The Ramsey Show - App - Don't Talk AT Your Wife...Talk WITH Her! (Hour 1)

Episode Date: February 26, 2021

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is The Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. I'm Chris Hogan, and hosting along with me this hour is Ramsey personality, Mr. Anthony O'Neill, and we are excited to be with you. We need to light up these phone lines. I know you're out there. I know you've got some money questions. I know you've got some things on your mind that you'd like to talk about, and we're here for you.

So, A.O., are you ready? Man, I'm ready, man. You properly caffeinated? Yes, sir. Well, you know, caffeinated for me is just waking up. You know, I'm just a young, energetic guy. Okay, you're not that young. All right, we're excited to take your call get on the

phone and pick it up people call us 888-825-5225 again that's 888-825-5225 kelly standing by she's ready to jump on the phone to take your call also find us on social media we'd love to be able to hear from you all right let's get on the line we've got uh looks like we've got william on the line william how are you i'm doing chris how are you i'm focused and not finished my friend how can we help you today yeah so i've been uh doing dave's plan well started dave's plan uh the beginning of last year during the pandemic i found him online and i'm having trouble getting my wife on track with starting the baby steps and being gazelle intense like you guys say and i just wanted to see uh what you guys would think would be the best way to get her you

know motivated to be debt free well what's her issue what's the problem well i don't know i think uh she's not she she she knows about dave uh dave's plan but maybe she's just not feeling like it's doable to pay off the debt that we have okay well hold on william let's back up a second so to talk to us like we're your wife what did you come home and say a.o we're your wife come tell us what you said how did you go home and introduce this to your wife well she knew who dave was because her mother's not gonna ask you tell me what you tell her i told her that i wanted to do the plan. I read the total money makeover

and I wanted to start the baby steps. Why did you want to start the baby steps? Because we make too much money to be broke. That's what I told her. That was my exact words. We're really blessed with the incomes that we're able to bring in and we should

be good stewards of our money. All right. William, how many kids? Do you all have kids? Yeah, we got two. Two and one-seventh. How much money do you all make a year, William? Last year, 2020, we made $140,000.

Okay. Oh, okay. All right. Now, let's get to the nitty-gritty. Then we'll come back to this wife situation. What kind of debt do you have? Well, we have HERS student loans, which are $58,000. I have a 401k loan that's $7,800.

What kind of loan did you say that was? 401k. A 401k loan. I took it out to buy a car after a lease. Okay. That's all right. What else you got? Then we have our mortgage that is $170,000. Okay.

All right. Ayo, what are you going to tell them? I don't know if you want to come to me first, everybody. Come on. I'm a little different, man. I'm ready for it. No. Because I don't even know if my answer is the right answer because I've never been married.

But I'm in a safe place. I i said this in a respectful way i think no i'm not gonna play with you like that here's the thing man i think one of the reasons why ladies um or why and i'm not married so i'm trying to be careful what i say hogan right i understand um see i'm a little different i would say this is what we're going to do and here's why we're going to do this i think sometimes man we have to step up and lead with love lead with compassion um but i don't i think you say babe we're going to do this because i want us to be financially well i want to start building legacy i want to start building wealth and he just trusts me on this that's how i would have started the conversation not just by saying it but also by saying, followed by the explanation and just taking the lead.

Yeah, William, I think it's one of these things where it's not talking at her. It's talking with her. See, that's a problem. And what I would do is sit down and really talk about because I'm going to tell you right now, I know the number one thing that you all are united in. I know the number one motivator for both of you or common ground that you all can lock horns and get serious about this, and it's those two kids. You see, you talking to her about the legacy and the mindset and the things you want your kids to have because I don't know a parent or a grandparent on this planet that don't want their kids or grandkids to have better than what they had. And the only way, William, for your kids to have better is if you all do better. So I would sit down and talk with her.

You're talking at her right now, and that's a good start. But if you want to get on the same page, ask her about her dreams. Ask her about her hopes and desires and what she wants to accomplish. How does she envision the future for the kids? How does she envision the future for you all? And uniting in that dream will get you all talking and communicating. And then you can start to say, you know, honey, I've seen this plan. Or I've seen this bald man, Dave Ramsey.

There's another bald man, but he's nicer. That's me. That's me. But they've got a plan that's helped millions of people. And I want us to start helping ourselves. Now, let me ask you this, Hogan. Am I wrong? And it's maybe why I'm still single.

I would have told my wife what we're doing. Okay. Well, no. I mean, I'm just saying. We got to get our money right. We got to get our money right. This is what we going to do. Yeah, this is what I think we should do.

No, this is what we going to do. This is what I think we should do. Oh, Lord. Yeah, see, okay. Boy, we got to help this young man over here. He knows better than he's just harassing. He's messing up. But but I'm going to tell you this, for real.

When we start talking about the things we have in common. Yes, I and the dreams that we have in common. Now you can start to move in a direction. It's all about unity. It is about unity, man. And so if you're out there and your spouse isn't on board, what you have to do is begin to talk and find out why. I don't know why we're hesitant to ask questions. Why aren't you willing to try?

Or what is it that you're scared of? Most people in getting serious about money, whenever you start talking about working a plan, people automatically start to think of what they can't do. I agree. They see it as handcuffs. Yes. And it's really not. It's really a matter of a budget gives you permission to spend. Now you're going to spend without guilt or without having drama and so now you start to get united

so sit down with her and have a conversation yeah and i think too when you're having a conversation hogan ask yourselves each other why you know i always say if your why doesn't make you cry then the price of commitment will make you cry and figure out what is that deep why you said your the two kids can be their common ground well get down to the why like why do you want what you want for your kids and when you start getting emotional on the inside man those two coming together will go after it even harder and even better she'll actually start taking the lead more than him he'll be like yes this is the wife that i've been wanting yes that. That's right. So, I mean, I totally agree.

Joking earlier, just for radio, but honestly, I think if the both of them can come together and identify. Don't try to backtrack now. I'm being real. Nope. Nope. You were being bossy. My future wife may be listening right now.

I don't want her to think that. She's listening and she's going to call me at the break. But here's the thing. William, you guys make $140,000. You've got $58,000 in student loan, $7,800 in a 401k, and $170,000 in your mortgage. If you all will lock arms and get serious. And she's probably also feeling a little regret about this student loan debt. She's feeling a little regret having such a large amount of debt standing in the way.

But I love your pronouns, brother. I love it. You said we have. She has this, but we are this. And that kind of mindset, you guys can knock this out if you get serious. Yeah. If you lock arms and get intentional. This is an 18 to 24 month thing, and I'm talking about all the student loan debt gone.

So get connected with her. Sit down, hold her hand. Talk with her, not at her. And watch what happens when you all get united. Y'all gonna start moving some stuff, brother. You can do this. And we're here to help. This is The Ramsey Show. Listen, this is important.

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to make the harassment stop. Learn more and get the help you need at collectionbully.com welcome back everyone this is the ramsey show i'm chris hogan and hosting along with me this hour is anthony o'neill and we're taking your calls about your life and your money. We got some folks in the lobby. Just want to remind you that if you're ever in the area, come by the office and you can check it out. Miss Melissa over there will have coffee and cookies and stuff for you. But we got folks in from Colorado.

There's a little gang here hanging out. Idaho. California's in the house. I mean, this is amazing. So come on gang here hanging out. Idaho. California's in the house. I mean, this is amazing. So, come on. Check us out. We'd love for you to see the new building. Love for an opportunity to be able to meet you up on the Ramsey Show stage.

All right. We're going back to the phones. Remember, if you're out there and you've got a question, pick that phone up and call us. The number to call is 888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225. We would love to be able to talk to you and find out what's on your mind. All right, we're going back to the lines, phone lines. We've got Mercedes calling us. Mercedes, how are you?

I'm good, thanks. How are you, Chris? Ah, focused and not finished. How can we help you today? Hi, Anthony, as well. Just a question to clarify about baby step number four. I know it's 15% of gross income. My husband and I have a household income where our marginal tax rate is 53.5%. Does that still apply 15% gross or would you do something different in that case?

Okay. Well, no, the 15% is still going to stay the same. What's you all's household income? Net after tax? Sure. About $700,000. Okay, all right. And let me ask you, do you all have any debt right now? No.

Okay, so your home is paid for and everything uh the home is not paid for we do have a mortgage okay but that'd be debt so what how much do you own the home yes um 1.5 okay all right so uh what what line of work are you all in um my husband is an investment advisor okay all right All right. And so looking at this, yeah, the income side, welcome to Texas. But you guys are in Canada, I'm correct, right? Yes. Okay. So even in looking at that, yeah, you're going to get in that habit of the 15% of their household income from an investing standpoint.

Your husband being an investment advisor, he knows there are options and things that you guys can do, obviously pre-tax but post-tax. You guys have a little bit different investment system up there with RRSPs, but you still have the opportunity to be able to save and invest. But also, you guys would look at opportunities to really throw, I mean get hyper-vigilant and gazelle-intense at chopping down that mortgage. Yes, and that's what we've been doing.

Like, we're paying it. Unfortunately, I found you guys after we bought the place, so we're not on a 15, but we're paying it as though it is a 15. Okay. Well, and Mercedes, you know how often people continue to do that? Consistently? Rarely. Yeah. Okay? No, rarely. Yeah.

No, I'm serious. Everybody's got intentions, but I thought I heard something over there. You guys got kids? I just want you. Yeah. How old is the baby? Almost a year and a half. Okay.

See, I knew I heard that sound. I got that paternal instinct. But you guys be in focus. I would tell you, I'd advise you, I'd go refinance to a 15-year fix. You guys have the income. You can do it. You're going to see it. And it's going to be $500, $600, $700 more. But just getting in that habit, refinancing

down to a 15 is going to lock you into that. So now it's not a matter of if you feel like it or not. You guys are going to have to avoid what's called income stupid. Meaning because you do have a higher level of income, you can tend to do stupid on a larger scale. Can I get an amen, Ayo?

Amen, brother. And so you've got to be careful with that. So you guys locking in on a 15, being intentional, and also, Ayo, with that little one, they can start saving for college. Absolutely, man. I would definitely start looking to a 529 if they're already not doing it because it sounds like they're doing the right things. They're asking the right questions. So I would definitely open up a 529 and start stacking already not doing it? Because it sounds like they're doing the right things. You know, they're asking the right questions.

So I would definitely open up a 529 and start stacking away some money for college. Yeah, they're in Canada, so you'd have to look and see what's the equivalent up there of you all being able to put money away. But then at the same time, being intentional, and I mean attacking this mortgage. At your income level, this house can be paid off in two to three years tops without you all sacrificing lifestyle Mercedes. So sit down and talk to your husband. He'll either see that picture or he may be too wise to see it right now because a lot of people, A.O., try to convince themselves because there are people out there that don't know how to count that having a mortgage is a good thing

so you can write off the interest. You've got to be kidding me. You know, people, when I hear nerds say that, I want to grab them by their pocket protector and just shake them. But I can't do that because that's assault. But I want people to understand, you know, you pay it off. You remove the risk of the mortgage in your life. You're getting rid of risk. You're freeing it up.

And now you can donate money to charities or causes you believe in and use that as the tax write-off. Man, you're teaching good today. You okay, Hogan? I'm fired up today. What's in this drink? Leave it alone. There's caffeine in there, baby.

I'm rolling. All right, people, listen to me. If you're out there and you've got a question, pick that phone up. Pick it up. Pick it up. Call us, 888-825-5225. Again, that's 888-825-5225. Or find us on social media.

You can find Anthony at Anthony O'Neill. You can find me at ChrisHogan 360 or the Ramsey Show as well. So you've got ways you can reach out, and we'd love to hear from you. All right, let's talk to somebody else. We're going to keep it rolling. John from Tennessee, how are you, brother? Somewhat focused but not finished. All right.

I'll take that. What's on your mind? I need a little focus help. All right. what's on your mind i need a little uh focus help all right um so i landed a new job last year and uh moved from washington state to god-loving country of tennessee okay and um the company threw in a lot of benefits for this move where they helped sell the house in washington helped me buy the house here okay uh with my income level as well and all these benefits, my combined income ended up putting us

at about a quarter of a mil for the year. Surprise, surprise. We were contributing to a Roth the whole time. Okay. So my investment professional said we had to pull those funds out of the Roth and send it back to you because we can't make those contributions because I made too much money apparently last year to of the Roth and send it back to you because we can't make those contributions

because I made too much money apparently last year to do the Roth. Now the question is, since they pulled all those funds and sent them back to me, where do we put it? Well, here's the thing. You could have done, all they had to do was utilize it and do what's called a backdoor Roth. Yeah. could have done all they had to do was utilize it and and do what's called a backdoor roth yeah where you open up the traditional yeah go ahead and pay the taxes on it converting it back over

so i already have a uh ira that's open i already have a a traditional one right absolutely so but you have the way he explained it to me was um would have to figure out exactly the percentages and everything else to be able to roll it out of the traditional to put it into the backdoor Roth. And it got to the point where we're really confused on how do we do that if I already have an existing IRA. Okay, so it's two separate things, my friend. You need to reach out with a smart investor pro. Go over to DaveRamsey.com, and we're going to get you connected with a smart investor pro. Your traditional IRA that you already had open, that's fine.

That one is there. What I'm saying is the money you were putting in for the Roth that they're now saying income level you can't do, you can do a backdoor Roth, which means you're opening up another traditional IRA and going ahead and paying the taxes on it, which converts it to a Roth. So you guys, you still have options, buddy. We've got to get you with someone that can walk you through this and show you the process. Higher income earners, if you're making over $150,000 or over

$200,000 if you're married, you still have opportunities to use investment tools. And it's so important to get with the right people, John. So thank you for calling in. Go over to DaveRamsey.com. We're going to get you connected with one of our SmartVestor pros that'll be able to walk you and guide you through this. The crazy thing is, is as your income increases, so does the government's hand in your wallet. Uh, it's called taxes. I'm still searching for FICA to this day. I don't, I don't like them. I don't like them, but, but we got to deal with it and we got to be on the ball and make sure things are ready. And speaking of this, it's time for taxes, my friends. We got to get these things situated.

And I know you've got a lot of irons in the fire. You've got a lot of life happening. But what you don't want to do is put this off. So if your taxes aren't complicated, you can file online. We've got a thing called Ramsey Smart Tax. So do me a favor. Text the word tax to 33789. Again, text the word tax to 33789.

And you can get started on your taxes today. Let's go on and get that out of your way so you can sleep easy and let your hair down. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey guys, Rachel Cruz here. Ever feel like you'll never save money or pay off all your debt? We know 2020 didn't help, but it's a new year and you can hit reset with your money. It's time to focus and get debt out of your life

so you can have more money to save and spend worry-free. We're here to help. Ramsey Plus is our step-by-step plan that gets you quick wins so you can make faster progress on your debt. And that debt is gone for good. You get more money back in your pockets. The best part is you can try Ramsey Plus for free. And once you become a member, you'll get a free federal e-file with Ramsey Smart Tax and the audio book of my brand new bestseller, Know Yourself, Know Your Money.

You'll have everything you need to finally get your money under control. To become a member of Ramsey Plus, go to daveramsey.com slash Ramsey Plus. That's daveramsey.com slash Ramsey Plus. Or call our Ramsey concierge team Hogan and hosting along with me this hour is Anthony O'Neill and AO is out there all over the place on social media if you've not found him on YouTube you need to check him out at at Anthony O'Neill.

He's on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, all the things. But he's got a show and it's called The Table with Anthony O'Neill and it's now available as a podcast. So you can subscribe to wherever you listen to podcasts.

But with every new episode, and again, on Mondays, he's going to talk about how to set a clear vision for your future so you can start winning in your life, your money, and your relationships. And he's going to give you everything you need to know to be successful in what it takes for you to make your dreams a reality. Now, A.O., I love those two things. Love what you're doing with the show there. It's point number three where we got to have a discussion. What's the problem? This is the third thing that Ayo's doing on the show, how you can go from looking fake rich to becoming real wealthy.

Oh, yeah. What's the problem? Are you going over into the wealth lane? Yeah. Okay. Well, that lane is taken, Ayo. That lane is busy already, my friend. Well, brother, you know what I'm saying? I mean,'s busy already my friend well brother you know i'm saying let me do your thing brother because you know that's what i thought we were on the same

page hey man listen man just what i thought we were a team it's all good we are a team that's fine you talking to older people i'm talking to younger people no seriously it is one of those where you know if you've not seen ao uh on. on video or on stage, you need to. It's high energy, very focused, very effective in its communication. Excited for the show. You need to check it out. It is The Table with Anthony O'Neill. Again, you can find that on YouTube and look it up, but check it out.

And also, if you're out there and you've got cousins, nieces or nephews that are millennials and you're going, boy, I wish I would have known this stuff earlier. You've got a great opportunity as an uncle, an aunt or a parent to send the young people toward this young man to give the opportunity to connect. And we've got a great opportunity to impact the youth of this country. We just have to we have to do something. We do, man. And I think sometimes and the reason why I'm going this path, Hogan, is because I remember when I was young. I remember when I was in my young 20s. I didn't have someone in their 30s, 10 years older than me, who was just having a real relevant and a relatable conversation that made me want to be debt-free.

That made me want to look at life differently because everyone who was older than me made being debt-free look kind of boring you know look look kind of old and so i said you know what being debt free could be sexy it could be cool it could be popular but you got to have a cool young person in space and so that's why i said hey this i believe god has called me here to to really have that real relatable and relevant conversation and i keep it 100 about my struggles even today sometimes i'm like yo i i don't want to wait but then i then I have to talk myself into waiting and go back to my deep why. So the conversation is not for everyone, but it's definitely for young people. I would definitely say in between 18 and about 39 years old who really want to start taking control of their finances. But you've been on my show.

And once they get through with me, I'm always pushing them to you. I'm pushing them to Rachel. I'm pushing them to Ken to get a get a career we are a team i'm just trying to bring in that younger no i know it man uh and it's it's helpful and you know we can start having these conversations with young people and start to plant those seeds yeah you never know what you can help them to avoid absolutely uh watch this all y'all in the lobby raise your hand if you've done something stupid with money okay see we got real people out there people yeah you didn't raise your hand if you've done something stupid with money. Okay, see, we've got real people out there. You didn't put your hand up, A.O. You need to put hands and feet. Okay, that's true.

Don't get technical with me. Don't get technical with me on this radio show, A.O. But listen, people, we are a team here at Ramsey Solutions. We are very focused on helping people in all phases of their lives have hope. And it's really important. If you've not engaged with RamseySolutions.com, get over to the website.

Take a look at all the things that are going on. Real quick before I get back to the phone lines, I also need to let you know we are hiring. Yes. Okay? We are hiring. We are always looking for top-notch, quality individuals. I'm looking at one of the gentlemen out there.

We were talking at the break. I told him, I said, you better come on. You're going to apply. So if you're out there and you go, boy, I'd love to work at a place where I'm looking at one of the gentlemen out there. We were talking at the break. I told him, I said, you better come on. You're going to apply. So if you're out there and you go, boy, I'd love to work at a place where I'm valued, where they want my opinion, they want my input, and they're going to let me work. They're going to let me do my job. You've got a great opportunity by going over to RamseySolutions.com to do work that matters. And that's one of the mantras we have here.

And it's one of the things we say. And if you've ever wished that you could wake up on Sunday happy about going to work on Monday, this is a place you need to check out. You can do it. You can find all the information. And especially if you are in the digital space. Again, we're on the hunt for many software engineers right now with expertise. And I'm about to tell you a whole lot of things that I've heard of and have no idea about.

So bear with me. If you've got expertise in Ruby on Rails, Java, oh, I've heard of that one, C Sharp, and front-end technologies, we want you. Or if you're a UX designer, SEO, or content marketing specialist, we'd love to talk to you as well. Go over to RamseySolutions.com. You can see all of the openings. We are having people relocate, coming in and loving it.

But you have a lot of areas that you can see. They've got it up right now. If you're watching on YouTube, you can see there are probably about 12 areas that we're looking. We have active open positions in. So definitely check that out and make this the year that you start to move in the direction of your dream career or your dream job. And it may not be here.

Maybe you're wanting to find that somewhere else. And I'd also want to encourage you to listen to my friend, Ken Coleman, one of our colleagues here who's helping people find that dream job. And let's start. Life is too short. Ken is helping you find your career. You can go to KenColeman.com and learn more about his show. Life is

too precious to waste. Let's move forward in the right way. Let's do it. Let's get on the phone lines. We've got Danielle on the line. Danielle, what's your question for Anthony? Hey, Anthony. This is Danielle. I'm 29 years old. My husband is at 30. My husband's 29. I

apologize for that. We just completed baby step number two. Okay, or sorry, I'm 30, my husband's 29. I apologize for that. We just completed baby step number two. Okay, congrats. I'm just trying to figure out, I'm the spender and I'm always like wanting to find the next best thing, which is kind of bad, but I've gotten a little bit better with it. That's good. And I used my why as a reason to help pay off my debt. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It was mostly just like student loans and whatnot. Love it. How do you get the reason to help pay off my debt yeah yeah it was mostly just like student loans and whatnot love it how do you get the motivation to keep going like we've paid off our debt we're getting ready to go baby's number number three and i'm just like i'm seeing what we want and i want to just go for it yeah and i'm trying to keep myself to slow down now i'm with you on that daniel i'm the spender too you know i i really am um and I really am. I want to relate with you on that part. Hogan, you're not on this call, so don't worry about this. I want you to know, one-on-one, I'm with you. When I see something, I want it now, and I want the very best of it.

I'm with you on that part. But then your why still needs to carry on throughout throughout all baby steps and so if your why is not as passionate to get you through baby step number three then that means your why hasn't you haven't gone deep enough for your why okay so and very quickly what's your why in 10 seconds what's your why it honestly to change my family tree. Okay, cool. Now follow this. Why do you want to change your family tree? I was tired of being broke my whole life, and I don't want to be like that when I grow up. Got you.

Why are you tired of being broke your whole life? Couldn't do anything, couldn't go on trips, couldn't just go and get something to eat with my kids. Okay, why do you want to go on trips with your kids? I was never able to do that when I was younger. I always got told no. You see what I'm saying? So your why is you don't want to tell your kids no. Your why is like me.

I grew up with tennis shoes that had holes in it, and I had to put tapes on the bottom of my tennis shoes to prevent water from getting in it. And I never want my child to go through that. My why is so deep that if I start really breaking down my why i'm gonna break down in here with two grown good old chocolate brothers and i don't want to do that right now okay and so for you i'm saying you got to go deeper deeper deeper deeper i asked you four why's you and your husband need to go down deeper so this way you can get your three months you just paid off how much debt?

It was $47,852. Wow. So you just paid off all of that debt. That's not easy. That required intentionality. It required determination. And you did it. So now what you're doing is, okay, these three to six months is going to help me, not help me, but help my husband and I to not go back there.

But it also will set us up to where we can start giving our kids wealth. We can start giving our kids kids freedom. We can start giving our kids joy. You know, I really want you to spend time tonight. Danielle, do this for me tonight. It's the weekend. You and your husband sit down and just keep asking yourself why. When you answer a question, why did that question? And get emotional. You get that.

You will get your three months knocked out in your emergency fund within the next three to six months. All right. When we come back from break, I'm going to talk to you about one of the biggest lessons we should have learned in 2020. You want to know what it is? Stay tuned. We'll be right back. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show.

I'm Chris Hogan, and hosting along with me this hour is Anthony O'Neill. And I tell you, we've had some spicy conversations already, and I absolutely love it. Got people calling in, asking real questions about their life and their money. Now, before we went to break, I told you, when we come back, I'm going to talk with you about that is you really should have learned in 2020. And Anthony was just talking to a caller about this. And I'm talking about an emergency fund. If you didn't understand the importance and the value of an emergency fund last year, you learned it, right? You learned it understanding having that money set aside to protect you and your family from life happening. Because life is going to happen. And so having that cushion. Well, you know, A.O., I think about it.

You know what an emergency fund is? It's a bodyguard. Oh, yeah. It's a lifeguard. It's a big boy. It is. Just sitting there ready to protect you. So I want you to get serious about making sure you have that.

The problem with us in America today is we can get amnesia. We can live through something and say, I ain't going to forget this. But guess what will happen? You blink your eyes five or six times, and we tend to forget. So get an emergency fund for you and your family in place ASAP. We talk about having three to six months of an emergency fund. And AL people say, well, why do you say that, three, two, six? Well, I want you to know, if you're working a stable job and you've got a stable income,

then a three-month emergency fund is suffice for you. But if you are someone who's commissioned, you're seasonal, then you definitely want to look to have more of a six-month emergency fund. And so what that'll do is, again, provide cushion between you and life happening. So it's important. Get your emergency fund. I'm hearing from a lot of people, AO, that they've learned that the hard and life happening. So it's important. Get your emergency fund. I'm hearing from a lot of people, A.O., that they've learned that the hard way, and they're getting it in place.

Absolutely. I'm telling you right now, man, I love it. Last year, when some things happened, like for an example, Hogan, I just got in a car accident. Yeah. And when I walked away from it, I was shook that morning, but when I woke up the next morning, called the insurance company, and found out the car was totaled, I wasn't't I was upset, but I wasn't like, oh, what am I going to do? Because I have my emergency fund in place for situations like this.

Right. You know, so it just when you have that emergency fund, not only is it a bodyguard, but it's also just some cushion to your life. You know, you fall back on it. You're like, all right, cool. So it's it's an inconvenience but i'm not stressed i'm not struggling i am upset but i mean hey at least i can move forward well and the main thing is you're all right and and but you're right having that emergency fund it changes the game so again get it situated and if you're out there and you go all right hogan you're talking about this emergency fund thing what do i do well i want to i want you to know you can get plugged into ramsey plus uh which will help guide you

on the process of not understanding just how to budget, but also the threat of debt. But it's going to show you the importance of how to go about that emergency fund. And so you can do this. All you have to do is go over to RamseySolutions.com or go to RamseyPlus.com. That's what you do. It's quicker. RamseyPlus.com. Go on over there right now.

Get in your free trial and watch what happens. You're going to start to change your financial life. All right, enough of that. Got to get on the phone. I got Ann on the line. Ann, how are you? Hi, Chris. Hi, Anthony.

Thank you for taking my call. Yes, ma'am. How can we help you today? I'm finding myself not disciplining myself enough to try to pay off my home. I'm on a fixed income disability retirement income. And the only debt that I have is my mortgage. But I'm kind of stingy with letting extra money go. So I'm just trying to get some guidance on how I can do that. Okay, well, hold on a minute.

What do you mean you're kind of stingy? What do you mean? Well, I know I have enough to send, you know, to extra to pay on my mortgage to get me down. But that's the stingy part. I just, I don't, I find myself saying, well, I don't want to spend this much. What if something happens? Right. So, and you know, you know what your answer is?

I just said, why don't you send in extra on the mortgage? The straight up answer is because you don't want to. Am I telling the truth? Yeah. That's true. Right. And so what we got to do, AO was just talking about digging in and finding the why. So why should you pay extra on the mortgage?

Because I want to get this paid off. And why do you want it paid off? To be, I guess, be debt free. Why do you want to be debt free? I don't have to really worry about a lot of things. That's right. There you go. You see?

And so looking at this now, what you can do is be real with yourself. And now you can start to figure out, okay, what's the plan now? Yeah. So tell me this. How much income do you have coming in each month? About $35.70. Okay. And how much is your mortgage payment?

$11.30. And how much do you owe on the house? About $155. And listen to me, Ann, because I tend to talk fast. What else do you owe on? Nothing. Okay. Now, people get amnesia on me, Ann, sometimes, so let me just double check.

You got any credit cards? I have one. How much is on it? The only thing i owe is eight dollars on it is that's because it's a it's one of those ones where they have a maintenance fee every month so it's eight dollars that pops on there okay so we're gonna close that out and get rid of that all right got any car loans no all right now what i is, looking at it, do you have an emergency fund in place? I have savings. How much do you have in savings?

About $12,000. Okay. So you got an emergency fund. See, for you, you need the structure. Did you do this loan? All right, Ann, listen to me. I got one here on top of this head. Tell me this.

You have a 15 year mortgage or did you do a 30 year? 30. It's a 30. All right. What's your interest rate on this mortgage? Okay. So it's a conventional. So actually the loan,

it allowed me to finance the 20%. And so the 20% is 4.75% and the 80% part is 2.24%. You did an 80-20. They gave you a HELOC, didn't they? A home equity line of credit is what that is.

I don't know if it's a HELOC. Yeah, it is. And so they gave you a big old credit card attached to your house is what that is. Oh. Okay. So, okay. All right.

Here's the reality. For you, you are sitting at a point, you've got $3,570 coming in a month. You've got an incredible opportunity to really zero in and get focused. And I say that because, you know, the 80% loan's at 2.29. But if you zero in and get intentional, pay that little $8 on that little dirty credit card off today. Okay, the little maintenance charge. Shut it down. Shut it down.

Get it out of your life. But turn your attention over to this 20% now and get this thing serious and get it paid off. You can do this. Is anybody else in your family, Ann, ever owned their home free and clear? No, everyone just financed. Did you hear that? Yes. You want to do something new for your family tree?

Yes. Really? Would you love to hold them grandbabies on your lap one day and talk to them about how you paid off that house? How that deed is over there in a frame and you can go over and grab it? Yeah. And I think hopefully you heard Hogan earlier. You know, when I'm listening to you, I don't really feel the depth in your motivation. And I really want you to spend this weekend really just asking yourself,

what's my why? It sounds like you want to be safe, and I totally understand it. I don't need to know your age, but by the way, you're sounding it sounds like you would rather be safe than be aggressive, but I think that's okay. But at the same time, if you're making that kind of money

and you can be a little bit more aggressive and still be safe and go ahead and create some wealth for your family. So what I really pray that you you do from this phone call is here, Hogan, here, hear me spend this weekend just digging in. Why, why, why, why do I want financial freedom? Why do I want financial peace? And when you get that deep enough why, your motivation is going to be so good to where I think you may even start leaning more on the aggressive side than safe side. Yeah. A.O.'s being nice. I'm being Coach Hogan. And get fired up.

Let's get intentional and start changing your family tree. Be that story that your great grandkids get to talk about because you got focused and not finished on lady. You can do this and we're here to help a daily dose of Ramsey advice in their life? Let them know about the Ramsey Call of the Day podcast. It's a quick hit of advice about life and money in under 10 minutes. Check out the Ramsey Call of the Day podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.