Wisdom Starts Where Debt Ends

>> Brought to you by the every dollar app, start budgeting for free today. [MUSIC]

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

So we're here to help you transform your life. From the Ramsey Network and the Fairwins Credit Union Studio, this is the Ramsey Show. I'm George Campbell joined by Rachel Cruz this hour. We're taking your calls at Triple 8 8 2 5 5 2 2 5 is a ballot kicks us off

in Washington DC is a ballot welcome to the show. [MUSIC] >> Hi, thank you so much. >> Absolutely. >> We are currently paying over $5,000 a month in bills right now.

And in a few months, we're going to be moving and then paying less than $1,000 in bills. And we're hoping that you guys have some advice on maybe budgeting better. We're going to see a significant drop in our bills, which leads to an increase in our bank account. And I'm worried we're going to see that money and be like,

"Wow, now we can buy all these things that we want and go out to dinner." And this is great. And we're 27, you know? So that's crazy. >> That we're going to want to spend it.

>> What life hack could you find to cut your expenses down by 80%. >> In 2020, I bought a property of $2,000 to that condo and the mortgage. I put over 60% down on it and the mortgage is $300 a month. So we're moving into it.

>> So it's the mortgage that you're basically giving up that $4,000.

>> Yes, you have the rent in Washington DC's insane. >> What's your household income? >> It's about 10 grand a month.

“>> Great. So you should already have five grand left over.”

Life as it is. >> Yes, but then of course, Washington DC is expensive and it's grocery. And it's just life in general. >> So that doesn't count grocery. >> Are you guys moving out of DC then?

>> We are. Yeah, we're moving to Hilton that I owned, which is where to go. >> Gotcha. Well, that's wonderful. >> That sounds nice. >> Rachel's jealous.

>> That sounds nice. >> Okay, so your income stays the same at 10k, but your bare bones expenses go down to $1,000. >> Yes. >> And you're worried you're just going to spend the difference instead of do something smart with it.

>> I am very worried and then I'm questioning, do we try to pay off the rest of the house and we have $40,000 on it, but if it's only $300 a month, mortgage, is it smart to say that all if I think got 3% interest, it's making more. >> Making more wear?

“>> So if we put it in the stock market, I think it would make more of their wouldn't it?”

>> Well, there's a lot of ifs here. Number one, you're not investing right now. Number two, we're hoping the market is up consistently, which over time it's going to go up into the right, but there's going to be years where it could be down 20%. And so there's a guaranteed right of return, which is paying down your mortgage systematically.

And then there's the variable of we could make money in the market. So want to make that part clear. >> Okay.

>> So the second part here, do you guys have any other debt outside of this mortgage?

>> No, nothing. >> Amazing. And you guys have savings? >> Oh yeah, we have over 100 savings. >> Oh wow.

>> 100 grand, sorry, not 100 dollars, 100 grand. >> 100,000 savings of no debt. So you could pay off the house today and still have 60 left over. >> Oh absolutely. >> What's stopping you?

>> It's just a question of is that smart? >> I don't know. >> I don't know. >> Where is that 100 grand? >> Where is the 100 grand right now?

>> Just so you're a point about making more is not really a point because that 100 dollars, and it's just in a regular savings account. It's making like a little over 1% even less than 1%. >> Is it in a high yield savings? >> Yeah.

>> I have to ask him. >> I bet it's just an instructional savings. >> All right. >> I'll tell you what I would do if I was in your shoes. It's besides the point from your question, but I would pay off the mortgage today, be completely

debt-free. House and everything. The piece you will feel is unimaginable and your risk will go down, your margin will go up, even if it's by 300 bucks and now you guys are making 10k with $700 and expenses. That's pretty wild.

Here's what I would do to force yourself to do their smart thing, to eat the vegetables

first, as we say, is to auto transfer that money somewhere where you can't touch it. And for you guys, since you'll be in what we call babysept seven or the paid for house, that could be two investments every month. >> And you're saying the $4,000 margin that they're going to get, you would just you would direct to two.

>> Well, if you're 10 grand coming in and only a thousand and expenses, you might go, we should upgrade our life in some way. >> Yeah, I was going to say, I think you can do all the above Isabella, honestly.

I mean, and if you hate us, you can take out another one later if you'd like, but I would

“pay it off, and then from there, really, I mean, the uptick on life's, on this is true if you're”

getting a lifestyle increase like you guys are, or if you're getting a massive raise, or people that change jobs, and they see this, it's good to be in a practice and a flow of three things, of giving, saving, and spending. Okay, so when we're talking about the saving, you need, yeah, you guys need to be putting some away and savings, you need that rhythm in your life, and that will be for retirement

investing, that will be for short term savings, because you guys may want to upgrade things in the house in two years, right? And you'll just continue to take that, what would be what 60 grants in a savings account, and just continue to up that, I mean, I would, and then increase your life style a little, but it's okay to spend some, and it is okay to go out to eat at this point in your life

as a bell, so you're fine. >> You've earned it. >> Yeah. >> And you guys are only 27. You amount of wealth you're going to build.

>> So enjoy it. You guys need to be giving, have that, and a rhythm, because as your income increases, you're going to see, your spending will increase, your savings will increase, and if that giving element is not there in a rhythm, then life long term starts to become pretty dull and can become very self-inward-looking, and that's it, and that's a pretty empty life, and so that

giving component is, I think it is, it's so big. >> Yeah. >> No, I definitely agree. >> So, enjoy some of it, save some of it, give some of it, and I think you guys are going to do great.

>> Have you guys ever sat down and done a budget together?

>> Well, if you've kind of thrown it back and forth here and there, but we've never actually

sat down, tend to paper, this is how much it goes here, type of thing. >> Okay, that'll make you feel better too. >> I think you don't have no, and how many thoughts and feelings you have around this, and once you put it into the budget, you're going to go, oh my gosh, I can't believe we've never done this before, it feels so much better, just knowing where the dollars are going

to go before the paychecks hit.

“That's the key to preventing lifestyle creep, is having a plan for that money, before your”

emotions have a plan for the money, before companies have a plan for your money, before the Instagram ad has a plan for your money. >> Ouch. >> Yeah. >> That was personal.

>> But you guys are doing great, if anything, it sounds like you need to let loose a little more. I think your question is a good one, just in the motivation of it, because for so many people that are listening, their money is such a question mark of, I don't know, I'm fearful of this over here, I don't want to do this, if that's too much, is it okay to do this?

It's all these questions and honestly, Isabella, a detailed budget and working through it. It answers a lot of those for you, where you feel, there's not questions because there's a plan. So if you hold on live, we'll give you every dollar, and we'll give you the premium version, even though you'll be fine, you can, you can, she can afford it, but I'm going to give

it to you as a friend, because I do, I want you and your husband to sit down and do that

budget, because you will see an every dollar, the first line item is giving, the second

of savings and then all of your expenses underneath. And when you live your life in that order, especially at 27, on baby step 7, I mean, insane, insane, you're just putting good practices in place financially. You build these muscles now, nothing stop and you guys, we're so proud of you. What a good place to be.

Hey guys, it's Rachel Cruz. If you're working the baby steps, every major expense deserves a second look, and health care is one of the biggest expenses in most families budgets. And that is why I recommend that you check out Christian health care ministries. CHM isn't insurance, it's a health cost sharing ministry.

That means members help pay one another's medical bills, and they've been serving Christians since 1981. CHM programs start at just a hundred and fifteen dollars a month, and here's why that matters.

“If you are paying more than you need to for health care, that money could be going toward”

paying off debt, building your emergency fund, or reaching your next financial goal. And your monthly cost isn't based on your medical history or where you live. Y'all, a lot of families find CHM gives them more room in the budget. That's why so many members say they're better with CHM.

And right now, new members can receive a 50% credit towards their first month of membership.

Go to CHMministries.org/budget and use promo code Ramsey.

Chase is in Birmingham up next to Chase, what's going on?

How are you doing? How are you doing? How can we help today? Thank you for taking my call. My wife is definitely not going to believe that I talk to you all the day.

Are you going to tell her? Are you going to find out? She is definitely going to find out. Yes, we've actually been going back and forth these years. I'm going to call today, and she's just going to be so busy by calling you.

Oh, but you'd better do it. Oh, see Chase? Here's what happens. The callers that call in, we tend to naturally side with them because they're the callers. We want to help them.

So you've beat her to the punch.

So you're thinking, there's a good chance you're going to win the argument because you

call it in. But we're going to try to play fair.

“I don't say, I think she's going to win the argument, and I feel like I kind of”

already know the answer, but you know, I just kind of, you know, I think it's just my flesh and kind of kind of angry that I didn't want to be called. I'm not biblical, but all right, get some knowledge and humble, you know, because, you know, my life's also, and I want to say, you know, I want to respect her in these, you know, find a few positions as well.

Okay. So Leo, you're okay. What happened? What's going on? All right.

I don't know. I will say, well, not really big argument, but anyway, so we'd stop graded to a, or an SUV, a figure SUV.

Um, because we just have to set it child.

Um, gradually. It's going to be going. Thank you. She's going to be going part time. So of course, she's going to be having the little kiddos, uh, more often, um, so everyone

will give us some space, more space anyway.

“Um, I want to say we upgraded, we got a 2021 SUV, um, for about $23,000, I believe.”

And Tammy, you've been going back before this, are, kind of, our, kind of, arguments have been, hey, let's pay off this vehicle, let's pay off this vehicle, and she's not yes, and I might know, um, and that's kind of just being going back and forth, um, thankfully, um, we did go ahead and pay off my truck, so the only have, uh, one car payment, um, and so kind of, kind of trying to decide what we want to do, go and forward, um, given that

she's going to be having a pay cut, um, and she is the one, uh, swept the debit card more often than me, um, to a very nice way of putting it, um, and I know she's not on the so good to spend herself. So that's all I'm going to say. Okay.

Go and buy and bunch of stuff for the house to pull through that out there, but so the only that you have is it is $23,000 to be loan, yeah, yeah, just alone. Okay. So what's, what's the argument, how fast to pay it off, and in order to go ahead and pay it off.

You have the money. Okay. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. So yeah, how much do you have the, well, the money, so currently, I don't, we don't, um, and I kind of did this about four years ago. So I don't keep anything in our personal bait and savings, um, I kind of like all my money to go for us, um, so I kind of, you know, I'll say bank around with, you kind

of like it and we're Jones tight, um, company, um, so everything is growing in the market. Um, so currently, um, that we have in savings is about $100 and $30,000, um, and then additionally, we have two other, we got a traditional, two traditional accounts about $20,000, $25,000 each, um, and of course, we have a couple of wealth accounts. Everything told them right now to be about $109, um, with most of the $125,000 savings.

Okay. Um, and you don't, you don't have anything in, in checking your savings except you're spending money for the month? Well, uh, yeah. So we, in, in savings, this and our personal bait, and I keep, uh, a key about about a $5,000

buffer. Okay. But if you had an emergency above that, you would have to sell off some of your stocks and mutual funds from Edward Jones to fund it. Bet that, that's, that's correct.

Yes. Mm-hmm. Okay. Well, step one, I would encourage you to keep a full emergency fund outside of that in the high yield savings account and the market could do better, but man, when you are,

when you have an emergency, the market doesn't care about the timing.

“So if the market's down 5% and you have to withdraw that money, it's going to hurt.”

It's going to add insult to injury along with fees and taxes. So I would, I love that you want your money to grow, but I still would keep, uh, your emergency fund aside because it's not an investment. It is insurance against life. Sure.

So once you do that, you have the money to pay the car, the car off, and I would do it today. I don't know who's on one side. If your wife is saying, let's pay it off today and you're gone, oh, we got the money. What's the risk?

It's a couple hundred bucks in a payment. We can stomach it. Is that your side? That's exactly my side.

And with that being, our only, um, when we have a house payment and about the equal payment

“and the only debt that we have, um, how can we wife is going part-time back to work?”

Is that because she wants to? Uh, so she's just a, um, and this is what I love about her. She's just such a, just a, uh, godly woman, and she wants to be there for her kids more than work and just neuter the kids home, other young. Well, here's my case, Chase.

Would she want to be home full-time? Yeah, you know, and that, that is, that is a definitely goal in, in mind, um, definitely she would love to be home, um, full-time. Yes. I agree with that.

But you guys can't, for a financial perspective, though, with, it would be tight. I would, I would say, I'm, I want to say, be tight, it'd be, it'd be doable, but, um, you know, like that, it's don't think, you know, I got a toddler as well. So we're kind of getting her to some extra curricular activities and, you know, that's come up.

You got a little bit of love out daycare payment. So, and then you get into the talk, so when she starts kindergarten, we're going to, home school, private school, so we're sure, yeah, you just want options. I get that. No, that's not, that's not bad.

You can be a godly woman or more part-time, too. So it's great.

“I bet she is a fantastic mother, so what I would do honestly chase is, for sure, I would”

be paying that I just paid this off, and I would move what George was saying, some money, maybe three months, you may not need a ton, but I would up that $5,000, and have at least that three-month emergency funds there, in case something happens, it's just, it's there, and you don't have to go through the hoops of taking out investments and selling and all of that.

That is, it's a clearest plan, and my question to you is, have you guys ever bought a

car in cash, or have you always taken out a loan and then eventually paid it off?

Yes, no, it's always just been a loan and just paid off, you know, as far as we can. It would be an interesting experiment, because like you're saying, the 370, it's not going to, it's not going to kill you guys, but this is the part about money and debt specifically that you can't put into a calculator or an Excel sheet is the absolute freedom of just owning your stuff and not owning, and we actually have some great friends, and they could

easily afford the car payment, and they always kind of had, it's just kind of always what they've done, and then they paid off their cars, and that he was laughing at me a little bit, because I mean, he knows what I do, I don't like rub it in my friend's faces by any means, and he was like, man, I didn't really realize just how good that feels, like not to, like, it's our car, it's ours, and we're not attached to any, any loan department, any bank in it, and so there's

an emotional piece to this chase that actually is going to free you guys up, and what that unleashes spiritually, I do wonder if it, if it creates more creativity for you guys in your options in life, and does that free you all from a deeper level to be like, no, if she really desires to be home more, like, do you figure out an easier way to get there, right? We're not just all math, there's something emotional about it.

Yeah, you guys are speaking two different languages, and you're missing each other because of that, your logic and math, and she's emotion and freedom and risk and security, and because of that, I don't think you're going to find a compromise if you keep talking the way you guys are talking.

So here's what I did, because I've been in your shoes, Chase, my wife retired after nine

years here at Ramsey. She now stays home with our kids. She retired. She retired. Well, I don't know if she's going to work again. My goals that she never has to go to an office again, but Chase part of that was, we got the home paid off, and we didn't talk about, well, it's a three point, I couldn't make more in the market if we put it there. We just went, we're going to have more options and more peace and more margin and more freedom if we just get rid of all of our

“debt, and that's what happened. And we just upgraded to the many van life, because we got two little ones,”

and it was some grieving on her part to get rid of that SUV, but I'll tell you, walk in in there and just riding a check and just leaving with a zero percent interest rate, zero dollars a month, is the best feeling in the world. And I'll throw this out there, Chase, because you, you, you brought it up, so I'll go there. But when you look in scripture, there is nothing positive about debt ever, and it's not a sand, it's not a salvation issue. There is nothing that points debt and wisdom in

the same category. There's not. And so if you want to live a life with wisdom with your money, and you want to follow, whether it's Proverbs, the Old Testament, whatever, wherever you want to pull from, it says over and over that the borrower's slave to the lender, and that there is wisdom and not owing people, but actually owning your own stuff.

Yeah, that sounds obvious. But a lot of business owners leave money on the table, not because

“their product isn't good, but because the buying experience is broken or complicated, Shopify”

fixes that. With Shopify, you can build a professional storefront and get it in front of your customers fast. No coding, no technical headaches, and when your customers are ready to buy, Shopify's purple shop pay button is one of the best converting checkouts in the world, which means fewer abandoned carts and more sales. And if you hit a snag, sidekick Shopify's built in AI Assistant is there to answer questions and keep you moving. You've got enough to think about just running your business.

The last thing you need is to lose sales because the buying experience lets you down.

All you need is the idea, Shopify handles the rest. Start your free trial at Shopify.com/Ramsy. That's Shopify.com/Ramsy. Shopify.com/Ramsy.

“If you filed an extension for your 2025 taxes, the October 15 deadline will be here before you”

know it. And if your taxes are pretty simple and you can use the Ramsy smart tax to finish filing before it's too late. Ramsy smart tax is affordable, keeps filing simple. It's got built in support in case you get stuck in need help. And October 15th is your last chance to file and get that tax-stress off your shoulders. So go to RamsySolutions.com/smarttax and start filing now. And if you filed an extension, your tax situations may be a little more complicated or you

feel overwhelmed, get a pro in your corner before October 15th. That way you're not battling the IRS on your own. You can make a game plan for your unique situation or business. And if you want to find CPAs and enrolled agents that have been vetted by our team, go to RamsySolutions.com/taxpro.

“You can also get free checklists and guides that will help you file at RamsySolutions.com/tax”

resources. And we will link all three of those down in the description of this episode. Tony is in West Palm Beach up next. Tony, welcome to the show. Good afternoon. How are you guys doing? We're doing well. How can we help? So in February I'd paid off my house.

Awesome. And I definitely am seeing all of the big accomplishment and but I just feel like it ought to be more freedom than I have. How did you pay off? And how quickly? I paid off. It was 110,000 in about two and a half or a year, total closer to three years. Wow, wait a go. Why did you do that? I see I listened to you guys about five years ago.

I started listening to you guys and that was my start journey of like I got to get this together.

I mean, I bought my house back in 2009. So my payment was never really that high.

And so I just kept, you know, once I heard you guys that are putting more money towards it, I had a piece of property at a problem. I was like 20 years old and I used that also towards it to pay off my you sold that property? Yes, sold it. And I'm just trying to pay off all the first, like you guys could say, pay off like the little bit, like the small spill and work your way. And once I got those first ones out of the way, I really started trying to play as much as I could.

Toward the house. It's not also with that property. I had gone on using that investment down the line, but I said, that investment is my house. If I can have that paid off, you know, that's a big step. But the house is paid off. And I'm trying to invest. I feel like I'm very, I'm 43 years old and I'm a little late. I have a pension at my job. But I'm kind of late. It's far as to invest in, you know, like a 457. I have an IRA outside of work.

But I just feel like I'm gone down. When you hear people say, I have 300,000. I have this much, I have like 60,000 in a train on my account. So I get nervous thinking, I'm 43. You know, I have enough time investing at three dollars when I'm high school, when I'm middle school,

like, you know, well, worried about it. So you're just overwhelmed in general, because you thought paying off the house would somehow solve all of the other problems. It would solve for retirement. It would solve college funding. It would give you purpose. But all it did, it gave you freedom and peace in some extra margin. And so that's a step toward it. But it's not the whole picture. And so it's okay. What you're feeling is normal. And you're not behind. I know it feels like

it because there's someone else has more than you. But man, the good news is it's not a, it's not a race

where there's one million people running. It's just Tony's race. And there's going to be times

where it's slow. And there's going to be times where it's fast. There's going to be seasons where it's crazy because you're casual on college. And there's going to be seasons where you wish you had something to say for. Gotcha. Are you married? Yes. Okay. How much you guys make a year, Tony? 170,000. Okay. I mean, sounds great. It should be able to, you know, put more money. Like, it shouldn't be as, you know, kind of just out about it. But it's still, you know, some of the things

“I get every house pair up. That's what money comes up. I'm trying to see, you know, and try to keep,”

I use a lot of my, um, same personal savings also to pay the house off. I've been trying to, you know, how much do you have left in savings? About 12,000. So now I'm trying to, I'm trying to put, you know, where you're not, where you're investing, where you have 60,000 investors you said. So have you been investing in the last five years? Have you paid off your consumer debt, too? You've been putting money away? I was only putting like $200. I was putting like $200 a month. And then I went down because I said,

my goal is I could see the light at the end of the tunnel here that I can get this house paid off. So I stopped really putting too much investment investing inside the really push to get the house done. But then, you know, time, like they say time helps for investing. And I feel like I kind of cut myself sore, but I guess I could try to make it up now. Well, you can. So at this point, now that you're on baby set seven, which is to build wealth and be generous. So if you invested, even if you went back to our

15%, which you can invest more and say you have 60,000 saved now, say you put $2,000 in a month,

okay, which would be $24,000 a year. And you do that for 25 years. And that's going to be $4 million

“at retirement. Well, okay. With the paid off house, how much is the house worth today?”

Okay. Well, and in 25 years, you know, you'll be gosh, close to probably have a six, six million dollar net worth at that point. And that's less than 15% of your gross household income. Is the written numbers right? We'll just calculate it. And you only said, well, what would you do? $2,500 a month? Let's just have fun with this. It would be, you'll see, $25, $8 divided by $12, $21,50. Would be exactly 15%. Oh, cows, clothes, horns. Yeah, and I would just say, well, I was

saying, right between being $2,000. You're being a little concerned about $100 a month. Tony, I was being concerned. Let's do it. Okay. Hold on, hold on. Let's just have it. Just for the fun of it. So $21,50. Okay, there we go. Yeah, $4,50. All right. We're getting up there. I only put $1,500 right now. So I got it up that time. So I think that is a little, okay. And you

paid off your house, which is incredible. But that is one reason we talk about baby steps for

$5 and $6. We don't jump from paying off consumer debt, straight to paying off the mortgage, because you want to take care of retirement. And that's 15% of your income. So if you had been doing that over the last 15 years, or at last five years, since listening, you would have more. We're just fine. I mean, you're, you're growing to be okay. And kids college, we talk about

“that next. Like, you need to be putting money away for kids college. And then through the house.”

So if you had waited just in a different scenario, another four, five years to pay off the house. And instead did these other buckets. I do wonder if it would have felt less extreme. It would have probably felt a little bit more enrhythm with your life, right? But it's not a bad thing, Tony. But I think I could see how, if you go straight there, you pay everything off. And then you're like, oh my gosh, I have college and retirement. These two big buckets that are

very legitimate. So that feeling you have is real. And I'm not negating that. But I also want to encourage you. Yes, if you fund. And again, baby, 7, you can invest more than 15 percent if you're in a come, right? So even if you went up to 20 percent. Once the kids are around a college and you've helped cover as much as you can from that, you'll be uping that to 30, 40 percent of income. Yeah, you put, you get there is so much an investment at that point.

And then you have a paid off house too, Tony, at the end of this, right? Plus a pension for a lot of social security. Yeah. And a lot of people going into retirement still have a mortgage. And that's a big thing that they try to take care of before retirement. And yeah, you're done with that at 43,

are going to be other way around. Yeah, they've been alive. Yeah, these those bases are cover for you,

still. Yeah. I mean, it's only, yeah. Yeah, but that's okay. It's okay. Yeah, it. Listen, you said, got 21, 21 hundred a month. 21 hundred a month. Yes, to invest. Okay. And you can put that to go. Yeah, Ross IRAs. I don't know if camera who said he had 401k's workwise. But yeah, to find, to find some investments to put that in. And yeah, and you'll be great. You'll have the biggest thing that's done beating yourself up over what you could have done differently. You got the

rest of your life ahead of you. The windshield is bigger than the rearview mirror for a reason.

So you got this, Tony. Keep fighting the good fight.

[Music] Let me tell you what I get asked all the time. When should I get term life insurance? How much do I need? Is it affordable? Those are the right questions to be asking. So let's take a quick review. The fact is term life isn't a baby step. So if anyone is dependent on your income,

“you need to have 10 to 12 times your income in life insurance. Now and most people are surprised by how”

affordable term life really is. Even if you're not in perfect health, look, I understand the hesitations. Since most insurance companies make it more of a hassle than it needs to be. Not it's under insurance. They're not an insurance company. They're a broker that works for you. That means they'll shop and compare the top term life companies to find the most competitive options on the coverage for your family. For almost 30 years, I've recommended it's under for straight answers,

competitive rates, and coverage that actually protects your family. Call 800 356-4282 or go to zander.com for a quick and easy quote. That's zander.com. If you're new to the Ramsey Show, you hear us talk about the baby steps quite a lot. That's because they are the framework that we use to answer every single money question on this show,

“and it works every time you work that plan. So if you want to learn more about the baby steps,”

you can learn more at the link in the description. We'll get you all the information you need to follow along. Isaac is in Montgomery, Alabama. Next, Isaac, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Thank you Rachel and George, and you're taking my call. Sure. Absolutely. So I'll try to be concise and get to the point. So I'm recently married. I'm 27 years old. My wife is 26. I have a full-time job of career. I make take home about say 60

a year after taxes and all my benefits. She is still in graduate school, but she's getting paid

as a graduate assistant, and then she has a second job that take home is about 3500. So combined,

we're kind of in the eight range. I vary due to overtime and at minimum, I'm usually around mid-force, but she's about to get a full-time job. And at this point, I'm really excited about working in baby step two and killing all are still in loan debt. We have about 100,000 just a

“little bit over combined. We have a little bit of credit card debt about, I think, 8,000 total,”

and then 2,000 on the car that she drives. So we had a lot of kind of small student loans that I'm looking forward to getting paying off, including the car and the credit cards. But I've had these conversations, and I've kind of tried to show her a timeline, and you know, if we really were card and use all this extra money that we're going to have after our expenses, that we can get rid of this debt within maybe three years, is the time for him on looking at kind of generous,

and that we won't make as much as we think, and we'll be spending more, just trying to be really give a lot. Is that about three or two months toward the debt? Is that about three grand a month getting thrown toward the debt and that that snowball? Yeah, to get it done three years. Okay, give her take. And having these conversations, there's just a bit of a split, a divide. She's very kind of concerned. She's not really been in this sort of

situation before. I mean, she finds it hard to believe that we're going to be able to pay off the debt,

Yeah, I know we're not making the most, but even with what we do and what we spend, we'll be able to do it. It's going to take a little bit of time if we keep our noses down, but we're, I'm trying to compromise. She wants to keep the credit card. We're going to get rid of about four credit cards and we're compromising on keeping one, and then when it comes to the debt, we're compromising

right now, where we've talked about it, where she wants to be putting about 10 to 15 percent of

our surplus away towards either an increased emergency fund or like a house fund, something we're renting right now, but we really do want to buy once we get rid of the student loans. Yeah. And again, I've been like, hey, if we go hard at the student loans, we're going to make that up in the back end as long as we get one done and the next and then the next, we're going to be over probably $1500 to $2,000 at extra money we'll have once we get rid of all that student loans.

So Isaac, I curious. From your perspective, why do you want to pay off debt? What goes on inside of you when you think about it? That, like, what, like, name off a couple of emotions.

“Like, is it, like, I don't want to put any words in your mouth, but what does it feel like for you?”

But right now with it, it feels overbearing. You know, you've got this weight. I've got this weight on

my shoulder. And I see all this money every month going towards these debts and because of the minimum I'm watching it. No, I hear you. I hear you six. So you're going math again. Stay with me in the emotion room. As your wife, I'm trying to, I'm trying to get the women's woman's perspective. Okay. So it feels overbearing. So then what does that do to you throughout the day at night? Like, what, what, how does that affect your life? It's just added stress. It's,

I can see the, the finish line. And I, it makes me excited. I feel like when we get there, we'll be free. And it'll be the freedom, the weight off our shoulders. I don't, again, we're recently married. So we don't think it affects us too much. We, we have a good ability to talk to each other. And right now, it's just kind of, it's an added stress that I want to, I want to be able to get rid of that. And I can see the route in the path.

And that's like, that's my number one priority right now is let's, let's follow the plan and make ourselves uncomfortable and really get, you know, get rid of this so that we can be free and have a bit more, you know, air to breathe. Sure. No, I don't know. Yeah, totally. And I concur with what you're saying. I just think for her probably, she may feel a little overwhelmed because you're like, here's the, here's the timeline. This is what we're going to do. I see the finish line,

get on track. We're going to do this. Let's go. And she's like, whoa, whoa, I have other thoughts and other goals and other desire. Sooner to me to have an emergent, like, she has her own goals and the great thing is everything you've named off so far as a couple, all of the

goals are amazing. They're all great, right? Like, she's not saying, oh my gosh, I just want to go

“and spend a bunch and just go travel Europe for two months and do nothing. And you know what I mean?”

Like, she's not like a, a not realistic person. Like everything that she's wanting is realistic. And so that's the great thing. And so the work is going to be for you guys to get aligned. And I would, I would want to make sure that she hears from you Isaac, not just the numbers and the finish line and the charts and the calendarization of how you're going to do this in Excel. But she hears from her husband, who's from what I hear has a, has a weight on him that is so stressful. You feel a responsibility.

I'm sure now that you're married. And she's in grad school and you feel like you are the main source of income at this point. And so much is on your shoulders. And when this debt is gone, there is that that deep level of relief. But I want her to hear you explain it in a way that's more human than just like a human calculator. So I do wonder sitting down having a heart to heart with her

“and you showing your, yeah, I mean, your push forwards that towards that, I think would be helpful.”

And then I'll throw out, this is probably a little bit more on the, on the knowledge side. But again, her goals are within the baby steps. And we, this plan has been proven for over 30 years, the fastest way to build wealth into have, you know, these massive goals achieved is in a very

kind of push her on that in a sense that, you know, that this is, this isn't, people just made

up, right? It's been done for over three decades. And it is seen as the most efficient way to get to the goals she wants to get to as well. Yeah. I've got a couple of hands, the company boats. I've got the total money makeover that I've kind of encouraged her to read after I finish my reread of it. We use every dollar. I've gotten her on that tune. I've showed her kind of how it works and how I like to use it. And we're, we've gotten a lot better at tracking our expenses

and now that we're doing everything together, trying to think counts and, and all that, we've

gotten better with making sure we know where our money's going. This is kind of that, that

“long-term plan that. And I think you guys will get there too. I'll give you guys some grace or newly”

married. You've combined two adult lives. She's still in grad school. I mean, there's, yeah, I mean, so she's been hustling. You've been hustling. Now you're married and she's gone, wait, I thought marriage was going to be like fun. And you're giving me like a running regimen for a marathon all of a sudden. So I think there needs to be some vision cast about, hey, where do you want to end up five years from now? Great. We both say we want to be dead free with savings in the bank and

own a home. Great. Now, which is about what's the best path to get there that's surefire. And we know that's the Ramsey plan. So it might take, you know, walking through financial PC University. Hey, Friday nights, we're going to watch a new lesson and we're going to talk about it.

“We're going to do our budget and check in. It's also dream. So romantic George, get some popcorn.”

Get some take-out. What an exciting Friday night. She really isn't like this marriage. I don't care what's happening with the housewives. I just don't care. Oh, my gosh. Here's something that keeps a lot of parents up at night. Kids are growing up with more access to information than ever before in history. But most of the content is calculated to keep them distracted, make them mad, and keep them scrolling. Not help them think for themselves.

Worldwatch exists to be the antidote to the algorithms. Worldwatch is a video news service built specifically for pre-teens and teens. Their daily 10-minute videos that explain what's happening in the world through a factual Christian worldview. No outrage, no noise, just clear reporting you can watch together and that your kids can actually understand so they can come to the dinner table engaged in curious instead of worked up or zoned out. And I love that Worldwatch doesn't talk

at kids. It gives family something to talk about. Because when my kids are older, I want them to be able to think for themselves and separate news from noise. And right now you can try World Watch Free for 30 Days. Click the link in the description or go to Worldwatch.News/Ramsi

and use promo code Ramsi to get started. The Ramsi offer includes your first full month free

on top of the standard 7-8 trial. That's worldwatch.News/Ramsi. Welcome back to the Ramsi Show and the Fairwins Credit Union Studio. I'm George Campbell. Here with Rachel Cruz taking your calls to triple eight eight two five five two two five. Lynn isn't fury at Illinois. What's going on Lynn? Well, my question is should I pay off my daughter's house? Wow. Well, that's exciting. Yeah. What brought this about? Well, I moved in with my daughter

and she's a disabled veteran. So her income is full of the eightest building and full of host security disabilities, which comes to about somewhere around 70,000. And I'm on host security and a pension and my income is about 30,000. She owes 104,000 on her house.

“And I have 100,500 in a 3% savings count. That's what to do with it. And I thought it would”

save a lot of money to pay off her house. And she would then be paying me at least 2000 a month and it would be, I'd have recovered my basic money within four years. And so this is like a loan. Because zero percent loan is really what you're talking about. Well, she's willing to pay interest, too. We both live easily within our budget. I have almost no bills. So if that's the case, why doesn't she just pay her own mortgage or put extra onto it and

thought that without putting extra towards it, it's going to, you know, more than double the cost

by an interest. And why should the bank get it? Why should I get it? Oh, so you want to become the bank. Right. Do you, is this all the retirement money you have? This 100k? Yes. Well, that scares me too. What if you need it? And it's locked up. And she's only paying you two

“grand a month and all the sudden. I'm tried to think of, you know, what's the worst it can happen?”

And what would I need it for? You know, I have a supplementary Medicare and I'm very healthy. In fact, I was just at the doctor. Everything is great. Well, and I would not do this. I would not do this. No. No. For multiple reasons, the highest being you, you being your daughter's

bank from a mathematical perspective. I can see how you can sort of make it work. But relationally,

that's going to be a disaster. Well, we've had some experience with that because when she wasn't at this bill, then she at that time lived with my house, we just worked things out fine and I helped her get her act together. And you just, you just changed the relationship from mom to daughter to now lender and borrower. And there's no way around it. I mean, can this come out totally fine? I mean, sure, but I don't think we would have jobs if that was the case. Like, there's a disaster

that happens that's looming there. And so keeping things separate, where financially, she is doing what she's doing. You're doing what you're doing. And what scares me, Lynn, is you have $100,000

to your name, which is amazing. So well done. I mean, that's a great savings. But what are you

going to do for a house? You're going to pay off a home that's in her name. You have nothing else

“to your name. And what if you want to move out? What if she wants you to move out in a year and a”

half or two years? You know, what does life look like? It just starts to really limit options. And it puts a strain on a relationship because there's not much safe guarding you in that. Now, if you had a million dollars in your necklace, I'm going to write a hundred, you know, in $4,000 check and just pay off my daughter's mortgage. She's disabled veteran. I mean, I would be like, all day. Yes, what a blessing. What a blessing. But it's not a blessing when you

become the bank. Well, I guess I just think that we're in a, you know, an unusual situation, because I'm close with all my kids. My other kids think it might be a good idea. We want to keep in close. That's the issue. And if she has to evict her lender, that's about as awkward as it gets. Yeah, I guess because we have some history in, in having mingled finances, I just think it'll go okay. Okay. Well, I don't know. I don't think we can convince you.

“Otherwise, so I'll tell you. I would not do this for my own mother. But that's what you're facing”

it on. It's just the, um, well, there's a relational aspect and the financial aspect of, you know, here decades of hearing personal experiences from people and Lynn, I'm going to say, when you, when you owe family money, regardless of how you slice it, it changes the relationship. It just, it becomes odd when you, when you mingle finances and family. And again, if it is a gift and there's no strings attached, that's one thing. But when you start to wait for a payment from your daughter

and, you know, things that can go sideways and you're going to spend all of your, I, I wouldn't even do this for you, Lynn. I mean, I, I don't think all the money to your name. Yeah, I don't think it's smart in your financial situation. Let alone adding in the idea of mingling debt and all of that with your daughter. I think that she can, um, I think if you have a, if you're set up well in life and you want to help her and you want to write a $30,000 check to help get the mortgage down

for your daughter. That's a beautiful thing. Because currently you're not paying any rent. No, you know, she pays all the bills. And is there ever been any talk of, could you said the finances have been mingled? Are you paying for anything as part of this arrangement? Um, I just pay for my supplementary Medicare and, uh, that's it. But no utility goes through care for her from like a physical standpoint,

her with her with her disability or she able to, like, are you, are you a care taker from like a physical sense for her? I don't know the extent of her. Yeah, just disability. Um, somewhat, we just help each other out. Okay. Um, I mean, I've, I, my life has been in a mingled with

but I, I would not make it worse by becoming the lender. I think I think Lynn's going to

do it. I was just great. And I'm glad you called in. I really pray it all works out. I was praying four years. You recoup your money. Nothing else happens that you stay healthy and everything goes

“according to plan. I really do. I pray that that is the case because that's what she's going to do.”

So we, I, I'll, I'll, all good prayers and vibes and all the things that people send me was what I'm picturing. Lynn's daughter calls in a year from now and says, hey, so this is what I happen. I'm getting married and my mom was my lender, but she's also my tenant and I have to kick

around. Gary, my fiance. And she has no money because she gave it all to me to pay off the mortgage,

but I owe her. So now she's demanding a lump sum in order for me to move out. And I don't have that. But it's in my name and Gary, the fiance. What's he gonna do? You know, I would much rather a hard conversation with Lynn now than the harder conversation with the daughter later. I, it is what it is. I'm pretty sure Lynn has made a per mind and she may have great relationship. It may be, you know, I don't know George, you went some you lose some. I love my mom so much that I would not take a

dollar from her in debt. No, no, I would love for her. Because I want her to come over and make me great leaves and buckle up and not say where's my money, where's my money? It's not gonna be fun conversation. If you're shopping online in these days, everybody does. Data brokers are out there right now buying and selling your personal information. Your phone number, your home address, your email, without your knowledge or consent. And that puts you at risk for spam calls, scam texts, and fraud.

Combined with AI, those scams are getting more sophisticated every day. And trying to get it under control yourself is basically impossible unless you have delete me. Delete me goes to hundreds of these

creepy data broker sites, find your info and removes it, and you never have to lift a finger. Plus,

they keep monitoring for it and removing it if and when it pops up again. You don't have to remove your own info every time it pops up like some unwinnable game of whack-a-mole. I personally use and love to delete me and my scammy text and spammy calls have gone way down. Trust delete me to smack down data brokers and protect your personal info so the game of whack-a-mole can finally stop. Go to joindeleteme.com/ramsie and you'll get 20% off an annual plan. That's join

J-O-I-N-Deleteme.com/ramsie or click the link in the description. Jonathan is an Indianapolis up next. Jonathan, welcome to the show.

“Hi, thanks for having me on. Absolutely. How can Rachel and I help?”

I've been having some big issues with money. About 10 months ago, I fell on Brook my head. I haven't been able to work. I am on disability and I make about $1,500 a month off of that. The working was to help supplement that recently. My daughter has had some issues with mental health right now. Looking at roughly $400,000 in debt from mental health stays in different facilities and things like that and I'm just trying to figure out if I need a file and bankruptcy

or try to pay off little by little. She's 14, so there's still other four years of hospital stays and other things coming our way and it's just going to be more and more and more.

“Wow, gosh, Jonathan, I'm so sorry. Oh, are you married?”

I am not. I've got a fiance. She's been taking the last 10 months to take care of me for the hip. I've had some sex with it and probably going to have to have another surgery with it. Wow. So total income right now is 1,500? So me, my sugar, it's a little bit more. She's about 2 grand a month. And that's her work in part time? Yes. Okay, so total $3,500. And what are your bills every

vehicles, all of that. It's about $3,500. I've got nothing left in the tank. So just barely break

in even every month. What other debt do you have outside of the 400,000? I've got about 50,000 or so in credit card. I'm trying to keep both heads of flow from not bringing in the income it is. Cars are broken down. Things are broken in the house. I just need to fix this. Do you have car loans as well? About $10,000. Okay. So you got 60 between the credit cards and the car loans plus the 400. Yeah. Yeah. And nothing with her hospital stays insurance doesn't step in at any point

in what you guys have done. Unfortunately, because it's mental health, they didn't even early

want to get her for diagnosis, but they finally did. And that's one of those things where

because all together, I've got forward children. She can't even come over to my house right now because

“that's another three kids being there and below risk that she poses. Wow. Where is she?”

Almost two years. Does she stay with her mom or is she in a facility during that time when she is. She was in a facility. I'm just got kicked out of it. She was supposed to be there for about four months. She was there for a little over two weeks. Wow. So is she with her mom right now or is she staying with you? Yes. She actually just got home. So what are the doctors saying at this point? Is the best part. Basically, they just keep trying to get her into two facilities and things like

that this last one was $60,000 up for her for the two weeks day. And the part. Yeah. And with

our custody agreement, I owe about 70 percent of anything that she occurs over 400 dollars. Wow.

Well, is she on medications right now? Is there things under control in any way? Or is it still just influx? It's still just influx. The meditations seem to help the thing things go downhill to try out different things. So that's just been a whole series of events. Well, that I'm trying what I'm trying to do is get a handle on what the future looks like for medical bills because if we can sort of know what's coming down the pike, it helps to manage. But if it's just this unlimited

black hole that we're going to just spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, it's going to be hard to

“climb out. Yeah. Is this straight up? Yeah. Who's the depth through?”

Uh, it's from all the different hospitals that she's had today that she's had seven stays in the last eight months. Okay. Have you been up to date on the payments for these or a collector's coming after you? Uh, collectors are coming after because I just don't have anything left on the tank. Well, um, I'm just, I'm so, I can't imagine what you guys are walking through. That's it so difficult and so heartbreaking to see your child suffer in that kind of way. But I, I'm just

thinking, moving forward Jonathan, um, there's a couple of things that could be possibilities. Medical debt is one that can be very much negotiated. And so what that looks like going forward probably not anytime soon. But if there was a way somehow of of working on the side, working from home,

“having any, any amount of money that you can present to them once it's in collections that they”

may know like they're not going to get anything from. You don't have anything, right? But if you have a little bit of something, it might be kind of a carrot to dangle. Uh, now $400,000 that that's kind of, you know, it's obviously up there. So, um, that that's one route that I'm thinking of. Also, when you guys are choosing and I want to be careful, even asking that's because I don't want to come off, um, offensive by any means. But when you're choosing these facilities,

are you in such an urgent mode that you're like, sure, this one, just put her in and we need to make sure she's safe or have you, have you guys done you and her mom, um, done levels of research and talk to practitioners and talk to places of, of different options, right? And I know we want the best care for our kids. But, um, when I hear $60,000 for two weeks, I'm like, oh, man, I wonder what other options are out there. Have you, do you feel like you have the bandwidth to

do that research and have kind of that those facts on your side? Um, yes, we've come on,

things like that, um, or any of them on profits? Uh, no, because there's nothing near us that

unfortunately will be kind of on profit, uh, just when we actually had a sender to Wisconsin for, uh, because unfortunately, well, she was on her side. Kind of straight stuff as she 23 extra strength and been a drill. Oh, my goodness. Wow. Well, I would be looking into and it sounds like you've been doing this is the homework of looking into every financial assistance program available through these providers because with your income, my guess is they're going to go,

all right, he can't pay the income's not going to be there to pay or it goes to collections and

you end up settling for 10 to 30 percent of the total balance, which means you're not on the hook for

400 grand now. You're on the hook for 40 to 60. You see what I'm saying? Yeah. So that is a sort of best case scenario. We can hope for that. Yeah, and I, and I wonder for you long term Jonathan,

“$1,500 a month. How old are you? I'm 33. I, uh, okay. I'm not in the disease. That's why I'm on”

disability. Okay. Well, I'm just wondering for the sustainability of your life, um, and obviously everything with your daughters, like a whole other level, but I'm just talking about just you and your fiancee to sustain somewhat of a manageable life, your income, it's going to have to come up. And I don't know if that's you and your fiancee getting married, and she works full time, and and she's the main breadwinner because of what you, you know, what you're dealing with personally,

or if there's things that you know, even call centers, I'm like, if there's anything making 22 an hour, you know, and working 30 hours a week to bring in something, just to sustain your life, right? And then beyond that, obviously caring for your daughter, but I would be looking at some, some options in that scenario just from a career standpoint, because you are still so young, you're 33, and I would want, um, you, you not to, to struggle

and right inch by inch for the rest of your life either. And so even if they are willing to settle with collections for 10% of the balance, you still need to come up with $40,000, and that's going to take really uping the income. That's, that's the key variable here that we can control because there's so much out of your control. But man, I, I hate that you're going through this, this sounds like it's not going to be an easy fight, but we are rooting for you, man.

As your business grows, everything becomes more complex. There was a time when Ramsey Solutions had too many disconnected systems and not enough visibility across the business.

“We wasted too much time chasing information instead of making decisions. That's why we got”

NetSuite. NetSuite brings your financials, inventory, CRM, and more together in one place. More than 44,000 businesses run on NetSuite, including Ramsey. And now they're taking the next step with netSuite next, making it easier to put AI to work across your entire business. NetSuite next helps you make the most of your time, automating routine work like forecasting demand and following up on overdue accounts. With NetSuite next, AI is built into everything you do. So you can ask

it questions just like when you're talking to a member of your team. And right now, you can try NetSuite next for free. If your revenue is at least seven figures, go to netSuite.ai/RAMsey. That's NetSuite.ai/RAMsey.

“Zaden is in Salt Lake City next. What's going on, Zaden?”

Hi, guys. I am Colin today. I get basically a bit call you and ask you to talk me out of taking those student loans. Okay, let's see how good our persuasive sales pitch is here.

We've been 50/50 so far on the show today. Can't always bat a thousand.

Let's see what we can do. So what happened that you you ran out of money here? So I worked with summer job that I thought we're going to cover my tuition and everything I needed

my junior year, I'm 20 years old. And I've castled college all the way up to now. The only thing

I have is on a car. I own about 11,000 on the car. And I'm under water. So it's not helpful. But I this morning, I run out of money. And I've been struggling to find a part-time job since I got back from my summer job. I have a job I found. I'm working five hours a week as an assistant for travel agency. And so I'm just not making enough to cover my expenses. I've been in interviews where the only thing that's helped people back there. Like, hand me the compensation

packet. They're about to hire me. And then I told my school schedule and they're like, we just can't work around that. And so I'm like at the point where I don't have enough money to cover what I need.

“And I'm like, didn't answer about the only thing I can see. Are you living on campus?”

I live with my parents. Okay. Is there any financial help from them? No, they make a lot of money. Like, almost 300,000 a year. But they have

probably close to half a million dollars and consume like that and they can't afford anything. So

maybe. Oh, well. So how much is tuition a year? Or a person semester? I should ask. First semester. So I'm on a half tuition scholarship. My tuition for this semester was about 2,000 folks worth about another 200. So 2,000 bucks. Okay. So that's the gap. Is two grand? I already paid the tuition for this semester. I don't have money for like to pay my car payment to pay my insurance. How much is all that per month? How much would you need per month to

to get by? Like, as a college student. Just great by a thousand bucks. A thousand dollars. Okay.

“Man, I'm like, I feel like somewhere you can make 300 bucks a week. You know?”

That's the ticket. Can you wait? Can you wait? Can you just wait tables?

I've applied for server jobs and not even gotten like, can I try calling? And then they've been like they just aren't what they have an open application. I'm a little shocked because I know the server. Yeah, the service industry though is like they're looking for people. So have you walked in? I remember I had experience before I took off from my summer job. I was working in the restaurant to the court and I also the manager for a minute and I just can't find anything. Yeah. Have you gone in

person to these places or just applied on the right? And how many people are I? I don't know how many people are I? I don't know how many people are I? I don't know how many people are I? I don't know. I'm about five different restaurants, but I've gone to my family when I'm gone, but I. Okay. I would I would hustle a little bit. And I wonder too. I mean Salt Lake is there? I mean I'm thinking of is there is there a landscaping company you can pick up part-time on the weekends? Is there

I don't know. I mean it's just things in your neighborhood. If you live with your parents, man, there is people in my neighborhood making money because you know,

“this people are scared to leave the safe space. I think 300 bucks a week. I think you can do this.”

Do Instacart. I think there's I'm 20 years old and Instacart. Like, well one, I actually have just north of Salt Lake in an area where there's too many drivers and I've tried Instacart Door-Dash. They're way less to the year out. Rachel's not buying it. Really? I'm not encouraged you to just look at other side hustles too. It doesn't have to be one of the app side hoses where you need the car and all that. But right now, the gap is so little. Go to the

Sonic City airport and do Uber. I'm like that. That place is packed all the time. I don't know. I mean, well I'll say if you're 25 to drive Uber. Okay. Well, okay. Do you? I guess so. I don't know. I'm trying to think if I drove it. I think I maybe that was a new thing because when I drove Uber, I don't think I was 25 yet. But all that's a same thing. Well, there's a there. I think we need to try to help you. And I don't think I'm at it. And up five restaurants is not. No,

you. 18. Oh, to ride alone. Everyone that says a rider. Rachel's like, I'm going to find the fine print on this. I am. I am. Okay. Um, you got me 21. How old are you? 20? 20. When's your birthday? When's your birthday? Next to why? All right. We got some time. Okay. I just I just feel like there's a rich person that needs their, you know, trees, trim or something. And then snow and salt Lake. Yes, shovel sidewalks for I don't know. I just feel like just use a guy to make a little fly or something.

There's my service for $300 a week. I think you can do. I just believe in you. What are you studying in school? I'm a I'm in favor of the name. Okay. See, you're you're a techie guy. All right. Tech talk to him about tech. Well, I'm just wondering if you can even do online for people if you're in software engineering. Coding. Because nobody cares if you're 20 or 30 doing that kind of stuff.

reaching out. I posted something on my Instagram a couple weeks ago to see if people were interested

me building a website for them or so. How many followers do you have on Instagram? A thousand. Okay. So, probably went to four people. I think we need to do a little more active

“proactive marketing. You need to find the problems and go, hey, I can solve this for you. Here's”

what I charge. Because they didn't. I'll say this. If you call it, you're like, I need 15,000 dollars for this semester's tuition. I'm like, okay, we've got a we've got an uphill battle here. 2000 bucks. I just I don't know. Or a thousand bucks a month. That's what you said you need. I don't know. I feel like we can I feel like you can figure this out. Because would you take out student loans for your life style? Would you use it for your car payment and everything?

I would mostly be using it to cover gas and stuff. Because I'm I'm at commuter school. It's

I tell you about 200 to 300 a month in gas. Okay. So, that's the job on campus. You can do because I did that on when I was in college and made it out with the tuition. Well, bucks an hour in the publicity office writing up press releases or whatever. Is there any jobs on campus you can find? I tried that too. It's it's crazy. I applied like two weeks before school started. I applied

“to every open job posting and you've been called a couple of the offices. Are you out”

letting them before school? Is there a sport you played in high school? I ran craft country. Okay. I'm wondering if because I know in our area, people pay for college students help train their little nine year olds and they pay 60 bucks an hour for baseball or something. Right. I'm like, I'm like, I don't know. I'm not a cross country runner. Can you teach a kid how to breathe properly? Right. The correct form when they're running. I don't know. I don't know.

Maybe maybe someone in Salt Lake. I always want to say is the world is your oyster and you

haven't explored enough. That's it. But you can close the gap without student loans. If you think student loans are going to be the answer, you're going to take it every time. But if you said, no, I've just learned that. I got to get a $300 this week. What am I going to do? And you just go try 17 things. And at 20, you have the benefit of being able to do that. It's such a luxury to be on a wife and woman kids and in your living at home. That's right. No rent.

There you go. This is the time. But I'll tell you. I bet that car payment is putting a dent in his ability to save. And at the time, it was like, well, it's a small car payment. I need a car. You got to get a car. Not a big deal. Now it's that $300 a week. It's really chip it away. Man, well, we do have a side hustle quiz that I encourage you to check out. You can go to ramsysolutions.com/sidehustle or use the link in the description. That's for anybody out there.

And it'll help you figure out which ones make sense for you based on how much time you have.

“What kind of skills you have. I add home jobs versus in person jobs. And I think more than ever,”

there's like the corkiest jobs people find side hustles. People that have called that. And I wouldn't recommend this because I don't know that much about it. But like the baseball, I'm like guy that called in. And they have like, he's like $40,000 worth of baseball cards. Because it's like a hobby. And he like knows how to collect. I don't know. And I'm like, I got nine years old in my neighborhood that pick up dog poop. 20 bucks a visit. 20 dollars a visit.

And telling you they're booked. And I know. So like, there's some, there's some nice areas. Some big houses. There's some, there's some wealthy people in that area. Dress nice and go to the door to say, hey, I live down the street. Here's my skill set. If you guys need any help, let me know. Press your wants to drive way. You know, I don't know. I think you can do it though. I really believe in you.

[MUSIC] Okay, George, we hear from so many people that are trying to live out to the Ramsay plan. Right, they're getting out of debt and everything. But the hard thing is, there's not many banks out there that actually support the way we teach you to go to handle money. Yeah, most banks, they don't want you to win with money. So they charge a bunch of nuisance fees.

There's all this fine print and worst of all. They are pushing debt products at you. Nonstop. Yes, but the good thing is, is that fair winds isn't like most banks. They're not like the other guys. They're not like the other guys. Yeah, they are not pushing debt. And they actually want you to win with the baby steps. And so what's great too is they created the smart bundle for Ramsay fans, which includes a high yield savings account and no monthly

fee checking. Which is huge, because it's rare to have a checking account tied to a high yield savings account. You can get all of that with fair winds. And for the nerds out there, you can have a 10 different high yield savings accounts for different goals. So you got your emergency fund, the car upgrade fund, the vacation fund, the world is your oyster. So beautiful. And

So beautiful. That's a conversation starter. It's so good. Well, and when you swipe

or you tap, you know, every time you take out your wallet, you're remembering that you are living like no one else and you're being intentional with your money. I've been using fair winds for months and months now. I love their features, the app, the customer service. It is all so good and so aligned with the Ramsay principles. Absolutely. So y'all, we both bank at Fairwins and we love their commitments to Ramsay values. So check it out. You can get that

smart bundle. We're going to drop a link in the description or you can go to fairwinds.org/Ramsy today. That's right. That's fairwinds.org/Ramsy and shared by the NCUA. All right, Rachel. You know what time it is? It's a question of the daytime. Oh, yes. Brought to you by Oyerify. Sometimes the hardest financial step is the one you've been avoiding. So if your private student loans are past do, Oyerify can help you explore low fixed rate refinancing

options and payment plans tailored to your circumstances. Go to yreify.com/Ramsy. May not be available in all states. Today's question is from Adam in Vermont. I've been working on the debt snowball and recently started a new job making $160,000 a year. I have $110,000 in student loans, $47 in IRS debt, and $36,000 in credit cards. I have been paying about $3,200 per month towards my debt using the debt snowball methods. Small solar just at this pace. I won't be debt free

until $20, $33, which feels very far away. Is there a way to do this faster? Wow. Well, you got a new job making $160. I mean, call me crazy, George. Cool. Quick math, but I'm like, if you, well, Vermont, I'm trying to figure out where he lives. I'm like, could just swing make it, you know, act in like you make $60, throw a hundred at this. I mean, I know it's after taxes and everything, but they're 100 at the student loan debt. You got $47, $36. I mean, man, two years. Possibly,

“right, if you live on 60. Yeah, there's two and a half years. You have to be faster? Yes,”

you're not throwing enough at the debt. You have a great income, making $16. We recently started it, so I'm going to assume. So let's reassess our debts snowball. Yes, it can be throw $5,000 a month. If we're bringing home 10, we live off five and send five to the debts, it's going to be done a lot faster. So that's the math here is just figuring out how much margin I can free up from cutting expenses down, increasing income that might mean your work in overtime or side hustle on top of

your 160 to clean this up in a reasonable amount of time. Because 20, 33, I mean, I don't know if the world's going to still be rotating on its axis by then. So let's get a plan who knows that means short-term sacrifice versus the next seven years of our life. Yeah, but I think two and a half years, I bet I bet he could do this by by 2030. That's less than four years. Yeah. I like this plan. I mean,

“five grand a month, he's done in just over three years. Yeah. So that's what I would be aiming for”

is no more than three years. And then that means that he's never gotten, you know, that he doesn't

get a raise in three years, which you probably will. Right, and you throw all the extra at it, so maybe even faster than that. So yeah. And the best way to do this, the every dollar budgeting app is now far more than just budgeting. Well, actually help you devise a plan to find more margin with personalized recommendations for your situation. So I wish you on the line out of my give it to you. But since you're not reach out if we can get access to your informational send you

one. But for everyone else, if you're like, I want margin, how do I get that? Every dollar will help you find it so that you can make more progress in your goals and work the plan even faster. We'll drop a link in the description as well. Judy is in South Bend, Indiana, up next. What's going on, Judy? Well, hi, guys. I wrote out what, you know, like a sentence, so it's a, I'm saying, I haven't been

“and I have been married for 50 years. For 50 years. Congratulations, Judy. Oh, consecutively?”

Yeah. That's impressive. You got it. It's a long time. I've been in a mirror for 50 years. That's good. Okay. That's been even 50 years old yet. No, we're not. Well, retired. We have no debt. Okay. Or financially secure. We don't need to leave it to our kids. They're doing what? Well, I enjoy going to the casino with my best friend and a few times a month. And my husband does not like it. And we argue about it all the time. I just wanted to know what you

had to say about that. Okay. What is financially secure mean? How much money do you guys have?

What's your net worth? Well, probably 9 million. Wow. Fantastic. Can you not

well. They're both amazing. Making. Yeah. Okay. What is your yearly income? Like, what do you

guys live off of? 120. Oh, wow. Judy, what's your, what's your friends name that you like to go the casino with? Will you drop her a name? Or is that two personal? I'm Mary. Mary, Judy and Mary. All right. Love it. What's the, what's the game of choice that the casino for you? We play slots and we know that that's, you know. No, I'm not. No judge me here, but no judge me here. Okay, how much do you spend in a given outing at the casino? About 200 bucks. And you do that how many times a month? A couple times? Like three.

“Five? Three. Okay. So have you ever spent more than $600 in a given month at the casino?”

Yeah. Okay. What is the most you've spent at the casino? Probably a thousand. Okay. Was that discussed prior to going to the casino? No. I think this is the crux of the argument. It's not that you're going to the casino. It's that he doesn't know if you're

going to go spend 200 or a thousand. It doesn't matter if you have the money. 9 million dollars. But it's

the there's zero communication about this. It's not in any budget. It's just you willy nearly going spending as much as you feel like what you can financially. But she's not spending like, I mean, I hear you George. I hear you. But also it's not about the dollar amounts. But ratios. Yes, you guys are spending so little that your money, you're going to have $20 million sitting there and he's going to go, I guess that casino money wasn't really that big of a deal. I don't think for him it's a, I think he just thinks it's

stupid. Is that what he thinks? It's a waste. Yeah. You're throwing money down. Okay. So yeah. Yeah, that's that's a

“job. Does he have any hobbies? Yeah. What does he do? Yeah, that you think is stupid. Is he a golfer?”

Yeah. No, he fishes. I don't think he definitely thinks stupid. And if he did, I wouldn't care if he did it as long as, you know, safe and make sure. Sure. All the things. What's his, is he actually getting the fish? Is he bringing at home and cooking it or just catching it? No, no, he, he brings out the walleye a lot. Judy, I am perfectly fine with you and Mary go into the casino and spend a couple hundred bucks a month totally fine. So when I said nine, I, I meant like all our assets and

everything. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's fair. Yeah. Your real estate cash investments, all that. I mean, how much cash do you guys have? I mean, yeah, to, to live off of cash, why is investment, why is what would that be? It does not include real estate. Probably, agree. Okay. Yeah. I mean, this is where the, this is where the, this is where the, this is where the Ramsey Personality's differ on the subject, which is fine. And Dave's out of town.

So right, George would be sure. George, you're nice today. I'll pretend to be Dave. Yeah, because George would, George would side with Dave. They think it's, well, you can give your own here's a thing. Dave hates losing money. So he does think it's dumb to do anything where you're almost guaranteed to lose money. Right. But I would say, if you're having an experience and you're spending money, and again, it is reasonable, you, there's no, like, addiction that you're

trying to like satisfy, right? Like I think there's nothing big happening. It's not big numbers, and you're having fun with it. I mean, that could be, you know, going to the mall and buying a couple shirts for 200 bucks. You're right. And instead of that, she's, she's going to go and play some slots. Listen, yeah, it doesn't, it doesn't bother me. Now, that doesn't matter that you didn't call to get my permission, but for you and your husband, where you guys have to come to, is, yeah,

I think you guys need to, to make a budget, honestly, and say, hey, for once a month, here's an amount of money that's going to be my fun money that I'm going to enjoy. And again, you could use that money and go get your nails done or go get them a size or, well, I don't know, they'll probably think that's stupid, too. Yeah, and he could totally. Actually, I think it's stupid,

because we've never been on a budget and he's always wanted to be, and I poo poo it.

Oh, Judy, Judy, all right, here's your, here's your end with him. Say you'll do a budget,

“and you guys, and you have to agree, you get a vote in the budget, too. It's not just him making it,”

telling you what to do. You get a vote and a say, and hey, here's the amount of money per month that we spend. And here's where it's going to go. And Judy needs a line item, Mary and I's day away, right, or whatever it's going to be. That's the line item. And, and then he gets a line item for some of his fun money. And yeah, call it today. So maybe that's your end with him. Is that now you'll do a budget? How nice is his fishing boat? I he actually goes for the

brother and he got three of them. Oh, that's intense. All right. Yeah. That's, that's a lot of money.

doing right now per year and still never on that money and likely never touched that. That's right.

So this is not mathematical or financial. It's all emotional and you guys need to get to the route of why he's frustrated with this and come up with a compromise and the budget is going to help. Hey, guys, George Campbell here. There are a lot of things you probably shouldn't ignore. You're check engine light that weird smell in your fridge, the smoke detector that's been beeping for six days and maybe most importantly, your phone bill. The things we ignore have a funny way

of costing us the most. And your phone carrier is counting on you ignoring that over price bill month after month so they can keep charging you more and more. But that's not the case with

boost mobile. You don't need to keep over paying when you can pay just 25 bucks a month for boost

mobile's unlimited plan. And the best part is you can bring your phone, keep your number and pay just 25 bucks a month. Forever, that price will not go up. It is inflation proof. There's no contracts. There's no hidden fees. There's no catch. And since most smartphones have an e-sim these days, you can switch from the comfort of your home just like I did. So it's okay to

“notice when you're paying more than you should. But you shouldn't keep doing that. Stop over”

paying for your phone service. Go to boostmobile.com/ramsy and make the switch today. That's boostmobile.com/ramsy. $25 forever requires customers to remain active on boostmobile and limited plan. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show and the Fair Wins Credit Union studio. I'm George Kamel here with Rachel Cruz taking your calls at triple eight eight two five five two two five. Lisa is in Raleigh, North Carolina up next. Lisa, how can we help today?

Hi, so I just wanted to see if I get some advice or some information. We were thinking about paying off my parents home and they are going to beat us the home right afterwards. Is it want to see what your thoughts are on that and the tax implications regarding that? What's causing them to ask you to pay off their home? I don't think they're asking. They were just looking at pretty much looking at their state how to finalize some of their states and that we just

were going to. They didn't want to do a wheel and all of that. So we just thought you know, free and clear we'll just pay it off and you just need it to us and we wouldn't have to

“worry about anything when they pass. Why didn't they want to do a wheel?”

It was just, I mean, we just wanted to ease this way because we're pretty financially stable. They'd be quickest and easiest way to do it. You know, and then it's done. We don't have to worry about it after they pass it's in our name already. I imagine they have other assets in their state outside of this house, right? There's other accounts. I want to thank accounts and we're not too concerned about that. They can do what they will with that. They get just a little bit

easier with the home to go ahead and get it in our name that way, you know, when they pass, we don't have to go through that. I think if it occurs in courts. Yeah. I want to say though from capital gains standpoint. Yeah, here's the big issue. You don't get to step up basis, right? Yeah. If they did it to you while they're alive, it's one of the worst things you can do financially, because it's considered a gift, not inheritance. And so the original cost basis would carry over.

So if they paid $100,000 for this house and it's now worth 500,000, when you go to sell that house, you're going to owe on the difference. You got to pay taxes on, on the 400. But if they just pass away, you inherit the house, then you get a step up in basis, meaning it's fair market value at the time of their death. So it starts at 500,000. So if it goes up 100,000 over five years or whatever,

right, then you sell it, you only have to pay taxes on that 100,000. So basically you could sell it

without any taxes if you inherit it. Within, let's say six months after they pass. But if you get a deed it over to you, you're going to carry over what they paid for it in the basis. And I would say, even if you plan on keeping it Lisa, you're going to have to pay those taxes over decades that they've

“owned this home. Right. So wouldn't make a difference if we got in a praise of why that sounds?”

It doesn't matter, because if you dig deep it to you while they're alive, it's considered a gift. It's not an inheritance. So no, the cheapest smartest way to do this is that they create a will and the home goes to you all when they pass. Even with the mortgage is still. Yes. If they have to pay off the mortgage or not, get the value of the home. It's the value of the home. So you'd rather have a value of $500,000

sitting with you after they've passed as an example than having a $500,000 asset. But it's really

by not deeding it to you. And it will is pretty simple. Lisa, I mean, you may go through a little bit

of probate and stuff, but it's not very complicated. You can go to Mom and Bear Legal Forms, Mom Bear Legal.com, and create a state specific will for them. And if it's a very simple estate, and it's a primary home, a residence, some bank accounts like what you're saying. It's really not difficult at all. You guys are actually creating, you guys are choosing the more difficult route. And in some states, I'm not sure what North Carolina law is, but if you can set up a transfer

on death for that house, then it'll avoid probate. And same thing for any bank accounts, a bank account will be payable on death, POD. If you can set that up on the bank accounts, set of voids probate. And if there's anything that has a beneficiary designation, like life insurance,

or a retirement account, all of that can also avoid probate. So there's a lot of things you can

do to keep it simple, but you still definitely need a will and a simple online will that state specific will do the job. And we have a great partner with Mom and Bear Legal Forms, where you can do that very cheaply. Less than a couple hundred bucks and it's over. I didn't less than 15 minutes for my own parents just a couple weeks ago. Yeah, no idea. I used it with my daughter when she went off the college. Good. So, well, what's left on the mortgage?

That's your thing. What's the house worth? It's the interesting. I'm probably about 200. I think they bought the house in about 140 or 150. Okay, so it has an appreciate of food. Okay, that's fair. Okay, that's fair. You can get them out. And why?

That's the reason why. Like we talked a couple of what we're using CPAs and they seem to think

“that's what the best route was. Honestly, we're not sure. Well, are they not doing well financially?”

Are they struggling? Is that why you're looking to pay it off? Well, it's not bad. They're old. They're just living off so security. And this is just a burden that we were willing to take all my husband and I. It wouldn't make a significant impact on us financially. So, we thought this would just be quick and easy. So, you guys have an extra 50 grand cash laying around that you could set to this? We do. Oh. Yeah, I then I would. These I'd just pay it off. But I wouldn't worry about

it being deaded over. I would just create the will that upon their passing, you all get the house. And then look into that TOD that transfer on death. Okay. That's the simplest way to do it with the least because here's the deal. I don't know how much you love paying taxes. I want to pay as little as I can legally. And so this is a good way to not have their parents harder and money and their assets getting taxed to oblivion by the government because you just made one wrong move.

Yeah, how old are they? I don't know about 75, 80 years old. Okay, okay, great. And the right, will they be living in this home? I'm trying to probably, I mean, we don't, we don't have any plans on doing anything with it. They're out of it. Sure. Sure. Yeah. So, I mean, that could be another

“10 years of it appreciating, right? Um, why? So, yep. I, that's that's how I would say. I still wouldn't”

have it dated over to you while they're alive. But if you want to pay it off to be, to be nice, because I think that the house is going to go to you either way. It sounds like. Right. And you're absolutely right. We'd like to avoid some silly amount of taxes possible. Yeah. But if you didn't pay 50 grand a pay off their mortgage, would this house still be inherited by you? Um, well, here's the concern. There's other parts to it. There's a multiple siblings that

my parents just feel that they're comfortable. Do the siblings know about this arrangement? Yes. So, they know. So, you feel a little bit more justified in the scenario, if you're like, well, we've paid it off. Like, we're the ones who paid it off. It helps. Yeah, yeah. So, we kind of have like skin in the game in this asset of mom debts. Oh, okay. Oh, boy. That has a whole other layer of tension. Yeah, for sure. But also, it doesn't change the answer of what you would do from a,

from a will standpoint. But yes, that that can, I could see how you're like, let us help it pay off the mortgage so that it creates less sort of guarantee. Sure, how much that it will. Well, that and like it looks better to the siblings when they don't get the house, because at least they can be like, well, we pay for it. So, you know, so yeah, I get that too. So, have they had the conversation with other siblings about what they will or will not get? Oh, yeah, absolutely. Okay, good.

“That's where the will is the most important, because it just lays it out clearly. And then it's”

their job to tell everybody who's involved in the will, what's going to happen. It should not be a surprise after they pass. And they're like, what? Lisa's getting the house and all, and now they're mad at you. It destroys the relationships, which it doesn't sound like, there's a lot of function here, mostly dysfunction, but please do this the right way. Well, come to families, though. You know, welcome to families. You don't get to choose which ones are functional.

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

guide you through buying or selling, they're people you can trust to have your back from the first

call to closing day. Find a Ramsey trusted agent near you at RamseySolutions.com/agent. That's RamseySolutions.com/agent. Ramsey is taking over an entire crew ship. We're heading back out to the open sea. Seven nights in the Western Caribbean, Bahamas, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, CosML for the live like no one else crews, March 14th through the 21st, 2027. And this is a full crew's takeover. It is only Ramsey fans and us personalities on the boat. And it was such a blast last year. We did this.

“And so we're doing it again. So fun. I mean, honestly, and it's in it's a nice ship.”

Very nice. Beautiful. Now you've been on a lot of bruises. This was my first cruise as an adult,

so I had no clue what to expect. Okay, what do you think? I was blown away. Yes.

And it's so nice. You don't have to think about how much is that cost. You sort of just sell it together. Yes. And it's there. It's like you pre-paid. You did it with cash. I will say the Ramsey's growing up. They were crews people. I feel like you're either a crews person or you're not. And all the memories we made as a family on cruises, they are. They're so fun. And this is an, again, a nice ship because we've been on like big ones, really small, all the different types.

This is the perfect size. Happy medium. Yes. And all the content. I mean, it's us. We're all hanging out. All the Ramsey personalities. There'll smart money happy hour. It's right. We live tapings of your favorite Ramsey shows on there. Worlds are just at free scream. New wealth building teachings, new content from all this personalities, which weirdly people want more of. I was like, I thought we were here to have a good time. And they're like, no, tell us more about Rothfire. My gosh,

every session we did. It was like, we were tired of killing a lot of cases. You guys can hang out, but they everyone wanted to learn. It was a great. It was fun. So if you're babysept for and up, meaning you're debt free with the emergency fund, mark the moment, celebrate, live a little. Look, have somebody to look forward to in the budget. So secure your cabin. They are moving fast. You can go to RamseySolutions.com/events or click the link in the show notes.

“All right, Molly is in Oklahoma City. Next, what's going on, Molly?”

Hi. Thank you for taking my call. Um, but it's been eye-r expecting our first baby this January.

And congratulations. Thank you. I would like to stay home for the first one to two years. But we would be losing about $5 to $600 a month. Um, we have 10,000 in checking 130,000 invested. And then our current take home is $5,800, but if I quit, it would drop to $4,300. I was just seeing if that would be okay in our situation if I stayed home. My husband makes quarterly commission, which could make up for the shortfall, but we wouldn't

be saving any money, probably for two years. So can you live off of $43,000? I am sorry, $4,300 a month. No, because we do, our biggest expenses are house. That's our only debt. And then we do tie it off of our gross amount and then insurance.

“So how much will you be, what, what's your deficit each month if you just went to his income?”

$5 to $600 short amounts. Okay. I think we have like $130,000 invested. Like, is it okay to, you know, since it's such a short season, pull from that? Or, well, this commission just to make up for it? Is that, well, yeah, he could use the commission check for sure. I mean, he could just add that as an income. Is your investments retirement? Is it like in 401(k)s and Roth IRAs? Or is it in just index funds, mutual funds? Where is it?

So 100,000 is in stocks and then the rest is in retirement in 401(k). Okay. I mean, you only have 2,000 in checking, but we'll throw everything else to that from now on. Do you guys have consumer debt? I don't, our only debt is our house. Okay. So no credit card debt, student loans, car owners, nothing like that. It looks a mortgage payment every month. It, it'll bump up to $2,000 next month.

A property taxes? Got it. Okay. So that is a little less than half of your take home pay.

“That's the scarier part. Is it this is just a big part of your financial world?”

Yeah, you probably, you may not be able to afford to stay in the home and not work. Even with like that much saved up. Yeah, because your current income, you guys can't support your lifestyle. Even with you working

full time, it's still about a third of your take home pay. And we recommend 25% of your

after tax monthly income going to mortgage. Anything above that makes it really hard to then save for college, pay extra on the mortgage, save up a vacation. I have no wiggle room at all in the budget. Yeah. So that's probably where I would be. Now, two years is a quick timeline, but yeah. Now you want to set off your non-retirement stocks? You said it's 30 grand? No, 100 grand. Well, 100, you said it's for time. 100 in stocks. Is that in single stocks?

I'm not sure, actually. Okay. I just know it's invested in stocks and it

“my husband kind of did all that. Yeah. What was the purpose of that investing?”

Well, we really just, I mean, I've saved my whole life. I just have always had like this huge

chunk to city in my checking, not doing anything. So we just moved all of that to investment. Because without the baby in me working, we save about 1500 a month. We live very frugal. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you, you absolutely could pull some of that money and say, hey, we're going to use 500 bucks a month. But I don't want that to be your long-term mindset molly because I think what can be hard is once you hold that baby in your home, you know,

there's always a chance, which is beautiful and wonderful that you're like, I just, I don't want to go back to work. Nothing in me wants to go back to work, right? And when you're used to kind of taking this funnel and it's dripping out, eventually, that runs out. And so the goal is to, is to write size, lifestyle and income so that you don't have to touch those investments. So if you guys did for a little bit, I wouldn't, I wouldn't be mad about it by any means. But but you definitely

have to justify the choices you guys have made in order for you to stay at home. And sometimes you, we can't have it all. Do you know what I mean? Now, my mean, you change where you live long-term, so that we can lower the mortgage. And, you know, an even, I don't know, George. I mean, even in, you know, you market two years, which would be what? So the baby will come in 27, 28, but like the January of 29 is the marker of either, hey, if his income hasn't come up and she wants to stay home,

we have to move at that point because we can't sustain this long-term. You guys will just have to, I have, um, a pretty like solid stake in the grounds before that because we just see it in, we see it enough that people save and they start to live off that savings. And eventually that savings, it goes away. And then it goes to credit card. And then it's like, oh my gosh, we got pregnant again in an 18 months, we have, baby number two, we got upgrade the car. Well, let's dip into, like,

right, like it just starts to kind of snowball if you're not used to living below what you're making from an income perspective at this age, especially, right, as, as a young adult. Yeah, that's a hard decision. Wishing you guys the best. I know. It's some luck. And yes, that's exciting. No, about the baby. All right, let's go to Ashley and Bloomington, Indiana. What's going on, Ashley? Hey, guys, how long are you going? Doing well. What's your question?

I'm calling because my child support is about to go down $488 a month because my ex has been

got a lower income job. And I'm on baby set number one who are like the third time. And I have

cut subscriptions. And I'm really turning to hone in on what else I can do besides getting another job because I have three children, two of them are disabled. It's really hard to find someone to watch the children and part of that cost of having disabled children is that they go to therapy full-time. And I work from home, so I have to take them to their, to their every morning come at home. Work, take my oldest daughter to work because she doesn't rise because she has her mental health issues

that they don't allow that. And then I work out my call for three hours about a day. Then I go pick

“up the kids and go back home. What's the gap you need to cover in your budget? Well, I would like”

at least $700. Okay, so if you can make an extra $700 between cutting expenses and increasing income, that would do it. Right. Okay. I can't increase my income because you're out of that experience, the kids are on. If that's the case and what you're doing right now, you need to get that core income up. So if you're making 20 bucks an hour, we need to get to 25 an hour. Well, I can't make

get kicked off Medicaid. This is a rock in a hard-play situation. You're either choose. We need to

“figure out how to make this work. We're going to stay on Medicaid or I need to make enough that we can”

get out of the system entirely to make this sustainable. But either way, there's going to be sacrifice actually. Hey, guys. Dave Ramsey here. Every day on this show, we help people work through real money problems and figure out what to do next. Now, you can get that same kind of help anytime with Ask Ramsey. Ask your money question and get answers built on Ramsey principles we use on the show whether you're making a decision or just want something explained. Ask Ramsey is here to help.

It's fast, simple and free to use. Go to RamseySolutions.com and try Ask Ramsey today. That's RamseySolutions.com.

“If you're enjoying the show, you're finding value in the conversation today. Pass it along. Share”

the show with someone that you know, someone you love. It's one of the biggest ways you can help us grow. It's one of the best marketing engines we have is just you guys. Hit in the share button or word of mouth. Telling people along the way, playing it in the background, creating some curiosity, all of that help. So thank you for doing that. Stacey is in Springfield, Missouri, up next. What's going on, Stacey? Hi, Dave. Thank you for taking my call. I would love to be Dave.

I appreciate that. I am so sorry. No, it's okay. I don't get it a lot. The one I do. It's an honor. That's that George's biggest compliment. I am so sorry. People do think Dave is my dad. It's just hilarious. No, not Rachel's brother. Oh, isn't John? I'm George and I got Rachel next to me here. Who is Dave's daughter? So you do have like Ramsey DNA at the desk today. Okay. Well, that's good. We got you. My question is my mom is 75 and she has given pretty much all her

money away to my siblings. And she is almost basically, she's passed bankrupt. She's in the whole.

Oh, gosh. So she didn't have money to give. She had thousands of dollars to give and she gave them and then she went in debt to take care of them. So Mike, okay. So my question. So I now sit down every month with her and go over her budget. We've created a budget. We have mapped everything out. And I'm just curious if she needs to go back and start the baby steps. And that's going to be the way that we get her out of debt. She's really making a lot of headway. And my other question is she has

a trust that has her beneficiary and should we initiate a hot hot pot cloth on it because she's treating what my siblings have already received as inheritance. So this is Rachel, by the way, Stacey. So did she, so what she's given to your siblings is going to count against their inheritance,

“basically. Yes. But what does she have left? Because you said she has no more money. Is it her home?”

What asks that's does she have? She does have her home. She still has on it. How much how much is it worse if you sold it? If she sold it, it would probably be worth $200,000. Okay. And how much does she owe on it? $75. Okay. What else? What else asks that's does she have her name? Any any investments retirement? Anything. She does have, she does have good retirement. She has like $30,000 and knew what he did that she found that hasn't been liquidated. $30,000. Okay.

Yes. She has, she has a good retirement. She also, she still received my dad as deceased. And she still receives part of his retirement in his military retirement. Okay. How much is that per month? 60,300. Okay. Gotcha. But really, she has $125,000 of equity in $30,000.

Yes. Okay. In this. That's her net worth. That's the first time without adding in all the debt.

How does it concerned with that? It's yes. A lot of the consumer debt she let my brother use for credit card,

two different credit cards that they maxed out. She took out a loan to remodel my brother's kitchen. She took out. And because she liquidated all a lot of her investments is she's deep in debt

“due to her taxes. Is she of sound mind? She is. Yes. How much is she owned taxes?”

She owes about $23,000. Okay. Yes. She, she about cried at the tax office. Yeah, but it was very sad. I took her in and it was so sad. Yeah. So how can we help today? Because I can't solve years of family dysfunction and a call, I wish I could. But what can we specifically try to help?

We're on it all my life. So, do I? Okay. Well, she's not going to have anything to say.

Sorry. I did not mean to interrupt you. You keep going. She's extra. No. So, I mean, like right now as it is, my mom does very little. And she does understand that she did do a lot of this. And she lives also what is left after she pays these debts. Which is very minimal.

“But my concern is, do I, do I need to probably, do I need to just start with the smallest amount”

and start knocking that down? She's got one very close to being paid off. One credit card is just about done. Yeah. I mean, I would, I would pause everything. Stacey and focus on the IRS debt because they can put a lean on your hot. I mean, yeah, there, I wouldn't mess with that. So I would move that to the front. And so how much does she have left after she pays minimal payments to stay current on everything? And after she pays her bills,

like her mortgage and lights and everything. Do you know how much margin is left that she can throw extra at this tax bill a month? She pays extra. Oh, well, she pays a little extra on every bill every month. Okay. So I would not do that. I would take her down to all minimal payments. Okay. So do all, in an anything extra after this minimal payments, I would throw at this tax bill. Is she on a payment plan with the IRS? Yes. Okay. So out of the 63 hundred, do you know

ballpark what extra she has per month to throw at this? Like 3,000 or 2,000? No, when it, when it, I mean, like, if you, well, if I would have to break down her minimum payments. Yeah. Because we've, she's, she wants to get out of debt. So she's been adding extra to each one. Right. But if I came down to it, I would say she probably has somewhere around a grinder. So I, I don't, I don't know. Like, when it comes down to it after she pays everything, she's like $200.

“Okay. Okay. So, but if we go down to the minimums, I think, oh, I'm sorry. Um, yeah, I could,”

yeah, maybe a grant. But that would be two years to pay off this tax bill. Basically, if you put

every, everything to that. Well, she's paying, she's paying 1,000 to state or 1,200 to state and 500 to, I'm sorry, 1200 to federal and 500 to state. For the tax payments? Yes. Okay. Wow. Well, are you the only sibling helping right now with her situation? Yes. I have an older sibling who kind of helps the cheetahs move back in with my mom. So, I don't know that that's going to be helped. I mean, this is probably dysfunctional Stacy, but

did you go to your brother? Well, no, no, no, did you go to your brother and say, hey, pay mom back. She's $145,000 in debt because of your kitchen renovation. Yeah. I have talked to both my siblings and I have tried to have family meetings where we can sit down and go over, you know, this and I plan to still have one of those, but they're not like understand. There, my brother has no, there's no way he can. You can't afford pay it. Yeah. Yeah.

But the biggest thing is to stop the bleed. Have you, have you convinced your mom no more giving the kids anything? Yes. Close the credit card. Absolutely. Have the credit card been close. Have you frozen her credit? I would do that with all three bureaus because I don't trust these siblings as far as I can throw them. Truthfully. Okay. So, I would phrase her credit because this

And there's elder abuse. There's elder law attorneys that you can contact to see what your

options are, but this is such a massive situation where they've, they've leached off of your mom, knowingly. And the mom into her, she let it happen. She let it happen. And she's reaping the consequences, which is really sad at this point. Just know, there is no inheritance that will be going around. You'll be lucky if her estate can pay the debt. I mean, I would, I would almost would just cash out the $30,000 and take care of the IRS to get them off your back. You'll have

7,000 left and you just kind of start throwing at that small credit card. Because she can live off the $6,300 that's coming in. But man, that's tough. I don't know. That's, yeah. But I think I'd get the IRS out. Yeah. That would be A1. And A2 is making sure that none of these kids get another dime and she doesn't let that happen. People ask me all the time. George, what's your number one money saving hack? I'm glad you asked. Nothing makes me happier than helping another

frugal friend. So here's the hack. Get on a budget. Seriously, how are you supposed to save

“money if you don't know how much you're spending in the first place? And that's what makes the”

every dollar budgeting app a game changer. With every dollar, you'll get a clear picture of

your spending. And from there, it's easy to see where you can get more intentional, cut back, and save more money. How much money are we talking? Well, the average every dollar budgeter frees up $395 in their very first budget. And if you ask me, I think you're way above average. So, why are you still listening to me? Go download every dollar for free and start saving more money right now.

Our scripture of the day, John 812. Jesus said, "I'm the light of the world,"

whoever follows me will never walk in darkness. They will have the light of the world.

Martin Luther King said, "You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."

“All right, let's go out to Morgan in Tampa, up next. What's going on, Morgan?”

Hi, how are you guys? We're doing great. How can we help you here? So, my question is, "How do I navigate a super large amount of debt with also keeping up with my expenses?" My mom and my late father's expenses as they three months after graduation full-time employee? Wow, that is a lot going on. Okay, so tell us about why you're covering your parents' expenses. So, my mom she's disabled and she can't work from like

past like 15 years and a close family friend was helping before I was and then while I've been in school, I've just taken out a large sum of debt to come to help with those coverages for my mom and then my late father, I'm covering his expenses that he's left behind. Everything was unexpected and he has an apartment I'm trying to sell, it's just been stuck for like a year on the market and so that would help of a pretty good amount, but it's yeah, it's stagnant. Wow, what other

expenses are you covering for him? So, my family's from Romania and he has a property over there so I cover which is pretty low, it's like property taxes, his apartment here in the states and a gosh, but there's a bunch of hidden fees like lawyer fees, there's he was in collection,

“there's like all kind of all kinds of fees. And he's passed away, is that what you said your late father?”

Yeah, that's correct. Two of these are charges that I've just stuck stuck versus some that have just been wiped away. Well, debt at death usually goes against the person's a state. So, have you contacted a lawyer or anything to get this settled out because I don't want you paying debts, you don't have to pay. Yeah, you don't, you don't know those, this estate will, so you do need to sell these properties and even if the one in Romania is low,

I probably would still sell it because you can't afford to keep all of this right now. Oh, definitely. So, if you liquidate the property in Romania and if you like low-balled offer just to get this condo out of here, what would you, what would you walk away with, do you know?

and I feel like my offer is pretty low. It's in a nice area, the problem is,

“he has two or I have two steps to the links that it would have to be split amongst us and the amount”

of loans that I've had to take out student loans. I should mention it's like 120,000 at like 17% interest rate. I haven't re-consolidated anything so it's super large and a lot of that comes from me trying to keep up with my mom and his expenses. So if I don't sell this apartment at like what it's worth, then it's unlike not even covering how many like loans I had, I had to take out to pay for this apartment. Does that make sense? Oh, what would have happened if you didn't take out

all this debt to cover the expenses? It would be foreclosed by the bank. All properties would be taken. Why have you taken all my burdens of the world on to your shoulder? You can't afford to do any of this and now all the risk is on you because those student loans all that debt is in your name. I saw it. I mean the apartment isn't worth nothing. I thought it would sell quickly and then I could help cover everything. I didn't think that I was going to be in such a big hole and also when

I was in school taking these loans out to cover my expenses too. I didn't, it just didn't dawn on me what 17% interest would do to that. And I also didn't understand that it was incurring while I was in school. I thought it would star six seven-private loan graduate. The majority is private and then there's like some federal too. Okay. Well, a little bit of homework. You can go to yreify.com/Ramsy. That's our partner to help refinance these private student loans that are crushing

you and they can likely get you much better terms. So that's one thing you can do to get a little breathing room. But the overall thing is you can't keep covering everybody's expenses as much as you want to. So mom is going to have to figure it out. Is she on disability? What is her income sources right now? Disability. That's it. And how much is that? I have 800 a month. That's it. Is there any survivor benefits from your late father? No, they weren't together at the time so it didn't apply.

And she's living with you? What kind of disability does she have? More like I'm living with her and she's got a bunch of things. She broke her back like ten years ago at a nursing home, loopous, fibromyalgia, just like bone pain, that kind of thing. And I'm living with her covering her expenses and she's also a huge hoarder which I've tried to mitigate her spending. But yeah. Well, I think mitigate it. We need a stronger word. I think we need to remove her ability to spend

“if you're the one covering her expenses. Yes, you have to take over. It's almost like a parental.”

Yeah, you're in charge of this business now and you need to make life. Do you get any access to anything? You're making sure her basic needs are covered and that's it. Yeah, that's what I've been trying it's are you working harder? Yeah, I have a full time job. How much do you make? 72 after taxes. 72 after taxes. Okay. And that's with working over time. Okay. How much dead do you have total? So 133 and then if I take on my mom's house,

which like the mortgage and stuff would be like, you don't want to take on. Yeah, no, no, don't take on her house. You're going to go into a vortex of death. Yeah, and it's not probably in a great state, a state of like cleanliness. Like not. Yeah. Okay. So don't. Okay. So okay. So because we have a few

minutes, here's what I would do. Morgan, I would probably move out of your mom's home and I would

“go rent an apartment somewhere. I want you to have a, you have to set up stability for yourself”

because everything around you is not stable. Your mom has $800 a month coming in. I think you need to kind of figure out, okay, what's the minimum that she needs to survive? Not her spending habits or anything. What does she need for her, for her mortgage to be paid so she doesn't get foreclosed on and reasonable food budget and all of it. And I would manage that on the side and help her there. And then with your income, I would get this apartment sold. I would get the, and even if it's,

I mean, I wouldn't take a loss, but even if it's like a, you only make 30 grand or something off of like, I mean, you, you need to simplify all of this pretty quickly. And out of that, then you're going to have to work your way. Yeah, out of this, out of this debt, and it's going to, it's going to

be a journey for sure. But I think you've done really amazing things, Morgan. I think you've

I don't have the ability financially to carry out this because you don't at all at all.

And with this going to turn into, it's just you going to more and more debt than you're unable

“to cover your own expenses, let alone someone else's. You have to stay afloat yourself before”

you can help people. What's the other 73 in debt? You said you had 120 in the student loans,

the 17%, what's the other 73? Car, the rest of the student loans that are federal, my car credit cards. Yeah, that's the one. Okay, what's left on the car loan?

“88,000, and then 15 grand and credit cards. Are you still using the credit cards?”

Yeah, I am. I would make a pact with yourself that you are done turning to debt to solve these

problems because it's not solving anything. Even though it's temporarily putting a band-aid on it for a couple of days and then it's 26% APR. And you're not going to be able to climb out of that. The balloon, the balances are going to balloon on all of this. The student loans, the credit cards. So at 193, you're going to look up six months from now. It's going to be 220. While you're still taking on more debt. So you've got to decide, I'm done with debt,

I'm done covering everyone's expenses. At some point adults need to figure this out for themselves. And you can help you on as much as you're able to and get the steps siblings involved. But please stop trying to carry this on your own. Yeah, hold on, line Morgan, and Cristina Pickup, and we'll give you financial peace University. It's just the bulk of everything from budgeting, getting out of debt and wealth building and won't just start that process.

“That puts this hour of the Ramsay show in the books. Remember, there's ultimately only one way”

of financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the prince of peace, Christ Jesus.