The Rachel Cruze Show - The Pandemic Was Your Wake-Up Call. Now Do This . . .

Episode Date: June 22, 2020

If the country has woken up to anything during the pandemic, it’s the importance of having an emergency fund. So, if you’re feeling the stress of a lack of savings, you’re not alone. The good news is, I’m here to help you get in a stronger financial position. And my dad, financial guru Dave Ramsey, is here to help too!   In this episode of The Rachel Cruze Show, you’ll learn:   What to do if you have a financial crisis on your hands How to rebuild your emergency fund from my dad, Dave Ramsey How one couple saved $13,000 in just nine months   Sponsors pay the producer of this show, The Lampo Group, LLC, advertising fees for mentioning their services or products during programming. Advertising fees are not based upon or otherwise tied to any product sale or business transacted between any consumer or sponsor. The following sponsors have paid for the programming you are viewing:   — Zander Insurance — Mama Bear Legal   Helpful Links:   Zander Insurance Mama Bear Legal Start your free trial of a Financial Peace Membership here Join my official Facebook community Get more of Dave Ramsey's money advice: daveramsey.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I lost my job. I went like almost six months with no income. I've got a couple on who used their emergency fund to survive the COVID pandemic. All of those things were leading us in a certain direction because God already knew where we were going. He already knew what was going to happen. My dad, Dave Ramsey. The reason we have an emergency fund is we know emergencies happen. It's probable at some time in your life you're going to have to tap that thing. And that's okay.

Hey, everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Rachel Crew Show podcast. So glad that you're here. All right, today's episode, we're going to be talking all about emergency funds. Right when I said that word, some of you were like, oh, well, that would be nice. I would love to have an emergency fund right now. Some of you are thinking, oh, I had one, but thank you, COVID-19. You took it from me.

And others of you are thinking, oh, well, I have one in the bank and I'm good to go. But no matter where you are, today's episode is for you. So get ready. My dad, Dave Ramsey, is back on the show to talk about what a game changer and emergency fund can be. and how to rebuild it if you use it. And I've got a couple on who used their emergency fund to survive the COVID quarantine. All right, let's get into today's episode.

Okay, one and four households in the middle class said that they couldn't pay all of their bills thanks to COVID-19, which means a lot of people out there did not have an emergency funds. But listen, even in a time of job loss, a health crisis, and uncertainty, you can have peace about your money. And an emergency fund, it gives you that, peace of mind. An emergency fund is just money you've set aside for unexpected things in life. So it's really a buffer between you and life. That's always how I look at it. It's like the

safety net. So you're like living life, something bad happens, and it just kind of keeps you from completely hitting the grounds. And what it does also is it turns this crisis, a panic, into just an inconvenience. So I have a voicemail. I know I've mentioned this a couple times in the show that people can call in and ask questions. So I actually got a call from Christina. in California. And her story, it was pretty heavy. I mean, she has a lot of life that's happened to her. So her and her husband, who he's in the military, by the way, thank you so much for your service and everything that you do for this country. It's amazing. But they moved from Illinois to California. And then they got in a really bad car wreck. Thankfully, everyone's okay. But a lot of attorney's fees, they were sued a year

long, just craziness with that. And then on top of that, now her husband is being deployed for nine months. And so they had an emergency fund in place, and now they've gone through it, and they're at this point of kind of a crisis now because they don't have savings. It seems like they're living above their means, and now her husband is being deployed. And so what kind of direction does she need to go? So the way I always answer these kind of calls, Christina, is that you have to understand that money flows two ways. Money flows in and money flows out. So if the money that is flowing out is greater than money coming in, more than likely you have an income problem. Because you're in California, again, it is. It's expensive. That is exactly kind of where you guys have moved,

thinks, you know, your husband's job and his service, which is just incredible. But you guys are going to have to make some lifestyle changes and some changes to income. And so that may mean you going back to work for a little bit of time. Or again, if there's some income things that you guys can cut out, maybe you move to a smaller rental. You know, you can make different decisions to help you guys in that buffer because the key here is now you were on babysaps four, five, and six. And now you're going to have have to go back and replenish that emergency fund, which is going to be really key. And so I think for you guys, a great goal would be to at least get a month's worth of

savings before he deploys. That's something you guys can work towards. It gives you a little bit of that buffer and kind of that starting launch pad to continue to save for that emergency fund. So it would be very, very diligent in the budget, find ways to save money, find ways to cut expenses, and get that back up as soon as possible. And it feels like really, really heavy for you because you guys. guys have gone through a lot in a pretty short period of time, a lot of change, a lot of

heaviness. And so what you have to realize, though, is that no matter what, no matter of the situation, you can do something about where you're at. And when you lose that power, when you lose kind of that feeling of control, that's when the hopelessness starts to set in. But be hopeful in the fact that you can do something different with your money. You can actually start to take control and get that emergency fund back. Now, guys, again, this is a heavy topic. and the emergency fund, it's there for you. And then when you go through it, that panic can kind of start to come back. And that's exactly what I felt from her.

And if you guys have any questions regarding an emergency fund or anything with money, make sure to call the voicemail, leave your question at 844-944-1075. Now, if you still aren't convinced having an emergency fund is totally necessary, I've got some incredible stats for you. Okay, with all the layoffs and furloughs that have happened during the pandemic, 77% of those who are laid off said that they expect to get their job back once this is all over. So that means not all hope is lost, as they just need some time, some cash in the bank, to get them through these next few months, and they will be totally fine.

And if you've ever wondered why I teach having an emergency fund and why it's so important, this is why. But out of all the examples in life, we talk about car crisis, job loss, maybe even a health scare, which all of those semi are what's happening right now. Maybe not the car thing for you. But a pandemic was never on the list. So I think that's always just an interesting thing I'm going to add in the future. But the point is, we have no clue what's going to happen.

We have no clue. And we say it all the time. It's not if life is going to happen. It is when it is going to happen. So having a plan in place, you guys, having money set aside is going to help you when life comes. Again, I said it earlier, but it's so true. It takes a crisis, an absolute freak out. just into an inconvenience.

So instead of completely panicking that your car is broken down and you have no clue what you're going to do and getting the car fix and having to go into debt for it, you now had a car problem and a financial problem. When you have an emergency fund,

it's like, oh, we'll just fix the car. Like it's that easy. We'll just fix the car. So having an emergency fund is so, so crucial to finding financial peace. If you need to save up for your emergency fund,

use my free Baby Step 3 goal tracker. Thousands of people have used it to color in their progress. Hey, moms, Rachel Cruz here. Are you looking for a fun side hustle to help you pay down debt and build your emergency fund? Just Between Friends is a consignment marketplace that will help you find cash in your kids' closet. I sell my kids outgrown clothes, toys, and gear using consignment, and Just Between Friends makes it super simple. The average seller with JVF brings in $300 to $400 per sale.

So go to JBF Sale.com to get started and find cash in your closet. today. That's jbfsail.com. Now let's hear from a couple who completely changed their financial situation, which helped them during the 2008 recession and now with COVID-19. Welcome, Jason and Allison. Thank you guys for being on. Thank you for having us. Thank you for having us. Okay, so tell me a little bit about your story and what made you guys want to change what you were doing with money. Okay, so back in, you know, what they call the crash, right? Back in 2006 and 7 and 8, At the time, Allison and I had, we were farmers. We actually worked on a farm. And we had, we made like $43,000 a year. And we had no budget. And at the time, I think we probably had $1,000 in our bank account. And we had $19,000 in debt. And I had heard this guy, Dave Ramsey on the radio. And I just decided, you know, we were kind of sick and tired of being sick and tired. Like, let's just listen to the program, see what it's about. And, uh, And let's try to fix the mess that we got into.

So that's kind of how it started for us. We didn't get super serious about it, Rachel, until a couple years. It took a minute to start because we were so used to the way we lived. And we actually, there's a lot of conflicting information out there. All of our friends said it's smart to have credit cards. It's smart to have, you know, car loans. Like, it's just normal. And so it was hard to know what was true and what wasn't true.

But we soon found out we made the right. choice by starting the baby steps. I was going to say a lot of people have a lot of opinions, don't they? Yes. A lot of people that they don't have any, like, degrees in anything. They don't have any, you know, they have no experience, but they, they've learned things that they believe are true and they tell them to you, and it's confusing. But we knew what we have been doing all along was not working. And so we wanted to try something new. Yeah. I love that. I think that's the point, right? You get to this point, like you said, and you're like, okay, I'm tired of living this way. Like, it shouldn't be like this. I shouldn't have a thousand dollars to my name

and thousands of dollars of debt. Like, this is not working. And so you guys really buckle down and you decided to get on a budget, start the plan. So I want to know about the first budget. What was that like when you guys sat down to do it? What was it like between you guys, so the budget was interesting. I always envisioned a budget as, it was a bad word. And I actually, I just didn't even want to talk about it because I'm the spender. You're the saver. The saver, yeah. And I just didn't even want to talk about it.

I was just afraid to even talk about it for whatever reason. And I thought it was some kind of a constraint on my life. I believed it was a cage that I would be placing myself involuntarily. And, Alison, do you agree? Like, I felt like the budget actually became the keys to the cage. And it released us so that we felt so free. Okay, I'm going to jump in here, guys, and stop the interview for a second. Because what he just said, I'm like, yes, Jason, this is what we're

been saying for years and years and years. He's the spender, okay? And he thought that a budget would keep him in this cage and all locked up. It's like, okay, I can't do anything fun. But he said, no, the budget, the plan actually was like the keys to freedom. And I'm like, yes, because a budget does not limit your freedom. A budget gives you freedom. And you guys, that is the truth. If you are a spender out there and you're hesitant about doing a budget, I'm telling you the freedom that comes with knowing what you're able to spend, you enjoy your purchases so. much more. There is never guilt. There is never shame because there is a plan around it. You know what you're doing. It's not going to cause you harm in the future and that you're able to spend without

question. And it's so much more enjoyable. I'm telling you, again, as a spender, this is what I experienced. This is my aha moment, my light bulb moment when it came to the budget. Because for so long, I would do a budget. And I was like, oh, man, I really didn't like it the first couple of months. I mean, it was really, really hard. And after Winston I got married and started doing one together, I was like, oh, gosh, It was like a forced habit or a forced chore, like, oh, I have to do this because I know it's the right thing, but nothing in me wanted to. And then after living on it for a year or two, we had this moment where Winston was like, don't worry about the budget. I'll just take care of it on this trip. And it was, I literally could not spend money on the trip because I couldn't enjoy it.

I was like, no, no, no, show me the budget. Like, I want to know the budget. And that was the moment I realized, yeah, a budget, it doesn't limit my freedom. It doesn't say that I can't do anything. It actually allows me to do things and enjoy those things so much more in the process. You probably want to hear about our fights, right? We all have them. We all have them.

So, yeah, I'll hear yours. Because when we did the budget, my wife is, she just trusted me and she's like, you do the budget. Well, that was not Dave's advice. Dave's advice is it needs to be a group effort. So I created the budget, but I slid it across the table and said, hey, look at this and can we agree to this? and there was one thing that you wanted different. The clothing budget, of course. Well, before we got on a budget, I always felt so guilty spending money.

Like, every dollar, I was like, am I taking from our retirement? Am I, you know, taking from our kids? But after having a budget for each one of those items, like, it just felt so good, knowing that that money is for that particular item. Well, that's, like, the perfect example of that a budget, doesn't limit your freedom. It gives you freedom. So your life beforehand, like you're saying, you're questioning every purchase, you were nervous. So it was stealing from retirement. I mean, all these questions, but they're all answered in the budget. You don't have to have guilt or

shame about it. It's there. It's planned for. I think that's incredible. So I'm curious, how long did it take you guys to get through baby steps one through three? So baby step two, to get out of debt, we had a fixed income. If I made not a single dollar more, which was going to be the case. We were going to go, it would take 18 months to get out of debt. And then I ended up selling my Jeep. And my Jeep was like, at the time was my prize possession. I sold that because it was, it was paid off at the time. And it would just, it would catapult us, like forward so much. And it gave us an opportunity. I rode my bike to work every day. Okay, I'm going to jump in here because I'm talking about selling the prize possession of the Jeep. Man, what is it with guys in their

cars. I feel like anytime I talk to a guy and he's like, oh, yeah, I sold my car and it was like the biggest deal in the world. And ladies, I know we have stuff, whether it's a nice purse or something that we're like, oh, we just love it so much. But listen, we talk about this on the show a lot, but it's true, like stuff is not going to fulfill you. So if you're holding this thing so tightly that possibly is keeping you for living a better life, you need to reevaluate what that thing is in your life. And I think even just getting rid of it just frees you up from not only just the financial side of it, but also the emotional side. I think it puts into check where our stuff owns us. And on top of that, selling stuff, I mean, when you sell things and you get money

for it, it just catapults you into getting out of debt so much faster. Look around your house, figure out what can we sell, what are things we can downgrade? Because here's the deal. Once you're out of debt, you have an emergency fund in place. You have that solid financial foundation under you. Then you can go back and get the thing. Like, go buy another Jeep. Go buy another. purse, go buy whatever that thing is, and you can go and get those things again. They're not gone forever. So it's just a perfect example of short-term sacrifice for long-term gain and change in your life. Okay, let's get back to the interview. Rachel, we went from $1,000 in our bank account, $19,000 in debt. Nine months later, we had no debt and $14,000 in savings. And this is why I credit

Ramsey organization for saving our life. I lost my job. And if that would have happened, with that debt and with no money, I mean, my kids never knew. They never knew that I went like almost six months with no income, and they never knew because of what your organization did for us. So we literally credit it was saving our life. I was not a Christ follower when I listened to Dave originally,

and none of my family were. And he would say, hey, this is how you should handle money. By the way, this guy, Jesus said that. And I would be like, oh, that's, That's cool. I just want to hear about the money stuff, right? But I now know, and at that time, we realized, like, all of those things were leading us in a certain direction because God already knew where we were going. He already knew what was going to happen. And we were just lucky to hear the call to do these things to set us up so that we would succeed. And it was all because of Dave

and Chris Hogan and Rachel. And so we're so grateful and blessed for that. Well, that's amazing. I mean, that's the ultimate. That's like our ultimate. ultimate goal, right? And you even got there. I mean, that's it. I mean, the money stuff, like you said, we disguise it to show Jesus to people. And so that's it. I mean, you felt it which is a crowd. That really, that's such a higher calling of changing your family tree beyond even the money stuff. Yes, 100%. That's an incredible legacy and absolutely incredible legacy. So for you guys, though, man, so you change spiritually, you change financially. I mean, for the better in so many cases. So right now, there are a lot of families that they're struggling,

freaking out, they've had to dip into their emergency fund because of the pandemic. What what kind of motivation, what kind of hope can you give those families out there? Because you guys have experienced a little bit of that, you know, when you lost your job, not through COVID-19, but earlier than that. So what kind of advice do you get for people out there who are kind of scared? They're kind of worried. They haven't really started a plan. I can guarantee that anyone listening right now has probably been to a gym. And you know the first three weeks of going to the gym is the worst, right? It's hard to wake up every day and do something that you physically feel like is hurting you.

Follow through with it. But after three weeks, you start to see a little bit of improvement. It starts to get fun. And after three months, you see a lot of improvement. And you get stronger and faster. And things you couldn't do, you can suddenly do. And it will be hard. There's no shortcut.

Like, you're not going to just take money and put it into this account. Like, it will take time. And it might take years. It literally could take years to do this. But it is so worth it because even if you, keep your job, even if you don't get sick. But what if you do lose your job? What if you do get? Like, these things could happen. So, okay, I'm going to jump in here because this has been a theme we've been talking about really around Ramsey Solutions for the past couple of weeks about that this

pandemic can be this moment where you say, you know what, this is it. Like, this is my never again moment. Never again will I be in this situation? Never again. Well, I allow myself to be stressed with money. Never again. And I don't think that you have to fail in order to learn things in life. but I do think when hard times do come, it does allow you to learn. And so pain is not the only teacher. I do not believe that. But I also think that, man, you can use pain and hard times, whether it's a pandemic, a diagnosis, a job loss,

where you're stressed and you're freaked out, that you take this moment, you say, you know what, never again. Never again do I want to feel this way when it comes to my money? And maybe you out there listening. Maybe you've had that moment. You've had that moment where you've realized, well, I never, ever, ever want to be in the situation again. And so I want to know those.

If you have that Never Again moment, hop over to my Facebook community, comment about it because I think it's so encouraging and interesting to hear people's stories when they've had that moment because I think it is so, so empowering for others to hear. So hop over, comment, let us know your never again moments. Okay, back to the podcast. Now, like it feels so good to be able to give to people, to be in that position, the, you know, people that are struggling or having a rough day, you know, we can give, you know. Yeah, even if it's sending a gift or something to cheer them up, like, we, we have hearts of givers, but we had no money. And so we couldn't, you know, someone would tell us their problems and we'd say, oh, man, you know, bummer to be you.

But now, if we feel led, we are able to help people sometimes and or even just send a gift. and we're so grateful for the sacrifices that we made up front so that we could live this life. And I want that for all Americans, because it is possible. It is totally possible no matter what income you make. You can do this. You just have to just stay the course. It's amazing. Well, you guys are the complete picture of what it looks like to take control of your money and do something different. I mean, you changed your money habits. You changed the way you viewed money. You found the truth of how money works. you applied it to your life, you actually did the steps, and now here you are. I mean, debt-free completely, money in the bank, and able to take a whole other career,

you know, into real estate. I mean, it's just absolutely incredible. You guys, thank you so, so much for being on. So if you want to learn everything that they just did, what they just talked about, make sure to go to daybramc.com slash hope and go through our free 14-day trial of the nine lessons of Financial Peace University. You're going to learn so much and learn how to teach. take control of your money and be like these guys. I mean, absolutely incredible. All right,

coming up next is my dad, Dave Ramsey. One of my favorite packages to ever show up at my door is my Tufton Needle mattress. I've got a couple now, and seriously, I love this mattress. You guys know exactly how it is. When you're juggling all the demands of mom, wife, work, friend, etc., good sleep is a must, and I've never slept better. Tufton Needle is the best rated mattress on Amazon with over 100,000 five-star reviews. Try it out. You can get a mattress starting as low as $3.99. Plus, it chips free. And you get to keep it for 100 nights risk free. If I'm wrong, just send it back. Go to tn.com to get started. That's tn.com. Well, thanks for coming back on. Obviously wonderful. Glad to be here. One of my favorite guests. Thanks for being here. It's mandatory for that I'm your favorite.

Of course. Of course. So you've been obviously talking to people for decades about getting an emergency funds and the importance of it. So everything that's going on in our country with the pandemic, everything happening, a lot of our tribe who has possibly lost jobs or being furloughed has had to dip into their emergency funds. So have you seen that really be the case? Yeah, a lot of them have, but more than anything, they just had peace with it being there and knowing, and then they were able to work their budget and didn't actually have to dip into it.

Of course, it's a case-by-case basis if somebody lost their job, both people lost their job, and they had a bunch of other things going on, but usually they've been able to manage their budget and not hit it. But in the case that they did, that's what it's for. That's right. So I think a lot of people, when they dip into it, I've heard, they feel like they're like, oh, they lose progress. They feel like they're going backwards in the baby steps. But just really affirming to people that that's why it's there. So, like, you're not going backwards in a sense because you're going to fill it back up. You're going to get that fully funded emergency fund back.

But I think a lot of people feel like they lose steam or that they're doing something almost wrong by dipping into it. Well, I mean, you aren't going backwards, but it's not like a baby step sin. I mean, you have a sinned to the baby steps or something. It's just you use your emergency fund for an emergency. That's what it's for. But that does mean you took a step back, and you're going to fill it back up, and then you're going to move back on. That's okay, though.

That's what it's for. There is a rhythm to life. Hopefully, we never have to touch our emergency fund. But, you know, the reason we have an emergency fund is we know emergencies happen. And so it's probable at some time in your life, you're going to have to tap that thing. And that's okay. So talk about outside pandemic stuff. Again, going back 20 years of talking to people, like how normal is it for people to say, oh, yeah, they call you on the show or you talk to them

and they say, yeah, we had to actually use this money. Because, again, I think a lot of people watching or that have it, there is this kind of guilt, like, oh, it's there, yeah, but I don't even want to touch it, this feeling. But that it's normal, that if you're in a situation that you have to have that money, you dip into it, and that's okay. That's a good thing. Well, I mean, if you think about it, what is the nicknames that we give the emergency fund? The classic one is, grandma called it your rainy day fund. Why? Because sometimes it rains, you know, and rain is to be expected, so you carry an umbrella, you know, and so that's a rainy day fund. One lady, and we've classically talked about this in Financial Peace University for years, one lady called it her GOK fund, her God,

only knows fun. God only knows what's going to happen. Yeah, you know, and because he does. He's the only one that knows what's going to happen. Something's going to happen, though. Life is going to happen, and stuff happens. I saw it on a bumper sticker, you know, and so, you know, you just got to, you got to be ready, and you got to go, that's part of it. And it's like saying, my transmission broke, you know, of course it did. It's a transmission. It's eventually going to break. And, you know, that's just stuff is going to happen. You're going to have things come at you that you are unexpected And that's the definition of an emergency. So for people, it's funny, we classify emergencies like with car repairs or a health issue,

but a pandemic is one that's never been used as an example of an emergency. Well, no. I mean, if we had used that, we would have been accused of being crazy. Yeah, some conspiracy here's on. Some day there's going to be a pandemic and you better be ready. I mean, can you imagine the hate mail I would have gotten if I'd have said that? So what are you saying from people because of the pandemic and everything that's happening? what is kind of the top emotion or so of people, even if they had an emergency fund or not,

but how this has really affected their finances? I think the folks that didn't, the phone is ringing. When they pick it up, they realize it's their wake-up call. If you weren't ready and this thing came at you, this is your reminder to get ready, because it's not going to be another pandemic, says Dave. But I mean, you know, who knows? God only knows, right?

But it's going to be a transmission. It's going to be Aunt Gertie on the West Coast passes away and you have to chip in on her funeral. There's going to be stuff happen in your life. And to walk around with no money and deeply in debt and no plan, how's it working for you? You know, it's not. And so, you know, when I went broke, it was because I was stupid and I didn't have any money. And I didn't keep any cash. I didn't keep any liquidity.

And I built a house of cards with debt. And so when I went broke, that was my wake-up call, and I had a never-again moment. And some folks are having a never-again moment. The ones that are sitting there with the emergency fund, you know, they feel like the three little pigs that, you know, one built a straw house and one built a house out of sticks and one built a house out of bricks. And when the wolf came and blew on the brick house, nothing happened. And they feel like they're the guy, they're the pig with the brick house right now.

They feel like, hey, I'm set, you know. Blow away, big bad wolf. I've got my cushion here. I don't have any debt. It gives me lots of margin. See, if you don't have any payments going out and you've got a pile of money, even if you do lose your job, you can go a long time, a long time. But the added payments adds to the drain, the burn rate out of the checking account.

It does. And the level of fear that's there when you don't have it. Oh, yeah. It's a total old crap moment. Oh, oh, crap. Yeah. It's what, you know, you just, what happened here? So for people that did dip into their emergency fund during the pandemic for job loss or whatever the case may be,

what's your advice to people to fund that back? What are the things that they need to do not only emotionally to get guzzellate's again, but also tactically, what can they do? Well, obviously, you need to pay attention to it. I mean, you've got to be ready for the next thing, and there will be a next thing. It may not be a culture-wide thing. It may be an individual thing to your family, but you've got to be ready for the next thing. We have to stop what we're doing and do that. And so I would just look at your income. come and your budget and say, how fast can we put this back if we don't stop our 401k in Baby Step 4? And if it's like going to take a year, you may want to stop your 401K again and go back to Baby Step 3 and do it. But if you can put it back and not mess with your 401k in three or four months, then put it back and just, you know, do it that way. I don't care either way, but address the issue because, you know, the very fact that you used it, you know, it's just like the people that didn't have an emergency fund. This is confirmation that this is a good idea. That's right.

Okay, so when you look at people's budgets, what are the top few categories? You're like, yeah, you can cut these out to just fund that and put some extra cash away. Well, I think you just go back to, you know, beans and rice. How bad do you want to not stop your 401K? You know, you want to cut some lifestyle out or you want to temporarily stop your 401K? But you may have to do both to get the emergency. Depending on how big a hit the thing took. But that's your worst case scenario. but, you know, if it's me, I'd probably back off on the lifestyle a little bit and keep the 401K going and let's fix this thing in a couple months. But, I mean, you could do it either way. Yep, absolutely.

So good. Good practical advice, some motivation to get back. Gazelle intents to fund that back. And, again, the importance of it. And we've been saying this during the whole pandemic conversation that, you know, getting out of debt and having cash available and having a plan, it works. It works during the good times and it works during the crisis. And so knowing that you're in control. If you get the call and you answer it, and it's the wake-up call, answer the call and say, never again.

I'm now awake. I now realize about this. Maybe I was kind of in a haze and I wasn't paying attention. Kind of I was doing Ramsey-ish or I hated Day Remedy or whatever. Day-Rimsy cuss word in my house. I don't give a crud. Whatever the deal is. But the phone rang.

Are you awake? Never again. Don't let yourself ever be there again. Yeah, keep that urgent. see with you outside this pandemic. Keep it going. Let that be your motivation for sure. Well, thanks for coming on. Well, guys, I hope you enjoyed it today's episode. Thanks to my dad and Jason and Alson for coming on and gosh, sharing such wisdom and their stories of life. I just love having these guests on. And I hope you download the Baby Step 3 Gold Tracker to highlight your progress

as you build up your emergency funds. And I also want you to share two takeaways from this episode of my official Facebook group. I love keeping up with that and hearing everything that you are learning. Now, make sure to subscribe to this podcast if you haven't, and always check out my YouTube channel because the video version of the Rachel Cruz show is there. And on this podcast, if the spirit leads, you can leave a review. All right, as always, make sure to take control of your money and create a life you love. If you guys enjoyed this podcast, we have more from the Ramsey Network, like the Chris Hogan Show. I am so excited to be able to talk to you all week in and week out. We're going to talk about

your money, your life, your dreams, and your goals. You know why? Because I'm your coach. Whether we're talking about building wealth, paying off your home early, investing, paying for college, and guess what? How to become an everyday millionaire. We're going to focus on taking your calls because you matter to me. Together, we can do this. This is the Chris Hogan show. To hear full episodes, just search Chris Hogan wherever you listen to podcast or go to Chris Hogan 360. com.