over at Walmart throwing boxes like I'm saying a warehouse overnight. That's what I mean.

Oh, no, I haven't even looked at it any of that.

Okay, here's what I'm saying because you, you don't need more construction jobs.

Underneath that, you need one thing, money, period from anywhere, right? Yeah. And so we're going to take every possible job we can and we're going to have to tell our wife and our three or four kids, I'm going to have to be in my a for a few weeks. Because I mean for a few months, I got to go get us right sized up because the whole house

is, you're about to lose your house, man. And I'm saying that again, I know you know that much, I want to say it out loud. Like, this is, this is scary business now. Yeah. Have you talked to the lens?

Be in my wife or they called him, we've talked to them and they, they try to steal out some paperwork to like for assistance and that was a month ago and when we called them, they said that well, we're on a waiting list, we're number 1,000 and 5 on the waiting list. They would get to us.

Okay. As far as assistance. But I'm saying like are they about to foreclose on your house? No, we haven't got anything as far as foreclosure of them calling about 4. More closure or anything like that.

Oh, I would make sure you stay proactive to negotiate a repayment plan, a mitigation option because I don't want them, all of a sudden calling you saying, hey, you guys need to be out this week, we're foreclosing. Yeah.

“And so you need to stay on top of it with them to explain what's going on, explain that you”

need to get on a repayment plan, they are working on getting current. Okay. And get everything in writing, don't rely on verbal promises from the guy you talk to on the phone. And now are you using credit cards to fund the gap right now?

No, me and my wife, so my wife is doing like she's sparking doing like Walmart delivery

and the evening's after whenever I am working and that way I can watch the kids, why she goes and does that to try to, to try to heal, but like that's about it.

“I know, but what are you doing on the days that you're not doing construction?”

Um, trying to find, trying to find work and construction on here, start looking to try to find something else. But yes. Are you handy? Can you put like a hammer at an ale?

Oh, yeah. Can you start a little handyman business in charge, 60 bucks an hour in your neighborhood? Probably. Because I know I have paid these guys a lot of money and they tell me, I go to these really nice neighborhoods and old little old ladies, they can't get up to unscrew the

light bulb to swap it. And so you can help a lot of people and make good money doing it just right there in your neighborhood. But I want that to be option number two, you've got to go get a job, dude. You get some stability and then add the side hustles on top of that.

Correct. And then start flying at your neighborhood or get on next door app and say, I'm a handyman

and I'm incredible and I'm trustworthy and I got four young kids and I'm a man of my

word and I'm good. Yes. And I'll come over. I'll come over on Saturdays and credit cards. We cut all those up.

We got them paid off and we said we're not doing this again or tired of you and broke. But we cut all of them up and we don't even use in credit cards.

“How much money do you guys have to your name right now?”

I've got like $2400 in my bank account. Okay. And do you guys have any debt outside of the mortgage? Yes, we have two car payments. What are the car's worth?

One of those worth 10 and the other one's worth about 14. Okay. I would find, and what's the balance is on them? The one that's worth 10, the balance is like 14 on it and the one that's 14, the balance

is, I think, 20,000 on that one.

So you're under water on both? Yes. What's the payments on those? Eight hundred a month on both. Are these cars about to get repowed?

Well, one of them is current and the other one is not, the other one is two months. Man, I'm scared for you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I wouldn't lay slumber to my eyes. No. I would be out there working every, I'll be driving down the road, going to every single store and saying, you guys, hi, we're not going to start tomorrow. I'll start right now, whatever you need me to do.

That's the kind of attitude you need and said, "Well, I'm waiting on the construction market to pick back up. I would be calling every single person in my phone to say, "Hey, do you know of any work available? Do we anything?"

John, I have a vivid memory of an executive at my church getting laid off when I was a young kid and that following we key was, he took over the janitorial role at the church. He was cleaning toilets and then I remember thinking, oh, that's not that he was at a fancy

“job and now he's not, but I remember as a young man thinking, oh, that's what honor looks”

like. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. Today is your day, brother.

I don't want you to go to sleep until you've gone to knocked on four different businesses this afternoon. Okay? Yeah. You've got to get out of the shame Sparrow, you're finding yourself in.

Right? Yes. The only way out of this is through action, brother. Okay? Yeah.

You're a good man. You got, you got, you got kicked, you got hit hard and you fell down. Now, I don't want you to go to work, you know, I don't want you to go to work, you got hit hard and you fell down, now you're family and you need you to stand back up and go get after it.

Okay? Yeah. All right. You were on the same team, brother. You call us back if you need anything.

I don't. Okay. I hope we gave enough homework to keep you busy. Yes. No, absolutely.

It's a, we probably just gave you more of a kick in the pants, but no more schemes, no more. It is time for one thing, one thing only, and that is to go get to work on top of work and on top of work, and you're going to be so tired, you came and see straight. You got four kids.

I know you know fatigue at a level that most people don't, you're about to be triple that tired, but your family is going to have a roof. Yeah. You and your wife are going to have cars and you're going to be able to sleep at night finally.

Okay? Okay. Game on. And you will get current on that mortgage, current on that car payment, you're going

You just been kicked, and so it's time to get back up and start fighting, man, because

“you got a lot of people are lying on you, a lot of people that love you, and you're worth”

this.

And George Owen Reader, it's something you said, often, when I talk to folks in this very

“situation, there's a fear to call the mortgage companies, a fear to call the car loan”

folks, often having that phone call and telling them I know I'm working on a plan is what

they want to hear. It's the absence of any sort of information other than we're not getting paid, they're going to start their automated processes, right? So get on the phone and be very proactive if you find yourself behind, like John is and get on the horn and let people know, "Yes, I know I'm behind, and I'm going to be working

on it." That puts this hour of the Ramsey Show in the books.

“Remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily”

with the Prince of Peace Christ Jesus.