The Ramsey Show - App - Dealing With Debt (Hour 1)

Episode Date: April 25, 2024

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this is The Ramsey Show. It's where we help you win in your life. We want you to win with your money, win in your work, and win in your relationships. Phone number is 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225 888-825-5225 i'm ken coleman and i'm privileged uh proud ecstatic to be joined by the graceful the one the only the inimitable rachel cruz who has this is a special day not because i'm with you in studio and it's always a special day to do the show with you. But it's your special day.

It is your birthday. And America wants to say happy birthday. Oh, well, thank you. They told me. And so I am on behalf of the American people saying happy birthday to Rachel Cruz. Are we allowed to tell people how old you are? I guess. I don't know. I don't know tell people how old you are? Thank you. I guess. I don't know.

I don't know what age you get to that you're like, I'm not. I know how old she is, but I'll leave it up to her, folks. I'm 36. Oh, whoa. She's almost an adult. This is exciting. Almost. You're almost there.

Not quite there. No. I am the spring chicken of the bunch when it comes to here. You are the youngest. As the host. Are you the youngest Ramsey personality? I am. Even George oh gosh George no I am older than George that's awkward you only co-host a show with him smart money happy hour I'm a you know what I think we oh gosh George I think we I think we graduated the same year okay but I think he's a little bit

younger he's a year younger than no he's a year younger than me we graduate i was a year older than big plans tonight uh i'm heading to atlanta ken for a book sign my last book signing tomorrow in atlanta as fate would have it yes i'm glad for where i am yes children's book yes tomorrow uh from one to two i'll be at the barnes and noble where um in alpharetta. Yeah, I know that one. Mercer Crossing, is that right? Over there near North Point Mall. Yes, possibly over in there, yep.

But from 1 to 2 tomorrow, Atlanta. Yeah. Come hang out. We'll be doing a story time and the kids book. It'll be the last stop of the book tour. Yeah, and for those of you that are planning to come or now want to show up, bring a cupcake. Rachel loves chocolate, and we'll keep celebrating her birthday the day after. So it's very fun.

So it's exciting. You know, I feel, James, I dropped the ball as her co-host and co-worker and friend for many years. I feel like I dropped the ball. I should have brought a small cake. Oh, and just given us a great acapella. I'll make some calls maybe for hour two, hour three. We'll see what I can pull off. And I need a happy birthday song from you, Ken. Oh, I'll see what I can pull off. And I need a happy birthday song for me again.

Oh, I'll sing. I know you will. You actually have a pretty good voice. Maybe going out to the break, I'll sing happy birthday to you. We'll see. America wants to hear that, so stay tuned. But first, Maria is joining us in my old stomping grounds where I went to high school, Rachel, Virginia Beach. Maria, how can we help?

Hi. Happy birthday, Rachel. Oh, thank you, Maria. You're welcome. I have a $12,000 credit card debt that is on an emergency low rate of 3% until November. And I am considering debt settlement for that credit card so that I can pay a lower amount in a lump sum. And I wanted to know if you recommend debt settlement. Well, what was the debt from?

From my previous marriage. Okay. Was it your debts together? Was the credit card under both of your names? Yes, it was debt together and we are getting divorced. So that's what I ended up with. Okay. Because the credit card is under my name. Because it was under your name. So yeah, it's going to you. Okay. So here's the thing with debt settlement. And usually within when your debt goes into collections, meaning if you don't have the money, because I'm assuming you don't, do you have the money to pay this? I don't have $12,000. I've been making the minimum payment, so it won't go into collection.

Okay. And yeah, so it's not in collection, but I can pay just the minimum. So with the debt settlement, usually with these companies, Maria, there's a lot of fees. There's a lot of twistedness that a lot of people did. They they get in a position where it ends up harming them more than it hurts or ends up harming them more than it helps them. And honestly, Maria, I mean, at this point, you know, my goal for you would be able to pay this off, even if it is paying minimum payments at a time, and then start working your way to putting more money towards this every month to become completely debt free? Because the debt settlement for you, is it just because, I mean, why don't you want to just pay this off over a period of time? Well, I don't, I have a low income. So I'm starting all over. I'm 56 and I

have, so I'm just trying to figure out how to start all over. And this debt is making me anxious. So I can, I can collect some money. I can get some money to pay the debt if the debt settlement is not going to harm me that much. I know it has some negatives. How much do you make a year? I try to do that directly with the bank. How much do you make a year? $32,000.

$32,000. What do you do? Administrative work. Do you have kids? And I'm going to school. No, no, they're adults. What are you going to school for? My undergraduate degree.

Yes, in what? What are you pursuing the degree for? Oh, in what? Management. Okay. So why don't you quickly outline for us, because I want you to understand the negatives, and you understand there are negatives to the settlement. What are they specifically for you? Well, it affects the credit.

Of course. I know that. It affects my credit. Not a big deal there. We'll explain that. Keep going. Okay. And also the fees that have not been disclosed to me. Exactly. Yeah. So what ends up happening in these situations, Maria, a lot is, you know, people in your situation, they will contact the debt settlement company again.

And I don't want to say easy way out because i know you're in a really hard situation so i'm not saying that phrase flippantly um but really hoping that this is the thing that's going to help them get out and then what ends up happening is they put you on some type of payment plan that there's a lot of fees you can't keep up with that if you're back behind sometimes they'll end up charging you back interest as well like there's just it just becomes this spider web that's all tangled and it sometimes does not pan out the way you think it does so if anything maria i almost would contact um who's the credit card with what bank it's with a credit union okay well that's good because at least credit unions those are better than big national banks because you can actually talk to a person.

And I almost would just go down and tell them your situation, show them your income, and just say, hey, I'm not going to be able to pay this off for a really long time. And if I'm able to get together and see if you can do some type of settlement even with them versus having to use a middleman. Because these middleman companies, I just don't trust them, Maria. I just, I feel like we've heard so many stories where the person in your position ends up getting screwed up, you know, and you end up in a worse situation. And so if anything, I would keep the minimum payments,

don't get behind, see if you can up your income and see how, you know, map out how long it would take for you to just pay this off. But I would go down to the credit union, have a meeting and tell them your situation and see if they can help you out instead of using a middleman. Yeah. And Maria, even outside of that advice, you need probably a second job right now while you're getting trained in school to get a much better job. A second income, even if it's 20 hours a week, would really give you some margin that you're going to need. Don't move, folks. We'll be right back. This is The Ramsey Show.

Hey, you guys. Health insurance costs are only moving one way, and that way isn't down. And if higher costs aren't enough, the wait times to see your doctor are longer, and it's harder than ever to get anything approved through the bureaucracy. So if you feel like the system is working against you, try a biblically-based alternative to health insurance, Christian Healthcare Ministries. CHM is a health cost-sharing ministry that's helped hundreds of thousands of families like yours take care of over $11 billion in medical bills since 1981. And CHM has also helped them stay true to their values and avoid miles of red tape. And CHM support goes far beyond meeting financial needs. They'll also help meet spiritual needs.

Members become part of a family who will pray with them and for them when they experience a medical event. So listen, y'all, there's no better way to take care of health care costs. CHM programs start as low as $98 a month. So learn more today and join at chministries.org slash budget. That's chministries.org slash budget. The Ramsey Show continues from our headquarters here just south of Nashville. I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz joins me. And we are here for you this hour, America, 888-825-5225. Boy, oh boy, we got a great event coming up, and I can't believe it's

right around the corner. May 10 and 11 are the dates. The event is Total Money Makeover Weekend. This is an entire weekend, so a great destination event. And it's going to be held right here on our campus in our beautiful conference center. What are we doing? Well, you could guess with the name of the event, Total Money Makeover. It's the basics. And we're going to help you with getting out of debt, creating the budget,

easing your anxiety around money, investing, how to make more money. What does it take to be wealthy? It's going to be a great, great event. We're going to have live, interactive Q&As throughout the weekend, not just the talks, all of the Ramsey personalities there. And the tickets are going. Move quickly, excuse me, to ramseysolutions.com slash events. ramseysolutions.com slash events. All right, let's get back to the phones.

Kyle is joining us now in Indianapolis, Indiana. Kyle, how can we help? Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my call. You bet. What's up? Yes, so my quick question is I'm wondering if I should go back to school for an MBA or I'm really just trying to increase my income because I'm trying to move out of my fiance's parents'

house. Okay. All right. So walk me through the direct line that you see between this MBA and you making more money so you can move out. I guess that's kind of my struggle is there's not a whole lot of direction. So let's walk through this a little bit more, okay? How long would it take you? Goodness gracious. I apologize, America. You just gave me a swig of water.

I tried to help. And it did it again. Did what I could. Been talking all week at Entree Leadership Summit. The voice is tired. Kyle, how long would it take you to finish this MBA? Whether we know what we're going to do with it or not, let's just walk through the timeline.

How long would that take? Probably roughly two years, I'd guess. Yeah, that's not helping you get out of the house quicker. Yeah, and how much would that be, Kyle? Yeah. Have you looked into programs? I'm seeing if I would – I probably wouldn't go unless if I got substantial financial aid. Right.

All right, so let's talk about what needs to happen. Just bottom line, what needs to happen so that you can get out of this place that you're living in? What needs to happen? I'm making, I think we're close to $4,000 a month combined so um and rent that's kind of as far as the quarter of the take-home pay that's kind of one thousand dollars is like the minimum you can get here so wait combined you and your fiance are making four thousand a month yeah so now what do y'all both do what do you do yeah what do you guys do um i drive a bus right now, and she works part-time in school. Okay, so it was a trick question.

The answer to my question is you guys need more income. You don't need a degree. And you're in a situation in an economy in the Indianapolis area, very strong job economy right now across the country. You're driving a bus making how much per hour about 25 okay so she's a part-time because she's in school so does she have any bandwidth at all to actually work beyond going to school and doing the part-time job um a little bit a little bit okay so we need to determine what a little bit is. And is she picking up?

Is that 10 hours, 15 hours? That's what she does. And then for you, um, you know, 25 an hour, not bad. That's a really good hourly rate. That's a pretty good hourly rate. So you got to pick up a side job, uh, you know, some type of maybe a gig. Are you 40 hours a week, Kyle? Um, I just recently started picking up about 40 hours.

About 40 hours? Yes, it's just under. Okay. So we got to get better jobs and you don't need an MBA to do that. We need a second job. You don't need an MBA to get that. You just don't. And so what is she going to school for? She's going to school for to be like a physical therapist. Okay. And how long does she have left in her undergrad? She's one year away. One year away. And then what comes next? Because there's more schooling, is there not, for the PT? Well, I think she, or I guess it's physical or exercise science, so I don't think it's necessarily a therapist. Is it her undergrad? Yes.

So then she has to go on to PT school then if she wants to be a PT. Yeah. Okay. All right, so you see where we stand here? We've got a series of decisions that we're going to have to make to allow us to live, and we're going to have to live on way less than we make while we're in this season, her season, of getting educated to be able to be a physical therapist.

So for you, you're the one with a little bit more freedom here to make some decisions. So if you're driving a bus and you're getting paid $25 an hour, my first question would be, can I drive for UPS? Can I drive for Coca-Cola or drive for a beer company where potentially I'm making more per hour? I don't know, but I'm going to look into that to go, I've got this qualification here. It'd be an easy move for me to work for a bigger company where I've got some room to grow. I know that, I know a lot of guys start out, will be driving for like one of those soda companies or a beer company. They put their time in and then they work their way up into management. So you've got to start to take the future really serious right now while your fiance is taking care of her future.

And so we're going to have to make some more money to be able to afford the rent, or we're going to have to live somewhere further away than we want to live. That's also the reality. And I guess one question is because I have a business administration degree, but when I was doing it, I kind of was just going through the motions and didn't really retain anything. So I'd like to reuse my degree, but I really don't have any direction on what I can do because I feel underqualified. Well, you're underqualified because you've never

done anything. Yeah. It's more experience, Kyle, honestly, especially with a degree that's more general like that. Getting in the field and actually doing something, that's going to teach you a whole lot more than probably sitting in those classes. I'll be honest. And I'm not trying to knock education, but there's a truth that like, I mean, unless you're going to like PT school to actually like, you know,

know tactically very specifically what you're doing, but like, you know, a comm major or a business major, to a degree, you'll get some accounting classes. You'll learn some stuff and the basics, but how things really function in the real world is going to come from that experience of you actually getting in there. And you'll start at a very entry level, you know, I mean, like you won't be high up, but as you start, again, having that experience and then slowly moving up, I think is really key. Kyle, what would you do? What would you try tomorrow

if you knew you couldn't fail and it was going to give you a nice bump and you didn't have to commit to it for the rest of your professional life but you go I've been wondering about this I think I'd like to do this if I knew I could succeed what would you choose tomorrow I mean I'm really passionate about personal finance um okay but but what it I feel like I would have to grow my own business. Not true. Not true. So to dovetail off of what Rachel just said, she's absolutely right.

You should go on RamseySolutions.com and look at the Smart Investor Pro section. These are financial professionals, personal finance professionals. They're in investing. And you should just see who's listed in the Indianapolis area that is associated with Ramsey Solutions. They run their own businesses. They're qualified. They know about everything that we teach. And if you were to just find out who's in your area, and I'd start figuring out if you knew anybody that worked over there, or you knew somebody that knew somebody, and I'd go take somebody to coffee, one of those pros. Take them to coffee or lunch, buy their lunch. Everybody's favorite topic is themselves. Be interested in how they got where

they are, what they would recommend to you about potentially a career in that way. And that right there is going to help you remove some of the unknowns, which makes this feel so intimidating to the point that you said, well, I'd have to start my own financial firm. Not true. I'd rather you get paid to actually learn the business. And that's how that works. There's tests and licensing that you'll get over time. That's my advice to you, but hang on the line. I'm going to give you the new book. It's called the Get Clear Career Assessment. Find the work you're wired to do. Take the assessment, read the book. It's a 45-minute book and about a 15-minute assessment process just to verify what is it that I'm

wired to do. It's going to really help you. Hang on the line. We'll give you that. But please do what I told you to do and go talk to people who are doing the thing that you think you might like to do. It'll help you a lot. Thanks for the question, Kyle. Thanks for the call. Don't move. She's Rachel Cruz. I'm Ken Coleman. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back, America. You're joining the conversation about you with you here on The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz joins me.

Thrilled that you're with us, 888-825-5225. Let's stay right here in Nashville where Ryan joins us. Ryan, how can we help today? Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my call. I just have a quick question. Pretty new to the Baby Steps. We're in Baby Step 2.

All we have left is our mortgage and a HELOC. Would you treat the HELOC as just a part of Baby Step 2, or would you treat it differently? It would be part of Baby Step 2 if it's less than half of your annual income. So how much is the HELOC? It's $17,700. Okay. How much do you guys make a year? I make $53.50. Okay. So yeah, I would put that in Baby Step 2. I would just go ahead and act like that's just a consumer debt. Yeah. if it was more than half of your annual income, if it was $40,000, then I would roll it over to Baby Step 6 and even look at interest rates and possibly even refinancing and putting it all together.

But for you guys, I would keep it separate, yeah, and just work on that as Baby Step 2. Do you guys have savings? Yes, we have $7,000 in savings. Okay, that's awesome. So great. So yeah, honestly, I would throw a chunk at that. I'd keep $1,000, throw $6,000 at this. You guys will have $11,000 left to pay it off. And I would pay it off as quickly as possible so that you guys can get back to saving and investing and all that. How old are you guys? I'm 30 and my wife is 29. Okay. That's great. Yeah. I mean, you have time, but I would still be pretty, pretty aggressive towards this because you guys can knock this out pretty quickly.

Yeah. Yeah. And I have a side hustle that also makes about between 10 and 20. We just had a kid though. So I'm kind of limited with, with that, but I guess navigating and I would just take the side hustle money and instead of saving it, just throw it right at the heel. Yep. That's exactly what I would do for sure. And then any extra money you guys have that you can squeeze out of your

budget and live on nothing and see if you can even throw an extra, you know, $6,000 this year out of your regular income at it as well. Okay, okay. Awesome. Thanks, Ryan. Yeah, thanks for the call. Congrats on the little one. Yes, absolutely. Chris is up next in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Chris, how can we help? Hi, thank you for taking my call. So I just had a quick question.

I know that you guys have talked about being upside down on loans and taking out personal loans to cover the difference. My situation is a little different. So I owe money for taxes. And I was wondering if I could take out a personal loan to cover that to prevent any further like penalties. Yes, I would. How much do you owe? It's about $3,600. Okay. Are you able to pay it off pretty quickly? Do you have any savings? No, we just started doing the baby steps. So I only have, or my wife and I, we only have a thousand dollars saved up. And that's all we have right now. Okay. How much do you guys make a year? I make about $55,000. My wife, she doesn't currently work, but we are moving in a place that she can work part-time. So that's expected the next couple of months for her to get another job.

Okay. When's the tax bill due? It doesn't say on the note that they gave me specifically. We just filed our taxes and then we got this notification a couple of weeks afterwards. It just gives me the total amount that's due. Yeah. I'm just curious.

I've never had this happen to me. So I'm just curious how much time. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I misspoke. It says May 19th, 2024. Okay. Now here's where I'm going because I would try to come up with as much cash as I could.

And so I'm thinking, how much can I sell? Can I sell $1,000 worth of stuff in my house? Can I find stuff in my house where I could come up with $1,000? I'm just trying to give you some ideas here, because I'd like you to take a big chunk out of that. You've got until May 19th. I wonder what side work you could come up with could you come up with $3,600 between selling stuff and just working like a mad dog until May 19th that's what I would try first yeah I mean I would do as much as I could yep I mean Ken's right but past that date I don't know just the IRS and stuff I'm like no I'm not saying I'm just saying up until totally I mean you can you can pay the thing on the 19th if that's what they say yeah I would be

working and making as much money as possible to pay that off yeah for sure but if it goes past that date then I would be okay for you to take out a personal loan just so to get the IRS yeah you definitely want to do that McKinn's right Chris I'm like it's yeah it's $3,600 you know I mean if it was 15,000 this would be a different conversation of the intensity. But if you guys can come up with this, do you have other debt? Yes, I have student loans, and that's about $26,000. Okay, okay. Chris, do you think you could come up with – how much money do you – be aggressive here.

How much money do you think you could come up with between now and May 19th, between working and selling stuff? I think we could come up with a little bit of it. I'm actually in the National Guard, so I'll be leaving for my annual training during most of that time. And so my wife will be with the kids. Oh, I see. That's tough.

I'm putting a damper on us trying to get a second side hustle between now and then. What about selling stuff? If Rachel and I came over to your house, this feels like a potential reality show. That's tough. Kind of putting a damper on us trying to get a second side hustle between now and then. Yeah. What about selling stuff? If Rachel and I came over to your house, this feels like a potential reality show. That's going to be good. And we came over and we just started walking through the house. Could we come up with $1,500 worth of stuff? Maybe $500. I'm just saying.

$500 is no joke. I'd be selling everything. But I will tell you, I say this, it's a little easy for me because Stacey's the queen, Rachel, of selling stuff on Facebook Marketplace. I mean, queen. It's fantastic. There's always that meme that's like, I'm going to get murdered at my house for $4. from like a pair of shoes and a stranger comes no i gotta i gotta defend stacy's honor on this one she's always we're meeting people in the kroger parking lot oh oh even better that's great because you know how i know this i'm the delivery boy stacy sells it you know you're gonna get murdered not not a kroger hey you never know

well you're not listening to some true crime podcasts, Ken? Here I am trying to help Chris and millions of other people. Now you just freaked everybody out. Don't get murdered, Chris. But see if you can sell some stuff. Get some cash. And yeah, I mean, the most, I mean, you know, make it a goal. Because I mean, $3,600 in three weeks.

I mean, I get it. Like, that's like, whew, okay, a little steep. But see if you can cut that in half. Like, at least have a goal to get you somewhere. Like that's like, okay, a little steep. But see if you can cut that in half, like at least have a goal to get you somewhere. Cause that's part of it, Chris. And you guys said you just started the baby step. So you're going to feel this like intensity and there's a change that's going to happen for you guys. And you're just on the verge of it. You have your thousand dollar emergency fund, which is awesome, but you're going to do things that are uncomfortable and that are, you know, odd to you possibly that feels so weird because you haven't

done it before right so um i would push yourself to have a goal to say hey let's try to only take out a two thousand dollar loan um you know by may 19th or whatever you know something realistic but also aggressive right i mean really get in there and and we're joking about the selling stuff but for real go look around and even uber i'm I'm like, maybe you drive Uber for a few nights a week. And you're worried about me getting killed in the Kroger parking lot, and you're going to pick up perfect strangers? I don't see the difference. I feel like Uber's more dangerous than that.

I'm kidding. Possibly. I don't know. I feel like you'd jump through some hoops. When was the last time you sold something online to a stranger? I'm not going to lie. Never? I don't know if I could jump through some have you when's the last time you sold something online to a stranger I'm not gonna lie I never I don't uh Winston has I don't know if I have because here's the deal for me it's not worth it I'm like I'm gonna I would go to a consignment sale before I would yeah um sell stuff on Facebook just and not that it's a bad I mean you can do it or I'm just gonna go and you know donate it oh we do a lot of

that too yeah but i i don't know i'm like i just don't i don't know i don't have the energy i've never thought i'm not detailed with it but winston sells he'll sell stuff and i'm like babe just throw it away like that's like right he's like somebody will take it and i'm like i mean i guess i'm like that too we it's it's funny it'sacey. Winston for you, it's Stacey for me. Sometimes I'm like, why are we doing this? Because I just simply don't want to drive to Kroger. I'm really comfortable watching golf right now. I don't want to get up.

It's that kind of thing. Because it's odd hours. For $15 or whatever. You've got to meet so-and-so. And you're just like. Yeah, I get that. Trust me. But.

I don't know. For people who really, you know, you need to scrape every penny together. Oh, sure. I mean, if you're in a season of sacrifice. Our friends at The Minimalist, they could tell you. There's thousands of thousands of dollars in people's homes. That is so true. Yes.

That's all I'm saying. If you had to come up with money quick. TVs. I mean, just, yeah, all of it. And if you're really worried. Porch furniture. Hire an armed guard. Give the armed guard a little bit of a piece of the sales.

Like, hey, I need you to come with me to this transaction. We're trying to lower expenses, Ken. I know, but you scared America, so now I'm trying to meet them in the middle. All right, we're having fun. I hope you are, too. Don't move. We'll be right back. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back, America. You're joining the conversation about you with you, your life specifically here on The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz joins me.

By the way, America, today is Rachel's birthday, and we're just celebrating her the entire show. I mean, there's so much to celebrate. Thank you, Ken. Big, big, big plans tonight. You're flying to Atlanta. I'm going to drive. Oh, you're driving. I know. It's a four-hour. It's one of those tweeters right on the i know and we're gonna be

in north atlanta tomorrow for the book you're gonna be alpharetta so then i would hate to drive down through atlanta to get to the airport yeah because you're already north so we're getting we're close to nashville so i'm drunk we're gonna drive barnes and noble and alpharetta yes i know i know i know where that is marcel crossing i think is what it's called. I don't know. Marcel Crossing. One to two. One to two tomorrow, so it'll be fun. She's going to be signing copies of the new children's book, second in the series, I'm Glad for Where I Am. Really fun little book, great message. So if you're in the greater ATL area and you want to brave the afternoon traffic. That and L.A., you know, and Dallas.

I've picked some traffic-y cities. You've picked some. Yeah, boy, oh, boy, you've got to really love you to get to see you. I'll tell you that. All right, let's go to Deb, who joins us down in Grand Rapids. Deb, how can we help? Hi. Happy birthday, Rachel.

I had to put that in. Oh, thanks, Deb. Thank you so much for taking my call. Thank you. Okay. I am 62 years old and I have no retirement, but I recently sold my house and I have profited $85,000 and it's sitting in savings and I don't know what to do from here. Okay. Where are you living now? So I invested and co-partnered with a good long friend of mine and we bought my mom and dad's homestead. So I am here and it is covered if something happens to him or me, we get the house. So that's where that is. It's paid for. Okay. Okay. So no mortgage, rent?

Nope. You're okay. And I'm going to just assume that all of that was pretty clean. You have good documentation on that deal. Everything is buttoned up well with that. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Do you work, Deb? I do. I work from home. I'm self-employed. Yeah. What do you make? I actually work for a network marketing company, and I have for 24 years.

What kind of income do you make? Now I make $35,000. How long do you plan to do this? You said you were 62? Yes. What's the outlook? Well, the outlook looks like I have to keep working. Exactly, right?

I know, right. Yeah, and that's not a whole lot of money, even though you've got no house payment. I know, I know. I have my car that is 15.6 that I owe on it. And in the baby steps, I have my every dollar set up, thanks to my sister. But one through four, I'm thinking I need to set it up a thousand, my, you know, six months, right? And start investing. That's what I was thinking I need to do. Yes, yes. Yeah, I would get this car paid off with the $85,000 just so that you don't have a

car payment coming out every month. I would keep $1,000 there. Yeah, and then at that point, I mean, yeah, you'll have around $69,000 left. So I would figure out a good emergency fund. Is your living expenses pretty low? I mean, obviously from the housing perspective, it is. It's about $2,500. $2,500 a month. Okay. And that's for you to live on, eat everything?

It's skinny, but I trimmed out a whole bunch. Okay. Because, you know, I know that I have to be drastic for sure. Yep, yep, yep. Okay. Yeah, I'm just trying to do some quick math here so I would probably maybe put I don't know nine thousand away for an emergency fund so that leaves you 60 grand to start investing so that's probably what I would do all right and again that's a lean emergency fund that's only about three four months but I think that's okay I think you're in a you know a position right now that you're no one is dependent upon your income you don't have kids and you know all of that that you're having

to to keep afloat so so I would probably go the three month route on the emergency funds so that you can put as much as you can to invest and what I would recommend Deb is sitting down with a smart investor pro and Taylor and Austin can pick up because we'll get you connected with someone in your area or show you on ramseysolutions.com because they're going to be able to sit down with you and actually figure out, okay, where's the best place to invest? Because when you're looking at investing, you know, there's always like the rule of 75, it's going to double every seven years-ish, depending on inflation and interest rates. They're going to be able to look at run numbers for you, how aggressive, you know, where to put it, how conservative, like they're going to do a good job to map out to see how we can stretch this money and get this growing as quickly as possible.

But I also think the reality, Deb, is, and I think you know this, that you will be, yeah, you'll be working for the foreseeable future to get to a point where you have a big nest egg that's built up. And because even 60 grand000 doubling in seven years is $120,000. So we want you to be able to. But I think you can do this. I mean, I think it may be another eight years or so, but I would sit down and really map it out. Because thankfully your living expenses are low.

And that's the thing. And I've got a question about that. That's encouraging. I thought I heard you say you're moving into this homestead with someone else. Is this right? So I sold my nice home that I redid, and it was only 25 years old. I thought I was going to retire there. But it was the only house that was done.

I have a friend that we invest with, but I have a side hustle with him too, but it's not making anything yet. Yeah, but I'm asking, I thought you said, and I could be wrong, is this friend moving into this homestead with you as well? Oh, no, no, no. No, no, no. This is my home. He has his own here.

He has his own home. So you guys are just buddies. We have grown up together. Neighborhood, yeah. And you've invested in some stuff together? Yep. Okay. And has that panned out? Where is the rest of that money? Yeah, where's your money gone when you've invested it?

What's that mean? Well, you said I've done some... I invested in the... Go ahead. I'm sorry. So we bought my mom and dad's home when they passed, and then he moved in here, and he continued to take care of it and pay taxes and that. And then I took my inheritance, and then just when I sold my house, I paid the rest of my half off, and then I moved in here, and he moved into another house that was a rental.

All right. So I'm sorry to get us on that. I was trying to figure out if there was a rental. All right. So I'm sorry to get us on that. I just, I was trying to figure out what, if there was a relationship situation and here's why. I'm, you know, look at 62, yes, you're going to have to work probably 15 more years. You're already going to be in an uncomfortable situation. I think you're mentally uncomfortable. I think you need to embrace the uncomfortable. And I think you need to look at what can I do at 62? Can I increase my income to a point where maybe I'm making 60, 65,000?

Now's the time, and we are in an economy, Deb. Grand Rapids, I don't know the local economy there, but overall in the job market, there's a lot of opportunities. And if you could get out of network marketing, and I'm not trashing network marketing, but you've been in a long time and you keep, you kind of hit your lid. Okay, quickly, Deb, before we get off here, you said you used your inheritance to buy this. How much is this property? It's valued at probably $250. So that was the other question do i sell this i mean that's an offer i mean you'd have to go buy something in cash because i don't want you yeah and that creates

more expense for her so in that case yeah i didn't know if it was like a million dollar property or something that i'm like you saw your inheritance or something there i'll tell you what actually do you you know what i one thing i would consider is if you had a girlfriend that you were really close with, you guys are getting up in age, she's single. At some point, maybe considering selling this homestead, invest the 250 and you two split something. And even though you're going to now assume some rent, if it helps you retire earlier, this is all the kind of thing you need to talk to your

smart investor yeah i know and the rent the hard thing with that i get is that it will continue to go up and i don't want that variable expense into retirement she has no expense yeah so at this point i may say put but i mean but it's a good point i would consider it yeah float float all this by your smart investor pro because they're going to be able to look at even you know if there's tax advantages or something because you'll be able to dip into some of, well, you don't have retirement, I was going to say some of your retirement, but.

There's only so much that can happen in the next 15 years. But hold on the line, Deb, and they're going to pick up and direct you on where you need to go to find a great SmartVestor. But yeah, I'm with Ken. I think upping your income is going to be huge and investing as soon as possible, paying off the car and having that emergency fund.

I hope that helps. Thanks for the call, Deb. Good hour. Rachel Cruz, I want to thank our fearless leader, James Childs, and our merry band of folks behind the glass that keep us on the air. Thanks to you, America. We do it for you. This is The RamZ Show.