The Ramsey Show - App - Freedom Is Possible! (Hour 3)

Episode Date: February 9, 2024

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's The Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create amazing relationships. I'm George Campbell, joined by Ramsey personality and bestselling author Rachel Cruz, and we are here for you this hour. 888-825-5225. Call us up. We'll talk about your life and your money. We'll encourage you.

We'll talk you off a ledge. Whatever you need, we're here for it. Opal kicks us off in D.C. Opal, welcome to the show. Hi, guys. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. How can we help today? So I am recently out of the show. Hi guys. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. How can we help today? So I am recently out

of the military and I currently go to school full time while working. My goal is to apply for medical school next year, but I want to graduate with no student loan debt. So my question would be, would Airbnb arbitrage be a good idea for an additional income? Oof. Anytime the word arbitrage is spoken out loud, a puppy stops wagging its tail. Oh my gosh. You know what I mean? It's very risky.

And I assume you know that because you're calling us saying, is this a good idea? I do. Where do you get the idea that this is going to be the ticket? Well, I work part-time right now while going to school, and I'm a reservist still, and I guess I'm just looking for a way to up my income, but I don't really have the time because of everything that I'm doing. Okay, and to make sure we're on the same page about the definition of arbitrage here, you're talking about, hey, I rent from a landlord, and then I'm going to list this place that I'm renting on Airbnb, and then I will make a spread.

So if I'm paying $1,200 a month in rent, I'm going to make $1,600 through Airbnb net of fees, and I'll make that $400 spread. Yes, correct. Okay. Number one, it's hard to find any landlord who will agree to this. And number two, doing it behind their back is what's known as illegal. And so therein lies the biggest problem is just finding a situation.

Sub-leasing is even hard at times to even find a sublease, but let alone short term rentals. I mean, that's a yeah, it would be difficult to find. And there's so much risk with that. There's so much risk of the turnover of having somebody there for a night or two or a week at a time. And then you would be the one talk about a part time job unless you pay a management company. If you found a way to do this, then they're going to take majority of the of the spread anyways so um what's hard about this is it's one of those ideas that get spread especially on social media where it feels it sounds so good it sounds easy you don't even need to own property and you can have passive income yeah and to your point opal you're like i

don't have a lot of time but listen if, if it really worked, everyone would be doing it. Everyone would be doing it. But they're not. And for good reason. Either because they legally can't. They can't find a landlord that will do it. And or you actually weigh out the reality of real life when you do this. And it's not worth the risk.

Because then if you end up getting on the hook for this rent, you know, you don't have anyone for two months. I mean, I mean, there's just so many cases, so many things happening. And then where do you live? So it's one of the hard... Are you going to live with these strangers? No, I live in a camper. I bought a camper and that's where I'm living at a full time currently. So I don't rent or have a mortgage or anything. So was your plan to say, I'm going to get in touch with a landlord.

I'll never even live there. I'm just going to say, hey, I see you have this place for rent. Would you be willing to let me rent it out on Airbnb on your behalf while paying you rent? Yes. I mean, you can try that. I have high suspicions that almost no one will go for that and there's also a lot of or you would be stuck with the with the rents oh well you you would be still paying rent you would have to pay that if nobody was was going to be living in it

and so you still have that expense who takes on the liability? I would. I just figured that I live, I just moved here. So I live in a city now that I thought it might be possible, but am hesitant, obviously, which is why I'm not. But legally, you can't take liability for the entire house because you don't own the house. And so they've got their own homeowner's insurance. You're paying renter's insurance, which only covers your stuff inside. And so there's so many problems with this legally that I don't think it's a wise move. Even if you could do it, I think there's just still way too much risk and there's better ways to make 400 bucks a month. Okay. And then, so piggybacking off of that, so my goal is to go and graduate medical school debt-free.

I guess, like, what do you recommend my steps that I take towards that are? Where are you at financially now? Do you have any debt? Do you have any money saved? Yeah, so I'll be done with Baby Steps 2 and 3 this month. Oh, great. Congratulations. That's huge. And how much schooling do you have so far? I have about a year and a half left of my undergrad, and then I'll apply for medical school next year. Okay. And do you have any family helping out with covering college, or is it all on you? No, the military is paying for everything. Oh, wonderful. Even for medical school?

How does that work? It only covers through undergrad? Yeah, so the military will pay for four years of your undergrad, but it doesn't account for medical school because medical school is obviously more expensive. Sure. So the military will pay for almost half of medical school. But the other half is the half that I'm concerned about.

Okay. And have you priced out different schools? Let's say the most affordable medical school, if you got into that school, what would it cost? Probably around $200,000. Just for the other two years or other half that is needed? Yes. Your half is $200,000 or total? Yes. My half would be $200,000. And how many years? Medical school is four years, but I would get two years paid for, and then I would be responsible for the... You're saying the most affordable medical school is $400,000? No, I might have to go back and run some numbers, but the ones that I was doing research on was about $80,000 a year.

Okay, so maybe closer to $160,000 is what you might owe. Yes. So I would start looking at that and see, hey, can I maybe, I'll take a year or two and work and save up every penny I can and get some roommates. And can you work in between? What would you be doing in your field after undergrad? So for my undergrad, my degree is in pre-medicine. I currently work part-time as a physical therapy tech, and then I'm in the reserves as well. Um, and I door dash on the side, just as a side hustle. Great. So what are you making through all of that? Um, about $52,000 a year. That's awesome. And what kind of doctor do you want to be? Emergency medicine. Okay.

Yeah, that's great. Well, you're in a great position considering half of it's going to be paid for by the military. So I would do anything that I can to save up and like you said, cash for this, even if it's pausing it for a year if I have to. But always remember that, oh, well, when we go into a doctor's office, we're not looking to see where they went to school. And so we get stuck on the pedigree so easily, and especially with higher degrees like this, law school, medical school, go to the cheapest one you can find. That would be my suggestion.

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CHM programs start as low as $98 a month. So learn more today and join at chministries.org slash budget. That's chministries.org slash budget. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm George Campbell, joined by Rachel Cruz. The number to call is 888-825-5225. Well, Rachel, this was big news that I think people should know about because it's probably not making headlines on TV, but this is from a Yahoo article.

Mother of all data breaches, 26 billion records were leaked, and this includes users of LinkedIn, X, Venmo, and more, and this could cause a huge spike in targeted cybercrime. Yeah. So not the most fun news, but good for people to know to stay protected out there. So this article says, if you use a computer, your data likely got leaked. And what researchers have called the mother of all data breaches. 20 brands have had over 100 billion leaked records, with the largest being $0.101.5 billion. More familiar to Western consumers, LinkedIn, X, Venmo, Canva, Apollo, Adobe also were hit.

And they're saying that the majority of the population have been affected. Oh, my gosh. That's frightening. Yeah, so experts are saying to be on high alert for increased targeted cybercrime. And it should be noted that usernames and passwords were included in the leak. And this is very dangerous because some people use the same password for everything i don't know who that would be right there she's next to me yeah this but think about it yeah you have my if you knew my password you could get

into all of rachel's yeah rachel told me her password the other day just willy-nilly for fun i did actually i don't know why but she just straight up smart money happy hour it was great i know you're not supposed to do you have a bunch of different passwords are you safe like that yeah i mean for the most part there's there's definitely some crossover i'm not a psychopath i'm sure they all james our producer of the show is the biggest privacy nerd so i know he's got like some crazy formulas like we'll never guess james i plead the fifth. It's not James one, two, three. I can guarantee you that.

But this is important to note. One, two, three, period. Throw a... Dang it. We got him, Rachel. So if they get, let's say your Netflix account information. Well, these hackers are smart enough to go, oh, that's probably the same for banking information and email accounts. So that's...

So my question is for these hackers, if you were a hacker, George, and they have billions, billions here, you're like, this is like winning the lottery. What's the chances I get targeted?

That's kind of what I'm asking. Well, Rachel, you're assuming they're sitting there physically typing each one. They have computers. Okay, fine, whatever.

That are trying, you know, millions of these a day, probably. So what do we do? We're checking Venmo. Because, I mean, that's the biggest one for me. I don't have LinkedIn.

Yeah, well, here's the thing. You need to be – usually they're sending emails letting people know that they were part of a breach. What is that? Canva is a design app. Oh, yeah, don't have that. Yeah, Rachel's like, I'm not touching that. Artisticness is not my go-to. They can compromise multiple services in just moments.

And so that's the scary part. But here's the good news. So what do we do? Go into Venmo and you want to just what? You're just checking and just making sure there's no activity going on. Number one, always check. I'm always vigilant. Check your bank account once a day just to make sure that all the transactions there

are things that you actually did. Look what just came up on my Venmo. George Campbell wants to be friends. I requested Rachel on Venmo. It was a big was a big moment big show your screen on the screen it just says george camel wants to be friends can never be too request accepted thank you rachel that meant a lot you're welcome so here's what you can do um obviously you can turn on two-factor authentication that's one of the best ways to stay protected. That's where it's like, Hey,

I need to send Rachel a text to verify. Yes, yes, yes. The other thing you can do is make sure that you're using secure wifi. You're not logging into public sites on public wifi. You know, if you're at a Starbucks and you're logging into your bank account through

that public wifi, that puts you at risk there. But the best thing you can do, and this is something that every Ramsey team member has because we believe in it that much, it's ID theft protection. This isn't quite insurance, but we get ours through Zander.

Every team member has it covered if you work here. And I've had to deal with this before, Rachel, with identity theft. And Zander, they work with me to restore all of my financial life back in order, fight the fraud that happened. So nice having someone else do it it takes hours and hours and hours to figure this out so id theft protection and it's needed in 2024

oh absolutely like it should be a mess and this is it's low cost very expensive yeah no this so nice xander takes care of all of my insurance needs but id theft is a great one it's like six or seven bucks a month and for a family it's like 12 bucks a month to get your whole family covered it includes restorative sources um services recovery services up to a million dollars in stolen funds so this is not a big pitch for xander but there is something you can do about it and that is get id theft protection and they do a great job with that i got an email today and it was like id theft alert and it shows you what email was compromised and what the source was.

Were you one of these? 100%. I mean, this is saying the entire population was essentially affected. No, I know, but that email, was it because of this breach? I don't know. That's a good question.

So I was wondering. I imagine I'm going to be getting more of these alerts. So anytime that happens. I feel like that's the world we live in now. Check those accounts, change the password on those and keep it secure yeah spooky stuff rachel yeah it's well it's the world we live in as i'm like so much is done online right i'm like that's where that's well this is a good shout out for another service they're not affiliated with us but it's called privacy.com

and they create virtual debit card numbers that you can use you use that a lot yeah because people always say well rachel i need my credit card because i need to stay safe online like no there's easy services to use it creates a virtual debit card number tied or you can just use a debit card yes but people are worried about using the debit card because if something happens right it's their money taken out of their account so the virtual debit card option is really cool through Privacy.com. All right, on to something better. Nicole is in Newark, New Jersey. Nicole, how are you today?

Hi, I'm doing good. How can we help? Hi, yes, I'm calling because I'm working to try and get out of debt. And the question I have is about my car lease that I have. So I have a lease and it's 18 months left on it. It's $610 a month. That's a nice car you're driving. Not that fancy. It's a Hyundai Tucson. Wow. That's a big old lease payment. Usually that's a car payment for most people. Okay, so 18 months left, $610 a month. Do you know the buyout amount?

Right now would be about $30,000. Okay. And how much money do you have right now? In savings, I have $12,000. And, you know, that's kind of my emergency fund. Okay. And do you have any other debt? Yes, I do. I have a mortgage. That's $300,000. And I have another loan, which is $29,000. Is it like a personal loan?

I got my gutters and windows done. Okay. And you're wanting to get out of the lease. Is that what you're asking? What's the best way to get out? Well, I want to save money and reduce the payment. So I figured maybe getting out the lease might be the best option or I've been advertising to try and do a lease takeover. I'm not sure if I'll find anyone, but I want advice on maybe what other options would be. Well, there's only three ways. The first is early lease termination, which is going to come with a whole bunch of fees. The second one is the one you mentioned, a lease transfer, which involves finding someone else to take over your lease, which is like trying to find someone to buy your timeshare. Very few people want to take this

burden off of you and onto them. And the third option is the one that we recommend most often, which is the lease buyout, where you pay the difference between the lease payoff amount and the current value of the car. And so that, to me, is going to be your best bet. Do you know what the car is worth? $24,000, they said. Okay. So it's a little bit underwater, essentially. Yes. So if you came up with six six you could have the difference to cover it if you were able to sell it essentially because i recommend that sell it

and so you got 12 000 in savings yeah so you could do that option but you'd have to sell it then you'd have to turn around and buy another car, though. Yeah. I could live a few months without a car as I have a job close to me that I could just pick the train. Oh, good. That's what I would hope to do. That's the New Jersey life right there. Public transportation. That's a blessing. Yes.

Yes. So would you recommend me doing the buyout completely first or trying to find a buyer and then working them both together? How would you recommend doing that? Yeah, I mean, if you can do it all kind of simultaneously, that'll be the cleanest option. But you don't have the title, and so you're going to have a hard time selling the car without the title. So you're going to need to tell them, hey, I'm in a lease right now. I'm trying to sell it. I would contact the dealer and let them know what's going on and see what the best option is to have that functionality work. Okay. But the lease buyout is your best bet. And

there's going to be some stupid tax, Nicole. It's going to hurt. But I'm proud of you for wanting to turn this around and being willing to make the sacrifices needed. Yeah, thank you. You got this. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm George Campbell, joined by Rachel Cruz. And in the Ramsey Solutions Lobby, on the debt-free stage, we've got some new friends, Nicholas and Devaney. Welcome, guys. Hi. Hi. Thank you for having us. Absolutely. Where are you guys from? So we're from Kalira, Alabama, which is about 30 miles south of Birmingham. Wonderful. And all the way here to your debt-free scream. How much did you guys pay off?

We paid off $232,200. Wow. And how long did that take? Four years. Nice. Wonderful. And what was the range of income during that time? We started at $82,000 and then up to $163,000. Whoa. That's incredible. What was the big jump? Well, our buddy Ken Coleman would be proud. I took full advantage of the great resignation during COVID.

Ah. Nice. So we didn't have that big of a shovel or not as big as we would like. And so I just went job searching. And in less than a week, I found a job and it doubled my salary. Oh, my gosh. So are you a one-income family? Sort of.

When we paid off the house, and she can go deeper into it in a minute, but when we paid off the house, she wasn't the happiest at her job, and I said, you know what? We're paying off the house today. You can put in your two weeks. That's incredible. Oh, my gosh. Okay, so the 238 was the house.

Mm-hmm. Well, it was credit cards, car loans, student loans, and then the house. Everything and the house. Congratulations, you guys. Thank you. That's incredible. That's incredible. Okay, so four years ago, you guys had some credit cards, you had the mortgage, you were living

normal. What happened to get you on this Ramsey journey? Well, if you look back at it, that's right when COVID first hit. And, you know, we had friends, family, you know, we just kind of saw people, you know, struggling. And then, you know, you turn on the TV, you see people losing their jobs, losing their livelihoods. And, uh, we thought we were safe, but we just kind of said, what if, you know, and then we dug deeper into our finances and we were like, wow, we're in a mess. Um, and so we started chipping away at the credit cards. Um, we did side hustles. Uh, she wasles. She started making like hair bows for little girls, selling those. I did DoorDash for a while

and we started selling stuff just around the house. And Rachel, you'll relate to this. Any old kids toys that we could find that were in one piece. Yeah. We put on Facebook Marketplace. Good for y'all.

So we just made it happen and did whatever we could to get out. Dang. Wow. So there's sort of a pandemic panic. You guys went, we could be just like those guys three seconds from now. Let's get our affairs in order here. Yeah. And prior to COVID, I was working from home anyway.

So I was safe, but I always think the worst thing is going to happen. So I'm like, what if I lose my job? What if we both lose our jobs? Sure, sure. And so we're like, we need to get out. Isn't it amazing how you can carry that risk of debt for so long and until something really shakes it like a pandemic or something,

do you realize, oh my gosh, it is risk. Like these car loans, like all this debt that we're carrying, it is a level of risk that so many people are used to but the moment you start saying wow this really is a part of our lives that we want out it's it's incredible absolutely and she's you know I'm the saver so it wasn't hard for me to get on board and she's the spender and so you know she's the one where it's like every day in Amazon boxes the Amazon van lives at our house. Stephanie, how was this for you this four years? Was it hard? Was it once you got on board and you

guys were working together, you're seeing the progress, it was good. But like, how did it feel overall? Yeah, I mean, it was definitely a little different at first, especially because right around that time, our daughter was born and I had my first daughter. And of course, I wanted her to have all the cute girl things and all stuff like that. So it was definitely hard at first. And then I stopped. I was like, okay, like, she doesn't need this. And then I started, like Nick said, I started making bows and stuff for girls' hairs, and she did not like them at all. She wouldn't keep one on her head so I was like okay this there's no point to buy this stuff so um I definitely got there it took a little bit but once I started then I was like oh like this is great oh my gosh you guys know about Ramsey and the baby steps at this point

how'd you find out about this so um I just uh when the pandemic first hit, you know, I pretty much just Googled, you know, getting out of debt and how to, you know, how to clean up this stuff. And then I bought the Total Money Makeover Reddit in one weekend, I think. And then we just kind of just snowballed from there. Literally. That's amazing. That's incredible. So great. Wow.

Okay. So, what would you say to a young family that's listening and they have the car loans and the credit cards and they're just normal living life, but they're feeling like, oh my gosh, we want to change. What would you say the key of getting out of debt is? Yeah. I mean, I think for us, I mean, you look at us, we're in our thirties and we did this, you know, we, we hear people all the time, younger people, it's harder to live these

days. You can't buy a house. You can't do this. But there are also hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. And it's like, well, control what you can control. And so, I mean, Rachel, you were born the year your parents filed for bankruptcy. George, you went from negative net worth to a millionaire in 10 years. You look at us, we both grew up in less than ideal situations.

Her parents got divorced when she was young. My parents got divorced when I was young. My dad passed away when I was eight years old and he didn't have any life insurance. And so I was raised by a single mother, no help, just trying to figure it out. So if we can do it, anybody can do it. So good. That's inspiring. And it's just the belief you can. Yeah, absolutely. And that's it, is to believe that you can. That's incredible, you guys. And in your early 30s, on your way,

and baby step seven, what's the house worth? So, well, we bought in January 2018, right before the housing market just went bonkers. Good time to buy. And so, yeah. So, I mean, we paid less than $200,000 for our house, about $190,000. And there's homes in our neighborhood selling for over $300,000 now. Wonderful. That's incredible. And so you got that paid off and you've been investing in retirement?

Yeah. Yep. Yep. So now we're doing 15%. We're still trying to save up for the kids college and, and all that. And we're also cash flowing an international adoption right now too. So this is not our complete family. That's great. Yeah. We were hoping the adoption would be finalized when we came here, but it just kind of, you know, worked out this way, but but yeah, so we're doing that, saving up for the kids college investing. And we were at a negative net worth, a significant negative net worth four years ago, and now we're on the path to be multimillionaires. That's unbelievable. That's so fun. And when you have the margin to do things like, you guys get to just cash flow this adoption with joy in your face instead of

stress because you've also got payments. So I love what, when you turn money from an obstacle into a tool, it's amazing how your life changes. And I'm so proud of you guys for being a living, breathing picture of that. Yeah, absolutely. And I told her, you know, she stuck with me these past four years, you know, and I know it wasn't the easiest thing. So when we paid off the house, I said, you know, you just pick anywhere on the map and we'll go there for a trip. So where are you going to go? We don't even know yet. I'll bring a map out.

Rachel's going to throw a dart. We've talked about Europe or going on a cruise or whatever. Good for you guys. We'll probably go on a couple trips, one with the kids and one with just us two. Love it. I know, and you have the kids with you. Yeah, bring them up. What are their names with you so brantley is our oldest he's seven and then cambrie is uh four oh so precious look how cute i hope they've been practicing for the dead free screen color-coded outfits they look fantastic for those of you that can't see get a Get a family photo after this is done. That is wonderful.

Here we go, guys. We've got Nicholas and Devaney and Brantley and Cambry. $232,000 paid off in four years, house and everything, making $82,000 up to $163,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. All right, Cambry, you ready? You ready to lead us off? All right, go ahead.

In the mic. Three, two,, you ready? You ready to lead us off? Alright, go ahead. In the mic. 3, 2, 1. We're debt free! That might win the award for cutest debt free scream I've ever seen. Oh my gosh, I just teared up. I was like, oh my gosh. What a performance. And we've got a special gift for you guys. Two every dollar premium gift cards for a one year subscription. You can use one. You can renew with that. You can give it away to a friend

to get them started on the journey. And George, and just hearing their stories of even the change that they've made from their childhood to now, what these kids are going to experience. It's absolutely incredible. In four years. Beyond the finances. Early 30s, no mortgage. It's incredible. In four years. Well done, you guys. Well done. It's possible for you, America. Are you willing to make those kinds of sacrifices for four years? I can do just about anything for that amount of time, and I know you can, too. It is worth it.

Look at that couple. Look at that journey. This is The Ramsey Show. Our scripture of the day, Ephesians 4.32. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you. Speaking of forgiveness, Rachel, forgive me for these two quotes. Taylor Swift said, you play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. Only to be outdone by Travis Kelsey, who said,

Wow! If you don't care about the guy next to you, one, you're a terrible teammate, two, you're never going to win. You play stupid games. I think it's you win stupid prizes. Well, I think we need to, someone on the team is getting in trouble now.

Rachel knows her T-Swift lyrics. She also didn't invent that phrase. Straight from a pretty big fan, so you'll have to battle with her, but we'll fact check it. You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. I'm pretty sure that's what it is.

Rachel's gonna Google it after. It's one of my favorite lines. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Do stupid stuff, that's what you're gonna win. Stupid things. You know?

And again, she didn't invent that. It's kind of like you reap what you sow. She's basically quoting scripture. That's Rachel's mental gymnastics right there. That's what it looks like, y'all. This is what I have to deal with as a professional co-host of The Ramsey Show, this kind of ridiculous justification.

It's true. It's what we do. And Travis, Kelsey, y'all are funny. That was funny. Well done, y'all. Well done, team. We're having a good time. All right.

Ruby is in Chicago. Ruby, welcome to The Ramsey Show. How can we help today? Oh, thanks for having me on here. It's a pleasure. What I need help with is whether should I pay my house off or my car off or pay both off? I love the idea of getting rid of all your debt, Ruby. Yeah, that's a great question. Okay, Ruby, how much money do you have? I have $106,350.

$106,000. And where is that money? Is that in retirement accounts? Is that invested? Is that just in a checking account? It's just in a savings account. Just a traditional savings account. Okay. And is this the money, I guess, you live off of? No, the money I live off of, I get $6,335 a month. And what's that from? That's from VA.

My husband was a veteran when he passed away. Okay. So that's guaranteed income for the rest of your life? Yes. Wonderful. And how old are you? I'm 73. Okay. And the car loan? $22.33. You said $22? Oh, I'm sorry, $22,033. Oh, okay. I was like, well, we can pay off $20 right quick. Okay.

So total, you're looking at about $98,000. You have $106,000 in savings. Does that include your emergency fund in have $106,000 in savings. Does that include your emergency fund and that $106,000? No, it doesn't. Oh, you have other money? Well, I don't have other money, but what I would probably do is save that six months of money I would need. If I need it, I would take $25,000 and just put it aside for, you know, whatever. And savings, yeah. For your living expenses, Ruby, how much extra do you have a month? You

have $6,000 coming in. Do you have any margin? I have $2,000 coming in after I pay everything off. $2,000 extra that you can do what you want with. Mm-hmm. Okay. That's great. This is wonderful. So you live on 4,000. So a six-month emergency fund really is 18,000 of what you'll need for a good emergency fund. And what I'm seeing the numbers, if you, yeah, if you paid off everything, it would leave you 8,000 in the bank. So that means you would have $10,000 you would still have to put to your emergency fund.

But I don't think I would do that quite yet. So what I would probably do, Ruby, if I were you, I would go ahead and pay off the car if I were you. And then I would save over five months to get to $18,000. And then once you have $18,000 saved, use the remaining of your savings to pay off the house. Yeah. Okay. That's what I was thinking, but I wanted some confirmation.

Yeah, and you're in a great position, Ruby. That's wonderful. And you're going to free up that mortgage payment, which is going to help you save up even more. Yeah, how much is that a month? It's only $693 a month. What about your car payment? And that's because I don't pay taxes. Okay.

What about your car payment right now? My car payment is $497. Ruby, this is exciting. Do you know what is about to happen? You're freeing up $700 and $500. You're going to have an extra $1,200 on top of the $2,000. So you have $3,200 that you can use to then invest and save and spend and enjoy your retirement. Right, right.

That's what I needed to know. But what I'm planning on, I think, maybe within the next couple years, to buy a house, but a cheaper house, because I don't need what I have now. It's a little too big. So you would downsize with cash? Yes.

Yeah, you could definitely make that move, for sure. I wouldn't go further into debt by any means, but I know you're going to downsize. So that means, yeah, you'll have some equity then to put away as well when you decide to do that, which is great. What would your house sell for? About $400,000. Awesome. And you would downsize to something smaller that's, let's say, $300,000 or $350,000? Probably more like $300,000. Great. I love this plan. This is

wonderful. So yes, what you're going to do is I'd pay off that car loan today. That's going to leave you with $84,000. And then once you have enough to have your full emergency fund plus the rest of the mortgage, go ahead and just knock that mortgage out completely. Pay extra on the principal. Sounds great. Congrats, Ruby. What a wonderful situation. I'm proud of you, Ruby. You've done really well. Well, thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for calling into the show. My pleasure. Good day. Oh, you're welcome. Thank you. Thanks, Ruby. What a wonderful call.

I love Ruby. That's so great. And you know, it's a cool reminder, Rachel. Ruby's 73, and a lot of people at that age just go, well, I've got the mortgage, I've got the car payment, I'm not going to do anything about it. Right. And so it's a great reminder that it's not too late.

That's right. Now, her situation was great because she had six figures sitting in savings. Yes, yes. And has a great guaranteed income. But it's not too late. Even if you're in your 60s, your 70s, we hear debt-free screams that are all over the place, every age spectrum, walk of life.

And so freedom's possible. Yep, that's exactly right. And to do something with that money that's gonna free up so much. And for her, financially speaking, yeah, it's an extra $1,200 a month, which is huge. Amazing. I'm like, so good, so, so great.

And for a lot of people out there, if they paid off their mortgage and the rest of their debt, they'd have even more than that coming in every month. For sure. For sure. So that's my plan and that's my hope for everyone is to go into retirement with zero debt, including no mortgage payment, because it allows you to live off less. You don't need as much money. Yep. And so that social security is just icing on the cake. Yeah. Because what you have in your investments and what that's making for you every month to pull from is plenty. So it's a good reminder for people out there. But I like Ruby's personality. I want to hang out with Ruby and just gain some wisdom, you know?

She's lived a good life. You can tell. You can tell. Wow. Well, this has been a fun show, Rachel. I don't know if you enjoyed it as much as I did. But it started off dark. We had a lot of heavy calls this show.

You know what I mean? And I think it proves, this is why I love doing this and hosting this show, is you get people from every walk of life, every situation. Some situations are just absolutely heartbreaking. Some are hopeful with the debt-free scream, right? You kind of get the whole gamut of what's going on, but the thread that we see continually through our callers,

through the people that DM us on social or comment or listeners, or if we're at a live event, we meet you or here on the debt-free stage or watching the show, like whenever we interact with people doing this plan, regardless of where they came from, what they make, the amount of debt they have, the number one qualities they believe they can do this. And they believe that they can take control of their money. They believe they can wake up every day, make a different decision from what they've made in the past,

do something different to get a different result. And that hope, it really, it sounds cheesy, George, but it really is the thing. I'm like, that is the very first step is that mindset with that belief that, that we can do this. And for some people, it sounds cheesy, George, but it really is the thing. I'm like, that is the very first step is that mindset with that belief that we can do this.

And for some people, it takes longer, some people shorter, but it is possible. Yeah. My favorite stat from the millionaire study we did was 97% of millionaires believe they had control over their financial destiny. It's amazing. Yep. If you think you have agency and autonomy over your life, you're going to act like it. Yep. You're going to behave like it. And so that's what this show is all about.

We want to give you hope. And I don't care if it's cheesy because life is too short to not have hope. We're going to go eat some cheese, though, aren't we, on Sunday? Heck yeah, Rachel. Some queso. Well, that puts this hour of The Ramsey Show in the books. Thanks to Rachel Cruz, all the folks in the booth, and you, America. We'll be back before you know it.