The Rachel Cruze Show - 9 Things To Do Differently With Your Money in 2026 with Dave Ramsey

Episode Date: January 12, 2026

✅ Are you paying too much for insurance? Find out in five minutes.   It’s time to whip your money into shape! In this episode, Dave Ramsey joins me to talk about what you can do differently with your money in 2026.   Next Steps: 🎥 Watch my video These People Found an Extra $3,015 a Month (Here’s How). 💵 Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app! 📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan.   Connect With Our Sponsors:   Learn more about Christian Healthcare Ministries. Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. Go to FAIRWINDS Credit Union for an exclusive account bundle! Turn to Minno for kids shows you can trust. Use code RACHEL for $10 off an annual plan with a seven-day free trial.    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

Well, it's always a treat when we have Dave Ramsey, who's also my dad joining us. And today we're going to talk about really a practical conversation about what you should do differently with your money in 2026. So be sure to like, subscribe, and share this episode with the friends. All right, let's get started. Well, welcome back. Good to be back. It's a tradition. I know every January to talk through what needs to change about our money in 2026.

So there are a couple things we're going to go through you guys. And this is stuff that I feel like some of the things that Ramsey's known for. But we're known for it because it works. And so we're going to kick off with the thing that probably known for the best is paying off debt. So getting out of debt in 2026 or working your way towards getting out of debt is a financial goal that you need to have if it's not already. Because we know the power of not only emotionally not carrying debts, but also when it comes to the financial side that your income is not leaving you. able to take your income and change your life with it. You're able to change your family tree, invest, give, save, all of it versus it going out to payments. Absolutely. Your number one

wealth building tool is your income. And so if you add up all your payments but your house payment and you can take that amount and start putting it into an investment, you'd be a millionaire really fast. It's crazy. How much of our strength, our mathematical strength, we willingly give away by signing up for a car payment, Mastercard for a vacation, on and on and on, stupid student loan debt. Oh, my gosh, the whole thing, you just piles up, piles up, piles up. So getting rid of that opens up the ability to move from defense to offense. Yep, absolutely. Yeah, there's power in that.

And when we say take control of your money, that is one of the places that is so big. So when you want to get out of debt, if you're at this point, I'm like, okay, I'm actually going to do it the most effective way that really you found 30 years ago. and it's been proven over and over again, is to pay off your smallest debt first. So pay minimum payments on everything and pay off the smallest debt, not trying to go for the highest interest rate and kind of doing the math side is really a behavior change that occurs. Yeah, we figured out a long time ago that, and you guys know this, if you think about it, personal finance is 80% behavior. The problem with my money is not that I don't understand math.

The problem with my money is the guy in my mirror. If that can get that guy to behave, he can be skinny and rich. And that's, you know, you just got to, we know what to do. It's caloric intake. That's the problem on the diet and on the debt. It's just, you know, we've got to fix the math. We've got to quit spinning, hitting some mitt on the cart all the time and spinning ourselves into oblivion.

Yeah. And so if you're going to fix a behavior problem, you don't fix it with a math solution. You fix it with a behavior solution. So paying off the smallest debt gives you some hope, gives you some confidence. It's like going to the gym. You lose some, you lose two pounds the first week. You're like, hey, I might actually do this, you know? Yeah.

And then you get further in, further in the further in. And the more winds you get, the more intense you get. And the deeper you'll cut your sacrifice because you love the winning. Yes. And that's what works about the debt snowball. And it is proven to be right. Well, David, it's not mathematically correct. Actually, it is mathematically correct because you have to include probability of completion in the math.

And you don't complete the other stuff where you pay off the highest interest rate to the lowest. People don't complete that. They complete this. This works. Millions of people have done it. Yeah, and the momentum of once you pay off two, three, four of your debts, those payments are freed up. You don't have those payments going out. So they continue on with the highest. So even there's like a mathematical progression there, which is so helpful. All right. Number two, combining finances with your spouse. This is one that we get a lot of hate for. I feel like I get a lot of hate for. People are just, I think they're fearful of this. They're scared of it. They don't want to do it for all different kinds of reasons. But this should be a goal if you are married. 2026 to get on the same page with your spouse and then tactically actually say, yeah, we're going to combine our money and see our money as a household budget that who, regardless of who brings in

the income, both of you, one of you, together as a household, here is our money and here's what we're going to do with it. Well, when you share your spending and you share your goal setting with your spending, both of you have a vote. It's not about someone lording it over the other one or some kind of control mechanism. It's not that. But two of us working as a team, when you agree on your spending, you're agreeing on your fears,

you're agreeing on your dreams, you're agreeing on your value system and how we're going to get there. And we're listening to each other. There's some give and take between the spender and the saver. And we get this middle ground, the best of each of you,

to be able to move forward. And, you know, there is no data on any piece of research that says that, marriages are better with their money separate. There's lots of data that says that marriages are better with their money together. And we've got lots of data, detailed research, not just an opinion, that your probability of building wealth is much higher working together. Yeah, absolutely. So what would you say to couples where one spouse is like, well, he just kind of takes care of it, he earns the money,

or she's just better at it, so I just let her do it. Because we do find isolated times in marriage that one spouse takes the control of it, either by default or because they want the control, but both spouses, both adults in the equation, how important is that, that they both have a voice and both work together? Well, you don't get the marital benefit if you don't both have a voice. You've got a daddy taking care of a little girl or a mommy taking care of a little boy. And that's not a real good, healthy basis for a marriage relationship. That's the problem with that.

The problem with the math is that you're not really. getting the opinion of the other side. So you're missing out on, you know, all the insights and wisdom that the other person brings the table. So we add that because I don't really, the person that is really proactive and is kind of in control, they're probably still going to be driving. Sure. The subject.

Totally. Okay. At your house, that's Winston. Yeah. Yeah. The nerd. They love putting it together. They want to, yes.

You know, free spirit's not going to put together the budget. They don't want to write the checks. They don't want to pay the bills online. Yeah. But those of us that are nerdy, we like to do it. that. So I didn't quit doing that because my wife, but I could, this whatever you want to do, honey, thing that Sharon would do, and that a lot of spouses do, we quit doing that. Yeah. No, it's not whatever I want to do. Number one, I don't ever want to hear I told you so again.

Because you didn't. He didn't. Okay. After the fact, it's easy to do that, right? And number two, I want your input and I want you to vote and then I'll go do, I'll execute the plan that we develop together. That's right. So there's still going to be that. person that's driving the thing. Yes. And that's not bad. But this, where you just are, are relationally lazy and just turn it over to someone else, you can't do that in business.

When you delegate, you've got to expect, and you can only expect what you inspect. And so you've got to stay involved. You can get someone to do the work, but you've got to stay involved, make sure the work's getting done. Yeah. So good. So, yeah, both working together as a team, 2026, do it differently if you're not doing now. All right. So number three is to follow a monthly budget. We have seen again from data and just

personal experience knowing one of the best ways to get control of your money is to know where your income is going. So often you just live life. You get paid. Want to go here? Do this, that. I don't know. And then you look up like, oh, when's the next check going to hit? Because, oh, gosh, we have this coming up. Right. And it adds stress. It can add confusion if there's not a clear plan. And so being able to know exactly where every single dollar is going of your income, it gives you power, it gives you control, and it allows you to make changes. If you want to get out of debt,

if you want to do something differently, you actually know where you're starting at, so you can say, okay, we need to make this change and this change in order to get the result that we want. And so some people can feel overwhelmed by the budget. They feel like, oh my gosh, I don't know. I don't even know where to start, what to do. But this is, I mean, I think this is one of the most important steps

in general of being wise with your money is that you're not being lazy with your income. You know where it's going. You have a plan. Stephen Covey said in the book, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Number One habit of highly effective people is they're proactive. They happen to things. They do things on purpose. Winning at anything is an intentional act.

If you want to have a high-quality career, you're very intentional about it. You don't just wander down to work and hope it all works out. Raising great kids requires a lot of effort. Very intentional, very thoughtful about how we're going to react to each and every situation and how we're going to react to the, we're going to react to the, we're going to react to the, overall situation, you know, and it's a very thoughtful process, you know, becoming great at business, becoming great at, you know, here on a podcast. It's an intentional act. Winning with money is not accidental. No one becomes wealthy and stays wealthy that doesn't do it on purpose. And on purpose is a budget. If you work for someone and your job was to manage money, like your job is to manage

money for you now run your life, most of you would fire you because you suck at handling your own money. And then you expect it, God, to just bless you and win the lottery or something. No way. You don't have great kids on accident. You don't have a great marriage on accident. You don't run a marathon on accident. You don't build wealth on accident. You have to have a plan and execute the plan. Yep. And know where it's going. And it is amazing to me how freeing it is because you actually know, whether it's on vacation or your Christmas shopping or you're just wanting to like go grab Chick-Fleigh on a Tuesday night with your family. Like whatever it is, big or small, You're able to look at it and be like, okay, am I able to do this?

Right? It kind of gives you this ability to say, oh, I can't. And that's not always fun to say no to yourself. But it's helpful because it's getting you to where you want to go. Or your yes is an enjoyable yes. It's a peaceful yes because you know, yeah, absolutely. I have the money and here's what I'm going to do. So I remember when you first started doing this, teaching this stuff,

you brought new language to it that I didn't have because I'm the nerd. And for me, it was like, execute the plan. Shut up, execute the plan. And you were like, no, this is freeing. It's a spending. plan. Yeah, permission to spend. A plan to spend money. Yes. You know, and it's like, I never thought of it that way, because I didn't think of it that way. I was trying to, drag, get this stuff done. But, you know, it is, it's, you can go to the grocery store and not feel guilty feeding your family. Yes. Hello.

Or doing something fun and being like, oh yes, but it's there. Yeah, it's there and we're able to do it. So, it's awful. If you guys need a budget, make sure to check out every dollar. I'll put a link down below, but not only is it the best budgeting tool. It's the one that I use. I literally look at this app daily to track transactions, know what's going on, but now it's even expanded to look over your entire financial plan. So you can click the lead down. It'll walk you through the baby steps. It'll walk you through the Ramsey way. It'll show you exactly what to do. Yeah, it's amazing. Yep. All right. Number four, say no to extras. So if you are in a season of sacrifice to those of you that are trying to get out a debt, you're trying to build an emergency fund, those extras can get you, whether it's subscriptions,

gym membership, eating out, streaming services, you know, even luxuries, like having a house cleaner or long care service, like all these things that you don't necessarily need, but you want, it is sucking your income dry, right? And if you're trying to get ahead, cutting those things out for a season is so helpful just to get hundreds, some people, even thousands of dollars, back into their budget to be able to say, okay, here's the money that's going to go to get us out of debt faster to build that emergency fund up quicker. But those extras are out there, and they really kind of start to feel like needs in our world today. Yeah, and we're not suggesting that you ruin your life. We're suggesting for a period of time you live like no one else so that later

you can live and give like no one else. Now, I get made fun of a lot for being the Grinch, you know, and that kind of thing. So like last month was Christmas and there's this guy that always pops up at Christmas making fun of me. It's really funny stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Dave Ramsey ruined Christmas. Dave Ramsey run Christmas, right? It's really cute. But, but it's, you know, Dave Ramsey didn't ruin Christmas and it's not when we teach, by the way. It's okay. I'm not offended. It's funny. Yes. But the thing is, you know, if you will live like no one, else later, you can have a Christmas like no one else. That's right. You might be half this year, you might have to have Christmas like no one else. And it's not me running Christmas. It's you as two

grownups deciding we're not buying crap out our ears again and then wonder why we're broke in January. Yep. And, you know, that's a Christmas example. But, you know, as you get into January here and you're looking down into February, what are we going to do for Valentine's Day? And well, we're going to have a little heart, but we have a big heart. I mean, come on. I mean, what is it? Seriously, you've got to think this through. I know. Well, that's our last point. Keep sticking around on the video. It's the last point you're going to enjoy. But that's what I always find so funny is like the, even the crappy cars that people buy to get out of their big car payment. Right. They're always like, this is my Dave car or my Ramsey car. And you're always like, no, get the nice new car and call that your Dave car because you're a spender at heart. You paid a price to win. Yes, that's right. I got nice cars. I paid a price to win. And I got there. But we sacrificed when you guys were little kids. I mean, we didn't do all kinds of fancy stuff all the time. But now we can do all kinds of fancy stuff.

So, I mean, you pay a price to win, and then you're able to do it. It's worth it. Yes. Live like no one else. So later you can live and give like no one else. All right. So number five, diversify your investments. So whether we're talking about investing when it comes to retirement or something,

that it's not all your eggs in one basket or you don't go all in on like one thing, or especially if it's like a trends setting thing, like a crypto or something that you just take all your money. You do this one thing. But really the diversification inside your investments is really important because, you know, you're able to mitigate risk when you're doing something like an index fund or a mutual fund. And that's the ideal place to put your investments. If you ever take even one single finance class, the first thing, 101, they teach is diversification. All diversification means is to spread around. And there's safety and increased gain due to the safety in the spreading around.

because when you bet your entire thing on one thing and it goes south, you're screwed. Yeah. But if you bet it on 22 things and one of those goes south, you're not screwed. And so the people that bill wealth spread their money around. Even the Bible says it in Ecclesiastes, spread your portions to seven, yes, to eight, for disaster may come upon the land. And so, thank God you're not all invested in so-and-so. Yeah.

And then it goes broke, right? And so that's the beauty of mutual funds, good growth stock, mutual funds have 90 to 200 different companies in them, stocks in them. Yep. And so I buy mutual funds. I don't buy single stocks. And I put up my mutual funds into four different types of mutual funds, growth, growth and income, aggressive growth and international.

Put it in a good Roth IRA or Roth 401K where it's growing tax-free and go make yourself some money. All right. Something new you should also do when it comes to your money is to get to delete me. Because every year we aim to get organized, but one thing most people forget to clean up is their digital life. And with every coupon, newsletter, or giveaway you sign up for your personal information spreads to shady data broker websites that you've never even heard of. And that is where Delete Me comes in. Their team of privacy experts finds your info on those sites, gets it removed, and keeps it off.

It's like a digital cleaning crew protecting your name, privacy, and peace of mind. So start your year off right with DeleteMe. Go to join delete me.com slash rachel and use code rachel to get 20% off. All right, you guys, I am a 90s kid. Born in the late 80s, grew up in the 90s, which means I grew up with shows like Veggie and Me, if you remember those. And I love watching those great shows with my kids, plus new favorites that teach them about faith and the Bible.

That's why I love Minow. It has Christian kids shows your family will love, including the new hits, the Chosen Adventures, and Dead Sea Squirrel. Minnow is safe, ad-free, and full of biblical truth. So try it with a seven-day free trial at go-mino.com and use promo code Rachel to get an additional $10 off an annual plan. That's go-mino.com code Rachel. All right.

Next is to check your coverage. So insurance is one of the places we have found. If you do sign into every dollar and you start this process, you're going to find some examples and recommendations of how to find some extra money. And one of the places we keep finding data over and over that people are finding a good amount of money is actually looking at your insurance coverage. So whether that's, you're having insurances that you don't need and you can get rid of them and earn that money, or you actually go to an insurance broker like a Xander insurance, for instance, and they shop around and actually get you the best rates. But it is

fascinating. I mean, it's thousands of dollars people are finding in just shopping their investments. because there's parts of money that I feel like people do, and they just kind of set insurance is one of those. They get it, they set it, and they forget about it. Yep. And then it's years and years down the road, and their life has changed. You know, maybe they've had kids.

They changed houses. They change cars. And they look up and like, oh, gosh, I haven't really even thought to go and shop and look at all of my coverage. But the insurance part of your money, it's one of the adult things that can be kind of boring and can feel like a heavy lift,

but it's one that's so necessary to stay on top of. Yeah, you'll pick up $1,000 to $3,000 a year by shopping. in your car homeowners as a package because most people buy homeowners when they buy the house. Yep. And then they don't think about it again. Yep. And they never went back and checked it, never went back and learned about it, never did anything about it. And so, again, winning is an intentional act. So just spend a little bit of time on it, shop it, take the coverage check up, do the thing, and make sure you haven't got all the junk insurance, all the little short-term

disability junk or the cancer policy junk and that kind of stuff. Make sure you've got the big things covered. We'll show you how to do that. And make sure you're, you've got it at the right price. And we've got, folks, we are not in any of those businesses. We don't sell any kind of insurance at Ramsey. But we do have very strong opinions about what types of insurance you should buy because it's the best deal. And because if you get the right stuff in place, it's not that expensive. And it's the good defense. You can play offense over here and Bill Wealth, but if you don't keep a good defense in place, it can crack, it can really crack. And you got Humpty Dumpty on your hands. Yeah, the crash is real. Yep. So we'll put a link down for

the Ramsey coverage check up. It's completely free. And again, make sure to do it today and it'll kind of show you where you're at. All right. Number seven is to stop leading with fear. I feel like more, I don't know, it feels like the last few years. I think the housing market inflation, kind of after the COVID ramp up, it's like there just feels, it feels like a lot of heaviness in the economic side of life. Again, the big macro. It's like, oh my gosh, it's these things that can't control, right?

Things are happening, whether it's elections or inflation, housing market, all of it. And it just feels big. I think a lot of people freak out and sometimes they make decisions out of fear. And usually in your life, when you're making decisions on a big emotional basis like fear, you usually make the wrong decision. And so getting back to this idea that what Dr. John Deloney talks about is control, which you can control. Things are going to be happening. And there's a part you, there's a level of surrender, I think, in life where you're just like, I can't do anything about that. So I'm going to control what I can. But leading with fear is real. We see that a lot, whether it's, I mean, I remember in 08, the recession and all of that. I mean, you were in, the middle of all of that. Yeah, there's just these big dips in life, highs and lows. And I don't know, this kind of felt like a heavier couple of years, I think, coming out of COVID and the changes going on in the economy. Well, I think there's a lot of a different type of negativity in the air with the political divisiveness and with this idea that the question is, can I control my destiny? and when I don't feel like I can control my destiny,

if I don't feel like if I do all the right things and I still don't win, then that sense of being disenfranchised is the phrase that people use. But that sense of hopelessness has kind of a darkness to it. And that somehow gives you an entitlement to go do stupid stuff that brings harm to yourself. You know, it's like, well, I can't do, I can not going to, you know. I remember in my generation, people would say things like, well, you're always going to have a car, payment, and it was kind of like that give up, you'll never make it, the little man can't get ahead. That's what I heard growing up. I hear that from people. They say, well, you know, only the big

dogs get that. The little man can't get ahead. It's that same kind of dark hopelessness that I can't control my outcomes or enough of my outcomes to build a good life. And the truth is, in any generation, including this one, that's not true. 80% of your outcomes over the scope of your life, 90% of the outcomes over the scope of your life are caused by your inputs, not by the president, not by capitalism, not by boomers, not by any, you can't, you know, you can't find anybody to be victim to that works out that causes you to win. And the only thing that causes you win is to control the things you can control today

and take the next right steps tomorrow. Now, it may mean, and it has meant in times in history, that people move physically to an area they can afford to buy a home. They can't afford to buy a home in that market ever, you know. Or, you know, we've had times that there was a huge hurricane in New Orleans many years ago, Katrina. And there was this hopelessness that it was going to take so long to rebuild that people left. And there was a, you know, we've got Cajun restaurants all over the day.

the United States now because of Katrina, you know, and that's not a bad thing in a sense, but it was very uprooting. They could not rebuild. So you control what you could control. The thing I can control is I'm not staying here. Yeah. I got to move. I'm not staying in this job.

I'm not staying at this level of education. I'm not going to be satisfied. But I can't fix whatever somebody else out there is doing. I can't fix interest rates. I can't fix what Fox News says about the economy. Screw that. I don't care. What you can fix is you.

and you can fix it today, and you can say, okay, where do I want to be in 10 years? What are the steps I've got to do to get there? I can't do it here. I can't do it there. Then something's got to change. So change something to get there. And, you know, when we went broken and lost everything, Sharon and I had to sit down and go, well, you know, that's it.

We're bankrupt. Little man can't get ahead. Or let's figure out what calls this so we don't do it again. And let's never do it again. And let's do the opposite. So we don't not only become bankrupt, but become wealthy. And so I could have sat there and just sat there and cried for the rest of the my life and been a victim of the circumstances because there was lots of things that the government

did that caused us to go bankrupt. But it was not their fault. It was my fault. And so I had to work through that and change that. You control more than you realize. Yeah, which is so, it is so helpful because I do think sometimes you kind of can get into this like negative cycle of like, oh my gosh, well, this and this. And if you look back, you know, the joke always is that boomers bought their house with like two pairs and an apple or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And again, I think every generation has had their level of that. There's always been something economically that's been hard, whether it was the job market, the housing market, right? I think every generation has faced something. And it's really empowering to be able to know, yes, there are things that are going to happen to me.

But the majority of my life and what you said, the outcome of my contentment and my happiness and my joy and what I want out of life is that I get to make that decision and choose that. And so it is really empowering. So if you feel, like that. I think it's a normal feeling to feel down and out. But again, in 2026, changing that I'm not going to make decisions out of fear and even that victimhood mentality. I'm going to change it to know, okay, I'm an adult and I can start to do things about my life. And maybe hard changes, maybe big changes, right? Job changes, you know, where you're living changes, right, in the city. So maybe big changes, maybe small changes. But comparing yourself to some false past measure is ridiculous. The first house that Sharon and I bought, was $80,000. Your sister was born. Crazy. 40 years ago.

My parents bought a home almost identical to that 25 years before for $12,000. And my generation was sitting around going, oh, we've been priced out of the market. We'll never be able to buy a house. A $12,000 home was now 80,000, 25 years later. Now 40 years later, that house is 600,000. Right. Or whatever it is. I don't know, 400,000.

Yeah. But, you know, and it's, it's still, it's probably about the same multiple, right? But it's always been, if you look back, it's like, my parents got this house for $12,000. That's, I never knew there was, yeah. Isn't that nuts? I mean, that's what your grandparents did. It's crazy. Yeah.

12 grand. That'd be nice. Well, no. It's like it. You got to configure, you got to figure out what they were making. I know, I know. And this is a 1,000 square foot home with an unfinished basement, one and a half baths. Yeah.

Totally. And one of the bedrooms was about this big that we stayed in. I mean, it was tiny. Yeah. No, I know. I know. I know. It's just wild, though.

That is the other interesting part is the level of expectation. Yeah. Our standard of living has changed dramatically. Yes. Of what we want and expect. I know. Me too. I want and expect it, too.

Sure. Sure. I am. My tolerance for bull crap is really low. There you go. There you go. All right. Number eight, so don't neglect estate planning.

Okay. So this is something to be think about. So when you hear the word of state planning, that may feel really big. This could be something, you know, even doing a will, right? Whatever it is, whatever it looks like, planning ahead for your future is so important. And so whether it's you, whether you have small kids, you know, little kids running around, get your will in place. Whether you have adult kids, get your will in place. Wherever you are, whatever stage of life, you need to plan for the unexpected.

And this is something we hear a lot that people just, even a will, a basic state-specific will. people don't have, but you talk about how important it is, not only to have it, but how to communicate it to the family. Yeah, well, it's really important for everybody to know what it is you want to have happen. It's not a big conversation unless you've got a lot of complicated stuff. Yeah. But I mean, you just sit down and go, hey, this is what we're doing. The kids are going to be managed by this person. The wealth is going to be managed by this person to take care of the kids. And that's how it was set up when y'all were kids. And then once you're adults, it will change again, obviously. And, um,

You know, you just got to lay it out and you got to update it every so often, just like you update your car insurance or whatever. If you change locations or something major in your life changes, marital status or something else, you need to redo your will. And they're not that complicated. They're not that hard to do. And it doesn't cause death. Death happens no matter what. So, you know, you're not increasing your probability of dying. You're going to die.

So you need a will. You need a written will and then share it with the people that it affects. Yes. This is what's happening. And the dad, you know, the mom should say, this is, we're giving this money to so-and-so, and we're giving this house over here to so-and-so, we're doing this. And then everybody knows what's going on. There's not somebody mad after you're dead.

Yes, because we get those calls a lot. Oh, we get it a lot. Of whether it's no will, sad, no life insurance even. Like, that's a horrible call to get. But it just, it creates drama is what it ends up doing. You almost, George Cam always says if you hate your family, don't do it will. It's so true. Because it does.

it causes so much strife and confusion, and it just, it's, yeah, it gets messy in the middle of grief. Yeah, and people are really, really emotional for some reason about this kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah. So hard. All right. Last but not least, I told you, this is the good one, is to spend your money. So, especially those of you that have paid off debt, you have your emergency fund, you're on babysaps four through seven. This is the time where you can actually enjoy it. And we'll get this call every now and then if someone's like, I don't even know how to enjoy how to go from a spend, from a same. favor. I've lived a sacrificial life for the last three, four years to get to this place and now to let it go and to actually enjoy it feels scary to me. We'll get that call every now and then.

Yeah, it's, it's, you didn't build the muscle, the spending muscle, the wise spending muscle, and many times not building the generosity muscle big enough during that time. Yeah. And so you just got to start doing things you never done before. And that's spending and enjoy it. Give it and enjoy it. Spend it and enjoy it. Give it and enjoy it. And, you know, what you want to do is just keep those ratios, the amount of money as a percentage of your overall picture, your net worth needs to be very reasonable. But some people call in, you know, they got $10 million and they want permission to buy a $40,000 car. And it's like, yeah, and write a check and go, or a $50,000 car. I don't go and go get this. But it's different than the guy with, you know, $60,000 to his name. He wants

to buy an $80,000 car. Right, right. That's way different, right? Because it's harmful to him. But so as a percentage of your net worth, you're giving and you're spending, you're not going to run out of money. Practice, practice doing something you've never done before. Build that muscle. Yes, and enjoy it. Because, again, that's part of it, you guys, as we talked about, you live like no one else. So later you can live and give like no one else. So enjoying your money.

That's what I wanted to end on for 2026, for those of you in those steps to enjoy, have fun, treat people around you. again, be generous and enjoy it because that's part of it. All right. Well, thanks for coming on. Always good to be here. Kicking off the 2026 New Year. Oh, 26. Yes, you guys got this.

Yeah, later on you can tell your grandkids, back in a six, we started this. Back in 20206, this is what the hells us cost. That could be you. Be excited about your future there. Now, if you need to find some margin in your 2026 budget, be sure to check out my episode. These people found an extra three.

thousand fifteen dollars a month and here's how you can click right here or click the link down below if you're listening on podcasts all right you guys remember to take control of your money and create a life you love