The Ramsey Show - App - Don't Cheat Tomorrow for Today's Whims (Hour 1)

Episode Date: February 7, 2024

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this is The Ramsey Show. It's where we help you win, folks, in your life. We do that by helping you win with your money, in your work, and in your relationships. 888-825-5225 is the number to jump in. We'd love to help you today. 888-825-5225. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by my dear friend, the incomparable, the graceful Rachel Cruz, ladies and gentlemen.

I love all the adjectives. There it is. Every time you host, Ken, I appreciate it. I like a good adjective. I also like helping people out. You ready to go? Let's do this. All right.

We're going to take your money questions. Rachel's going to be your money expert today. We'll take any work-related, big or shovel questions. I'll help out on that. And she always weighs in on anything I say, so it's going to be fun, I promise. Let's go to Kisa. That's a very interesting name. Love the names. Kisa from Little Rock, Arkansas. How can we help? Hey, thanks for taking my call. Yeah, so my question is, I work as a traveling nurse right now. In traveling, I make like probably around $120,000 a year if you average it up working full-time, you know, not taking too much time off between contracts. I would like to, I'm single right now, I'd really like to settle down and have a family, have children. You know, that's really where my heart is. I don't have like anyone in my life

right now that I would get married to, have children with. That's what I want to do. I'm also paying off debt right now. I owe like I think a total of less than $38,000 between student loans and a truck payment as well. And I'm set to pay all that off by August because I'm putting like $5,500 a month into that. Yeah, I don't spend too much. I'm pretty reasonable with my finances. But my thought is like, okay, should I,

because I do want to settle down. I do want to have a family. Should I leave travel nursing after and get like a core staff position after I pay off this debt and then start working on, you know, like the 15% into investing and saving for a house and stuff like that? Or should I keep traveling? How intense is the traveling? How much does it affect you? I mean, I like traveling. I enjoy traveling.

I make friends really easily. I guess I just, I don't know, I'm getting to that point in my life, you know, where I don't have all the... You just want some more stability. Yeah, I get that. Yeah, in a sense, yeah. Well, the reason I ask that, Kisa, is because I'm curious how much you would make less,

because you're making $120,000 as a travel nurse. How much less would you make if you played out the scenario you asked us about, and now you take a staff position? What would that pay look like? It depends on where you live. I'm from Arkansas, and so I would think probably if I was to be core staff in a hospital in Arkansas, I'd probably make, I'm guessing, like $60,000. Okay. So I'm curious to know what Rachel thinks, but I'll jump in really fast and say just from a professional and financial standpoint, if the travel nurse is not affecting your ability

to date, you know, and I hear you want to settle down, makes total sense. But I also didn't hear a person who feels like their soul is sucked out of their body because of the travel. You're like, I like the travel. I just want to settle down. I want to have my house. I want to have my backyard. I get all that. But until we got that relationship thing going, me personally, I'd keep doing the travel nurse. And hey, if I'm traveling, that means I get to meet a whole lot of people and hopefully that life partner. And I would be focusing on my relationships and putting myself out there. It's not a dating advice show, but I would keep stacking the cash, Rachel. And then when we find that

significant other, then we settle down because I just think that not only can you knock this debt out really fast, I'd love to see that fully funded emergency fund, Rachel, and then she gets going. What are your thoughts on that? Yeah. How old are you? Can I ask? 29. 29. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I think if you're still enjoying the travel nursing, I mean, I would keep doing what you're enjoying because you're going to, after the debt's paid off, like Ken said, and yes, if you have that emergency fund,

I feel like that frees up even more options for you. So I'd probably let those be my two goals that are driving me to stay in the high-paying job to get through that. And then you're going to look up, you know, and be in your early 30s, and you may say, gosh, I'm just kind of I'm tired of this. Right. I mean, like I'm in my mid 30s and we have friends that, you know, he changed jobs because he was traveling a ton. And he was like, I kind of just want to. Yeah, I don't. I'm just tired of it. Right. So

so I do think there gets to a point in your life that you may not enjoy it as much anymore. And then you're going to have the freedom financially to be able to say, yeah, I'll live on 60 grand and settle down regardless of having somebody in your life or not. I would kind of drive my financial goals to keep me motivated to stay in that high paying job. And then once that's reached, yeah, then you're able to say, gosh, I'm good cutting my income in half because I can. And I'm going to just settle down more and be in one place. So that's probably what I would do. Does that sound around kind of what you're thinking? Or do you want to just like quit tomorrow?

No, no, I wouldn't. You know, I want to like pay off my debts first for sure. So I'm not going to quit right now. Um, but you know, like, I think it sounds, I think it sounds really reasonable, I guess. And I mean, obviously like I, I believe in God, like I believe that like it's kind of divinely appointed, you know, um, partnership and stuff like that. But you know, you know, as a traveler, the traveler like you know you don't necessarily like build like long-term yeah yeah I hear in your voice that you want to pay this debt off and then you want to slow down that's what I hear you you want to you want to pull back from the traveling you

want to establish some roots that's what I hear is that what I'm is that how you felt before you called us yes roots I want my roots yes i i don't have any roots i didn't i don't have a problem with that we're not trying to talk you out of it i guess i think it's great i think i i would push to get through baby step uh three which you just say three i would say three months of expenses and then yeah and then settle down but stay stick with this maybe for another year uh or like you know map out okay when can i you know get this paid off and all of it but have an end date so at least you're looking towards something because of what you're really wanting um yes and i'm not one to give dating advice i haven't dated

in 16 17 years but i haven't had a bit on a date since 27 years cloud though i will never forget we were at a smart conference and dr henry cloud was saying like you um even though yes we believe in a god that orchestrates and knows our story and all of that it is still our free will to get out there you gotta go fishing yeah i gotta put yourself out there and so i remember henry saying that he was like you know he talks to people and they're like well i just go to my small group do women ask men out these days kisa what's your what's i'm i've literally been married 25 years i don't have a clue i don't think so i'm just asking kisa what's your... I've literally been married 25 years. I don't have a clue. I don't think so. I'm just asking. Kisa, what's the play?

Do you ask dudes out or do you just gotta be... How are you gonna get a man? What's the strategy? She's gonna be her. And she's gonna be awesome. Hold on. And some man's gonna be like... Kisa, do you ask guys out? Do women do this? I mean, I don't. I'm kind of more

traditional. Good for you. So am I. That's what I like. People ask me out. Well, I'm going to say this. If you're in Little Rock, Arkansas, I don't know Kisa's last name, but it's pretty unique. And she's got a great

salary, great career. She's going to be debt-free soon. She's smart. Look up Kisa, all the single guys in Little Rock. Give her a call. This could be great. 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 healthcare 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 budgets. All right, America, you can win in your money, you can win in your work, and you can win in your relationships, and The Ramsey Show is committed to helping you do that. So excited that you're with us. We're honored. My name is Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz is my co-host and dear friend joining me in studio today. The phone number is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225.

And if you've been listening or watching just for a small amount of time, it's nerve-wracking to call. We totally get it. We're going to take really good care of you. We're for you. And we'd love for you to jump in today. And let's get some hope based on some practical steps that you can take to move forward. The Ramsey Show question of the day is brought to you by Neighborly, your hub for home services. Winter is the perfect time to freshen up your home's interior with a new coat of paint.

Five-star painting can paint your walls and doors, even those difficult cabinets and trim. Find a locally owned five-star painting near you at Neighborly.com slash Ramsey. And today's question comes from Hillary in Wyoming. We have had a shift in our income and our mortgage is now about half of our take-home pay. We bring home around $5,500 a month and our mortgage is $2,300. We currently are a month behind on the house

and a truck payment, which is $683 a month. We have another car note and a tractor payment. Our $100,000 RV is in the process of being repossessed. Between the mortgage utilities, groceries, insurance, credit cards, and student loans, we are at a deficit of $400 a month. When do you just throw in the towel and sell your home? Gosh, Hillary. well when do you just throw in the towel and sell your home wow um gosh hillary y'all have a lot of stuff happening i would say i mean just to answer your original question the main question when do you sell your home unless you see your income going up double and getting back to where

it was meaning if one of you all has lost your job, but you're in the process of finding one and you think you'll find one here in the next, you know, 30 days, 60 days. But if something has shifted that, you know, okay, getting our income back to where it was is probably not realistic, then I would sell. And, you know, and again, you don't want to be in a rush with something but then also you guys need to be have a level of urgency about you with these other things i mean the truck the other car um the even the rv and the tractor the tractor you know if you can stop this this repossession if you can somehow sell it i mean it's in the of it. So maybe it's too late at this point. But anything you can do to not have things on your record, right? Like having on your credit

reports, because it's going to ding you in life. And we're not about going and taking out debt. But in general, if someone pulls that for a job or anything, they're going to be able to see these elements of your life. And so if you're able to avoid all of this, and especially a foreclosure, and that's what I don't want for you. And so I would make the decision to move again, if you don't see your income doubling anytime soon, and get rid of some of this stuff, Hillary, I'm like, you guys sell you can't you can't afford your truck, you can't afford the tractor, you can't afford the stuff. And so selling it is it's going to be it's going to get you to a more peaceful place

when you don't have all these payments. Yeah, it's tough stuff. Before I'd sell the house, I'm with Rachel. I would try to, we have a deficit of 400 a month right now. And so, you know, if we can get, flip that, just flip that. My goal would be, okay, now we have a margin of 400. And then what do we have to do to make it 800? We have to make it to make 1200 all while trying to get that income back up.

But one of the things we need to mention here is we're in a country right now that has an unbelievable employment market. We have 3.7% unemployment. Here's what that means. There are part-time jobs, gig economy type jobs that are available. And even if you had a major loss of a job, which sucks, and that takes time to fix sometimes, but going out and making $20, $25 an hour brings a lot of relief short term.

That's right. Just something to think about. You're getting one or two of those. Yes, that's right. It may not be the job, but it's a job. You're making an income. The phone number is 888-825-5225 let's go to seattle washington olivia is there how can we help hi um i'm just kind of stuck in a pickle i'm on step two and our monthly income is 4,300 a month and i'm not sure

whether or not i should be selling our truck so we can get rid of the 800 a month, and I'm not sure whether or not I should be selling our truck so we can get rid of the $800 a month payment, or I should cut up my credit cards because my husband is now starting training, and we don't have the money in our savings to pay for this training. But after the training, he would be getting a significant pay increase. Okay, walk us through some of these numbers. Give Rachel the numbers. So talk about maybe, let's talk about income first, what he's at now and what he's projected to be at. Okay, so starting pay right now, or his ending pay in this position is $30 an hour,

and that's the max he can go. The starting pay on this new position is $32 to $34. And what's the training going to cost? And the training so far, it's already cost us $1,500. And I had us on the every dollar budget app. So every dollar was accounted for. Um, and so I had a, like, I was thankful that I didn't cut up my credit card, but this morning I was so distraught that I should have cut up my credit card and just tried to figure it out or something yeah you working and he works he works I am not working I'm a stay-at-home mom but he works um mostly overtime I don't know if you've heard of like the north slope on Alaska so that 32 an hour is like a significant increase compared

to 30 yeah okay and um how old are your? I have one child and she's two. She's two. Okay. And how much debt do you guys have left? We have a total or just a car? A total. 69. Okay.

And what is that in? And what's that in? $17,000 on a credit card, $3,000 on another credit card, $5,000 student loan, and then $41,000 on a car. How much? $41,000? Yeah, which is just outrageous. Oh my gosh.

What's that car worth? $34,000. That's where I'm really struggling. It's just dropping drastically. Yeah, there's so many people underwater on cars right now. But honestly, I mean, Olivia, yeah, that car is, I mean, you guys probably make... drastically yeah there's so many people underwater on cars right now um but honestly i mean olivia yeah that car is is i mean you guys probably make eight hundred dollars a month well and you i mean you make around probably 55 000 a year before taxes and i mean that's 89 yeah before taxes

89 yeah do you have time and i have very much honor stay-at-home moms, do you have any kind of time during the week where you could pick up some part-time work, even if you're doing it from home? I've been looking. I'm just having a hard time coming up with anything. I don't have anyone to watch her, and I don't want to put her in a daycare. And I've been trying to find something, but I haven't been able to find anything. Okay.

Well, keep looking. Be encouraged. You know what your boundaries are there, but any of that will help, and I'm glad you're looking. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, the $41,000 car, I mean, ugh.

Yeah, I just don't know if I should sell it. That's what I thought. Yeah, it's just right on that line, and there's a part of me Olivia that what sucks is you will have to take out a probably a seven thousand dollar loan uh to make up the difference but that feels so much better seeing seven thousand dollars versus forty one thousand and it's a car yeah and you guys I mean you've been in this habit and you said it earlier so I'm going to just repeat back what you said you know well we just kept the credit card around something came up and you know it's going to be good for us so we're you know the training and all of it and I understand how you can like rationally get there but until you guys make

a mindset shift of this is now how we handle money we don't use debt regardless of what it's going to bring to us in the future until you have a strong line like that olivia you guys are going to continue to creep back in to these habits you really are and so there's a part of me for the selling the car it's kind of like shocking the monkey it's like this like oh my gosh it just like it shocks the system of what you guys have been living in and it forces you to say okay we are doing we are literally acting different right now we are selling a car that we that we should never have bought in the first place we're cutting up the credit cards and we're just saying no and you have to have that hard line

because this whole like wishy-washy way with debt it's gonna find its way back in and you guys will look up and the habits haven't really changed and so um having that hard line i think is what i really want for you guys so yeah i would sell the car olivia i would start working um to pay off up and the habits haven't really changed. And so having that hard line, I think is what I really want for you guys. So yeah, I would sell the car, Olivia, I would start working to pay off that credit card, next the student loan, then the $7,000 loan that you'll take out for the remaining of the car. And then you guys go and attack this big credit card debt of $17,000 and get rid of them. I mean, I just, I, again, when we have the ability to go back in, it's the easiest way in the moment.

It's okay, we'll just swipe it. We'll just go back in. That's what people find. And when you don't have that option anymore, it forces you to look at other options, which there are other options out there. It may take more patience, but there's other options. Thanks for the call, Olivia.

You got this. Focus. This is the call, Olivia. You got this. Focus. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz joins me. The phone number is 888-825- 5225-888- 825-5225. Taking your questions, let's go to

Zella, who is on the line in Indianapolis, Indiana. Zella, how can we help? Hi. Hi there, Ken. So my question is, my husband and I do not live in the same country. He's in Canada. I'm here in the U.S., and we're on board with combining finances with married couples and taking down debts first, not using credit card and all that. But we each have our own debts that we bring when we got

married. We're on baby step two, which is paying off the debt in the snowball method. My question is, do we tackle our debt in combination? Like, do we list it from small to big, like his debt and my debt and Canadian dollars and U.S. dollars combined? Like, do I send him money, money transfer, and does he send me money transfer to pay that, or do we tackle our debt separately? Okay. Because we're not combining our checking account yet

because we haven't found a bank that would accept both currencies yet. All right. A couple of questions before we dive into that part. How long have you been married? Six months now. And the plan was to live separately the entire time? No, we are currently working on getting him here to the U.S. We actually have our application now, and it's in process in the immigration USCIS. It just takes a while, about a year or two. Even though you're married? Even though he married an American woman, it's still taking about a year? I'm not an American citizen yet.

I'm just a green card holder over here. Okay, all right. That's why I was— Okay, gotcha. Wow, Rachel. I don't like that they have not combined accounts, although you're saying this is a legal thing? Well, there's a logistical thing, I think,

when you're working for two separate countries. I mean, yeah, you guys may not find a great solution to actually share a physical checking account together until he comes here. What does he make, and what do you make financially? For him, I converted the fee with dollars for his salary is 60K. He has dollars. Mine is 80K. And he has about also 64K of total loans, debts, and I have about 19K of debts. Okay.

How long, I'm just curious, how long were you guys, how long did y'all date for? We only officially dated for two months before we got married, but we've known each other since we were kindergarten. Oh, okay. Okay. So you guys have had history. So you knew going into this that you would be in this situation from a long distance standpoint. You've known each other since kindergarten. So are you Canadian? No, we're both Filipinos. We just migrated to different countries at some point in our life. And we met here in the U.S. What country were you in when you met as kindergartners?

The Philippines. We both grew up there, and then our families migrated to different countries. So he goes to Canada and you go to America? The U.S., yes. Yeah, okay. Are you sending, the way you asked this question, I'm just curious, are you sending money to him? Well, right now we are currently in doubt on whether to pay his loan first or to pay mine first. So I was sending him money.

How much? To pay off the smallest. Well, I just sent him a hundred this month. It's not constant, like just to pay off the smallest debt that he has yeah but but but how much money have you sent him ballpark since you've been married uh not much like five just two hundred dollars maybe okay he he yeah it's two hundred dollars in total i guess okay and this is such an ignorant question i probably probably should know this, but like your marriage license, like when you guys got married, is it, um, like our marriage license is here in the U.S.

It is. Okay. Okay. So once he comes here, okay. Try to put all the pieces together. Yeah. Was he on a visa and to,

to be able to come over here and get married, the travel visa? No, Canadian. He's a Canadian citizen now. So Canadian citizens can come over to the U.S. for six months at a time. So he just did that. We see each other one week a month because that's just how the border allows him to come.

Okay. Just one week at a time. Well, this is complex, Rachel. This is a little complex. Well, I mean, there's a reality a reality that yeah if you're in two separate countries with two separate currencies yeah you may not be able to share a physical checking account i mean that's obviously the goal once you guys get into a place that you're actually living in the same country that's what we're going to work towards but since you are married

you know seeing this as a holistic picture though yeah, for you guys combined to look at your income as one, I would take all of your debts and I would combine them and say, OK, let's list out the smallest debt to the largest. And, you know, when you get married, it is you are you are one in every aspect of this. And so I would be paying off the smallest debt first, regardless of if it's his debt or your debt. And my hesitation when I'm saying all this is, yeah, for all of you listening, though, you don't do this unless you are legally married. You do not do this if you are engaged, if you are dating. But for a married couple, this is what you do. And so combining, but yeah, I mean, in a perfect world, you guys would be able to see each other's accounts and you're very much on the same page with your budget

and what he's going to be spending, what you're going to be spending. It's just a really kind of weird situation. Being in two, living in two separate countries for what could be two years and you're married. I'm like, man, that's terrible. Zella, I'm sorry to keep asking. You said that you guys are on board. You said that we're committed to this.

Yes, 100%, both of us. So you're seeing progress. You're seeing his budget based on his $60,000. And so you're sending him the money for what? What was the reason for sending him money again? Just to help pay down the lowest, the smallest debt? So just to help pay down his smallest debt, and when it's time for my smallest debt, he also sends me money.

So you got evidence. So I don't know if that's the wisest. Great. So you guys are on the same page, and we are attacking this thing as though we have the same account and we're in the same country. It's just separate. So if you're doing that, then that's fine. But he's got to be fully on board 100 on board 100 yeah wow

very interesting that's great yeah well keep going listen now good luck max communication like this is hard yeah wow that's hard i mean dating long distance is one thing being married long distance well you think about how many couples struggle with finances when they live in the same house. Yeah. So I think, yeah, just a lot of communication between you guys. And the reason we would say you don't combine accounts, because there are reasons. There's asterisks to this, right? If you are in a dangerous situation, if there's asterisks to this right if you are in a dangerous situation if there's abuse if there's an addiction that's not being addressed if um you know if there's there's reasons to protect yourself um then that's what you need to do right i mean we've even said

on the show there's some spouses that will not uh be on board at all on any level of the same and they go out and rack up all this debt on their own. And there gets to a point that like you even have to, you know, there's a level to protect yourself. So like always remember that. And so that's why I even said, if you're not married, you don't send people money because this is just an, I mean,

they dated for two months, live separate countries. And yeah, you just want to make sure that it is you know everything is okay yeah I mean I don't want to play armchair quarterback but Zella if I could have talked to you six months ago you know I think I would have said look you're in America on a green card he's a Canadian citizen let's think about where we're living a little bit further let's let's let's play this out here and let's do what's best for our marriage yeah it just causes some stress yeah just a lot of separation here and and again this is fascinating to me uh this is otherwise a a very nice couple these are good people and a year and a half for him to be able to get what paperwork he needs in light of the fact that we have people crossing

our borders just freely i just don't understand how the government can't figure out how to help people who are trying to oh i know do it the right way like what paperwork does this dude have to fill out to be with his wife it's the government it irritates me i'm not an anti-government uh rant right now i just kind of go i hate that you know yeah totally totally they've done everything the right way. Can we fast forward this, please? I hear you. I know.

I'm not a bureaucrat in D.C. or in Canada. Somebody listening. Help Zella. Zella's husband out. Listen, Zella, in all seriousness, make sure you guys are really dialed in to an online group. Get in a class. You guys need that extra accountability just given the complexities of your relationship. Don't move. More of The Ramsey Show America.

Thrilled to have you with us. We're here to help you win in your life, specifically with your money, in your work, and in your relationships. All three of those areas are really connected. And if you're losing in one of them, you might be losing in all three. We want to help you win. I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz joins me this hour.

The phone number to jump in is 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. All right, so those of you interested in real estate, thinking about what your real estate strategy is going to be, Dave Ramsey's got a brand-new quick readout called the – what is it? Oh, Real Estate the Ramsey Way way this is fresh off the press like i haven't even seen this and uh look at dave million dollar smile you know happy to talk about real he's so happy to talk about real estate we call these quick reads these are very very accessible

and uh this is taking dave's decades of experience real estate, putting it all in one short read to help you with buying, selling, and investing. It's only 70 pages. Home ownership is still possible. You can turn that home into your biggest asset. It can be done, but you've got to do it the right way. So you can get your copy now at RamseySolutions.com slash store. That's RamseySolutions.com slash store. All's ramsaysolutions.com slash store. All right, Kylie's up next in Dallas, Texas.

Kylie, how can we help? Hi, thank you so much for taking my call. Sure. I was calling in because my husband and I are at a pretty good stage in our life where we have bought our second property and we are looking to build. There were some circumstances that happened to cause us to move a little bit faster on the build than we would have liked. So our first home is completely paid off. We just have a mortgage on the second property that we bought.

And the mortgage on that is about $310,000. And we're looking to build a house that's about $300,000 on that property. We have a couple different options, and one of those options was to take out a HELOC to cover about $200,000 on our first property to cover the cost of the build because we have about $115,000 saved up to put towards it. So I was just looking for some direction. We're really not sure kind of which way to turn. What's the end goal?

What's the end goal? What are you trying to pull off here? So this is essentially kind of my dream property, the second house that we bought. We're needing to build because right now my father, he is 100% disabled, and it was unexpected. So we're needing to have care for him. We don't want to put him in a home. We want to keep him with us, so that's the reason for doing the build now because he does not fit in our current home.

It is too small, and it is not. We've made adjustments as needed. Yeah, it's very honorable of you guys. Yeah, for sure. So the second property, is there a house on it now? There's a mobile home on it, which presents some struggles to get a construction loan. A lot of people don't like that. And the HELOC, they're willing to just give us without any of the red tape. Okay. And why are you keeping the first home then? Yeah. We're currently living there

in the first home and we intend to live there through the build. And then once that build is complete, we could either sell it or keep it as a rental. I prefer to keep it. It's in a great location. And it could rent and give us some really great money. How much could you get for it if you guys sold it today? Probably in the range of like $300,000. Oh, just enough for what you need for the new house.

Okay, Kylie. Here's what I would do. I would not go take out a heloc i would not continue to go into debt when you have an asset like a house now if you guys had everything paid off and you were going to be you know you had money saved to be able to cash flow the build of the new house and you wanted to keep this as a rental that would be okay but you're sitting here and you're trying to kind of piece mill all this together where you could make it pretty simple. It's not going to be the plan you want, but I would sell. I would go rent for a while. I have to, while we build, so it may be a 12, 18 month rental situation, making sure that it's enough room for your dad and everything,

so you guys will have those parameters. Cash flow the house as you build and then you know the the three the three hundred and ten thousand that's for the land yeah then you kind of take that as the mortgage and say okay that's then what we're going to continue to pay off and so um i would not go get out a second you know i would not go get a heloc or you know go around that way but um that i mean that's personally what i would do because i would not continue to go deeper in debt if I don't have to. And you're in a situation that, yeah, you have a great asset of a home. And I mean, I would use it to further the cash flow that you guys will be able to pay this property down quick. And then you have free, you're completely debt free. You have no mortgage or anything, right? After that property is paid off.

And that's what we want for you. We want you to get to that point fast. And this is the fastest, best way to do that. And real estate is so hard because I feel like too, the idea of having a rental, passive income, this whole dream.

Oh, it sounds so exciting. And it's great. We love investing in real estate, right? The real estate quick guy. We are not anti-real estate people. We are pro-real estate people, but doing it in the right time in the right stage of your life and and for you guys and here's the other thing because uh i uh kylie we built a home in 2018 moved in in 2019 and i'm telling you when you have cash that you are working with you stay in budget

suddenly it's true the upgrade of the tile oh this this and this do we have the money for it i mean it really gives you this hard and fast rule because it can be so easy to say okay we'll just get a little bit more and the bank will be willing to you know we'll we'll we'll get maybe forty thousand dollars more to do some you know you continue to uptick but this really it's an accountability thing when you're working with it. And what a gift to be able to do that. I mean, that's really how I would look at this. And Kyle, I just add very quickly, you said that this second property that you need for your father, I'm glad you can do it. And Rachel's 100% right. You need to sell the current home and do what she does. Here's why. You would still owe on that house. And now all of a sudden, this dream property, the whole thing could become a nightmare if you get somebody in

renting your house. And believe me, when something goes wrong with the roof or the toilets or whatever, they're calling you. And all of a sudden, I'm a landlord. And you have $600,000. And you're $600,000 in debt. And so this is a no-brainer. Sell, rent. Rachel's 100% right. Focus on this dream. This dream property that also is going to be a blessing for your dad in his time of need. Don't muck this up.

It just doesn't need to get that complicated. Because here's the other thing, Rachel, that kills me. And people go, oh, you know, he can rent it. And I always love to do the exercise of, okay, what's the mortgage on the rental property that they tell me? And what are you going to clear each month? And you know, it could be $300, $400. Oh, so we're going to take on all this risk and all this pain in the butt to be a landlord for what amounts to $4,800 a year. Right, right, right, right. And that's assuming you have no expenses. Yes, that's right. That's right. So this idea that's right so this idea that i'm gonna get paid off her specific situation i think so oh i didn't realize

that well everything else i said is true yes yes but i would use the money the point is we don't want her to go into debt on the new that's right exactly exactly and why be a landlord carry debt be a landlord is the point don't do that that's right 100 it's crazy uh people get sucked into that and it's just there's so much that can go wrong so hard yep that's nuts all right. A hundred percent. It's crazy. People get sucked into that and it's just, there's so much that can go wrong. So hard. Yep. That's nuts. All right, let's go to Chandler in Salt Lake City. Chandler, we only got about a minute and a half, two minutes. What's your question? Okay. So getting right to the point, I'm a PhD student and I'm studying the skills to be a high-level quantitative researcher, which includes statistics, research methods, programming, this kind of thing, right? My particular subfield is political science and criminal justice. I also work a full-time job in

an unrelated field. While it's really hard and I have to maximize my time, I'm more than capable of following through with this. My question is, would it be a better time investment to drop a full-time job and put that towards my quantitative skill set? In the short term, that would put me in a much less fulfilling and more difficult financial position, but I can see how it would pay off in the long run. When you say more difficult, are we talking barely scraping by or just a little uncomfortable? Yeah, it would be like barely scraping by on the student stipend. Do you have debt? No. You have no debt. Do you have cash? You got an emergency

fund? Yep, full six months. What's the timeline? You're the quantitative guy. Give it to me fast. If you do this move that we're talking about, how long am I in this uncomfortable, barely making it by before it pays off and I'm making more dough? The payoff would be about four to five years. I wouldn't do it. Not for that long. It's too risky, man. One major life thing happens and you're whacked.

And it's just, what do I do? And I'm trying to recover. I'd stay in the day job, finish the PhD. That's hard, too, but it has way less risk. And so let's step our way into this new future. Stay in the day job, finish the PhD. That's hard too, but it has way less risk. And so let's step our way into this new future. Stay in the day job. Do not take that risk. It's not worth it. You're trying to exchange time for a ton of risk and oof, I wouldn't do that. Good hour, Rachel Cruz. Thanks to Austin, our fearless leader and the guys in the booth. This is the Ramsey show. We'll see you next time.