Don’t Let Shame Keep You Stuck

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, Rachel Cruz. We are taking your calls at AAA 825-225 if you want to join the conversation. Ian is in Cleveland, up first with going on, Ian. Hey guys, thanks so much for talking my call. Sure. How can we help? Sir, yes, so my fiance and I are in a pretty substantial amount of student loan debt. We have about $65,000 of debt combined and we're graduating soon. I'll be graduating in December and she'll be graduating the following semester. My question is that once we get married, we're also getting married in the following summer. Once we get married and our finances are combined, is it okay to donate our time as a form of tithing instead of cash so that we can put more of that money towards our debt and clear it's here? Wow, you're putting a lot of power in our hands. We get to decide what's okay. Yeah, yeah. I mean, the giving generosity topic is one that we encourage. I don't think we demand anyone, you know, do write, I think it, but it is something that we teach and we talk about and we do hold very high up, you know, even on our budgeting app every dollar. The very first line item is giving. So I would say for you guys, I mean, I would personally continue to be givers because as you live life with an open hands and that becomes a part of your character through even the sacrificial process of getting out of debt, continues to change and continues to be a habit and who you become over time, which I think is really important. I think one lie with giving people really fallen to is if I just had more money, I would give. And the truth is it's more of a heart issue usually than a bank account issue, right? So I would say I would continue to give if I were you. It's not going to be the end of the world either way, but you definitely can't say that you're tithing time because the word tithe literally means mathematically 10% of income is like, so you can be giving away your time, but you can't interchange those words if we're going to be like grammatically or vocabulary correct. Correct. So I mean, as far as if you're a believer, a person of faith and you believe in the tithe, it is the first fruits, the first fruits of all your crops. And I love this first from Proverbs, honor the Lord with your wealth with the first fruits of all your crops. Crops to me is a very tangible thing. That's basically currency back in the Bible day. So I'm going to see that as I'm going to be a person of faith, I'm going to be obedient, I'm going to tithe. And hopefully I don't believe in a prosperity gospel, but there's something on the other side of obedience, which is blessing. And I don't think it's going to slow down your journey financially as much as it will create a habit in your life of generosity so that when you have a lot, you're going to remember these days when it was really hard to give. And so I would make it a challenge for you to do it for a month and see, see how it feels, see what happens with your finances, see if you don't find other ways to cut expenses and increase your income. That wouldn't be the first place I go to cut, even though I totally get it mathematically, you would be out of debt faster if you didn't give a dime. We can all agree on that. How does that hit you, Ian? I feel like we got nowhere. No, no, I appreciate you guys input and I think very much. Yes. Absolutely. Thanks, Ian. And I will say to one posture, I do not like around spirituality in general, but specifically with this topic, with our money, is any type of legalism. Like I don't like this idea of, I have to do this right or wrong, black or white. You know what I mean? Like it is, it is such a posture of your heart. But when you look, if you are a person of faith to say, okay, there's wisdom in what scripture talks about, and the tithe is mentioned a lot in scripture, and I think there's a reason for that. I think God knew that money was going to be a thing for us. And so there's a lot of warnings about it. There's a lot of instruction around it. And over and over and over and over again, you see the generous person, the humble person, the one that lives, not for themselves, but for others with an open hand, are the ones that for the most part, I think do receive, receive a level of blessing or Jesus tends to yield to those people versus those that don't, but then you don't want to be paracetical because we don't have to Bible us. But there's also a paracetical, but there is, but there's also like, oh, this Pharisee tithes and was like, look, this man, this man with nothing did tithe nothing, but then this man was like, Jesus, please take my, like, yeah, there's a posture of your heart. It's all intertwined. It's a heart plus the action that flows in the heart. The action I think is important. I do think that what you do with your money is a representation of what you believe. And so living that out, I see is very important. I'll leave you with this, and I'm, again, I'm not a theologian, but I just like some of these issues. You kind of look like a youth pastor, George. A little bit. I don't think that's a good thing. I'm not sure that's a compliment. Yeah. All right, youth pastor, George, here. I'm going to hit you with Malachi 3.10 and it bring the whole tithe into the storehouse. That, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this as the Lord Almighty and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. That's a, that's a threat right there. There you go. It's a test me, bro. See if I. And I don't know. Blessing is necessary in material possessions, either, right? Exactly. It could be, there's a lot of things that happen. It's a big posture. I think I really do believe in that yielding of the spirit. That was beautifully said. I'm going to use parasitical and more conversations to sound smart. Thank you for that, Rachel. You're welcome. Don't be a Pharisee, George. I try not to. Live with a lot of grace. All right. Donnie's in Paduca, Kentucky. Donnie, get us off of our soap box. What's going on? Wonderful. Yeah. Thank you for taking my call. I've got a half million dollars in a growth stock mutual fund. It was a, it's right. I already. Cool. My, my company or not my company, but my, the financial group that takes care of my, my mutual fund called me up the other day and said they had a great program that they, they, they would, they would ask me if I would be curious and move in like $150,000 over into a fixed 5.7% rate of return for the life of the fund, you know, for however long I keep it in there. Okay. Because my, in my, my question is right now, my, my mutual fund as it says is making way, way more of that. In fact, past two or three years has been in, oh, the market's been on just a tear. I mean, we're up 13% year to date this year. So, um, you're wanting to move it out of what volatility, fear, what's driving this? No, it's, he just called me because they've always had this program, but it usually runs in the mid-toes to upper 3% and for the first time in the company's history, they're offering 5.7. And it's guaranteed for a life guarantee, yeah, I don't know what kind of product this is. We'll never go down. Sure. Feels like an annuity or something. I mean, I know it's not, but I always need a reason to do something. So unless you have a good reason of why you need that money to stay liquid and stay growing at that exact rate, I wouldn't because we know over time, you're going to do better. And that gross stock mutual fund should do double and so we only have one good reason why it sounds good to me and if the midterms go south, then the political winds will take away this huge growth that I've been experiencing the last couple of years. I'm not a betting man, Donnie, but I'm betting the markets, whatever they do in the midterms, they will recover and then we'll be back at record highs and you're going to call us and should I move my money from a 5.7 fixed account over to mutual funds and I'll say, yeah, yeah, should have done that. But it's a great question and that's a pretty incredible return. If you're a business owner, time is money and nothing drains both faster than a hiring process that doesn't work. You need qualified candidates who actually want your job, but sorting through applications can cost you dozens of hours you don't have. And that's where Zip Recruiter comes in. Zip Recruiter automatically puts the most qualified, most interested candidates at the top of your list. Their new feature lets candidates tell you in their own words why they want your role. So instead of guessing who's genuinely excited, you know. You get to skip the sorting and go straight to the people worth talking to. At Ramsey Solutions, we can get behind that. We only hire people who believe in our mission because a paycheck gets someone in the door, but belief is what keeps them there. Zip Recruiter helps you find those people faster and that's why I recommend it. And listen to this, 4 out of 5 employers who post on Zip Recruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. So try Zip Recruiter for free at ziprecruiter.com/ramsey. That ziprecruiter.com/ramsey. Meet your match on Zip Recruiter. (upbeat music) Spencer is in Syracuse, New York, up next. Spencer, welcome to the show. - Hi, thanks so much for having me on. - Absolutely, how can Rachel and I help? - I have a quick question for you. My sister-in-law came into quite a large funnel money and very graciously, she has offered to pay off my wife's student loans. She owes roughly around $73,000 and the- - That's amazing. - It is a wonderful gift and so my underlying, I guess question is my wife's as well, is we're trying to figure out if she's eligible for public student loan forgiveness and her loans are, it's a bachelor's and a master's and it goes from, you know, I think she's 18, so roughly right around, you know, six years of schooling and they all mature at different ages. So after 10 years, they would naturally drop off for the forgiveness with the way that the student loan department has been gutted and it's very volatile. We don't know if we should just pay them off writ large with this sum of cash or if we should wait it out and see if they're forgiven. My sister-in-law is willing to just give us the cash and let it sit in a CD to wait and see, but we're really unsure of what to do. - And we're talking years from now. - So some of these loans are going to mature in two years and be eligible to drop off, but there are a couple like her masters, which are probably four, maybe five years behind, so there's still a repayment schedule to be made between now and then. What's the, what would be the price of the loans in two years? And has she applied for this program? Because sometimes it's great. I mean, we've heard, we have heard more and more. I feel like success stories in that vein. Not a ton, but there's still so much volatility too, right? So I'm saying this with like caution and curiosity of how much of the 73 would be forgiven in two years. - I want to say roughly 25,000 would be my guess. I think that's the rough number we had. - Okay. So. - It's about a third of it. - So a, and so you have option A, just pay everything off immediately, which is what I would do. Spenser just to jump the gun here personally. - I'm taking the known, which is sister-in-law has $73,000 and can give it to us today versus what might happen two and four and six years from now. That's a lot of just anxiety in the meantime. You just hold for no reason. Yeah, that's option A, option B would be, you keep 50,000, throw the, or I guess know it would be 25, you throw 25 at the, or keep 25. - Keep 25. - I think 25 could be forgiven. - Yes. - So pay off the other 50 today. - Pay off the 50, put 25 in a city and wait two years and see if they are forgiven if they're not. You pay it off and two years. - It's interest to still accruing, right? So the balance is growing. Are you still making minimum payments? - Yes, so the average, these students were acquired, you know, over a well over a decade ago. So the interest rates are modest compared to today's, you know, roughly four or five percent. But yeah, they're still accruing interest. - In fact, minimum payment, you're still having to pay for years, plus the interest, I'm gonna just pay him off. - Yeah, I was gonna say, you pay it off, option B, which I wouldn't do, as you pay some not, or option C would be, you just let 73 sit and you just wait for all of it, which I wouldn't do that either. So yeah, I'm going option A, Spencer. - And then never think about it again, is would they have been forgiven if we had just waited six years? - Yeah, I wouldn't even worry. It's in the review mirror at that point. Go live your lives. - Eligible is just not that strong of a word. I mean, I'm eligible to run for president of the United States just to be clear. So. - George, I'd vote for you. - I would. - You really shouldn't. - I don't know. - I'm terrible with that. - I could be your running mate. - Okay. - Rachel just volunteers. (laughing) - I just want to know, how do you like hit the jackpot with sister-in-law? - No, no, the sister-in-law just came into money. What can I ask that question? I'm just curious how she got it. - Oh, that's something I can't just go, 'cause there's an NBA, there's an NBA involved. - Oh, okay. - There, no, that's fair. - But this is a small portion of whatever she got, I'm assuming. - Correct. - Yeah. - Okay. - Yeah, but very small portion of the whole thing. - I'm just thinking, that was my brother. I would hope my brother would just take it and knock out the loans and he can live dead free. - Yeah, that's amazing. - Yes. - And I think that's what her heart is to ask the giver. She's like, "Here's $73,000 to pay off your loans." And Spencer, which, no, slide on you, but then you guys were like, "I wonder when the mature pay off debt." - Should we be arbitraged? - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So no, pay it off Spencer. - Congratulations. - Is that all of your debt? - That's all of our debt. - Wow. - We've completed paying off everything else and we're 35 and 37 respectively. 'Cause we've been working hard at the last couple of years to get debt- - How good would that feel though? - What a gift. - Oh, how much you guys make income-wise? - I make 85, my wife makes 65. - Good for you guys, that's awesome. Well, what a gift, that's amazing. - Congratulations on debt freedom, my friend. - The generosity portion. - Free empty debt freedom. That's pretty cool. - Basically. - I need better, I'm realizing I need better in-laws is what I'm realizing. I need some of that, that's fantastic. - Whitney's family is like. - No, my sister-in-law's wonderful. All right, Jessica is in Louisville, Kentucky up next. What's going on Jessica? - Not handing out money. - Hello, so my question is, so we have no debt, but we're a military family. So we don't have a mortgage. We live in housing, we always have. So how do we go about the mortgage payment part or planning for a house when realistically, we won't pay for housing for a good six-ish years if my husband retires at 20 years. - Oh, I was like, retires at 20 years old? Okay. - No, no, no, no. I mean like 20 years in service. Sorry. - Yes. - But six years from now, you might buy house. - Yeah. - And you probably will buy house in six years, you know? And with the market being as high as it is, I'd say start saving now. I would just be putting some money away. - How much could you- - Every month. - So that's my other question. So by putting money away, are we talking like savings account? Are we talking investing? Because then that taxes on all of that. I'm not very good with the whole investing thing. - Well, you're talking about, is it for sure six years or could it be three years from now or four years from now? - It will be a minimum of one year retired six years. - Okay. - Like could it be longer than six years? Absolutely. If you like six. - Okay, but minimum of six. - Okay. - Great. In that case, I would recommend investing it because you have a time horizon of five or more years. And so over time, the market will sort of smooth out there's a much higher chance. It's gonna be up into the right. If you look at a 10 or 20 year horizon or even a six year horizon versus one to three. And so I'd be comfortable investing that in just a taxable brokerage account. So that'll keep it flexible. Yes, you'll owe capital gains tax on the growth. But that might be zero to 15% depending on how much you're taking out and what your household income is for that year. So I'll take the market growth and pay 15% on the growth versus letting it sit in a savings account. - Okay, that makes sense. - It'll still be better off. And if you do that for six years, how much could you guys save up? - Realistically, we live comfortably. And probably we've opened up our budget since we've paid off all of our debt. And we still live on maybe two thirds. - So how much could you put away per month, let's say, towards this house goal? - Hold on, per month. At least 1,500. - Fantastic, okay, so 1,500. - And that's not tightening anything up. And we also invest, you know, like in retirement and all that. And we have kids college on taking care of. So the beyond capital for you guys. - Yeah. - So I'm using our investment calculator. - We have a lot of money on it. Yeah, our kids are little. We're just putting away every month. - Yeah. So I'm using our investment calculator. You can jump on YouTube and Spotify and watch this. And I typed in 1,500 bucks a month starting from nothing, six years to grow. I had a 10% average rate of return. You would have $147,000 as a down payment by then. Not too shabby. - No, you're right. - And if you upped it, let's say you could do 2,000. You said you could tighten some things up. 2,000 bucks over those six years. You have almost 200 grand. That's a pretty incredible down payment. - Yeah. - So if you don't like that number, you can keep waiting. You can invest even more. - But that's what my plan would be. Knowing housing is covered for the next six years, I'm gonna be making a plan instead of going, well, we should probably start saving for a house now. - Well, that's what I've used to that a lot with military families and families like in ministry where the church pays for the house, right? And then they're done with the job. And they're like, oh my gosh, I guess we rent and save up a down payment for the next four years, right? Of our lives versus doing it ahead of time. So it's good for thought, Jessica. And six years is a great runway. So yeah, nothing to stress about by any means, but it is fun to see your money grow for something great like a house. (upbeat music) - If you're looking for extra cash [BLANK_AUDIO] 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. 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You can get it on pre-order right now for $24.99 and you can lock in a bunch of free bonus items along with it, including the enhanced audio book, the e-book delivered two weeks early, and instant access to his video Dr. John DeLone on Connected Communication. Go check it out. RamseySolutions.com/store. If you're on YouTube or podcast, click the link in the description. Gretchen is in Miami up next. Gretchen, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, thank you guys so much for having me. I love you too. Thank you. So my question is that just a little front story, about 10 years ago, when I started the Ramsey program, paid off his student loan, paid off both our cars, everything went well, and what she lost is jobs, so we kind of lost sight track of it a little bit. And about a year ago, I got sick again being tired, you know, so we started the Ramsey program again, and we paid off, actually, I had four jobs, he had two jobs, and we paid off probably $40,000, the roof, the AC. And yeah, so that was amazing, and you know, it's a bit of a sweet phone call because I thought we are heading into, you know, an emergency fund to build that one, and I opened, we opened the the fair wind, you know, saving for counting all that. And then that day, I built a check to pay of our last debt. I found out that my husband behind my back opened credit cards and gambled money away on sports betting quite a bit. So there's a history of it. So I just, I was done, so I filed for divorce. But my question is now, the house, I would love to keep the house, we owe $290 on it, we just got a praise, we're done for $674,000. So obviously, if I refinance, I couldn't afford it, I'd pay him out. So my boss and his wife, who are really good friends of mine, I known for a long time, I've been working for them for 15 years. And they saw a daughter grow up and they really want me to keep the house. He offered that he's paying half of my mortgage and give my husband the buyout. I think it's about he's asking of $175,000. But in return, whenever I'm ready to sell the house, they would get half of what the selling, what I would bring in from the selling. And I would just want to know that hold up. So they're saying that they'll give you $175,000, but they could get $400,000 back for the house sells for $800,000. Yes, I would keep $400,000 and then they would get $400,000 and they would pay actually $325,000 right now. Because they would pay half of my mortgage right now, $150,000, and then give my husband $175,000 his part of the house. Oh boy, this doesn't, it feels less like generosity in more like a business scheme. Yeah, I was, I thought you were just going to say they're willing to loan me the money and I can pay it back when the house sells and just pay them their amount back maybe plus some interest. But this feels different. Well, I was doing a little bit the math. Let's say, you know, the growth of the house in like five years or 10 years minus inflation of the money he gives me because he's not charging really, you know, and the interest right now. I don't know if it makes sense. Yes, down the road. No, it doesn't. And it ties you, Gretchen, to people that right now, yes, are great friends. Do I pray they're still great friends in eight years? Yes. I pray they are. But also, you're tying yourself to a situation that could go, that could go sideways real fast and then you're up a creek. And if they turn on you, they could demand whatever they want out of a deal. And if you sign something with them, they could take, I mean, like, it, it, what I, what I feel, Gretchen, if I were to just be honest with you, is you're going through a really, really difficult time. Number one, you've been lied to from your, your former husband, but at a point in time, we're married. You found so much more debt than you even knew about because he lied about it. You got divorced, which in about itself is like a death. That's exhausting and it's horrible. It's horrible. And so sometimes, after so many of these kind of events emotionally, you, you, you try to hold on to any part of the life that you had. And out of that desperation, make some really bad decisions. And Gretchen, I would say, this is going to be a bad decision for you. I don't think you can afford this house. And I'm so sorry. And I think that's one of the hardest things in divorces, especially if you guys have kids. Yeah. Yeah. And they're wanting to keep the kids with, with normalcy, but I've heard Dr. John's Loney talk, say this on the show. It's, it's not the life they've already lost. They've already lost. It's done. Yeah. The life that they knew that you knew is over. And so you have to start a fresh life again. And do one on the back of you, Gretchen, that you are figuring this out. And when you try to keep something like a house that you can't afford, especially with these contingencies and it's tied to friends and all of it, it gets, it gets messy really fast. And I'm so sorry. I just don't think in good faith. I could sit here and say that that not only is a good deal, but I think from a mathematical standpoint, I think you'd be better off for you guys to sell, take the equity and start somewhere new. Yeah. I was afraid, you would say that I was just thinking, you know, maybe keep it until my oldest one goes to college in four years, you know. And because at least, you know, I mean, yes, could I rent right now for a year or two? But if I keep the house, then at least I would grow a little bit of equity, hopefully, for the next couple of years. Well, if you sold today, you said it's worth $6.74, you owe $2.90, you'll owe the X 175. Is that all right? Yeah, I think it's $6.94, what it's worth, about he's asking for $1.75 because, you know, we, yeah. So that would net you $2.29 minus fees and closing costs. So you'd probably walk away with about $200 grand that you could use as a downpayment on our new house, or you can leave that in savings rent for a year, get your bearings and make this decision from a place of strength. But right now, you're making decisions from a place of fear and grief and weakness. And that's not what you want to do. You're going to regret that long term, even if this employer stays a great friend and employer. But what if you get a new opportunity, a new job and you're like, I can't leave because I owe them all this money and they want me to stay. And it's just going to, I believe seen too many situations where things look good on paper and sounded good and it didn't work out. And my thing too is I, I don't really like him because I feel like he's taking advantage of you a little bit. I mean, the idea at the end of the day that when you sell this house, it's like, it's kind of grossed to me. And I, and I wouldn't like the idea of borrowing money in general. Like I'm not a fan of that. But even like what Georgia's saying, even if it was just, hey, instead of going to a mortgage company, you can go to us and pay, like, yeah, we're just, we're kind of interest rate on that could be like 15% when you factor in how much they got versus how much they blended. It feels, feels odd. I don't know. I don't like it. So if you can afford the mortgage on your own through like a cash out refi, then that's just the math telling you this is an unaffordable house on your own with one income. Yeah. And that doesn't mean you'll never have a house like that again. and it just means right now our situation's changed and i think you can find a great house with $200,000 down, right? I hope so. Yeah, the areas of the rough where I'm in like, it's really expensive. It's more like a Christian area. But yes, what's your income? I've been my income is 85 plus I have to add a job. So I mean, bring home a month is probably 65. Would you be able to stay in that? I think that 65, 65, 65, 500 a month. Okay. We hold it. Okay. Oh, Gretchen. I'm sorry. Oh, that is so, it's so difficult. Just walking through that in life in general and then having to kind of like you're uprooting and changing. But I think you're just in the midst of change. And I think the wise decision is to find something that you can afford. If you've been sitting on a great business or product idea, but not sure how to actually make it happen, I've got two words. Do it. You can be up and running by Black Friday and Shopify can help you get there. With they're ready to go templates, you can build your website quickly and easily. And their mobile app lets you run your business from anywhere. Track your inventory, handle payments and provide customer support all from a coffee shop or a card table in your living room. Starting a business is hard. I know that firsthand. But Shopify can make it easier and with the holidays around the corner of the time to serve your future customers and hear your first sale is now. Just go to Shopify.com/ramsy. If you get started now, you could be launching your business before Black Friday. Go to Shopify.com/ramsy to start your free trial today. That's Shopify.com/ramsy. Tony is in Jacksonville, Florida up next. Tony, welcome to the show. Hey guys, how are you doing? We're doing great. How are you? Doing well. So me and my wife, we're having a pretty big disagreement and I need some advice from y'all. Okay, do you think you're right? Yeah. That's where you went wrong, my friends. Later on. What's going on? So for some context, my wife and her did quite a bit of property and when her mom passed away three and a half years ago and her a strange sister wasn't too happy about it, filed lawsuit on us and we just recently back in June settled out. So we owe a settlement to her sister. We've got attorney fees plus we got some consumer debt that we want to get take care of but we've always been we've been talking about selling the property and just paying off settlement that way. So we got offered through as a land acquisition company a really good price per acre for an 80 acre parcel that we own. I've spent the last month negotiating this deal, revising the contract, everything like that. Well, when me and my wife were talking about it this past weekend, she has decided that she wants to split the land herself and sell it piece by piece that way. And I don't believe we've got the money for all of that development. When we've also got this offer on the table here that we don't have to do anything. Is the total property 80 acres or is there more? So we've got two parcels, we've got an 80 acre parcel and then we've got a 64 acre parcel which we live on. Okay. And what would you net for the 80 acre parcel? The land acquisition company as part of the negotiations, they're paying all closing costs that we would, I mean aside from capital gains tax, I'm assuming, you know, $800,000 minus whatever capital gains would be. And how much do you owe? Just in consumer debt? Everything because you owe the settlement and all this stuff too. Just add it all up. What would get you guys freeing clear? Yeah, it's about 100 grand total. How much do you guys make a year? I make about $7,500 a month. My wife stays home at homeschool of our kids. Okay. So what is she wanting to just do it over time? That would be a lot more work on you guys, but you could just sell pieces of it to clear the deal. I was like, why don't you just sell $100,000 worth? Pay off the debt and you guys keep this property. Yeah, and that's what my wife is wanting to do, but you know, I mean, we've got to survey it. There's county applications and all of that cost money that we really don't have. For $700,000, Tony, I don't know. Yeah, I mean, I'd like to go up unless I just aren't going to use the land at all. And you're like, we're never going to use this. We don't we don't use it. It's actually just leased to a farmer that basically just pays. Okay. What would you'll do with the $700,000? Well, I told me and my wife been talking about I told her what we'd be doing is taking that into like a 12 month CD just as a cool down period until we figured out, you know, what we needed to do with this. You don't have a mortgage? No. Wow. So everything's paid for, but this 100 grand in debt that you owe tied to this settlement. Yeah, it's worth a $40,000 settlement, then 22,000 in attorney fees, and then we've got about 30, 35,000 and just consumer debt. But no mortgage. No mortgage. Do you see this land going up in value over time? Like, do you think it'd be worth anything, you know, much more in the next three to four or five years? I'm just curious. Or do you think it's it's not in like a very, you know, desirable area? I don't know. I'm just trying to get a feel for what this is because it's just a great asset that a part of me hates for you to walk away from. It's like a fixing a $100,000 problem with $800,000. It's a sledgehammer. Yeah. That's exact. Yeah. It feels like a little extreme, but if you guys had a reason to, or if you're like, no, the land is not, it's going to probably be close to the same amount. You have no aspirations to do anything with this land. Eventually, someone's going to sell it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we've got, I mean, it's just sitting there, you know, it gets, you know, formed. Yeah. Because I mean, if you just took that 700 grand and invested it, that's some truly passive income over managing the land and paying taxes or leasing it out or whatever you want, and much more than what it would probably go up and value. Yeah. Yeah. So either way, you can do some good things with this. Yeah. But I don't know if it's a right or wrong. It's more of a timing thing. You don't want to do the work to try to parcel it off over time. She's wanting that. You wanted to sell it all at once. We don't know what the future holds. Why does she want to parcel it out? I'm just curious. So we're both prayerful people. She believes that God has told her to do this. Told her to keep it. And I have prayed. God told you something else. So I told her to do it to do it ourselves. And I have been praying and I have not heard that. That's a tough one. That is God gets blamed for the ultimate Trump car a lot of times. The girl from summer camp said, God, God told her she needed to dump me. Oh, yeah. It's that whole thing. It's that. Never happened to me personally. Well, I mean, yeah, I don't know. I can't discern that if that's true or not. I mean, Proverbs talks about, you know, women women are very wise. More discerning. No, I just think that there's a nudge. Sometimes women have them and don't always a listening to your wife. I think is not that you have to like go with that decision. But at least having the conversations where you're curious about her side. She's, you know, do you mean that they're actually the homework to see what it would take to sell off, you know, enough acreage to cover the hundred grand. Yeah. So we would only have to sell like one parcel. We could probably get 12, 5 to 15,000 in acre if we'd parceled it out ourselves when we've got a land acquisition company that they're offering 10,000 in acre and we don't have to do it. Sure. They're they're getting a discount because you're not having to do any work. I'm just wondering if you just did a little bit of work split the difference here and went, all right, I can get a few permits and whatever it takes. You know all the ins and outs of how to do this. I would maybe just see how much time that would take and how much money that would take because it might be a nothing burger where you go. Okay, it's going to be 10 hours of work and cost us a couple grand. We can do that. We can fit that in the budget. - Okay. - And then hopefully the land deal still exists a couple months from now, right? Is there a timeline on that? - Well, I talked to the acquisition company this week and basically told them like my life was to pull out. They've basically given us like a two week timeline just for her to think about it and consider more whatever stuff like that. - Perfect, that's enough time for you to do some homework. - Yeah, and I wouldn't. I don't think I would do this big of a deal with you and your wife on such separate pages. Regardless of, 'cause there's not really a right or wrong here, from a marital aspect, I don't think that's wise. If you guys are not on the same, was something this big? - Yeah. - When we were talking 800,000 dollars here, you don't even mean like this is not just, oh, I'm going to go buy a new truck. Like this is a big deal and you both need to be, you both need to feel really good about it and have a lot of peace going forward and that's just not happening right now, Tony. So from the relational side, I would, I would pause because I do think that you could partial out and pay off the debt, which is great, which is an easy button for you, all right? Like you get it done with the debt, which is amazing. But then over time, there's no rush to sell this property. - And you guys have 144 acres total. - Yeah. - So at some point, it's like, do we really need all of this? - Yeah, yeah. And I think eventually you guys end up selling it, but you do it when you guys both feel good about it. I just don't think, yeah. - I just like compromising to where nobody's happy. That's usually how it works in my marriage, where we both leave a little bit outside. - Everybody's just miserable. - You don't want to leave going, well, he won. That's not going to go well. That's just my house. That's my rules. But I wish you the best in this endeavor and I hope you guys knock out that 100 grand. Either way, you're doing pretty good. All things considered. - Amen. - When was the last time you felt confident walking into an auto repair shop? I mean, in the first place, you're stressed because your car is acting jankety. And then you hand over your keys and hope you can trust the person who's fixing it. You deserve to feel confident that your car is going to get fixed right. And at a fair price, that's why I'm a big fan of Christian brothers automotive. You never have to wonder if the repairs are legit. With their digital vehicle inspection, you see exactly what their technicians see. So you get the honest info you need to make smart decisions. And every repair they make is backed by their nice difference warranty. That's three years or 36,000 miles, whichever benefits you most. I take my card of Christian brothers because I don't feel stressed. I feel taken care of. And that gives me a lot of confidence when I get back on the road. So schedule your service today and get 10% off your visit at cbac.com/ramz or click the link in the description that cbac.com/ramz. - 10% off, up to $250 value. See store for details. (upbeat music) - Welcome back to the Ramz Show in the Fairwinds Credit Union studio. I'm George Campbell here with Rachel Cruz, taking your calls at AAA8255225. Jade is in Buffalo, New York, up next. Jade, what's going on? - Hi, thanks for taking my call. I have about $60,000 in a credit card and personal loan debt and a mortgage and monthly car payment, three young kids. And my margin is very limited and that's without paying the credit card monthly minimums. - Wow, how much do you guys make? - So I bring home $7,800 a month. - Great, is it just you? - We, my husband, he's on disability so he gets disability and contributes 1,000 a month from disability. - How much, 1,000 is that what you said? - Yeah. - When you say contributes, is there more money but it's not going to the household expenses? - Yeah, it's going to his debt and expenses. - Oh, you guys have separate finances? - Yeah, yeah. - Okay, so he's basically like Venn mowing you for some household bills but he's on his own plan and you're doing your plan. - Yes. - Okay, how much debt does he have out of curiosity? - He's got maybe 20,000 I think and then he's also working through, we have like some back taxes. - How much is in that, do you know? - In his 13 I think. - Okay. - And how much does he bring in total per month? - 3500. - 3500, okay. And doing this separately, is this just how you guys have always done it? Was there a reason why you chose to do it this way? What happened? - It's just how we've always done it. We lived separately for a while and there's been some health issues and it's just how we've done it. - Okay, how long have you all been married? Oh, it's 10 years. - Okay, great. 'Cause honestly Jade, it can be very difficult to work a plan when it comes to finances and overall household when not everybody is in agreement, right? But it sounds like you guys are both kind of working to get out there. It almost sounds like you guys have kind of the same path. And I wonder if putting all of this together actually puts some forward motion and you guys actually do this faster together. Do you think? - Possibly. - Yeah, yeah. 'Cause we just find over and over again that couples that tend to work together not only get out of debt, I think at a faster rate, but there are overall net worth grows at a faster rates. And when we did our study of millionaires, over 10,000 millionaires, one of the largest contributing factors is that their spouses, they saw each other as one in a household when it comes to money. And there is a study, or we're gonna talk about this week in our Money and Marriage Conference, but the study of that actual relational health and well-being of the marriage and general actually increases when accounts are shared and when money is seen as one. So I'm just saying that all to say that it actually is gonna do so much more than just the money side, but I wonder from the relational side too, how unifying it is if you guys did combine everything and tackle this together, so you're not doing it on your own. - Yeah, I actually didn't think about that from like a unity standpoint. That might, yeah. Are they, are they your kids or his kids? - There are kids. - But it's not our money. - Right. - Okay, just wanna make that clear. I was painting a picture for you. - You're just being snarky. - I'm being facetious. - You're little facetious, yes. - Okay, so here's what I'm getting at though. He's got 2,500 bucks that we don't even, where is that going? 'Cause you're saying I have no margin at the end of the month to knock out my debt. He's over here flush with cash, apparently. So how does that work? - Well, yeah, his is going towards his paying off debt that he accumulated and our back taxes. - So he's got 2,500 bucks a month to apply to $33,000. But you have almost nothing a month to throw at your $60,000. Do you see how unbalanced it is? - Yeah. - So he's gonna beat you, even though he's got half the debt. And so that's where I'm trying to say, "Man, if we just combine this, we could be debt free. You guys make $11,300 a month take home. With then, you combine all the debts, you've got $93,000 to pay off total. What's on the car loan? How much less? - 18. - And what's the car worth? - I don't know, I bought it new. I don't know what it's worth today. - Okay, I'm just wondering if you can get a cheaper car and want to do that, that'll shorten your time horizon. I'm just looking for any ways to speed this process up. 'Cause out of your $7,800, you're telling me that after minimum payments and all of your household bills, there's not much left over. - That's without minimum payments. - How is that possible? How are your bills $7,000 a month? - Yeah, child care is $3,000 a month for the summer and now it's $1,600 a month with mortgage plus all the other $9,000. - Okay, how much is your mortgage? - $2,300. - Okay, that's reasonable for your income. I'm still trying to count where all the $7,800, and it really $8,800's going 'cause he's contributing 1,000 to the household bills. So have you done an actual budget in every dollar where you lay everything out? If here's all of my expenses for this month, here's all of my income for this month to really see what could be? - I haven't done it in every dollar, I've done it in an Excel. - Okay, what does Excel tell you? Is there money left over? - There's no money left over. There's, well, there would be, if, so $7,900 of fixed expenses, and then I have about 1900 a month for credit for payment. - Wow. - $7,900 in fixed expenses. That's where I'm going. If we looked at those expenses and I said, "Jade, you have to cut $3,000 somehow." What would you go do? What changes would you make? I did see a picture. trying to do that since I started listening about a month ago. And so far, I've gotten through decreasing picking out the streaming and cutting my car insurance in half. Which are food budget every month? Food budget is, well, I have it at 1,500. I think my goal is 1,200. Yeah, but are you investing it all right now? I moved it from 6% to 1% since I started listening. OK. So we'll get 1% back if we bring it to 0. So there's something. I think it might be death by 1,000 cuts for you to look in this budget and find 50 bucks here, 100 bucks there. Based on what you're telling me, there's nothing glaring. That's like a $3,000 payment. But I think you're not going to make much progress unless you guys combine your finances. OK. You think that's the first step versus getting a second job? I would do both, because I think once you look at the numbers, now you'll have a good picture of, OK, if we combine our finances and I get a second job, we can be done in 18 months. Yeah, because if you look at your budget overall, and this probably may not be possible right now, but with a second job, Jade, if you guys just combine everything and say, OK, out of the 11,000 we're bringing in, we're going to live on six. We're going to figure out how to make that work. And then we're going to throw $5,000 to dedicate that to debt. And you guys could be debt free in what? 18 months doing that? I was just making a number up. No, it is 18 months. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ding, ding, ding. Look at that. 18, 19 months. Perfect. Pretty good. Which is amazing. Instead of seven years if you try to do this on your own. And if I'm married, I don't want to see my wife suffer when I can jump in and help. I want you guys to lock arms, Jade. And the money is the problem up there against you two. You two are locking arms and fighting the world together and seeing yourselves as a household. When the income hits the account that we share, that's how we run our household. When you start to do that, there's a lot of unity there. (upbeat music) It's almost annual enrollment time. And you wish you could save money on health care costs. But every year it's the same story. Premiums go up again and yet you can't even control your choice of doctors. CHM is not insurance. 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My question is that I was making about 14, 15K a month in my job till they converted our system to AI. And the past three months the system is not really working with a lot of bugs in AI. And the question is if I stick around in this company or I just look for a different job. - What do you sell? - It should be a sale. I sell canopies. - Okay, and what is your income gone down to per month? - It's gone down the last three months. I'm not moving your sale because I can't push out a quote. - But have you made zero dollars? - I have made zero dollars, I mean-- - All because of AI, 'cause AI messed up your program. - Yeah, my board decided to put in an AI system which does not-- - But how do you sell? Do you call people, do you talk to people? How does this work? - I call, I talk, I get the people to give me whatever I need, that I can't provide them with a quote. - Because the system is messed up. - So why-- - Because the system is messed up. - And you've been dealing with this for three months and corporate or your boss or whoever has not fixed it? - No, he says he'll fix it, he is a middle fixing it, but I'm not-- - Isn't it hurting his own revenue? Isn't this guy bleeding out too? - But I don't know what's his deal here. Yeah, I know that he's bringing an investor than other people, but I don't know what his deal is there, but I know one thing that I cannot pay my bills by sitting in here. - Do you need to go sell something else? - Yeah, he's either incompetent or I don't know what's going on, but yeah, you-- - But you're a hundred percent commission. - The question is, yeah, a hundred percent commission, the question is if I should go to this place where there's also a hundred percent commission or if you go to a place where there is a salary, a base salary plus commission. - Well, you're a pretty good salesman, it sounds like Sam, so I don't-- - He was working out before. - Yeah, I mean-- - Depends on what it is and how quickly you can get ramped up. - I brought in with one year, I brought in $2 million, not a sales of cash on the table, I mean, to say-- - Sure, that much revenue. - So I brought a deposit, whatever, yeah, or-- - How are you covering your bills right now? - I have a thousand. - Miracles, what should I tell you? (laughing) - What kind of miracles? - Really, you're like-- - I don't know. - I called a friend Friday, I told him that if he had a job for me, I said, "I'm happy to take my rent with." And I'm like, "I need a job, you know, I like to work." He says, "How much are you done?" I said, "8,000." He's helped me six. I'm like, "What the hell?" - So you're working on other jobs already? (laughing) I'm not working doing nothing, I'm working-- - Okay. - He just sent you money, okay. - Okay, okay, well Sam, yeah, I would quit your job probably because you're not getting paid. - So we have-- - You'll make the same amount if you quit. How about that? That's basically what we're saying. - Yes, so you go find a position where you, 'cause you're apparently a great salesman which you've told us those numbers are impressive. So go and sell something that you believe in. - And actually use the money wisely to pay off your debts, 'cause a guy making 15K a month shouldn't be carrying $50,000 worth of debt, even in New York City. So I would say, you have a new goal when you get this new job, which is debt pay off, get yourself to a place where if this ever happens again, you're gonna be okay. 'Cause you have an emergency fund and you don't owe anyone anything. All right, Thomas is in New York City. Hey, it's a hot day for NYC. What's going on, Thomas? - Hey, how are you? So I was to have a closing date from my house. It was supposed to be last week, but it's now pushed to next week. I'm set to sell my house for $425,000. And with the house, I'm currently $345,000 in debt. So my question is, should I pay off all my debt at once or should I keep some money for a down payment on a new place? - Is your $345,000 in debt to the house, meaning that you owe that much still? - No, I'm 210,000 still owed on the house and then I'm about 135 in consumer debt. - 135, what's the consumer debt? - There's a holiday that's in motorcycle, a camper that I'm currently living in. So my rent's going forward and living expenses going forward will be nothing besides a camper payment. - Why are you living in that house? - The rest is just, so it was bad decision a long time ago. I bought it with an X, we weren't married, we broke off. And it came time I had to sell it. - So no one's in the house, we're still on it. No, but just like a new people are closing next week. - Okay, so you'll walk away with about $215 and you don't owe her anything, the X. - I bought her out a while ago. - Okay, okay, see you. - I got as part of the debt. - Okay. - So if you, let's say you sold it, you pay off your mortgage, you pay off all of your consumer debt, even after fees, you're probably left with what? - 50 grand, 60 grand, if you do that. - Yeah, just about that. - Great, I would not use that to go just buy another house immediately, but I would pay off all of your debt. - And at all other ones. - Yeah, and the camper, I mean, Thomas, I almost would sell the camper and just go rent somewhere. - Instead of rushing back into another house? - Yeah. - You're not rushing, if you rent, you're not rushing. That's just buying yourself some patience to get some financial foot. - What's the camper, what's the camper worth? - I actually just bought it about a month ago. - For a person. - For a thousand for the living. - I'm just confused. - You're moving out of a house to move into a camper. I don't get it. - And it's like a big, nice camper. - Okay, but it's still that feels like a weird life move that we're going backwards. It was supposed to be like a middle position until I found myself into another house or something like that. How much is the camper, Thomas? How much do you buy it for? I bought the camper for $30,000. It's about as a seller right now. I could probably get $20,000, $20,000, $22,000. Okay. It's gone $8,000 in value already. It's Thomas lived in it. Well, and it's been a month, and it's a camper. Yeah, they go down and value pretty fast. I would get out of it quickly, because you won't be able to sell it for what you paid for it, so it's. Here's the problem, though. This home equity is a get out of jail free card, but we haven't changed the behavior that got us into jail. So I'm scared that you're going to go into more debt once the deck is cleared. That's why I'm trying to get an idea of where I should go from here, because I was already looking at houses and stuff, but I don't know if it's the right move. Okay. How much do you have in savings? Right now, virtually nothing, $20,000. Okay. If I woke up in your shoes tomorrow, Thomas, I would go find a place to rent. I would sell the camper, because that thing is going to be dragging with payments and interest, and it's going down and value. There's nothing good. There's no good investment in that. It's just bad. Bad for your money, bad for Thomas. Go rent somewhere, one bedroom. You're going to have $65,000 in the bank. You're going to be debt-free. I would figure out about three months of expenses for you. How much do you think that would be? Because I'm trying to get you to a fully funded emergency fund. How much? Yeah, so I mean, right now, once I pay everything off, I would virtually be like insurance and a phone bill. So, $56,000. And you're rent. And you're rent. You're probably be like, yeah, $25,500. What do you make a month? Roughly $9,09,500. Okay. So like a $6,000 a month kind of feels right. That feels pretty generous, but that's good, right? So probably an $18,000, $20,000 emergency fund for you. So you'd have $45,000 left. Which is the start of your down payment funds. Which is the start of a down payment fund, yep. And I would be working. I'd be starting to invest. Are you investing, Thomas, in retirement? Yeah, I have a pension and then I also have like a 401k. Wonderful. So I'd be investing 15% of your income into retirement in that $45,000. I'd put it in a high-yield savings account. And I would just be throwing money at it and trying to get a good down payment. And here's how to change that behavior. Take all the payments you were paying towards your debts. And then use that for your down payment fund now. That'll help you switch the behavior instead of letting that money disappear into the abyss into more choice. Yeah, the future is bright for you, Thomas. I'm excited for you. I think there can be some really good moves you make here to set you up well. You know what's scarier than a life-size skeleton on your neighbor's front porch? A stranger from the internet showing up on your digital front porch because they found your address online. It is so easy for creepy data brokers to get a hold of your information these days. They're out there right now buying and selling your personal data without your knowledge or consent. That is all trick, no treat, my friends. And I don't know about you, but when it comes to my personal data, I prefer to be a ghost online. And that's why I've had to leave me for years. They don't just remove your personal data once. They keep monitoring and removing it for you. Just in case it pops back up like your middle school crush who just won't let go. And although I love a game of hide and seek with my toddler, I don't want to play it with my data online. And that's why I appreciate that DeleteMe sends me regular privacy reports showing me what information of mine was out there, where it was found, and what was removed. That is real protection, not just some service dressed up in a costume. Get 20% off any privacy protection plan from our partners that delete me for cybersecurity awareness month. Go to joindeleteme.com/ramsy to get the deal or click the link in the description. That's joindeleteme.com/ramsy. Just before the show Rachel Cruz and I came out of a meeting where we got a little preview of what's going to happen on the live like no one else Cruz. And it is jam packed. We were all like, wow, there's even more going on the last year and last year. We're busy people. We're gonna be all around. They got us working over there. It's no vacation for us, but we are so excited. It's all super fun stuff. I can't complain at all. And this is your week to get away. March 14 through the 21st, 2027. If you have worked the plan, you've sacrificed. You've become debt free or in baby steps four, five, six, and seven, then join us. It's a great way to mark that milestone. And a lot of you, you need a vacation. You've been grindin' like you're still in baby step two and it's time to go. And listen, we have a lot of read to intentionality. Repeat cruisers, including some people out in the audience. They were on the cruise last year coming back in 2027. Right back, I love it. We're going to the western Caribbean this time. All the ramsy personalities will be there. We're gonna have live show tapings, brand new talks. Creating a legacy that lasts beyond you, ways to continue building wealth, lots of Q&A, lots of personal time, lots of meeting new friends that will feel like old friends soon. So join us, go book your cab and at ramsyslutions.com/events. George, I think, because there's keynotes every night, like we're giving content. All day, every day, but the nights. People weirdly just want more content. Yes, and I think, are we allowed to say? We can say. I think we're matched up together. We are. Yeah. We'll be doing smart money happy out, or two different times on the ship. And then, George and I have our keynotes together, old friends. That's right. And we do them three times in a row to make sure everyone can get through. Yeah, because you get badges, so you get different colors. So they, you know, blue goes first or yellow, you know, they. It's very organized. Very organized, but yeah, it's really, it's a great week, you guys. A great week. Do not miss out. Go to ramsyslutions.com/events. And sign up. Families are selling us. Come with us in March. All right, Heather is in St. Louis, up next. What's going on, Heather? So I was just offered a gift of $21,000 to pay off my car, and I am wondering if I should take it. Wow. Why wouldn't you take it? Tell us that. I was offered the gift because someone went behind my back and told the person who offered me the gift, something I did not want them to know, and I want to be able to do things on my own and, you know, be a responsible adult and not take hand out. So you feel like this is a handout? Yes. Is this someone you know that's giving you the money? My aunt. Oh, wow. So somebody you know gossip behind your back, slander your name and your aunt was like, you know what? I'm just going to give her $21,000 and you didn't want your aunt to know that you had debt. So Ash, I was laid off at the start of September. Okay. And I have enough money to make it through January or so. I am actively looking for a job. I had an interview this morning, have another one on Friday. A couple of really good leads, but my father, despite being told not to tell my aunt, told my aunt, and then my aunt called me and said she wants to help me out. Make sure I don't have to, you know, suffer so to speak and ease pressure, etc. Okay. How old are you? Once 49. Okay. So how long have you been the type of person who has a hard time accepting help? Pretty much my entire life, but I also my entire life have had a problem with my father, particularly meddling in my life and trying to parent me when I don't need a parent. Oh, that's fair. Are you able to separate a toxic father-daughter relationship from a blessing of generosity? I mean, I guess, I mean, regardless of how this came about, are you able to just not block the blessing and take it and go, I actually need this. I'm unemployed. I'm 49 and I've a bunch of debt. Man, I love this. The ego doesn't like it. Heather, everything you said is the ego. This is, it's a shot to the ego, but you know what? Sometimes the ego needs to minimize in life. I mean, that's, it's a shot to the ego, but I've already run the numbers and paying the car off only by me an extra week until I run out of money. And so it doesn't really, in theory, help me out except for a lower my debt. You're saying because of the car payment is a couple hundred bucks and you're going, okay, it'd be nice to not have that, but that's not going to save my life. Yeah, so well, actually, so the car payment is $670 a month and then it really, like I said, even after paying it off, it only buys me an extra week of before I run out of money and then saving that $670 is not enough to keep me from, well, it doesn't solve your life problems, but it's just a man relief, relief some pressure here. But here's how I see it. Someone is throwing you a life raft and you're just floundering and actively saying, now I'm good. I want to swim to shore on my own. And that's a noble thing to do. But right now, you could use a life raft. Can we agree? You're still in the water. It's theory not and told you anywhere. I know. I mean, I mean, I'm good between what I had, the little bit I had in savings and-- - Until you're down to zero dollars to your name. - I don't think Heather's gonna take it. Heather, I think-- - I'm just saying, I would take it. - I would take it too. Unless your aunts doesn't mess up any weird relationship with her, is she expecting it back? Is it more like a loan, not a gift? I mean, anything, any strings attached? - It sounds like a gift. What she and my uncle told me was that that money was already earmarked for me when something happens to them and they would rather give it to me now, help me out than to-- - Yeah. - You know what, that's on them. It's their money. They get to decide when or who they give it to. So they've changed their mind to say, yeah, we wanna give it to Heather now. And I know it probably pisses you off about your dad and you probably should stop sharing information with them and put some boundaries up there, relationally, but also Heather, I think it's okay. I think you can kind of just take a gift when it's given to you. And you're no less than. You're not less hard working or less of a person or you don't even mean it's nothing against that. It is-- - It doesn't make you weaker. It actually makes you stronger to be able to accept help. And that's a hard lesson to learn in life. Are you gonna do it? - I don't know. - Yeah, she's not going to. - It's okay, Heather. We're glad you called. Thanks for the great story. - We're still rooting for you. - You know, yeah. - But I just, I do this how I'd wanna be treated and what I would do if I was in your shoes and man. I just, I try not to block blessings at this stage of life. I did that for a long time and I'm just over. If someone wants, it doesn't matter. Rachel doesn't need the money. But if I pay for her lunch, she's gonna be really grateful. Right? - I'll take a free lunch. - Exactly. - Thank you, yes. - So it's not even about do you need it or not 'cause this charity just removed that and go, somebody wants to be generous and I wanna give them the ability to be generous. - Yep, yep. - That's simple. - I, yeah, man, what could we have said to it? I don't think we could have convinced Heather. - I'm not a persuasive salesman, unfortunately. But I think there's too much. - But then that's the second call of this show of someone reaching down to someone's situation. - Usually it strings attached and we're gonna take it. - Yeah, we've had two large or some of money, like a good bit of money. - There are a law paying off $73,000 of her sister to it. - Yeah, no $21,000 of a car. - Wow, it's. - It's a hundred grand, given away. And someone said, now I'm good. - Yeah. - Keep your money. - Keep your money. - I don't know, but I mean, yeah. Either way, Heather, I think you're gonna be fine, but also, yeah, an opportunity presents itself. - I don't know. - Yeah, I'm just racking my brain to go. If I see someone who needs help and I reach out to help and they don't take the help, well now two people are hurt. The person who was trying to be generous, who was now rejected, and the person who needed the help and rejected it. - Yeah, yeah. - So nobody wins in this situation. - Yeah. - So I'm gonna do my best to swallow my pride, take the gift, and maybe pay it forward someday. If it's gonna weigh on you to go, I shouldn't have taken that. I could have done it on my own. We believe you. But also, you're unemployed at 49 on your own, trying to do all of this. At some point, you can't carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. And it's okay to accept help from other people, especially family. - Yes. - When there's no strings attached. - I know. And I know that it came about in a weird way. - It's not a go-fun me from your coworkers. It's your aunt. It's blood. It's a blood relative. - She's saying, "Let me help you." - And she has the extra cash. It's not hurting her. - No, she's fine. - She's not $21,000 for her by doing this. She's actually a richer in spirit by doing it. But I hope you take it. Heather, call us back if you do. We want the where are they now story of Heather becoming debt-free and finding employment and getting back on her feet. (upbeat music) - 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. Church Hill 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 church Hill 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 church Hill. Click the link in the description or go to churchillmortgage.com/ramsyoffer for an exclusive Ramsey audience offer. churchillmortgage.com/ramsyoffer. (upbeat music) 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/askramsy. - Today's question comes from Sydney in New York. She said I'm 55 and planning to retire in four and a half years. I have approximately $1 million in my company's 401k plus another $800,000 in other investment accounts. My 401k is invested fairly aggressively in his average run 10 to 11% return. At what point should I begin shifting some of that money into more conservative lower risk investments, knowing that it will likely mean lower returns? - This is a great question. And if you ask the financial planning community, they're gonna move you to like 60, 40 equities and bonds, which is a problem because if your portfolio is half in bonds, you're gonna get half the returns. If those bonds perform it, you know, 3, 4, 5, 6% versus your investments making 10 or 11. So our hot take here at Ramsey is that you should just stay invested aggressively. It's that simple. Like your retirement doesn't change that. Now what does change it is having a cushion for when the market's down. And for that, I would just suggest having a year or two of expenses saved up in a high yield savings account or, you know, T bills, whatever you wanna do there. Just something that's pretty liquid that can get you by if the market is down for a year or two so that you're not taking money out of the worst time. - That's right. And when you think about it, I mean, you could live, I mean, after retirement, good 25, 30 years. - You're 90 years. - Yes, so I'm like, gotta lead to put stuff in lower accounts for that long period of time. - She's a retiring at 59 and a half. So let's say she makes it to 90. That's 30 years of lower returns all to reduce risk. - Right, and you're gonna be any fraction of which would be if it was just in the market. So sometimes the riskiest thing you can do is stay too conservative and you're investing. - Oh. - You like that? - That's good, George. - Put that on a stitch pillow. - Or a fortune cookie. - Needle point. That's what the kids are doing these days. I found out. - Oh, really? - Yeah. - It's coming back. - It's coming back. - I think Hobby Lobby is gonna stay in business thanks to Gen Z going back to crocheting. - Yeah, and sourdough bread and crocheting. - Little house in the prairie over there. - Little majong action too. - That's Rachel's retirement plan. And currently I plan, it's just majong, it's great. Thanks for the question though. It's a good debate and I'm gonna, you know, we'll get roasted for this, but it's fine. I'd rather see you get better returns and keep money on the sidelines and cash too. - We have no ego here. We can take the hate. - I do, but Rachel doesn't. Gabby's in Fort Worth, Texas up next. Gabby, how can we help? - Hi, hello, George. Hi, Rachel. - Absolutely. - So I have a question and would like to know, what would you do if you were on my shoes? So my first point in life, we have a good financial foundation. I'm 26, stay here so we don't have any debt except a mortgage, which is 112. And we have hack, means we live in a total of clicks, we live in one side and the other side is grinded up. So we don't have debt, we have month on time, new year invested, but working tech. And we are speaking about moving to Washington. - Washington state? - That means yes. - Okay. - So that means getting a new mortgage, which is gonna be pretty expensive. I'm looking around for $400,000. And I'm scared that we'll be taking out debt and here we have something really good going on with renting one side of the house. - What would you get if you sold this duplex? - Probably $350. - Okay, so you could net like two 20 out of this? - Yes. - Once you pay off the mortgage and then you'd put the 220 down on the new place in Washington as a down payment? - That is something that we could do is die what you would recommend. We also thought, should we keep this the house? Should we pay it off and keep it without property manager? Like, or should we just move and start from scratch over there? - Yeah, I would move and start from scratch. Being a long distance landlord is tough, Gabby. I mean, honestly, so I would take the equity that you guys have built and keep on moving. Start your life. that you said as invested as that retirement or other investments. So we both max out of rough IRAs and we also have or individual investments in a brokerage account. Okay, how much is in the brokerage accounts? So like 400 dollars or 600 dollars in between the two. Wow. And how much would this house cost total in Washington? You said 400. I would take some out of the brokerage, put with the 220 and go pay cash for a house. It's probably around 400 thousand. Obviously, we don't have any kids, so we are looking for something cheap. We need pretty cheap. And what's your household income? 220 right now. Oh, amazing. Well, the good news is even if you got a mortgage, you could afford it. But with your situation, just go pay cash. Sell off enough from the non-retirement brokerage account plus your 220 inequity that you'll have netting to you and just go pay cash for a house. You'll have no mortgage. And now you're making 220 with no payments in the world. So then think about how quickly you could stack up your investments. Yeah, yeah, that's what we're thinking. You know, I just, you know, it's a scary to do that, especially as Texas is cheaper. So I just want to do guys opinion. You're saying it's scary to move to Washington from Texas. Sure, yeah, probably higher. But yeah, you can afford it. You guys can afford it, right? I mean, you guys have done, I'm sure you've mocked up some level of a budget to know what what the cost living is there and what your income say the same. We hope so. Yeah, we work remote. Anyway, we work in tech. So, okay, we hope that is so why Washington? Um, we have family clothes and because of what we do with your tech, I think that being close to Seattle will give us better opportunities. I mean, we're pretty young. So we want to live in the city or at least close to the city. I love it. I mean, so far, green lights, your quality of life is going to go up. You're closer to family. You have more career opportunities. And you can do this completely debt free and buy a home and cash. That's pretty incredible. Well, your husband, beyond bored with this, or is he going to be anti selling off any investments for any reason? You know, I don't know about that. But we've, we've been also saving cash. We have around $40,000, which is our emergency fund. Good. So we can definitely sell this house, which is something I've been thinking. Yeah, for sure. Feeling the house from far away. You're doing this from a place of strength because you have no debt. You've got a fully funded emergency fund. You got tons of money and investments. So now just do the math on how much would we need to sell from our, you know, investments? And then do we have the money to pay the taxes outside of those investments? So that might be your next goal is figuring that out to go, okay, we need to pay 30 grand total and capital gains. We don't want to do that from our investment account. Let's have that money set aside. Well, that's what I'm going to do. Thank you so much. Absolutely. Congratulations. Gabby. Well done. It's an exciting move. We have the long distance landlord thing. The analogy we always use is if you were living in Washington in a paid for house, would you go out and take a mortgage out on a duplex in Fort Worth to rent out? The answer is 100% of the time. No. No. That's a crazy thing to do. So don't become a landlord by default. That's right. Just because of your past life going, well, we could make some money on this. Yeah. Yeah. Reverse engineer at the opposite way and still see if it would be the same decision. And if not, then you know, you're just doing it because of your specific circumstance, not just your overall financial picture. That's a good one. And it's a pretty cool that they've done a really good job not only maxing out retirement, but then thinking ahead to go, okay, let's also have some flexible investments ready to go in this flexible brokerage account. All right. George Ryan from Facebook asks, should I cancel my gym membership on baby step two? If it's only $25 a month and has equipment that I don't have at home, I did this because George loves working out. And well, my hot take is you should keep the gym membership. Hi, that was going to be my hot take too. I think for people who actually use it. Yes. It is where it keeps you sane. Yeah. For people who actually go to the gym, they need to go to the gym. Yes. For people who don't go to the gym and will not go to the gym, I will stay much more sane staying. You're fine. You're fine. No, it's good. Because when we talk about baby step two, that's the step where you get out of all consumer debt. We're like scorched earth, get cut everything, all of this. But there's elements of life that you're still going to live through baby step two. And again, it's just very small. If it was 250 bucks a month, I'd go, hey, let's go down to the $25 a month gym membership. Yeah, that's right. You don't need to eat one ox right now. You can survive on planet fitness on the black membership. Whatever. I don't know what the fancy ones are these days. Clearly not a gym rat. Not a gym rat. You don't know all the bundles and memberships, but I'm good with that. Hey guys, it's Rachel Cruz. When you get married or have kids, your money decisions aren't just about you anymore. And that's why Winston and I have term life insurance through Zander Insurance. Because when you love your family, you make a plan to protect them. None of us likes to think about if something were to happen to us, but your income helps keep the lights on, pay the mortgage, and put food on the table. And having the right life insurance means that when you pass away, your family will not be dealing with financial stress during one of the hardest times of their lives. At Ramsey, we recommend term life protection that's 10 to 12 times your income with a 15 to 20 year term. And Zander makes it easy to help you find the coverage that you need. Zander is an independent broker who works for you, shopping the top companies to find the most competitive prices on the coverage you need. You can get an instant quote online in just minutes. So go to zander.com or call 800-356-4282 to get your term life insurance quote today. Welcome back to the Ramsey show in the Fairwinds Credit Union studio. I'm George Kamel here with Rachel Cruz taking your calls at AAA8-825-5225. Angela is in Birmingham up next. Angela, how can we help today? Hi, thank you for taking my call. I'm excited to get some advice from YouTube. I'm a 70-year-old widow who inherited a lot of money about three years ago. And in 25 and 26 thoroughly enjoyed annual exclusions for my kids, taking some trips, just living life like I had not before. And I have a financial advisor. My father had put all his money in a private well-known bike with an investment section, heavy on bonds. And all this when I went in for my annual meeting, they want me instead of taking money out of my investments to have a $200,000 loan at 6% interest for 20/27. And I just, it sounded odd to me, I don't have any financial background, I'm trusting, and that might be the right answer. I just needed somebody to confirm or tell me that that's all right. Well, let me be the first to say that is lunacy. I'm going to say that there. Dom, Angela. Can I tell you why I think they want you to do this? Okay, go ahead. So they likely make a percentage of your portfolio. Am I wrong? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. If you take money out of your investments, who gets a pay cut? Well, the advisor. Yes. Now are you understanding why they want you to not touch those investments and then said go borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars at 6% interest to live? Right. Because how much is in your account, Angela? 6.2 million. Woo. I know. Way to go. Oh my gosh. I'm a lot. I have, I know, I have no. Well, it's things because they just lost a client. So instead of, well, that's not another question. Where do I go? I have no. My dad did it. I'll set it for me. I'm going to wish all. And he had this advisor there that he trusted who has since retired. And so now I'm just feel like I'm kind of thrown. Well, they're going to be sad to see you go and they're going to hate us even more, but you need to find a credible financial advisor who's not going to push you to go into debt so that they don't get a pay cut. And more than that too, Angela, finding an advisor that lines up with your value system. When, when that, when that made your head tilt, it's because that doesn't feel right to Angela. And you're right, right? So finding somebody that's handling that amount of money, knowing and feeling secure that they're, they're functioning out of the same mindset you are about money is huge. So, yeah, if you, if you hop on Ramsey Solutions.com, check out Smart Vester Pro. Okay. And find one in your area because they will have the heart of a teacher. They will be there to guide you, not tell you what to do, but teach you, give you options. And it's a really, it's really, really important that you, that you trust this person. And you feel comfortable even if you want to interview two or three, right? Yeah, right. Did I, did I hear you say that a lot of this money's in bonds? It's, it's bond heavy. My dad said it that way because he was 90, 180. Yep, yep. It's so, and so another great, yes. So another great advisor, Angela is going to probably move a lot of that out to, to get it into the market because you could be making double triple in some cases of what you're probably making there to let money grow even more, right? To be wise about it. So, yep, I would, I would check out Smart Vester Pro, and if there's a couple, there's sometimes multiple in, you know, close to you, that's great. Then talk to a couple of them because you really, I want you to feel really good about it, Angela, because you are smarter than you think you are. Well, I, y'all have already made me feel better because I thought it was crazy. And now, I'm, yeah, confirmation help. Absolutely. Oh my gosh. Well, thank you. Absolutely, Angela. Well, thanks for calling. And I'm sorry at, at which this way the money was, you know, circumstances were given. Yes. So I'm sorry. That's right. Well, you're on some, Angela. Yes. What a legacy. At least you're not stressed out about money on, on, on, exactly, not losing your loved ones. Yeah. No, life is good. All right. Y'all take care. Yeah. Call us back for anything else. Man, I just can't believe I, I feel, I feel a little bit bad. Angela, what are you doing? I feel a little bit bad because they just lost a lot of money. Because of us, but I also feel good because I, I feel like I helped some of you. How dumb are you to have a 70 year old widow and be like, don't touch those investments. Let's go take out a loan at 6%. But half of them are, most of them are in bonds. So I was going to say, maybe they're thinking, okay, you know, you can at least make 6% more in the market. You don't even try to even out, but it's mostly all in bonds anyways. So it's not even making six. No. No. Man. I'm sorry. There's some bad apples out there. I didn't know. I know. And it just feels gross. It feels taking advantage of it. I like it. I don't like it. So she doesn't like it. She made that clear. John is in Dallas, Texas up next. What's going on, John? Hey, George. Hey, Rachel. I'm so grateful to talk to you guys. I've been trying to call you guys for the years. Wow. Like I made it. I know it is hard to get to get to you guys. But I'll try to keep it simple, but I do want to start with giving you guys a huge kudos. I bought my, I would say a second car, a third car, all cash earlier this year. And that is a hundred percent huge load off your shoulders, not having a car payment to yourself. Why did it go? I didn't even and the team like kudos to kind of recommend. I never believe that. Hey, it's going to be only one percent. It's okay. But paying off 35,000 for a used car, an electric car that I did. I know it's a lot. Is it a test? No, it's a, it's a key. But I bought it second hand because my first car was, sorry, I didn't want it. I guess, but my first car was told I got a bunch of money from insurance. I just added another $10,000 on top of it. And I bought myself a key. That's good for you. All right. I was, that's a huge, huge, huge compliment to you guys. Because I never thought it would be, but it is not having a car payment. I love it. Anyways, my question to you guys is, I know I've been doing, I've been listening to you guys for years now. I've been, I listened to 5,000 kind of financial advances. If you really try to kind of soak in what's useful to me. But everyone starts with budget, right? You guys say the same thing. That's the first thing you do. You budget and no way your money goes so that you know where to put the rest of the money. What is it? Left over. And I do budget. I do have tons of apps, latest app that I'm using is origin. And it tells me exactly where all my money is going. But at the end of the month or even during a month, I'll kind of look at that app. And I'll see, hey, where did this $20 kind of payment go? Where did this $50 that I spend went? And it'll be like, holidays are coming up. Oh, we went to a pumpkin patch. We ended up spending $100 over there. Yeah. Oh, we went through this. So these are like miscellaneous expenses that you didn't really plan for. You're exactly right. The miscellaneous expenses. For some reason, I'm not able to account for. Even if I say $500 a month from miscellaneous, it goes $1,000. It goes $1,200. And I'm not able to keep up. Like I end up over spending the budget every month. Can I give you a crazy idea, John? My salary are in 50% of my stuff. You're not going into debt for this stuff. You're just saying you're just spending more than you originally plans, right? No. So excluding my house, I've got like $1.4 million in all brokerages. Yeah. Okay. So you're, yeah, I hear you, but you're just saying life in general. You plan one way. And then you seem to keep dipping into this, what would be in savings, right? Extra. And you're like, gosh, I have to keep like, yeah, I hear you. Yeah. Yeah. So I would, how do I get over that? How do I get over that? So I would say because your lifestyle is probably high or in what you're spending month to month and someone making $35,000 a year, your miscellaneous category could bump up if you wanted because you guys do have more income to spend miscellaneously, right? Maybe it's entertainment. Yeah. And if there are more categories in it, like kid stuff, right? Like that could be a line idol. And you're like, okay, we need to be budgeting and think about money going in that. So if there's more categories in the miscellaneous, I would say put some of those out and then bump up your miscellaneous because you guys just have more going out. And that's okay because you're paying for it because you make a good living. Listen guys, I've heard just about every excuse for why folks think they can't get ahead with money. So let's go ahead and settle this right now. You get the final say on what happens with your money. That's why you have to start telling your money where to go so you can stop wondering where it went. So if you're going to start winning with money, you have to get on a budget and the easiest way to get started and stick to it is with the every dollar budget app. It'll help you make a plan for every single dollar coming in and every single dollar going out every single month. And guess what? It's free. So no excuses. Download every dollar in the app store or Google Play today. Oh Rachel, we did a smart money happy hour episode and this topic came up that I'm personally passionate about right now and that is ebikes and e scooters. They are all the rage among the youth and I'm like the old man on the lawn shaking my fists going there's kids in this neighborhood. They're going around no helmets 35 miles an hour. I know. And I've talked to doctors like oh it's the number one thing we see in the ER. I know. I'm telling you we live close to our elementary school and middle school are very close together right outside our neighborhood basically. So so when we walk to school or the kids sometimes will bike the amounts the amount of ebikes and electric scooters all I mean it is like a it it is 50 75 kids I mean it is the craziest thing you've ever seen. It's wild and what they do now in schools or at least for our county you have to go through a safety course now. This is the first year they've done it. You had to go through a safety course and get a special tag to then put on your electric bike or your electric scooter in order for it to be on school grounds. So they make you do it which is great. And I'm saying all this to say because you know you need to learn and be educated about safety and there's some other elements of it because you've tied the ebike and the ER doctor. This came up because we had a conversation about credit cards and this is the one it's the hill that we die on it's the most beef we get because people are like well I can use my credit card responsibly I can ride my ebike responsibly I'm like okay maybe maybe I'm not saying you can't there are people who have never paid a diamond interest I always hear that. Have they paid a penny we don't know but they haven't paid a dime. So our stance on credit cards is very clear it's a no for us you don't need it regardless of what you think you might need it for. There are pretty simple workarounds and I've done it for 13 years now with with no complaints. You don't have the risk of going 28% into interest paying that to capital one or you know discover whoever it may be and you're not going to spend more than you make when you use a debit card. It's physically impossible outside of an overdraft fee. And so that's the part that I always tell people try for a month or two to just spend money you actually have that's yours right now instead of spending other people's money that you pay back later and see how it feels see how much less you spend. Yeah it is a it is a crazy exercise we actually had a friend and they were like an anti-credit card person and then for about six months they were like you know they send up for one that got one and and he was telling me he was a crystal literally in six months the amount of money I spent even though he had the money like he was one of those people for sure he could afford what he was not going into deep credit card debt but just in general the emotional tie to be like oh yeah I'll pay it later when the bill comes it's not a big deal like it's just this delayed pain that ends up happening and you don't feel it in the moment with a credit card and so he was saying you genuinely will spend more and that's for the perfect spender yes and and he's like was a responsible guy but some telling you if you if that's what you do and you spend with credit cards and then you pay it off at the end of the month just try for one month just to spend with a debit card knowing that money's leaving your account I swear it will change it will change your habits that's right so this is the financial ER this is what this show is we've just seen too much people calling in with five grand 10 grand 30 grand 60 grand or more just in credit card debt and that's partially why we are so anti credit cards and sadly they can't even make the mental impairments in some cases sometimes these interest rates 28 percent like it is horrible horrible horrible so I'm anti-ebike I'm anti-credit card, and I will yell at the clouds. Georgia's the ER doctor. and he's like, "Listen, people, don't do it." - You don't need to go to med school. - You should go through a safety class about credit cards. - Oh, that would be genius. - They do for the e-bags. Just to be like, "Here's all the horror stories "of what could happen." - Every 18-year-old, before they can sign up for a credit card, they have to go through a three-hour course. - Yes. - Remember like in school, they do the fake car accident outside of the school. - What? - Yeah. - And do that as well. - To scare you about drinking and driving. - But they do in Boston. - It was a different time at Deadham High. What can I say? - Now, they did put us in a, we had a van thing. It looked like a room and they would fill it with smoke and make you a fire safety vehicle. Did you ever have that? - No, the south is different. - Okay. - Back in the north, we're civilized. - We haven't. - The little vans will smoke. - They had like actors. They had like actors who were like injured, it was crazy. But it made you never want to drink and drive. And so we need that for credit cards. - Oh, the drinking and driving thing. I thought it was just car wrecks. - No, no, that's not that helpful. - Wow, well, hey, listen, if this is you and you're the kind of person who goes, I want to feel my money. I want to feel in control of my money. The budget is the best way to do it. And every dollar is the best way to make that monthly budget to track your spending, to be in control, to see the transactions come through versus, yeah, I can pay the monthly bill every month and it's fine, it doesn't bother me. Just try it out. So go check out every dollar. We'll drop a link in the description below or you can download every dollar in the app store today. There you go. - So box on e-bikes, credit cards and budgets. - And car wrecks. - You learn something every day. Matt Heline is in the Spokane up next. Matt Heline, save us from ourselves. How can we help? - Hey, thanks for taking my call. - Sure. So my question is in regards to discerning when it's wise to be generous and when it's wise to hold back and wait for maybe a better opportunity. My husband and I are 23. We have two kids and another on the way. We are currently completely debt-free about to buy our first house in a spring. We just recently upgraded to a larger family vehicle, paid cash and so I'm looking to sell my old vehicle and I'm battling a strong desire to be really generous and help someone else that's in need of a vehicle and I'm just not sure how to discern whether that's why they're not. Maybe you can help me with that. - Wow, battling. That is so kind. - What's the car worth? - Polybook estimates it's around between $5,555. - Cool. And you're like, I could sell it and get the five grand and we could apply it to the down payment or we could be generous and give this to someone who could really use it. - Yeah, I feel like we're kind of in a position where we're really blessed with where we are financially and I feel like we could do that. I'm just also thinking like, oh, we have a chunk of debt in our near future and we have, we're gonna have three little ones and so just be practical and wise. - Yeah, wow, what is your husband think? - I'm not sure, but he's listening right now. So I'm just wondering is he like, yeah, I'd love to do this too or is he sort of team? We could apply that to the down payment and that's a future thing we could do. - I could see him going either way. - Okay, so I would say do you feel financially comfortable? You guys are in a good spot from not the down payment per say, but the like every day monthly expenses with the kids. Like do you feel like you guys are in a good spot there? 'Cause I would, so one of my kind of benchmarks with generosity is making sure Madeline that you guys are first and foremost, good, right? The whole idea like put your oxygen mask on first. So if this new baby coming in some expenses, if that was like a little stressful and made some, you know, and he's like, listen, take care of you guys first and then you have tons of time to do these kind of things and be generous. But you're saying to me, that feels good. That's one check mark. George is right. Number two, when you're married that you guys, you know, both are on the same page with it. Number three, that it's not enabling something, but the great thing about your situation with the car, there's not tons of enabling that you can do necessarily, write that into happening when people give cash gifts right in helping somebody with like, - You hope it goes to the thing that you want to help with. - That's right, yeah, yeah, yeah. But when the girl, I love it, Madeline. I think there's a nudge in you to do this. And again, if all three of those things check the box, I mean, I'm not kidding. If you find a single mom and you could ask, I don't know if you guys have like a home church or where you are plugged it in the community, but if you can find a young single mom, maybe who's even around your age and a new car, that literally will change someone's life, especially somebody coming out of like a cycle of poverty and they're trying to get on their feet, just a hard situation. - To save up $6,000. - To give a car is an animal. - Is like that, that changes the course of people's lives. That gets them to and from where, I mean, it's just, it's insane what that can do for somebody. So I love it. - I'm team GIF the car. - I am too. - And if you can find someone specifically that your heart pains for them, that's even better. And our local church here, they just launched a car's ministry. - I know we have, when they've given away thousands at this point, right? Yes, when people trade in their cars, instead of trading into the dealership, they give it to the church. And the stories that come out of it, it is, it's amazing. - You will never regret that decision. - No. - Do it. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - I finally get to announce that my brand new book, "Building the Marriage You Want" is available for pre-order. If you and your spouse have been feeling like roommates lately, like maybe this thing called our marriage has just run its course, like this is just the way marriage is. I get it. This book is me sitting at the table with you and you and your spouse helping you both take the next right step towards the marriage you both want. Marriage is still worth it. Order now for $24.99 and get over $100 and pre-order bonus items at RamseySolutions.com/store. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - We love hearing from you guys. Your questions are what make the Ramsey show happen. So give us a call at 888-25225 or you can submit a question using the link in the description of this episode. Leshawn is in Charlotte up next. Leshawn, how can we help? - Hi guys. I've no news, but I am trying to start my get during payout. I'm a doctor and I am a gamma addict for the past 15 years. And I have been sober for the past six months. - Congrats. - You loved it. - Thank you. And this is one of my steps with my therapist is to actually call you all because I think about Dave Ramsey's show a lot in therapy. - I'm so glad you called today. You made our day. Thank you. - I'm glad you made it through. We're honored to talk with you. - I am grateful. So I'm six months sober. The first three months of my sobriety were just catching up on my mortgage. It wasn't within late. It was just, you know, my mortgage and my house bills. And so for the past three months, I've started paying on my credit card debt. I am a high wage earner. I earn my base salary is $196,000. And I'm a family nurse practitioner. So sometimes it's up to 210, just depending on over time and days of that nature. However, throughout these 15 years of gambling, done bankruptcy pay that off. I have refinanced my house, pay that off, get back into debt, you know, the whole cycle. And I recognize all that. And now I still have debt, obviously. And I want to pay it off and be done. So right now I have about $16,700 in credit card debt. I started three months ago with $20,850. Good for you. To $16,700 right now. I do have consumer debt, high interest, consumer loans on my home. And so I have my water heater break at HFAC. It's like things happen all at once. So I have a total of $52,000 and consumer debt are related to obviously some of the gambling addicts, in some home for years. And about $9,000 and about $9,000 in RS tax debt. - Okay, so 59 total gets you debt free but the mortgage? - And my mortgage is at $04,000, I'm sorry, $400,000 on it. - Okay, are you single? - Yes. - Okay. So is your take on pay around 10 grand, 11 grand? - Yes. And I also get, I don't know whether to include it or not, but I use it for utilities. I get $1,050 a month in child support. - Okay, okay. So we're really talking about $12,000 to $13,000. We have to work with for this debt free journey. And what are your monthly. Expenses plus your minimum debt payments. Have you added that up in your budget? I have it. I have it here. So my credit card payment with the minimum is 785 With the minimum and then my minimum with my consumer loan debt is 22,900 and 2,090 dollars and then my mortgage is 3136. Okay. And then you still have all your household expenses? Or is that Yeah, like your other bills and food and all of that, right? Yeah, no, no, it's good. You can just guesstimate it. That is about the $10,750. That's what I use to pay my utilities, cell phones and food in those columns. So based on that, about seven grand would get you buy for the month to cover all your debt payments and cover your household bills. Yes. Do you know what that means, Lachon? If you do this right, you would have $5,000 or $6,000 left over after that to tackle this debt. Yes. You know what that means? 10 months from now, you could be dead free. Yes. Do you believe that? I believe that I'm not used to having money in my account. So, who used to be in paycheck to paycheck, so now I have the money in my account just trying to tackle that trying that no one had to tackle this, like I cut up all my credit cards. I had out of this $16,000. It is $17,000 credit cards. And obviously they're a little amounts. The most that's $3,000. I've cut them all up. Good. The question with that once I've already paid off $3,000, when do I close them? Now, yes, you're not closing them. Yeah, once they're paid off, I'd go ahead and close them down, yeah. That's going to feel really good. You can close them now. You'll still owe the money, but you can close them and just start using your own money. I think that'll cause you to trust yourself more. As you start using your own money, month after month, you're going to learn to trust Lachon because Lachon is a trustworthy person and Lachon's a person who can pay her bills and tackle her debt. Can I say this, Lachon? You're somebody who does what you say you're going to do. And you have come from one side of the spectrum of not only financially, but with the hardship of addiction, like I mean, all of that. And you have chosen to do the work. You mentioned your therapist. I mean, I'm sure you're going to GA, like you're, I mean, I could only imagine your sobriety plan of what you put into place. And you continue to make steps to heal and do the right things. And George is exactly right. We have people call all the time and they're like, well, you know, I said, I was going to do this, but then I didn't and all this. And so that's where you just ask them, like, are you going to do what you said you're going to do to yourself? Like there's a self integrity level of life. And Lachon, you've proved that to yourself completely. Absolutely. Like that's the one of the most courageous things that you could do. And I think you're amazing. Absolutely amazing. Thank you. Oh, I appreciate it. And I have a 12 year old who looks up to me and wants to be a NFC geologist. And I don't want the urge to take out any debt. No debt. Also, I'm sorry, I do have to alone. I have 122,000. And the reason why I didn't mention it because I'm on the PSLF. And I only have one more payment. And I'm 120 payments. So I'm going to be watched away or forgiven on side. That's incredible. After one more payment, they're done. You've made 119 payments. And there's one more to go. It hit that 120 threshold. And they're going to wipe out 122 grand. Because you've been working in a, like, a non-profit type federal federal. Okay. Wow. That's incredible. Well, there's one blessing right there. That's amazing. That's amazing. How are you doing a budget currently, Lashon? You know, I have just been paying the same things off. I downloaded it every dollar to be honest with you three days ago. Good. And I feel about the first portion of this. I knew how much. Yeah. Have you inputted all of your debts into the debt snowball there at the bottom? That's why I called today because once I looked at all this, I'm like, oh my god, I got to get to this. Yes. So no, I have not. But you know, it's incredible when you do that budget and you lay out that $13,000 in income and you see the expenses and you see the top. It's going to say $5,000 left to budget. Now you're going to knock out a bunch of debts every single month. Right? You'd clear about a bunch of credit cards next month with the next paycheck. So now just learn to live off seven. Imagine you're a person who makes $7,000 a month. The other $5,000 is earmarked for restitution delenders. And if you just live like that, I'm telling you 10, 11 months from now, you're going to be completely debt free. You're going to undo all of the pain and the mistakes that you are still beating yourself up for from the past. You're going to be a new person. I'm tired. That's just the hurdle. I get to go start when I go to my therapist. I'm going to tell them I made it through. That's the hurdle. Like, okay, I can see it now. Even though I haven't input it, I have my little spreadsheet that I made. Yeah, I can see it now. And one thing I, you know, Dave would say is, you know, it's not that you need more money because I can go out and make more money to pay this off. But I, it's not that I don't want to. Does that make sense? I don't. I shouldn't have to. It's your habit. That's right. That's right. Yeah. Of my of what I have. Yes. Yes. Yes. That's why I have not picked up an additional, but I could have, but I just, I don't feel like I would be doing it right. Yes. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Change your habits. Get into a new rhythm with money and take it one day at a time too. Even in, I know in the addiction world, they talk about that, right? It's like one day at a time. And that with your money, don't get overwhelmed. Just look at, okay, today I'm looking at the budget for today. And what needs to happen today? It's one day at a time. But what George said, you're going to look up in about 365 days. Call us back to your debt free screen. We're proud of you. So, so proud of you. Hey guys, Dave Ramsey here. Every day on the show, we help people work through real money problems and figure out what to do next. Now, you can get that same kind of help anytime with Ask Ramsey. Ask your money question and get answers built on Ramsey principles we use on the show, whether you're making a decision or just want something explained. Ask Ramsey is here to help. It's fast, simple, and free to use. Go to RamseySolutions.com and try Ask Ramsey today. That's RamseySolutions.com. Our scripture of the day Romans 837. Yet, amid all these things, we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through him who loved us. Booker T. Washington said, excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way. Ryan is in Nashville just down the road up next. What's going on, Ryan? Thank you. Thanks for taking my call. Absolutely. How can we help? Well, so I had a question about the four final bankruptcy. So, I'm in a lot of a debt, and now I got about $70,000 in debt and two of those, some of those two vehicles that I no longer have anymore. So, I was trying to figure out what I should be as far as that. Should I file bankruptcy? Should I try to pay off the debt before I do that? 70,000, is that what you said? Yes. And the cars are repot. Is that the only debt? Is that 70? Is it all car or is there other types of debt in that 70? I have 35,810 in a car loan, 20,000, 525 in a car loan, and then 10,000 in critical debt. Okay. How much do you make a year? Currently, I make 110 a year. 110 a year? Yes. Ryan, I don't think you're bankrupt. 70,000 dollars? Yeah, yeah. Just now I just now got this new job where I'm able to make that. Okay. Yeah, I'm proud of you. That's great. What happened to the cars? Where are they? So, I let them go back because I wasn't able to afford them at the time. So, this is the deficit that you're able to sell in years. Okay. Are you able to settle with them? I haven't charged it. I was trying to get some advice before I go making calls. You have anything in savings right now to your name? About $12,000. Oh, you got 12 grand. Yes. Man, I might see if they'll take 11 grand for that $20,000 deficit, not a clear one of them. Okay. And then go save up another chunk of money and see if they'll settle on the next one. Because I don't know how they even expect to collect on you. And so, the longer it's been, the better chance you have to settle for the deficit there. What's the smallest debt right now? Are those small credit cards, or do you, is that one big balance? - No, it's spread out over three great courts. - Okay, good. So that means you can knock one out, free of repayment, knock the next one out, free of repayment. If you just line them up, it's smallest to largest. So what's your next paycheck? How much is that gonna be? - I'm salary, so my paychecks are 1800 every week. - Fantastic. - That's great. How much, if you lived on just, do you own a home mortgage or rent somewhere? - No, I rent. - Okay, so what would, how much is your rent? - My rent is 15 hundred. - Okay. So could you live off of half of your take home pay, do you think? - 36 hundred? - Yeah, that's down the street up out close to what I live off of now. - Okay, well the great thing is, Ryan, if you could settle in Georgia's world, which I would love, that $11,000 for that $20,000 car loan, then you got 45 left if you have, and you throw 4K at it, you're done in 11 months. - Okay. - Just think about that, the credit card debt, even if you focus just on that, you're done in three months. If you do 36 hundred a month at those credit cards. And if you keep that up, even if you had to pay a full amount for the cars, you just keep throwing that chunk in that money at it, it's gonna be gone in less than two years. So this is not a bankruptcy situation. - Yeah, that answers that question. So as far as the credit cards go, I don't have those accounts open anymore. I already closed the accounts, I just owe the money. I decided I'm no longer gonna be doing credit cards at all. - Good. - For you, Ryan. - Way to go. Welcome to the club. I'm 13 years credit card sober over here. I don't do coins for that, but maybe we should start. - Right, well I guess as far as that goes, I guess you guys answered my question, that I was looking for. So I really appreciate you taking my call. - If I helped a guy avoid bankruptcy today, I think we did a good deed. And we have so much hope for your situation, Ryan. That's why we're not being flipping here. We're telling you, show me the math. You have a great income. Yes, there's a big pile of debt. But man, you're ready to clean it up. You have the income to do it. - And some people think bankruptcy is just like the easy, get out of debt or get out of debt. Just get out of free jail card. But the truth is, depending on what chapter you file, you may still have payments. They'll put you on a payment plan. And then you have bankruptcy on your record for the rest of your life. And so avoiding it at all costs. - It's not the clean slate, people make it out to be. - That's right, that's right. - They got this restart from scratch. And you got to change the behavior that got you there. And bankruptcy, sometimes people just go right back into it. - Yes, yeah. But we say avoid it at all costs. To the point that you could cash out retirement. - Yes. - To avoid bankruptcy. That's how much we want you to avoid it. 'Cause it's not good for you. And it doesn't always solve the problem. So we're excited for you Ryan. Well done on the new high paying job. - Fantastic. - Income, that's your greatest well-filled tool. And it's your greatest way to avoid bankruptcy. So way to go, man. Adam is in Los Angeles, up next. Adam, welcome to the show. - Hi, thank you for tuning my call. - Sure. - How can we help? - So I accepted a job, a luxury car dealership. And it is a job as a technology specialist where I help customers learn the features on their new car. The dealership is very hard to get into. And I had to do it like 10 or 11 interviews just to get hired. And once I got hired, they completely switched the entire pay plan with me. So that's kind of, yeah, when I interviewed in touch, I was told it was a salary position and I agreed to this salary and everything. And then now they're kind of, oh, it's the minimum wage for the area, but they said that I can make the rents to in performances and commissions. So I'm kind of just thinking do I stick it out and see if I can earn that? 'Cause it was so hard to get into. - Yeah. - Or do I just walk away? - Have you projected realistically like what you think you would make on those commissions and all the other parts that would fuel your income? Like have you mapped it out to say, okay, yeah, there's a realistic life here or is it hard? - So since it's not like in sales, like it's not like I make commission off of selling vehicles, it's really just like if I, how many reviews I get, how many customers I get, how many people I can help, I kind of just get like a- - You're not really in charge of that. You can't just go drum up business. - Right, exactly. - So this is not a commissionable role. Do you have anything in writing that show they were gonna pay you a salary? - I just have the initial ad of the jobs. And right now basically they're saying that they'll take me for $18 an hour and the salary was supposed to be $6,500 a month. - Yeah, that's not adding up. - So yeah, and I'm like, so I ask them like, is it I can make the rest in commissions? And I'm like, I don't know how that's possible and they're just for the area. I mean, I'm in a very expensive part. - Yeah, if you're in LA and they're paying you minimal wage. - It's a luxury dealership. - You can go do anything else and make that. - Yeah. - Yeah, I mean, it's a Mercedes dealership so it was very hard to get into. And, you know, I felt really connected to the brand and the management and all of that, but. - So do you already have the job? - I can survive. - Yeah, I'm supposed to start next week and I, but I'm not, you know. - But you don't have another job lined up. - No. - I mean, if you can go find something else to make that much or more, do. - You could try for 30 days. I mean, I don't have that. - Yeah, at this point, at least you have a job. I'd rather you take it temporarily until you can find something. - Yeah, and see, and you know, give yourself two months or something and see if it's like, okay, then there really is a huge customer race coming in and it is getting close to what I would pay what the salary was, right? Like maybe, but the fact that they can't. - I just question their integrity now. - I agree with that. - I don't want to work somewhere where I have to question the integrity of leadership. And I don't know if you can go to corporate and, you know, let them know if this is more of a local ask your job. - I'm like at 2400 a month, which is just incredible. Like that's not even my rent. - Yeah, sure. Well, if you can't afford it. - What were you doing before? - I'm, well, I'm 22, so I had, I've, you know, I had finished college and-- - What was your degree? - Marketing. - Okay. - I might just try to aim higher and find a marketing corporate job and kind of go down that path. And in the meantime, work this job until you get to that next thing that is a salary job that you can actually afford your rent in life. I'm sorry that happened to me. - Yeah. - That stinks. That puts this hour of the RAM to 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. (gentle music)