The Rachel Cruze Show - Answering Your Burning Money Questions

Episode Date: October 24, 2025

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So one of my favorite things about getting to do this job is getting to talk with you all in real time about your money goals. So today I'm going to be answering some of your burning money questions. Now make sure to like, subscribe, and share this episode with a friend. So I went on my Instagram and I just said, hey, ask me anything, especially when it comes to money, knowing what you guys want to hear. And y'all always respond so well, which I so appreciate. Thank you. but we categorized these out because there were so many responses obviously we can't get to all of them but we grabbed a couple of themes that we saw if you will and took a question from one of those themes and we put it in the old fishbowl that's my favorite thing ever i love a fishbowl so let's see what it says

all right how much should i be saving for vehicle repairs slash replacement each month so always around cars we get some really good questions. So what I would do is average out, number one for gas. That's where a lot of our money goes. So you kind of figure out, okay, how much do we spend on average on gas? Now, depending on your car, depending on your car's history, how old it is, how many miles, will probably depend on how much you want to put in a sinking fund. And a car is a great place to have a sinking fund.

So you can use a replacement for this. Now, if you know we're probably going to need a car in the next 12 months, then that means, okay, if we're going to try to save $12,000, we need to put a place. put $1,000 away every single month towards that. Or if you feel like, yeah, we're going to have to have some repairs, usually ongoing, something's going to come up, maybe a hundred bucks, a couple hundred bucks each month to those repairs. But the sinking fund is great because it's not that you have an actual date in mind always, but you're just putting money aside. Now, if you have every dollar, there is a place in every dollar to do sinking funds. There's also an area called

goals. So goals would be more for a car replacement fund if you have an actual date of when you need to replace a car. You can use that goal setting. But the sinking fund is awesome because you just put money away every single month. Now you have to keep tabs on it because if you put $200 and you do that for three months, it means you have $600 extra kind of floating around your checking account. So I always like to move that money to savings to a savings account, a separate than my emergency fund, just to know we're building up. So whether it's vacations and car repairs, this is getting more. But you have to keep tabs on it. You have to obviously be detailed. So That amount, though, is going to depend on your car situation.

All right. Next, let's go here. Okay, a single mom is making $106,000 a year with my mortgage, HOA, debt, inflation. How do I manage it all better? That's a great question. I feel like a lot of people feel like they're just like spinning their wheels financially. So everything you just samed off, I just want to say, it's pretty normal. A lot of people have those exact same expenses.

And so what you want to do is prioritize where your money is. going. And you can do this within a budget. I mentioned every dollar earlier. But it is a great place because you want to do food, shelter, utilities, transportation. Like, you have to have those to survive. And then there's going to be another important stack under that. And that's going to be childcare insurance, like these things that we have to have in order to, as a single mom, go to your job. So you want to prioritize the things that you have to have. And then whatever money is left is then to say, okay, this could be for entertainment, for fun, X, Y, and Z. but what happens is we take the things that we really want,

and sometimes those take priorities over need, and then it can feel really stressful. So I would say prioritization is big. I would say number two, being on a financial plan, the baby steps is great. So to know, you know, she has debt, she said. So be working through that, have an emergency fund of $1,000 and have a plan to be working your way out of debt.

So that extra margin that we talked about, it may not go to fund stuff for a season. You may be going to get that debt paid off, because if you took the amount of money that you're spending just on payments and that was not leaving your paycheck, that's just yours to keep, then suddenly you have so much power and so much margin, which is what we're shooting for. But it's a great question. I think a lot of people feel that. All right, next, let's go here. As a single 49-year-old doesn't make sense for me to get term life insurance. Great question. So life insurance is, really needed is if somebody is dependent upon your income. And so if you are single and you don't have kids that having life insurance isn't really necessary. Now, if there are things you want to do

with your life because term life is so inexpensive and you're like, yeah, when I pass on, I would love to leave money to my nieces and nephews or, you know, X, Y, and Z, then you can get life insurance if you want. It's inexpensive, which is great, but I wouldn't waste a ton of money on it if there's no independent upon your income. Now, what you do need and what everyone needs is a will. So that is something that I would have for sure to know exactly what's going on. Now, some people will have a small life insurance policy to pay for funeral expenses. But I would say, I mean, that's not even necessary. I mean, you could have some savings set aside for that, which would be very kind for you to have that if, you know, when something happens to you,

there's money to pay for that. But some people will use a life insurance policy for that. So again, no, no, you don't need it. But if you wanted it, because you want that money pass on to someone, then you could get it. And remember, term life, don't get whole life insurance. Term life, inexpensive, you get better coverage, all the things. All right. Next up, I own my home. Do I add my boyfriend to the deed once he becomes my husband?

So yes, you can do this for sure. And some people, when they're like looking at this and even if they're getting a home together, like pulling their credit report and all of it, but having that deal, I think is important for both names to be on it. Now, if something were to happen to the marriage and majority of states, that's going to be seen as a marital asset, it probably will be split anyways. But depending on what state you live in, is how specific all of that gets. But yes, once you are married, I see everything together.

So your home and your household will be one. And so you both owning it, I think it's a great idea. All right, before I respond to the rest of these questions, I do want to tell you about one of our incredible sponsors, delete me. So if you don't remove your personal data from the internet, your name, address, email, and even your kids' names will be out there on sketchy data broker websites. Data brokers will collect your data, sell it, and that puts you at risk for scams and fraud. But the good news is, Delete Me removes your data to help protect you from fishing, harassment, and other online threats. Winston and I use DeleteMe, and it saves us so much time and worry. So protect your family's privacy and safety by signing up for DeleteMe.

Go to join deleteme.com slash rachel for 20% off, bringing your monthly cost to under $9 or just click the link in the description. All right next. What do we have? How do you figure out how much to spend on a wedding? Oh, what a fun time in life. Well, my rule of them always is don't go into debt for the wedding. You don't do that.

So whatever cash you have available, on average, I think the average cost of a wedding today is around 30 to 40. thousand dollars so that's the average again you may be above average below average but I would not do anything like absolutely crazy where if you have a lot of savings that you spend it all on the wedding you know you may want to prioritize having some of that for a down payment on a home or you know whatever it looks like for you so it's really going to depend upon your income and always spending with cash now when it comes to like engagement rings we always say like a one to two month salary is what you could spend there but for a wedding it's a little bit harder to dictate because

even where you live, what you're choosing could be all over the map. But just do it in cash. Please, please, please. And remember, your wedding is one day. And it's great and wonderful. And, like, I loved my wedding. It was so fun. But your marriage is forever. So remember that. So I always say save some of that money for therapy later. It's great. We all need it, don't we? Yes, we do. All right. Next up, is it wise to pull out my investments to throw at debt? If they are non-retirement, investments, yes, I would. I would cash out everything you can that is non-retirement. So retirement will be your 401k IRA or Roth IRA. And if you pull money out before 59 and a half, you're going to be penalized. So it is not worth it. Keep it in there. But if you have like stocks or just a brokerage

account or mutual funds or whatever, I would. I would cash out all of that and put towards your debt to get out of debt as soon as possible. Next. is it a good investment to buy condos in a college town and lease them out? You can. I mean, I want you paying cash for any real estate that you're going to be doing when it comes to investing in that kind of thing. I mean, you'll always probably have tenants, which is a good thing. But remember, your tenants are going to be like 19-year-old guys. They're not like the cleanest bunch.

I don't feel like. So remember who you're renting to college students. Now, there's some great college students out there. I mean, I'm not saying every college student's going to just be a mess. But I think if I'm going to have a rental property, I think I'd rather have like a family in there or like, I don't know, a single woman working a job. Or I don't know. I probably would go for like a clientele that's a little bit older just so I don't have to deal with the headache of that. And you'll probably get students rotating a lot versus if you have a family, they may sign and rent with you for two or three years, right?

you may have longer longevity, if you will, than college students that are very unpredictable with their hygiene and all. All right. Next, what retirement account should a young adult start with? I always like just a Roth IRA. I think it's great. There is a limit of how much you can put in, but it grows tax-free. It is, it's pretty safe because most of the time you'll invest it just in good mutual funds.

It's not really confusing. you can do it easily with, you know, other companies, even like Vanguard. So the entry points, I think is pretty simple with a Roth IRA if you are earning an income. And so that would probably be the place from just like an easy standpoint, but also your 401K at work doing that and at least going up to the match. Because if they are matching you, that is free money, which is incredible. But I wouldn't do any of that if I had debt and did not have savings. So I want you out of debt with at least three to six months of expenses. saved in the bank before you start investing into retirements. But your Roth IRA, 401k at work,

if they give you that match, some great places to start. So good question. You guys, some great questions. They're so fun to like scroll through. I mean, hundreds of y'all were asking all these questions. And I really want to help you guys. Like I really know that it is possible for you to work a plan, to build well, to be wise with your money. So it's always fun to talk to you guys and answer your questions. Now, we also know it's not all sunshine and rainbows when it comes to money, the internet. So if you haven't yet, check out my episode. TikTok has strong opinions about this controversial marriage topic. It's going to be right here. Or if you're listening on podcasts, click the link below. All right, you guys, remember to take control of your money and create a

life you love.