The episode highlights multiple financial and family issues faced by listeners. One family confronts the rapid financial depletion of a mother-in-law, who gives generously but lacks financial discipline, leading to family stress and potential long-term care crises. The hosts emphasize the need for clear, formal financial boundaries and a will to prevent chaos. Another listener faces harassment from a debt collection agency, which illegally contacts family members—violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act—and is advised to report it legally. A third listener weighs buying a car with limited savings, recommending liquidating brokerage assets instead of draining emergency funds. Another case reveals a toxic marriage where one partner refuses to contribute financially despite being in a household with children, indicating a deeper emotional and financial imbalance. The hosts stress that money issues often signal larger relationship or emotional problems. Finally, listeners are encouraged to proactively set financial boundaries, create wills, and seek legal help when facing debt or family crises. The overarching message is that financial decisions must be made with clear, transparent, and protective strategies to ensure long-term stability and peace.
A Medicare plan that worked last year might cost you more next year. Let chapter check your options for free, ask chapter.org/ramzie. Brought to you by the EveryDollar app. Start budgeting for free today. Normal is broke and common sense is weird. So we're here to help you transform your life. From the Ramsey Network and the Fairwinds Credit Union Studio, this is the Ramsey Show. I'm George Campbell. My co-host today is Rachel Cruz. Also, my co-host on Smart Money Happy Hour on the Ramsey Network. And we're taking your calls at AAA8255225. That is the only way to join the conversation we'd love to hear from you. Jennifer kicks us off in Dallas, Texas. What's going on Jennifer? Hi, I'm calling with in regard to my 82-year-old mother-in-law. And she's a very healthy, active adult. But the family, as a family, we're really concerned that she's giving away all of her life savings kind of at a very fast rate without regard for future needs and health and long-term care. Wow, where is she giving all this money to? Everybody? Anybody who asks? Yes, she has, she came into, she sold her home. Her and her husband sold her home and moved to Tennessee to be with her daughter and her family and lived with them out there because her husband was having increased health needs. He did pass away, she's about five months after they were there. And so she's taken all of this money that, you know, kind of came upon her suddenly and she's just giving her to what she's relocated people to Tennessee so that she can take care of them out there. So she's taking care of people now? Yes, financially and physically and emotionally. How much does she have in savings Jennifer? Well, what did she start with? Yeah, we think that it was anywhere from 700 to a million. Okay. And she's down below 75. Oh my gosh. So she wore a million dollars in five years? Yes. How much of that was just her living expenses? She had zero living expenses. Well, she did buy a new car and she bought it on a three-year zero percent interest and in three years she was going to cash in a CD and pay it off because the CD was making money. She cashed in that CD, didn't pay off the car and sponsored a basketball season for the church. Is she getting scammed? I feel like part of this. She's got to have given money to some scammers along the way. I think that she's been taken advantage of and I know that she has a new will that she has been written since she's been out there in Tennessee where all of the money goes to her new church and not the church here in Texas that she had attended for like 30 years. Have you, what do you guys, what do you say to her in these conversations and how is she responding? I have to say that my sister-in-law and brother-in-law have really been on the receiving end of it because she lives with them. But any time that they talk to her about many and about, you know, let's slow down the bleed. She gets very defensive and she, I don't know other than to say it just really causes a lot of turmoil in the family for them to even question her spending and her giving. She's always been a very generous and compassionate person but she really didn't have the financial means. So we're just really concerned about her outlet. Yeah. Well, I think, you know, what's hard Jennifer's obviously you guys can only control you. You can control you, right, and same with your husband's siblings. So the logical next step is either there's going to be a sit down, a pretty formal one with things written out of, hey mom, here's what here's the reality of the situation. She's going to get all mad and defend. I don't care. We have to say this out loud because we know we're going to have to take care of you because you're going to run out of money. And then Jennifer, I think the next step is the all the siblings you guys have, they have to get together and decide what's the plan. Is the plan that she needs solar natural consequences and we're not going to step in and help because that's enabling is the plan like we're not going to let our mother just not have food. So someone takes groceries one month, you know what I mean? And you make a plan because $75,000 it's going to run out and probably a year, the way she's the way she's giving. So she lives with my sister-in-law. So she really doesn't have any like, yeah, I guess she's got a cell phone in now. So she really has no reason to really tighten up anything because she feels like she's she's fine. You know what I mean is how she's feeling, but that means then the burden that it's going to be put on you guys. What happens if she needs to go to a nursing home, for example? That's where we're at, that we're trying to ask her about her long-term care and her response was, well, if I come to that point and I run out of money, then y'all are just going to have to take care of me. No, I don't think we're going to have a half-do in this conversation. I think you all need to be clear. Here's the boundary. We're not because we don't have the money and we're not going to spend the money. We're not going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to take care of you because you blew a million and five years. And she always goes back to her faith and that she's been led to give and everything. And we're just worried about the stewardship of the money. We've tried to tell her, you know, God doesn't ask you to give and go broke. You know? Yeah. Well, I think the days of changing an 82-year-old's mind, I think you're going to have to probably give that up. I mean, and that's one of the most frustrating parts is, you know, do you mean like the conversations that you all probably play in your head over and over? Like, here's what we can say. From a spiritual angle, a mathematical angle, a financial, like, we can set it up so she'll get it. So she'll get it, right? And you'll drive yourself crazy because I don't think she's going to, Jennifer. I mean, I really don't. So I think you all have to make a plan for what's next and then communicate that plan to her. And it's not a- That was- Go ahead. I'm sorry. I was going to say that's kind of where I'm coming to you wanting advice because she is very, very stubborn and very secretive and- I think there's some oral statements of you going, okay, here's what's going to happen. Either you're going to give us financial power for turning, you're going to hand over your bank account so we can manage this for you to cover all of your expenses, or you're going to go broke and no one's going to be there to save you. But that's the problem. I mean, she's living. Yeah, I mean- You don't even mean like- She's going to have a very meager lifestyle unable to give for the rest of her life because she's down a zero. Yeah. Or she's going to open up credit cards and go into crippling debt and then you guys are going to have to pick up the pieces. That's some of the things that we were- Well, it'll be her. The debt will be under her name. But I would think of worst case scenarios. If that was my parent, I would be with my- I would be talking to my siblings and thinking through, you know, we are not signing for anything for her to your point, George, because if your name is on any level of debt, because it probably may get to that point, then you guys will be liable. But if it's her debt, it's just in her name. It'll go against her. Yeah, it'll just die with her. But yeah, I think you all, Jennifer, are the same ones in the conversation. And where's your husband in this? I haven't heard anything about your husband. It's his mom, right? It is. It is. And I was elected to mouthpiece out of the six of us. We're all on the same page of this. My husband is as well. So it's just- It needs to feel like an intervention. Yeah, I'm usually outspoken. So Jennifer, tell me this, truly, if she has zero money, I'm just wondering how much would she need a month to pay for herself? Like, what does that look like? I'm just curious. Well, I'm guessing she has a car payment of, I'll just say $500 a month. And then she's got her cell phone bill, I don't know, less than a hundred. So her living expenses, you know, yeah, I would say she can live in my home and I can have- Well, so that, yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Yeah. So you guys, that siblings are the adults in the conversation that are going to have to make a plan of worst case scenario. What are we all going to do? And you communicate it to her. And then it's up to her and her actions at that point, because you all will hold the line of whatever you decide, but communicating to that to her is loving her well, but then she has to make the decision to change. If you've listened to this show for five minutes, you have heard us say everybody needs a will, but you keep finding reasons to wait because the decisions can be hard. Like, who gets your stuff? Who takes care of your kids? But here's the problem. Avoiding the questions don't make them go away. It just means the people you love will have to guess at the worst possible time. And that's why Mama Bear Legal Forms is worth the 20 minutes it takes to complete your will online. It's built by real attorneys and tailored to your state so you know it'll hold up. And the step-by-step process means you don't need a law degree to get this right. In fact, it's the exact process I used with my own family. Mama and Papa Camel recently visited me here at the Ramsey headquarters, and I helped them update their will and even arrange for a notary to meet them in the lobby to knock it out and get it done. So if you don't have a will, don't wait. Go to Mama Bear Legal Forms.com and use [BLANK_AUDIO]
code Ramsey for 20% off. That's momabairlegalforms.com, promo code Ramsey for 20% off. John is embossing up next. John, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. How can we help? Well, I've got a student loan issue. I should say I'm 46 years old. I went to law school and I had some student loans from 20 years ago. I see payment on them about 10 to 15 years ago and they've ballooned up since then and then I've only recently started repaying them and gotten current. The problem is that the loan collection agency is still harassing my family, my friends, my contacts. Anyone connected me to calling them at work even even though I'm paying regularly and I'm paying actually way more than a vote. Are they harassing you for the old debts? What they told me because they have called me, they were asking me for this debt but it's only the student loan which again I've started paying on the last three months and I've gotten current on because I'm paying more than extra but they're still calling me in demanding that I give them contacts and references that they can call if anything happens to me and then they're doing and I never gave them any numbers but then they went and found my brother-in-law and his mother and they called them and called her at work to harass them. Yeah, this doesn't sound legal at all. Have you looked into what your rights are here? Not really. I mean, I'm just googling around trying to figure things out. I didn't know if there was going to be a direct method I could do. Well, there's something called the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and it lays out all of the terms in which they can contact you and how. And so far from what you've said, contacting relatives at work is not on the list of things that are okay. Yeah, they're definitely violating. I mean, you're right. I mean, what they're doing is illegal and so next time, is it the same person calling or from the, I mean, I know from the same entity but do you know? Yeah, you're the same person. Yeah, I would tell them I'm reporting your call and I'm reporting you and I mean, you know, from a from a legal standpoint, I think you can get up to a thousand dollars in damages like when they start breaking their law, breaking the law. So I would start reading out exactly what he's doing. That's illegal and that you're recording the call and you're turning them in. Are you keeping track of all of this of what they're doing and when? I am. I am and I mean, I mean, I had some email addresses. I'm emailing them. They've been refusing to respond. They only respond to phone calls. I think that's just a way of avoiding a paper trail from their perspective. Is it the collection agency or is it the actual student loan company? Well, it's Transworld Systems Inc. I think that's the collection agency. Mm-hmm. PSI. Yeah, they're the ones calling me. Yes. Well, I would contact the Federal Trade Commission and figure out specifically how to from a legal standpoint get them shut down because they that they're what they're doing is 100 percent. They don't just get to do whatever they want. Illegal? Yeah, they're breaking the law. And so I would tell the guy calling, this is what I'm doing and these will be my further steps and I'm not answering any more calls. And as much as you can ignore them until something gets put into place, but they need to be contacted by somebody. You know, hire up the new obviously. Have you got the account status and writing? Have you confirmed that you're current? I did get a plan that I signed with them to get current and I paid the amount that is due to get current. So I have that writing. Yeah. Okay, you have that writing. I would also send a written request to stop all third party contact. Okay. Because there's no reason for them to be hounding you. When you're current on payments, you have that writing and you're continuing to make payments. I know. Yeah. Should I do that via email or should I do via? I would do both. Okay. That way at least the email you can show that it was sent versus the written one. You know, you can have it verified that it was, you know, received by the sender through the post office as well. I would do that. That's worth the extra couple bucks, but you're just going to need to be like a detective tracking all of this until it stops. But I would not put up with it. What's left on the loans? It's 110,000. It was significant amount. What was the original amount? I believe it was somewhere around 160. That was, you know, back in law school days. But right now I'm making, I'm happy to say that my income has shut up dramatically, which is why I'm able to. I wouldn't attack this. Yeah, good on you. We're not just going well. That was years ago. I'm not going to worry about it. I appreciate that. Thank you. Absolutely. And I appreciate your advice. Thank you. Yeah, for sure. Well, I'm so sorry. I mean, I'm like, that's just like a horrible situation, so frustrating. Yeah. But these companies are scamming. You would just think, well, if they can do what they want, because I owe the debt. That's not true. And they've gotten from a legal perspective stricter over the years. So I feel like we don't hear about it as much. I feel like this was very normal probably 10 years ago. We get all these calls. We don't get as many. No, it's pretty rare because usually, yeah, because I think that they know the penalties on their ends. And so they're for the most part trying to, you know, I would also know I'd get in touch with. You know what I'm thinking? Our friends who are attorneys who can deal with this concept. Oh, yes. Check them out. Let's get the website over to them. I think we've got the guard. Yeah, if you go to guardianlit.com, guardian litigation is the, are the folks we trust when it comes to these sort of consumer protection debt is in collections are coming after me. There's a lawsuit. All of this. So just tell them door sentia guardianlit. They're, they're attorneys. They're not just guardianlit.com/ramesies the place to go. So hang on the line. We'll make sure we get to that link. If anyone out there listening who could use that, be sure to check that out as well. Man, that's brutal. Jack is in Tampa up next. Jack, welcome to the show. Hey, good afternoon. Mrs. Cruz, Mr. Campbell. I hope you and the production team are all doing swell today. So kind. The production team never gets a shout out. So they really appreciate that. They look swell. I would describe that as swell. Yes. Well, that's fantastic. Y'all can see them. I can't, but it's not a great ever to phone. So I'm glad they're all happy to you. Awesome. How can we help today? Hey, so I'm looking to upgrade my car and I was originally going to do it next summer after I got my bonus. This is a potential bonus, but I've been telling my family and an opportunity to rose over the weekend where it seems like a really good deal to purchase this car. That's an opportunity. But if I were to purchase it right now in cash, it would drain my savings and leave me about a little bit over a thousand in my emergency fund. I think how is that an opportunity other than for disaster? Well, it is a very good value on the car. It's usually about 17 grand or that's the book value, but they'd be looking to sell it for 13 and it seems to be in very good condition and can last me many years. So what do you make? What's that? What do you make? I personally make 82,000. Okay. What's your current car worth? My current car is worth $2,000. I drive a 2005 word Mustang. Wow. Only two grand. Okay. There's no other cash. Your name. You basically have 14 grand to your name. No, sir. I have a bunch of other assets. That was my second part. If I were to purchase this vehicle, what would be the best strategy for me to replenish my emergency fund? What other assets do you have, Jack? So I have a brokerage account, which is about 30 grand. I have about 10,000 in EE bonds. Series EE bonds that are going to be fully matured in about 40 years or 30 year maturity. And then I, you know, I could cut down on my 401k investment. I currently contribute 25 percent. It's a lot of viable strategy might be to reduce that to replenish it naturally. You can bring that down to 15 percent. That would be our recommendation for buying a car or not. Yeah. You need to do that. You're probably putting too much in your 401k. Out of all those, it sounds like the only one that you could actually liquidate is the brokerage account. You could sell off enough to get the car today? Yes. Yes. I could sell that. My concern was, you know, I'd be paying taxes on the profit, I believe. Yeah. How long did you have to be that? Many years, at least five plus. Okay. So be long-term capital gains only on the growth. And for your income, it's probably not going to be that much. So I would not be worried about a giant tax hit on this. Yeah. I would not dip into my emergency fund, Jack, because it's on an emergency. If you're going to do it, liquidate enough from the brokerage to do it. You got to feel good about that. And then you may realize, God, that's a lot of car that I'm about to take out of this brokerage account. I may not, I may find something cheaper, you know, or you still feel like it's a good deal, but you have to be okay with that money leaving your brokerage for it to be an okay purchase at this point.
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That's guardianlit.com/ramz or click the link in the description. That's any advertising. Results may vary and no specific outcomes guaranteed. 7, 6, 5, 4, 3. It's official, the Ramsey Christmas cash giveaway is here and someone is going to win the $10,000 grand prize this Christmas. So why not let it be you? Plus we're giving away $500 every week. You can enter every day from now until December 20th. Enter daily to increase your chances to win. Go to RamseySolutions.com/giveaway to enter. No purchase necessary to win. We'll also drop a link in the description of this episode. Yeah, Christmas is coming early this year. That's wild. I know what's weird to think about. But you know what? Right around the corner. Picked up this weekend. Some big, old lawn candy canes from Costco. I'm going to be that guy. I'm Clark Rizwald this year. It's going to be great. Right after Halloween, November 1. It's happening. It's happening. Melody is in Flint, Michigan, up next. What's going on, Melody? Yeah, so I'm going to stay at home mom for quite a few years. During my time being at stay at home mom, I chose to go back to school so I would have something to like go into once that my kids were in school full time. My husband has done the one working. But while I was at stay at home mom, he still expected me to like contribute financially to the household, whether that be like buying groceries, doing Christmas birthdays, things like that. Because of that, I had to take out student loans just to be able to survive. And I also had to put like groceries and things like that on credit cards. I'm so confused. I got-- wait, what? So your husband wanted you to contribute financially, but you were full time staying at home with the kids. But you weren't bringing in incomes. So you just went into debt to create an income. Yeah. Yeah, because I haven't-- Wow, he sounds awesome. Does he know that you went to debt for this? That was horrible. Yeah, he knows. And so he just got a really big promotion. And I've asked him like, can we reconfigure how we're spending things so I can pay off some of this debt? And he just says that I'm bad with money. And I explained to him like the only reason I'm in debt was to buy groceries for the family. Where was his income going? He's bought a boat. He's bought a formula. He's bought a motorcycle. He does pay like the mortgage. Melody. Put a mortgage? What's the state of your marriage? Because that is all a symptom of a very unhealthy situation happening. Well, I'm really stressed because I'm just trying to figure out like, you know, if this is normal. No, no, no. He's horrible. Horrible. I mean, I don't know how you guys got to an agreement in a sense that, you know, it'd be one thing if you guys were trying to get out of debt together and all this. And he's like, hey, can you think you can pick up something here and we can get out of, you know, and that was part of the game plan. Some unity around a goal. But the idea that financially he is not taking care of his family. And you two together are not on the same-- are seeing at the same value level at any-- I mean, it's beyond. I mean, I would like for us to combine like incomes and combine finances and just like work at what we can to pay off like what we can. He just refuses. And it's really hard for him to afford. But he refused to feed his family. Like on the most basic level of life. Yeah, you're telling me he covers the mortgage and then everything else is on you. Well, he does like the household bills. So like our electricity, our water-- Right, utilities. But he's saying, hey, the feeding the family, that's not part of my job. Right, I do all the food, the-- I get like cooking or meal prep, but not purchasing it. But you weren't working, Melody. You were in school, was that right? Or you were home with the kids? I was home with the kid. And then I wanted to have some sort of career to go into after like when they got in school. So I came to college from home in the meantime. So Melody, I hate to tell you this is not a money problem at all. You have a major marriage problem. You have a husband who doesn't respect you, who has an emotional maturity of a four-year-old. I think my seven-year-old does better with money than this guy. I mean, it is the most self-centered and selfish idea that he's going to go and buy himself, himself, things and keep money from his family while you are home with the kids. And yeah, and partly going to school. I mean, that is the most negligent thing. And so you guys are not functioning as a married couple at all. And it's like a toxic roommate situation, if anything. Yeah, and so I would sit down with someone. I think you guys need a lot of therapy. And individually, too, because I don't think until you can have the strength internally within your own self to see-- because you're in the middle of it, right? And so I'm so glad you called. So we can give you kind of a different perspective, of not knowing you, but you just laying out the situation. But you're going to have to create a lot of strength on your end, because this is not a way to function in the marriage at all. Do you have any family support? I have a limited family, but nobody nearby, like all his family is nearby. And my family is eight to eight hours, at least, and then some on the other side of the country. So I'm really kind of by myself. I'm just trying to do the best I can with what I have. So I researched the snowball method, started trying to pay off my debt the best I can. And when I ask him for money to just for anything, he's like, I'm not a bank. I'll give you a loan if you need it. But like, I'm not a bank. And so-- - Melody, you gotta be kidding. He's going to give you a loan to cover groceries for your own children. Is that what you said? - Yes. - At this point, the Ramsey plan can only exist when you have some financial footing. And right now, you're in a much bigger storm. And so right now, the debt is not the problem. The problem is, is this marriage going to survive and what's it gonna look like if it doesn't? - How do you respond, Melody, when he says that? - There's not really any talking with him. When I try to reason with him, he just tells me that I'm ungrateful and unappreciative. So I kind of just shut down and I internalize and I just keep it to myself because I would rather say nothing than be told I'm ungrateful when that's not the case at all. I just want a partnership, you know? And I just want us to reach a common ground and a common goal, it's gonna benefit everybody collectively. - Well, at this point, you need to go to counseling at least on your own. I doubt he's gonna go with you. He doesn't seem like a type of guy. - No, you probably have a decision to make Melody because what you're describing, and I'm always careful when we throw around words like infidelity or abuse or like these big words that carry a lot to a lot of people. But what this is a level of power play, where he has the power and the control and it hangs over you and he gets to do and say whatever he wants. And the moment you disagree is the moment that you feel like you're the crazy one or you're the ungrateful one, which is not true. You're his wife. You are his wife. And so I don't know Melody. I mean, I would say you're gonna have to put some pretty hard boundaries around what you believe is right and how you wanna go forward with your life and with your marriage. And so it may have to look like putting up boundaries around I'm gonna have access to the checking account. And I will sit down and we can do a budget together and we both can have a say on where the money's going. But I am part of this partnership and you could act.
access to the money, because if you don't, again, it's the power play. And if he doesn't, then you have to decide what is that consequence, like what is happening, because there has to be a plan moving forward for you in your relationship, and George and I can't set that for you. But I would find a good therapist and start laying out something, because you can't function like this melody for the rest of your life, you can't. It's horrible. It's horrible. And it's wrong. It's really wrong. How old are your kids? So I have four from, or I'm sorry, five from before I met him, and two that we have together, so my kids are 24, 22, 19, 14, 12, 6, 4. Goodness. Okay. Wow. Ah, we are wishing you the best melody and dealing with this, but right now you got to protect your kids, protect yourself, and I would find someone safe that you can confide in and maybe stay with for a while. 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That's healthtrustfinancial.com. >> Hi, guys, I'm really excited to talk to you today. >> We're excited to chat with you. What's going on? >> I think I have a pretty good problem to have. I would like your advice on how to be a more cheerful giver after reaching baby step seven. >> Wow. >> I'm 39. >> Thank you. I'm 39, and my spouse and I have been grinding really, really hard this whole time to get to where we are all the frugal things. Now that we're in a good place, I know that we should give more, but I've been having a really hard time letting money go. So I like doing things like taking friends out or being a good tipper, but I really struggle with doing things like writing a check to charity, I kind of feel like who knows where that money is going. Is it being used wisely? No, I can't help, but think that I could use that money to invest more so we can retire early. So I'm kind of afraid I've gone from frugal to being miserly, so do you have any suggestions on how to kind of open my mind to let that money go? >> Well, I'll say, I think some of your caution is wise, right? I mean, I do think there's a level of, especially the amount you're giving probably, you know, you have more discretion over, hey, where is this money going? And is it being used? I think that's being a very wise manager of your money, so I don't see that as like you being a scrooge. If anything, we tell people, especially maybe step seven, I mean, as the amount starts to grow that you're giving, you know, you need to be doing as much investigative work and interest into these companies as you do your investments, right? As much as you care about like, hey, where's my money being invested? You should have that same level of care. Where's my money, you know, where am I giving my money and what are they doing with it? So I think that that is fair, so I do want to just say that out loud. So yeah, I do, I think sometimes it can feel almost a little like robotic or just like what you're supposed to do and then there's like a direct deposit, you know, out of your account to something and it just ends up losing flavor and attachment into your soul, right? And so like actually experiencing some of that cheer. And so I think my biggest question would be, what in life do you feel drawn to and what breaks your heart? Like what are things in life that are happening that you're like, man, I feel such like grief when I hear about X, Y and Z or I feel so heavy with this specific topic in life. And what's personal to you? Maybe it might be something happened in your family or you know, do you have anything like that? Yeah. So we do give a little bit, you know, I'm really passionate about like adopting animals, you know, adopt, don't buy all that good stuff. So, you know, I'll do stuff like, you know, donate like $100 at Christmas time to a local shelter. You know, I've adopted animals from that shelter before I'm reasonably confident, they'll use it wisely. But it's just that I know that kind of where we are in life, like with our income, I really could and probably should be giving more than like $100, but then I, you know, right, look at that check and think, you know, I could put 500 or you know, 700 and just like, oh, like, you know, I don't know. Well, you guys are 39. So we can agree that you're going to be okay financially, right? For the future. Yeah. So now it's about how can we, how can we enjoy the journey in the meantime before we retire, before we pass away? What are all the things we could do? So I put this in three in a couple buckets for my own giving that helps me sort of compartmentalize it. And number one is there's local, national, and global. And I would find a cup. Maybe there's one in each category. You love your local animal shelter. There's a national cause. You want to get behind maybe something global happening. And then the other side is in the budget. You might have spontaneous giving, which it sounds like it's your sweet spot. You love an a social setting to just spontaneously say, hey, I want to cover the bill, right? Then you have your planned giving that might be the tithe to your local church. It might be the charity that you, it's just on auto pay. And what happens is you feel less connected when it just comes out of your bank like a bill. So then your job is to remain connected. That might mean you're volunteering, you're a part of it. That might mean you're trying to really get closer to the stories of the people they're helping or the situations are helping the animals that are helping. And so that's where I think giving will become more real over time is the more you get involved more real it is. And on top of that, there's outrageous generosity. And that's the one I think the one that scares you a little bit where you kind of get an adrenaline rush. Listen to that. Maybe you fund for the entire year. And for anyone that wants to adopt an animal, we're going to cover the, the fee. That's a pretty cool goal. Yeah. So I would start making a list you and your husband sitting down together. How much are we going to give to what categories and what's the one that were like this would be a really cool big goal because you guys had a big goal to get to baby step seven to thirty nine. That's pretty wild. But yeah, I like that kind of may having more of a plan than just kind of waiting for the pamphlets and the request to come in a person's time in the mail. Yeah. When it's solicited, it feels less exciting. You know what I mean? When someone's like, Hey, can you give to this thing? I'm like, No, no, I'm good today. I want to feel like it was on my own volition and not obligated. Yeah. And I have to say to Kim, you know, think beyond, like if you kind of have that category of something that you're passionate about, and I like Georgia, even like you're, I like that, the local national. Yeah. International. I've never heard that. I like it. And then you want to sit like charity navigator too because you're like, I don't know if I can trust these people. Yeah. That's fair. Yes. Yeah. And honestly, to Kim, just doing some research on, and again, you could bucket it in big topics, like going and looking and seeing what people are doing because it's actually very, it's very motivating. At least I know for like the Ramsey family, the big, you know, our big family, we're part of our giving foundation and every year we meet and my sister is the director of it. So she, she comes with new places that we could choose to vote to give to and different things. And I'll be honest, even just sitting there listening to what people do, it's incredible. Like what people are doing around the world. Like it is, it gives you hope for humanity because it's, it's some, it's some amazing life-changing opportunities to what you're giving to. So there, so it may be to just the knowledge base of what is actually going on. Could spur some excitement, right? Because if you just kind of just know one thing and that's all you do and it's like, eh, but I would say branch out a little bit and do some research and find something one or two categories of giving that it's like, oh man, that's, that's pretty amazing. And then you get invested into so nonprofits and I don't know, there's just the joy really does continue to magnify as you really get involved and you let yourself freely give because I think that that's where the joy comes from. Okay, yeah, I really appreciate that, really appreciate that feedback kind of having a plan and then becoming a little more, investing a little more time and actually kind of hearing, but hearing the stories of these charities at the personal level. Absolutely, yep. I love that. And putting it in the budget really helps because if it has an assigned dollar amount that helps you understand how much to give this month we're giving here, this month we're giving here and then your investments aren't competing with that. You already have set aside. Here's how much we're going to invest every month. And so giving is a whole separate category.
That way the dollars aren't fighting each other, so that's for you and your husband to decide on what that number is Again, it truly is a matter of the heart You don't want it to turn into legalism and feel like well, I have to give so where are we gonna give make it something that excites you guys And maybe each of you have your own thing you're passionate about he may not care about animals as much as you do But if you find that I think it'll give you a person's next phase. Yeah, yep Yeah, make it a little more personal rather than just Processing I need to do this. I need to do this as soon as possible totally and in your area. I'm like Nashville I'm like, oh my god. We have people loving Nashville. They go and and literally every is every Tuesday. They're Giving and serving the homeless right there food clothes opportunities all of this They open up a coffee shop where they're employing and helping people you have shower up It's a whole ministry that goes and and they have these massive trailers and homeless people they can come shower there There's like a dental ministry that goes down there You know, you think about is it is it God behind bars? Is that it the prison ministry? I mean like and that's just an Super local. Yes, and I'm and there's hundreds more do you know what I mean? But when you see people and you're like what they are doing Again, whatever your your heart is whether it's the marginalized I mean what you know, you can plug in whatever and you see people literally giving their lives creating solutions for things It is it's the most motivating amazing thing and you're like I want to be part of that like let me Let me be a part of it, but but if you don't know it's there Just the existence is one. No. Yes, yeah, and I love so there's a charity water Which we're friends with Scotterson who founded that what they do is they have all of their overhead privately funded So that any dollar that comes in from a donor like you where I goes straight to the actual mission. Yes It's not being separated 19 ways to you know cover the light bill And so I think more and more charities are starting to be more transparent because people are understandably skeptical Yes, yeah, and so a site like charity navigator is great to just sort of vet a lot of these charities and find the highest rated ones See how they operate, but I think you have a lot of wisdom in the way you're approaching it And I hope that you become a philanthropist one day because you're giving so much If you're waiting for rates to drop before you buy a home Here's what nobody tells you when rates fall every buyer who's been sitting on the sidelines Makes their move at the same time you do that means more competition higher prices bidding wars all that That's why I tell people to talk to church home mortgage before they do anything else Churchill gives you a strategy so you're not at the mercy of the market They can show you what you can afford not just what the bank will approve and with their certified home buyer program Your financing is completely secured before you shop which means when rates drop and everyone rushes in You're already ahead of the crowd you're not scrambling for pre approval while the house goes to someone else my husband And I bought both of our homes with Churchill and having a real strategy not just a rate we were waiting for made us ready when it really mattered So start your search with Churchill click the link in the description or go to Churchill mortgage dot com slash Ramsey offer for an Exclusive Ramsey audience offer Churchill mortgage dot com slash Ramsey offer Welcome back to the Ramsey show in the fair winds credit union studio. I'm George camel here with Rachel Cruz taking your calls at triple eight eight two five five two two five Hannah is in West Palm Beach up next. Hannah. What's going on? Hello. How are you guys doing great? How are you? Good. I'm very very good. Thank you for taking my call. I just have a question So my husband and I worked in an industry that requires us to travel about 70% of the year and when we aren't working we live full time in our RV. So we are debt free We are looking at purchasing a home which would require us to take out a mortgage and our question for you guys today is would you recommend or what would be your advice on taking out a mortgage right now as interest rates are or waiting another year praying that the market stays down like it is and paying cash for a home Wow. Okay. What is your after tax monthly income right now? So combined consistently we make about 10k after taxes per month and we do have savings But we would like to keep those savings as savings So we could put a higher initial down payment in But then obviously that would require you know us to have that mortgage coming out We ideally would like to buy a home that we could eventually turn into a rental income Um, so why would you live? Well, so I would continue living in the RV um, but we do I love the lifestyle and because we travel a lot It'd be nice to be able to continue working that way but um Yeah, we kind of wanted to have the best of both were both where it's like a home that we would Ideally like to live in and one we could rent out But we're just noticing that the ones that we would like to live in are a bit more expensive and time-consuming with more you know potential Um, maintenance and you know larger lots and more land and things like that. How old are you guys Hannah? I'm 32 and my husband's 34. Okay. Gotcha And what kind of jobs do you have that's causing you guys to travel so much? We work in the travel industry so we have a lot of qualities. Yeah. Okay. Cool. Yeah um well, I I would I probably would not go into my first home purchase trying to do Two or three different things like you are like let's try to make this a rental all this like I would I would just know like coming up. I mean you guys are in your early 30s So you probably can have this lifestyle for you know a little bit longer, but I don't want you to look up In eight to 10 years and there's no house and you're trying to enter the market right um, I think it is it is a smarter move to go ahead and if you can afford it To go ahead and get something now are you thinking that you're gonna rent it out And live there or we Walk me through that process or you were gonna just live in it for a few years and then rent it out Well, we would let we would like to have a baby soon. So kids are in our future. So it would be something that we would Buy you know purchase and do whatever renovations that we need and then I would live in it You know for the next year or two and it would create it from there after about a year or two as a rental potential And move back into the RV with the baby correct Okay, I know a lot of people think that's crazy, but it's the way Yeah, it is It's not a thought. It's not an opinion I know a lot of people don't get it But it works. It works for us. We also works before you have a baby it works. Right. Yeah, right Hannah my prediction is gonna be If I just throw it out there, I could be wrong seeing call me back in about two years. I'm like Rachel. You are not right Um, yeah, I think you'll have a baby. I think you'll be you know 35 with a two-year-old and like get get me the out of this trailer and back in my house if you did what you're saying That's that's what I think is gonna happen. So how much is this house? Get stability for a child and buying a home you guys owning home you make good money You have savings you say we can talk through the numbers, but from a I don't want to make it sound like that I don't want this to sound rude, but I'm like from an adult perspective This is what we do for starting a family. We're gonna take care of our family We're gonna buy a home when we can right and that means different for everyone But like we're gonna be making steps forward to creating a sustainable life and We can vacation and the RV and all of that, but But I don't know what would be my full-time living plan. Yeah, yeah, so what is this house gonna cost that you guys are looking at So the one that we're looking at is around 260 Okay, and so we would put a hundred K down amazing Hannah and then you'd put some work into it Uh, yeah, yeah, some of them are actually okay a little bit more You know ready to move in but yeah, just spend 300,000 and just not have to fix as much up Uh, we could probably hot. Yeah, I'm just looking at our mortgage calculator Which we'll get you a link and drop it in the description of this episode But as long as you kept your housing around 2500 bucks. That's principle interest property taxes homeowners insurance then you guys are golden Do you think you're still gonna work Hannah after you have a baby? No, no, okay So that is something to consider as you guys are looking for a home that you'll go down to one income So factor mortgage payment based on his income alone. Yeah, it's probably what I would do that because that gives you guys a lot of Financial wiggle room. What does he take home on his own? Um, it's around seven to eight. Oh good. Perfect. So if you kept your mortgage at around two grand or less Then you know even if you went down to just his income you guys would be totally fine and still have margin Okay, so I would do that I would not wait until you could pay cash because we don't know when that day's coming We don't know what the market's gonna do and we and don't wait on the interest rate because we don't know we always say Mary the house date the rates so if you call this a year ago, we were up. We'd all be like well the rates got to go down nope Not the case unfortunately. Yeah. Yeah, so I would go ahead and get in Um, yeah, while you can I think that that's and you guys have no debt No debt fantastic And uh, y'all done great. I agree with all your life decisions except for living with a yeah with a baby in an RV Oh no, why oh no home
- Yeah, I can't, I can't be behind that. - We've heard crazy. - We have to that point, I appreciate it. - Yes, yes, we do, we are. - To be fair, Rachel Cruz and I would not survive a day on survivor. So we're not exactly the rough and it type. - No, but I'm like, you know, the van life is like the trend, right? And it's like young couples and they're live it, you know, in small quarters, but they're able to travel. Like I get it, it's great. - Yeah. - When you say baby. - That's different. - Different thing. And then baby turns into walking toddler. No, no, no, no, I need some space to breathe. - Need some space to breathe, yeah. - I mean, I've stayed in the camper before, I can do it, but not for more than three days on at a time. - And when you have a house right down the street. - Oh, you walk into that house, you're gonna be like, yeah, let's stay there tonight. - Yeah. - So I'm thinking. - Save the camper for the traveling adventures. - Oh, I know. - But somewhere to lay your head down and be able to breathe. And sometimes, not always, career changes, you know, happen that if he's traveling 70% of the time. - You start a family, thanks to you know, any people shift priorities and things. - And they can go on the road with him if they want. That's fun. - Oh, that is fun. - You have a fun idea. - Yeah. - It always sounds fun in theory. - Yeah, a lot of musicians do that. When they're on the road, they just take the family. - Yeah, then they got to take the baby. - They got mayonnaise and stuff. - That also helps if you're super successful. - Yeah, I mean, yeah, I feel like on a bus tour, multiple buses with mayonnaise. - And those buses are different. You've got like a king size bed in the back. - Thank you for comparing a traveling work trip with a two-year-old with a A and a shirt. - That's the only way I would do it is what I'm saying. If it's the full-time nanny on board, king size bed at the back of the bus, full shower. - George isn't then, George isn't. - It's clamping at that point. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - If you're looking for extra cash in your budget to knock out the baby steps faster, start with your bills that are on auto pay like your phone plan. If you haven't looked at your phone bill in a while, you're probably paying 100 bucks or more every month when you could be paying just 25. That's why I want you to switch to boost mobile. You get unlimited wireless for $25 a month and that price is locked in forever with no contracts and no hidden fees. How much would that save you every month? How much faster could you get through your next baby step? Plus with boost mobile, you get to keep your phone and your number. So nothing else has to change except how much you're paying. Switching to boost mobile is a no-brainer because it's one of the easiest ways to free up money in your budget. Go to boostmobile.com/ramsy and make the switch today. That's boostmobile.com/ramsy or click the link in the description. $25 forever requires customers to remain active on boost mobile and limited plan. (upbeat music) Next up, we've got Jill in Memphis, Tennessee. What's going on, Jill? - Hi, so I have a question for you guys. I'm not really sure what to do with this. It's been very troubling, but how can I help my dad through a financial crisis? - Wow, what kind of crisis? - Well, he's got quite the financial mess. He is, but he's in his seventies now but he's facing potential foreclosure as well as bankruptcy for the second time. And he also had his only car repossessed over the summer. So, we're living in a big city now where we grew up in rural America. So I just, he keeps asking my sister me for money, which we're doing what we can, but it's just been very frequent and always at the last minute, so urgent. And he's got a girlfriend who has kind of been taking advantage of him for a very long time. And we think that there may be some sort of abuse going on, but we're just not really sure. It's financial, verbal abuse. Like, I don't know what it is. - With her towards him? - Yeah. - Oh, me and Jill. - And she lives with him? - Yes. - Well, she's about to be homeless, so her plan didn't work out. - So, yeah, we're just, we don't know it with all of this. - So, what is the root cause of this? Cause you know the story far better than us. Is it his income? Is it his spending? Is it debt? - A little of everything. He got alone five years ago, somehow, to get a condo and the real estate taxes and the HOA fees have gone up significantly in that time frame. So, with more of a fixed income, right now in his life, he can't, he's not been able to keep up so much and the girlfriend also doesn't work. So. - How old is she? - Late 50s, I wanna say. - So about 20 years between them? - Roughly. - Hmm, okay. - And what does he make a year? - So, I think we kinda got a, my sister and I were able to do a little intel. Yeah, I think he's got about 5,000 a month between social security and his retirement. - Okay, so he's not working. He's just pulling from accounts at this point. - At this point? - Yeah, he was working part time, but he hasn't stopped without a car. - Do you know how far back he is with these payments on the condo? - I don't know. They've also since moved into an apartment because they've got the, they finally got the condo on the market of a little while back that they were, so they've been in this other place playing rent on this other place. - Yes, so they got the mortgage on one that they already couldn't afford. Now they're paying rent on this other apartment. - Yeah. - He's going into crippling debt. How is he covering the gap? - Yeah, I think credit card sounds like they've got about $30,000 in credit card debt at this point. - So what good would you or your sister's money do in the situation? If you said, "Hey, we'll give you a thousand bucks." - I mean, feed them. - That's it. Like as your plan, if worse comes to worse, we'll at least try to cover some groceries. - Yeah, I would say over the last couple months, I've given him about $2,000. But this last time, I'm like, he had just asked me like a few days prior, and I'm like, I can get you an Uber card to get you around town and some groceries from Walmart. And so that's where I'm ending up right now, but I'm just torn because I love my dad, of course, and I don't want him to be out on the streets, but at the same time, I can't just keep giving him $5,000 over a few days. - You need to set a boundary 'cause it'll just become more and more frequent and the amounts will get higher into oblivion. And so if you're going to give, which you're not obligated to, but if you're going to, I would try to give directly to the need itself, meaning you're gonna get the groceries yourself or get on a grocery gift card, somewhere where they can't just blow the money on something else. And then number two, set an amount that you're comfortable with or you and your sister come together and say, we're willing to cover this much a month and no more and for this period of time. - Yeah, I was gonna say, having an end date is always, I think a good thing, especially in a situation like this, because you're like, I do wanna help to an extent, but it can't be like this forever and ever, right? Because he will never change his behavior, throwing money at a problem that's not being solved, it's just becoming a bigger problem. So yeah, and I'm glad you and your sister have a good relationship, 'cause I think you guys can be supportive of each other when it gets difficult, right? And so I think you guys coming together and figuring out, okay, here's where we feel comfortable and you can do it on your own, of course, Jill, but sometimes it's sibling in the same situation, it's helpful if you guys are on the same page. Yeah, but if you do, what amount per month and that's it? And then that timeframe, like what George said, we'll do this-- - Is that until the condo cells? - Yep, when the condo cells were done, or one year from now, six months from now, are you married, Jill? - Yeah. - Okay, what's your husband think, what does he say? - We've had a lot of conversations about this, but he says, do you kind of what I want? Some days and then other days, he says, maybe don't give them the money this time or something, but it's hard, you know? - 'Cause you don't wanna enable, and at some point, even if you throw some money at this every month, it's not gonna put a dent in their situation that they put themselves in. - No, and it just further prolongs the actual natural consequences of what he's choosing to do, you know? - What you could do is help him actually create a real budget and go, here's how much you can actually afford. You can afford a $1,500 apartment, and girlfriend needs to go to work. That's it, and you might be able to do that in these conditions, we're willing to give $500. If she's working full-time, we will give $500 to help you get out of the situation. But it sounds like at this point, you're scared she's gonna be taking the money somehow. - Well, I'm a little concerned because she had him take out life insurance policy out. - Oh boy. - No way. - And put her as the beneficiary? - Of course. - Yeah. Dang. - Not good. I'm also wondering if there's some elder abuse going on here, and if you could speak to the attorney. - Is he in sound mind? - I think for the most part, he did tell me a couple of years ago that he,
he maybe was diagnosed with early dementia. So that is also concerning me, 'cause I don't see him that much, 'cause we're several states away, and so it's just logistically hard to see him, but yeah. - Yeah, I mean, if there is, you know, from a mental standpoint, anything off, then from that helps in a legal standpoint, against the girlfriend, that he's making financial decisions on someone else's behalf, and he doesn't have the capability to, from like, you know, mental capacity. So, yeah, I do wonder if there's something there, and if that is the case, right, that would be very sad for a man who's starting to have dementia, be taken advantage of other people, right? Like, so I could see you wanting to go and help and figure that out as his daughter. Like, that all makes sense, but yeah. - It's easy even more likely to be there. - But Jill, I think throwing money at this thing over and over month after month for the next six years is gonna do no good. It's not good. - Have you looked into getting financial power attorney for him? - No, and I don't really know too much about the legal side of that. So, yeah, I could probably need to have-- - Well, to either you or girlfriend taking over his finances, and that worries me even more. I'd rather you be in control. And again, with his diagnosis or potential diagnosis, that might affect your ability to get financial power for attorney. So I would look into it ASAP, as part of his, you know, will. It's gonna be, here's the will, here's the healthcare directives, here's healthcare power attorney, financial power attorney, that's all gonna be part of it. And you can jump on to Mama Bear legal forms and get that done online if he doesn't have a will currently. But I would talk to him, I have a serious conversation. Have you told him, "Hey, Dad, I'm worried about the situation, about her, about your finances." Here's how I'm willing to help. Have you had that conversation? - I did, yeah, a couple of months ago when this kind of started wearing a Ted. And at that time, it sounded like they, the two of them were going to part ways. And so I was more willing to participate in the money sending. And, but now he's kind of changed his tune a little bit. So I, that makes me more, more hesitant even to help. But, I made a tactic. - Will he be free and clear once the condo's gone, other than the credit card debt, or is there a lot more to this? - I think there's also some taxes here. - Like, is there any equity in this condo that, with the proceeds, he could pay off his debts? - Yes, um. - Well, I'd make sure to get ahead of that. 'Cause otherwise, I think-- - She'll take the money. - The girlfriend's gonna go, "Ooh, great payout for me." So there's a lot ahead of you. I'm sorry, you have to deal with this. A couple of states over, with a dad who is unwilling to cooperate. But you've got some next steps, at least some homework. And I would contact an elder law attorney, at state planning attorney, and try to see what's possible. (upbeat music) - If your business is making seven figures or more, you should be proud of that. But that growth probably brought a mess with it. Systems that don't talk to each other. It's impossible to track down your numbers because they're scattered everywhere. That's a visibility problem. And NetSuite has solved that problem for more than 44,000 businesses, like yours. NetSuite brings financials, inventory, CRM, and more into one place. And their AI tool, NetSuite Next, builds AI into everything. Automating busy work like forecasting demand and chasing down overdue accounts. It's not complicated to use. You just ask it questions like you're talking to a person. And you're not starting from scratch because NetSuite is built on leading practices from thousands of businesses preloaded and ready to go. Ramsey Solution switched to NetSuite years ago. It helped us know our numbers, and we've never looked back. If your revenue is at least seven figures, try NetSuite Next for free at NetSuite.com/ramsie. That's NetSuite.com/ramsie. Or click the link in the description. (upbeat music) If you've worked hard to get out of debt, the question then becomes, what do I do with the freedom I've created? Well, we're gonna unpack what comes next on the live like no one else crews. This is your week to get away. Have a great vacation. Here brand new teachings from Dave Ramsey and all of us personalities on setting new goals after beating debt, ways to continue building wealth, creating a legacy. Plus, we're gonna have live show tapings, including some live tapings of smart money, happy hour here with Rachel Cruz. The world's largest debt-free scream. Time with all of us Ramsey personalities, all while sailing the beautiful Western Caribbean. So if you're on baby step four or beyond, join a smart 14 through the 21st of 2027, book your cabinet ramseysolutions.com/events. Lindsay is in San Antonio up next. Lindsay, welcome to the show. - Thank you so much. This is so cool, I'm so excited. - We think it's cool too. Thank you for that, how can we help? - Okay, so my question is, my husband and I are currently finishing paying off some debt, the snowball debt thing. And we have an opportunity to acquire a business. So we'd have to take out a small business loan. But the hope would be, once we paid that loan back, it would generate some extra income, because we are a single income family, but we have small children and I don't plan on working outside the home. And so I just wanna know, is the risk of taking on that extra loan worth it in the long run? Or should we just pass that opportunity and continue to pay off our debt? - I have found Lindsay doing this show for years now, that any time there's an opportunity with debt attached, it's not an opportunity. And you're banking out a whole lot of hope here with a whole lot of variables that probably look good on paper. I'm sure, if this was Shark Tank, you could show me on paper how this could work out. But unfortunately, this show exists because it doesn't work out that way. And I don't want you calling back with this call. We took out a business loan, we thought it was gonna all work out. Instead, we're gonna bunch of debt and I wanna stay home. What do we do? - Sure. - I don't want that call coming through. So for that reason, we never recommend-- - I think I say for that reason, I'm out. - For that reason, I'm out. I wanted to, but I thought that sucked you right it. They're gonna come out for us now, I'm just kidding. But we never recommend any business take on debt for any reason. That's the crazy hard core stance we take. And we run this building here at the speed of cash. It was built with cash, it remains running with cash. And that's what we recommend for every small business out there. And it's gonna look different. That means it's not gonna happen right now. It's gonna take time to save up and pay cash. What kind of business is this? - It's an online, like natural-called medics, getting care brand. Some of that I know from a town that I grew up in. She's selling and-- - How much is it? - Is it a MLM? - No, no. It's all, she just kind of does it herself. She doesn't pay anything for advertising. It's all worth it now. Sell her business. - Yeah, she's, she's got four kids, and it's just more than she wants to spend time on right now. She'd rather just spend all her time with her family. - So, doesn't that mean you're gonna be spending time on it? - I mean, sure. My husband, he's in a new job and he works night shift. And so, evenings that we would be spending time together after kids go down would be the time that I would devote. She spent about 10 hours a week. So, it's not a huge time cost. - But she just says she wants to spend time with her kids. So, it's obviously not making a ton of money. 'Cause if you're, if you're working 10 hours a week and it's making good money, - Why would you give that up? - She never went in it to create a business. It just kind of, it came a business. It was very organic. - If I-- - Create makeup and then sell makeup. I had every intent of making money, right? - You're saying it was like a hobby that took off? - Yes, yeah, just through social media. - So, what does she ask, what would the loan be? - $25,000 to buy the business, last year she made $28,000 net. - Okay, so about two grand a month is what we're talking about here. - Sure, but from where I sit is a lot of money. It takes a long time for my husband working for me. - Well, think about this. If you had 10 hours a week, which I think it's probably gonna end up being more work than 10 hours, especially since you didn't start the business. She has deep knowledge and knows the ins and outs. There's gonna be some learning curve. So, even if you were paying cash, I don't know that I would do this. - When it's not something, let's see, it sounds like you're passionate about or your husband. It's not like you guys were like, "Man, we love organic makeup." And we really feel like every woman in America needs this because they don't realize what they're put in. - Sure. - It just ended up being kind of an opportunity that was presented and sometimes it can feel like, oh my gosh, there feels like a good opportunity here. You weren't even really looking for it. And when it presents itself, that's my caution. Like if you had been researching for the last two years and you found this deal and you're like, man, that would be so hard to give up. Like, you know what I mean? Not that we'd say yes, but I'm like, I think I could be probably more like, okay, I get it. Like this, it's almost like this thing got presented to you all. It reminds you of people with homes sometimes family members, if I could listen to my aunt.
that I could buy this home at a great deal. I'm like, "Well, do you like the home?" I'm like, "Well, I don't know. "I never thought about it." I'm like, "You're about to go buy a home "that you didn't really even want. "You don't even mean like it." So there's a little bit of that for you in this. And then plus because of the debt, no. Yeah, I mean, that's completely asking for risk and stress on your end and all of it. And yeah, it wouldn't be worth it. And if you all had the money and you wanted to, you know, I wouldn't say absolutely not, but you guys are broke. You don't have any money. You sure have debt. And so you're-- How much debt do you guys have? We have $39,000 left. We've paid off $32,000. Yeah, and we're putting an extra $1,500 towards that right now. And my husband gets a raise in a year and we'll get an extra $1,200 a month going towards that. So we'll be out of debt in the next year. Awesome, which is great. Yeah, that's great. Yep, so yeah, I would let this opportunity float on that. Yeah, float on by. Or you say, hey, if you want to do a sweat equity deal, I'll pay you 50% of the net revenue until the 25K is paid, 28K is paid, whatever. That sounds complicated. No, I think I agree. I think it's an opportunity. I've been sitting on this for about a week. And I just-- I know people that say, you know, you got to spend money to make money. And I don't want to be naive and let something pass if it could be helpful, but I really have been airing on the side of we should just let it go, but I just wanted someone to tell me that. We're happy to be the bad guy. Yeah, let it go. I mean, is she like an influencer? Yeah. Because it sounds like she kind of owns the job. This was all word of mouth. Now, you have to become the influencer. And you have to create a following. And just doing that on social media is a full-time job. Ew. George and I do it because we have to sometimes-- I'm just going to do like, yeah, get ready with me videos. Like this is going to be your life. Yeah. So it's like not to give influencers any more praise, but it is work. Like it's exhausting to try to keep up the facade. And I got to promote it again on Instagram. Otherwise, I won't make revenue this month. So there's a lot of behind-the-scenes work that has gone into building this. You're not going to take over her personality in Instagram. And so that's the other part is to take into account. So if you wanted to start something on your own over time after you guys are at a debt and you loved organic makeup, go for it. You could probably find out which distributor and production company uses to get the makeup. And a fraction of that and start it small and yeah, totally. Sure. OK, now that's good. Well, I appreciate it. Thank you all so much. That was super helpful. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks, Lindsey. Thanks for the call. George, I feel like I need to get ready with me video from you next week on Instagram. Oh, I'm not the guy. You know, show up with all your face masks and your-- Plus, I'd get too much judgment for my routine. Of course you would. It takes longer than my wife. George is very high maintenance. Just so everyone knows. It's not high maintenance. If it doesn't affect anyone around me. It's got a lot of product. And it's every two week haircuts. We've learned that on smart money, happy hour. My haircare routine? Yeah. Yeah, we don't have time for that. It's only-- it's only a three hour show. So do get ready with me, George. I'll pass on that. But it does bear repeating for anyone out there who's starting a small business. And you've heard it a couple times on the show already. I have an opportunity, too. Usually, on the other side of that, is a decision that you probably shouldn't make right now that involves going into debt. And therefore, I don't see it as an opportunity. An opportunity shouldn't cost you interest. And weirdly, business sometimes, especially small business loans, people emotionally or not as attached. It's almost like this thing over here. It's not my debt. It's the business. And so the belief that it's going to work is that much greater and that much warped versus, like, you know, when you at least swipe a credit card, you're like, "That bill's coming." And it feels more personal for some reason, the business debt side. People just go off the cliff with it. I mean, entrepreneurship takes a little bit of delusion because you've got to believe in it that much. But if the delusion involves debt, it's the wrong kind of delusion. [MUSIC PLAYING] Statistics show that half of Americans don't have enough life insurance. Or they don't have any at all. I don't understand this, John. Why don't people want to take care of their family? They think they're going to die or something? Well, I used to be one of those guys. I didn't even think about it. And one of my buddies said, hey, the only reason to not have life insurance is if you hate your wife and kids. And I immediately went and got term life insurance. That's a gut punch. Oh, you're telling me, for decades, Dave, I've sat across people who've lost a spouse. They've lost somebody important to them. Me too. They don't know what to do next. Me too. I mean, you're going to have a crisis here. And you know, you've got two options while you're sitting and talking to a young widow. She's concerned about how she's going to invest all this money properly and not mess this up. Or she's concerned how she's going to eat tomorrow. That's exactly right. These are the two options. And take care of your dad-gum family. Your term life insurance can replace income, half-deds, cover funeral expenses. So your family can actually have the opportunity to just be sad to just miss you. That's exactly what it's supposed to be. It's saying I love you to your family. Term life insurance. Jeff Zander and the team of Zander Insurance makes it easy and affordable. I've used them personally for 25 years of the only people I trust. Go to zander.com or call 800-356-4282. [MUSIC PLAYING] Our question of the day is brought to you by Ask Ramsey, your free AI money tool that provides personalized money answers based on Ramsey principles. Visit RamseySolutions.com/askramsey. Today's question comes from Luke in North Carolina. When buying our home, I wanted to borrow less money from our lender, so I took out a loan from my 401(k) out. I thought this was in line with avoiding debts because all the interest and repayments only benefit me. Since I started listening to you, I learned that was a bad decision. Will you please help me understand all the reasons why and hopefully help someone to avoid making the same mistake? Interesting. So the mistake here is borrowing from your 401(k). Yes, so we'll just-- Specifically? So I feel like when buying our home, he wanted to borrow less. So I think there's two mistakes. Which is why I take it from the lender when I can take it from myself and pay myself interest. Yes, we have life hack. 401(k) problem number one. Why you don't need to take out a loan on your 401(k). And then the problem number two is just to making sure when you buy a home, that it's what you can afford with the money that you have. And so if you felt like you needed to borrow more from someone else to justify the purchase of the home, then you probably can't afford the home at that point. But the 401(k) loan is, yeah, it's a solution. A lot of people feel sometimes in a pinch or sometimes they feel that they're outsmarting the system when they do that. But the problem is you are borrowing from your future self, right? You're unplugging all of that growth. What the growth would have been and you're borrowing on that. And when you leave the company, that's always the risk to me, most of the time-- Short time horizon to pay that back. Or else it's treated as a withdrawal. Or to six months sometimes. I mean, it's pretty quick. And sometimes it can be a lot of money that you end up borrowing, that you don't have in cash. And so then you're at a loss loss. So it just continues to add on to the risk. Yeah, it's sort of put some handcuffs on you to your employer. And if something happened, you're in a lurch. On top of still your net income, having to be repaid into that 401(k) with interest, which then means it's going to be harder to pay that mortgage every month. So you're really just a Robin Peter to pay Paul here. And taking on any debt for a down payment or a situation like that is a bad idea. But a 401(k) loan is one of my least favorite ways to do it wrong. Hope that helps. Ed is in New Orleans up next. Ed, what's going on? Hey, how you doing? Sure. My question is this. I'm 62 years old. I get my retirement. Hopefully God will in February. And the big question is, I don't have any debt. I mean, I have all my homes paid for. I have rental properties paid for. I have a pension coming to me when I retire from my job. And I have somebody in my 401(k). The question is, is my social security, do I think that a 62 or do I wait? Do you need it? Well, I was told I don't need it. But I'm looking at it. I can take it and invest it. Sure. So with social security, your full retirement age is 67. So you've got five years to go on that? Correct. Yes. Okay. So you're essentially locking in a permanent 30% cut by taking it at 62. Okay. So if you're comfortable with it-- You'll get less. Yeah, you'll just get less. If you want to wait 'til 67, you'll get the full amount. If you want to wait 'til 70, you'll get even more closer to 130%. So it's got 20%? 24% higher. There you go. Yeah. Than age 67. So that's pretty good. So if you don't need it and you're in decent health, it could be worth waiting. Because then you're sort of locking in, if you're going to live to 90, and again, if we knew the exact day we were going to pass from this Earth, it'd be an easy calculation. The problem is we don't know. And so you'll eventually break even by taking it later if you live a long life. So are you in good health?
Yeah, I'm a decent help. I'm not yet. I can say yes. I'm in good health. I'm you sing. I said it just Not married. Okay. I'll be married. I had red kids held your spouse. I'm retiring. Huh? How old is your spouse student? She's fifty-nine. Okay, and How much are you gonna work continually until her sixties? I'm She's gonna work much. She does. She does work for herself. She's an interior designer So if she really likes to job, she doesn't want to quit You know, so she worked to you know she works for a few days a week And then how much do you tend to like says? Yeah, how much do you have coming in a month between the pension 401k all that? Why haven't sort of taken that yet? Like I said, I'm working until February of next year then I'll plan on retirement Oh, okay. Okay. Do you know how much monthly then we'll be coming from everything? Well, I'm looking at it's up in the air. I can anywhere from Seven to ten thousand depends what I want to take out You know, I mean it depends almost so secured if I feel taken that out to also, you know Well, if you guys can live on it, I would I would wait till 67 to at least get the the full benefit of it Because if you don't need it and it's just sitting there. Yeah, the you know within five years of it making More in the market and all of that. I mean, I feel like that's just kind of all a little bit up in the air So I would I would wait if you could and you're the higher earner. I imagine Correct. Yes, okay, so in general if you went to a financial advisor what they likely would say is the higher earner It's worth waiting until 70 because you're gonna lock in that higher payment for the surviving spouse So your your wife could take it at 62 between 62 and 67 for the lower earner and then you can lock it in at 70 and that sort of guarantees a higher income for the rest of their life Yeah, he just he said that we that we just look at it a year to year, you know, and we'll look at it that way I said in them. We just thought every year. I would want to look at it if you want to take it or not It's up to me. I like that plan. I wouldn't be in a rush to take it That's for sure based on everything you've told us. It's sort of a catch 22 the people who absolutely need social security It's probably not enough even when they do start taking it and the people who don't need it likely will never need it And so it's kind of a funny conundrum there So at that point is just icing on the cake and so I would just wait lock in the higher payment and then your spouse could take it earlier Because in three years she could be taking it and you'll still be waiting another five years or so So it's sort of like an insurance policy in that regard For having a higher, you know, it's gonna increase with cost of living, which is nice So it's a nice guarantee there as far as social security goes not not a lot of guarantees on that side and it could be Cut down by I think 2034 by about 22% so that's something to think about as well Yeah, you hear it's gonna go, you know 2031. It might not be available anymore We have to take a cut. There's a lot of drama on the headlines as much as I don't love the idea of social security and how it's structured and how The returns are terrible. It's still working and does help a lot of people out so But it's it's meant to be a more of a safety net than the game plan terrible situation. We're all paying in. Yeah You don't always get back what you put in but I appreciate the call. It's a great question. It's sort of a What did you say the third question two thousand? I think it's thirty four. So what you said? I thought it was he may he said twenty thirty one So might be that's a lot closer Five years ahead. I see twenty thirty four. Okay. Okay. Well still eight eight years Yeah, that's not a long ways away to be cut by 22% which is why for people our age I tell them hey do not I hope nobody relies on it. No, it's their sole income It was never meant to replace 100% of your income right right but for generations like Gen Z Millennials You should pretend like it doesn't exist and be grateful if anything comes from it even though you're going to pay into it your whole career Yep, but I'll wait. Here's my can I give you my strategy and not wait start giving every newborn child ten thousand dollars From taxpayer the government funds it ten thousand bucks Trump's got to do right two thousand. He claims Oh, is it not happening the two thousand dollars? Yeah You tell me have you seen the money? Well, I didn't have a baby. Oh, you're talking about the Trump account Yeah, I did get the thousand bucks from my child. Okay. Is it a thousand thousand? Okay, there you go But you're ten thousand, but you're saying well, I think yeah, I think everyone would love that too and you let it ride It which is so much cheaper than the entire social security program. Yeah, which you would you end up paying into it exactly Yes 10,000 dollar one time locked away in an index fund and then you tell retirement Okay, so here is your plan if George was in charge that you can opt into that program or pay social security That's the plan. Oh And then if you opt into the ten thousand then you never have to pay social security. It's what you're saying. Yeah I'm good with that. I feel like I should we should vote for you Listen, I'm not on the ballot unfortunately. Wow, you're getting a pause. I also know nothing about politics I just this is my one thing. I'm gonna my whole platform is just we're gonna have a campaign slope and we get back from the bridge I have zero foreign policy. I just want to see kids become millionaires. You can get a cabinet I think from a financial perspective, George your our hope. Okay. What's what role do you want? You can choose no secretary I knew it. I'll defend you. I will. I will defend you. That was you're gonna go defense Welcome back to the Ramsey show in the Fairwinds Credit Union studio. I'm George Camel here with Rachel Cruz taking your calls at Triple eight eight two five five two two five Cole is up next in Charlotte, North Carolina. Cole. Welcome to the show Hey, how are you guys doing great. How are you doing good? How can we help? Well, I am a 25-year-old race car driver and I'm just looking for some help with My finances given how fragile it kind of is Wow, okay. Tell us more. Are you doing this professionally full-time? Yes, okay, so I I'm racing on a team right now and I'm gonna switch teams next year so my contract and my income is changing next year but You know at the end of that contract, which would be at the end of next year I'm gonna have to I might have to find a new sponsorship I might have to find a new team and you know my career could end if I get into a bad enough wreck where I have a career ending injury So how does that work in that profession? I'm curious. Do you guys all get you know like a disability insurance? I'm guessing it's super expensive because of how risky it is. Well, the evening. What would you qualify? Disability insurance. No, we don't have disability insurance. No. What do the contracts look like? Is it a set amount up front per month? So yeah, it changes per team So the one I'm on now I get paid every race But the next one I'll be on I'll get paid monthly. Okay, so it'll be more sustainable that way more predictable Right, okay. Yeah, bonus is based on where I finish. Okay, so it could go up, but you sort of have a base that covers you and that covers all your bills and then some Yeah, absolutely cold. Do you guys have any consumer debt? No, so I have no debt no credit cards. I've been a fan of you guys for a long time I didn't understand it at first, but my dad thankfully steered me in the right direction. I'm not ever getting a credit card And I've kind of finally come to my senses in the past two years lifting you guys. Yeah, that's awesome. Are you married? Do you have a family? No, I'm single. Okay, so it's just you. Okay So at this are you do you live in Charlotte full-time like do you own a home there? No, I rent an apartment. Okay. You're renting right now. Okay, cool And how much can are you are you good if you say what you make? Yeah, yeah, okay So I can break it down for you. I last year I made About two hundred thirty thousand dollars this year. I made I'm at two hundred forty-one Projected to make a little more based on bonuses. Mm-hmm I have about seventy thousand in a high yield savings thirty-seven thousand in Robinhood which I've been messing around a little bit with but sixteen thousand in a Roth IRA And a hundred nine and personal savings. Wow personal savings. Is that just a savings account? Yes, okay. Why is that not with the high yield savings? I had it with a high yield savings, but I was talking to Some of my dad knows with who worked with finances and he said I should only really keep about three months worth of What I need in a high yield savings, so I kind of moved it back. I'm not super financially But when you said personal savings, okay, no, I'm just sitting in a watch bar. Yeah Okay, I don't know how that's any better than the high yield savings, but in your situation you have an amazing income So what you need to do is just live like you don't make two hundred forty thousand dollars in case something happens You're in a very unique situation where it's wise to have a hundred K to float you for a year if you need to figure it out and you're in between contracts Now I don't think that's going to be the case barring that you have no injuries, which you know got
for bid, you're going to be on another team probably making more. And so the game plan for you would just be continue investing. Maybe you lock in a house at some point since you have fantastic income and use some of that savings for a down payment. And that way you have somewhere to lay your head at night that's stable. Gotcha. Yeah. I was thinking about buying a house and my dad didn't think it was a great idea, but I thought the kind of smart given I feel like I have a lot of money. How much do you need to live? What's your expenses? I only pay two thousand a month in rent. I've no car payments. Each manufacturer I race for will give me a free car as long as I drive for them. So I got no car payments. So I really only paid twenty two thousand a month. Plus gas, insurance, food, and all that stuff. Yeah. So a couple of grain gets you by. So you really need like, let's say 40 grand a year to live on and you can sock away the rest of the money into savings and investing. Right. That's pretty cool. We want them to have it a little bit of fun. We'll enjoy it too. I mean, I don't know what you do for fun, Cole. Well, what I was going to say is, yeah, do 15% into retirement. I would probably continue to aggressively just put money aside, like with Georgia. I would move the 109 into a high yield. I wouldn't have it in the traditional, because at least it'll be making three percent sitting there growing a little bit. You could even invest it into a non-retirement taxable brokerage account. Yeah. I've put it in a brokerage account. So you're not needing it for the foreseeable future. But I would look at my expenses at what Georgia's saying. And you know, and and have a little fun, like have some wiggle room. But because of the state of your job and it's being a little bit more risky. It's kind of like the NFL. We're like, this might be a five year run. Right. And so plan for that knowing that I need to figure out something after that I can do if I can't continue to do this. And having a big pile of money is only going to help. And if you've got a paid for house by then with a huge amount in savings and part of that might be non-retirement investments, that'll give you even more options. Yeah. And for the housing call, you know, if you are looking to get into the market just to have and start building equity, right, versus paying for rent every month, it could just be a condo. You know, it doesn't have to be a single family home, depending on what part of, you know, the state you want to live in and all of that. So real estate's a great spot to be parking some of this money too. If you have a good down payment and make sense with the mortgage payment and everything with your income. I'm guessing there's no employer retirement plan. No, there's no employer retirement plan. No. Okay. Are you W2 or is it like a contractor? Contractor. Wow. Okay. So you got to set aside money for taxes? Yeah. And you've been doing that. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I just didn't want you to have a big bill from the IRS. But man, you're crushing it at 25. This is incredible. So the key is imagine like you're not making 240 and set aside so much and enjoyed, of course, but do it in such a way that three years from now if things did go south and you couldn't do this anymore and you're making 60 instead of 240. Yeah. That you'd be fine. I mean, even if you lived on 100, right, and enjoyed and banked 140 a year. It's a pretty good life. Pretty good. 25 year old. Yeah. That's insane. Every time you get it's not car, you know, it's like, this is going to be it. You know, my small choice. You're a braver man than I call. And clearly, you're good at what you do. That's awesome though. Yeah. The fun I have is my job. So when you ask what I do for fun, I do. I'm having fun. You drive for fun. What do you drive? I'm curious what a race car driver drives for his personal use. I drive a Toyota Tundra. Okay. And that's paid for. They they provided that. Yes. That's awesome. It's like every boy's dream. Yeah. Just drive cars race cars for a living. That's pretty incredible. Way to go man. Thanks for the call. I'm just curious about this whole life. I think if anything you take away is that don't live like how you're being paid, you will not be mad at putting a lot in savings, but also be intentional with the money to live on to enjoy, right? And you see this with, you know, athletes and they're make they have $10 million dollar contracts and they just try to spend $10 million or more, right? Like that's a bad plan because the money's going to go away eventually. So if you just bank a lot of this money now, you're going to be so set later on in life, you're going to have so many options. And that's the goal. Freedom, margin and options. Way to go, Cole. You work your butt off for your money, but your money's never going to return the favor if all you do is hope for the best. If you're ready to learn how to make your money work for you, check out the Smart Vester program. Smart Vester can help you find advisors who specialize in retirement planning, charitable giving, advanced investing strategies and more. Whatever your goals, your pro will take the time to explain your options so you never have to invest in anything you don't understand. Head to ramsysolutions.com/smartvester to get connected. Ramsey Solutions is a paid non-client promoter of participating pros. Learn more at ramsysolutions.com/smartvester. Anthony is up next in San Diego. What's going on, Anthony? How can we help? Hey, thanks for thinking my call. Sure. Can you speak up a little bit? We're having a hard time hearing you. Sure. There we go. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I'm calling today because I'm kind of on a tricky situation and trying to figure out what to do. I have a ton of debt and I don't really see any way out of it right now. So I'm trying to figure out if bankruptcy would be the best solution. How much debt do you have? About 280,000 total. That's all consumer debt? No mortgages? No mortgages. What kind of debt is it? Anthony? It's a little bit of everything. Credit cards, personal loans, car loans, business line of credit. How about half of it is related to a business that I don't have anymore, but it's credit cards, lines of credit. Okay. Any student loans in there? No student loans. Okay. All right. Are you married? Yeah. You got kids? Yeah, I have one kid and one on the way. Oh wow. Yeah. How old are you? Yeah. I'm 37. 37. Okay. What are you doing for work right now? I work field time for a payroll company. A payroll company? Yeah. It's doing like reporting and stuff like that. What does that pay? About 50,000 a year. What were you making with this business? I was peaked. I was probably making about 80 to 90,000 and then you know, things got bad and it was kept just trying to keep it afloat. I kept poor money into it, putting bad money after debt and eventually. What kind of business was it? It wasn't worth it anymore. It was, it was in real estate doing like property management and I had a business partner but eventually he left and so it was just meaningful and everything and paying for it taking on debt to just try to keep it going. I am. And what's the car loan? Tell me about those. How much is left on those? So one is about 10,000 and the other one's probably closer to 25. Okay. What are they worth? The truck, it's probably worked about what we own it, 10 and then the other one, not sure, it might be around the same. It's a lucky. Okay. And your wife, is she staying at home with the kids? Or is she working? Yeah, she was working but she's not working anymore. So she's like pretty far into her pregnancy right now and it's been pretty rough to see how many of you've been working at least. Yeah. What was she making before? Making about 45 to 50,000 a year. Okay. Are you guys in San Diego proper? Is this super high cost living where you're at? Yeah, it's pretty expensive. I mean, luckily, we we rent right now with my sister. How much is that? It's not mortgage but we split the mortgage in 2400 a month. Okay. But you're telling me your take home pay is what? A little over three grand? Combined, it's probably about 4,000 give or take and I do some, you know, I have some side income that comes in another thousand. So if you're saying combined with your wife or what? Yeah, that's combined. But she's not going to be working. It sounds like her hasn't been. Yeah, not not right now. So that's what I'm saying. Your current reality of your take home pay. What is it? What's going to
to come in this month. I would say about 4,4,500. Okay. So this rent is a huge problem. 2,500 bucks a month when you're bringing home four, you barely can eat, let alone pay off debt. It's not cover in the minimum debt payments, which means are you floating the gap with more debt currently? I was and then I had put it into that because we're pretty much maxed out. And so now it's like pretty much like we're behind on everything is I have multiple accounts of between two collections and the ones that haven't, you know, they're going to be seen. What are the hours you're working, Anthony? I look like 40 hours a week and then like I said, I do from work on the side. Yeah, what do you do there? What kind of work? Oh, just whatever I can pick up and job. Okay. What's keeping you guys in San Diego? Probably family and basically it's kind of what we've always been like mom, dad, what what's family situation? Yeah, everyone mom and dad and her mom as well. Okay, that's what I'm trying to figure out. There's enough family support that your wife wants the babies here goes to work full time. You go double your income doing something that can pay you more and you go back to making 80 or 90. Now it's a solvable problem. But making 50 grand a year trying to pay back 280 when your rent is $2,500. This is a math problem. Yeah. And so you're going to be treading water until your income goes up significantly. And even if it does, you still need your wife working full time. Yeah, you guys will both be working full time Anthony, probably for the next three to four years to get out of this. Think about it. If you make 90 and she makes 50, that's 140. Now if you can get your rent down, which might mean you need to move to a lower cost living area, and you can throw, you know, 30, 40 grand a year at the debts, this is solvable. But it's going to take some real grind and hustle because you got yourself in a real big hole and we need a big shovel. And in this kind of dire moment in time with just your income and everything Anthony is it's the four walls, food, shelter, utility, transportation, making sure all of those are covered before any debt is paid. Even if they go to collections, yes, making sure that your family is taking care of first and foremost before anything else. As you said, your sister is renting this place to you? Yeah, we moved in with her. You moved in with her? Yeah, so we're splitting, we're splitting that rent for her house and is the house in your name, Anthony? No, it's in her name. It's in her name, okay. Could you guys go rent somewhere else for cheaper than $2,500, even if it's further out? I mean, if we go way far out and maybe you can look a smaller place, because we're now, we've got one kid and another one on the way plus a dog, so we're in in our area. Pretty crazy. Sure, but people paying $2,500 in rent, they're also making their making more than 50k to support that as a household in California. And so there's just a reality to your situation. I'm giving you some variables to tweak here. Number one is obviously your career and income. Number two is your wife going to work. Unfortunately, that's a reality. And it'll be a luxury for her to stay home one day, but right now she needs to double the income for the family. And on top of that, moving to a lower cost living area. So those are the problems to figure out. You may talk to family. I'm not saying they're going to just be free childcare, but if they can support for he didn't go to work part time for a while as you get some footing. And eventually, you may want to sell these cars just to free up a little bit of wiggle room, because what are the payments on those? Yeah, the car team is combined are about seven, seven, fifty a month. Yeah, that would give you a little bit of breathing room to at least stay current on your other debts, right? Yeah, what's the total minimums on all of your debts combined currently? Have you done the math? Yeah, but the ones that are active, not in collections, because when we have some of that wind collection, it was probably close to three, four thousand a month. Oh my goodness. Which is as much as you make a month before any of your expenses come through. Oh, Anthony, I'm so sorry. I hope you guys can work through these variables. There's going to be some deep, deep sacrifice for a couple of years, but you can get out of this, but we need to get that income way up and get your expenses way down. 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. So, 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. Dan is in Pittsburgh up next. Dan, welcome to the show. Hi. How you doing? Doing great. How are you? Not too bad. Just needed some advice on a real estate issue I ran into. I recently purchased a home off of a relative which kind of turned in to be in a money pit to some issues that we really can't keep up with. And this is about six months ago we moved in and we're trying to decide on whether to buy a different home now and sell this one or just stick it out with this home while we're already in it. Wow. So did you not know about these problems before moving in? No, we bought it off of a relative and whatever we bought it, we asked them if everything's okay, everything was okay. We did not do the inspections. Like, you know, it's always not done enough. And what do you think they're going to say? Oh, there's a ton of stuff wrong with it. You got it. I don't think they were malice. I don't think they probably knew what was happening. Did they know or did they? I hope they didn't know. I don't think so because it was a completely renovated house and the family member is a contractor. He's the one that renovated the whole house. What's wrong with it? Like, what are the problems? So there's some, we have some water intrusion issues in the crawl space. There's issues with the roof, with the rafters. Did you all have anything in the contract warranty-wise? No, we had to do something. We had to get the septic root, put a mainline replaced and how much have you put into it? It doesn't sound like a great contractor. No, I mean, how much have we put into it? I mean, they're in a better one to fix the pipe issue. I've put into it probably, probably about 15,000, since we moved in. Okay, what the house cost you? The house was 250. Was that at a significant deal? Was that below market? Yeah, it was a little bit below. I mean, we bought, you know, in the market, it was not even worse than it is now about eight months ago. Me and my wife were looking for a house for about two years, couldn't really find anything in our area. So we went with that one. You know, that one came up. We looked at it before it was renovated. You know, days and ideas of what needed done. And, you know, he renovated and then just, you know, we had a lot of rain there in August and a lot of the issues popped up, you know. Have you gotten inspection since? Yeah, we've had individual people come by, like, you know, roofers and people that talk, you know, they came in to look at the call space about getting the sum pump and all that stuff put in. Okay, so what's remaining to be done? What needs to be done? We're looking at, there's a couple of actors, I guess, in the roof, that need to be replaced. A sum pump in the basement need to be replaced. Yeah, I mean, it's just it's a little bit too far out of town. So I didn't know if we should pay the money to get this fixed or, you know, we actually found another home. It's closer to our family that we are looking at. And, you know, I just didn't know if we should pay here. How much is that? The house that we were looking at is around the same price, around 250. Now, once the new buyer does an inspection, they're going to find all the problems, which is then going to force you to, you're going to have to bring the listing price down or cover the cost. Right, that's what we said. We probably end up taking a loss on it. I do have some savings, you know, I've always been pretty good with my money until this happened, you know, so we do have some savings enough that we actually got approved for the loan for the other house. Okay, how much do you have in savings? Just thank you.
both mortgages. I don't have any savings about, right now there's about 230,000. That's wild. Man, I hate the idea of you guys floating two mortgages in this market, though, because things are. Yeah, I do too, and that's like, because our home has actually been on the market here for about 60 days, but it's kind of hard to sell at home. We even have some other people, we have a lot of people come and look that I have, you know, I have two kids, it's hard to keep the house clean and stuff like that. Well, someone comes and looks, we're going to load the kids up, take off, so that's why I didn't know if it was better to. Well, what's it going to cost if you continue? If you get this thing fixed up entirely, how much more do you need to put into it? Well, what I need to put into it probably is maybe $40 or $50,000. Okay. Would that increase the value by that much? Yeah, I don't think so, because people probably expect that stuff to be done already. You know, I mean, I've even had people come by from those, you know, we buy cheap houses. Oh, do you want low-ball offers? Well, they are. I wouldn't even have to deal with it. 150. Yes. Oh gosh, yeah. And that's what I'm just taking it with like that. So you guys are, how it is? You guys emotionally are out of this house that you've had up for sale and you've been showing it. Oh, bad. We had it. Yeah. Okay. So you're okay. And you're okay, stomaching the loss, even if that's $60,000. You know what? Yeah, it's like, I am. I mean, I think we are. It's just, it's, it's more emotional and mental than anything. You know, it's causing family issues. It's causing mental issues. And yeah, you know, it's been, since we moved in from day one, it's been stressed. We don't want to deal with it. What's the relationship like with the relative now? A little bit rocky, you know, but I mean, it's, you know, it's, it's, do they know about all these issues now? Have you told them? They do now, yeah. Yeah. What did they say? There's a lot of things, a lot of things they say is just things that happen after we moved in that they didn't know about, you know, but they did their innovations. They take no responsibility, at least, even if it's not financial legal responsibility. I mean, so I mean, they, they, they helped me do, you know, the pipe work outside and stuff like that. Some other, some other way. I wouldn't have them do any work on this house anymore. Yeah. Yeah, I know. Well, to answer your question, Dan, if you have another house under contract that you love, um, yeah, I mean, the only thing that scares me is floating these two mortgages and you're probably just going to end up at a loss with this house, which sucks. But you only think that scares me. I don't want you hanging out of this house for seven months. No, I don't advise it. And so you're going to need to do the repairs. Yep. So you're going to have to start. Yeah. Dropping the price is what you're going to have to tell yourselves in order to do this new deal, right? Just to get it moved. Yeah. Get, get the house out. Are you working with an agent? Right. Yes, I am. Okay. What did the, what did the agent say as far as the strategy goes? Should you just lower the price to factor in the cost of repairs? Yeah, pretty much that's what we did. I mean, we had a lot of people come and look at it, you know, you know, home prices sell here. It slows, slows down here in November, December, January. So we're, we're even thinking of, you know, taking it off the market for a couple months until we get out, staging it so it looks okay, you know, listening to some of the problems and, you know, going from there. I didn't know. I don't know. You know, I'm in, when are you supposed to close on the other house? Uh, end of November. That's coming. Hi. My name are white. We combine, we make about 120 grand combined. Um, and like I said, I do have so a lot of savings. It's enough to get by. I mean, I think that, you know, we net, we probably bring in about seven grand a month, you know, saw me, but we do have two kids. How much are both mortgages going to be? Four year old. So, so this one right now that I'm in, it's 1,500 a month and the new one will be 18. And those are on 30 year mortgages? Yes. But I plan on, you know, if I recoup the money and, you know, putting more down to make that, bring it down hopefully to 20 years, you know, put an extra payment in them. There's no ideal. There's no idea. All of the issues. Answers here. It sounds like you guys have one foot out the door, literally, thinking of, I mean, they have a contract in another house, but, um, yeah, I mean, the only thing that just, I mean, it just, it just scares me because it is a slower market. And I don't want you guys turning on the cushion of savings where you're not feeling. Yeah. And then it just starts to dwindle, dwindle, dwindle, dwindle, right? So I mean, I think you and your wife need to have some benchmarks. Time wise, if you do this to say, all right, we're dropping the price by this on February one. If it's not sold, right? Or, um, like, Mark and it, and it's just going to be, you're just going to be taking a financial hit on it. And, um, yeah. And I guess the whole total will just be a bunch of stupid tax. So you look back and you're like, why didn't we do the inspection? How much are you putting down on the, the new house out of this 230? 100. Okay. So you would leave you with 130? Leave me with about 130 questions. Okay. That's your cushion. Yeah. I mean, y'all could and think, God, you have this, you will survive this stupid tax, but man, it's a painful hurts. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So sorry, Dan. Yeah. That's, did you do an inspection on the new house? Oh, yeah. We just had it done. Okay. Good, good, good. And appraisal as well. Not be appraisal, yeah, but it's a 20 year old house. It's pretty much, you know, it's new, pretty much. I mean, it's as close to the newest one that we could find without building. Man, you know, around our area. So it was, it's a pretty solid home. Well, at least you've, have taught the listeners today the value of a good inspection from an independent inspector and not to just take deals from relatives because it sounds like an opportunity. The Ramsey cash giveaway is back and this year we're giving one lucky winner $10,000 in cash, plus we're giving away $500 every week. Just imagine what $10,000 of breathing room could mean for your family this Christmas. Come back and enter daily for more chances to win and there's no purchase necessary. Just go to ramsysolutions.com/giveaway. That's ramsysolutions.com/giveaway. Our scripture of the day, 1 John 3, 18, "Dear children, let us not love with words or speech, but with actions and in truth." Dale Carnegie said, "Don't be afraid of enemies who attack you. Be afraid of the friends who flatter you." That's right, Rachel. Be very afraid. That's funny. That's how they get you. Flattery. Don't be scared of the enemies. Be scared of your friends. Thanks, Dale. Emily is in Little Rock. Up next. What's going on, Emily? Hi, thanks for taking my call. Absolutely. How can we help? My question is regarding the daily micro payment trend going around on social media right now, and whether you think that is a good strategy for me on big steps or not. Wow. Okay. Lay this out for us. I think I've seen one video on this, but for everyone else who's not privy, explain the micro-payment strategy going around social media. Okay. So basically I guess whatever your side hustle is, say DoorDash, they make $43 one Thursday afternoon on DoorDash. They would go take that $43 and pay it towards their next mobile for each day instead of making I guess like a five or three or a monthly payment towards their debt. Got it. So it's sort of like forcing the discipline so the money doesn't disappear elsewhere. Yeah. Okay. What does your income look like? So we make about $16,000. My husband is 50 and I make about $10,000 P&L lessons and I've seen it home for the most part, but I do teach the analysis on the side. Okay. Cool. So 60 grand. How much debt do you guys have? We have 19,000 and two loans. That's it. Yeah. How many loans is it broken up across? Yeah. It's four. Our lowest right now is about 2,000. I think the highest probably is $6,000. Most of them are $4,000 or about $4,000 or $6,000. Oh good. Okay. And would the micro payments be coming from your P&L lessons that you're doing? So like right when you get paid or hit your Venmo, you just send it on to the to the debt. Is that what you're thinking? Yeah, that's what I was thinking. And it's weird to take anything else up or say we do DoorDash on the occasion to send it straight to the death snowball. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I love the idea because it doesn't sit in an account where something may or may not happen that you take that money and you're like, I'm going to use it for this. It just goes straight and as quickly as you can take stuff, put stuff on the principle and get it lowered. The less interest you're paying. So I mean, I like the idea of giving you like this sort of dopamine hit of paying off debt daily versus once a month. But as far as strategy goes and is it going to really help and make a huge dent, probably not, but I think it's a fun way to sort of gamify debt payoff. It's at least one of the better trends on social media. Yeah. I like it. Not that because like if someone has, if someone Venmo's me money for something, it does. That's free money. It does. It's a Rachel. It's off the grid. It does feel good though when it hits your account. So I get it where it's like, okay, I'm taking this money out of the atmosphere right out of the world. And I'm putting it to good use automatically.
it's just going. So I, yeah, I like it. I'm not against it, but it's not like a life hack either. You know, some of these are like, if you just pay your mortgage, just put an extra payment on the mortgage every month. It doesn't have to be super complex. But if it makes sense to you and how your income is currently flowing in with the side hustle money, yes, the idea that any time you get your side hustle money from the piano lessons applied to the debt, I'm great with that. Absolutely. Yeah. We're most people. It's like every, you're getting paid twice a month or something through a salary, right? I pay check and you have to wait. So do you guys do a monthly budget right now? We have one. We are definitely not following it right now. Okay. Do you use every dollar by chance? I have, I have it downloaded. I just haven't fully plugged in all the numbers. Well, this is your chance. I'm going to gift you the premium version for a whole year because you're, you guys are going to be debt free and far less than here. But it's going to be so crucial. When you list those debts out, it's going to automatically list them small to largest help you with personalized recommendations to apply even more to the debt. So that'll just add some encouragement to the journey as you guys map out the income. Because how much of his income can you guys throw at the debt every month? Not a lot. We have about 250 from who's going to the debt right now. That's pretty much the minimum and whatever I make can go to. So yours is sort of the extra payments. Yes. Okay. So you're saying your monthly expenses, basically his income just barely covers the monthly expenses plus minimum? Yeah. I mean, and honestly, if we were to go right from being sure we get for a little bit more. I think it's an idea. Yeah. Because that would get you both pretty excited to throw in money at the debt, even if it's daily or every couple of days. Yeah, keep the motivation. Exactly. I just think the more you see it, the more progress you see, the more likely you're going to stick to it, which is why I'm not, I'm usually against anything with micro because it micro feels like you're going to make micro progress. But in this regard, it's a fun way to think about your debt and apply it daily and you're logging back into those student loan and going. I'm done with you. That's kind of what I like about it. 40 bucks at a time. I'm done with you. Yeah. Well, and that to your points, that's what I love about every dollar is that it's visible to you, right? And every day, if you get in habit of tracking your transactions, you're looking at your budget, you're looking at your progress in the baby steps, your debt snowball is all in there. And when you are, when you're that focused on something and it's that reoccurring, I think it is that much more motivating. So that's why I like the idea of logging in your debt and, yeah, and just putting a little payments on it real quick or when you get the money. And so it's just constantly part of your rhythm and every decision you make with money day in and day out, you're really thinking versus like, okay, I'm going to not do a budget, not really worry about it. But I'll try to get out of debt and throw some money when I get paid on the 15th, right? Like, I mean, there's something motivating about it. So hang on the line. We're going to give to you every dollar for everyone else. You can scan the QR code on the screen or just download every dollar in the app store. Jamie's in Virginia, beach up next. Jamie, welcome to the show. Absolutely. How can we help? My husband and I have five grown kids ranging in age from 19 to 27. Our three oldest kids are all done with college. And we had some money in 529s for them, not enough to cover the entire cost of college. We cash flowed some as they went through. They got some scholarships and part-time jobs. But it sure wasn't enough to cover the entire cost. So they each graduated with about $10,000 in student loan debt and they worked hard and each of them paid off their loans themselves, each of them less than a year after they graduated. Wow. I know. My husband's dad passed away last month and he will be receiving an inheritance. So we could completely cover the cost of college for our two youngest kids. One has one and a half more years of college left and one has three and a half years left. So we're wondering if we should do that or if that would be unfair to our older kids. Wow. Well, I'm not concerned about fair. I'm more going. If we can help our kids avoid student loan debt, we're going to do it. And you guys are in a different place anywhere. There are different circumstances. So I wouldn't treat it as, well, are the other kids going to be super upset if they find out? Are they going to go, we deserve that much money too? I don't think they would say that. Yeah, but I think it's just life, Jamie, right? I'm like, it kind of is what it is, what it is. And later in life, if you feel all the, you know, if you do feel guilty, you're like, you know what, we're going to give the other two 10 grand to put towards a house or something later, you know, just to make it feel even if you wanted to do that, you could, but you don't have to. And so no, I don't think it's unfair. And I would not punish the other two of like, hey, we have all this money, but we're going to make you to Georgia's point, go into student loan debt, yeah, just to be quote unquote fair. Because what if one kid didn't go to college or went to trade school? Well, do they deserve the money from the kid who went to private school? If you cost 200 grand for them to go to private university, should they get the difference? See, at that point, yeah, it sort of becomes unsustainable to do the same thing for everyone. So I would do exactly the same thing for everyone. Yeah. And, you know, and a lot of people, Jamie, face this, that they start the baby steps and they have a child who's two and a child who's 10. And they start investing the same amount, you know, they may, you know, go up and down. But the one who's starting youngest happens to be in the birth order, you know, they're propped, they man up with more depending on the market and the returns. And so it just, it is what it is. And so I think there's, I get the level of fairness though as a mom, that makes sense to me. Well, the youngest child usually gets the better life anyways. The parents are wiser, more financially stable. Chiller. Chiller. So they kind of get their way. So it's, it's par for the course for the younger kids to have this blessing. But I mean, what a, it's, it's not a fun way to do it when you have a family member pass, but it's a cool legacy to say we're going to use this to bless our children and help them avoid student loan debt. And again, if there's more left over and you guys want to be generous and give them, give the other kids a portion, doesn't all have to be equal. But I would definitely make a plan to be generous with all the kids at that point. Thank you for the call that puts this hour of the Ramsey show in the books. Remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace. And that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. [BLANK_AUDIO]
Podcast Summary
Key Points:
A family is concerned about an 82-year-old mother-in-law giving away her entire fortune rapidly, leading to financial ruin and family conflict.
The family struggles to set boundaries, as the mother-in-law is defensive and deeply rooted in her values of generosity and faith.
A clear, formal plan is needed where siblings agree on financial limits and establish boundaries to prevent further depletion of funds.
A will should be created to prevent family conflict and ensure financial assets are distributed according to intent, not guesswork.
Debt collectors illegally contacting relatives are a serious issue, and legal action or reporting is advised under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
A young man with student loans is being harassed by a collection agency despite being current, and legal steps must be taken to stop the harassment.
A car purchase should be evaluated carefully, with funds drawn from liquid assets like brokerage accounts, not emergency savings.
A marriage is in crisis due to financial imbalance, with one partner ignoring household responsibilities and placing personal spending above family needs.
Summary:
The episode highlights multiple financial and family issues faced by listeners. One family confronts the rapid financial depletion of a mother-in-law, who gives generously but lacks financial discipline, leading to family stress and potential long-term care crises. The hosts emphasize the need for clear, formal financial boundaries and a will to prevent chaos.
Another listener faces harassment from a debt collection agency, which illegally contacts family members—violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act—and is advised to report it legally. A third listener weighs buying a car with limited savings, recommending liquidating brokerage assets instead of draining emergency funds. Another case reveals a toxic marriage where one partner refuses to contribute financially despite being in a household with children, indicating a deeper emotional and financial imbalance.
The hosts stress that money issues often signal larger relationship or emotional problems. Finally, listeners are encouraged to proactively set financial boundaries, create wills, and seek legal help when facing debt or family crises. The overarching message is that financial decisions must be made with clear, transparent, and protective strategies to ensure long-term stability and peace.
FAQs
Set clear boundaries and communicate a financial plan to prevent further depletion. It's important to establish a shared understanding of expenses and long-term needs, and to avoid enabling behavior by limiting financial support.
Yes, especially if there's no oversight or transparency. Be cautious and research organizations before giving. Look for financial accountability and ask how donations are used to ensure your money is being managed responsibly.
Establish financial boundaries, such as limiting access to shared accounts or setting a maximum monthly support amount. Discuss financial responsibilities openly and consider seeking professional advice or counseling if abuse is suspected.
Use a strategic plan that includes reducing other investments, like 401k contributions, and liquidating only necessary assets. Ensure the purchase is financially sound and that emergency funds are preserved for true emergencies.
Focus on creating a shared financial plan and setting clear expectations. If the spouse refuses to participate, consider seeking professional counseling or therapy to address emotional and financial dynamics in the relationship.
A will ensures your assets go to the people you choose, avoids family conflict, and provides legal clarity. Even if you're not wealthy, having a will prevents uncertainty and protects your loved ones during difficult times.
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