The Ramsey Show - App - FICO Is NOT Your Savior! (Hour 3)

Episode Date: September 18, 2019

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Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. This is your show. Thank you for joining us. Open phones at 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Starting this hour off, Jack is with us in St. Louis. Hey, Jack, how are you?

Hey, Dave, how are you today? Better than I deserve. What's up? It's an honor to talk to you, and thank you to you and everybody at Ramsey Solutions. I've got a quick question. My wife and I will be traveling out of state this weekend, actually, to meet with an investment professional. She has a trust fund that she won't be able to access until in 12 or 13 years. But her grandpa set it up about 20 years ago, and since then he has passed away, and the company that runs it has been bought by another company,

so it's kind of out of hand. And we're sitting down to meet with them and discuss what's actually going on with these investments, and I know it's bonds and mutual funds. I'm just curious, what questions should we ask to really get a grip of what's going on? They said that some things will be movable to better us whenever it becomes accessible to her. But I'm just not sure where it starts with them. Whenever it becomes accessible to her, you can move it completely away from that company, and I would.

You need to control it once it becomes accessible to her. But that's several years out, a decade plus. First thing I want is a copy of the trust. She's a beneficiary of the trust. She's due a copy of it,. She's a beneficiary of the trust. She's due a copy of it. And I would read it, and if I don't understand it, I'd get some legal counsel. There's probably

nothing fishy going on, but I'd want to at least know exactly what my rights are and how much control and how much say she has. Typically what happens in a situation like this is the trust is set up to protect her from herself. Okay?

To keep her from blowing all the money, you know, and being the proverbial trust fund baby. Now, in that case, it sounds like a trust company or a trust department of a bank is managing the trust, and that's probably per the terms of the trust. That's not unusual either. What you'll find is I would never have the trust company of a bank or the trust department of a bank or a company designed be the manager of a trust, in my case, because what they do is they are scared to death they're going to get sued for having lost the money. And so their investments are hyper, hyper, hyper conservative. And they are, yeah. And they see that as their role to just make sure that nothing gets lost.

Consequently, almost nothing gets gained. Correct. And so you probably are going to find a portfolio of very badly performing, super conservative investments. That's normally what you're finding. That's what we've seen so far. Yeah, that's a typical scenario. And you probably don't have any say-so over that. You're probably stuck with that.

Right. They said there's a little wiggle room, so we're just curious. Yeah, wiggle room you know here's the wiggle room i would say to them if you guys want any hope of managing this once i gain control of it you're going to have to do a better job managing it well i don't have control i'm watching you that's kind of what i was thinking too yeah i mean i know they're watching out for me also being the husband but i'm not trying to do anything fishy while she you know is the true beneficiary well that doesn't, is the true beneficiary. Well, that doesn't matter. She's the beneficiary.

She's got a say over it. You're connected to her. You can both sit there and go, hey, we're the sweet young couple. According to the trust, we can't tell you what to do, but we can make you wish you did what we said. Yeah, all right. And that's the only thing you could hold over them. Usually that's not going to get you much because they've got policies and procedures

and corporate crap wrapped around their throat choking them to death, and they're going to just be conservative. But the good news is you're probably not going to lose the money. It's just not going to make anywhere near in the next decade what it should make. That's why I want you to read the trust, though, to see how much, say, you have or she has as the beneficiary, because the trust documents can be written a lot of different ways. And so you can set it up to be whatever, but typically, if it's a standard boilerplate-type thing, that's what you're going to find. Hey, thank you for calling in. So, folks, if you're doing a trust, you can say whatever you want to in the trust.

For instance, when our kids were minors, we had a trust set up that upon our death, a trust was formed instantly. It never got formed because our kids grew up before we died. But it was there to manage them. And the life insurance proceeds went into that trust. And I told the trustee exactly how I wanted the money managed. I wanted it in four types of mutual funds, growth, growth and income, aggressive growth, and international.

And I want you to buy mutual funds that have outperformed the S&P. And I want you to use a good financial advisor to do that. And the trustee was supposed to execute on all of that. I told them exactly how I wanted to invest it so that they didn't have to fall back on CDs and bonds and underperforming instruments of all kinds to where instead of making you know 10 12 on your money you're making four or three or one and that's what you're trying to avoid and i wanted the kids to eat better than that if i died so i wanted the money invested in the calculations i had done were not based on four they were based on 10 or 12 and so that's what what you want to

do you need you can state if you're forming a trust, anything you want. And probably her grandfather didn't know that, you know, didn't know what they could do. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Scott is on Twitter. Says, Dave, do you need credit protection if you have a zero credit score? Well, technically, you don't need credit protection, period. Identity theft is what I think you're talking about. Identity theft protection.

The answer is yes, everyone needs identity theft protection because the problem is not that you end up having to pay the money when someone steals your identity. It's that you have to fight with all the stupid people that gave the crook credit in your name, and you have to prove to them that it wasn't you, and you have to file police reports and affidavits and notarized documents and all this crap. You have to go through to get your own identity cleaned up when you didn't do anything wrong and you didn't borrow any money.

So everyone needs identity theft protection. If you're talking about a type of credit protection that protects your credit score that's different than identity theft protection, then no, you would not need that. And I don't recommend that. But I do have identity theft protection on me, my kids, all of my team members that work here, and it's through Zander Insurance, and it is top rate because they assign a caseworker to you to do all the work of dealing with Discover Card or whoever opened an account for the crook in your name. And, you know, with the Target breach and the Equifax breach,

300 million or something people, I mean, that's like everybody. Somebody's probably got your data unless you live off the grid. Some crook somewhere has your data unless you live off the grid. The only question is whether they're actually going to use it or not or when they're going to use it and how they're going to use it. And that's the only thing you face. So it's pretty simple. My credit bureau has been at a zero for years.

My credit bureau, my FICO score has been a zero. My credit bureau has nothing on it. It's been frozen ever since they started allowing you to freeze your credit. But all of that doesn't keep someone from fraudulently opening something in my name. And so I still need identity theft protection to take care of all that work so I don't have to go clean up the mess. That's what it amounts to. And it's worth every penny, believe me.

That's why we endorse Zander Insurance for just that. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Are high health care costs getting you down? Are you confused trying to navigate your options? Do you wish you could find an affordable, biblical solution to your health care costs? Based on New Testament principles, Christian Health Care Ministries, or CHM, helps Christian families, churches, and ministries join together as the body of Christ to share their major health care costs. Christian Health Care Ministries is the original health cost-sharing ministry. A Better Business Bureau-accredited organization,

CHM members share to pay each other's medical bills. It's not insurance. It's Christians financially and spiritually supporting each other. It's what Christian Healthcare Ministries has done for over 35 years, and our members have shared over $2.5 billion in medical bills. To learn more, visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. chministries.org. Cleveland, Ohio is on the line. Jack's calling. Hi, Jack. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Hi, Dave. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's up? Well, you're a man wise beyond your years, so here's one for you. I've heard you talk about your annual family meeting where you discuss kind of your wills and your wealth. When you have those discussions with your kids, do you actually open the books and show them the numbers? Yes.

You do? Yes. Not when they were little kids, but now that they're grown adults, I do, yeah. Okay. I've got one that's 28 grown adults, I do. Okay. I've got one that's 28 and one that's 27. We've never done that, and I'm just debating on how to do it. It feels very awkward.

It is awkward. And there's a rule I use when I'm having an awkward conversation with anyone. I just say, hey, this is an awkward conversation. It lets some of the air out of the balloon and makes it okay. But now I will tell you that one of the things that made me more comfortable with it was this. There's kind of a two-pronged thing. When I sat down with all of them and their husbands, at that time Daniel was not married. Had he been married, Allison would have been sitting there too.

But, um, I said, okay, you guys have grown up and you've known we've done well financially, but you have no idea what the actual numbers are. You don't know what my, you've not known what my income was because you don't want your kindergartner running in and telling the kindergarten or sitting next to him what your daddy makes. I mean, that's ridiculous. Kids don't have a filter, right? So I don't tell little kids this stuff. But now that you're adults, our plan is this.

It starts with this. As for me and my house, we serve the Lord. And so what I'm getting ready to unpack for you guys is not that you've hit the lottery, but instead that you have a, because we consider as Christians that we don't own this stuff, we manage it for God. And so you're getting ready to see that potentially someday you're going to have a lot of responsibility managing God's stuff for him, God's wealth for him. And if you do not see it that way, and if you do not live your life that way,

you lose your eligibility to manage, meaning I will take you out of the will. So if you think you're going to live on the back of a yacht and do cocaine with this money, you are confused. It's not going to happen, okay? And it's set up in such a way that the other siblings can remove you from access to the wealth if you're not going to live in such a way that you work, that you are honoring to your marriage, that you are, you know, walking with God and you're managing. Now, that's our viewpoint. That might not be yours, Jack, but I'm just saying that helped me with the awkwardness of it to where I said, instead of you having a woo-hoo moment, wow, when dad dies, we're going to be rich.

Yeah, this is really actually going to be a pretty heavy weight that you are being asked to manage for God. You get the benefits of managing it, which means you're going to have a great life. But it's also a lot of responsibility. And I wanted them to feel that. And the good news is we'd raised the kids in such a way that when we covered that with them, they kind of got big eyes a little bit. And then when I showed them the numbers, they did feel the weight. They said, oh, my gosh, this is heavy. And they didn't go like, hey, I'm going to buy a convertible.

I don't have to work. Look at this. You know, it wasn't any of that because i that but that was our approach and that helped me unpacking it if you don't have some guardrails around it and they just see it as a windfall and then they change their behavior to a negative behavior they don't feel like they need to work as hard save as hard they don't feel like they need to manage their money as well. You know, they take a spiritual trip around the barn somehow and get into trouble.

You know, then the knowledge has hurt them. And so you just got to talk about that stuff out loud and go, guys, you know, I'm not going to finance your misbehavior at my death. So if you're misbehaving at my death, you're not going to be be getting any of this because i love you too much to buy your cocaine for you yeah yeah you know that kind of thing so anyway that that's kind of how it sounded at our kitchen table and so it was kind of it was a little bit somber honestly and and what could have been a celebration, but then they kind of got a smile on their face after a few hours, and they said, you know, this is really, it's not only a responsibility, but it's also a privilege.

And one of them said that, and I thought, you know what? I never heard, I always heard families of privilege, but you have the privilege of managing it for God, right? You have the privilege of managing it for the good of others for all the good works you can do with money that if you don't have money you can't do and that's a that that is a privileged family in that regard and so if they take it that way then you're okay but you got to be willing to set some guardrails on it otherwise i guess it could be really really scary but even doing all thatly, it was awkward as crud.

Yeah. Well, that's helpful. That's a really helpful perspective. Thank you. Yeah, we've not had a discussion. They're good kids. They're both out of the house working. But, you know, these are the kinds of things we're starting to think about, my wife and I. And I'm just, you know, looking for more specificity on how you did it,

because obviously you've done well and have your children, so that's good. Yeah, I'll send you a copy of the book, The Legacy Journey, which is the only book I've written on wealth. All the others are on money. Wealth is different than money. And so I'll send you a copy of that. It's got some of this stuff that I just said in there as well, and it'll give you some

help and some perspective. Again, it's written from my worldview, so you have to take that into consideration. But I'll give you a copy of it for free and do that. So what's your net worth? Right now, about $8.5 million. Way to go. Did you inherit any of that? No, no, no.

We kind of grew up poor, and in my house it was like if you want something, you've got to work for it. So I started working at nine and never really stopped until recently. I just recently retired. Yeah. And so have either of these kids got children? Do you have grandbabies? No, no.

They're both single still. Oh, okay. Okay. Hoping for grandbabies. Okay, sure. Get things in the right order. But, yeah, do it. Yeah, for sure.

Cool. Okay. Well, I'm just thinking, because sometimes that helps you toies. Okay, sure. Yeah, get things in the right order. But, yeah, do it. Yeah, for sure. Cool. Okay. Well, I'm just thinking, because sometimes that helps you to couch the discussion, too. There weren't grandbabies when we had the discussion, by the way. There are now. There's five now. But at that time, there weren't any. But I did just say, you know, someday you guys may have children.

And if we handle this right, this branch of the family tree will never be the same you know but if you handle it wrong then you're just going to be another one of those stories you know and we've all you know it's funny my mother must have known your grandmother because i honestly did grow up watching her put cash in envelopes to work on her envelopes and um you know my dad uh worked full-time and then worked side jobs on the weekends and um and it's funny i've listened to you for a long time and so many of the things that you teach is really how i grew up um so they're not new to me but they're just framed differently um so where did you make where'd you make $8.5 million? Where did it come from?

Well, I worked for over 30 years. I seemed to be trade bait with companies. I was always getting acquired by another company. And basically what happened is in 1987, when I was acquired by a large products company, I lost money in my retirement. And I said, you know, every time I get acquired, I seem to lose money. I've got to learn about money. So I went out and started reading books and talking to people and started investing in mutual funds. And that was kind of it. I mean, just slow and steady kind of wins the race. I've been with my financial advisor for 20 years. But you sold companies that you had built?

Is that what you're saying, by acquired? No, no, no, no, no. I was always an employee. I was in consumer products and health care sales and moved up into middle management. But the company that I worked for was acquired by another company. I see. And typically, you know, when I was acquired, something was lost in retirement that didn't move you forward, it set you back and scared you enough to learn

yeah, exactly exactly but it was really you know, like when my kids were born the day my kids were born we got them enrolled in studies, diaper studies and started saving for their college

and every paycheck I took out money you know, money for their college. And both of them went through four-year universities debt-free. So when they hear that you have $8.5 million, will they be surprised? Yes, they'll be surprised, yes. This is going to be great. I'm so proud of you, Jack. Well done. Congratulations.

The great American dream is alive and of you, Jack. Well done. Congratulations. The great American dream is alive and well, and Jack is living it. Touchdown, baby. Hold on. I'm going to send you a copy of that book, The Legacy Journey. You'll love it. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, guys. At the Dave Ramsey Show, we really value your input. It helps us to know what's important to you so we can deliver relevant content to help you crush your money goals. We just launched a brand new survey, and we'd love your feedback. It only takes a few minutes, and you'll be entered to win a $100 Amazon gift card. No purchase necessary.

Take the survey at DaveRamsey.com slash survey or text survey to 33789. Ben is with us in Naples, Italy. Hey, Ben. What's up? Hi, Dave. I appreciate it. I appreciate you taking my call. Sure. What are you doing in Italy?

I work as a DOD civilian. Oh, okay. Here in Naples. Cool. What are you doing in Italy? I work as a DOD civilian here in Naples. Cool. Cool. How can I help? So I'm a disabled veteran, and I'm currently debt-free, only for my mortgage. And then I was getting treatment for my service-connected condition on base. And I started getting bills from the Department of Treasury. And so I started forwarding those bills over to the VA. And if you're familiar with the VA, everything's a process. And in the meantime, the Department of Treasury sent my bills over to collection. And it dropped my 820 credit score to 600.

And it really hurts because I was in the process of refinancing my home, and I'm wondering what can I do? Well, you don't have a lot of pull because you're dealing with a huge animal called the government, as you figured out. And obviously their incompetence and slow processes have cost you your credit score. Because the bottom line is you owe the money, according to the Treasury Department. They didn't bill the VA. They billed you. And when you didn't bill the VA, they billed you. And when you didn't pay it, then they've dinged your credit score.

And unless you can talk them into undoing that, which I would say is about a zero chance, but you can always try, go, guys, you report this to the credit bureau, and I'm a disabled vet, for goodness sakes here. The VA was supposed to be paying this, and they't paid it it's not my fault you guys got to give me some help here uh i need you to go to the credit bureau and reverse that negative entry you've made good luck with that but that's really what should happen isn't it yeah uh but i i don't have a lot of optimism. Do you? I don't.

I don't. And it's caused me severe depression, and I really don't know how to deal with this. Okay. Well, let's stop right there. The depression, if you're getting depressed over your credit score being down, that was your choice. It didn't cause it. You just decided this was a bigger deal than it is. I mean, your credit score being down that was your choice it didn't cause it you just decided this was a bigger deal than it is i mean your credit score is down that's a bad thing but it's not the dadgum end of the world so what you know we don't you don't need to work you don't need to worship at the altar of

the grave fico he is not your provider you know my credit score is a zero i'm not depressed you see what i'm saying i i intentionally did that and so what i would do is get the problem solved and take action on the problem but i don't know that your credit score is going to recover unless you can talk the department of treasury into re-entering the data with the credit bureau but i i you know if you can do that i mean you you probably ought to be in sales but uh uh but i i i would not accept it as a life-altering situation it's not i mean there's nothing to be depressed about it's just a stupid credit score uh and so i mean whoopee you didn't refinance your house where's your house in the states yeah it's in uh san diego now just sell it i mean if you if you can't refinance it

you can't afford it it doesn't work the way it is just sell it i mean there's all kinds of stuff you can do short of being depressed it's just money man and it's just it's just a it's just a fico score for god's sakes it doesn't mean that much uh except it's got a block on something you were trying to do and and the aggravating part is you didn't deserve it what you deserved would be honored for your service and your you know your government your country to take care of you but the va and the treasure department have not ever been known for that so it's oxymoronic to me that the veterans administration was formed to take care of veterans and doesn't do it. Very seldom do you people at the VA actually take care of our veterans.

You're just aggravating. But, you know, here we go. So I'm sorry, sir. I wish I could tell you something else, but the only thing I can tell you is, dude, keep it in perspective. It's just a FICO score. Sell the house. It's not that big a deal and um get you into the house and uh i'd rather you didn't have a credit score

because you quit borrowing money patty is with us in orange county california hi patty welcome to the dave ramsey show hi dave thank you how are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I am basically tired of being sick and tired. I'm reading or audio book your total money makeover. Cool. And I'm on chapter six, which I feel like the lady at the beginning of the chapter with wondering if we make enough money for our rent. And now with daycare, we just added daycare. Have you done your budget? Have you done your budget?

I am working on it, and I have a very great friend who recommended you, and she is helping me through it also. Good. Have you pulled up the EveryDollar app yet? Yes, we have. Well well it shouldn't take you it shouldn't it's not like working on it's about 10 minutes to lay the thing out what's your income um about 93 that's good news okay and i just started a new job which bumped us up from about 70 to 93 okay so your household income is 93 and how many kids have you got we have four and how many in daycare two so we pay about 1300 a month and our rent is

around 2170 okay and i just am i think we just need to maybe figure out where our money is going, but I'm trying to know how to get my husband totally on board. Okay. Well, I think you need to sit down with him and explain to him this is very, very stressful for you, and I need some help. I need you to look at this with me because this is driving me nuts, and I'm not okay. It is. It's not is driving me nuts, and I'm not okay. It's not going to be okay, and I'm not going to chill,

and you're going to help me with this. I need my man in my corner to help me with this. Yeah, we've been a little bit more than, less than paycheck to paycheck lately with the change in job. So it's been very stressful. Well, wait a minute. Okay, you gave me two numbers. You gave me rent and you gave me daycare.

Yes. Daycare was $16,000 and rent was $24,000, okay, annually, when you multiply those two numbers by 12, okay? Yes. So that's only $40,000 of your 93. Yes. So those two things are, there's still room in there for food. There's still room in there for lights.

What other debts have you got? We just have our regular utilities. We actually, with the new job, we got rid of my husband's car, and we have no car payments. Good. So we both have cars with no car payments, but we have our monthly, you know, Internet, phones. We got rid of cable. You have $50,000 to do that. I just don't know where everything is going, and he's the spender.

Okay. Then I know where everything's going. He's spending money. I mean, he's spending money like it's water, because you've got all kinds of room. If you pull out food, lights, water, Internet, groceries, don't eat out, and you pull out daycare and your rent, there's still $30,000 left here. Yes.

So you need to look and see if you're getting a huge refund. Have you stopped all 401Ks and stopped all stuff down at the office coming out of your check until you get this balanced? I actually just listened to that part of your book this morning okay so well you're going to listen when you get your budget laid out and you get him on board and he quits spending like he's in congress you're making enough to turn this around you're going to be okay you can do this you can do this now you get a little bit further down in it if you got some specific questions you call me back and i'll help you. But the numbers you're giving me give me great hope for you.

I think there's more room in your budget than it feels like right now. But as soon as you start doing the written plan, you will have that, oh my gosh, where's all our money been going moment. You'll feel like you've got a raise. And that is exactly how it feels the first time you finally lay it out in detail. Every dollar this month has an assignment before the month begins, and you agree on it with your spouse and you stick to it. Ding, ding.

You can do it. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. Our scripture of the day, Ephesians 429, do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. James Humes said, Every time you have to speak, you're auditioning for leadership. Ooh, I just got to chill.

That's good. I like that a lot. Our question of the day comes from blinds.com. They have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. That means even if you mismeasure or you pick the wrong color, they will remake your window blinds for free. Sitewide savings are ramping right now, plus you take an additional 5% off at blinds.com slash Ramsey. Number one seller of window blinds on the Internet.

Wonderful company. Blinds.com slash Ramsey. Dorica is in Ohio. Dave, I'm going back and forth about paying off my car. I have $8,000 left. My co-worker told me not to pay it off because I have a low APR of 4.84%. I have the cash to pay it off, and I'm confused. DeRica, your co-worker's broke.

Listening to broke people for financial advice is like taking dieting advice from fat people. That's stupid. Pay your car off and never borrow again on a car the rest of your life. That's what millionaires say, not your broke co-worker who thinks they can run a calculator. You've got to get out of the land of car payments if you want to win with money. You cannot win with a car payment. It does not work. It is the mantra of the middle class.

You're always going to have a car payment. Translation, you are stuck. And then you complain about crap like stagnant wages because you won't get off your stagnant butt and change your life not you darika but the rest of you so mr rica pay off your car today and take no more financial advice from broke people it would be like taking advice from me on how to grow hair that would be stupid i don't have any hair in case you didn't know, on my head anyway. Kevin is with us in Denver. Hey, Kevin, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show.

Oh, Mr. Ramsey, your show is great. I love it. Thank you for being there for us. Well, thank you. How can I help? Well, I have a question for you regarding my mortgage payoff. We reached the threshold of $100,000 owed. We're down to $98,000 on a 15-year mortgage.

We're halfway through it. Yes, sir. We're seven years left to go. We're on baby step six. And my wife and I are struggling a little bit with some comfort levels in our baby step three and four areas to help us pay this thing down early. I did some math the other day and made up a plan where we could pay it off in two years if I use $30,000 from a savings account that we have. That's our nine-month savings, our emergency account. I know you recommend three to six. Our comfort level puts us at nine, but I thought, well, if we brought that down to 4% and then put $30,000

towards our mortgage, and then the rest of the cash flow would come from baby step four. Currently, we're saving 17% of our income for retirement. If we brought that down to 15%, those two scenarios would get us to pay off the house in two years. So you would have a four-month emergency fund? Yes. And you would be putting 15%, not 17%? Yes, sir, that's correct. So it would be kind of like you started doing what I tell you to do?

Yes. Well, that would work. My wife and I were talking about this. I said, well, Mr. Ramsey would recommend this. We're above that, so why would he tell us not to do this? Of course. I'm going to tell you to do my plan and not your plan. Exactly.

So, you know, we're ultra-conservative. I think. You know, the cushion, you know, the extra cushion, the extra savings. We want to make sure we have enough. Hey, let me stop. I'm eager to pay this thing off. Let me help you let me help you with this i'm ultra i'm ultra conservative too that's why i want you to get your house paid off that's why i limited you to 15 and three to six months okay that's that because getting your debt paid off is an ultra conservative move

that's right so we are both are ultra conservative pay your house off man 15 in baby step four three to six months and four is within the three to six range and yeah do do that let's pay it off in two years you're gonna be debt free i love your plan since it's my plan taylor's in paducah kentucky hey taylor what's up hey not much dave how are you better than i deserve how can i help well i'm looking for a little bit of advice we're in a unique work situation so i currently work two part-time jobs we're in baby step two. My husband is actually an overseas contractor, so he does like three months on, three months off. So the three months he's home, he'll pick up a little part-time job, and we just kind of work through it. But obviously, while he's over there, we're stashing away some money to cover bills, you know, for the three months he's here with no income.

So you can't live on your part-time jobs when he's home? Barely. Then why are you using the money well if you can barely live on your part-time jobs then why are you using the money why are you stashing money to cover it i'm not sure what you mean by that okay you said you can live when he's home with the income you create with your part-time job and his part-time job. Did you say that? We almost can. We can almost cover our bills. Okay, do better on your part-time jobs and cover your bills and use the money he's making to get out of debt then.

Okay. His part-time job when he's home sucks true okay yeah pick that up and then all of a sudden the work that he's doing overseas becomes a huge windfall to make huge strides forward with the debt does that make sense yeah that makes sense if you're not having if he's coming home and taking time off and you're having to use all the money he earned extra to cover his time off, then you're not making any progress mathematically. But if he comes home and you clear all that money to throw at debt because he keeps working when he's home enough, you and him working enough to pay your bills, and then he goes back and does it again,

now we're making huge leaps forward mathematically. Is that logical? Absolutely. And we do make huge strides while he's there, but I feel like we're not doing it very efficiently. You're not doing a budget. No, we're not. And that's another thing I was going to ask about,

because I use every dollar, but with him being over there, like I don't know what he's going to need or how much why not so well because he doesn't really know what he's going to need either of course he does he just doesn't want any limitations partly but he honestly he doesn't have access to much over there good then he doesn't need much then he doesn't need much yes so set a budget for over there set a budget for over here put it in every dollar make a category for it called over there and that money is in every dollar and that's the money he's got to live on that's his allowance and he is part of making this decision you're not putting him on allowance you together are deciding i'm going to

be over in this freaking sandbox i'm not going to blow all the money i'm making exactly again you can't go over there and have a pity party and spend money and and lose all the traction you've got and you're paying because you're paying a price being away from your family to make a chunk of money it's the only reason he's there yes it is we did this specifically to get out of debt. So both of you live on nothing. Beans and rice, rice and beans, or hummus and chips, or whatever he needs there, right? That sounds better, doesn't it? Well, you just crank it down is what I'm saying. I mean, you know, whatever is Afghanistan appropriate or whatever sandbox he's in.

Right. And so, yeah, you just crank it down. But Bubba needs a guideline here that he agrees to and he sticks to it. And you can put all of that on EveryDollar and he's got Wi-Fi. Put his EveryDollar app on his phone and you guys get plus and do it. And, hey, let me just do this. Let's put you all through Financial Peace University. We'll put you in the one-year membership, which gives you every dollar plus,

and you can both be looking at every bank transaction and everything. He can watch over your shoulder. You can watch over his shoulder, which is the way it should be. You're married while you're doing this stuff. Hold on. I'll have Kelly pick up. We'll sign you up for a one-year membership to Financial Peace University. And then you can go through the class together, and he's overseas and you're there.

You can watch the videos together and talk about them online. It'll be perfect. That puts this hour of The Dave Ramsey Show in the books. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. This is James Child, producer of The Dave Ramsey Show. Once again, you made The Dave Ramsey Show one of the top five most downloaded podcasts last year. To get your daily dose of motivation and inspiration, subscribe today. The Dave Ramsey Show.