The Ramsey Show - App - Getting Started on Your Debt-Payoff Journey (Hour 3)

Episode Date: December 9, 2022

George Kamel & Dr. John Delony discuss: Getting a second vehicle, Preparing to move out, Getting started paying off debt. Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6 Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

Девочка-пай Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Pods Moving and Storage Studio, this is The 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. Here on the Ramsey Show, America hangs out to have a conversation about your money, your life, and I'm stumbling through the intro here, George. You're just so nervous to be co-hosting with me, John.

It happens to the best of us. It's hard to sit in the shadow of your excellence. It's such a small shadow. It's amazing. That is true. I should stand up. It's impressive on its own true. I should stand up. It's impressive on its own right.

I'm John Deloney, joined by George Campbell, and we're taking your calls, 888-825-5225, and I hope to not stumble through your calls. Let's go to Liz in Mobile, Alabama. What's up, Liz? Hi, John. It's so good to talk to you again. It's supposed to be about a year ago, and I'm in a much different place in life now, so I'm happy to report that, but I've got a question for you. Tell me about your journey. What's happened over the last year?

I don't know anything about it, Liz. Give me the spark notes. About a year ago, I was at a place where I was escaping domestic violence with my five children. Had nowhere to go, had no income, had been a stay-at-home mother for 15 years um was living in a camper in my friend's backyard yes i remember you list okay yes thanks for calling back where are you now hey um well you know the kids and i are healthy and well i am a full-time student i'm going into nursing wow i quickly found out that you know there's no entry-level job that you can get that really supports a family this large. Right. So I'm going after my dreams that I abandoned all those years ago. Liz, I'm so proud of you. What a gift for you,

your community, those people you're going to serve, and for your kids. You are a real life, no, hold on, you're a real life model of what it looks like to get knocked down and get back up we teach our kids that we read them children's books and we talk about it your kids are going to have a picture of it

I hope so you are incredible that's my greatest hope good for you alright so how can we help you today you know nothing that's not for God who goes before me because I tell you he's been there every step of the way. When I said, I don't know how I'm

going to pay bills or how I'm going to pay rent. It was there, you know, through no doing of my own his people and his hand have just been all over our lives. It's just been a miracle. But, um, the big money question that I'm looking at right now is I'm still in a place where my income is less than my outcome. As less than, you know, I'm making far less than what I'm spending. And luckily I do have a substantial savings right now, as it were. But I drive a very large vehicle with the kids. And it gets terrible gas mileage. I've been looking into getting a second vehicle because what I'm doing for work now is delivering, you know, either packages or, you know, food delivery, things like this that I can do outside of school hours. It provides me the flexibility and schedule and things come up with the kids. So it's a good couple of hustles to have.

So I like having, I like having, you know, the big band for when we need to go places, I need to have all the kids with me or what have you, but it's so bad on mileage that I'm considering dropping $3,000 or $4,000 into a decent, reliable, smaller vehicle for when I don't need to have all the people with me, and that can still give me the availability to haul all the packages I need to do my job, but also be an efficient daily driver. Could you split the difference? Could you sell the bigger bigger car get a smaller one that still fits the kids that's um the issue is uh not i i feel like if we got something smaller and got entirely rid of the larger vehicle, it would be difficult. I happen to have really, you know, my older two are quite tall now. It's not super feasible to get everybody into, you know, like...

How tall are these kids? I'm genuinely curious as a small guy. My two teenagers are, you know are six feet and six-two. Represent. Yeah, those are giants sitting next to George. I wouldn't, Liz. I wouldn't. My worry partially is what happens when both cars need repairs, and now you're paying insurance on two cars, and what you thought was going to be a benefit is now more of an expense.

Buying $3,000 or $4,000, okay, let's say you did the math on, here's what the gas mileage is, here's what I would save, here's that gap. I could actually make more money if I had a $3,000 or $4,000 car. Great, that math is fine. George just brought up a great point. You have to bring in the math of the extra insurance and the extra that's another oil change another set of tires another set of all those things build up and up and up and up so at one point i had an old truck that i was going to

rebuild um with me and my son disaster i don't know if know if you've, we've never met, but I'm not a, I'm not a rebuilder. Um, and I kept my wife's Corolla as just a paid off car that we had in the driveway that could be my daily driver. And then I, after paying the registration, the oil change, I realized my free car was costing me a big chunk of money every month, annualized over the course of a year. And I realized, Oh, this isn't so free at all. Right. So I ended up getting, I isn't so free at all. Right? So I ended up selling it because it never made its money back on the gas. How close are your kids to driving? That's the other consideration I was going to bring up.

We're months away. So they're going to need a car. Teaching them to drive on a 12-passenger van is not ideal. You know, you don't want to learn to drive on a loaf of bread. No, it's fantastic, man. Are they saving for a car? Oh, yeah, I'd love to take them parallel parking. I'd be all right.

Yeah, and you don't have to worry about them dating. That's going to be fantastic. Well, you know, giving a kid a van can go the other way, too. Oh, there you go. You don't want to turn a teenager loose. That was my first car I was driving, Mom and Dad's minivan. It's awesome. Well played, Liz.

Well played. So I'm just wondering, can the kids save up, and maybe you match them and you get a car, and maybe you can use it for your side hustle until they're fully driving and out of the house a little bit. Is that a possibility? Have they been saving up for a car? Well, he has been saving up a little bit.

He's in school full-time playing sports at a private school as well, which is another miracle that happened. Oh, boy, that's the real expense in your life is private school. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, a faith-based private school. So we're just, you know, it's everywhere. I'm just so thankful. But he has, you know, he's not able to work a whole lot.

He does his own business. He does lawn care and odd jobs and things. Oh, great. So he can save up $3,000 over a year? Yeah, possibly. I mean, I would certainly expect him to cover insurance, gas if he's driving full-time. I think that would be a fair expectation if I were to purchase the second vehicle. Okay.

When are you done with school? Either way. It's going to be about two years. Okay. Maybe a semester less, like, you know, three, four more semesters. Cool. Well, this is all temporary, so I would find a temporary solution, and that might mean you buy a beater car and you give it to the kid later on he buys it from you but the a1 is getting to a financial

place and that worries me to have all of these extra expenses i would probably just keep the van and let that and every time i fill it up at night i would let it inspire me to keep grinding and get out of this mess but that's's just me. We'll be right back. Hey, you guys. Health insurance costs are only moving one way, and that way isn't down. And if higher costs aren't enough, the wait times to see your doctor are longer, and it's harder than ever to get anything approved through the bureaucracy. So if you feel like the system is working against you, try a biblically-based alternative to health insurance, Christian Healthcare Ministries.

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I'm John Deloney, joined here by George Camel. We are taking your calls on life, money, work, mental health, relationships, all of it. 888-825-5225. Let's go to Nick in Atlanta, Georgia. What's up, Nick? How we doing? Outstanding, my man. What's up? Hey, so I'm 23 years old, and I'm sure

this topic has been covered before, but I was just looking for insight on moving out of your parents' house and which one is more important, kind of saving up the next day just because it'll be my first you know venture um in a you know expensive apartment or would it be you know paying off debt very cool man so um you have a job i do yes um i made 50 000 fantastic man what are you doing i work at enterprise the car rental business. Yeah, good for you, man.

Cool, cool. And what is now causing you at 23 to go, all right, I've had enough, I'm moving out? Nothing major. It's really good here. It's just I kind of want that independent thing, creating something for myself. Very cool.

And you're in Atlanta proper? I am. And what is rent right now in the areas you would want to live in? It's looking like around that $1,500 to $1,700 ranch or somewhere, you know, not even just luxury, but, you know, safe, I would say, because, you know, Atlanta is kind of used to different type of cities. So I would say, you know, somewhere safe and prosperous, about $1,500 to $1,700. And what is your take-home pay every month? What ends up in your bank account? About $3,000 after taxes.

And so we're talking about over 50% of your income going towards rent if you move out today. Yes. Does that not frighten you? It does. That's why it's just like... Why is he calling us, George? Well, I'm trying to just open up some options here.

Could you get a roommate? I could. That could work. I'm going to rephrase that. You have to get a roommate. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it as an option. This is part of... So here's my thing.

You talked about independence, and the truth is, right now we can't afford full independence. We're going to have someone else living with us regardless. Sure. And so the question is, do you want it to be a stranger or your family? I get it. You want to get out. You want to feel like I'm a grown man, you know, leaving the nest. And I love that. But you're going to have to get a roommate in order to afford living where you want to live. Definitely. That's the bad thing about living in Georgia. So that's part of it. That's something to grapple with, is you're going to have to vet and find a reliable, safe, trustworthy roommate who pays on time,

you get along with at some level. So that's part of the picture. The other one is all of the other expenses that come along with that. You're going to need to get renter's insurance. You are now not able to eat dinner at your parents' house every day, so you're going to have to learn how to cook because going out to eat every day is going to make you broke, and we're not going out to eat because we got some debt to pay off. Is that right? Very true. Okay, how much debt?

About 50 grand in total between school and credit cards. Nick! What are you doing? What was your degree in? I got it in sociology. Oh, Nick. If we could turn. Oh, Nick. If we could turn back time, Nick. If I could turn back time.

We sing or else we cry. That's right. So, Nick, if I'm you, well, let me just tell you. I'm just going to be honest. I've never told this story publicly, George. Nervous and excited. At 21, I was at my parents house after graduating college and I had a chance encounter with an old track coach I ended up taking a job as a high school

teacher and coach in the Houston area and I lived I was gonna live with my parents for a while pay off my student loans within a month my dad was, man, what if I paid your first month's rent? And I was like, I'm already out of here. And if I had to do that all over, I would have stayed there until I was debt-free. Yes, very true. By me not taking two years to take care of my business, I went and bought the biggest stupid truck I could. I went and got a nice apartment.

I just lived beyond my means. And I wouldn't recommend doing that. I wouldn't run out of my mom and dad's house until I was debt-free. What are your monthly payments, Nick, between the student loans and the credit card? Probably about $300. That's it? No, no way. That feels way too low for $50,000 worth of debt.

Well, I haven't started paying my own student loans yet. I haven't paid them in the last six months. Basically what I'm hearing is life hasn't actually happened yet. Yeah, life's about to hit you in the mouth, dude. When those student loans get unpaused, it's going to be a harsh reality, my friend. I'm so glad you called us because you were about to go sign a $1,700 a month lease. For 12 months. For 12 months, and then you're going to start paying back student loans. You're going to

realize you have $11 left over after just expenses. And then you're going to have to break the lease, pay the fees, and then move back in with mom and dad with your head hung low. So I'm not in the boat of like you have to pay off all the debt before you leave the house. But I do think we have to think long and hard about how we're going to do this. And maybe it's an exit strategy of, hey, I'm going to pay off as much debt as I can aggressively. I'm working overtime. And a year from now, I'm going to move out and then I'm going to get a roommate and I'm still going to work overtime and I'm still not going to be eating out because I want this debt gone. Very true. That's the goal. And so I love that you want to be independent. I think that's a great thing. It's going to do a lot for your dignity and for your spirit.

But right now it's going to be a burden and a curse if you just jump ship today. Very true. So make a plan. Here's the deal. We're going to send you financial peace university. Okay. Is your,

is your graduation gift. We're going to send you, it's in you every dollar app too. So you can begin tracking your money. You can practice making a budget and maybe get your parents to watch these videos too with you. Get some buddies together and watch them. And I want you to watch all these things. We're going to send them to you. Okay. I'm going to give you a year of the apps. You can start tracking your money. I want you to begin to live in or own or acknowledge whatever word you want to use.

You've got to live in reality and you want to be independent you want to jump off i do i'm all in i've been there i totally get it and you simply have put yourself in a financial position where you can't afford to do that yet responsibly you could if you had to um you'd end up in a in a part of the community like you mentioned that you don't want to live in or you're gonna have to have to have two or three roommates, and you find yourself, man, I wish I just had mom here. At least she cooked dinner and did my laundry sometimes. My roommates don't even do the dishes.

Yeah, it's the inverse. It's disgusting. They let things soak instead of putting them in the dishwasher. But I had roommates just about up until I was married. I did, absolutely. And it's just a part of a financial reality. We live in a very wealthy county, And so to live anywhere near here, you're looking at, you know, 12, it used to be 800, 900 bucks for a two bedroom in the general Nashville area.

Now it's a hundred million dollars. Now it's yes, 4 billion. And that gets you a, it's like a New York studio apartment. It's exactly right. So it's just part of the reality is I don't want to do this, but I got to get a roommate because I have financial goals and I can't meet those goals. If I have all this debt hanging over my head, my payment is gigantic. So here's the common thing when people have to face reality. I didn't mean Dave and I've talked about,

I didn't mean to put on 40 pounds during COVID. It happened, right? Here's where I, here's, this is reality. I didn't mean to look up and sell them a hundred thousand dollars in debt. It happened.

I didn't mean to. Wait, I've gone three weeks and me and my wife haven't had a meaningful conversation or I snapped at my kids. There's something about not looking to blame, not looking to run out

and be like, well, it's big. Just exhaling and looking in the mirror and saying, you know what? This time this one's on me. Yes, I did what I was told.

Yes, my parents told me to go to college and take out big student loans. Yes, I just was told after college, you're not coming back to this house. And so I went what I was told. Yes, my parents told me to go to college and take out big student loans. Yes, I just was told after college, you're not coming back to this house. And so I went and got an apartment. I did it. I signed my name on that line.

I listened to bad information. I did the best I could with what I had, but here's where I'm at. This is my reality. Because only then can you ask yourself that scary, terrifying question of, what am I going to do now? And there's a season for most of us of grief. I didn mean for this to happen i didn't know this was gonna happen i

didn't understand what this was gonna feel like when i got here with a golly me can you imagine nick is millions and millions and millions of us yeah right who man i'm making 50 000 bucks i'm making great money uh especially for my first job i didn't make fifty thousand dollars at 23 right and surely i can get an apartment and a car and food and go hang out with my friends and go to concerts nope that's part of the narrative not if you owe 50 grand in student loans and you have a car loan and you got credit card i mean you can't wait till i'm an adult and i can live on my own and then you realize i can't afford to do any of this or i'm gonna eat taco bell every meal and then your realize, I can't afford to do any of this. Or I'm going to eat Taco Bell every meal, and then your digestive system has a stake, right? We think

this is going to be this way. It's just not. You've got to own reality, and you've got to grieve it. Man, I didn't mean for it to. Then you've got to say, okay, what do we do next? And that's where Financial Peace is so great. Absolutely. So hang on the line, Nick. We're going to make sure to get you Financial Peace University and EveryDollar, get you on a plan.

I can't wait for you to call back two years from now and be like, I'm completely debt-free living on my own. We did it. I did it. Are you sick of planned obsolescence? You know, when companies make products crappy so you have to buy more of their crappy products? Well, me too. And it's why I love companies like Grip6. Grip6 is all about quality products meant to last forever.

That's why their comfortable, bulk-free belts, slimline wallets, and lightweight wool socks all come with a lifetime warranty and simple returns and exchanges. So check them out at Grip6.com today and get up to 20% off with the promo code Ramsey. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. I'm George Campbell, joined today by Dr. John Deloney. Wanted to remind you guys that if you enjoy this show, please consider subscribing, leaving us five stars, leaving reviews, and sharing it with your friends. If this show has helped you in any way, we want it to help more people like you. That would be fantastic. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Jenny joins us up next in NYC.

Jenny, welcome to the show. Hi, guys. Thank you for taking the call. Absolutely. How can John and I help? Okay. So we owe $117,000 in debt, mostly consumer debt. $20,000 of those are to the IRS.

We are already on payment terms with the IRS. That's the first thing we did when we found out we owed them money. We've made every stupid financial decision possible. We've made them. Welcome to the club. I am expecting a child in two months. I am currently working remotely. I have one child in school and one with me while I work remotely and we can choose money. I thought we were living within our means.

We thought we were doing everything we had to do until I noticed that all of our credit cards were maxing out. And I'm like, how is this possible? No, we can't do that. I did a detailed budget and we had a $1,100 deficit on a monthly basis. And we've been doing that for the past almost year. That's how you go into $117,000 in debt, for sure. Yes, and not only that, we purchased a home. We bought the least expensive home that we can purchase in the New York City area, New Jersey area. And once you open one wall that you think, oh, this $5,000 that I have to save up will help us do this one wall. Once you open that one wall, you realize that you just, it was a money pit.

And we've spent over $100,000 fixing. So that's where most of our consumer debt comes from. It's us putting stuff on the credit cards to fix the house. Because once one thing was fixed, 20 other things were broken. And then we have car ratios. We don't have any car payments. Our car is really old and has been paid for. But like I said, everything else, it's a lot of consumer debt.

Now, when we saw that, and I've been listening to you guys for the past three weeks since we started our budget, I'm angry. I'm mad. I don't know what else to do. And I am every feeling in between to get me started and motivated to just do it. My husband has been able to pick up 12 extra hours in overtime at work. But just to commute to work, it costs us around $1,200 a month between tolls and gas. We are about two hours away from where we live. And taking public transportation is going to be a six-hour commute, three going and three coming back. What's he doing for work? He works at an airport in another state. So he helps with the audit of the documents that are needed for the FAA.

Hey, Jenny, I'm going to ask you a hard question, okay? And I normally make jokes about this, and I'm not playing, okay? I hear it in your voice, okay? You're a scared mother of young kids with another one on the way, okay? I hear it in your voice. You're a scared mother of young kids with another one on the way. I hear it in you. There is something, and people can roll their eyes, and I get that, and it's worth rolling your eyes at. But if you're born and raised in Texas and you're born and raised in New York,

there's an extra you can't leave, right? Are you connected to New York? Yes. And, well, we have our employees who are very flexible with us. That's one of them. Taking one of it, we actually moved to the next state closer just because we couldn't afford living in New York anymore. No, I'm talking about cut ties completely

and go to another state where you can keep your income, your state income tax, where you can get some, some breath in your life. You've created a life for yourself that your bodies cannot exist in. You cannot commute six hours a day

and be parents and be married and be connected to one another. You just can't. You can't have that you can't have run a deficit of eleven hundred dollars twelve hundred of that is just in taxes and in tolls and in gas commuting you see like you've created a life that you can't exist in and it may be that the northeast isn't the place for you and your family right now. Is that an option for you? Cut ties with this house.

You've lost it. It's fine. Can we go somewhere and start over? Because this isn't working, man. You're drowning. It is. We are. So we are drowning,

and we've made it to the point where we are now at a 700 per plus with the overtime that we're going to be doing. I know, hon, but that's temporary. Yeah. You're working overtime. You're commuting all over the place. Your cars are falling apart, right? There's so much.

These are Band-Aids. Am I right? If I'm wrong, tell me, but it sounds like I'm right. You're right. The extra $700,000 throwing at $117,000, it is a never-ending battle at that point. And so we're trying to find any way you can drastically reduce expenses and increase or keep your income. And that might mean making some big sacrifices that you don't want to do right now. Yeah.

What's your mortgage payment? $2,400. What's your take-home pay? Clean after everything. It's $6,200. If you – is the house in sellable condition? Could you sell it and not lose your backside on it right now? No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't be able to lose after everything we've invested in the house in sellable condition? Could you sell it and not lose your backside on it right now? I won't be able to lose after everything we've invested in the house. We'll lose.

Y'all would do okay? No, we would not. Oh, you would? We would lose. It would be a loss? Yes. Could you sell it, take out what you've invested in it versus what you owe? Could you get out clean

what's it worth and what's left on the mortgage um we gave a 20 percent down the house is worth what we purchased it at right now 465 um and what's your mortgage loan so we give 20 percent down so whatever that was, 90-something thousand dollars. Okay. That's all that has been paid on the house. We've invested over $120,000 in payment. You get your 20% back, but you're still in the hole because of all the six figures you invested into it. Yeah. But that's called sunk cost fallacy.

That's right. You may never get that money back. Yes. So that may be the biggest stupid tax you pay in your life. But the problem I'm seeing right now is that 40% of your take-home pay is going towards the mortgage. Yes. So that may be the biggest stupid tax you pay in your life. But the problem I'm seeing right now is that 40% of your take-home pay is going towards the mortgage. Yes. And that's before the tolls and the gas and the kids. And so right now you can't breathe.

Mm-hmm. So this isn't a sustainable lifestyle to begin with, even with the extra $700 coming in. Okay. hundred dollars coming in okay so i i this is really hard because it's one of those things that we're like severely we're afraid of the unknown i don't think we'll be able to make what we make now in another state and we'll still have 117 000 in debt in another state and we won't be able to bring home what we're bringing now. Who said? I wouldn't put that out into the world.

You work remote, correct? Could you move out of New York? They're doing me a favor because I am high risk pregnancy. But now I'm required in the office. What do you make annually? I make $70,000.

Doing what? I'm an HR analyst. You absolutely can make $70,000 outside of New York. And if you make $60,000 in the state of Tennessee, you keep a chunk of that money because there's no state income tax.

And you can make $60,000 being a math teacher in the right school district. So here's what I'm saying. I don't want you to limit yourself on fantasy, on imagination because y'all are in desperate need of data, of facts. And your husband, what does he do at the airport? He is a coordinator that helps with the aircraft records. Okay. I travel

all over the country. So does George. We've been to a lot of airports. They need a lot of coordination across the country. Okay. And I bet he could coordinate all kinds of different things. Here's what I'm saying. You'll have to get real about the fact that you'll have created a life for yourselves that is not sustainable. You cannot live in the life you've created. Whether that means move, whether that means different jobs, whether that means sell your house. And yes, you're going to eat the $100,000 you put into it that stinks. But you can get out, even, Steve, and rent for a couple of years, move to Kansas, move to Texas. I don't care what you do, but I want you to imagine a life where you've got peace.

And you've got to build from there. Our scripture of the day comes from Deuteronomy 31.6. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them. For the Lord your God goes with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Switching gears, Jackie Chan once said... Wow, what a pivot that was. He said, don't wait for the change of circumstances.

You change the circumstances. That's a good one. In other news. That was, just didn't expect it, Austin. Well done. George is the king, the king of the transition. A lot of wisdom in both of those quotes, timeless and modern. There we go. All right. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Will's up next in Columbia, South Carolina. Will, welcome to the show. Thanks, man. That was a hard left turn. I agreed.

It's hard to follow the wisdom of Jackie Chan. We will do our best. What's up? What's up with you? Yeah, I was calling. I've been a longtime listener. I have kind of a unique thing. I had a great job, bought a couple cars in cash,

don't have any debt other than the house. Change jobs, income's going down a little bit. We'll go up significantly over time. But, I mean, I just have been really frustrated by the amount of money that we've spent on the two cars that are in our driveway. I think just generally by the amount of money we were spending, even though we weren't going into debt or saving, just felt like we could have done a lot better job

with the income that we've had the last several years. So, yeah, I'm sending some general advice on the cars specifically and, you know, thoughts there on what to do. Solemn. Just kind of in general. How many do you have? We've got two. You only need one?

No, we need two. Sell them. So selling them, you're going to have to go buy two more cars then, right? Right. So here's the problem. What's your gut reaction

when I say sell them? Is your thought? I know I need to sell. I know I need to sell one for sure. Right. Like, we've got, you know, probably $80,000 worth of car sitting in the driveway. What kind of car is this? Between the two.

It's two cars. Between the two cars. What are the two cars, between the two cars. What are the two cars? A Volvo SUV and an Audi that I made in a purchase several months ago after a car accident. I'm hoping to get rid of today. So they're worth $80,000 combined? Yeah. What's your household income this year?

What do you think it's going to be? Yeah, so it'll be, we're dropping from about $400,000200. Well, that's still a heck of an income. So parameter-wise, ratio-wise, you're still okay. You got two paid-for cars. Are you just wanting to pay off the house and you want to expedite this? What's giving you pause in the cars? This is deeper. You feel shame over this. How did you violate your own conscience here? Yeah. What makes you think this was an unwise purchase based on your income and where you guys are at financially? I don't know, man.

I just like, I look at it and just have the sense that we could have saved a lot more than we did or could be in a better position than we are. We're not in a bad spot at all. So what's a better position in your mind? I mean, bigger number in the bank, probably. Do you have a fully funded emergency fund? Yeah. And you're investing 15% into retirement?

Yeah. And you feel like 15% into retirement? Yeah. And you feel like you're on track? How old are you guys? 27. And how much do you have in retirement? Probably about $200,000. You're going to have like $5 or $10 million at retirement. So when you're saying I could be doing better,

where is that coming from? I don't know how you define better. Hey, let me see if I can get at this. The other day, my six-year-old daughter was outside and she was painting a picture. I went to like Michael's and got a bunch of these little miniature canvases and she was painting. And she was listening to her music and being

demonstrative i don't know where she gets that from but she was waving her arms around and painting and my wife said hey you're gonna knock over the cup and she kept moving around and then she knocked it over fell down and i watched her for a minute and she just froze and sat there. And the water ended up moving all over everything. And finally I said, hey, you've knocked over the water. You can't put it back in the cup. You can choose to get up and go get some towels so that it doesn't cause any more problems. And then she got up and ran to go get some towels. It was almost like I just got like snapping your fingers

to get somebody out of there. They got stuck, and you're wasting a lot of energy and time, and you're just beating yourself up. And again, I don't know why, but the question isn't we could have, we should have. Cool, maybe you could have, but right now it's happened,

and the only thing you can do is sell the cars or make peace with the cars in your driveway. We should have. Cool. Maybe you could have. But right now, it's happened. And the only thing you can do is sell the cars or make peace with the cars in your driveway. As George said, financially, you're fine. If they're haunting you, then sell them, man. And then go about your day. But sitting in, we should have, we could have, you're just choosing to poison today with decisions you made yesterday. You see what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah. And so I want to see, like, let me say this. today with decisions you made yesterday. You see what I'm saying? Yeah.

Let me say this. This is not a situation that you can think your way out of. You're just going to have to go do. Is that fair? Yeah, man. Will, what's left on the mortgage? About $350,000. We've probably got $250,000 in equity in it.

Awesome. So even making $200,000, you said your income dropped. How quickly do you think you'll pay off this mortgage? Three years? Yeah. I mean, I think we've had a longer road. I think it's just trying to adjust up, wanting to just change and do things faster, man. I think we've gotten a longer road. I think it's just trying to adjust up, wanting to just change and do things faster, man.

I think we've gotten caught up in lifestyle stuff. You're 27 and you sound 60. You're doing so great. Knock on any 27-year-old's door and they'll be like, you don't have any debt? There's people who are 45 still paying off their student loans. Here's what we'll call it. We're going to call it your, I don't like this, this is what dave calls it but it applies here it's your stupid

tax congratulations you made a ton of money at 24 25 26 way to go you're changing you're changing gears at 27 awesome you've learned hey moving forward as we build up our business back up and our income goes from 200 back to 400 and then on to 800 um we're going to spend our money differently we're just not audi people we're toyota 400 people and i'm we're great with that um and we're going to pay our house you see what i'm saying it's just about saying yeah we recognize that was dumb we're going to do different next time can you do that no it's super help super helpful. Yeah, man, nice. I appreciate the help.

That's why we made the call. I have to listen to this stuff. The general principles on YouTube for a long time. Probably the kick in the butt. I can get it in person great. You're a guy who has very high standards for himself, I'm guessing. You are super driven to be doing what you're doing, making what you're making at your age.

And I think it can be easy for guys like you to beat themselves up at every single corner instead of just being grateful and being free with the contentment of, man, we are so blessed. We got a pile of money in the bank. We don't owe anyone anything. We drive amazing, beautiful cars. And remember that time we did something stupid.

And we have done some stupid things along the way. And we're just not going to do them again. Hey, do me a favor, Will. Stop talking so bad to Will. Would you commit to that? Yeah. Because you talk to Will in a way that if you heard somebody talking that way to a waitress

in a restaurant, you'd get up and knock their teeth out of their head, wouldn't you? Some close to it, yeah. Yeah. You don't suck. You're not a loser. You're not an idiot. You haven't bankrupt your family.

You're not a terrible husband. You're not all these things that you say to yourself on a regular basis. I'm so stupid. This is so dumb. I can't believe I... Stop.

Stop. Stop. Treat Will with dignity and respect because Will deserves it. Will's doing a good job. Cool? Yeah, man. Deal? Appreciate it. Thank you, guys.

Thank you for calling, brother. Appreciate it. Good stuff from Will. George, I've been down that rabbit hole, man. Make a mistake, do something dumb, and I just get paralyzed because I just beat myself up, man. Could have done better, John. Could have done better.

This is classic John. Classic John. Way to go, Deloney. That's the one. Idiot. Yeah. And at some point, you've got to make peace with yourself and then go. Well, if you look in the rearview mirror long enough,

you get a crick in your neck. Right. Go. So let's look in the windshield. It's a lot bigger for a reason. Go. Your future's bright, Will. We're proud of you, man.

Way to go. That puts this hour of the Ramsey Show in the books. My thanks to Dr. John Deloney, all the folks in the booth, and you, America. Until next time, spend wisely, save intentionally, and give generously. Do you love a good day, Brandt? Want to see the latest Ramsey Show videos going viral? Check out your favorite moments from the Ramsey Show on YouTube. Go watch and subscribe to the Ramsey Show channel on YouTube.