The Ramsey Show - App - Choose To Be Free for the First Time in Your Life (Hour 3)

Episode Date: November 3, 2023

Лавровый путь Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's The Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create amazing relationships. I'm Ramsey personality George Campbell, joined by my good friend Dr. John Deloney, and we're taking your calls at 888-825-5225. It's been a fun week for me, John, as we've been pre-launching my new book, Breaking Free from Broke. After 34 years on Earth, 10 years at Ramsey, and one year of writing, it just feels good to be done with something, you know?

Well, you did have a child. That was kind of cool. That's true. I actually sent the final book in while I was in the delivery room. Whitney was like, hey, over here, man. I was like, yeah, yeah, one second. Hang on, hang on, hang on. One second. Luckily, we made it just in time. But I'm pumped for this book. It's called Breaking Free from Broke, The Ultimate Guide to More Money and Less Stress. And I, of course, I start with my story of how I went from broke to millionaire in a decade following this proven Ramsey plan no TikTok hacks no shortcuts just good old-fashioned debt snowball emergency funds investing in the 401k getting a house the right way the Ramsey way paying it off

early in our early 30s and then showing people that it's possible for them too. That sounds so boring. I know, but it's so peaceful. It sounds so like you should have passive income and more leverage, George. You're leaving money on the table. I have zero leverage. Have you seen me? I'm so short. I don't think I could leverage anything, John. That is true.

The other side of the teeter-totter would launch you into orbit. I know how fulcrums work. I remember fourth grade when we studied that. But I really had one goal with this book john and it was to write a book about money that didn't feel like a root canal that had not just opinions but research that wasn't just information but it had humor using data too i know i had 130 sources i'm like what i john deloney this thing you love a good source part of it was i've heard every objection. Well, $1,000 isn't enough. And what's wrong with using my credit card if I pay it off every month?

And you need a credit score to live your financial life. And so I went on top of all the anecdotal experience from millions of our audience and fans, there's also research to back up why the debt snowball works. Research to back up that you spend more when you use a credit card. So I bust the myths about credit scores, car loans, credit cards, student loans, auto loans, mortgage traps, investing traps, marketing and consumerism, and then show people how to break free from all that and live a more peaceful life and build wealth and ditch debt and buck the system and deprogram all the crap we learned growing up, learn all the stuff we didn't learn growing up the right way, all that financial literacy. And it's all there in about 300 pages that will breeze by. And we've got an audio book, ebook, and you get all of that free when you pre-order. So it's just 20 bucks to pre-order

the book and you get a whole bunch of goodies with it and a hundred bucks worth of bonuses, including three months of every dollar premium. So you can go check that out at ramsaysolutions.com slash store. And I appreciate all the support, comments, messages from all of you so far, letting me know that you pre-ordered it and you're sending it to your friends and family. It means the world. Let's get to the phones. Dustin is right down the road in Nashville, Tennessee. What's going on, Dustin? Hey, George. Hey, John. How are you all? Great. How are you? I'm great. I just had a quick question about manual underwriting. Let's do it.

This is my Super Bowl. I've heard... It's not real. I've heard Jade say before that, you know, when you cut up your credit cards, your score takes about a year to drop to zero. So my question is, my wife and I are on Baby Step 2. We're set to pay off all our debt of November of 24. Awesome. And so once we get to the mortgage process, right,

you know, we'll cut up our credit cards, and it'll take about a year. But Jada said, you know, if you have a bad score, will it be a harder time when we go to do the manual underwriting process if it hasn't reached all the way to zero yet? Yeah, so to do a no score loan, they won't let you do it if you have a score. And so would this be both you and your,

do you have a spouse? Yes, my wife. Okay, so both of you to get on the loan would have to have no score. And so what this process, and here's the thing, it's not really a problem. It feels like more of a problem, but think about it this way.

Once you're debt free, you still need to save up three to six months of expenses in an emergency fund. You still need to save up a big down payment. So it's probably going to take a year to do all that anyways, isn't it? Right. Yeah, for sure. to then go from baby step two to 3B where you have the down payment saved. And one other thing to think about in this process, do you have a down payment savings goal? I was actually looking at a calculator today, so probably roughly 20% down is what you all recommend, so it'd probably be like 80. Okay, and then an emergency fund, have you calculated what that might be?

Yes, for us that would be $20,000. Okay. For then an emergency fund, have you calculated what that might be? Yes. For us, that would be $20,000. Okay. For six months. So we have to cash flow another $100,000 plus closing costs, plus moving expenses, plus furniture. So this home ownership dream may still be two years away. Okay. Gotcha. What's your income? So household income after taxes is $60,000.

Okay. So one thing I would do if I'm in your shoes is get the income up over the next year or two because that's going to help you get to this down payment savings goal. Because let's say you could save up $1,000 a month for the down payment. That's $12,000 a year. It would take $5,000 to save up $60,000. Right. Five years.

So what I want to see is, hey do we get two thousand dollars worth of margin to get to 24 000 a year now we're talking that's 50 grand every two years boom what do you do what do you do for a living dustin i work in it and is your wife work outside the home yes so she uh she is currently uh looking for a different job but she currently works as a speech-language pathology assistant. Okay. Those are both great careers. I want to see you go, hey, how do we go, I can find a job in IT making $65, and she can go make $55 or $60. Now, all of a sudden, we have six figures to work with, with no debt. Now we've got some margin to throw at this down payment savings goal.

Right, yeah, I've been working on certifications just so I have more opportunities to grow my income. Why don't you work here at Ramsey Solutions? I've looked at it. That's an option. You're right here in Nashville. Just throwing it out there. We got a lot of IT people. So there you go. But yeah, it's going to take a while, Dustin. So I wouldn't worry as much about manual under about that process of will I have a score or not? Because it's far enough away that you won't. Here's one thing to do. Make sure all of your accounts are closed. Pull your credit report. You can do it at annualcreditreport.com and pull that for free to see, do I have any accounts open that I forgot about that weren't fully closed?

Because that will affect whether or not you still have a score. So thanks for that. Oh, that's good, John. This is a question that this one boggles people's minds. And Jade Warshaw and I, we've done this where you get a manual underwriting, no score loan, because once you get out of debt, you don't have a credit score. And we get a lot of flack for it. And again, this is something I cover in the mortgage chapter of my new book. And people go, well, you're going to have terrible terms. It can't be done. No lenders do it. And I go, you've never done it, people. How are you coming at me? I'm telling you I did it, and it wasn't that hard. So manual underwriting just means that it's not automated through

AI and technology. It doesn't run through software. It's a real person, the underwriter, looking at John's financial situation going, all right, there's John's tax returns. We see that John makes this income. Here's on-time monthly payments for John's rent situation going, all right, there's John's tax returns. We see that John makes this income. Here's on-time monthly payments for John's rent and utilities and insurance and childcare. All right, let's give John the loan. And here's the, for those non-bankers in the room who say those things,

here was my moment when I went, ah, okay, the game is rigged. If Dave Ramsey gave you and I a million dollars in cash and we put it in the bank and let it sit for six months, it would not impact our credit score one point. This has nothing to do with how wealthy you are. It's all about debt management. Yes.

That's bad. And hey, if you want to get in touch with the folks we trust to do these no-score loans, it's Churchill Mortgage. Churchill! Those are the folks to trust. Go to RamseySolutions.com and get in touch with them. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm George Campbell, joined by Dr. John Deloney.

We're taking your calls at 888-825-5225. And a friendly reminder for you, we've got the $12 sale happening at the Ramsey store right now at ramseysolutions.com. You can get a bunch of the questions for humans conversation cards for as low as $10. Total money makeover, baby steps, millionaires, own your past, change your future for just $12 each. So now's the time to start shopping. And John, we've got a new deck of questions for humans, Thanksgiving edition. We have Thanksgiving. We're going to save your holidays. We've got Christmas new deck of questions for humans. Thanksgiving edition. We have Thanksgiving.

We're going to save your holidays. We've got Christmas. Nothing can save you from congealed salad. That stuff's disgusting. I don't care who you are. Okay, that's actually the question. One of the questions. No.

What's been the most awkward Thanksgiving dish of your life? 100%, it was congealed salad. And I was at a very southern, traditional Thanksgiving. And so I didn't know what I was looking at, John. It sometimes, not done well, looks like somebody has already eaten it and then they just put it in Jell-O. It looked like if you took something through a garbage disposal and then just put it in a nice little Jell-O ramekin and called it good.

I can't eat that, but it's on the plate and I have to be, you know, polite. So I took one bite. I would never have never would have thought. Have you ever smashed food around on the plate to make it look like you ate more than you did like no that's me i just ate it how about you um there's a pink salad with like uh it's pink and has raisins and like marshmallows and and like little bits of pony and i don't know eyelids i don't know what's in it but that's just awkward yeah i'll take sweet potato casserole now we're talking, I like to rub that on my face. All right, so is it easier to ask for help from family or from friends?

Why? Friends, 100%. Why? There's less baggage attached. There's less of a trauma bond there. Because with family, there's always like another, it's going to unroll and unravel a whole other thing. You know what I mean?

If I ask my dad to help move, he's like, well, who are you movers? And what do you, let me dive into a thousand more details. When a friend is just like, yeah, what time? That's it. I just want that to be that simple. Or, hey, dad, what's your thought on X, Y, Z? I taught you that back. All right.

Yeah. So I love family. I rarely ask them for things. Just less on the line with friends. I'm with you. I don't want to... I'd rather, you know, sour those relationships and family, is I guess what I'm trying to say.

You can get new friends. You're stuck with your family. Oh, that was fun. You can check out that deck of cards at RamseySolutions.com slash store and get them in time for Thanksgiving. Joseph is in Chicago. Joseph, what's going on? Hey, guys, thanks for taking my call. I just have a question on my student loan. So I have about fifty eight thousand student loans at a really low interest rate,

two point six percent. And I'm set to pay it off by August twenty twenty six. My monthly payment is about nineteen hundred. I also have a home loan of 380,000 at 6%. And I'm just wondering if I should just bite the bullet and pay off the rest of my student loans. I've already paid off about a hundred. So I have about a hundred thousand in cash. Also that's 160 and 401k. But I'm just wondering if I should do that or keep it in the market earning five, 7%, half of it's in a high interest savings. So I'm earning wondering if I should do that or keep it in the market earning 5-7% half of it's in a high interest savings so I'm earning 5% there

it's just that low interest rates really I would pay them off before the day is over really? and here's why I tell you that that's not just me making up advice because that's exactly what I did I cannot tell you. Dude, the sole tax on your amygdala

is worth more than the 2.1% extra money you're earning in this little weird snapshot in history in a high-yield savings account over the interest rate you have on these loans. Every time a stock ticker rolls by that has something about forgiveness or for this, you look up, your heart rate increases, your body fills up with cortisol and adrenaline

because that involves you. I literally did not look up other than to hear from hurting people about the Biden forgiveness plan because I paid him off. Just didn't, I mean, just didn't care. And that's worth any percentage of money that I could have earned in a high-yield savings account, period.

Yeah, I think that's, I mean, that's kind of the path I've been leaning towards. It's just... By the end of the day, I paid off. All right, I think that's kind of the path I've been leaning towards. It's just... By the end of the day, I'd pay it off. All right. I think that's probably the best advice. Have you done the math on what you would actually earn? It'd be about like an extra maybe $5,000 a year. Well, you're making... You said you have $100,000 in cash. Well, you're making $5,000.

You said you have $100,000 in cash and savings, making 5%, right? Yeah, I got $65,000 in a brokerage account, and then I got $35,000. Dude, you have way too much money to still be having debt around your neck. It just doesn't make sense. You're too successful, and you're too smart.

What is your degree in? I have a law degree. I an attorney yeah how much do you make um 300 maybe 330 with bonus why do you have student loans man well i mean it was 165 so i've already paid off 110 like august 2026 sounds like an eternity away. I don't even know. Bro, hey, I'm going to be – listen, I was a dean of students at a law school for years, okay? So I get it.

Choose to be free for the first time in your life, man. Owe nobody anything. And then if you decide to reduce your billables hours by X or your partner says, hey, we're going to need you to do this before we consider it, you can go, I'm not doing that. Because I don't owe anybody anything. Here's a fun exercise, Joseph. Go make an every dollar budget where there's no debt in the picture and you make $380,000. And then tell me that you would go back in time and go, yeah, I'll take the debt at a low interest rate for fun. Man, if I'm in your shoes, I'm going to use

this incredible income and this incredible stockpile of cash that you have and go, I'm going to pay off these student loans. I'm going to start attacking the house and I'm going to be a baby steps millionaire in no time. And you should be making 380 instead of hanging on to debt for the next three, four, five years because of a low interest rate. You know what? You know who makes you go to work tomorrow? The government. Because you owe them. What a sucker, dude. Pay them off today. You have $100,000 in cash. You could be debt-free today, right? Except for your house? Yeah, that's right. Give me the final number. You owe about 55 left on them. Is that right? 58. Yeah. I mean, I guess my only thing is if I have 100,000 earning 5, 6% over the next three years, I'll earn 15,000 in interest. You make $380,000. I mean, the five grand a year is not changing your life. It's fun money.

Okay, do this. Don't go to a bar for six months. There's your $5,000. It's also true. Or get one of those suits. Just't replace it that's your five thousand dollars yeah dude my dissertation was on the mental health of attorneys i know i know and here's what i'm telling you choose freedom over being right choose freedom over 2.1% difference between what you owe the government versus what you're making in a high yield account right now. Choose peace because you go to war every day. That's what you do for guys like me. I call you and say, help. And you go, I got you. And so the greatest gift you can give yourself when you are a hired hand, when you are

somebody who all you do all day is go to battle for other people. The greatest gift you can give yourself is a good night's sleep, is peace in your house. And when you owe money to the government and they're telling you, no, you're going to get these 2,200 billable hours because you owe us. You owe me, bro. Just take that off the table. I'd be debt-free before the afternoon is over. And by the way, you'll still have $40,000 in the account. Cry me a river with $100 bills, Jason. You're good. I'm proud of you, man.

Congratulations. I've seen people post this. They go, I have a mortgage at 2.75%. I'm going to stay in this house forever. And I go, golly, you've locked yourself in a prison over an interest rate? You have chained yourself. So if you want to move, you're like, no, you've locked yourself in a prison over an interest rate? Exactly. You have chained yourself. So if you want to move, you're like, no, because then we have to take on a bigger interest

rate. I can't move. I'm stuck. What kind of life have you built for yourself when you don't have options? Be free. Choose freedom. Just be free. Forget the interest rate.

Freedom. I know. Goodness gracious. Goodness gracious. It's available to you, but it starts with going, it's more than math. I'm solving for freedom here. And that part is a partial math equation, but it takes some getting out of your own head and getting out of your own way and going, we could have all of our income back. That's our greatest wealth building tool. Why are we

giving it to lenders thinking that we're winning? That's not how it works. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm George Campbell, joined by Dr. John Deloney. We've got some special guests on the debt-free stage. It's Greg and Kim. How are you guys? Just fine. Nervous.

No. It's John and I. What do you got to be nervous about? You're doing great. Thank you. And you're debt-free. Yes yes that's one more reason to be peaceful that's it okay tell us about where you guys from shreveport louisiana wonderful thanks for making the 20 i-20 i-20 this man knows his interstate i know here's what i know i know where the cooking is good in the united states in shreveport yes they. They know how to eat. I love it. Okay, so tell us, how much debt did you guys pay off?

$124,129. Woo! And how long did that take? Three years. Wow. Okay, and what was the range of income during that time? Between $70,000 to $108,000. Awesome.

What do you guys do for a living? I'm in retail, and I work for a local jail. Cool. And I'm a director of member services at my church and a local nonprofit organization. Wonderful. Okay. What kind of debt was this 124? It was student loan debt. Actually, parent plus loan. But the good thing about that is it was a fraudulent school and so we were able to get the money back yes well we were able to get it forgiven completely so that's incredible that's the silver

lining of getting a fake degree oh my gosh and it was half that's crazy yeah yeah uh cars yep medical furniture my dumb mistakes furniture yes do you still have the furniture no no some of it it broke down oh gosh so it was sitting on the curb i cried every day i came home so they picked it up if you're still paying payments on furniture that broke down that's you're breaking down yes i was oh my goodness all right how did you get hooked up with this this crazy crew of people crazy crew of people that's us that's us yes that's us uh well actually we were introduced by a friend uh years ago and her husband really wasn't on board so my husband i wasn't on board either no i mean you had some uh some uh footools, some Ottomans to buy. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. But three years ago, something clicked. How did that happen? To be honest with you, it was years ago. We were doing Davis. Davis. Yeah. In and out, in and out.

It was like a buffet. You're like, I'll take a little bit of this, but I'm going to avoid this piece over here. You didn't go all in. But then in 2020 yes 2020 when the covid hit we had to stop working and just kind of like we're we're broke we have nothing we were it made us look at life totally different and i told her i said well i guess i ain't got no choice to get on board now because we don't have nothing so she started working it out and i started gradually doing it embarrassed but i did it and we are out of debt hey okay hold on i you you blew by this i grew up right across the line over there in houston okay so my guess is we got some of the similar messages that is a hard thing to say i'm broke

i gotta submit i want to know what was in your heart when that was going on. Because that is a rare statement coming from a tall, handsome man. I had to swallow my pride and realize, hey, we're in debt. I mean, there was no other way out of it. I mean, it was embarrassing. We had to tell all the family members we can't do it because we don't have it. And, you know, I just had to look her in the eye and say, baby, we're in trouble. Can I tell you, like, I'm getting goosebumps here.

Paying off Dad's awesome, and I know Sir Ramsey's not. That right there, I'm so proud of you. And that sets a model for every man sitting at home right now whose wife doesn't know how bad it really is. And they can't breathe. And so they get loud. They get mad. They snap at their kids right there's another way and it's you looking in the mirror and putting both hands on that

on that on that uh counter there in the bathroom looking in the mirror and going this ends with me right right right i'm proud of you man that's big time that's big time awesome so what were the tactical steps you guys took because to do this plan you got to live on less than you make you got to cut expenses you got to go make more income what were the keys for you guys took because to do this plan you got to live on less than you make you got to cut expenses you got to go make more income what were the keys for you guys yeah we both have four jobs between both of us so um yeah getting extra income in and really sitting down like he said during covid we had a chance to just stop and breathe and really look at our bills and we're like man you know we we have to start somewhere you know and and I'm an FPU coordinator I also taught I teach foundations as well so I knew what to do it's just and we had started but like I

said we were doing Davis Davis and uh when we sat down and really really decided to we need to do this you know then that's when it was full speed ahead right what was the dumbest thing y'all y'all realized y'all had payments going out to oh gosh it was a television a television a washing dryer and other things that i said well we need this now we'll worry about it later it was like wow but then when they broke down and they sitting on the curb waiting to be picked up, I'm like,

man, that's, dude, you stupid. Still paying. But we still paying. But the thing about it was I knew she was serious

when I opened my wallet and my credit card was gone. Whoa. Where's my credit? Oh, I cut it up. You didn't, you wouldn't.

Yeah, no need to call the fraud department. you robbed him. I love it. I love it. I You didn't, you wouldn't. Yeah, no need to call the fraud department. you robbed him. I love it. I love it. I had nothing to negotiate with. So.

Oh, you guys are incredible. Right. But that's a big sacrifice. A lot of people, that credit card is a security blankie. Right.

That's going to be their savior. And what if there's an emergency? I'm like, you just bought a TV and a washer dryer and you live in La Vida Loca.

Let's not, you don't seem too worried about emergencies. Let me ask you this question. That's amazing. You've got two beautiful kids over here. Right. My guess is you had to tell them no.

And what culture tells me as a parent of two young kids right now is if you say the word no, your kids just spontaneously combust and they evaporate and they'll hate you forever. They look to be doing all right. They look like they're living and breathing. Right. get over it they'll get over it yeah but we yeah we actually have five kids we have three grown kids okay and i've been out of the house uh there's the parent plus loans right yes wow and i bet the relationship is different now that those loans are out of the way right so much different thanksgiving dinner is going to be different this year tastes a lot better yeah what a beautiful family we travel better now we don't fuss now because i'm mad because of my dad and getting her all upset so we just wow yeah we

drove up to shreveport just cracking jokes all the way yeah yeah well you guys i don't know if you were this joyful before but you sure are joyful now yeah yeah and i hope a part of that's because you're living a peaceful life without payments feels good that's amazing yes so what do you tell that couple they've been dave-ish they know their friends told my day they know what they're listening to this show and they're still like yeah i'm just i'm not ready what do you tell them the key to getting out of debt is if they're they're serious about it you know definitely budgeting that's number one to budget but also you know don't despise small beginnings you know it's hard at the beginning to start something new you know but once you get going you know and just persevere and get through

it now when I do a budget it's just like that. It takes no time. But just hang in there. Persevere. And to our men, I just say swallow your pride. Just reality. I mean, when you can't tell your wife, I can't even buy you a rose because I don't have the money for it. Just swallow your pride. And she did. I swallowed my pride.

And it was like, whoa, okay. She still loves me. So I'm good. That's right. Now you can buy her several dozen roses. He did yesterday. It's our 35th anniversary wedding anniversary. Congratulations.

You're smooth, too. You don't owe nobody any money, and you're smooth. Right, right. Now we're eating good, and we're not making payments on it later. Right, right. Well, we've got a live-in give box for you to celebrate this incredible milestone. It includes Baby Steps Millionaires, the Total Money Makeover, and Financial Peace University. You can get someone else's journey started with that.

That's exciting. Well, let's get the kids up. What are their names and ages? Christian is 13. Christina is 16. Both of you guys have a strong shoe game. Well done. And strong parents.

And they got to watch you guys do this stuff. And we say more is caught than taught. Yeah. And so they know the sacrifice mom and dad made to set them up for a better future. Well, he actually cut up our last credit card. so he definitely knows. Way to go, Christian. I bet that felt good. Oh my goodness. There's the picture of him if you're watching on YouTube. That's incredible. All right, here we go. You guys ready? Ready. All right. Loud and proud. Greg and Kim, Christina and Christian, $124,000 paid off in three years, making $70,000 up to $108,000.

They swallowed their pride. They got four jobs. They're not fooling around, and they are debt-free. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! We're debt-free!

That put a little pep in my step, John. I don't know about you. Dude, I'm hyped. That dude's awesome. That's why we do what we do. Freedom is available to you, America, but you've got to stop being ish. You've got to get serious. You've got to swallow your pride.

You've got to make the sacrifices. But it's all worth it to have that kind of smile on your face at the end of the day. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. Our scripture of the day comes from Acts 5.42. Day after day in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stop teaching

and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah. Mark Twain said, don't let schooling interfere with your education. Ooh, Mark Twain burn. Sick burn to the guy with two PhDs. Mark Twain burn. I love it.

That's strong. Strong content. Mark Twain still hits. I don't care what you say. He does, but he also suggested you, I don't know, Rick Reed every once in a while. Oh, I haven't read his work, just his quotes. Exactly, yeah.

He speaks in tweets. He actually doesn't. He doesn yeah. He speaks in tweets. He actually doesn't. He doesn't. He writes in books. Well, before Twitter was around, we had Mark Twain. It was a better time. Much better. Let's get to the phones.

Mikey is in San Diego. What's going on, Mikey? Are you with us? Hey, Mikey. Well, we're... Hey, there he is. What's up, Mikey? You spooked us, man. Hi, there he is. What's up, Mikey?

Hi, how are you? Good. How can we help? So I recently got married, and we've been expecting twins. So I'm trying to prepare for the twins and have like a five or seven year plan to get a house. I don't have, we both combined don't have too much in debt that I think we should be able to pay it off within at least, I feel like a year or two. It's, I think it's, yeah, it's around 40K in debt combined. Okay. And what's your household income? Um, so since she's working or she's not working right now, uh, it's just me. It's 150, 150,000.

Awesome. Great income. So why is it going to take two years to clean up 40K and make it 150? It's just because I have rent that's at $3,100 and then the utilities and whatever. I don't have a car payment, so it's pretty easy for me to cover all the regular bills on top of what I have to try and pay down my debt. But I'm trying to get to her debt as fast as possible so I can help her. Oh, I'm confused. Her debt, my debt. Are you guys married? Oh, I'm sorry.

My bad. Our debt. I'm still getting used to it. Okay, you're newlyweds. That's cool. I understand. So the 40K in debt is both of y'all's debt combined? Yes. Okay. And what kind of debt is that? It's mostly consumer and then her, I mean our

student loan. Okay. How come she's not working? Well, she's pregnant right now so she had to pause what she was doing, and she left her job, and then she just qualified for a disability. So we have that coming in now. Is she in poor health? No.

I mean, she's pregnant with the twins now. I'm sorry. But was she doing something that was physical that she could no longer do? Oh, yes. She was a massage therapist. Okay. I mean, I'm looking through the glass right now at one of our people behind the board who's pregnant, and she's showing up kicking butt.

I know every situation is different, but I get that, man, being a massage therapist, carrying twins, I can't even, I can't wrap my head around that. But it might be for a couple more months to find something, right? And that's not me being insensitive. That's me just looking at, y'all have a math problem. It's a pretty tough situation to solve, especially in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the United States. And so you'll have some dreams and you have some goals and there's some also realities to those dreams and goals, right? Yes. Okay. So make $150K, you've got $40K. Do you have anything in cash in the bank?

No, not right now. I mean, so I have some side investments um i didn't want to take out of 401k obviously i have like my own personal investment account and i have like a bunch of um uh trading cards that i used to invest into what's in the personal investment account is that just a non-retirement brokerage account yeah uh it's like a a Robin Hood. So there's only like $7,000 in there. Oh, only $7,000. That's a lot of money that you can use

to throw at the debt. Right now. Okay, we just got down to $33,000. What kind of cards you got? Oh, so I got Pokemon, you know, Yu-Gi-Oh, and then another game called like Flesh and Blood.

I had somebody actually call into the show the other day that paid off their debts by selling Pokemon cards. Not even playing. You can find it on YouTube. That's a real call. How much money do you think all of your cards are worth? Truthfully. Well, I know...

Just give me a ballpark. Five grand? It's about, like, I'd say $70,000. $70,000? Yeah. Okay. I know the market's a little rough right now, but it's about 70K. I'm breaking the equipment here. I'm so excited, Mikey. Listen, dude. Do you understand that your math equation just changed? You have 7,000 in Robinhood, you have 70,000 in trading cards, and you have 40,000 in debt. Let's go back to third grade math. You're about to be father of twins, twin baby girls. If I'm you, I'm like, well, my world just changed. I'm no longer in the trading card business. I'm in the dad business.

And I want to set my wife up, these kids up for the best future possible. And that means when this baby's born, we have no debt and a giant emergency fund. You got those cards for this moment, right now. And let me tell you something, both George and I are parents of young kids. The single most important investment you can ever make from this point forward is time. Time just goes away. And even if I find a 20-year-old, he would not trade places. A broke

20-year-old would not trade places with Warren Buffett, who has $100 billion and he's 93. Why? Because of time. And dude, you can accelerate two years of your life by selling trading cards you cannot get those years back especially years with twins i would have those cards on the market before sunday strikes midnight and i'd probably sell them a little bit under value just to get them out of the house and start getting some cash in. And you will be debt-free within 10 days. You just bought yourself a year. You bought yourself two years.

Your life back. Because you just told us that, man, things are tight. It's going to take me two years to get rid of this debt. Or we leapfrog this whole thing. You pay off all your debt this week. You still have $37,000 left if you do this right. That's your emergency fund, right? Now you're saving for a house starting November 15th.

Dude. Yeah. Are you going to do any of this or are we just wasting air right now? No, I think, I mean, everybody's been telling me that um what are you scared of dude what are you scared of i feel well it's because it feels like you know a 401k for me at this point because it's so what does the trading cards i mean having yeah you know what else used to be stable beanie babies google that, we don't know.

What if Charizard gets canceled, and all of a sudden your precious card is worth nothing? Yes. Yeah, they're going to start canceling Pokemon. That's going to be the new thing. Okay. Dude, you're sitting on two years of your life. You know what's a 401K, Mikey?

A 401K. And so you're going to get there in no time. I would quit playing games on Robin Hood. I'd quit the trading cards. You're a grown man with twin baby girls. Let's start acting like it. And you're going to have 150 grand coming in with no debt, with money in the bank saved. Get your kids a house. Your wife can stay home if she wants to with no stress. It's not even a conversation because you have options at that point. Earlier, brother, we did a debt-free screen with this guy named greg and he's one of my new heroes and he said i asked him what's the key and he said men swallow your pride and do what's right this is that moment dude

this is that moment we did our best john we'll see if it works. It's our moment. Well, hey, before we go, I want to remind folks that this book just launched this week. I'm really proud of it. It's called Breaking Free from Broke, the ultimate guide to more money and less stress. And you can get it at ramsaysolutions.com slash store. It'd mean the world if you'd support it and pre-order it. We'll bribe you with $100 worth of bonus items, including the audiobook and e-book, and it means the world. John, happy weekend to you, my friend. Congratulations on getting the book out, man. Thank you. Feels good.

That puts this hour of The Ramsey Show in the books. Until next time, spend wisely, save intentionally, and give generously. Thank you. We'll see you next time.