The Ramsey Show - App - Does Money Actually Make You Happier? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: December 2, 2022

George Kamel & Rachel Cruze discuss: Whether or not money actually buys happiness, Budgeting increased income, When you can afford to buy a pet, Investing while paying off debt, What comes next after paying off debt. Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6 Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

Девочка-пай Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Pods Moving and Storage Studio, it's The Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. I'm George Campbell, joined this hour by Rachel Cruz. We are your co-hosts this hour. Also co-hosts of another Ramsey Network show called Smart Money Happy Hour. And we are happy to take your calls this hour at 888-825-5225. So Rachel, we get sent a lot of videos on Instagram. People always want to know our thoughts on things, our hot takes. And usually it's things that I'm like, oh I have to you know it's just like terrible financial advice but sometimes there's videos that make me smile and I go get a little a little glimmer of hope

I agree with that for humanity and uh this one is from a celeb oh celeb didn't send me the video the videos of a celebrity and I know you're basically BFFs with Matthew McConaughey. Matthew. I did have him on my show. He was on your show. You're a big fan of his book Greenlights. And this clip has popped up and it has to do with money. So I thought I'd play it for you and get your reaction to it and talk about it. I can't wait.

You ready? Yes. Let's see what he has to say. People always say money doesn't make you happy, but it makes me very happy. I mean I like to have money. I don't think it makes you happy. Look it takes money's money's good and that if you have some it can take away a lot of stress that a lot of people have that don't. Yeah. I mean I'm happy to be to say that I my rent's going to be paid. kids are going to eat not everyone can say that um after that you know you look at certain things you need you look at certain things that are luxuries

um i wouldn't say it buys you happiness though can buy you access to things you may want and then like anybody you also keep an eye on those things you want because they more options don't always make you happier. That's good. Dang, Matthew. The way he says everything is just so cool. Oh, it's just I could listen to his voice all day long. He could have just said the ABCs and I would have been like, that was brilliant.

Well done. I think that's so smart. But the content was rich. It's a great point. It's a great point. Because there's one side of the coin that everyone's like, money doesn't make you happy. It's unimportant. And as Zig Ziglar, which this next generation has no clue who Zig Ziglar is.

Zig Ziglar, motivational speaker, idol. In the 80s. But his quote, which I think is just so funny, is like, money's not everything, but it's right up there with oxygen. So like there is a level where like, yeah, it doesn't necessarily bring you joy, but it brings you a level of peace because you don't have stress about where your next meal is coming from. Are you going to have shelter? Even to the point that if,

you know, a family member gets sick and you have money in the bank to go buy a plane ticket to go see them. Like, you know, all of those things, it gives you the ability to live your life. So yeah, on one side, people are like,

no, it doesn't make you happy. And I'm like, well, no, but it does, like he said, give you access. But on the other end, if that's the only thing you live for is the number in your checking account, you are going to live a pretty empty life. Yes, I think chasing happiness through stuff

is never going to end well because we know that money and happiness, there's not always a correlation. There's folks in third world countries who have way more joy than most Americans do. That's right. And they don't have a lot of stuff, but they still have joy, which is the end result, I would hope, of happiness, which is longer lasting. It's not this fleeting thing of like, we went on vacation and it made us happy and then we came back home and we were still miserable. Right. Because you go with you. And when you

have debt in your life, you know, studies have shown you're not sleeping as well. It has a physical weight on your body. And so I think that's kind of what's holding people back is if you're broke and in debt, it's going to be harder to be happy. Yep. That's the correlation. Yes. There's going to be more stress, more anxiety naturally versus yes, if you have, if you're debt free and have an emergency fund, you have money in the bank, that money is not correlating to, oh, I have that dollar amount. So I'm automatically have a better life. It's, I have the ability to use it as a tool to better my life if, or when I need it.

Yes. And our research team, we've done this state of personal finance study now for almost two years. And this is over a thousand people. So it's statistically significant. We use the third party to do this. And here's some things that we found.

Over a hundred million Americans now say they're struggling or in crisis with their finances. So that's about one out of three people. Yep. 50% of Americans say finances have had a negative impact on their fiancés. That's interesting. And because of stress brought on by money,

41% of Americans report crying at least once in the last three months. That's a lot of stress. That's literally a sad stat. That breaks my heart to hear that. And lastly, 41% have experienced a panic attack because of money at some point in their life. Yep.

So it has an effect on you. And that's what's crazy is, again, it's not just the financial effect. It's everything else. It's the emotional, the mental, the spiritual. I mean, there's so much that money affects in our lives. So it's not just numbers. And that's the one thing about math or about money that we talk about a lot on the show. It's not

just about math. So you can argue interest rates and getting a loan and using, you know, instead of paying it off, use that money to invest in the market. You'll make a better return. It's smarter. I mean, you can do math all day long, but that does not correlate to your mental, your spiritual, your physical health. I mean, all of that and that money plays a role in all of that oh yeah and a lot of people that watch these videos rachel they always come from like celebrities who have a ton of money and they're always like hey guys i just want to let you know money doesn't buy you happiness they're like easy for you to say dude i know i know totally i would like to experience that i want to have a lot of money so I can say that money doesn't matter.

Right, right, right. And so I understand where they're coming from. There's this angst about it of like, you don't get to tell me that kind of thing. But there's so much truth in what Matthew McConaughey was saying. And what he really was pointing to is what we've been teaching for 30 years,

which is financial peace. Yep. It's contentment with what you have. And that is what it's all about. And we teach, yes, build wealth and give, and that's great. But the end goal is not just that money's going to make you happy, so you should go get you some. The goal is get out of debt, have money in the bank so that you have peace and margin in your life to focus on what really matters. That's right.

Which is your health, your career, your family, And yes, some of the stuff that money can buy. We want you to have nice stuff. Don't misunderstand. It's great to do that when you do it the right way. That's right. Intentionality. Yeah. And money is just a tool. It's a tool to create a life that you love, right? And so that's part of what it's for. And it's not the end all be all in life, but you can use it to have access, like what he's saying, to have options, all of it. So, man, Matthew, just bring in the. Just bring in the thunder, Matthew. Well done.

We love it. Such a deep thinker. He is. I respect that about him. All MMM. Is that what you call him? Is that what he. Matthew McConaughey.

When he was on your show, was he like, Rachel, you can call me MM. Call me M&M. Call me Maddie. Call me Maddie. He wasn't on your show, was he like, Rachel, you can call me M&M. Call me M&M. Call me Maddie. Call me Maddie. He wasn't on my show, Rachel. We should get him on Smart Money Happy Hour to talk about this. Oh, that would be great. Matthew McConaughey, if you're listening, I assume that you're a big fan.

I know we were in your top Spotify podcast. Get in touch with our team. We'd love to have you on. But it's true, Rachel. Money magnifies. We've said that before. It just makes you more of what you are. Yep.

So if you're a jerk and you're a miserable person, well, man, you're going to be a rich jerk. And if you're generous while you don't have much, you're only going to become wildly generous. We call those people philanthropists. And so that encourages me. And it can be different for you. If you're listening and you're feeling that stress, you're one of those people who has cried, who's had the panic attack, who's felt that lump in your throat, the knot in your stomach, you can have what we call financial peace. But it starts with deciding that enough is enough. We're going to make some changes in our life, do whatever it takes, draw the line in the sand to change our family tree and do

something different. And so Financial Peace University, the namesake, is one of the best ways to do that. So be sure to check that out. We'll be back with more of The Ramsey Show. I'm George Camel, host of The Fine Print, Entree Leadership, and co-host of Smart Money Happy Hour, joined by best-selling author Rachel Cruz. And we are here for you, America, to help you with whatever you're dealing with when it comes to money and life. The number to call is 888-825-5225. Valerie is up next in San Francisco. Valerie, welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hi, George. Hi, Rachel. I'm so excited to finally be talking to you guys.

We've been waiting for you, Valerie. Thank you for calling in. It's about time. What's going on? Okay, I just have a quick question. So I recently got, so I transitioned from being a part-time employee to finally being able to be full-time. I just don't know how to readjust my budget because that did come with extra expenses. Extra expenses?

Yes. Okay, so you got a raise going from part-time to full-time. Like what? What's your extra expenses? So now I'm, because I work all over the Bay Area, I'm wasting, or not wasting, I'm using more on gas. Okay. And then sometimes they do put us in a hotel and some of the hotels are, they require like deposits, which I've been prepared so far, but I just want to make sure I have enough set aside just for that because they do hold on to my money. Yep. Yep. Okay. That's great.

So yeah, I mean, I would just, but obviously it's going to come with more income, right? Yes. Yes, which is a great thing. What are you making? So I now have the potential to make anywhere from $50,000 to $68,000, which I'm on track to do. All right. And do you have any debt?

Yes, I do. What are we talking? So total, I have about $29,000 left. I have been working with Baby Steps. I'm still working on number two. And then I don't have a mortgage, so it's roughly $11,000 on my car. And then the rest would be, so $7,000 on a personal loan and then the rest on credit cards. Okay. So that's your next goal. Obviously you're in the middle of that. And your question is about kind of managing this extra money or managing the new expenses? Just your new budget coming up?

Yes, my new budget, especially for next year. So I'm still doing the minimum payments on all the cards and everything, and then I am putting everything towards my first one. But I have found myself having to use a credit card just for things that I didn't see coming, like that one time that I didn't know that they were going to ask for a deposit down. I immediately paid that part off, but it does, I want to make sure I have the money set aside so that I don't have to use my credit card. So this sounds like it could be a buffer issue in your checking account as well. How much money do you have in there? At the moment, about 150. Okay. I would increase that. You might need to slow down your debt payoff by just an inch, but have a little bit more, maybe a $500 cushion in the checking account,

and you make sure it never goes below $500. That's kind of your new zero. Okay. That'll probably help with these deposit issues you're experiencing so that you're not turning to the credit card, which by the way, i would cut that thing up so that you can't even use it if you wanted to because right now it's a rubber crutch yes i i you need to tell me that yeah because value we want you to be your emergency funds you know you're gonna have your thousand dollars uh for baby step one you'll have some cushion in your checking account for when these kind of expenses come up. And then you're just going to be, yeah, really diligent about the budget. And I think just upping your gas, you're going to be able to maybe estimate and say, okay, I'm going to have to fill up this many more tanks of gas. Here's roughly what it's going to be. And maybe you have

a line item in your budget that every month you kind of just budget for those just-in-case things. You can call that miscellaneous, whatever it is. But if you know that there are expenses coming up, put those in the budget. And so you're able to kind of work around your life more. It's more of that planning out. So if there is a deposit that you need, not only will you have the money and you're checking out, but even you're planning for it in your budget. What are you currently using to make your budget, Valerie?

I am using the EveryDollar app. It's just I wasn't sure where to put the deposit fees into, like what area. Yeah, it is temporary, so you can make the line item for hotel deposits, and if you know, hey, roughly I go to two hotels, it's about $200 a time, well, that money's coming back, but for now it helps you track it. And I'm going to gift you one year of our premium version of every dollar so that it connects to your bank account,

which will make this even easier. How does that sound? That would be amazing. Awesome. We're happy to do that. I love that you are like so focused on this baby step two. You're going to do whatever it takes.

And I think this little buffer issue will sort itself out and you'll be back on track. We are rooting for you. Great job, Valerie. Yeah, thanks for the question. Hang on the line. Austin will pick up

and we'll gift you one year of every dollar premium. All right. Our question of the day comes from blinds.com. Their 100% satisfaction guarantee means even if you mismeasure or you pick the wrong color,

they will remake your blinds for free. You get free samples, free shipping. With the new promos they run every month, you'll save even more. Be sure to use the promo code Ramsey to get the best deal. And today's question comes from Maxine in Texas. I only recently found you all and on vacation last week, I bought the Total Money Makeover and read it in one night and finally excited that I can make a better future for myself. Thank you. My question is, when will it be appropriate for me to buy a dog my last dog had numerous surgeries and was quite expensive and i've learned since the

last experience ways that might reduce the expenses but there is no guarantee we're dog people we are dog people i've got two you've got one one yes okay but you've had dogs your whole life yeah yeah we've been Sharon are dog people. Yeah. And what's fun, Rachel, we just did an episode on the Rachel Cruze Show, you and I, about pets and how much about dogs. Here's what it's called, how much having a pet is actually costing you. And we kind of broke down the math and we had some hot takes of kind of like, hey, if you're really broke, it may not be the best time to get a pet because your pet deserves a good life. You know, it doesn't have to be a life of luxury, but you got to be able to afford the vet visits and the food and the right kind of care. And so I don't tell people, hey,

wait till you're completely out of debt if you're going to get a pet. That's not the spirit of this. And you want to be able to say, okay, reasonably what breed, because even breeds have a different cost. You know that with your Frenchies. What are they called designer dogs yeah george has two and people are very rachel the adopt don't shop people have come at me well because i was gonna say there are a lot of dogs that you can adopt for free there are but but they got mad at you yeah like french bulldogs healthily bred are really you can't just find those at shelters sure as you know it's like trying to find a gucci purse at a goodwill like can you find it maybe but it's rare and so we decided we had the money we budgeted for it and we wanted this specific dog that's right anyways when will it be appropriate for me to buy a dog when you can afford it and i don't know your your financial situation all we know is that

you're on vacation and you've got the total money makeover i know well and i think you know mapping out when it's an when it's a purchase like this just map out roughly okay you know how much food is this dog gonna do some research on the breed you're looking at or if it's a you know a dog from the shelter you can do rough math to say okay it's going to cost probably this much in food a month uh how often do they need their their shots and their vaccines like what are we gonna need pet sitters if we go out of town you know you can kind of run some scenarios and get a you know an estimate on what it costs per month um but yeah i mean there are and then there becomes a budget line item ours is ours you gotta make sure you have that and also on the the emergency fund side, I don't want you using your personal human emergency fund and draining it for the dog.

And so I like having a separate little pile of money for the dog, like a little sinking fund for the animals. And so that can be a great way to separate this out and go, I'm gonna put 50 bucks a month into the sinking fund for the animal. Are you a pet insurance person? We talked about that on the show. That's right.

And I've crunched the numbers. We had it for a season, like a wellness plan type thing. But as I found, the insurance companies almost always win and rarely is it going to be worth it. And so you're better off just taking that amount you were paying every month and putting it into that emergency fund. And so it's really hard to beat the system when it comes to these pet insurance companies. So largely, it's just not worth it. And some of them, there's like a wellness plan type thing. Some of those may be okay, but don't fall for the schemes.

Schemes, the scams. But yeah, I mean, we love dogs and you can do it very cheaply and it can be very expensive. So there's a large spectrum, but the key is know what you're getting into, save for it, budget for it, do it all in cash and make sure that you're prepared for an emergency. Great question. Thank you so much for it, budget for it, do it all in cash, and make sure that you're prepared for an emergency. Great question. Thank you so much for it, Maxine. Send us a picture of that sweet pup once you get him. More of your calls coming up. 888-825-5225 is the number to call. This is The Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. welcome back to the ramsey show folks if you've gone through fpu financial peace university the

chances are it's because someone in your life lit the fire under your butt. Mom and dad gave it to you as a gift. Your pastor offered it at your church or that one friend wouldn't stop talking about it. I'm sorry, is this what that said? That's literally what it says. Light a fire under your butt. Yeah, that's how it works. It's a lot to get someone to change their money life. Is that what I just heard? Okay, keep going. You can't make this stuff up. So you finally took the class after maybe some nodding, some prodding. You started working these baby steps and now everything is different. You've changed your entire future.

And so now you can do the same for someone else. You can give someone you care about, Financial Peace University, and share that same hope you've discovered with money. And with Christmas coming, this is the perfect time to do it. And when you give FPU as a gift, they're going to get more than just a course. They'll get the premium version of every dollar so they can start living on a budget. They'll join in on group calls with our team of financial coaches and so much more. So this Christmas, give the people you care about a gift that actually matters, and that's hope. That is freedom. So if you want to buy FPU as a gift,

go to ramseysolutions.com slash give FPU. That's ramseysolutions.com slash G-I-V-E F-P-U. It is a great gift to be, I mean, really. I mean, it's like- It feels weird. She's like, I'm going to gift them like a thing that's like, get better with money. Yeah, no, but it's like, here's the thing that helps

in general, regardless of whether you feel like you're great with money. Yeah, no, but it's like, here's the thing that helps in general, regardless of whether you feel like you're great with money or not. And you can always pair it with another little gift, too, to make it less of a focus. If that's a worry for you, a concern. But it really is. It's a great gift, and it is the gift that keeps on giving. Because if they become debt-free because of that, that gift paid dividends. That's awesome.

So go check that out. All right, back to the phones we go. Nate joins us up next in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Nate, welcome to the show. Hey, how are we doing? Good. How are you? Good, good. Love all you guys. Love listening to you guys. Oh, we appreciate that. How can we help today? The question is, I heard you guys talking earlier about if you're in debt, not to be investing in like your match for your company. It sounded like or your 401k company. And I currently am and I'm in debt, obviously.

So I was wondering, should I stop investing? And then kind of like a little second question. And then should I take what I have in my 401k and help speedball and take it out to knock down my debt? Or just keep plugging away and snowballing it the way I'm doing it now? The latter. For sure, do not pull any money out of your 401k because it comes with a whole bunch of penalties and fees and you're unplugging all of the growth. So if you've been investing, it's okay. Just pause that and begin to use that extra cash flow that you now have to attack that debt aggressively. Okay. Yeah, because the reason is, Nate, the why behind that is we've just found when you can focus on one

thing with your money, you make progress so much faster. And then the benefit of being out of debt that much faster is that you don't have payments. So then you're able to say, okay, I can save up actual cash and have an emergency fund, which is baby step three. And then once all of that's taken care of, it's like you have this really solid financial foundation of no payments and emergency funds. And then you can go press play and invest 15% of your income into retirement. So into that 401k, Roth IRA, and using those retirement vehicles to build that wealth. And I love the fire it kind of lights under you when you're going, I'm missing out on the match. I really want to get back to that match.

So I'm going to get out of debt even faster. The problem is a lot of people get comfortable because they're doing seven things at once and they're like, eh, I'm okay. And so I actually love the fact that we tell people to pause all investing because for folks that have a hard time with it, it's because they want to see that money grow. But you kind of have a house built on sand when you got a pile of debt, not a lot of money in the bank, you owe people money. It's just a scary place to be. Yeah. How much debt do you have, Nate? I'm just curious. Probably around $35,000.

Okay. I got. How much do you make a year? Anywhere from $80,000 to $100,000. Okay. So, yeah, you can knock this debt out quickly. And I got about $11,000 in an emergency fund in my savings. Oh, okay.

Yeah, well, I would drain that down, throw some of that money. How's the $35, 35 divided, the debt? Is it cars? I got about $8,500 in student loan, and then the rest, I know you guys are yelling at me. I took HELOC out to consolidate some other debt, and I got about $25,000 on that. On that, okay. I mean, I'd pay off your student loan today, Nate. I mean, I would go ahead and just get...

What's the payment on that? Knock that out. The payment a month, I actually just upped it because I paid off another thing. So I'm paying about $180 a month on it right now. Okay. So yeah, it's not going to free up like a ton, a ton. But yeah, I would go ahead and knock that out.

So it's freed up. Then you got that extra like yeah $180 a month plus other stuff to throw out the HELOC at the $25 and you could get I mean yeah you could be out in the next year really quick Nate and then save up some cash for an emergency fund then press play on that investing

and how old are you? 36. Yeah yeah Nate I mean that's exactly what I would do I mean and it's awesome that you're Sorry. And I guess I forgot the house debt. I got that down to 147,000 and I got it on a 15-year note and I just got about 13 years left. That's great. Well, what we found is people doing the baby steps that once they've paid off their consumer debts, they get their emergency fund, they invest in retirement, they actually are paying off their house

on an average in seven years. That's amazing. So you're going to just have so much income freed up. And then it kind of gets addicting where you're like, oh my gosh, what if I didn't have a mortgage? And going after that. So yeah, I'm excited for you.

These numbers look really promising. I don't know how I am now. The addiction's getting to me because I've just been paying off a couple other smaller ones. Yeah. It's really getting to me. I love it. I love it. Well, congrats, Nate. Thanks for calling. Yeah, Rachel, this is a big thing people struggle with because they do the math on paper and they're like, well, Rachel, wouldn't it make more sense to get the free money and the match and watch

this money grow? But we found that personal finance is 80% behavior. It's only 20% head knowledge. And so math on paper only goes so far to actually change the way we behave when it comes to money, which is a much bigger factor than just math alone. That's right. Changing your habits. And again, for some people, it's uncomfortable to say, hey, we're going to pause investing to pay off that debt. But even that being uncomfortable is good for you. Do you know what I'm saying? Yes. Like if you keep doing the same thing you've been doing-

Comfortable is how we got here. You're going to keep getting the same result. And so there's something about just shaking up the whole thing, changing your habits completely, changing the way you've been viewing your money. You're going to get a completely different result, which is our goal. Good stuff. All right. Trista joins us up next in Minneapolis. Trista, welcome to the show. Hi, thank you for having me. Absolutely. How can we help today? I am through Baby Step 3. I just started my kid's education savings account, and we're turning on our 401 again. Awesome. But lately, to the last year, I've been making double

mortgage payments because we're in a house right now, but we're looking to move in the next two years. So my question basically is, should I keep making double payments and throw more equity into the home, or should I be putting that into this, like a sinking fund for a deposit on another house? I would continue making those double payments. I mean, it's a forced savings plan, and here's what that means. The money you would put elsewhere might get used elsewhere because then you're like, well, we could upgrade this and we could go on that vacation. Paying it into the mortgage is a great idea because when you go to sell that house, it's sitting there inside of the equity and you're paying less towards interest every month on that mortgage. So there's all the reasons I have done that and continue to advise people to do it.

Okay. That's kind of what I was thinking, but I just wanted to make sure before I change anything. Yeah, you're doing great. That's awesome. How much longer until you pay off the house? I think it's like 2032. So 10 years from now.

But you're looking to move before then. Right. That might change some things. Yeah, that's great. That's awesome. Well, well done. I'm finishing college and we're going to be getting more income in the next couple of years. So we just want to move into a bigger home for our family. Way to go. How old are you two? 32 and 37. That is awesome. Great job. I love this. Like just young people getting a hold of this stuff going like, hey, what if we didn't have a mortgage

forever? How about that? Baby steps four through six right there. She's doing it. It's awesome. We have, I've seen a trend with our debt-free screamers. We're getting young people who aren't just paying off consumer debt, but they're paying off their house in their twenties and thirties. Yeah, it's crazy.

Because their parents taught them. They went through Financial Peace University. Yeah. They got them on board and they're like, oh, I didn't know that I didn't have to live with a payment forever. And so those are very inspiring because there could be a whole new generation, Rachel, of people in their 20s and 30s with no debt,

not even a mortgage payment. It's amazing. Who are just building wealth and giving outrageously. That's inspiring. It's a beautiful world. You just changed the country. I'm here for it. I want to live in that world.

And you guys are a part of it by following this plan, by doing the hard work, and we are so, so proud of you. Keep it up. This is The Ramsey Show. Our scripture of the day comes from Proverbs 12, 16. A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult. Leslie Knope from Parks and Rec said, One person's annoying is another's inspiring and heroic. That's good. And that Proverbs one, that hit me personally, Rachel.

That's basically saying, hey, maybe don't respond to the YouTube comments. That's what Proverbs was saying. George will stir the pot out on the internet. That is me. We were talking about it earlier. I know. It's widely known. And it seems like be yourself on social media, you know.

And George was like, well, if I am myself, I'm going to go. I'm going to jump into the comments and stir up a ruckus. I just, I got to stand up to the bullies, Rachel. As someone who was like low-key bullied when I was younger, I'm not taking it as an adult. I'm going to raise my fist and get back at them. I'm intellectually stronger than they are. Maybe not physically, but that's social media.

Well, on a brighter note, if we look into the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, we are getting ready for an exciting moment because Santa is coming to the Ramsey HQ and the Ramsey team members are bringing their kids to meet Santa. Hey, not just Santa. Is Mrs. Claus here too? There are two Christmas thrones right now on the debt-free stage. Wow. So I'm assuming, assuming that there's going to be both. And we have 1,100 people that work here and majority, you know,

I'd say majority of them have kids. Yes. So there's about to be a lot of kids in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions. You get to meet Santa. You get a free photo. Saint Nick. How cool is that?

I might get a photo with Santa before I leave today. Just say I met the guy. I know him. Jolly old Saint Nick. I love it. Just say I met the guy. I know him. Jolly old Saint Nick. I love it. I hope he doesn't smell like beef and cheese. That's the goal.

You're not Santa. If you've seen Elf, you know what we're talking about. Otherwise, you're very confused. Sit on a throne of lies. How fun. It's a tradition here. It's a tradition here, Ramsey, and we love it. We love it.

There's going to be a lot of Christmas cheer in our lobby today. All right. Let's go back to the phones. Sam joins us in Houston, Texas. Sam, welcome to the show. How are you doing, buddy? Pretty good, pretty good. How about yourselves? We are doing swimmingly. How can we help today? So I just finally became debt-free. Yay!

I paid off not only my student loans, but my credit cards. That's awesome. Now I'm just trying to figure out what do I do? Like I just keep paying off my debt. And I'm just like, what do I do? Like it's...

How much did you pay off? I paid off 9,000 of student loans and then 9,000 of credit cards. Good for you. Awesome. So great. All right. Well great. Alright, well tactically, what do you do? You move

on to Baby Step 3. Have you been saving for an emergency fund? I already have that taken care of. This paycheck finishes my three to six months of savings. Awesome. Great job, Sam. We're clapping for you. So then we're going to be at Baby Step 4 investing 15% of our

income into retirement. Okay. And beyond that, I'm guessing you don't have kids? No, I don't. I don't have kids. Okay. How old are you? I'm 26. Awesome. And you're single, married? Single for right now. Okay. Well, the good news is you have a lot of life ahead of you, and life costs a lot of money, including engagement rings and weddings and houses. Are you currently a homeowner, or are you renting? Currently, I actually live with my parents, and I also don't have a car, so I'm just trying to figure out, like, what should I do first?

Oh, yeah, there's some goals. Should I pay for a car? I think A1 is getting a vehicle. Have you looked at kind of what kind of car you'd want and how much you can afford? I've been looking at cars. They're just really expensive. I mean, realistically, before this car craziness,

I just wanted a Honda Accord. Yes. That's all I wanted. Sam is my kind of guy. $50,000. A Honda man. How much do you make a year, Sam? I make $60,000 a year.

$60,000? Okay. Well, listen, cars, yeah, I mean, brand new ones are going to cost you. Yeah, but you can go get a used car. Could you get a $15,000 Honda Accord? Yeah, I mean, I just got to look for it because the ones they're charging $15,000 are I've seen 2010s, they have like

180,000 miles. So I'm like, I know Hondas are great, but I don't know how much life out of $200,000 they have. Well, I would do a dollar amount, Sam, and say, hey, here's, you know, whatever you want to save $15,000, $17,000, whatever it is, and then look to see what

cars are in that range because they're still great cars on the civics obviously are wonderful but there's other great uh great cars besides that toyota camrys you know you could go along the list if you just want a reliable car and you can find those sam that aren't going to cost you a time they are not eaters like an autotrader.com and sort and buy your zip code and filter it by price. You can even negotiate with folks on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist, but make sure to do a pre-purchase inspection when it comes to a used car to do your due diligence because you're buying these cars as is, which means as soon as you drive that thing off the lot, if anything goes wrong, there's no going back. Sam, to answer your

question why you called i would be investing 15 of my income into retirement i would be taking any extra cash to save up for this car and then once you have your car then my next goal is to move out of your parents house and whether that's renting somewhere for a little bit um versus saving up a down payment but um i mean i'm saving yeah yeah i would probably bit versus saving up a down payment. Probably rent while saving up. Yeah, I would probably rent while saving up. Maybe for a few years. Because you're 26 and you're making great money. You've done incredible with your money this far.

And like we said to a caller earlier on the show, there's just something, Sam, about living on your own. Again, living with your parents for a time is not terrible. It's not like we're completely against that. But there is a level of dignity for you that there's just something about taking care of yourself that you're in charge of paying the bills you you look at money even a little differently even with that um you know the food situation you look in the refrigerator you're like oh it's up to me to get the eggs i need bread it just it there's just this percentage of that extra dignity and adulthood that you experience, which I think is really

healthy. And who knows even where the motivation can be out of that within your job. And it changes the way maybe even you work and maybe you get a raise. I don't know. There's just, there's a lot of ripple effects out of that. So that would be after you get the car, my next goal would be to move out, rents for a little bit and start saving up for a down payment on a home if that's where you want to go. Yeah, that's huge. And every single person listening right now, if you're going, okay, what's next for me? What are my goals? A great way to filter it is through our seven baby steps where we say, get a thousand dollar emergency fund, get out a consumer debt, get the emergency fund fully funded three to six months, start investing 15%, save for kids college, pay off the house early, build wealth and give. That's kind of the open-ended piece of the puzzle. But

man, that's a journey right there. It is. And so part of it is just making sure you have those goals. And as we head into a new year, it's that time where we all go, oh, there's those resolutions from last year that I never accomplished. But I want to encourage you guys. At some point, someone said, you know what? This is going to be the year that I actually accomplished. But I want to encourage you guys. At some point, someone said, you know what, this is going to be the year that I actually do it. I actually become debt free. I get that emergency fund. And Rachel and I and Dr. John Deloney, we created this goal planner to help folks with that, to walk alongside them with a lot of teaching, not just blank spaces, to help you stay focused on those goals with your money, your faith, your relationships, areas you definitely want to be focused in on. But we want to cheer you guys on this year. I want to see all of our

callers accomplish their goals. Yeah. And we have so many new listeners too, I think through the podcast and through YouTube. And just encourage you guys that if you've not fully dove into this plan, number one, it's proven. We've proved it over 30 years millions of people have gone through this and it's incredible the freedom that they've experienced we want that for everyone but we always say that first step that baby step one sometimes it's the hardest step to take not because it's saving up that thousand dollars but it's it's acknowledging okay i'm going to change the way i've been handling my money and change is scary george oh yeah when you're not used to something there's the unknown it can create a level of anxiety and it's like I don't

know if I want to engage this because I even if what I'm doing I'm not really happy with the end result at least I'm comfortable because I know what I can predict what's going on the devil you know to change it is hard and so I just want to encourage all of you guys that is like you're even cautious about that first step just do it do. Do the plan for six months. We're in December right now. I would say, you know, do it through May, May of 2023. And if'll preach. Yeah, you can't be Dave-ish. You got to fully commit to the Ramsey plan before you start yelling at us that it didn't work. Okay, there you go. Good hour, Rachel. Thank you so much to my awesome co-host, Rachel Cruz, all of you listening, all the folks in the booth, Austin and Will and James and Josh and Andrew and Zach. We're going to be back with you, America. Don't worry. We'll be back soon. But until next time, be sure to spend wisely, save intentionally, and give generously.

Do you love a good day, Brandt? Want to see the latest Ramsey Show videos going viral? Check out your favorite moments from the Ramsey Show on YouTube. Go watch and subscribe to the Ramsey Show channel on YouTube.