Your Money Habits Matter More Than Math

Brought to you by the EveryDollar app, start budgeting for free today. Normal is broken, common sense is weird, so we're here to help you transform your life from the Ramsey Network and the Fair Winds Credit in your studio. This is the Ramsey Show. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, thanks for hanging out with us. Mitchell Cruz, Ramsey Personality, number one best-selling author, co-host of Smart Money Happy Hour. My daughter is my co-host today. The phone number here is triple eight, eight to five, five to two, five. The call is free and some say the advice is worth what you pay for it. All right, Renee is in Knoxville. Hi, Renee, how are you? I'm doing well. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? Thank you for taking my call. I am very concerned about my parents, they are both retired, their income that they bring in is roughly around 4,000 a month and their debt has surrounded greatly since they have retired and I'm very concerned at where that's going to lead because I feel like it's going to be directed toward me and my husband to help them and I just don't think that's fair. I agree. How old are they? Let's see, 73 and 76, and how old are you guys? 53. Okay. But they own three homes, one of which my cousin lives in and my brother lives in the other one and neither of them pay rent. My parents pay the insurance, they pay the taxes and I don't think that's right. And I don't know how to address it, especially when my mom tells me that she is trying to scrounge for coins to go get a five for $14.99 from the grocery store and she was asking my advice about consolidating her credit cards because that debt has gotten so much that she can't keep up with it. They need the ties on her way. After her, why don't you have my lame brother and my lame cousin pay you rent and then we wouldn't be having this discussion? I've tried. No, I mean, if that's the answer to her question, if she says I'm candy scrounge coins, well, the reason is because you give the house away to lame over here who needs to get a job and pay you rent. Exactly. And she doesn't call me wanting to listen. Right. And I don't know how to have a deeper conversation with her when they're in this situation and they had a friend that gave them $400 and I don't think that's fair because he's on a fixed income too. Are they looking to change, Renee? I know she's calling and complaining to you, but do you have hope that truly if you laid out some kind of plan that they would want to follow it, or are they going to be just stuck in their ways? Because there's a point that they can just complain, right? And then there's other attitudes that are desperate and really wanting changes. Doesn't sound like they're going to, they want to change. I don't see a change. She tells me that she's actually trying to go back to work with her father. Where's your father? Why are you, and then all this discussion with your mother, where's he? He won't go back to work for sure. I said, "Where is he? Why isn't he in this discussion?" Because she wears the pants in that family. Okay. Yeah. And, you know, his advice doesn't work. And so it's all her, and everything falls on her, and you know, these things. Well, my grandmother used to say, my grandmother used to say those convinced against their willer of the same opinion still. So I doubt you're going to fix this. You're just going to have to watch it burn to the ground. It sounds like. The only option you've got is to just sit down with your mom and your dad in the room, in person, and turn off the television and say, "We need to have a real serious discussion. You people are screwing up your lives, and I love you, and I don't want to watch you burn this to the ground." And you know, you haven't been that direct. You've kind of just padded her on the hand, and just kind of say, "Well, mom, I'm sorry. I mean, it's kind of now what you're doing, but you haven't really gone. You people are screwing up here." Well, in what's full stop, you know? Yeah. Right. And I don't, I doubt you're going to get their attention. Well, I was going to say, and the hard thing is, Renee, you almost have to go, because I would have, I would have one last sit down of like here it is. And then beyond that, Renee, I think it's the hard reality that you're not going to be able to change them, and they're making it to a point where they can't pay their bills. And I would say it's not up to you and your husband at that point, they're going to be selling houses. You know what I mean? Right. They're going to have to get equity. Like they're-- Oh darn. They will have to have problem solved. Yeah. So, I'm curious, is your fear, and even the reason you call, is it more at a concern genuinely for you and your husband looking forward, or is that of annoyance and what feels unfair with how they're treating other people in their lives, and they haven't given you that same sentiment? Well, it's quite hurtful, too, right, where you're watching them and what they're doing, because you said that a few times in the call already. So there's probably a level of hurts, of golly, that look what they're doing for everybody else. They can't even do it for themselves. Right. And, you know, I mean, and it is genuine concern for us, because I don't want all of our hard work to, you know, come to it. Unless you voluntarily hand it over, your hard work is not in jeopardy at all, unless you can't say no, unless you're your mother's daughter. I mean, if you want to follow in her path and go, oh, well, yeah, I'm going to be the next family enabler, then yeah, you could burn your own thing to the ground trying to keep these people afloat, but you can also stand back and watch them and go, hmm, well, that's interesting. Right. Because we're trying to focus on our future. Go build your thing. I think I would sit down with mom and dad, and I think you've got maybe part of the discussion is, look, I've talked to, I wouldn't even have your husband in the room. I would just use sit down with your mom and dad, and you need to go full throttle in their face. Very blunt. To be unclear is to be unkind. No southern sugar coating. No bless your heart. No bless your heart. Bust them. Okay. Yeah. Part of that conversation is I've discussed it with your husband's name, and we will not be supporting you because you have given away free rent to these two lamos instead of taking care of your own self and calling me up and whining about credit card debt when you got equity in a house over here in junior won't pay the rent because you're enabling him. So don't be calling me. Yeah. I was going to say stop that. Yes. I'm going to lay it down now and then you walk away and you are not at risk unless you have the inability to say no also, but dad is not inherited. So you don't get, I mean, if they go to, if they go to, if they die with a negative net worth, it only affects the bank, not you. And so it's just, it's just harsh. It's so hard to watch people you love be stupid. It's more entertaining to watch stupid people when they're not yours, you know. But when they're yours, when you're yours, it's hard. You know, when it's like, you're family, you're God, I'm kin to you. You know, I mean, it's just like, you know, it's hard. Yeah. And there's, and there's an innate level within a family, and I get your concern Renee of, you know, your parents take care of you for 18, 21 years, you know what I mean? And it's that feeling of what's going to happen and my literally going to let them starve. And they won't. I think your mind's probably gone extreme of, oh my gosh, we're going to have to save the day. You're not. They have equity in probably two of these houses, I pray that they're going to end up selling. They're going to eat and be fine. But man, it's a pull on your heart of like, my, here are my parents, and I don't know what to do. So. Running a business is hard enough. The tools you use to run it should make your job easier. Too many business owners spend more time fighting their software than selling their products. You didn't sign up to become a web developer. You signed up to build a business you're proud of. And Shopify gets that with Shopify. You can design and launch a professional storefront fast without the headaches. Everything you need to start selling is built in. Man, when your customers are ready to buy, Shopify's purple shop pay button is one of the best converting checkouts in the world, which means fewer abandoned carts and more sales. And when questions come up because they always do, sidekick, Shopify's built in AI assistant is there to help you keep moving. All you need is the idea. Shopify handles the rest. your free trial at shopify.com/rim. Ramsey. That's shopify.com/ramsey. Shopify.com/ramsey. Jared is in Providence, Rhode Island. Hi, Jared, how are you? Hey, how's it going guys? I really appreciate it. I just started actually listening into your show after my younger brothers been trying to help me get out of some credit card debt. I just had a question here, man. I'm kind of here with my hands tied and, you know, I'm sick of living the way that I do, but I'm about 23 K in credit card debt and I have about two credit cards that I'm currently using with about 30% use in each with monthly payments of one being 600 in the other being 200. I haven't missed a payment. I'd make the minimum payments, but what I find is that when I make the payments, it's just the interest is what's killing me here and I just kind of, you know, needed some advice to, you know, maybe, you know, guide me in the right direction to get out of this debt. Is this the only consumer debt you have, Jared? Are the two credit cards? Yes, it's the two credit cards with my partner of five years and I was just honestly honest with her the other day about the debt that I was in and, you know, she's still willing to help me and stick around and I have a really good strong support system around me. You know, it's just in my little brother, he's actually going to school for business and marketing, you know, he recommended listening to your guys show and you know, it was a little bit about credit cards and credit debt. He just, you know, figured he start with you guys, you know, maybe some quite helpful tips here, you know, how much do you make a year? So right now I have a jot down. I'm still getting comfortable with, you know, just the other day was honestly my first years of 28 years of living. And I sat down and finally put the numbers in my face and made a budget with my little brother. He helped me made a whole spreadsheet on Microsoft and everything. Yeah. So we cracked some numbers down. We're going to reconvene in another couple days just because it was kind of a lot to put in his face. But right now I make about $3,000 a month. That's what I know. I have two good jobs right now. And I make $3,000 a month and it costs me around $2,700 to live. And that includes my monthly payments to those credit cards. And do you have a car? Do you have a car payment? I do not actually own my vehicle. Thank you. That's good. Do you have any student loans? I do not have any student loans to it. Good. Okay. What are you doing for work? What are the two jobs? So, honestly, I work in the cannabis industry over here in Rhode Island. It's a very booming industry, especially with Massachusetts being closed. I work in both markets, both Rhode Island and Massachusetts. I work retail and one and then I work in cultivation and the other. And they're making a lot of money and you're not. Yeah. Yeah. You could say that. Yeah. From one spot, I work inventory and the other spot. And I see the numbers at once. Yeah. They make a lot of money and you're not. Oh, yes, it is. And so the, I mean, your issue is that your income is low. And the answer to your credit card interest rate is to increase your income dramatically. And so what you're going to have to do is shift a career, make some career shifts that are pretty dramatic. And your number of hours are going to increase because your income, if you double your income, obviously, that's $3,000 more a month. And you put that on $23,000 in eight months, you're out of debt. And we don't worry about interest rates anymore. But there is not a hack for paying off $23,000 a month or $23,000 a credit card debt at $300 a month. There's no hack. There's nothing. Even if the interest rate was zero, you're going to be dead before you get these things paid off at zero at $300 a month. That's $3,600 a year against $23,000. So you don't have an interest rate problem. You've got an income problem. Yeah. So I'm wondering, Jared, though, for real, from a career standpoint, you're 28. Is that right? So what you said? Yes. Yes. You know, I mean, it's kind of the point in life where, hey, what do I want to be? What do I want to do with my life where I have a sustaining career where you are making 60 grand a year or 160? But just at least, you know, getting to that point. So the income is going to be, yeah, it is going to be because it's $800 a month. Is that what you said that you're paying? You have between, yeah, $600 and the other ones too much. So you're still using the two, correct? Yes. And I'm at the point where I don't want to, but I have to dip into them to cover some expenses to cover like a bill or something of that nature. I'm done with putting random expenses on it like I have been over the years on like a crazy cool again and having fun, but yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is a, it's a harsh reality that you started facing in the good news is all having done what we do listening to you. We know that personal finance is 80% behavior. And I will tell you that you are using the proper language, the words you're using the way you're forming your sentences to talk to us, tells us that you are ready to change. You are sick and tired of being sick and tired. And you feel stuck and you need a way out. And so this has grown up time. Like you said, the party's over. And so we may have to, you know, you're going to have to do something different for income. You don't have to do it in the in the next 20 minutes, but by Christmas, you need a different job. Okay. Because this, this one sucks. And, you know, I mean, and, and you probably just need to get away from cannabis altogether. Hello. Yes. Yeah. He said that party's over. I was like, maybe not for Jared. No, no, no, no, no, I know, I know, no, but there's a great book by Ken Coleman that says, find the work you're wired today when there's an assessment in the back. But I do, I think they're going to give it to you as a gift. Yes. So yeah, yeah, hang on the line. And we're also, we'll also sign you up for our budgeting app, which is really easier to use than a spreadsheet. Much easier to use. It's called every dollar. And we're going to give them both to use gift because we think you've got what it takes to do this. I think you can do this, sir. Wow. I, not hearing that from you guys. And then the support system I have at home and you guys don't understand. Like, this is it's the big time relief. You know, it's just one thing that's been bugging me my whole life and then this damn debt. And I just ready to change. You can do all this. It is going to require that you change jobs. And I'm not. And cutting up those credit and it's hard to cut them up, but quit using them and you change jobs to get your income up. So I will pick up six part time jobs right now, drop one of those bad ones and then go look for a new full time job that pays me double. I mean, crap, you can make more loading boxes at FedEx at Christmas than you're making right now, like double what you're making. Okay. So, I mean, ups and FedEx is getting ready to start hiring for Christmas. I know people it's not even Halloween, but get ready. I mean, there we are. So, and so you just got to start thinking differently, like I need money from a legal and moral source. I need money. And so I'm not suggesting breaking bad here, but I am just saying I am saying, you know, you need money and you need to go get you some. And that's where I was. I was your age when I had this exact discussion with myself. I mean, I made a list of the stuff I was working on that week that would bring in money that week. I didn't work on any nine-month strategies. I was just filed bankruptcy when I was 28. Rachel was a baby. And I'm trying to feed these children and my wife's looking at me like I've lost my mind because apparently I had and things had to change. And I went to making, I made a list of stuff on a yellow pad and the things at the top of the list to do were things that brought in money that week. And it was just like my theme was not greed. It was desperation and need, but it was I need money. And so don't talk to me unless you're talking about bringing some money by Friday. And that was my whole thing and that was our first step to getting the devil away from the door. And you got to get the devil away from the door and it's income for you, sir. And it's not continuing to go deeper and credit card that even for bills and like making it a challenge to say, okay, next month I may have to call some companies and shift when I have to pay this bill in that bill. But I'm going to have the cash going forward because as you continue to go back on that, that's just adding to the problem. You have to stop it. You have to stop it, which is going to be a painful 30 to 60 days. But that's where the desperation of the weekend jobs, the night shifts, all that. You know, you're exactly right, all the extra jobs, but also if you're going to prioritize and not pay something, you pay food, first lights and water, second transportation, third. So food shelter, clothing, transportation and utilities are before you pay master, before you pay your master card. The borrowers slave to the lender, the master card. [MUSIC] If you're in a really bad debt situation, I know how scary that is. You might be getting harassed by debt collectors every day, threatened with lawsuits, and maybe you think bankruptcy is the only way out. I've been there. I remember feeling so scared I couldn't breathe. But it's not too late to get out of this mess. Contact Guardian Litigation Group. Guardian is not a call center, they're a real law firm. You get a real attorney assigned to you. So if a creditor sues, you're protected from day one, not scrambling to find legal representation when you're already in the middle of it. And Guardian only gets paid when your debt is negotiated and you accept the settlement. Guardian has helped over 55,000 people settle more than $600 million in debt. That's why I trust them. And send people their way. The longer you wait, the fewer options you have, the more expensive it gets. But it doesn't have to end that way. And I'm going to go to Guardian Lit.com/Ramsey. Jeremiah is in Atlantic City. Jeremiah, how are you? Hi, how are you doing Dave? Thanks for having me on. Sure. What's up? Hey, just in a situation right now where I'm making $85,000 base by commuting around two to two and a half hours, so like four to five hours round trip for a job three days a week. My dad recently got sick and he's okay now though. But I want to find something closer to home. It's just been kind of tough and wear me out just kind of region like a point of burnout. Yeah. You spend five hours a day in the car, and let's the car is your job. So why don't you just move over where the job is? My dad got sick and they used to do pretty well in the corporate world, but they don't have much of a retirement, so they're just as young as my parents. So you have to take care of your parents? They've taken care of me. We're kind of like your close family unit, as of now I'm the only child, so it's been over you. How old are you? 20 years. So why can't you move out and move to your job? I'm sorry, I don't understand. I could. I've been in some sales roles where I've found that it's been a little bit unstable, no matter if you push pretty hard, and unless you get a roommate, it's just a little bit of risky with, you know, ultimately the cost of living nowadays. I have been getting a hotel one made a week, but I know that that can eat up a pretty good amount. Here's a path of what you're saying. Okay. Well, I mean, is the job that you currently have, what are you selling where you currently work? They make 85 base plus commission. I'm selling commercial insurance, but how long have you been doing that? About six months. Okay. And is it, I mean, do you have a quote that you're supposed to be hitting and you're not hitting? Is there some kind of, um, I haven't been selling yet. I pulled a couple policies for 120,000, but nothing's guaranteed in the sales world or just kind of what I've experienced in the past, um, you know, I, I should keep pushing with it. No, that's not, you might understand what I'm asking. I'm asking why you don't think this is stable and you've been there six months and you've made two sales. No, no sales yet. So what are you, what are you doing? Um, I'm trying to make sales, I'm making calls, but, um, you know, when you pull the policy, uh, it's just a little bit of a longer sales process. So did you take this job, Jeremiah, knowing about the commute in the first place? Yeah. Sure. I did. Uh, I was getting low on funds, uh, after a lie off from a tech company and my dad got sick. So I just kind of, you know, took the first thing I had and, and kind of jumped into it, uh, after, you know, three months, hospital sent. Okay. Are you, are you healed now? Are you okay physically? I'm, I'm okay. I'm just, you know, just pushing your job. You, you know, a job that's not going to survive is what you're telling me, because they're not going to keep paying you $85,000 a year to pull two policies over six months, I can promise you. Yeah. That, that's what I'm saying. They're going to fire your body. Some of you. Well, yeah, and some other sales roles I've pushed pretty hard, like, just tried to make the most money I could. And, uh, you know, I've done well, but over excited myself at times, there's local jobs near me though. They just don't pay nearly enough, uh, you know, the plan was to move to the city. Uh, you know, ultimately we're, we're the, you know, it's a little more feasible to, to earn more. Okay. So, um, there are no jobs. There are no careers that don't involve stress unless you make $20 an hour and somebody tells you what to do every day, pick that up, set that down. But if you're going to go make $100,000 a year, they're involved stress and involved risk. It involves you getting up, leaving the cave, killing something and dragging it home and welcome to the world of adulthood. There's anxiety involved. Okay. Yes, sir. You got to get a call us and you got to get out there and bust it. And I'm not sure this job is going to last because I'm not, I can't hear what is going on that's, that if I'm your employer, why I would keep you, um, because you're going to have to produce more than you're producing. And every time I talk about that, you just talk about, uh, stress and risk and all these things instead of, and I can just push harder. Well, yeah, that's, that's welcome to selling you. You knocked doors and you sell stuff. So I think you just took this job because you fell backwards into it and you were desperate. You had nothing to do with you wanted to be in the insurance business, had nothing to do with you wanted to work for that company. There was nothing exciting about this except they gave you a check on Friday and you took a J-O-B. That's what it sounds like to me. That's how you've described it. And so you need a new job and that the new job needs to involve something you care about and something that you're willing to push for because you care about it. And, uh, you know, you're selling ads, uh, to, uh, advertisers on the Ramsey show and you believe in the Ramsey show and it's your job to go get some advertisers on this. And if you don't, then you don't get to work here because that's your job. And you know, that kind of thing, but you care about it and you can go get it done and it's not a matter of being pushy, it's a matter of having a good product that you love that you can represent with integrity and then you serve people by giving it to them and letting them give you money for it. And that's selling. Selling is serving. It's not pushing. It's pulling. Yeah. And the family dynamic is something I'm thinking about too, Jeremiah. You've got to get out of there. Yeah. And I, um, and I, you feel the way to being an only childhood. I don't know what the family dynamic, if there's pressure from them to you to stay close to take care of or if they're really needing how, I don't know, I would be, I would be questioning and pushing on that scenario too to allow you then to move if you need to and to, to be a 28 year old guy who's trying to make it. Yeah. And that may not always be the case if you have one foot somewhere that you have to be. I desperately after talking to you for a few minutes, love you and I want you to build some muscles. I want you to build some muscles from doing some lifting and the muscles are to operate in the marketplace and operate as a standalone 28 year old man. And you take care of your parents when they are in trouble, you run over from your place and stop by and make sure mom and dad are okay, but you're not hanging out there from some emotionally needy situation. Instead, you're like a man with square shoulders and you're out there in the marketplace doing stuff. Well, and I'll tell you now's the, and now's the time to do it. Yeah. It's a good time. Well, you're, like this is it, like when you start to enter into a relationship of marriage, you got kids, you got 1000 things pulling at you right now, it's you, Jeremiah. Like, it's the, it's the simplest it's going to be right now. Yeah. So we'll give you another copy of that book that, that, you know, the, find the work you're wired to do. Find the work you're wired to do and take that assessment. And I want you to stop and think about, okay, what does the, the 48 year old version of Jeremiah look like in his career? And what are the steps to get there? Who do I want to be when I'm 48? When the 48 year old version that has some emotional muscle and character, that man Jeremiah is standing over there 20 years from today, looking back at this 28 year old, what's going to make that guy smile at you right now? Who do you want to be? And you know, that's, that you're starting to set goals. and you're saying I'm gonna step into a career with intentionality that's in my giftings and I'm not gonna fall backwards into it and mommy's not gonna fold my underwear anymore. Now I'm gonna have my own place and I'm gonna be a man and I'm gonna go out here and do stuff and that's that's what I want for you. I mean you've had some stuff that's knocked you down, you've got a few scars and a few hurt places, few bruises, places emotionally, me too, when I was your age I was bankrupt with two kids so I get it. I understand it's scary but um but I want you to get a healthy level of desperation and go kill something to rag at home. Hey I want to talk to you for a second about love and not love like in Titanic or something. I mean responsible love, the kind of love that moves you to take care of the people closest to you and one of the most important ways to show that kind of love is by having term life insurance. If you have anyone depending on you, a spouse, kids, anyone, you need term life insurance. Term life insurance gives your family real protection if the unthinkable happens so they can spend their time grieving and not worrying about how the bills are gonna get paid. Zander is a broker who works for you, shopping the top companies to find the right coverage options for your needs and your budget. In many cases there are options available with no medical exam and instant approval. My wife and I had term life insurance through Zander for years, long before I worked at Ramsey because we trust them. Getting term life insurance is a way of saying I love you when you can no longer say it yourself. Go to zander.com or call 1-800-356-4282 to find the coverage that fits your family. Okay, you've worked hard to get out of debt. You're out of debt everything but the house. That's baby step two. You built your emergency fund of three to six months of expenses. That's baby step three, which means you are now on baby step four, five and six. If you are on baby step four, five and six or beyond, we want to invite you to come hang out with us and celebrate on the Ramsey cruise. Here the ship horn. That's the best ship horn I got. Yeah, I'm sorry. We're working on it. But yeah, the live like no one else cruise. Now we tell you not to go on vacations and cruises and stuff like that when you're in the first three baby steps, right? But for and beyond, we want you to come with us on the live like no one else cruise. I'm going to be doing a bunch of teaching on what to do now that you've gotten to four, five, six and seven. What do you do when you finally get rid of the debt monster? Yeah, we're going to talk about it a lot. And George is going to be doing some nerd teaching because George is the nerd. And Rachel and John are going to be doing marriage and money stuff. And we're going to be doing some untrained leadership stuff. And we've got great guests. Natalie Grant is going to be with us. It's going to be an incredible cruise. Jay Warsaw. She's going to be doing teaching as well. Who? Jade Warsaw. Oh, of course, Jade. I left off. I'm sorry. I'm looking at all the all the faces on the on the ad here. Yeah. Wow. So Western Caribbean. And so that means like Jamaica and all that kind of stuff, right? So it's going to be an incredible cruise. And this is not like one of the Walmart on the seas cheapos. This is a nice one. Okay. I don't do the cheapos. This is like haul in America, which is freaking cool. Okay. Nice. It's a beautiful ship. Well, and this was the same ship we did. The other one. Yes. Last time when it was the Western Caribbean, we're doing the Eastern Caribbean this time. Oh, it's another way around. Yeah. No, but this was the same ship. We're going back on it. And it's you. Yeah. But the ship itself, the restaurants are incredible. The coffee shops, the bars, the lounge, I mean, all of it. It's really, really nice. And the good thing about a cruise is it's all inclusive. You get right in. There's pickleball courts and all of it. And it's all it's all there. Once you board the ship, your food, you know, everything is included, which is so nice. It's real primo. And you know, what we ended up doing too, because we were all on there. If one of us wasn't doing something on stage or we're just walking through and one of the stages was empty, we just jump up and start answering questions and people do that. And so we taped a bunch of the shows there. We did the largest debt free screen. It's March 14 through 21. And it is not yet sold out, but it is approaching it. You can still get a cabin, but you need to do it. Quit messing around. You're not going to get to go. Okay. And so you need to get this done. So click go to Ramsey Solutions dot com slash events. Click the link in the show notes, all that kind of stuff. Live like no one else cruise, baby. Come on. Let's do it. This is you you need to celebrate when you hit some of these milestones. That's what this is about. All right. Daniela is in New York. Hi, Daniela. How are you? Hi, I'm so glad I got to call in for the father daughter duo. I started listening to you guys two weeks ago. Wow. And on Friday, I actually was able to talk to George and John. And now I'm glad to talk to you guys today. I discovered an even bigger issue that I have. And I'm in my 20s and I just want some advice before this just gets worse. Okay. So I got a UIL insurance policy at the time. I thought what I thought was what I now know as a money market in a high yield savings account. That is what I thought that I was getting with this additional bonus of life insurance and a death death benefits. So I put in $10,000 right away. I first started my payments at $500 and eventually lowered them to 200. This was March of 2025. I current I had $15,300 as the total premium. The accumulated value now is 13,281. And that's because I had to borrow 2,900 against myself, which I didn't really know this at the time. I my transmission went off for my car. I wanted to take the full 15 and the agent who is actually someone that's close to me in my circle told me, oh, the only thing available is 2,900 right now. And he was like, but you can pay this back whenever you want. But there's no rush. So I'm like, okay, great. I'm taking 2,900. I'll just have to use that for the down payment. Then I can no longer pay the car most free and full. I'm going to take it for the down payment. Okay. I stopped. Just stop. Just stop. Okay. So it's real simple, honey. You bought a piece of crap. And you've been screwed. Yeah. And you've realized that now. That's the end of the story. Yeah. That's the last thing to you guys. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you turned 15,000 into 13. You know, and they talked you into borrowing your own money and I'd like they did you a favor. If I go down to the bank and I take money out of my savings account, I don't have to talk the bank or end of that. Right. That's what you did. Okay. You just took money out your own savings account. So what you should do, what you should do is you should cancel the whole thing and tell them to send you a check. End it. Okay. So what they told, so what I did was I stopped the auto pay because they told me you have nothing to account. Stop the auto pay. And I lowered the death benefit. Would you please just cancel the stupid crap that you bought and quit giving them money? You've been screwed. I just figured if I did that, the two steps that I took, that would at least give me something to walk away with whenever the surrender policy they're gone. No. Because right now, I would have nothing and I would probably owe. No, no, you don't get nothing. You get your 13,000 dollars back. I wouldn't get that because of the surrender policy. The surrender fees aren't up until 2035. But they're not 100% surrender phase. So the surrender value was 1,000, $1,000 in 60, yeah, 1,000, 60. You put in $15,000 and they're telling you that you're after surrender phase, you're going to get $1,000. What is the name of this company? I wouldn't get anything actually because I took $29,000. I know. What's the name of this company? National life insurance. And I actually heard someone call about this last week, this exact company, which was why I decided to look into it. Yeah. I had no idea. So if it wasn't for someone else calling last week, I wouldn't have even known. And I did some reason that said the best. Anything else that this person that's in your circle ever wants you to do. You smack them and then you run away. Yeah. I'm going to. For real. This is this. This is a real thing that if she the surrender is it doesn't sound right. I'm probably going to go to the insurance commission that stayed in New York and follow a complaint because I've never seen surrender charges that are 90%. So it's because the policy is so new. I know, honey. It's because it's so bad. Yeah. It's the worst. I'm dealing with the guilt of not knowing what I didn't know right essentially. I'm not I'm not picking on you. I just want you to not play footsie with rattlesnakes anymore. Well, and we call it stupid tech. You know, everyone's done stupid stuff right with money everybody has and so including me Yes, and so that's gonna be you know This is it if that's the case, but continuing to be in it Because you don't want to be here from here till nine till two thousand thirty five I'm distributing anymore. Yeah, let's do this. Let's do this. I can't I can't unpack your horrible policy that National life screwed you with with your friend and air quotes. I got this big makes me so angry for you So I can't unpack all of it right now, but the here's the bottom line I need you to get out of this as fast as possible and never give these people another dime Well, the best way to unpack it is go to Ramsey solutions.com and find a smart vestor pro that does actual real investing In your area contact them tell them we talked on the air and you need some help looking at this policy Because it sounds to me like that you they may have violated some stuff and you may need to file a complaint with The insurance commission to state in New York. I'm not sure, but for sure for sure you've been misled And for sure you've been screwed, okay, so I just don't know if I don't know if it's breach the legal lines or not And whether the insurance commission will be interested in taking these guys down or not But somebody needs to take them down We just told 32 million people that national life sucks just now, so that helps that makes me feel a little bit better But but still it doesn't help Daniela, so I want you to sit down with somebody that can unpack this policy and verify the Information because I think your agent's lying to you about your surrender amounts They're unreasonable It doesn't it I mean usually you get hit hard, but not 90% it could be 40% or something Yeah, not the whole thing. Yeah, I'm never seeing that and so if it costs you three or four thousand dollars to get out of this Get out because you're 15,000 and you can wait a year and not pay a 15,000 Well, we'll talk about that, but you know the last thing we want to do is do business with national lives I U L Let's just make sure everyone here is that real clearly that say that clearly. Okay, good Because we're consumer advocates here. We you don't have a problem with Ramsey unless you're screwing people we love Which are people? That's the people we love You Hey guys George Campbell here There are a lot of things you probably shouldn't ignore your check engine light that weird smell in your fridge the smoke detector That's been beeping for six days and maybe most importantly your phone bill the things we ignore have a funny way of costing us the most and your phone Carrier is counting on you ignoring that overpriced bill month after month so they can keep charging you more and more But that's not the case with boost mobile. You don't need to keep overpaying when you can pay just 25 bucks a month for boost Mobile's unlimited plan and the best part is you can bring your phone keep your number and pay just 25 bucks a month forever That price will not go up. It is inflation proof. There's no contracts There's no hidden fees. There's no catch and since most smartphones have an e-sim these days You can switch from the comfort of your home just like I did so it's okay to notice when you're paying more than you should But you shouldn't keep doing that. Stop overpaying for your phone service go to boostmobile.com/ramzie and make the switch today That's boostmobile.com/ramzie $25 forever requires customers to remain active on boost mobile and limited plan Welcome back to the Ramsey show in the fair winds credit union studio. I'm Dave Ramsey Rachel Cruz Ramsey personality my daughter is my co-host today Austin is in Montgomery, Alabama. Hey, Austin. How are you? I'm well. How are you sir better than I deserve. What's up? So me and my wife invested in expanding our business back in March bought an F-250 in a fleet washing trailer and the F-250 motor went down about three weeks ago bought an extended warranty on it. However, not sure if the warranty is going to cover it and it's about $16,400 to six. We don't have the cash to pay for it. Some curious Do we save up for it or due to the revenue it brings in? Do we take out a loan for it? Okay, um, this is a side hustle This is no, so this is a branch of our full-time business. We have a detailing business that does about 15 to $25,000 a month in revenue in this section of the business does between $9,000 and $12,000 a month in revenue. Is that an addition to the 25 or is that part of the 25 in addition to? Okay, okay, so you're breaking 25,000 gross on a detailing business which ought to be about 90% margin So why don't you not have any money? So we've got a lot of overhead. We're about 18 grand a month in overhead. What is your overhead? Uh, we've got about a 4,000 square foot shop and we've got a about Oh, you're not doing mobile detailing. You're bringing them into your place. No, no. Yes. Yes. We do hire you. I'd work Not that mobile's not nice, but I know. I know. I'm just okay Um, I get it. It just it after some reason I had it in my head one way. Okay, now so yeah, you got a 4,000 square foot shop. How much is the shop? Now okay, this to the shop's only $1,300 a month. We've got about a $500 a month Power bill it's in from there. It's just So we've got $2,000 a week in payroll. I mean, I could I don't have all of the things right in front of me I've got an office manager that does all of that, but it all comes out to be about $18,000 a month for us to Handle everything that we need to handle. Yeah, we need to hit $25,000 a month between the two businesses that pays My wife that pays me Um, which obviously pays all of our home bills and let's let's really get let's stop second. Okay. So I kind of got enough of it I think to start working on it with you. I love what you're doing by the way. You're great entrepreneur and You're a classic entrepreneur. You suck at bookkeeping and you're gonna have to get better at it You're gonna go out of business. I I wasn't the same stage myself. I'm gonna send you a copy of our book Building a business you love and you're in the second stage of the five stages of business and you're lack of processes and systems are killing you Because you don't know what the flips going on. You are a guy that works really really hard and there's a lot of chaos in your life Well, it delegates to the business manager. Yeah, but you're a lot of chaos in your life and you don't you don't yeah So you've got you've I know I've been right there and you're you're a classic and you're gonna be okay But Larry Burkett used to say the guy that trained me on biblical finance used to say that Financial problems are not the problem. They're the symptoms something else going on So the fact that you don't have any money to fix this truck is not a problem. It's a symptom And that's why I was digging into the rest of it why you don't have any money. That's what I was trying to figure out So I'm gonna go all the way back to the source at the beginning of this creek long before it became a river And let's get this business the core business profitable and let's change our mentality if we're gonna borrow our way into prosperity So next time you get ready to fix something grow something Add another element to your business you do it with paid for equipment or paid for period And you're gonna have to cut your payroll down and go back to running Running some of the equipment yourself probably for a little while because I think you're payroll heavy You've delegated the crap out of this and You've made and so everybody else is making your profit not you Your mark you got housing margins for your business Yeah, I feel the same. Yeah, and I'm not being I'm not picking on you. I'm just loving. I love what you're doing Is it around seven grand Austin that you guys have because you said 25 and it takes 18 to do everything right and it's A labor intensive business. There's no cost to goods sold other than like yeah That's what I'm wondering because in too much you'll have 14,000 which is that to be able to fix the truck or and Hopefully stupid is then it warranty will cover it We didn't go in that open. Yeah, that's what we're hoping yeah if it does if it doesn't I'm gonna set the truck down until I save up the money and answer to your question And that's gonna force me to fix the problems in the business because the business will make me more cash When I fix the problems inside of it right And and I'm gonna hook you up with our Ontario leadership guys and I'm gonna send you a copy of those of the books around that and show you exactly What we did because we went through the exact same thing 25 years ago. All right, we're 300 million dollar business now But we were doing about what you're doing, you know, you're gonna you're gonna do about a million and a half In gross revs if you keep it up and and you've done it from nothing because you just you just a guy that just picked up Started washing cars man and you're the American dream. I'm so proud of you Thank you, sir. Yeah, but now you're gonna have to calm down and concentrate. So here's the thing What we got a saying on our wall around here. What got us here won't take us there Right, that's where you are What got you to this point won't take you to the next point So you've got to get down in these systems and processes and bookkeeping and you've become you got to become a master operator of a business From a business acumen standpoint you got to grow you and your skills about running a business and when you do that man You're gonna double your profits in this business and you're gonna pay cash for the next truck And you're gonna pay cash for the next thing you try that does or doesn't work I pay cash for a lot of all my mistakes over the years and I made plenty of them, but they're not haunting me I'm not looking for an extended warranty to bail me out out. And I can just think of about three right now that they haunt me in terms of how much money we lost trying stuff, but it was all cash. So it doesn't hurt quite as bad. So I think you got all the right stuff. I think this truck is God's signal to you to learn something and what God is here won't take us there. And you need to, so we got to get down in the current core business, clean it up, shine it up, and let's double the profit margin in that roughly. I mean, I think there's, I think there's another five or six thousand bucks. It's going out the door just because we're pissing it away with no systems and processes. And we do it here at Ramsey. We fight it. It's a constant fight. This overhead monster will take you out of business. But you're the guy that makes the proofs that capitalism works. You're doing a good job for people. You're charging them a fair amount. You're covered up in business. You not got a marketing problem. You've not got a work ethic problem. You know, you guys are, and you're, you love doing stuff and get trying something new, you know, you're going to be that you're the kind of guy that makes more money than people with a PhD in something, because you just know how to leave the cave, kill something drag at home. So we'll help you. And you call us back anytime we can help you. But if the, wait, it's the debt. Well, I was going to say, it's just the desperation of these moments. And it's what plugs the entrepreneur back into the details of it all. Yeah. Because for so long, it's been okay. And, you know, I'm not saying the business managers lazy or doing a bad job, not saying that. But they're probably not going to be as tightened up and back to that, you know, what I mean, as you are. And so there's a, there's a gift in that also of what you can bring to that. Yeah. And have that and retained earnings in that business. So when stuff does break, because it will, you cash flow it and, and you just keep on moving. Amen. Good stuff. Hang on. We're going to send you a couple books, brother. When it comes to your health insurance, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is believing you're stuck in a one size fits all plan that costs too much and covers too little. That's why I recommend health trust financial. They're the only Ramsey trusted health insurance partner because their advisors take the time to understand your situation and help you explore the coverage options that are available to you, whether you've changed jobs, welcome to new baby, or had some other life event, health trust financial shops, multiple top rated insurance carriers for you. Then they help you understand your options so you can make a smart decision instead of guessing. I've recommended health trust financial for more than 20 years because they work for you, not the insurance companies. So they offer unbiased advice, visit healthtrustfinancial.com to connect with an advisor today. That's healthtrustfinancial.com. Hey, if you're working the baby steps, the fastest way to do that is by using every dollar. The baby steps by the way of the fastest way to go from deeply in debt, broken, scared to being a millionaire. It's hard though. We don't teach you easy. We just teach you stuff that works. I mean, there is no good microwave barbecue. If you want good barbecue, you got to cook it, man. Like two days in the dog next door is howling, right? That's good barb. That's the way money works. And you will either learn to tell your money what to do or you will always wonder where it went. You don't have a choice. And that's what every dollar does. It tells you, it gives you the tools to make your money behave instead of you being the slave to your money problems. You track your progress, you get personalized recommendations from us, coaching from us. It shows you exactly how to not only manage your month, but also hit your long-term net worth goals and get rid of your debt, the ramsie way. You can start every dollar for free by downloading it in the app store or Google Play. Kimberly is in New Orleans. Hi, Kimberly. How are you? I'm well. How are you? What's up? Okay. So I have about 28,000 in credit code bits in 28,000 in student loans. What you bought? I don't know. You just built up over the last few years. I did borrow 7,000 less year to pay back into my retirement. Okay. This desire. 28,000. How much do you make? About 60,000 years. Ouch. That's scary, isn't it? It's not. Yeah. Yeah. I have an investment property. The balance is 60,000. And I was thinking about taking out a cash out, doing a cash out refining to pay off the credit code so I can store a pain down the student loan. What's the investment property worth? About 160,000. How'd you get it? That was my deal with my first home. Okay. So you got about 100,000 equity in that camera. Is that right? Yes. And what's your, what's your primary home worth? If I think it's about 280,000 and we have about a hundred and thirty two left to pay on it. We. Okay. What does he make? About 80,000. Oh, so we have a hundred and forty thousand dollar income. Well, I don't, I, I do our finances separate because he doesn't have to save. I have 25,000. Neither do you. Well, she's got 25,000. I have 25,000. You borrowed it on credit cards. No, it is my thing. I know, but I mean, you're twenty eight thousand dollars in credit card debt. Don't you see the correlation? I do. Yeah, that's a mess. We don't, we don't act like you're somehow successful. And he's not. Well, he has zero on sale. Well, you got zero saved after you pay off your credit cards. Yeah. Does he have that can really? He does. What does he, how much does he have? I think it's about 11,000 in credit card debt. He has a motorcycle thing that I'm really not sure what the band is. But I know he's noticed about seven hundred and he also has a vehicle with about three hundred and fifty on for that note. Yeah. And how long have you all been married? Can you. Okay. So here's what I'm going to teach you. All right. We did the largest study of millionaires ever done in North America. We interviewed in detail 10,167 millionaires, not broke people with an opinion millionaires. Okay. Okay. 89% of them say one of the key reasons they became a millionaire is because they work together and combined forces with their spouse. They didn't treat their spouse like a roommate. They treated him like a husband and a wife. And so they combined all of their problems and all of their incomes and all of their savings and got an attack mode. And it's you and me against the world, babe. And we're going to lock arms and we're going to both be smart. We found almost none of the millionaires became millionaires while dragging a spouse along who sucked at money. It almost never happened. You're never going to have peace in your house until you guys learn to work together and aim together at something. I know that's a big ask from where you are. Well, she said, how do I get him to. Yeah. I know. It's hard. It's hard. But I'm just telling you, that's where we've got to start is we got to go way back on this thing. And because you have been spending more than your saving. So your net net for you is really close to zero. You saved 25,000 while you went 28,000 in debt. That's a negative three. Okay. And he's over here borrowing motorcycles and car payments and y'all are starving to death, making $140,000 a year in New Orleans. And you should be able to be rich on that. Yeah. And so I want a better life for you, huh? Well, you think him really. So what did he suggest? I would sit down with him tonight. And you guys have a relational conversation of how where you want this marriage to go in general, right? Because I mean, a healthy marriage has a level of unity, a level of sacrifice together. And to say, I want to do this life with you. And I'm scared to death to combine that the answer, you know, you would say is, or what we would say is, yeah, you combine your money and you guys work on your household together. But you could absolutely vocalize your fear. And to say, I'm so scared to do this because you're misbehaving. Yes, and I want to together reach some goals so that we can get out of this mess so that we can live a prosperous life. What if we had no payments, right? And sit there and dream and talk about it. What if we made $140,000? We had no payments. How much is going out of your household and just debt payments? And what if that was just sitting in your account, right? You start to actually have hope for the future when you see what a reality could be. - If you cut up your credit cards and said I'm never gonna use them again, and he promised what raised his right hand and promised he's never gonna borrow money on anything with wheels or motors again, 'cause he's got a bad thing about motors. He likes them. And I know 'cause I'm one of those guys, I like motors too. So, you know, he, but that'll make you broke 'cause those stupid things all go down in value. So we're gonna pay cash for everything from today forward. And if you had zero payments, how much do you own your house again? - I'm here about 130, 130. - Okay, all right. I mean, let me paint a picture for you. Only though if both of you were a firmly in agreement and completely leaned in, which you're a long way from that today, okay? But if you could get there, if the two of you could get there, and you said, okay, both of us are gonna do the Ramsey plan. We're both gonna walk the baby steps. We're not borrowing money. We're gonna be on a budget that we both agree to. And we're gonna lean in and we're gonna take $140,000. Let me show you what could happen, okay? You could sell that rental house and be 100% debt-free except your house. And you could pay off your house, the rest of your house in about three years. Three years from today, you could be 100% debt-free and on your way to be a millionaire about four years later. But you'd have to be tied into this. - How old are you guys, Kimberly? - 42 and 40. - Do you all have anything in retirement right now? Well, I have a 401(a). - 401(k), okay, okay, how much is in there? - I have no idea. - Okay, I mean, because if you look and you guys, if you did, and you guys paid off everything, and you invested, I mean, 14, you know, doing quick math here, man, that would be. - Well, you got a car payment, you got a motorcycle payment, you got a house payment. - Yeah, but I'm. - You got a car. - Credit car, I mean, what are you talking about? - I'm thinking of, maybe 2000 a month. I'm saying what you would invest in retirement. If you guys just did your income, it'd be $1.7 million, okay? If you guys invested 2000 a month. - That's a 62. - In 20 years. - Yeah. - In 20 years. But that you retire with almost two million dollars in a paid-off house, that's what's possible. - Yeah, yeah. - But you start actually working towards something. - Do it faster than that. Hang on, I'm gonna give you a copy of the baby steps and I'm sorry, baby steps, millionaires and total money makeover. You guys read those two books. Gonna try to talk you into doing it. It's a long way from where you are. But if I can talk you into it, it's gonna change your life. (upbeat music) 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 ahold 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 lead 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. (upbeat music) - Jack is in the seat of Rapids, Isla. Hi, Jack, how are you? - Hey, I'm doing good. How are you, Dave and Rachel? - Better than we deserve, what's up? - I'm coming at you with a more morally focused financial question. Just jumping right into it, my fiance and I are 24, been together going on five years, and have been living together since last year. We were doing it to get married last Sunday, but on her way to work about two weeks before, she got in a pretty devastating car accident, and she's very luckily lucky to survive the hit itself. - Oh my gosh, Jack, I'm sorry. - That's awesome, dude. - To stay brief, she got flown out of the local hospital where she was transported to, to be in intensive care where she's been for now, going on three weeks in the hospital in our state. - Oh my gosh. - So a set date for getting out of the hospital, starting where you have, beginning back to work and just giving, getting back to life as normal, has yet to be mentioned, and as far as living life normally, she's gonna have to live with her parents, due to mobility restrictions, and the ease of living in that house compared to the apartment we live in, 'cause it's on the second floor. The biggest thing that's been on my mind and seeing that I want the advice with, had been the magnitude of the bills that are probably gonna come in, and what that means for me in my future, 'cause legally speaking, we weren't ever married, and so to the state's eyes, I wouldn't have any responsibility for these bills, and I personally am just not okay with the thought of not having anything to do with the burden, that would be dropped onto her and her family, because of the pending invoice that's coming. Am I being too nice and willing to take too much of this worry on myself, and am I wrong for thinking that I could possibly move back home to save up faster for these bills? - Oh man. - What a horrible thing, I'm sorry. - Are you guys going to get married eventually? - Yeah, we will still get married, but we just got through with canceling, and delay any bruins and flights as far as we can, so nothing's set in stone as far as rescheduling it. - Okay, I assume she had health insurance. - Yeah, we're on a parent's health insurance yet. - Yeah, and so typical health insurance has a couple things you've got a deductible, and then you have a copay portion, like an 80, 20, and you're responsible for 20, they're responsible for 80, and then there's another number called a stop loss or a max out of pocket, okay? And that number, depending on what type of health insurance it is, is usually somewhere less than $20,000, which means the total out of pocket is probably somewhere less than $20,000. So she's not going to get saddled with a $1.2 million NICU bill. - Yeah, and that's what I was scared about, I didn't know if you were going to be looking at $10,000 and $10,000 in our ability. - Yeah, a little different, but it's not different, I still don't know both of them. - Yeah, it's still very expensive, you're right, you're right. - So yeah, so, I mean, you're going through a tragedy, a drama and a harsh and scary and all of that, and so in the middle of all those emotions, the insurance emotions or the medical bill emotion are coming up, and they're bigger in your mind right now than they actually are, probably, is my point. - Yeah, I know I'm very conscious and like to think of the big picture and also focus on the small detail, so pre-oja, anything that their parents are thinking of, that her parents are thinking of, I'm thinking of as well, like the stress on insurance and liability, and if anybody were to sue anybody 'cause of the accident. - Well, that again is on the insurance company, the car insurance first. So was the accident, a single car accident or what? - It, two cars involved. - Okay, and was it her fault or do we know? - It, it was hers. - Okay, all right, so her car insurance comes into play then, and how much liability coverage she had, and so was anyone else seriously hurt like she was? - I don't know the extent to the other injuries. I know when I got to the hospital where she was initially transported to, the law enforcement officers in the room at that time said that they were already discharged, so they probably could have been in the hospital more than three hours. - Okay, all right, so most likely, if there's any liability to the other party, her liability limits would be unusual for them, not to be at least half million dollars on her car insurance. So again, car insurance is probably gonna cover all of that. Most likely, okay, I'm not sure. We don't know where we are yet. It's very early in all of this. It's also early to worry about it, not think about it, but to worry about it. It's okay to think about it, but I don't worry about it at this stage. In other words, because we don't know what it is, until the monster comes out of the closet and we figure out these three inches tall, then we don't have to worry about it. [BLANK_AUDIO] comes out of the closet he's 330 feet tall and he's a problem yeah how how are you financially jack do you do you have savings yeah i have my savings i've been listening to you guys and following your steps religiously for for years so um i she was you know on auto pay for the rent and shipping in with the bills i have you know i completely stepped in and disabled all the auto pay just to make sure that she doesn't how much do you have saved but i total and savings right now i got about 11,000 okay all right so yeah right now i'm paying i'm paying for all of living and i can get by yeah yeah i can i can do it because i think from a relational standpoint i mean you are two weeks 14 days away from saying and sickness and and health you don't even mean like i'm about to commit my life so the fact that you're wanting to step in and and help care and take care of her i would i would be worried if you wouldn't be would desiring that tuniting me like this is your what you're 14 days from your this is your wife you know um so i would say that is totally understandable and yes and yes i would and i would i think i would take care of but i don't think we need to cancel the apartment move in with your parents because we don't know the size of the problem yet okay but the answer to your question not morally or ethically but more relationally as Rachel's point is yes i want i want you to treat her like she's your wife in terms of making sure she's okay but not necessarily signing up legally for all these bills but we're going to walk through this together and if i need to throw some my 11,000 dollars on the table i can to help her i want to see i want to see what we're dealing with and what it is there for for long term so my prediction is um that the medical recovery that she because she's obviously got hurt really bad is going to be 90% of what you guys face the financial problem is only going to be about 10% i think the health insurance and the car insurance are going to cover the vast majority of the incident but there could be ongoing therapies and things that you guys may as a couple pay out of pocket right and that would be well you may help with the deductibles or the copays later but they're not even kicked in yet they're not there yet but i'm just saying for hit like for them to be yeah thinking like if we if they end up getting married in six months you know what i mean she could have another two years of yeah that's part of what you know what i mean yeah all of it we're signing up for yeah now let's go worst case scenario something crazy happens the other party sues for 500 million dollars for harm and wins okay then your fiancee is probably going to file bankruptcy before you get married right okay and you're not going to sign up for 500 million dollars okay but that's not going to happen but i'm just saying that worst case scenario she falls bankruptcy on the other end of it and then then you guys move forward together and you walk but you walk through it together because the car wreck and her if she's got piss-poor insurance or something for insurance policies are weak or her or her insurance companies you know horrible on paying out the claims then you know she could get in a pen share that that you can't help her out of yeah yeah and her parents can't help her out of and so it's just a horrible part of this tragic story is her you said mobility issues are the mobility issues permanent do you think it's not it's not permanent okay all right it's just part of right now part of recovery for a horrible accident yeah part of recovery no like broken legs or anything like that but just she's needing assistance to just stand up out of bed out of the chair right now so yeah just walking with her through this is your relational responsibility not taking on all the bills and bankrupting yourself to prove it but walking with her making the decisions together it is your responsibility yes you're a good man and you will do that if your business is making seven figures or more you should be proud of that but that growth probably brought a mess with it systems that don't talk to each other it's impossible to track down your numbers because they're scattered everywhere that's a visibility problem and net suite has solved that problem for more than 44,000 businesses like yours net suite brings financials inventory CRM and more into one place and their AI tool net suite next builds AI into everything automating busy work like forecasting demand and chasing down overdue accounts it's not complicated to use you just ask it questions like you're talking to a person and you're not starting from scratch because net suite is built on leading practices from thousands of businesses preloaded and ready to go Ramsey solution switched to net suite years ago it helped us know our numbers and we've never looked back if your revenue is at least seven figures try net suite next for free at net suite dot com slash Ramsey that's net suite dot com slash Ramsey or click the link in the description our question of the day is brought to you by ask Ramsey your free AI money tool that provides personalized Ramsey money answers based on Ramsey principles that's what we call it ask Ramsey you can get it at ramseysolutions dot com slash ask Ramsey today's question comes from Dean in Virginia my home escrow keeps going up due to rising insurance rates and property taxes some people recommend paying for those items once a year of instead of with your house payment which allows you to keep the funds and a high yield savings account to gain interest in the process I am debt free of the mortgage is this a good idea man well that's the rising insurance rates and property taxes yeah is it's a real thing and it my only fear would be if it's the once the once a year you know because you do that once the house is paid off you pay everything you know is to make sure that you actually do it and don't get behind because a little bit of escrow for me is I built in savings it's forced almost you know what I mean that it's going to get done so Dean I guess that yeah I'm with you Rachel I would ask the question of myself if I'm you do I have discipline enough to set aside one twelfth of the actual insurance cost and the actual even if it's rising you have to change it because it has to be paid one twelfth per month of taxes and insurance and set it in a savings account high yield savings account and pay it I would not do that unless two things occurred I would not do it for the interest rate the interest is not spit okay 3% on nothing is nothing okay so you're not going to get rich on the high yield savings account on the interest that's I wouldn't screw with it for that your labor is worth more than that I would do it if you're if your mortgage company keeps screwing up your escrow account and they're taking more than they need to because they keep a shortage or an overage and they can't seem to add up and divide by 12 which honestly I think probably over half the escrow accounts out there sucking or out of balance because these mortgage companies have eighth graders doing the math that are functioning on a two two second grade level and so it's just it's horrendously incompetent I would do it to keep from having to screw with the irregularities of a poorly run escrow account but not for the 3% that you're making on that h y s a now and I would only do it if you can be super disciplined and make sure that you're setting the money aside don't get yourself and keep up with the property taxes and insurance so we know that yeah yeah this does not fix rising insurance rates or property taxes it doesn't change it a bit you still got to pay on me either way and if you don't pay your homeowners insurance your mortgage company will put what's called for and prove it to them that it's paid they'll put forced placed insurance on your house which is about 10 x the cost and then try getting that money back hmm man that's a pain so you don't want to mess with not paying one of these things so if you're super disciplined and if your mortgage company is horrendously incompetent on managing the escrow I I might do it separate but otherwise I would just run with it because it doesn't the increase in the increasing cost doesn't change whether you pay it or they pay it with your money doesn't change salina salina salina is with us in Tampa high salina how are you hi good how are you better than I deserve how can we help good so just a few questions I am 43 years old and I'm a registered nurse I recently sold my house in California and moved to Florida So I made 160,000 off the sale of the house which currently is sitting in my savings account. I also have a $30,000 CD which isn't earning much and 20,000 in my Roth excluding my emergency funds through the same bank. So I currently don't have a mortgage. I have no car payment, no credit card debt, no student loans. I paid those off and my retirement situation is fairly good. I have been putting away about 18 to 20% of my earnings into four or three B's of 401Ks through various hospitals I've worked over the years. And I was recently told by the financial advisor my bank that the projected value of my retirement will be about four million by the time I'm 60 if I keep on the same path. You're counting it. Thank you. So my question is should I roll these all over into an account as he suggested and with what kind of company and in addition how much moving forward should I be putting into a Roth versus traditional pre-tax 401K. I'm currently doing 18% and see my Roth at my current hospital at Tampa general and which I think is probably better than doing the pre-tax. And lastly, what should I do with the money and my savings and my CD? Why the hell? You got such good problems. Yeah, I know it's nice. I was taught at a very young age. You have multiple 401Ks and 403 B's from previous employers, correct? Yes. Okay, so I would just do a direct roll over and just into a traditional IRA to have it all so that so that way you can control what's going on and they're not stuck at these other companies. I would also actually ramp down a little bit of what you said you're contributing up to 20% into retirement and I would I would take it to 15%. And I would I would favor the do you have a 401K right now with the hospital you're working at? I do. Do they do a match? Yes. How much? What percentage? I believe it. Three percent. Three percent. Okay, so what we teach is to take the three percent. So go up to the three percent and the 401K. She's got a Roth 401K at the new hospital. Is it a Roth 401K? Yeah. I'm doing both. So they offer. I'm doing the 401K and the Roth through the same hospital. No, it is. You can do a traditional 401K or a Roth 401K. And stop at 15% throw the rest of it at your house. Do you own a home? No. So I sold the house in California. Yeah. So the one 60 look one. Yeah. That's the one 60 sitting in my savings and I am looking to buy another. But I'm not ready just yet. I'm a little. I would obviously put that. Yeah. Well, I would put that into just a high-yield savings account because you'll probably be you'll buy a house in the next probably four years. Would you say? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, so I wouldn't put that in the market and I would just keep that in a high-yield savings. You'll earn three percent, you know, in there versus a traditional savings account. And I would just let that sit there. And above that 15%, if you have extra cash, honestly, I would throw it in that high yield and save up a huge dumb payment. So when it comes down to buy, oh my gosh. I mean, even if you had 50%, right, to put down on a house like that already speeds up paying off the house in that process. Our next goal, in other words, is to pay off the house while putting 15% away in retirement and we do all your rollovers. And I'm going to advise you to get away from a bank financial advisor. I don't like banks. Yeah, I actually started looking on your list at local investments. Yeah, that's what I would do. Sit down with them and they'll help you do those rollovers and help you get everything kind of smoothed up and piled up in one pile to watch it. But the good news is the projections you were given are probably pretty accurate. I think you're probably going to have $4 million or more. And you're going to pay for a house also. So that's probably going to be another couple million by the time we get there. And so you've just chosen a wonderful career field. Your move to Tampa was a brilliant move. Everything about this whole story is felt smart from you. Yeah, you've just you've just really done some very wise things. So I get a smart Vestor Pro and like Rachel said, I do those rollovers and do the Roth 401k with the match up to 15%. Everything else goes on your house until your house is paid off. And then keep your emergency fund set aside of three to six months. Every other thing you got throw it at the house. That other account that you've got I throw it at the house too. Let's just make sure yeah, make sure you have a good emergency fund. I think you said you saw you had that. Yeah, there were two accounts. Yeah, that's perfect. Very very well done. Welcome back to the Ramsey show in the fair winds credit union studio. Rachel Cruz is my co host today. Number one best selling author Ramsey personality and my daughter. Alex is in Virginia Beach. Hi, Alex. How are you? Hey Dave, I'm doing well. How are you doing better than I deserve. What's up? So I have quite a bit of the mess on my hands and I've made a few poor financial decisions. So I'm just calling to get your opinion on what I should do next. So I'm a single mom who's been working full time and I've been in school full time for the past two and a half years. I've been receiving minimal help or inconsistent support on my child's father. So I was primarily taking on all the financial responsibilities including child care. So now I have two questions. I received a lump sum of about 7,000 of that pay child support. I was wondering if it ethical for me to use that money toward my household income and for the baby step. And then my next question is, you know, I've been listening to your show for a little bit. And before I attend in school, I made sure to apply to a thousand scholarships and pretend like that's my second job. I attended a affordable state school. And so I actually have a refund coming back because I applied to so many scholarships. Wow. So many funds. I'll be getting $8,000 back. Oh, girl. I love it. Where to go? What are you studying? Thank you. Psychiatric nurse practitioner. Excellent. And how old are you? Yes. I'm 31. And how many babies? Just one. Just one. She's three years old. Two years old. Three. Three. Three. Three. And how much are you making a year? So that varies because I've been doing contract work to maximize my income. The caveat to that is that I don't have insurance. However, I've been doing insurance through my school since I've been in school full time. Okay. So how much do you make? So about 65 an hour. And how many hours do you work? About 36 hours of income and nurse. Oh, okay. Wow. Good for you. Okay. So you're making. What's that come out of month? So that's about each paycheck is about 38 hundred after tax. Roughly. Yeah. And you got four of those. Two. Two of those. Okay. So you're making about $8,000 a month. Okay. So seven, eight thousand hours a month. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Good for you. Well done. How much debt do you have? And that's the thing. I know y'all are going to yell at me. No, I'm here. Not yet. But we mind. No. Okay. So I have seven thousand that's been a private student loan from getting my bachelor's. I have five K. That was pretty much a hospital bill from when I delivered two years, two or three years ago. I have 30K and federal student loans. And this is where Dave is going to get at me. But I have 10,000 in a car loan at Sikia and then the 28,000 in a Tesla. You got two cars. I do. I do. Why? Because I made very poor financial decisions. Okay. Yes. I'm ready. Can you sell? Yeah. Can you sell one of them? Absolutely. So that was one of my questions with that seven K and the eight K coming in. Should I? Okay. So let's stop a second. We had some fun with this. Let's think a minute. We got 80,000 in debt. You said when you said the 28,000 out of Tesla and that's your second car. And I made a poor financial decision. Dave's going to yell at me. Dave would never yell at you just for the fun or the entertainment value. I want you to win, right? And you know that, right? Yes. So really really what you got. Yes, I think so. Yeah, what you're saying. No, but I mean what you're saying is is that I know I messed up. That's all you're saying. And we've all messed up, right? Yes. Okay. So how do you fix it? Fix the mess up. You sell the Tesla. 30 seconds Takes to make that decision because there's nothing about this. It's a blessing from God This has brought you nothing but pain And what's crazy is every time you look at the car you feel dumb Yeah, yeah, and it takes your debt down to 50 then you put the other money towards it Yeah, you're gonna point it up fast. Yes. I was gonna say you're down to 35 just in this one call You got you got seven in child support check. You got eight coming back in the other stuff and so you know You sell the Tesla and you start applying the principles because you're doing so many smart things in this story And we got to the end of the story You know, and you just got it you got to stop that last little part and you know you get you back on track kid Oh, you're doing good. Why are you emotional Alex? I'm emotional because I kind of had my intuition. I knew that it wasn't smart. I knew that I knew about you guys My mom did introduce me today Ramsey, and I still kind of knowingly went in But at the same time she was there with me and she took the class So I'm thinking it's a smart move because I got a good deal on it But it's not and so I beat myself up Yeah, and Alex can't tell you this too. You're working full-time. You're in full-time school And you're a single mom on your own it doesn't sound like he's helping at all. You're on. I mean you're exhausted You're exhausted and exhaustion can if you're not careful Bring on some desperation and what feels good in the moment. It feels good to have a new Tesla, right? Like that it felt like a you know a Medicator for a hot second because it's like, okay, that would feel really good like I you know What do you mean like I can totally see how how it occurred and then once the newness wears off and you look at the bill every month then You have to have the regrets which is fine Yeah, you woke up from the party with a hangover. Yeah, so you can you can reverse some of this That's the beautiful thing. This isn't permanent for the rest of your life. Yeah, thank goodness Yeah, I think I think you're a warrior princess. I'm proud of it I think you've done so many things right in this whole discussion and the other answer to your other question is It is not immoral to use child support money to live on because you are paying more to raise that child Yes, the child costs more than the child support money coming in Okay, and so if you you're you're already in the hole Even if he pays you're in the hole and when he does finally pay the back child support You're you're you're still the child the child still costs more to raise than he's giving you so You know you use that money. It's just part of your budget period and the same thing's true if you're out there and a spouse passed away And you get social security checks from your spouse the passed away for your minor children That does not need to go into a mutual fund and it's to go to pay for food and Lights and water and raise your run your household and raise your children. That's what that money's for and so it's not it It's it's actually unethical to not use the money as part of your household So do that and sell the Tesla and then let's use this money and let's start working these baby steps. Yeah, get you cleaned up and Let's finish this plan finish this schooling Because I mean nurse practitioner strong kiddo that's strong Yeah, you're gonna you're gonna do it You're gonna look up and and a year 18 months and it's gonna be a totally different financial situation for you Alex really and let me tell you what You need to teach this child as they grow up What you've done and how you lived Because they they they have a warrior princess right in front of them and if they can learn to work like you've worked sacrifice Like you've sacrificed for a noble cause you will have raised a great kid You You spend hours researching before making a major purchase Like a home or car, but it's also a good idea to put in the work searching for the right insurance coverage to protect your biggest assets I recommend using Ramsey trusted pros whether you're looking for car home or any other type of insurance Ramsey trusted Providers have been coached and vetted to serve you like we would find what you need at Ramsey solutions dot com slash insurance Oh Well, we wish we could get to every call and every question here on the show We can't if you have a money question and you want an answer for your situation head on over to our website use our free AI tool called ask Ramsey It's free and it was trained on only Ramsey principles if you don't know how AI works. It can only it's artificial Intelligence it's not real and so it can only spit back out what you feed it and So that's like the problem with Google because Google Google's artificial intelligence is like reading through Reddit, which is a sewage pit and So it's getting all this crap in it to give you an answer But if you go to an AI tool that's only been fed a steady good diet like only Ramsey stuff Then it's only going to give you Ramsey answers and that's what ask Ramsey is Okay, so like three years worth of answers off the show dumped into it all the books we've read and all the books we've written dumped into it Not all the books we've read all the articles we've written like 2,000 articles on our website on different financial issues All dumped into it and so it's going to give you an answer and we've even been working on the snark It's starting to be pretty snarky like we are Because we're a little smart like here and so we kind of like that's part of our brand and little sassy right and so ask Ramsey's got all of those things It won't yell at you and I don't yell at you as often as some of you think I'm going to but anyway I don't know I have to call today. I've been like They don't yell at me. I know Dave's gonna yell at me, but then Dave just says hey. I love you We've had an empathetic Dave today very very caring. Okay. There we go. All right We don't know which Dave's gonna show up. You don't know which Dave is gonna show up with us. Gramsey you know, okay? So there you go. All right, not not enough coffee. That's all it is all right check it out Ramsey solutions dot com Click the link in the description if you're listening on podcaster YouTube. It's free Check out ask Ramsey and ask it a question. See what it does for you. You'll like it. Juan is in front. No. Hey Suces and Los Angeles I got it. I got it all covered here. What's up? Hey Suces? How can we help? Yes Me and my wife we've been watching your show for a while and how we've been following your step so getting out of the head and stuff We don't have any dirt and we have six months worth of expenses way to go and and after all expenses and everything we have $4,400 left over a month. Wow. And for you guys And we would like to see Even comes without working Good for you Well done. What do you do for a living? I work in house. He's being like public area. Yeah, you work hard. Good for you, man. Yes How much do you guys I know you have 4,000 left over you said? Hey Suces, but how much do you guys make make a year household income? She makes 87,000 and I make 67. Okay. Well done, y'all. Way to go, man. Excellent Well, I think the biggest thing I learned about money is if you don't give it a name Meaning a goal and each of those dollars need an assignment. It will just disappear And so you say I got $4,500 now what am I going to do with that and you say all right out of that We're going to invest a certain amount and and we're going to put a certain amount aside to buy our first house Okay, or whatever it is you're going to do. I don't care, but it needs to have a goal not just stacking cash And if you give it a name it won't disappear because it'll go to the name You speak a name over it. That's why we call our Our budgeting app every dollar because you give every dollar an assignment every dollar has a name And I want you to do that with your saving and your investing So probably you've got your emergency phone in place probably you're going to start putting some money aside for retirement wealth building And you're probably going to put the rest of it aside to buy a house does that sound right? Uh, she said a house is not a good investment. Who did we should say? Um, my wife, um, she's wrong. She's saying Okay Who said a house is not a good investment. Of course a house is a good investment. I mean in LA and Southern California It'll take you guys a while to save up that down payment for sure, but But overall it's going to it's going to go up in value. Yeah Investments go up and value. So by definition, the house is a good investment. They go up and value So our plan according to us We're planning to reduce Invest the money and retire If it's possible maybe up 50 or 48 or something like that. Yeah, but where are you going to live? In a rental house, you're gonna be a renter Well, we live in my apartment. I know you're but I mean for you're gonna retire with a big pile of money, but still have rent Jesus how old are you guys 35 and she's 31 okay, okay, you guys do what you want to do the first thing I would tell you to do is to give every dollar an Assignment like I said and I would sit down with a smart vester pro Click on ramsy solutions and click on the smart vesters. It'll drop down a list of the ones in your area Sit down with them and they'll help you guys set some goals with this money And if all you want to do is invest it and be a renter then they can help you do that. I don't recommend that though Right and where you guys are out Salary wise. It's about two grand a month that you can be investing Four retirement and if you guys don't retire early and you retire at say 60 years old and you do this every single month This was crazy and and again, this means you that you haven't gotten a raise or anything which is not gonna happen You'll continue to grow your income and be investing more, but it sits at right about 5.6 million dollars You know why too grand he had 4,500 Two grand a month he had 4,500 dollars a month. Yeah, but he didn't invest all of that he needs to invest 15% of his income into retirement I know and take the other 2,000 and say for a house I'm just saying if he invested two if he invested 15% of his income. Yeah, I got right now What we do every yes every year Yeah, it's called the baby steps. Yeah, baby step for uh-huh I've had slipped away from maybe step four invest 15% yeah, okay But then the other 2,500 a month which is 30,000 dollars a year for a house payment or for a down payment on a house 30,000 bucks a year and let that grow and uh, you know, uh, how you'll save your income. Yeah, for sure Sit down with a smart vester pro you can put the whole 4,500 in there And you know, you'd have that 5 million a lot faster. Yeah, and Buy house later and be a renter for a while. That's not what we recommend though. Yeah, yeah, I would get in the housing market because they're going up all the time and they always have One is with us in Fresno. Hi, Juan. What's up? Hey, thank you. Um, good. Thank you for talking to me. Uh, in a nutshell, I'll get right to it I have two mortgagees or a mortgage in a equity line so to speak and then um a 4-1 a 4-1-a. I don't understand the difference between a and a K mechanics, but I'm going to read them straight off my latest statements to you Every month I'll pay $1,515 and 58 cents for my primary uh loan which is conventional and the balance Uh pay off outstanding principal balance is 44,000 nine uh zero nine five eight one and uh, it's it's a good rate. It's 1.875. How old are you? Uh 61 I'm retired out of the trade. What's the total balance on your on your uh retirement if we just your total nesting what's the total nesting worth? Uh my total nesting uh, they tell what what you mean my 4-1-a or a or a or a. Yeah, your 4-1-a-k anything you got in your retirement funds. How much? total. Okay, uh, I have a 100,000 in the 4-1-a-k uh, I want to believe there's a leasing, you know, 300,000 in equity on this house because the pay off is about 100,000. So the only money you have in retirements a hundred thousand dollars Yes, but I have a lifetime pension. Okay, but the only money you have in retirements a hundred thousand dollars Yes, sir. Okay, and you owe 44 on your first and how much on your second Uh, I owe I think uh, I have right here in front of the 49 4-1 Okay, so a hundred thousand dollars pays it off, but you'd be broke other than your pension Correct. Don't do that. No No, let these pay on out. You just work them on through. You're going to be done with them a few years anyway But I don't want you sitting there with no money and only a pension You People ask me all the time. George, what's your number one money saving hack? I'm glad you asked Nothing makes me happier than helping another frugal friend. So here's the hack Get on a budget Seriously, how are you supposed to save money if you don't know how much you're spending in the first place And that's what makes the every dollar budgeting app a game changer With every dollar you'll get a clear picture of your spending and from there It's easy to see where you can get more intentional cut back and save more money How much money are we talking? Well, the average every dollar budgeter frees up 95 dollars in their very first budget and if you ask me, I think you're way above average So why are you still listening to me go download every dollar for free and start saving more money right now You're welcome to stop by and see the show We do the show on the glass and the lobby at Ramsey Solutions from one to four central time every day The amount we charge for tickets is zero and the coffee that we provide is free and the homemade cookies oh yummy Yeah, we had the calories removed too Not but yeah, you come in there free - come hang out with us also in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions is the debt-free stage on the stage is Sean and Angela. Hey guys. How are you? Hello, hi and thanks for having us welcome. Welcome. Where do you guys live? We are from Wyoming All right, what part? Central Wyoming about around Casper. Okay. All right cool. We're welcome all the way to Nashville. That's a bit of all Excellent and so you're here to do a debt-free scream. How much have you paid off? $336,000 How long did that take six years? Oh, okay, and your range of income during that time We started about 180,000 dollars and we ended about 300,000 dollars. Wow. What do y'all do for a living? I am an attorney and I'm a pharmacist. Oh good for you guys. Great careers and $336,000. I was gonna guess paying off the house, but then I hear those two careers. I'm thinking student loans We did the student loans first. This is round two and it was the house this time. Okay. All right. Nice. Well done. All right. Look at it weird people Yep, a hundred percent debt-free house and everything. What's the house worth? Probably about 650. Excellent. And how much in your retirement nest eggs? About three to three fifty. Okay. So you're hitting the million dollar net worth range. Yep. Excellent. Way to go and you're not that old. How old are you to? 38. 42. All right. And your baby steps millionaires. Yes, sir. So how long ago did you start following Ramsey stuff? About 14 years ago. Wow. Okay. So there we go. Wow. Right. When we got out of college with our debts. How much student loan debt did you guys have with the with all the degrees? How about 145,000? Oh, that's lower than I would have guessed. I mean a pharmacy and an attorney. Yep. Yep. Pharmacist and an attorney. Okay. Law school and I was being so great you guys. Incredible. So what made you go all the way and say, Hey, you know what? We are going to we're going to pay off the house. We're going to take six years of our lives and throw extra income at it and just knock it out. What what was the motivation to do that? We were intentional for about the first five years. And then about a year ago almost a day actually we decided we just felt that God told us we needed to get out of debt completely. And we calculated we need an extra $15,000 to be able to if we throw everything at the house. Yeah. Pay us off in a year. And so we ended up doing door dash. No way. Got it done in nine months. And so oh my gosh you guys. We were made fun of for being a lawyer and a pharmacist. So for the big goal. But how do you how do you like me now? Yeah. I'm a millionaire and I'm 40 shut up. Yeah. Yeah. That turns out that there's a surefire way to making money is called work. Yep. Yeah. Way to go guys. So great. Pretty incredible. I'm so proud of you. So what was the hardest part of this whole thing for you guys? That's a good question. The hardest part I think has just been delaying what we want. We want to we want to buy that new car. We want to move on with something we want to go on trips like we are right now. So you're like normal people. You want them stuff. Okay. And so delaying that and this trip right here is even actually one of the first trips we've done as as a family that wasn't just to go visit family. But we are actually going to take money and spend it. And that's cool. That's good. I like it. Like that too. Have you guys had a month or two? I'm sure you have where you've had no mortgage payment. We paid it off in June, and then as soon as we paid it off, he went into the hospital twice, and our son broke his leg, and so there was a reason that we needed to pay that off, because we were just able to cashflow anything that was thrown at us, and it was wonderful. Oh my gosh. Yeah, so you kind of celebrate. So now you've had a couple. Now you've had a couple of months without anything. So I was in the hospital, but we were grateful that I was in the hospital that month and not the month before. Oh my gosh, you guys, God, life just keeps going. And you guys have kids, right? Three kids. How old are they? 13, 11, and 8. Okay. What do they think about the process? How are they? They are a big help. They are cheering us on the whole way. We would bring them along with us whenever we would try and get a little bit of work done. They would come and wait in the car with us or help us as much as they could. Yes. Oh, I love it. Oh my gosh, you guys. That's awesome. Well done. I love that memory that, you know, when I was 12 and when they were a grandmother and they go back in hot 26, mom and dad was doing a thing called door dashing and that's how we became multi bazillionaires in our family. You know, that's what they'll be doing when they're grandmother, right? That's perfect because they got that memory. I carry that stuff up to the front door for people. Yeah, I mean, I can hear it, you know, it's the stories we all tell when we get old. This is how it happened, right? Yep. Way to go. So you did change your family tree because they got involved and they helped. They know what happened and you know, that's a big deal. Absolutely. They helped. And actually, this is kind of a special trip for us because we're here with my wife's parents and they are just retiring, having followed Dave Ramsey and then we are on this journey ourselves and then now we actually even are oldest is taking your foundations and personal finance class. So she's starting her own journey with Dave Ramsey. So love it. It's been great. So great. So generational. Right. The regeneration sitting right there. That's awesome you guys. Well. So when someone asks, what's the most important thing you're going to do if you want to get out of that? What do you tell them the trick is? No trick. But yeah. Persevere. You just have to keep going. No matter what comes at you. Just keep persevering. Stick to that budget. Even though it's hard. Were you all working together before you started all this? As a team, pretty good. And then this just was one more thing you did or did you start working together even more intensely unity between the two of you? We've always had unity. I think this was this created intentionality. We had to actually choose every dollar went somewhere and we had to we had a choice to make with every dollar. Now it's what really changed for us. Yeah. That aligns your value system in a very, very, very real way. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. For sure. And hitting a bit gold together as a married couple. I feel like that's one thing we talked on the show a lot with couples where I'm like when you do it and then it's done, you look back and we walk through that together, like we did that together. You know, there's something so bonding about going through something that's that's pretty much impossible is what it feels like having a paid off house in today's world feels impossible. $360,000. I mean, that's a lot of money you guys, right? I mean, it's amazing what you've done. Absolutely incredible. Yeah. Very proud of you. Okay. The kiddos names and ages again. We have Brianna, who's 13, Ally, who's 11 and Kylin, who's eight. Okay. And one is going to join you or all or whoever, huh? One of them is going to come up and join us. Okay. Anybody wants to? Welcome. All right. But here we go. Oh, we got them. Is that the middle one? This is our oldest. Oh, okay. It's so great. Very cool. Yeah. She did most of the doordash work. Yeah. She did indeed. No questions. Brianna is like, listen, I deserve to be up here. That's right. You're part of the team, kiddo. Well done. Ally and Kylin. Kylin. Kylin. Good. Good from Casper Wyoming area. $336,000 paid all. House and everything in six years, making 180 to 300. And of course, they also along the way became Baby Steps Millionaires. So proud of you guys. Count it down. Let's hear a great debt free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt free. Yeah. That's how it's done. So great. Oh, my gosh. Well, I mean, in today's world, this can be done. But they said it 14 times in that thing. He kept using the word over and over and over in tensionality. No one wins at anything by accident. Winning is not an accidental act. Having a great marriage for 45 years is not an accidental act. Raising great kids is not an accidental act. Succeeding and pushing through in your career and increasing your earning power is not an accidental act. Building a wealth and becoming a millionaire at 40 years old with a paid for house is not an accidental act. These are intentional acts. These are things you control. Trump doesn't control them. Biden doesn't control them. Thank God. You're in control. [MUSIC PLAYING] You've heard from me and the Ramsey personalities for years, but nothing beats actually getting together in person. That's why we created the live like no one else crews. For seven days, we're vacationing with you and 2,500 Ramsey people in the Western Caribbean with live shows, us, new content, us, and more. If you're on baby step four or beyond, come spend the week with us next March. Choose your cabinet at RamseySolutions.com/events or click the link in the show notes. [MUSIC PLAYING] Our scripture of the day, Philippians 4, 12, I know what it is to be in need. And I know what it is to have plenty. I've learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in one. CS Lewis said the task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts. CS Lewis, what would it jungle be? No, I don't get it. Cut down jungles. Don't cut down jungles. It's not to tear down. It's to build up. Oh, to bring life, irrigation, water. Not to. It's like slaughter the rainforest here. What does that entail? Don't tear down. That's good, though. All right, Linda is in Grand Rapids. Hey, Linda, what's up? Hi, I'm recently without-- Oh, no. And pardon me. It's OK. My husband provided for me. But now I don't know how best to do the insurance money that you left for me. Wow. How long ago did he pass away, Linda? August 4th. Wow, just so that I-- How long were you married? Well, we had just celebrated our 21st anniversary. Was it unexpected, Linda? No, no. I've been feeling the last few years. So when you was coming in, it was a blessing, because it allowed us to put a lot of things in place, and to have a lot of hard discussions. But it made the final day much easier. Yeah. What was his name? Raymond. Raymond. OK. Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. Thank you so much. How much is the life insurance proceeds? 300,000. And then we had 81,000 in savings. OK. And how old are you? 69. OK. And is everything paid off? Or what kind of situation are you in? We still have a mortgage. There's about 129,000 left on the mortgage in the house, according to Zillow estimates, is in the 250 to 280 range as far as current resale value. Not sure how much I trust. Yeah, but I mean, it's a guess right now. I mean, Zillow's not accurate. But yeah, OK, cool. And so I know it's still real early in this process. Do you have a plan as far as whether you're going to stay or not in the house? What do you want to do? He encouraged me to move to get a smaller place. It was less upkeep and less work. But right now, and from all the wise advice I've heard over the decades, don't make any quick decisions for at least a year. So I'm trying to abide by that. And all of our memories are hearing themselves. We've lived through since we married. So be kind to leave that. That will be hard. Yeah. Yeah, I want to make big decisions that I can't undo very slowly. And after some of the fog of grief, has started to lift because it takes about it take I mean you're still in the stage where you're just trying to breathe I mean just starting to talk about it already brings the tears up and that's normal and that's that's a good thing that's right where you should be I'm sorry you're going through this so much the but yeah I'm real good with you doing nothing have you got an income coming in of some kind that you eat on yes fortunately what is that currently income is just over 4800 okay what does that come is that from you working or did he have a pension or you know that he had a he had a pension and social security of course and I had a very small pension so that's enough that I'm just like two hundred dollars short each month to cover all of my expenses but with this so new some of those expenses may be less than what I've budgeted for just because I'm not sure like groceries sure kinds of things that start to wait how much is the mortgage payment the mortgage right now is six hundred and seventy one dollar oh good okay yeah we have a really low interest rate we can in it two point seven five I think that's great okay yeah I'm gonna I'm gonna stick with what you've heard and go slow because you can eat and you're fine you're taken care of and just let you have time to breathe and hurt for a little while and cry for a little while and then as as some of the the fog starts to lift then you'll make better decisions and decisions that you'll feel more confident in I would if I were in your shoes I mean sharing it I've been together 45 years and if something happened to her in August I wouldn't be on the show right now okay I mean I'm still trying to figure out how to make a sandwich you know I mean it's just unbelievable so I wouldn't be able to breathe yeah so you know it takes a little while it just does and that's that's good but probably some advice though for after and nothing rushed right now at all and but for that three hundred I would just park it in an HS and yeah how you'll savings get with go ahead and sit down with the smart mr pro and tell them you want to park everything on hold until you can breathe okay and then decide next spring what you're gonna do may invest some of it right to to let it grow keep some in cash just in a high yield that you can get to if you needed it right so you can you'll definitely be able to do maybe one or two things with that three hundred I would pay off next spring if you're gonna stay in the house I'd pay it off okay and invest and invest the rest that's you know invest the rest and you're gonna be just fine you're being great shape you have a great life and if you're gonna sell the house and move into a different property just make sure that the numbers still are somewhere around the same numbers when you do that okay that you're not you know you're not moving up to a half million dollar property okay right you don't have that kind of money all right so but that's next spring and by then you can say okay this house has served its purpose I I'm he was trying to be practical and put you in something that's less maintenance but you're still being romantic and this is where all the memories are yeah and so the practical versus the romantic can decide next spring okay okay I just was so concerned about not making that that money work for me it's okay it's okay you don't need it if you needed it I'd get a little more panic about it but you're in good shape and if you sit down the smart vester pro and tell them to send you a thousand dollars a month out of it and you add that to what you've got that you're two hundred short you said so that gives you a little wiggle room you're not just you're not living on pinched and you got a little room to breathe and then next spring make a decision that's a twelve thousand dollar play not a big deal and you got you got eighty nine I mean you get yeah you got eighty one and three hundred so you got almost four hundred thousand dollars to deal with so you're in good shape you're fine and you're right he did provide for you and just give yourself some room here a to go through a normal healthy grieving process when you've had this kind of a loss and be make better decisions at the end of it and I I think you already had decided all that you just want somebody to tell you that right yeah so I'm sure I'm doing this smart thing yep yep that's it and you're doing a good job Linda yeah so sorry thank you so much yeah thank you thank you for hard thank you for trusting us with your call and in the middle of your situation yeah that honors us thank you it's one of the the toughest things when something traumatic happens especially a loss right of any kind having to learn to function in a new way in general not just with money but it's your life you know especially your partner and it's yeah and it just it just illustrates though guys you know it sounds very crass in a way but get life insurance your lord yes go to Zander insurance and get your term life insurance in place because if she didn't have that 300 it changes her oh my gosh oh my gosh now we got to make decisions in the middle of this mess yep because she's pinched yep you know but the 300 gave her the luxury of of of grief a time of time yeah yes and and so and it doesn't cost that much yeah go to Zander insurance and get this stuff I mean really life and depending on age and health it's very inexpensive yeah and you get a good policy and especially parents if you have kids in the house and something happens to one of the spouses I mean take care take care of your family been doing this a long time the number of times I've talked to a 30-year-old that lost her husband she's got two babies and she gets a million dollars or a 30-year-old that lost her husband and she gets nothing it's a big difference it's a big difference that puts us out of the rams you show in the books we'll be back with you before you know it in the meantime remember there's ultimately only one way to financial peace and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace Christ Jesus