The Rachel Cruze Show - 6 Things I Teach About Money That’ll Make You Angry or Wealthy

Episode Date: May 12, 2025

📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan. In this episode, let’s lean into the controversy. Find out which of my money teachings people hate the most—plus why I still stand by them (and why you should too!). Next Steps: 🎥 Watch my video My Most Hated Financial Advice: Eating at Home. 💰 Invest in your future with a SmartVestor Pro. Ramsey Solutions is a paid, non-client promoter of SmartVestor Pros. 💵 The simplest way to budget. Download the EveryDollar app for free!   Connect With Our Sponsors:   🏥 Learn more about Christian Healthcare Ministries. 🔒 Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe.   Explore More From Ramsey Network: 🍸 Smart Money Happy Hour 🎙️ The Ramsey Show   💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 💰 George Kamel 🪑 Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman  📈 EntreLeadership   Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After 15 years working in the personal finance space, there are obviously a handful of things that I say that people have some big feelings about. So today we're having a little fun, lean into that controversy, and share six things that I believe and teach about money that most people hate to hear. Now, let me know in the comments which one of these is a little surprising to you, and my guess will be probably number six. But be sure to like, subscribe, and share this video with a friend. All right, number one, piece of advice that people are like, eh, is not buying a new car until you are a net worth millionaire. So, listen, when you have a million dollar net worth, then you have the ability to buy a new car without it causing a lot of detriment to the numbers of your financial situation. So here's what I mean. When you buy a new car and you drive it off the lot, automatically it's depreciated.

and then when you look at a year, two years, three years, you lose so much money. It's like the one thing that we buy in life that goes down so fast. Now, if you have the margin to be able to take that financial hit and it's not a big deal in your world overall, then that's okay to do. But you don't need to go buy a brand new car. And again, pay so much for it. Within like two, two, three years, it's gone down so much in value. So go ahead and buy a used car.

a three-year-old car. That's great. Four years. Who cares? But doing that, financially speaking, is what is smart. So paying cash for your cars, as always, but do not buy a brand new car until you have a million dollar net worth. Number two, no credit cards. People hate this one too, because they're like, Rachel, oh my gosh, how do you not live without a credit card? And the games that credit card companies play all the time with points and airline miles. It's very appealing. And people are like, well, if I pay it off every month, it's not a big deal. So I know credit card philosophy is. The whole industry of debt is there and created because the banks make so much money.

The industry makes so much money off of us as consumers when it comes to debt. That is why it is huge and big and flashy and all the things because they are making billions of dollars off of this and off of us. So when you choose a life without debt, not only mathematically are you not sending your income to banks instead of keeping your income and investing it for yourself, but there's also an emotional aspect that when you have autonomy over your money completely, and there's no banks in the picture, meaning like debts-wise, and you have the ability to say and do what you want with your own money, there is a level of peace, again, emotionally, spiritually that comes with that, that you just, you can't put into an Excel sheet.

So that even includes credit cards, and people will say, well, I pay mine off every month. Statistically speaking, what we're seeing over and over, as it continues to rise for Americans in credit card debt, they're not paying it off every month. And then also those that do pay it off every month when they live without a credit card we've seen, they actually end up spending less money because you are not as emotionally attached when you're swiping a credit card than you are with a debit card or your own money cash. So there's something to be said about just not living with it. And listen, you can rent a car.

You can do all the things in life with a debit card. Some of the things take an extra step or two. I'll be honest with that. That's fine. But I'll take some of that inconvenience all day just to know that I have complete autonomy over my. life and my money. And a debit card works just as good as a credit card. And I'll just live my life that way with peace and not try to chase like the points and the airline miles and the whole game that they play. All right. Number three is combining checking accounts. This is the one thing I'll put

out on social media and I get the most hate for because people are so angry with the idea. They're like, no, this is my money. I'm not doing this. Are you kidding me? You know, you hear everything from like, you know, never depend on a man. Always make sure you have a safety net for you. I hear all these things. Now, there are situations that if you are in a toxic situation in your marriage, so addiction, you know, or there's been infidelity lying, financial infidelity, like things in there that is not going well and you do feel like you need to protect yourself financially, absolutely.

That totally makes sense. But for everyone out there that's just run in the middle marriage and you're just doing life together, I'm telling you what we have found, the benefits of managing your money to, and combining things and just saying we are one like together we are a team in life it's not me against you or your bills and my bills like we are living our life together there is a level of communication bonding intimacy because that's how you're choosing to live out your marriage and the way you're handling your money is a sign of that so it really shows something deeper going on in your marriage and again we find that people there's just this like incredible teamwork that

happens and you not only hit your goals faster financially, but on the upside, like, you just get to understand and experience life so much on a deeper level when you say we are one altogether, including our money. All right, something else that's really important to do is to protect your online information. It is extremely important to make sure that your personal info is protected from scammers and spammers lurking on the internet. That's right. That is why I love and use Delete Me. It's because they go in and remove your information. from hundreds of data broker websites that will buy and sell your personal data and it's terrible. So make sure to get Delete Me.

You can get 20% off an annual Delete Me plan, which ends up being less than just $10 a month. Go to join DeleteMe.com slash Rachel or click the link in the description. It is a, it's a service you guys. Everyone needs in today's world. All right. Number four, people hate Ramsey's conservative investing strategy. That's right. We are not flashy and crazy.

and big risk takers when it comes to investing. So we tell you to get out of debt, get an emergency fund, and then invest 15% of your income into retirement specifically. And these are traditional tax advantage retirement accounts. So think Roth IRAs, 401Ks, 403Bs, and put 15% of your income into those. And do that regardless of what the market is doing. You do it consistently. Month in, month out, year after year, decade after decade.

And that is it. Now, once you pay off your home, and you get to babysat seven and you want to invest more, then there's some other things that you can look at if you want. But this whole idea of just doing things like crypto or doing these things that don't have long-term track records, yes, they're exciting and they're fun. And sometimes they get really high and everyone's like,

we're making tons of money. But it's so volatile some of these things. And so there is something important about just putting your money in something that is 100% going to work long-term. And that is what investing in retirement does. So, again, it's not flashy, it's not exciting, but it works. Now, if you are confused when it comes to investing, sit down with an investment professional that you can trust. You can check out SmartVester Pro.

I'll put a link down below, but put your zip code in, find someone in your area that can help you with investing because having someone that knows this stuff day in and day out is so important for you building wealth long term. Number five, our home buying formula. So just like kind of our conservative investing approach, there is a conservative formula when it comes to buying a home. because we have seen more and more times that people buy homes outside of these percentages and that end up being a curse rather than a blessing. I mean, they take so much of people's income and just to buy a home, just to get into it. And then their whole life is stressful because of this one decision.

And so setting yourself up, it may take adjusting expectations or even adjusting your timelines. It may take you longer to do this. But the more conservative you are with this, the better off in the long run you're going to be. So here's the formula. We want you to put at least 5% down, forward down payments, on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, and your payment is no more than 25% of your income every single month. So when you look at that, again, it is more of a conservative approach, the 15-year versus the 30-year. Some people bump up to 35, 40% of their take-home pay.

We're at 25% is what we suggest. So, again, some of it feels like very conservative numbers, but what it does is it allows you long-term to be able to. to build wealth in other areas, so that your whole income isn't going to just your mortgage. Now, owning a home is a goal that we want everyone to have. But again, rushing into it is where people get in trouble. So taking your time, being a little bit more conservative on this, but in the long run, it is so much better for you. All right, number six is really basic, but it's funny because I always kind of get a massive response when I just say it,

whether I'm speaking or I'm doing a media hit. But here's another one. Live below your means. Yeah. I said that recently to a group of people, I don't know, maybe a thousand people that was speaking at at this event. And I was like, listen, live below your means. And there was like this like gasp in the air. And I was like, oh man, is this like controversial, this idea? But really, when you do that, you guys, it creates so much positive impact financially. If you live above your means and you spend more than you make, not only are you going into debts, but that's going to create a cycle of stress and a hard cycle to get out of. So you can get out of it, this paycheck to paycheck living and even living above.

But it does take sacrifice. It does cause some short-term discomfort, if you will, because it will be sacrificing expenses and maybe even trying to up your income in other areas. But the idea of just living below your means is going to be so helpful for you long-term. So I'd be lying to say that there are only six money teachings, you know, that people are like, oh my gosh, like this is insane because a lot of our stuff, people feel like it's just crazy.

But also a lot of our stuff has helped millions of people get control of their money and that is what we are all about around here. So go back to Common Sense, you guys. Sometimes the flashy, exciting things, you end up going wrong with it. So stay tried and true, be boring because that's the great thing.

It's long term. It's incredible what happens when you just use common sense with your money. Now, to find out what the haters are saying about the food category, of your budget, check out this next episode on the most hated financial advice eating at home coming up next. And if you're listening on a podcast, click the link below. All right, you guys, remember to take control of your money and create a life you love.