When Money Feels Confusing, Clarity Matters Most

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“>> Normal is broken, common sense is weird.”

So we're here to help you transform your life from the Ramsey Network in the Fairwins Credit Union Studio. This is the Ramsey Show Triple 8 8 2 5 5 2 2 5 is the phone number I can come and join by. The incomparable George Kimmel, no bomber jacket today,

just to shack it and he's looking. >> I didn't want to outdo you can. >> You're looking as Dapper as ever. >> Thank you. >> We're ready to go, let's start it off with Zay.

In Austin, Texas, Zay, how can we help? >> Hi, I was just calling in. I just want to say I love the show and I'm new to Ramsey, but I really throw myself into everything that you'll teach. I've already completed a baby step one.

And I just wanted some direction on how to get through step two.

>> Well, welcome aboard Zay. >> Zay isn't by fire. >> Let's go, proud of you. So, what's the picture? Give us the financial picture and baby step two.

What are we working on? >> We're working through about $53,000 in debt. >> You said 53? >> Including by now, yes, our 53,000. >> All right, break it down.

>> And it's going to be about $3,287 in by now, pay later debt, $785 in personal loan debt, $39,380 in a card debt. And I have five credit cards. One was paid jewelry for $1,000 for a $1,015. One was maybe federal for $4,300.

One would capital one for $1,500. One would discover for $1,250. And another one would chase for $1,000.

And all those are max out.

Except for the card for the ring. >> I'm exhausted here and about this. I can't imagine how you're feeling, carrying it. >> Yeah, it's a lot. >> At least you know your numbers.

“That's honestly, that tells me you're actually”

going to get out of this thing, because most people have no clue what's going on. They don't want to know. And Zay, you've made a bold choice to go. I'm going to stare at this thing right in the face and tackle it.

>> Love it. >> Absolutely, I'd say what? >> What? >> Tell us your income. >> So I actually just got promoted to full time from part time. So now I make $55,000 a year and my husband's in the military,

and he makes $30,000 a year. >> Okay, so we're looking at $85,000. You guys are joint finances, I hope? >> Yes, sir. >> Okay, great.

And is he on board with this baby step stuff? And this Ramsey stuff? Is he on board or is he freaking out? Thinking that you got abducted by aliens? What's going on?

Where's he at? >> Definitely abducted by aliens.

“I was like, "Hey, man, we're doing all this stuff, man."”

I'm paying off all these credit cards and then we're closing them. He said closing them. I said closing them. And he was like, "Oh, God." >> Okay.

>> I knew it was one of the other, right? We've just taken too many calls. So that's a, that George, that's a now an interesting wrinkle in this process. Yeah, I want to know who's car this is. >> The cards in my name, it's mine.

I had it before we got married. >> What's it worth? >> It's only worth $25,000. What's the payment on it? >> $800 a month.

>> Woo. >> Yikes, where's my pepto-bismal, George? Do you have it? >> I don't, I think we ran out. You use the supply last week.

>> Little indigestion on that one. That $800 a month car payment. Woo. Now, did you roll over negative equity? What happened here?

>> Yes, I rode over negative equity. I had a Chevrolet, which I didn't know. Obviously all of them depreciate, but apparently those super depreciate. And the only reason I wanted a different car is because I commute to work an hour every day in the car that I had wasn't going to suit the drive, a gas mileage.

Well, I thought that between 25 Toyota Camry. >> That's the only car that could get you an hour retwey. That makes sense. >> Yeah, I was trying to do it. >> It was a joke, you know, you don't need a 20 25 car to get you anywhere.

Okay, just say you wanted a brand new shiny car. >> Stop shouting, George. >> I'm just, you're getting a little tired. >> It was a test, it was a test. >> All right, what do you, let me ask a real quick question.

>> What do you do for a living? >> I'm a bank tower. >> Okay, is there, and I'm just asking this is not the primary focus of your call. Nor should it be our coaching, but I wonder if you could get a job in the near future doing bank telling or something similar for the same pay that doesn't require you to drive an hour.

Each way. >> Actually, actually did try to find a job on my area. We live right next to a base. >> I see. >> The areas usually not the best around each, and the pay, the pay, I make $24 here, and when I started job hunting, the most they would offer was 12 to 14 over there.

And why is there husband only making 30?

>> He's pretty low rank, you don't need a E3. >> But that still feels, I mean, that's close to minimum wage at this point. >> Yeah, I mean, they give us VAH and everything, but we don't see it because we live in a base housing. >> Yeah.

>> So, our group over here is taking care of them. >> Well, that means your expenses are still low.

“So, do you have any money left over at this point to throw at the debt?”

>> So, no, I last year I quit my job for two months, and that was not the best choice. And we've been kind of drowning, just kind of treading water ever since, just trying to make sure things get paid at the very least. >> So, you have a thousand bucks in savings, and nothing else to your name? >> No.

>> Okay, everything else is fine to build. >> What kind of, if you've done a budget to where you can answer the question of how much margin do you have that you could throw at this debt? And what I mean by margin is after we've paid the basics, right? So, you don't have housing, so I'm assuming you don't have utilities or any of that stuff.

So, your basic bills, above and beyond that, do you know how much you could throw at this debt every month? >> Well, what we wanted to do is try to start using only the money I make now in just surviving on his payings. It just seems kind of hard with the $800 car note.

>> I agree. >> I don't mean that word. >> Staying in debt is going to be even harder. So we've got a hard choice to make here, which is we're going to have to get out of this car debt.

“And the only way to do that is to come up with the difference that we're under water on.”

So you said it's worth 25, was that private party value or was that a trade-in value? >> I looked on Kelly Booglook for private party. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay, so that means you're 14 grand underwater on this thing. So that's the number we need to come up with.

Now, do you have another vehicle you could use in the meantime? >> No, sir. We're a single, we're a single vehicle family. >> So that's the one. So we need to also come up with a little bit more money to get you a different car that

is used in cash, probably five grand. >> Okay, so once you have the 14, plus let's say the five, that's about 20 grand that you need to come up with in order to get out of the 40. Do you see how that's a good deal? >> I do, yes, that's what I was saying.

We want to end up, he's going to be getting moves soon and we want to go overseas.

“So that's why we were really like, okay, when you start going hard because we want to either”

get rid of the car or something like that, we want to go over there with no debt whatsoever. >> What is going overseas due for you guys financially? We'll be going down to the single income, so we're hoping you'll get a little bit more rank and we just want to have a different living experience on base and stuff. >> I think this is a fantasy right now.

You guys can't live off to incomes with the debt you have. And so this idea of going overseas is going to have to wait until you guys completely debt-free. >> Absolutely. >> So here's the math, you got 53 grand, usually it takes people 18 to 24 months to pay off their consumer debt if they go hard using our plan.

That means you got to be throwing 26, 5 a year at this debt, that's about 2,200 a month. So that's the real napkin math of what it's going to take and freeing up that $800 payment is your ticket. Which means we got to save up 1920 grand fast by selling stuff, working extra, living on

nothing, then we can finally get some breathing room and crush the rest of our 14-K in debt.

, this show is sponsored by better help. Financial stress is not just damage or bank accounts. You can also take a toll on our relationships and on our mental and emotional health. Money fights are one of the leading sources of conflict for couples. I know this personally.

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That's [email protected]/Ramsie. Alright next is Rose. Rose is joining us in St. Louis. Rose, how can we help today? Hello gentlemen, the reason that I'm calling is because I am, I was the sole beneficiary of

a life insurance policy, and I am completely illiterate when it comes to finances, and

I've never seen this much, I've never dealt with this much money, I mean it's not like

a billion dollars or anything, but it's substantial, and I'm $51,000 that I had a huge back for three years ago, and I'm still catching up from that, and it's a truck payment,

“it's a personal loan, a pedal loan, and it's credit cards, and medical bills, that's what”

I owe. I'm receiving $125,000, and so your steps are going to be wiped out, and, well, I mean, one, two, and three, and four, maybe, are going to be wiped out, but I don't know what to do with the rest of the money, or should I pay all of my debt at once, what do I do after I pay it?

Okay, let's go back quick review, I want to catch it, we got you, let me quick review is the total debt, everything you list out is the total debt equaling to $51,000 or is it $51,000 plus? That's total debt. So your total debt is $51,000.

Correct. Okay, do you have any other money and savings? We have no savings. You have zero savings, and is the 125,000, is that net to you or is that before tax? It's net to me, there's no tax in Missouri, or I don't know the specifics, but I know

I don't pay tax on life insurance. Okay, all right, George, take over, buddy. So baby step one is a $1,000 starter emergency fund, you're right, that's taken care of, baby step two, we're going to wipe out all the consumer debt, all 51, that's taken care of, and then you're going to build your three to six months of expenses in an emergency

fund, and we're going to park that in a savings account, a high yield savings account, is even better because it'll at least sort of grow a little bit and grow with inflation. They wouldn't high yield, what's that mean? That's just a type of savings account, they're usually tied to a lot of online banks. We've got a great one with FairWins Credit Union, who's a sponsor of this show, and they

created a bundle just for our fans like you, and they've got it. And so you can go to FairWins.org/Ramsie, open up one of those, and that's a great place to just sock away money and not do anything with it right now. That's what I'm encouraging you to do. Six months?

“And what's six months of expenses for you guys to cover all of your bills?”

Without your debt payments? That's going to be nice, yeah. $1,500? Wow. We bring home $8,000 a month.

I work for the folks with service, and my husband is a truck driver, and we make decent money. But we have a Robin Peter to pay for when I was out of where I lost $52,000 a year. I had my debt surgery, and it crippled us. I paid for few rules of my family.

I've always taken care of everybody else in my whole life, and I've never been able to

fade for me because I've always felt guilt because I've had more money than other people in my family have. So I buried my parents, I buried my brothers, and I paid for all of that, they goes with it. And I don't have any family left, and it's just my husband and I, and I don't want

anybody to know about this, because I don't want to be rich anymore. We won't tell us all rows. It's just between you and a couple of million listeners, yeah. Nobody knows. Nobody knows.

“But I think you've been helping everyone your whole life.”

It's time to help Rose. It's time for you. Who was who passed away? My ex-region. I'm sorry for your loss, but the legacy here is Rose's set free from the bondage of her

debts. Yeah, so what do I do? Well, what do I do with the extra income? Well, we're going to tell you. Well, let me lay out the math for you, 125,000 minus the 51 in debt.

That leaves you with 74,000. Can you be tracking? Okay. Yeah. Let's set aside 24,000 in a high yield savings account, and that's going to be your

emergency fund plus, because you've been living the life of scarcity. It's time for a little abundance.

This is your never going to debt again insurance plan.

You understand? I could cry. Well, it's okay. You've never had 24,000. It's okay to protect your own.

This is huge. It is emotional. It's a restart. Yeah. Yeah.

Imagine that. It's $24,000 sitting in the bank, and you still have $50,000 left. Let's go. This part, Rose. This is where it gets fun.

George, tell her what she's won. You've won a lifetime without stress, Rose. So that 50 grand now can be used to do a couple of things. We can invest some of it. We can max out a retirement account, a Roth IRA, for example.

We can invest outside of retirement if you have near-term goals. And you can use that to give and spend.

Once the last time you spent money on your shelf, I've never bought a house, and I've never

bought a house. Great. So where did that go into all of that? Well, that becomes your starter down payment. So now we have 50 grand as a down payment.

So what kind of house are you looking for?

“What's that going to cost you in your area for a reasonable height?”

I don't want no more than a $200,000 house. That sounds reasonable. That sounds reasonable. And we want to pull a jacuzzi yard for our dog. Now we're talking.

Now we're talking. It's not what I want. I don't want nothing. That's all George once. You're list of the same as yours.

He wants a backyard. Would you like to see his guy too dogs? I want a jacuzzi for the dog. That'd be it. You would do it.

I'm sure it's a thing.

So Rose, that's going to become your down payment money then.

So you got your 24K emergency fund, 50K for your down payment, and then keep adding to it. Because guess what? You make a grand. You spend 1500. You can sock away $6500 a month toward that down payment fund.

That's right. And in fair ones, you can actually earmark the different savings accounts. So mark one for emergencies, mark the other one for down payment, and just start adding money to that every single month. Okay.

“And with the nice income, George, that they've got, they should be able to get right into”

baby stuff for me with 15%. Yeah. When they're on every dollar. So every month. That's where I'm going to need to reach out to somebody.

I bought a $79 thing. What's the $70? Oh, every dollar. Yes. So that is going to be the foundation of your financial world because you're going to be budgeting

for everyone of those dollars coming in so that they don't slip away into the abyss because Rose found a new opportunity to do something over here. And so that's going to help you make a plan for all those $8,000. And I'm going to hook you up with a dream team. Number one is a trusted real estate pro.

Okay. You need someone in your corner who can help you shop within your budget, who knows Rose's goals, who understands the Ramsey way to help you do the smart. So Ramsey services.com is a place to go. I know Dave said that the credit cards aren't the end of the year.

You shouldn't have to look, you know, have a credit card to be anybody special. And where do I, if you have someone within your team that will help me navigate on that app? Because I have our income in there, but I have no, I have been using with it. So I bought it.

I have no idea what it is. So it has a coaching function in it. Yeah. Click on coaching within the menu and you can actually get a 10 minute session with someone from our team and every dollar pro who can help you get unstuck.

And on top of that, there's a ton of group coaching on going coaching. You can jump into. I encourage you to do that. And then on the investment side, if you're like, hey, you said, I'm a literant when it comes to investing.

I don't want to screw this up. We got you there too. You can reach out to a smart investor pro on our website. And they will help you navigate this newfound wealth that you're about to be building with.

So, Rose. Rose, have you seen the movie Titanic? I have when it was the last time you watched it. It's a favorite. Yeah.

I would queue it up after you do everything that George said, because, you know, Rose is the name of the title character. And I think this is like, you and your husband, after you clear all these steps, it's your heart will go on. Maybe you go, maybe you go.

Maybe you go, maybe you go get a boat on the nearest lake, and you don't buy one. We're going to rent one just for the day. We're going to pay cash. And you're going to get out there and he's going to be behind you and you're going to do the whole my heart.

We'll go on in your free and we'll let that be the end of the movie. We're not going to continue in the plot. Yes, no more. Just that part. Just a good part.

Just the free. The debt free part, right? That's what we're talking about.

“That's what life is going to feel like on the other side of this, part of the cheesy”

metaphor. But it may be one of the greatest movies of all time, George.

This is an amazing launchpad for you, Rose.

I'm so proud of you. And you are very wise to be self-aware in a little paranoid and go, I don't trust people with this. I don't know what to do with this. I'm so glad you called us weird here for you.

If you need anything else, ramsysolutions.com, click on SmartVester Pro, click on Real Estate Pro. They will guide you in this and our every dollar team will help you in there on the coaching side of it. Click the coaching button.

Every dollar is with you the whole way. You won't be alone. Rose, we're so proud of you. You're a blast of fresh air today. Thank you for calling us.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

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Go to joinDeleteMe.com/Ramsy and get 20% off your annual plan. That's joindeleteme.com/Ramsy. [MUSIC PLAYING] Let's go to Jackie next and fill a Delphia. Jackie, how can we help today?

Thanks for taking my call. I have a situation. My daughter is getting ready to graduate from high school. She has an educational IRA that grandparents have been giving her money ever since she was a baby. So we have about $30,000 in that.

She was also gifted to about 15,000, about four years ago. And I'm not exactly sure when, but her dad encouraged her to invest some of that money and invest it in silver. She is under the impression that it is going to go to $300 an hour.

What kind of insight or knowledge does he have?

“I think only God himself knows that information.”

Yeah, I keep asking those questions. And it's maybe conspiracy theory type stuff. It's she is very confident in his assertions. And hence my struggle with trying to get her to say, well, yeah, you probably have made some money recently in silver.

But it's time to pull it out and put it into something less volatile, like take advantage of what you've earned and put it into something that you're not going to lose on. And she wants her to hold it on, hold on to it for the big win. And I'm seeing, it could also be the big lose.

So I'm so sad, I would be sad for her to lose and gain that she's had. And I'm not confident in like going up against all his knowledge. And I'm calling her, I think that's a very generous word you used for his. Yeah, it's a strong opinion. Well, I may be hearing something and I may not.

Are you too married? We're in the middle of divorce. OK, the way you were talking about it. OK, that makes sense number one. And so that makes us trickier.

“And because now it's a splintered situation, who knows what she's feeling.”

I don't know if she's taking sides. So this is a little trickier George with a lot of emotion and baggage behind it. Because if she takes his side, it feels like, oh, you're choosing now one parent over the other. Because you have a different advice.

And because you're not the quote-unquote financial guru, you feel like you don't even have a voice in this conversation. Right? Which I'm going to go out on a limb here, part of all of this is probably why this marriage is being dissolved.

And so there's some really hard conversations you're going to have with your daughter, where you're not going to make him look bad, but you're going to share a different perspective and do it in a calm way that isn't conspiratorial or fear mongering, which is probably what she's hearing right now. Yeah.

So how old is she? You said? She's 18 years old and how much does she have totals, a 15,000 total, and she purchased some silver out of that? Yes.

Yes. Okay. So how much silver does she actually have? I asked her that and she's not exactly sure her dad told her that it may be up to 30,000 right now, but he's given her the impression that that's a static number, like you've

got that and it's only on paper kind of thing. Okay. Sure, Rachel. That's meant I'm not sure what her. And this is a physical silver that was purchased.

Yeah. Okay. Well, I can tell you the less stressful way to go about this is to just park that money in a tax-adventage retirement account or even non-retirement account. It really doesn't matter, but the idea here is if this was working for her in the stock

market from the age of 18 to let's say 58, all right, let's give it a 40 year run.

Is that fair as well? Okay. Let's call it 10. Yeah. Okay.

10,000 dollars. 18 to 58.

She never adds another dollar.

Do you understand that she just parks 10k, let's say grow in the stock market. Yeah. At a 10% rate of return, which they're going to come at me, that's just the data if you look back. In fact, from 1950 to now, it's more like 11.8%.

So if you just let it ride, she'd have over half a million dollars. And that's without her worrying about it, without her losing her physical silver, without worrying about what the economy is doing.

“And the truth is silver and gold have gone up and value in times where the economy is shaky.”

And they go back down and value as the stock market picks back up. But over time, if you actually look at the full picture, you will see the stock market as far outperformed any of these commodities in assets. So I'm on Team Jackie. I don't know how to convince your husband in the middle of that or convince your daughter

while going through all of this, but the truth is, nothing is urgent. Yeah. What did you do?

He does have school like she's got college to pay for.

So is that for college to pay for her school completely? It depends on what school she goes to. Well, so you've given us a lot of variables. What is the, how can we help you the most? Now, we got a full picture, is there something we didn't address?

No, what you're saying is if we do cash it out, which is what I want her to do. So I'm in, you know, you think that's a good idea, take it whatever gains. And so you're saying it should be put in like another IRA or because she's going to need to take it out in a year or so. Well, in that case, I would just cash it out and leave it in a high old savings account so

that it's liquid for her to pay for college. Because what's going to happen is she's going to go deeply into debt for college because I guarantee you unless she goes to the community college down the road, 10k ain't getting you very far. That's right.

Yeah. Yeah. And there's no other money you're saying. 30,000 in an educational IRA. She has 30,000 educational and then this silver money is on top of it.

Got it. So that's an education savings account. ESA. Is that what you're talking about? Yeah.

Okay. So that might get her through one year, potentially, depending where she goes. But we got to think about the next three. And so that's where, I mean, let's keep it liquid. I don't think you're going to see a lot of growth in the next one year, two year, three year.

In fact, that money could go down. So you want to keep it more liquid because we need this for short term goals. And I'm just to add this, Jackie. She's 18 years old. You already know there's very little control you have over a lot of the things she's

doing now, what she will be doing when she goes to college. You've got an ex soon to be ex husband who is going to be telling her, hold it because I'm brilliant. And I know this is going to pay off and then you're given the exact opposite advice. So I'm just trying to encourage you as her mother, this is not about winning the argument.

“I think you just have to say, can I give you another school of thought and do what George”

did with you, show her how that money should be used in your opinion, and then you got to let it ride. Because you're just in a tough situation where you got two parents, she's the one that's the victim in this deal. And so we don't know the dynamics of who she's choosing, what she's feeling, who does

she listen to more on money, does she listen to her dad or you? So there's so much there, I'm just trying to make what's is already a very tough situation for you, hopefully you're stressed for you as possible that you had to explain it and let it go. It's all you can do.

You know what I'm saying, George? Like it's just. Yeah. And hearing that, she's needing to go to college and pay for it. I go, let's not an argument about where to invest this money.

It's, we need to invest in her right now and her current education, not what could happen in the future. She does this right and graduates dead free. We're not going to have to worry about her investing for the future. She'll be just fine.

It's exactly right. I, I want to stay where you were where you just gave such a really nice little masterclass on what $10,000 one time, right, turns into over a half a million dollars. I don't think the average family with parents are saying, you know what, I may be struggling with that.

I may be trying to get out of this, but I've got a 15 year old or 14 year old and if I can start telling them this now and they go get just a summer job at 15, 16. 17, you know, it's not as difficult as we might think for a young person to come up with

“10 grand over the course of three or four summers, right?”

Well, and then do it in general. It's been democratized really in the last even decade to where now it's easy to open a Roth IRA and any child is actually excited about it because they saw a tick talk about it. And so financial literacy is all around you.

The problem is there's so much noise that no one ends up doing any of it.

They just go, that's a cool. I'm going to save that for later and yet no one's investing. And so if you can convince your kid that it's the, see all, what is it, the marshmallow? Mm-hmm. Test.

Yeah.

Most of the kids are going to go, I'll take the marshmallow right now.

“And what this is, it's a lesson in delayed gratification.”

Yeah. And at 15, your brain can't fully comprehend that. You want to go to them all with your friends. You don't want to park in a retirement account. But you use our investment calculator, Ramesysolutions.com, they're going to go hold on

to them all. I'm confused. 10,000 turned into 500,000. Explain that to me. Now you've got an end to talk about compound growth and the power of delay gratification.

And get in that calculator, Ramesysolutions.com, and punch in different numbers.

I did this Saturday, George, you've been very happy with my son.

How do you? My son Chase and I was buddies. I, they, we were talking about. I said, all right, let me give my laptop out. So I go downstairs, bring it back up.

And I said, all right, guys. Give me some numbers. I have to explain it. They were losing their money. They thought you were a mathematical cheat.

No, no, no. They just saw that. They were like, that's real. Versus me, tell them versus showing them. It's good stuff.

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cbac.com/RAMsey, see store for details. Hey, if you're working on baby steps, the best and fastest way to do it George is by using every dollar, it's more now than just a budgeting app. The plan is built into every dollar, in other words, you can track your progress, get personalized recommendations and coaching for your particular situation.

It's like having one of us walking around with you, could you imagine having George on your phone all day long?

“I think I would be glad you turned your phone off eventually.”

No, I would. I want to know if I could get you to record all the basic responses that Siri does for me and it would be your voice a little snark in there. Yeah, yeah, especially before you make a purchase, I think I could talk you off a lot of ledges.

That's what we need.

George as your conscience or I'm like hey, Google a promo code first, it's a good idea.

Hey, you could start every dollar for free right now by downloading it in the app store or Google Play, Shannon's up next in Washington, DC, Shannon, how can we help? So I'm calling because I'm new to the mobile methods, so I'm just trying to gather everything and get that down on paper. I need to get a new car because currently I am pregnant and my car that I currently have

right now, it's been broken into a couple of times and there's like issues with it. So I just kind of don't feel safe having a baby in that car at the moment. The issue is that my car loan still has about $15,000 on it and I wanted to, I, I called the contact the car company and they don't refinance, so I would have to either have a new car loan with a new company for the new car in this current car loan or I would have to

find a car loan company that would take care of this current car and then also have a new car payment on top of that and I just don't know, I'm really very scared to start on that or if I should just wait until after I have the baby and like, save and try to get like a car from like an option or something because. Well, let's play that one out.

So that's, that's our, the other two options weren't, aren't possible and in our, something that we're going to agree to. You gave us this solution sucks and this one sucks even more and therefore we're going to find an option C for you that doesn't involve you going into more debt. So you, you were thinking, I could work.

I could save. What does that look like? How long would it take you to save up enough money to get something to dependable?

my check right now is being garnished due to the double of the credit cards.

“So you had a judgment against you from unpaid credit cards?”

Correct. Yes. What other debts do you have? I have a public car, student loans about 12 K on that and that's about it. Again, I'm still new.

I'm finding all of my debts and pulling credit reports and stuff like that so those are like the two biggest ones that I have. Okay. And you're married? No.

Not currently. Okay.

Is the father in the picture?

Yes. He is. He's a poor apartment. Well. Hmm.

What do the finances look like for the family? Well, if he works, he has two jobs he works a part time and he has his own business. And so the part time, I would say probably about 3 to 4,000 a month, you know, about 3,000 a month and then there's other businesses that transfer service so it kind of varies depending on the job that he takes.

So likely is that 40 plus grand a year? Correct. Obviously. Okay. Are you guys planning on getting married?

I'm eventually, but yeah, I was definitely surprised, you've done this but yeah, eventually that. Well, what is eventually, do you have an idea if you were, I'm not holding you to this, but what do you, we're trying to get to the financial facts here and it changes it drastically.

If you make 100,000 versus 60. So what is eventually you think? If he was sitting here with George and I were just having a fun conversation, not putting you on the spot. May I?

What's eventually look like?

“When would you guys thinking that you guys were going to get married?”

Well, what would he say, what would you say? I would probably say I'm like two years ago. Goodness gracious. Why? Shannon is, is he the one or is he just the dad?

You can be honest because I'm not going to force you to get married to someone you don't want to be married to. Right. Yeah. I mean, as it stands right now, he is just the dad.

We do it together and we've been in this relationship as far as, like, it progressing. I mean, I'm not 100% sure if it's going to be. So you're going to continue to play married couple, but not combined finances have zero support and just basically do all of this on your own, while being a new mom.

I mean, I never thought I'd be in a situation, but I know, I'm trying to have so much empathy

for you because I'm going this suck so badly that if I was this person in your life, the father of your child, I'm going to go, well, time to put my big boy pants on and step up and provide for my wife who's in crippling debt while being pregnant. Because the stress of that is not good, not good for you mentally, physically, emotionally.

“So the key to get out of this back to your question is, we're not going to go into debt.”

We're going to save up with our income to get a different car. Now how much is the car actually worth if you were to sell it? It has a lot of problems with it because again, somebody tried to steal it a couple of times. So when I did like the Kelly DuBuck, it probably only worked like five thousand at the moment.

Did you finally insurance claims? I didn't have insurance at the time. Oh, boy, do you have insurance now? For that car though, Shannon, you are putting yourself at huge risk. I would cut everything down to the bone before I went without insurance.

This is bad. You make $65,000 is they're not a dollar left at the end of the month? No, well, I mean, there is, but I had really bad TV loans and so that was taking a lot of my money at one time, and I mean, there's still some of them that are due, but I'm-- So you told me I had car loans, student loans and credit card judgment, but not payday loans.

How much is on the payday loans? Well, I had, I'd probably say in total, probably like, that didn't happen. Okay. Let's get real clear on that credit report. Let's lay them out small as to largest, and then you're going to make a budget for the

first time. I'm going to gift you every dollar, our premium budgeting apps, so that you can make a plan on purpose with this app and then stick to it. So that if you get four or five grand a month, you're going to know where every single dollar is going.

and insurance.

“You're going to get car insurance today.”

You're going to go to RamseySolutions.com, and our team can help you find the coverage

that you need in your budget. That's your number one piece of homework. And then after that, it's that every dollar budget set it up. Our team will walk you through it. You can set up a free coaching call right there in the app to jump on a call with someone

from our team. If you get stuck. And then it becomes a game of how much can I save, how quickly can I save? Because we have some urgency here with this baby on the way. What does the baby do?

Oh, okay. So we only have a couple of months to do this. Which means in the meantime, the baby might need to survive in this vehicle. And the good news is you're not going to leave that baby alone in the car. The car is not getting broken into wire in it, right?

Right? And so as long as it's not dangerous, it's not overheating on the highway. You're going to have to drive this car for a season until you have enough to get a different car. Yeah.

And Shayna, listen, you're going to talk to other people that are going to tell you that

“we're crazy and that you need to save brand new car and you'll just figure it out.”

But I'm going to tell you something. How would you describe your stress on a scale of one to ten related to money right now? No, no, no, no, no. 12. Okay, do you think that's good for your little baby and your body?

No. And do you think taking on another car payment that's even bigger is going to help in any way shape or form? To help you get out of this mess? No.

Nice. We might be the only people telling you the truth. Exactly right. And you can do this, by the way. We're rooting for you.

We're not trying to be harsh on you. We're trying to give you the realities you can face to facts and then take the proper next steps. So jump on Ramesysolutions.com. Get that auto insurance.

We'll help you get that every dollar budget set up and you will feel so much better just being able to look at the numbers in reality. Hey, guys, George Campbell here. Listen, we need to talk about your phone plan because for a lot of you, it's like a bad roommate.

You know the one, unpredictable moods, always asking for money, hard to get rid of.

And they never do the dishes.

“And that's what the so-called big wireless carriers are like.”

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Back to the Ransy Show in the Fairwins Credit Union Studio, I'm Ken Coleman, George Camel, is alongside. We're here for you today, Triple 8-825-5-225, is the number to jump in. Chase, joins us in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Chase. How can we help today?

Well, hi, sir. Like you already know, my name is Chase, and 20 years old I currently work as an auto-body technician, which means as a flat rate employee, my income is quite variable with that being said, I'm about $30,000, $30,000 in debt spread across the $16,000 port decision toolbox, about $11,000 a little more to my grandparents interest-free, and the rest is all

on credit cards and whatnot. My main question is, I have a horrible issue with the spending problem whenever I'm doing good work, and if I were to get stressed out, I just go and blow my money in retail therapy. And what I can pay off in that by the time I end up having a slow period in work, let's now around spring break, nobody's getting a card of fix, I've end up underwater and barely

able to make my bills.

Well, the first thing I want to say to you is, good on you for calling us and calling out

I mean, that's the self-awareness is awesome, Chase, and I think that's the first step

to you winning. You know, I just want to applaud you, because you know, there's something going on inside of you that when something goes wrong, stress, whatever, you immediately go buy something to make yourself feel better. That's a big deal, and I encourage you to keep digging into that, and come up with tools,

whether that's to go see a therapist or just do some hard work to go, you know what, I'm going to create some accountability in my life. I'm going to have somebody that can call and that can talk me off the retail therapy ledge, okay, I just wanted to encourage you on that, because that's half the battle, okay. So let's get into this debt.

Let's talk about, let's get, give us the smallest to largest. Smallest to largest, the smallest are some payment plans like Chase paying for cash at borrow that I use on the slow weeks when I don't have enough to cover my bills, so I have to tap into those, you know, buy food, I got a great solution for that. Can you delete those apps?

I, well, the Chase is my Chase banking app, so I stopped banking with Chase. Stop banking with Chase. Yeah. Switch banks. Okay.

“And the cash app is that's how I pay my grandparents.”

Use them, okay. Use Zell. Use them, no. Think about it. If this was a casino, you'd be like, well, I should probably make it really difficult

for me to go into the casino again. What kind of stuff are you buying? Um, really it's anything, I mean, it used to be, uh, it used to be tools through snap on and all the other tool brands, but I've gotten myself away from that, and what are you starting to buy?

Give me quick, give me a quick list, there's a reason I'm asking this. Yeah, I closed video games. I'd sell it. Yeah. I think you need it behavior.

George is locking in on something he inspired me to ask that question, you've got to make some changes. That's why I said change the bank, delete the apps. You've got to make some changes to try to put up some hurdles, because you're just so quickly savvy in your wounds by spending.

So I was hoping you had some tools, I was thinking of guy in your line of work, had some really expensive tools that we could sell. And even if it's 80% of what you bought it for, that's real cash to create some initial momentum. And actually, I think it's ritual.

I'm a big fan of rituals at times when the rituals are tied to, um, change in emotion.

“And I think you need to go sell some stuff, even it's closed.”

Even you got to go take it to a second hand store and get 50% of what it was or whatever

that is, I have no idea, but there's like poshmark and all kinds of apps you can use to sell stuff. But only download an app if it's going to make you money not cost you money, that's your new filter and value. That's good.

And then I'm confused, Chase, because I know we got a lot of great auto body shops around here. I can't get a car in there. They're like, hey, we got a two week backlog. And so I don't buy that works as so slow that nobody's bringing the car in.

Well, I don't know what that says about the shop you're working for, but I would find one that stays busy. Yeah, and that that has been the problem to I actually made that decision a few months ago that the last shop I was at was flowing down because of poor management and whatnot. That's true.

That's why shops slow down, not because cars stop breaking down randomly during spring break. Yeah, good point. So there's problem number one, what are you actually making a per month on average? Like I said, it's so hard to know on a good month by making 6,000 on a bad month by making

25 to 3. Okay. And are you living at home? No, I have my own place. Okay, what's your rent cost?

$750 a month. Okay. And that's reasonable for your income. So that's not the issue.

So here's what we need to do on the good months.

“You need to go, that is not my money to spend, that is Chase Banks money.”

That is the buying out pay later company's money because it's really not yours. You signed something that said, I will pay you this money back when I have it, right? Right. So now it's an integrity issue. So just make it an integrity issue and then remove all of the reasons you could go

spend that money. And that means deleting the apps, adding the friction, cutting up the credit cards. Do you actually close these credit cards and close these by now pay later accounts? I have not. That's your next homework assignment.

You know how I've stayed out of debt? I was 40 grand in debt when I was 23 years old Chase. And when I got out, you know how I stayed out? I didn't give myself the option to go back in. I didn't have a way.

I froze my credit with all three credit bureaus because I know I'm able and willing to

So that's the kind of value line in the sand you need to draw for yourself because the

“good news is you are so young that you have so much time to make up for the stupid tax”

on one day you'll look back and go, that was cute.

Remember when I was in 30 grand a debt, never again man, I learned my lesson.

Yeah. And I'm going to tell you something your way out of this Chase is getting to a better shop or picking up a second job where there's a good run shop and they need quality hands. I just think you have way more money you're leaving on the table than you realize. You could go detail cars and people's driveways and make 500 bucks in a weekend.

Okay. True or false. True. And Chase, we're trying to encourage you. You are not that much in debt.

I mean, the kind of calls we get, I'm telling you 30 grand for somebody like you who has

“ability, who has time and I think you got the gumption now again, that's why I plotted”

you right at the start of the call. You want to change, don't you? I really do. Okay. You know what's on the other side of this is you deciding to do a George set, but then actually go work yourself silly.

And when you have a bad day instead of retail therapy, you go work somewhere. You got me? I got you. Like one, one more question. We don't have a time for another question, I apologize, but you got enough to work on.

You got enough answers here, go back and watch this call, that's your homework assignment. And don't do it because Ken and George said to do it because Chase's future is worth it. That's the new value you have for every single time you go to spend money. . When you're drowning in credit card debt and collector start threatening lawsuits,

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Now with gimmicks, with legal expertise. So if you want real help instead of a sales pitch, go to GuardianLit.com/Ramsy. The attorney advertising results may vary in no specific outcomes guaranteed. Alright, let's go to Frank in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Frank, how could we help today?

Hi, this question is about my 10-year-old daughter. My household income is about double that of my x-wakes. And lately my daughter has been saying to me things like that so extensive, or she wants to pay for things that my responsibility goes and shoes for money she's got in either for birthdays or holidays or for chores.

“What can I do on my end to help her with what I think is just a worry about money that”

maybe she's getting from my x-wakes situation? Yeah, that's really interesting. Do you talk about money around her when you were married, even just a few years, because she's 10. So she's been picking up stuff, you know, probably even at 6 and 7, beginning to pick

up anxiety around money and I wonder if before you got divorced was that situation where she would have overheard arguments about money or do you think it's all from your x-wife

talking about money in a fearful way, always telling her we don't have enough, we don't

have enough. What do you think is driving the fear? Well, we have been divorced since she was around five. Okay. So I think maybe just that situation.

it a lot around her. Maybe.

“I'd ask, you know what I would do if I were, and again, I'm a dad, if I was in your situation,”

I'd sit down when I go, hey, honey, you know that dad can buy that for you.

I have more than enough money to be able to do these things for you, but you're worried about it. Can we talk about that? What causes you to worry about it? That's real.

Don't put her on defense, but just real, you know how to connect to her. I would get her to talk to you about it. And what you want is her to tell you her fears and worries, but more importantly, you want to know why she's worried and what's causing it, and that you need to address. Okay.

And then, when you buy stuff before go, hey, honey, I want to reassure you. I've got plenty of money, dad's very smart with use phrases that one day she'll understand. I budget, you know what I mean? Just talk to her, like she's in the adult, and she'll pick up a lot of it, but what she's looking for is reassurance.

And so when you go to buy her something, she's projecting onto you what I guess she's picking up from her mother.

George, am I a law for a spot on?

It reminds Rachel Cruz wrote a book, know yourself, know your money, and she walks through these different money classrooms we grow up in, and this is the anxious classroom. Like we're getting at here, and she's worried about there is a scarcity mindset. And the best thing you can do is to reframe this whole thing as, hey, what I'm doing for you is a gift, which means you need to do nothing in return.

This is an active generosity. This is not a sacrifice. You're not putting me out. You're not a burden. This is something I want to do as your father who loves you.

“And I think that's the best thing you can do for his realized.”

This isn't your money. You might have financial worries one day. That's not that day sweetheart, daddy's got you. And she's so young that she can't fully even understand what's going on. And so these conversations will continue, and they'll get a little more intense as she gets

more age appropriate. And then teacher to give, too. I think that's one of the most free things you can do for someone who's anxious with money is to show them that if they give it, it will actually lower the anxiety, and they're not going to run out of money all of a sudden.

I think that's it. That's some work. Dad works hard, dad stays out of debt, dad put money in savings. And now he has the ability to be generous with other people, especially those that he loves. And you are one of those people.

And Frank, you're good dad, you know? So. Thank you. Keep taking care of your money. Are you solid, financially?

Yes. No debt? What's that? Finishing up? Finishing up.

Okay. Great. So hey, that's the other thing. Get out of debt. You're a strong emergency fund.

You know what I mean? And all those things are going to give you more peace.

And here's what the reason I asked that Frank is not to put you on the spot.

It's to show. It's to tell you that everything we just said will help. But what will help even more is if she feels zero tension coming off of you around money. And if you're debt free with a fat emergency fund and a great retirement plan, you're going to put out an ease that she will pick up on.

Make sure. Okay. That's the last piece of it. All right. And I don't know on both sides because there's a divorce in the mix.

Does it feel like you're trying to buy her love? And I know you're not doing that, but does it come across that way when mom feels small now because dad bought her all this stuff? Is that part of it? I don't know.

No, I don't think so. Okay. Yeah. Well, take her out on the date, do what we told you to do. And then explain to her, hey, I'm in good shape.

This is what I'm doing. I begin to just talk about what you're doing. I'm going to be debt free in four months. And then this. And it like just talk to her and she's going to feel that and more importantly, learn what

you're doing. And we hope she learns yours because and we're not trying to create a contrast here. But if she experiences you very differently on money than she does, her mother, hopefully

“she's going to go debt's modeling the way and you are the model and that's what she goes”

after. So thanks for the call, Frank. Anthony's up in Cincinnati. Anthony, how could we help you today? Thank you, Alfred.

Take in my call. A little bit of background. I turned 52 next week. I've worked for Dave's absolute favorite employer. The IRS since 2008 and I'd be by plan and my wife were to retire in five years from the

IRS. He made me the full medical dental, all that good stuff. This year I was moved out of IT with a whole bunch of other folks to reviewing business

I hate this job.

You didn't sign up for that, did you?

No, I signed up for IT and a whole bunch of us just got moved over. But what I'm trying to get at is I'm looking at changing careers and studying for my IT exam and moving to my control small, tight place and the point of my call is I'm just looking for permission to make that change. Yeah.

Well, it's not something that I can give, but I will tell you that you absolutely should change because just go down the rabbit hole tonight on what stress and a job that you can't stand and it's a different kind of stress. It's a, I have no purpose in this, I can't stand it. Let's go do the research on what it does to your body.

What it does to your mind and that will be I think the last domino that needs to fall. I don't even think you need it, but I would go do it.

“I absolutely believe you should transition to something else.”

You're still a young guy. You still have a lot of life left and a lot you can give and quite frankly, a whole lot more money you can make. So I absolutely would get out of there as soon as I could. I would not stay around for health benefits and pensions.

I just never, health is going to decline in the next five years.

I'm not going to trade five years of misery for really good eye care dental care and all those things when you can afford that in a better gig. The only additional piece of information because my wife is pushing in the same direction ULR is I'm probably going to take about a hundred k take that per year to make this transition. Well, what are you making now?

A hundred and seventy k. And you're going to go down to seventy you think if you move into the financial sector I will take an entry level position just to get my foot in the door and work up from there, but yeah, I'll take. Well, it's never, it's never the ideal situation.

“My question is, is if that happened today, could you live off of seventy?”

Absolutely, we've been listening to Dave and following him for 20 years, so we've got, we're totally dead free, including the house. We've got the emergency fund and all that good stuff. How much you have in the nest? I've survived.

The next gig is 750k in the TSP and 55 cash liquid. I'm going to ask. I'm going to say yes and I'm okay with you taking the cut if you take your IT experience and you do some freelancing for maybe six to 12 months until you get your sea legs. If possible, I know that's with an asterisk, but maybe maybe we could get a fifty thousand

dollars and some freelance work with your technology skills. And maybe you go get a great IT job in the meantime and work on your licensing and then you switch over. That's right, that's a nice bridge, too.

“I like the bridge here, Anthony, that's what we're telling you.”

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Identity theft is everywhere, Zander is how you fight back, zander.com. All right. Today's question of the day is brought to you by Y-355, if you fall in behind on your private student loans and have stopped making payments, it can feel like every door is closed, but Y-355 helps borrowers explore low, fixed rate, refinancing options at 5th or budget.

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“Today's question comes from Ryan and Montana.”

I've been following the baby steps for two years and it feels incredible to no longer

be living paycheck to paycheck. I no longer use credit cards and want to close them as part of embracing a cash-only lifestyle. What is the wisest way to approach this? Do I close them all at once or is there a smarter, more gradual approach I should

take? If I close them all at once or are there any potential risks, I should be aware of. Great question from Ryan. Very astute. Yes.

I rarely use that word, but this feels like I was getting ready to compliment you on good usage there. Sometimes the word has just come to me again. It does. So, that the heart of the question is he wants to follow the plan, he's worried about

essentially his credit score. That's really what's at risk here of the credit score going down as you close all of these cards because your credit score is partially based on how many accounts you've had open, how long they've been open and so when you close these, you hurt the credit score gods.

They're very upset that you've abandoned them and they will punish you or they lower score temporarily. Now, it's not going to tank your credit. You're not going to have an issue like renting an apartment, but in the meantime, for a couple of months it might dip a little bit and then we'll happen if you truly close all

open accounts that have to do with debt. You will have no credit score after about six to 12 months if you do it right. That's what happened to me. It's what's happened to several people out there millions now that have followed this plan that are credit and visible as we call them.

So your credit score becomes indeterminable and then you just live your life and renting a car, every rental car company has a debit card policy. When it comes to renting an apartment, they'll go, "Hey, are you a criminal?" No, great, you'll have to pay a little bit more than the deposit, but sure, you can rent from us.

And even with a mortgage, I went through a process called manual underwriting to get a mortgage without a credit score and it was all kind of a nothing burger can. They kind of made it out to seem like you cannot live without a credit score. You can't live without a credit card and I realized very quickly it was a farce because they've never done it.

That's absolutely. So there you go. Just go for it. I don't think you're going to regret it on the other side. That if you got to do it all in, that means closing all accounts that have to do with

debt in order to actually have no credit score. Yeah, absolutely. Good advice. Let's go to Jim next in Dallas, Texas. Jim, how can we help today?

Hey, guys, how are y'all? Good. What's going on? Hey, so I'm switching employers into weeks, I got a better paying job, but I a year ago, unfortunately, I took out a 401k loan.

I've been paying on it, but I owe about 15,675 dollars left on it. And I'm not sure what I should do about that, because I don't have that money, and it's

going to become, it's going to fall, basically, if I don't pay it off within like 30 days.

“Yeah, did you get the actual details in the fine print?”

Is it 30 days from today or when you, you already put in your two weeks? Yeah, it's from date of separation, so when I leave the company 30 days later. Okay. So what day is that? I think it's like May 22nd.

May 22nd. So we've got a little over a month. How much can you save up in a given month? Is there a bonus on the employer? Is there anything like that?

No, no bonus. I'm putting about 6,000 away for the debt snowball right now. We're on baby step two, so I can ramp that up a little bit, but not enough to cover the gap. Do you have anything you could sell or is there anything you could do as a side hustle?

Well, we've sold everything, but the kids are ready, but in your marriage? Yes. Okay. Spouses working outside the home as well? Yes.

Indeed. What income is going to roll through your fingers in the next 30 days? We're doing about 12,000 household income right now. I think I should go up to about 13,5 with a new roll.

“How much do you need to survive and pay the bills and minimum on debts?”

500. 400. Okay. So that's eight grand you could pay. Yep.

Something. Right? And that's just if we just use that income and do nothing else. We don't find extra stuff to sell, stuff to flip, do side hustles, get the whole family involved here.

So the best option is obviously to pay the balance back within the window. I would find out, generally it's a 90-day window, so I'm surprised this one is a 30. I would see if there's any leniency with that if you go, hey, can you give me 60 days? Okay. That's your best bet, because in 60 days you've got it covered.

Yeah. Somebody had mentioned the idea of a QPLO in paying it back by the next tax year, but I'd

never heard of that in the month.

Yeah. I'm not familiar with the old QPLO. I'd have to look into that. The worst thing you can do is to do nothing and let it default, because you will lose

your wealth.

“So I would just act like this is my one goal in life is to pay this back.”

I make this like a Liam Neeson movie.

Wow. You're on fire. I want that kind of intensity from Jim. Yeah. I agree.

Yeah, you can do it. From my 401k. Exactly. You've got 40 days to recover this money and get the IRS and this employer off your back.

Thanks, Jim. Appreciate the call. Let's go to Page and Kansas City. Page. How can we help today?

Hi. So me and my fiance just bought a house last year, and we both have car payments, and it didn't get, was handed off to a collection agency, so we have a couple different loans that were trying to pay off, and I know in the baby steps, it says it's like pay off, you're small as long first, but our smallest loan doesn't have an interest rate, so we're trying to figure

out what the best route of action is to like what loan to pay off first.

“Why don't you lay those out for us, smallest largest?”

Well, we live in a, oh, it's a small, so our smallest is the student loan, it's $7,034.59, so $162 a month with zero percent interest. My fiance's car is $9,645 left on the loan, it's a $400 per month payment, and it's

out of 17 percent interest rate.

That's the one that I would like to pay off. And my car is $28,000 left with a $600 a month payment and a $4.66 per cent interest, and our house is $50,000 left with a 630 around a month, we pay by weekly through sometimes we pay three times a month, it's out of 10.75 percent interest. What do you mean by house?

So we live in a trailer house, but we also have a lot rent because we rent the land that our house is on, but we own our actual house. Okay, because this trailer is going down in value, so it's more like a vehicle. It's not going to appreciate like a traditional home. So here's the truth, interest rates are not your problem, it's financial behavior that's

“the problem, and so that's why the debt snowball works, because if we were trying to”

attack interest rates and doing math here, we wouldn't have gone into all this debt. So how much do you actually make per year? My account is a little bit hard to determine right now, because I just switched jobs. I'm a mail check now, so I'm making 18 an hour flat rate with 40 hours going to the week.

Okay, so you're making about 38 rent, and you have a 28,000 dollar car. But I also make a lot in touch. I average between 10 to 20 per client, and I have about 5/7 client today. Okay, so you're making closer to 50 or 60, is that what you're telling me? Yes, a lot.

This car is still too much of your world.

If you sold this car, we really alleviate things, and the second thing is, are you

guys combining finances? Are you just paying off your debts, and he's paying off his, are you guys all pulling money together? So we're trying to, we haven't done it yet, but we need to combine our bank accounts, and we're doing 50/50, and my car, I pay, and his car, and his student, he pays.

This is a real problem. You guys shouldn't be combining finances until you're married, because you're creating a real mess. Okay. What if something happened?

He leaves, and you just paid off his car debt, while you still have a bunch of-- Well, I'm not, I'm not paying on his car, and he's not paying for it. You guys need to focus on your own debts right now, until you're married, and then combine finances, and it will get a whole lot easier unless you're at that point. But you guys start owning up, and stop looking at interest rates, and start looking

in the mirror. [MUSIC] Buying or selling your home is a big deal. You know that. And with all the clickbait stuff out there, and the conflicting data, it's hard to know what's

really happening. We're here to make the latest trends. Easy to understand, meeting home prices went up a little to $400,000 last month, mortgage rates

that gave buyer some breathing room. But you know, this rates can be unpredictable.

“So if you want to learn more about housing market trends and get some free tools to help”

you buy or sell with confidence, go to ramsysolutions.com/market, that's ramsysolutions.com/market or you can click the link in the show notes. Let's stay right here in Nashville, or Katherine joins us, Katherine, how can we help today? >> Hi, I'm just taking my call. So about a year ago, my husband and I decided to put some money, well, to put some belt in

the freedom that we live, which is a, I'm sure you know, a deck consolidation. I know that you guys do not recommend that you guys don't recommend those, but it was a emotional thing, my husband had surgery, and the deck was just wrapping up, and freedom that released the child person being the self-person he is, what actually said, you know, I know this isn't Dave Ramsey recommended, he was like, oh, no, Dave Ramsey actually does recommend

us, and I was like, I didn't say anything, but I knew that he didn't, but my question was, you should have said, oh, he does, I love to see that clip or that article, where he recommends that. >> Oh, that's a bit more.

“>> Well, there will be a next time, so I can't say, use it next time, but, okay, so you signed”

up? >> Yes, we did about a year ago, and what my question is, we're doing a much better financial position now, my husband got in the job, and we're just in a better financial position,

and I want to start doing this mobile, and first of the thousand dollars, and you know,

other things that. But I'm wondering, should I take out what hasn't been paid off already in the freedom debt release? >> Yes. >> Yes.

>> And out of the process, you can do what they're doing on your own, without the fees and the hassle. >> And without taking credit, which they've already done, that parts, we cannot do that. >> Yeah, but all they're doing is negotiating with your creditors after you default, and coming up with a lump sum.

You do that yourself. >> That's right. >> If you couldn't pay, you just wouldn't pay, and then goes to collections, and then you say, hey, would you take four grand from my 10 grand debt, lump sum, if it's paid, market paid and full and writing, great, done.

Okay, and should I, because they have, because the persons that they were taking, the freedom

debt release, they basically, I was saving what I did the math, I was basically saying, well,

a hundred or two hundred dollars, which is not great. The ones that they are currently paying, though, on, should I leave those in there, because you're two that have, that they are currently paying on, that they negotiated. >> How many more payments are there? >> One is, it's a total of 36, and I think I've paid four to six.

I'd have to work on another one, and I'd have like 24, and I think I paid like four or five. >> Okay, I would read the contract to see what you can and can't do and read the cancellation

“clause to figure out what you have to do to get out, but I would just tell them, I want”

to get completely out of this, and you might need to do a written notice, it's like a planted fitness. They get you in real easy, but to get out, it's an active Congress, so I would definitely get out, because you can do this on your own, it's going to end up being cheaper for you in the long run, even if they ding you with some fees on the way out.

But these programs, they over promise they under deliver while ruining your financial life. But when you're scared and overwhelmed, their Instagram ad magically pops up to save you. >> Yeah. >> So I'm sorry, you fell for her, but I'm glad you're getting out.

>> Oh, yeah, I know, I'm definitely getting out, and thank you for taking my call. I hope nobody else falls for them. >> There's the warning from Katherine, we love that, and it's a good reminder, Ken, just to talk about what these companies do, so the way these companies work, if you see debt relief, debt settlement, anything that promises like debt freedom without you actually doing the

work, here's what they do.

They tell you, hey, stop paying all of your creditors, instead send us those payments. What ends up happening is you default on the debts, it takes your credit score, and then

They can't guarantee that, sometimes it doesn't happen, and the truth is you can do all

“that yourself without all their crazy fees and sales tactics, and that's what you should”

do. Try to stay current on your payments if you can, because tanking your credit is not going to help you at all financially. >> Yeah, I agree. >> Avoid.

Rachel is up next in Reading, California, Rachel, how can we help? >> Hi there, can you hear me okay? >> Yes, loud and clear. >> Okay, good. My husband and I live up in rural California, Northern California, and he has a book called

Job and we have four kids, eight and under, and we're just coming up on our 10 year anniversary. We are on baby step four, while I guess five. We haven't saved for our kids who's called yet, but we're thinking about it, and we're

just thinking about doing the anniversary trip, and I wanted your guys to feedback on, I guess

I'm feeling kind of guilty. I'm going to stay at home, mom, so I don't make a lot. I've been door-aching a little bit, but I kind of wanted to see what you guys thought about the anniversary trip, like, I feel guilty for what I'm thinking about saving. >> What do you want to say about spending it?

>> Yeah. >> Sorry. >> What's the number? How much do you want to spend on this trip? >> We were thinking around five to six thousand.

>> Okay, how long is this trip? Is it like a week or two? >> Yeah, we were thinking maybe ten days to two weeks. I can tell you right now, ten days to two weeks at five to six thousand is not a deal.

>> That's a deal, and you're not going luxury, you know, you're being smart about it.

You're making the most of that money am I right? >> Yeah, yeah, we would be definitely staying at really cheap places. >> You don't need to stay at a motel six, let's make this a trip to remember and not in the wrong ways. Yeah, let's get to that next, but let's at least take off the guilt.

There's no guilt for you guys saving up five to six thousand dollars to celebrate your tenth anniversary. It's fantastic. >> And there's no guilt in you being a stay at home, and feeling like, well, because I don't contribute as much, I feel like I don't, you deserve it as much as anybody.

“How long have you already saved up that money or are you in the process of it?”

>> We just, this is just a plan we've had in the last couple weeks, so we're just thinking about saving. >> Is that going to stress you guys financially, in other words, where you're going to have to be really, really tight to be able to save that? >> Yes.

>> Yeah. >> I don't have a problem with that either. >> What has your husband make? >> He makes about $4,500 a month, and with my door dash I've been making around the thousand and a month.

>> Great. So when do you want to book the trip, when do you actually have to pay for it? >> I'll solve some time. >> Okay, so are you willing to continue the door dash and use part of his income to save up this five grand over the next five months?

>> Yeah, yeah. I think so. >> Okay. >> I mean, you got their number. >> If it's just your door dash money every month, sometime in the fall, you got some flexibility,

you can cash flow this amount of research trip just from your work, your part time work.

“You shouldn't feel guilty, you should feel proud of yourself for that.”

Are you setting this money aside and a separate savings account? >> Yeah, that would be the plan yet. >> Good. That helps to your market, because if you just have it in checking, you haven't your emergency fund, it feels like you're doing something bad when you take that out to use it

for a vacation. So instead of your market, 10-year anniversary, vacation, and then when you put the money, and you know exactly what it's for, and then when it comes time to book the trip, or when you have the money, pull the trigger. >> I wonder if you've got a thousand to $1,500 worth of stuff around the house you could

sell too. >> I like that plan. >> I love that plan. >> Yeah, why? >> We just had a little extra money to this anniversary trip, and we didn't have

to work as hard, and we got rid of some crap we didn't need anyone. >> And then do your research, learn where it's worth it, cut back where you're like, we don't care about this over here, and you can work with the $5,000 budget easily. [MUSIC] >> Welcome back to the Ramsey Show and the Fairwins Credit Union Studio.

I'm Ken Coleman-George, Camel is alongside, and we're going to go to Minneapolis, where Ella is, Ella, how can we help you? >> Hey, guys, thank you so much for taking my call. This is awesome. Anyway, I have a question, so I'm following the baby steps.

Unfortunately, I'm not able to work right now.

$4,000 before I have my surgery, and if I was able to work, I can get it.

“But right now, I'm just kind of at a loss, I've been marking things up, I'm going to have”

a garage sale and try to sell everything that I've possibly can, but before Wednesday, I'm kind of stuck. >> Does it do up front? >> Yeah, they said that it's to meet my deductible, my out of pocket deductible, and then, so I've been on the phone and trying to work with them to see if you know, I can

get on a payment plan or anything, and they're like, well, that would be like the last option, I'm like, well, that might be your only option because I don't have it. >> Is this set, a hospital? >> Yes, it is. >> Is your doctor aware of this?

>> Yes, he is.

>> And what did he say about going forward on this, or rescheduline, or how serious is a reschedule,

what's going on? Give us the full picture. >> Okay, so, unfortunately, this is my fourth surgery in three years, but I'm a trooper. It's okay, I get through it, and-- >> So sorry.

>> I go to work. It's okay. I appreciate it though, and anyway, sorry, I'm talking to my doctor about it, and he told me, and he's like, if anything, he's like, we're going to do this surgery, and you need to have it.

>> Right. >> And he's like, just telling me, made a payment arrangement, we're still going through it,

and then they can figure it out.

>> Okay. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Good. >> I think that's what you have.

That's our sleep, okay, at night answer.

“And then you do everything you can, you know, but have you come to hospital billing department?”

>> I have. Oh, my gosh, we're like, best friends right now. >> Oh, good. What do they say about financial assistance, charity care, that kind of stuff? >> I have submitted all of my paystubs, and everything to them, they're going to try to review

it, to see if I need the qualifications, but I already make too much money, and what's your next page? >> I told them. >> Well, when's it coming? >> That's the thing, too, I'm not sure, today was the last paycheck that I'm getting

into, hopefully, my Minnesota paid leave comes into place, and it was only like 400 bucks because I've been on leave for the past few weeks. >> Was it on pay? >> So, yeah, so I was only able to work two, two days, the last pay period. Otherwise, yeah, it's really frustrating, and like I said, I do follow the baby steps.

I've, and unfortunately, like I'm in step two, but I'm not sure that you have paid off. I have 18,000 left, and I've paid off 60. >> Wait, it go. >> What's left in the 18? >> So, what's left in the 18 is a leftover surgery that I have two small credit cards, and two

small personal loans, and guys, I'm telling you, I have brought my budget down, I know where all of my money goes, thanks to you guys, and I had my 1,000 dollars, and I can live very simply, it's just, my body hates me. >> Oh, a whole blusher heart, but you have 1,000 dollars to your name. >> No, because I had to use that to pay my rent and everything, and then on top of that,

I have to move, because the house that I'm renting in, I just found out that it's in Fort Closer. >> Oh, my God. >> My landlord hasn't, but yeah, so. >> It's like a country, so.

>> Yeah, I know what it is, it's so serious. >> I'm more of a punk locker, so I'm just like, oh, come on.

“>> Well, you know, there's always, I mean, what is, you know what you need to do?”

You need to find one of those punk rock songs that you really love, that's kind of got the tough, the tough times, lyrics, but there's some bright side on it, and that becomes your soundtrack. You know? >> Oh, it is, social, social distortion, reach for the sky, there it is, social distortion,

reach for the sky. I'm not being, you know, like, cumbaia here, but that's your soundtrack. You've been through a lot, better days are ahead, right? >> Absolutely. >> You're gonna get through this, don't, do you follow the advice of your doctor, so let's

and keep walking the baby steps out, and I'm telling you, better days are ahead. >> Thank you. >> And then, doctor, and everything like a mad woman, I mean, there should be an income-based discount if you're on medical leave.

“You should qualify for a significant reduction on this thing or a full right-off, and on”

top of that, bring proof of income loss, say, hey, listen, I mean, $400, here's what I should

have made, and this is going to remain this way until I'm fully healed. And I think if this person is your best friend, if I'm your best friend at the office, I'm going to do everything I can to go, hey, your bill suddenly disappeared. >> Yeah, oh, I love that. >> Oh, I see you.

>> Yeah, fingers crossed. >> Yeah, I mean, they can post some strings over there. A human being has to deny or approve these things a little, okay, it's one little keystroke. Let's see what you're doing, George. >> Hi, George.

>> Yeah, it's not illegal. >> This is why these people exist, and so just, you need to utilize, you need to know this stuff better than they do, to where you go.

Now, actually read the fine print, and here's what it says.

You need to become an expert in health care, because there's a lot of incompetent people in health care. >> Oh, I know that. I work in health care.

“>> So, because you become the expert on your situation, and when you are smart, when you have”

all of the options, all the information, you can win this thing. And we are rooting for you to get through the surgery, to heal up, to get rid of these dads, get that emergency fund. You have a bigger, why than most people? >> That's right.

>> What is the problem? >> Oh, yes. >> On the other side of the surgery, do you know? >> Not 100% sure yet. >> Sure.

>> But yeah, you have a good sense of confidence that you're going to be able to get back to work relatively soon, or is that completely up in the air as well. >> Oh, I told them, I know. I'm going back to work on my first, I'm like, I don't care. >> I know, stop on you.

>> I'm like, oh, that isn't. I work two jobs, I work two jobs, I have tongue-to-side hustles, and I'm just like, no. >> Oh, Ella, listen. You know what? I love the advice yours gave you, and I hope that in charge you rent this month, if

they're under four closures, I'd like that you give you a little freebie. >> What's the story there? >> I feel like I'm not even going to pay them, and I'm just going to try to stay and just move, and put my stuff in storage, and if I have to couch serve for a little while. >> Good for you.

>> Okay. >> Good for you.

“>> They're the ones about to get sued and go through bankruptcy, so I think they're going”

to have their hands full. >> Yeah, they wouldn't be worried about that. >> Bigger fish to fry than you, and Ella, you inspired me just now, I want to tell you something. I love your attitude, given everything you're dealing with right now, you're unstoppable, I love that you said I know I am, and you're going to get back going, and boy, we cheer

and you want to. We're in Club Ella. [ Music ] [ Music ]

>> When I talk to people on the rams, he showed 90 percent of the problems I hear come down

to one thing, not having a plan, they're not living on a budget, they have no idea where their money is going, money is just happening to them instead of them happening to their money, and guys, that is so normal, but it doesn't have to be normal for you, and that's why I want you to go download our every dollar budget app. Every dollar not only helps you tell your money where to go with the budget, it also builds

a plan to free up extra money so you can pay debt off faster and start building wealth, and the best part, your plan is completely personalized to your life, it's the same advice that you would get if you call the show, and it's right in your pocket, so don't keep living normal, go download the every dollar app, answer a few questions, and get your plan today.

>> Hey, George, have you heard about Ask Ramsie? >> I heard about it, I use it daily. >> Do you really? >> I talked, because nobody wants to talk to me, Ken, so I go to Ask Ramsie and it's very conversation.

>> It wants to talk nerdy, like I like to talk. >> What is Ask Ramsie, some of you are wondering it is the AI tool that's built and trained on proven Ramsie principles, and we're going to break down the most asked questions from this week. We had some questions around budgeting, college funds, investing, but the most asked question

George was around paying off the mortgage, the main question is, should I prioritize, paying off

said George?

>> Well, I hope it said this, first, you got to be investing 15% of your gross household

income into retirement, anything beyond that is a baby step, six items, so you can throw that money at the mortgage, but it's not a, it's not a this or that, it's a yes and yes,

“you should be investing, yes, you should pay off the mortgage, you don't need to do one”

or the other, but you should not stop retirement investing to rush the mortgage. That's the truth. The paid for house gives you peace and margin, once the house is paid off, then you can start investing even more than that 15% and increase it to your heart's delight for your wealth goals. So ask Ramsie can help you determine how much extra to throw your mortgage each month,

what your pay off date would be, it'll help you all the nerdy stuff, do the calculations for you. So go ask any of your financial questions today at RamsieSolutions.com or just click the link in the description if you're listening on podcast or YouTube. >> Nice, let's go to Cassandra now in our backyard here, National Tennessee, Cassandra,

how can we help? >> Hi, thank you for taking my call. >> You bet. >> Well, I have $9,000 in debt for my car and it's very manageable and it's in my monthly budget to take care of that.

What I have more than enough money to pay it off right now if I wanted to. My question is, if I get rid of that payment and it affects my credit score, I'm looking to put down payment on the home and the future, will someone lend me that money for a home

“if my credit mix isn't good, if I don't have multiple lines of credit?”

>> Got it, what other accounts do you have open right now as far as debt? >> Um, I have a secured credit card and I kind of use it as my budget for gas.

I've never spent more than 30% on it.

>> Okay, so the car is the only debt? >> Yes. >> How much do you have in savings? >> 22,500. >> That's all the money to your name.

>> And I also have a retirement account that count. >> Okay, but as far as liquid money, 22,500 and if you pay it off the car loan, where does that leave you with? >> Um, not that the most of that, so. >> Okay, we're talking like 13 grand or so, it's what you'll have left.

>> Yes. >> Well, the good news is, you're not going to have to worry about purchasing a home anytime soon because you're going to have to still save up an emergency fund, then save up the down payment.

So this is a far away goal, right?

>> Yes, it is. >> Okay, and your credit score is not going to tang once you pay after car. They might go down temporarily, but it's not going to go down to where you're not going to get a great rate on a mortgage. >> Okay.

>> So, I would not worry about that. Now, if you stop making payments or mispayments, those things will negatively affect your credit score and it'll stay like that for a much longer period of time. But just paying off a debt is not going to go away. You're going to go from a 700 to a 650 way to go, Cassandra.

It's a good thing to pay off your debt. So trying, your basis thing should I stay in debt on purpose so I can qualify for more debt at that point. And so, truthfully, even if you cut up your credit card, and this is something I did, my credit score eventually disappeared, I became credit, you know, my credit score was

indeterminable, and then I went through a process called manual underwriting. I submitted just a few more documents, a real human being looks at the documents and says, yep, we can give a loan. It was that simple. So that's just to give you, put you at ease, that even if your credit score disappeared

off the face of the earth, you still could qualify for a home loan. If you have a good down payment, you'll have no debt. So you'll be a very strong candidate and you're income strong. All of those are much bigger factors than just a credit score. Okay.

Yes, sir. Thank you. Yeah. Thanks for your question. Yeah.

Really good. Cameron is up in Phoenix, Arizona, Cameron. How can we help today? Hi. So I'm currently a student physical therapist about to get licensed in around late October.

My biggest thing is, I'm about $120,000 in debt by the time I get licensed and I'm actually making $80 to $85,000 out of school and I have 10K to my savings and I was just curious, you know, I have without my $1,000 of course that is my base foundation of savings. But what else do I just throw everything else towards the snowball method and kind of what's the way to go about things?

One is your last payment for education. Oh, what was that?

“One is your last payment due for education or you already there?”

No. No. And so it'll technically be, I believe, September. Okay.

Because my goal would be to avoid going into any more debt before graduation.

“And so that's kind of, we're trying to just stop the bleeding at this point and so I would”

hang on to that money to use it for the following semester for tuition, textbooks, et cetera. Yep. So limit the damage and then once you graduate and you have your income, now let's start using the baby steps, the debt snowball methods to start attacking these student loans from smalls to largest.

Are they in separate loans, I imagine? Yes, yeah. All right. Separate loans. Some federal, some subsidized and subsidized stuff.

Yeah. Awesome. Leave it that way. Don't do any kind of debt consolidation, lumping it into one giant loan. It's going to be so much easier to pay it off when you can attack the little one with

“vengeance, free up that payment applied to the next one.”

That's the debt snowball. And I have good faith and confidence that you'll be able to pay off the 120k. Now, making 80, it's going to take a little while. But hopefully you can get your income up, maybe work overtime, and really go hard at this thing for two or three years and knock it out fast.

Yeah. And that is an absolute huge reason while you don't want to add any more to this. Because coming out of this thing, this is what I can't stand. I just why I don't like the student loan program for so many people, you know, they come out and they're excited, they've got the great job, and then it's just mountain they

have to climb. And they can, and we've seen and we've helped a lot of people do it. But it's just a scary part is, can the financial aid, when I walked in the financial aid office and you get the package from FAFSA, they're like, wow, what a gift. They're giving me four federally subsidized loans.

I thought that's basically free money.

And it's basically just a slightly better way of getting punched in the face. There we go. It's true. It'll heal a little faster. Let's go to Jacob real quick here in Nashville.

Jacob, how can we help? Hey, I'm trying to determine that make sure I'm doing all the right things to be able to retire as early as 50. Very comfortably. How old are you now?

I'm 29 right now. Okay. We got a little ways to go. What you got to say for retirement? So, I was fortunate enough that my father, my grandparents, my great-grandparents, put

together a uniform transferred, a minor account when I was very young. I'm not entirely sure what the beginning balance was. I want to say it was close to $50,000. What is it? It is now up to $490,000, and about 75,000 of that is my IRA in a Vanguard account.

So, 490 total is your sort of nest egg you've built so far. Yes, well, that's just associated with Vanguard. So, I also have about 38,000 and a 401k, about 12,000 and a 403. So, what's a total nest egg? We've got 550, we're just crushed for times, I'm trying to get right to it.

Yeah, sure.

“550, how much will you contribute monthly going forward to the next 29 years?”

Sure. So, are my only contributions is maxing out the roster, maxing out the IRA. So, about 600 or something, I'll tell you this, at 50, you'll likely have about $5 million.

Now, that's without accounting for inflation and buying power, but $5 million, do you tell

me, can you live off $5 million at 50 for the rest of your life? I think so. I think it'll be work optional, and my guess is you actually go do something that really matters to you. If you have George Campbell's budget, he'll be living like a king, living large.

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“Go to RamseySolutions.com/checkup, that's RamseySolutions.com/checkup, and you can do a”

coverage check-up, and boy, it is George, love a coverage check-up. I like playing defense. I'm telling you. We're especially with your wealth. I get it.

Chris is up in Los Angeles, California. Chris, how can we help today? Hey, guys, thank you guys so much for taking my poll, such an honor. Well, we're honored to talk to you. What's going on?

Hey, so, real quick, I'm 28-year-old and I'm currently on baby's set to have $16,000 in credit card debt left, and I just got an opportunity for my parents to buy one of their

properties that they have for about 20 years now, with two tenants with two tenants that are

in right now. The houses value that about 700,000, but they're going to be selling it to me for $350,000 for what they bought it for years ago. I'm not too sure what I should do, I don't know if I should purchase the house or just keep going, trying to figure my dad or I'm kind of lost to be honest with you.

You want the fun answer or the real answer? Okay, the real answer is you have no business taking on that mortgage right now and being an investment property guru. I mean, for a lot of reasons, whenever I hear the word I have an opportunity and then involves going to a bunch of debt when you already have a bunch of debt, it tells me it's

not an opportunity. It's actually a burden disguised as an opportunity. So, that's my fear is you take on it, it's such a good deal, oh my gosh, I mean, why not just inherit it from them later on down the road? Exactly, that's what I kind of figured.

“Why are they trying to get out if this is such a great opportunity?”

Yeah, and you're right, you're right, I'm not too sure why, but it makes sense. It makes sense. And by the way, in Georgia's right, the financial is a no go, but you know what else is on the other side of this, too, besides being a bad financial decision, you're going to end up resenting them.

Because once you start feeling the stress of all that you're going to, they talk me into this, and now it's going to affect your relationship with your parents. So this is a no-go financially and relationally. Absolutely, no, definitely, I really appreciate it. Yeah, I've heard it all, I mean, so people have already been telling me, I don't know if

if you don't take an omit, you're going to be a stupid decision, but... Well, a question that I'm going to reframe it. The question is not, is this a good deal? The question is, can I actually handle this right now without a crushing me? Right.

And a good deal at the wrong time is a bad deal. Yeah. And so I would just say, you know what, I would have loved to, but I've got some financial goals right now. I'm not in a place to be buying investment property.

Exactly. But I love that much. You're like with the sale. Mama. Yeah, thank you, Chris.

Your instincts are right. Thanks for the call.

“Bridget is up next, and I encourage Alaska, Bridget, how can we help?”

Hi. So my husband and I are in baby step four, but we're kind of in a unique situation. So I have a normal, nine to five corporate job, and my husband owns his own fishing business that's seasonal. We're to the point that we can invest 15% of our income while I'm working, but we're

also about to have our second child, and so I'm hoping I can quit my job and be a stay-at-home

mom, but if we did that, we wouldn't be able to afford to invest 15% of our income. So what should we do, like should I continue working with his schedule? He's gone all summer for five to six months of the year. So child care gets really complicated, and then he's our child care in the winter. So I work kind of at a loss as to how much did you do my work?

So I make about 75. And what is he making from this business per year on average? So it varies. He's about five years into it, and it has slowly grown. So I think his highest year was he made over $100,000 to $15,000 business, but then this

last year was closer to like $45.50. So he has some other income, some other side jobs and things that he does, but those are, it's also seasonal. Well, the math of the situation is you can't afford to stay home if it means you can't build well for the future.

And we have variable income in the business, which adds a whole another layer of stress to your family. So I want you to hand to speak into how he can turn this thing from a variable part-time deal into more stable, full-time income. Yeah, I mean, I wish I had him on the phone, how well do you know about his business?

Okay, well, what do you think is the opportunity do you think that, how would you describe

it, and what stage is it in thin stage, or we toddler stage, or are we teeny, like just as it's grown?

“So it's seasonal, so he's hunting and fishing guide, right?”

So there's only that certain season that he can be doing that, especially in Alaska. And so he's kind of limited time-wise. Well, he can sort, like if he gets more guides and things like that, he could potentially be selling more trips, which he's working on. And so like this year, he's going to be making a lot more, which is great.

And like we already have for our emergency fund, we did a full year because of his variable income. We wanted to make sure that we have enough set aside that we would be very comfortable. So like, I guess potentially he could work in more in the winter time and just kind of take on some other jobs.

That's right. That would be my home. That would be ideal.

But the reason I asked that is that, is that he's the only guy right now.

The business is all completely on his shoulders. He's the only guide. Correct? So he has a couple others, he just depends on how big the trips are, but he doesn't have anybody else that's full time with him, so he hires a few different contractors for the

summer. Because it's seasonal.

“So that's what I was getting because that's the only way to expand that a seasonal”

business. Right? That's exactly. He's got to reproduce himself. And so I'm guessing he's close to teenage age, right?

He's not an infant. He's already moved on to higher than other people, so that's good. So that lets me know where our opportunity for growth is and it's more trips, more guide. So he's got to work on that and that takes a little bit of time to grow that. So I think what's enormous is like what George said is, what something he can do that's

in that space. And I'm using the word space very generally here, but it's in that whole hunting fishing recreational. Yeah, well just hunting and fishing and all that that's, he's in that space and he can make good money and it kind of just dovetails in some way, creates relationships in some

way or they're willing to go, we know we got you from this time this time and then when we get to the summertime, you're often doing your thing. You just got in creature income, he just cannot afford to just be seasonal right now. You guys can't. You need more money.

So it's not a no. I would just make it a, it's a not now. And if we can prove that after two years in a row, this business has profited him, he took home over $100,000, boom, he's now in place to household income in a bad year. That's right.

And that tells me we're going to be just fine if you never work again, he can sustain

this thing.

“And that's why I would just want some proof because 45, if it's another 45 year and you”

stay home, that's going to be tight. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's right. Sure.

One of the thought on this bridge is to take back to your hubs on this, I think he's got to treat the seasonal business like a bonus, you know. Yeah. In the corporate world, the, you know, peep corporations, they pay bonuses, right? Kind of like a year-in bonus.

And I think he's got to treat that seasonal job as, that's my bonus. We're living off of what, you know, I'm doing in this other role. And then that's our big lump sum of money. And I think if we can begin to think that way, that's going to pay off for you guys. And then that's going to get you in a position where eventually, you know, you can do that.

So just a little thought there. But I do think it's important to frame it that way, you know. Yeah. Yeah. For sure.

And that's where you get ahead. Big time. You know what I mean? So we're living off of his regular job, the seasonal gig. Until it's a full time, it can fully fund what it needs to do.

It is our big bonus job. So thanks for the call. That's really fun. You know, you and I should go on a hunting fishing trip in Alaska. You think I'd make it?

I think you could make it. I don't know that my wife would allow me to. I don't know that she'd think I'd come back alive. I think her wife would love something to be just rich and funny. Just for social media loan to see you and I attempting to go on some Alaska.

If you just gave me the real ready to go, I can probably do it. Yeah. Then help me reel the fish back. What I think would happen is you and I would be fly fishing and you would accidentally snag my ear.

That's a real possibility. Yeah. Hey guys, Dave Ramsey here. Every day on this show, we help people work through real, money problems and figure out what to do next.

Now you can get that same kind of help anytime with Ask Ramsey. Ask your money question and get answers built on Ramsey principles we use on the show.

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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 comes from Proverbs 1923, the fear of the Lord leads to life. Then one rests, content untouched by trouble. Our quarter day from Scotty Pippin' a Gucci wallet and a target wallet hold the same amount

of money. A $10 million house and a $100,000 house hosts the same loneliness. A Ford will also drive you as far as a Bentley. Alright. Thanks Scotty.

“He's got to drop in dimes over here as the kids like to say, "Do they say that, still?”

I don't think anybody says I'm getting messes from the booth. I'm getting a bin to say no, no one says that." Your kids are at home cringing right now going down. Well, I'm afraid I've said something that I don't even intend to say. What is, do we know what dropping dimes is?

I don't think it's a bad thing. I don't think it is. Yeah, you're not going to get in trouble. Okay.

Kelly, the producer is never heard.

Our resident Gen Z said, "No." She's a malignant actor. I take it back. You're a millennial. She plays very young and, you know, fun, compared to me.

Who is an old soul, Kermudgeon? Yeah. By the way, she does have a great hat on today. The master's hat. There we go.

Fantastic. There she is, everybody. Look at that.

“All you need is a Pemento cheese sandwich in your hand.”

Let's go to Jim and Lansing, Michigan, Jim. How could we help? Hi, Jim. How are you? Yeah.

So I just had a good question as to how to talk to my dad about credit cards and our business. So I started a business with my father about a year ago, and I personally, I don't do debt. I don't do credit cards.

I don't do any of that. It's all scary. Now he loves credit cards. He doesn't have a lot of debt in, you know, personal life, but he just loves credit cards.

He has all over the place. And I voiced when he wanted to get one for the business, I voiced my concern then, but I know better than to argue with my father, and we ended up getting the business credit card. And I just figured, you know, I would take an issue to make sure that nothing bad happens.

Yeah. Now, this past month, something bad did happen with that. We tried to pay it off, and the bank marked it as fraudulent. And so then we got late fees and interest on that credit card, and that terrifies me. I want to get rid of this stupid thing, but I don't know how to, I don't know how to have

that discussion. Well, this is a generational money fight. He's been living this way for so long. You're not going to change his mind as the young whipper snapper. I know that.

I know that. I know that I talked to him. Yes. Every time that I talk to him, though, about the credit card excuses, you know, I've been

doing this longer than you've been alive, it's never been charged interest.

But now he has been, and I don't, well, what he really said is I don't respect your opinion in this business. That's right. And, which means, he's not going to accept your opinion. Yeah.

So now you got a real problem, don't you? Well, yeah. It's a great business man, so I don't like the ideas that, but I just, well, but are you long-term in this business, have you already made the decision or is it something early on?

You're just kind of, oh, I'll do the family business for a while till I figure out what I want to do with my life. What's your stand?

“No, this is, this is long-term for me, but how old is he?”

I'm like 50. Okay. So this is a long ways away from like you inheriting the business on your own. This could be another 25 years of this. It's not going to be the last fight you guys have, so just know that going to business

with family can be a fun idea and a harsh reality. So yeah, the conversation is dead. I respect how you build things. I want to build this as well. I want to feel like an equal partner.

Can we try running this thing, lean, debt free, and see how it goes? And when and if we run into a situation where it's like dang it, we need the credit card, I will concede, and we'll have that conversation. So give him a trial and sit or debate, and that way he'll put his defenses down. Does he like the challenge?

I can give that a shot. 90 days. Maybe. I don't know. Yeah.

I don't mind George's a pretty much stubborn horse. Yeah, no. He might be. You got nothing to lose. George's a pro.

I have a high sense here that it's not going to go the way you wanted to go. And he's not going to change.

And so I like George's approach, but you need to reconcile the fact that this is the business I want to be in. This is my long term play. And I philosophically disagree with my dad on debt.

“And the truth is, you guys did not align on values for the business before you started”

the partnership. You didn't set the ground rules for the boundaries and said, hey, one value I have is we're going to run this business completely debt free because it lowers our risk, lowers our stress, and increases our chances this thing survives. That's really, we don't have to do homes or anything on the, yeah, we don't have any

loans or anything on the business. It's just that credit card. It's running the expenses. But now we don't have any points because we're paying some of the else's point. Yeah.

That's where those, that's where those late fees will go.

So I just think you, you talked to dad, you keep chirping about it if you want to always

respectful. Make the challenge that George gave you. I'm all for that. But I'm also a realist to know that if he's, isn't going to change his mind, you aren't going to change it for him.

And so I would reconcile that and go, I'm going to do things different when I'm in charge. Until then, I'm going to focus on what I can control or what I do agree with and just learn how to deal with that. It's just a tough situation. I don't want you to have this constant tension between your dad and you over this issue.

Because it seems like it's a healthy business otherwise. Yes, absolutely. Yeah. Tough thing, man. It's tough.

You're not going to leave the business over it. So then you got to make peace with it and try to over time, get him on your side. But again, it's an old dog. New tricks are hard. I don't trust me.

George is always trying to teach me new tricks. Aubrey's up next in Raleigh, North Carolina. You see what I did there?

Well, I would just think I just helped Ken download like an airline app for the first time and

it felt like helping my grandpa. He was going straight as readers on and everything was fantastic. I was going to remind me. It's true. It was at a Starbucks and Charlotte.

That was fun. Aubrey, how can we help you today? Hey, how are you? Good. What's going on?

So I'm just curious. Me and my wife, we've been married now going on two years. We've completely gotten out of all of our card debt, you know, and everything else like that. So we're just left with the house now.

And I'm just curious, she would like to go on, she likes the travel. She was a travel nurse when we got married and she wants to travel to Italy. And I'm wondering if we can kind of not necessarily put a pause on the house, but maybe not pay as much extra on the house to be able to take the ex-plentrips. How much is the trip going to be?

The trip is probably going to end up being around 4,000 if I had to give. And you have no debt? No debt besides the house. No, sir. So this is, you're just simply saying we would slow down on our aggressive pain off of

the house to be able to just sock $4,000 away fairly quickly to take a trip to Italy. Yes, sir. Yeah. Why is that a problem? I think it's great.

You live your life, man. I mean, maybe set four through six. I mean, really through seven is you're taking the, you're taking the, you know, foot off the pedal here and go, we don't need to be gazellintense anymore. We just need to be intentional.

So as long as you're saving up your paying cash for this trip, I mean, it's not going to delay your mortgage pay off by a year. We're talking a couple months at most, right?

“I know how you're going to do a trip to Italy for 4,000, is what's right?”

That's the most interesting part. That's the most interesting part. What are you doing? Are you staying in a box? Are you guys doing hostels?

No, it's a family trip, so it's kind of split, split cost between everybody. Oh, it's even better. Like lodging is split, so that makes it a little cheaper. Got it. I wish I knew some Italian right now, we'd throw it out there as an encouragement

to say do this, live a little, you know, George, do you know any Italian? Bienvenito? Hmm. That might be Spanish. I have no clue.

I think I failed that class. Kelly, help us out. What is happening? She did do a lingo, right? Ciao.

Ciao. That's not a good thing. That's not what this needs though. But thank you. She did.

Ciao. We'll see you in Italy, Aubrey. Right. That works. You don't need permission on this, for many, but you're not doing anything wrong

by doing this. It's okay to slow down your self-imposed goal.

“The key is you're being intentional, you're going to pay it off early, aren't you?”

Yeah. Yeah. We definitely want to do that. Is this a case? It's a little bit daunting still.

Yeah. Still haven't 200,000 left on it. Okay, really quick question. Is one of you, your wife actually leaning towards not doing this? I'm going on the trip?

Yeah. You know, we're both, I was supposed to lean forward toward it. I'm more on the terms of paying stuff off as quick as possible. Lean hard, man. Lean into that, leaning tower of pizza.

There it is. You worked really hard on that. I think I like Kelly's chow better.

But hey, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial piece and that's to

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