The Ramsey Show - App - How Can I Get My Spouse on Board? (Hour 2)

Episode Date: November 21, 2023

Девочка-пай Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this is The Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. I am Rachel Cruz, hosting this hour with my great friend and Ramsey personality, Jade Warshaw. And we are, again, answering your questions about your life, your money, your relationships, your career, anything and everything. Give us a call at 888-825-5225. All right, we're going to go to Vancouver with Juliano. Juliano, what a great name. Welcome to the show.

How can we help? Hi there. Thank you so much for having me on. Long time listener, first time caller. I had a question. So we're actually moving to Indiana in about six months. We're just waiting for my immigration papers

to go through. I had the pleasure of marrying an American. Okay, so great. Well, welcome to America, Giuliano. Thank you very much. Okay, so you guys are getting married. You're moving down to Indiana. Yeah.

And so we have a townhouse in Vancouver, and the market here has just been crazy. We've done very well just by owning. So we're looking to enter the U.S. with approximately $300,000 U.S. And I'm looking to try and purchase a house that's under that limit in order to be mortgage-free. We're both 29. Wow.

Whereas my wife's pushing a little bit to maybe have a little bit nicer of a kitchen or a slightly bigger property and kind of go more up to the $350,000, $400,000 range and have a small mortgage. My big concern there, obviously, I value the advice you guys give is to try to be mortgage-free, but I'm about five months into starting my own business. And the idea of being mortgage-free gives me peace of mind knowing that I don't have to maintain such high monthly debts. So how do I talk to my wife and, I guess, compromise or get her to see my view? Yeah.

Interesting. How much are you guys going to be bringing in a year? Do you know? I have an opportunity to work for a bank in the U.S., which would bring in about $100,000, but I'm currently trying to pursue my own business, which I'm trying to make the same amount, but it's only been about four months. Okay. Sorry, are you making anything from your own business? Not yet, no, but our product goes live in about a month or so. Okay, that's great. And what's your wife make? My wife's a stay-at-home mom. We have three lovely children. Okay. So great.

Have you guys, have you looked to see what I'm sure you have, kind of what the market is for around under that $300,000 mark? Yeah. Like in my own opinion, I'm, I believe I can compromise a little bit more. And for around $250,000, the home size meets all of our family needs. It's really, I guess, just the trimmings and slightly bigger size of properties, what my wife's wanting for the family. What does $250,000 get you? Be specific. A four-bedroom, three-bathroom, 2,000-square-foot home on maybe a 4,000 square foot lot. Okay. And how old, like,

how, like fairly old or 15 to 20 years old. Okay. Okay. Um, oh man, I don't think, I don't think either of you are wrong. I was going to say, I can understand where your wife is coming from. I can't. The reason I understand where she's coming from is because you could afford you can afford easily to do that like if you have three hundred thousand dollars in cash taking on a fifty or a hundred thousand dollar mortgage is you'll be just fine yes and i honestly think that it could be this is a i'm gonna do a little bit of girl math here i honestly think it could be a little worth it because if it's a newer nicer property there may be less spent in repairs when you first get in so it's like do you want to pay for less headache up front or do you want to pay less

and when you come in it's like all right we got to switch the carpet all right we got to do something about this weird tile in the bathroom we're gonna want to replace the kitchen cabinets in two years we're gonna we're gonna want to do all these things when it could be more done on the front end with a very small mortgage yeah i'm voting can i place my vote can i put my ballot in absolutely yes i think i'm voting team wife okay this is only because well let me before i vote team, do you have any other debt? No other debt. No. Do you have any money saved?

Besides the 300K? We have 25,000 saved. It's not earmarks for retirement or education. It's just general savings. Just as emergency. Just call it emergency fund. They're actually, yes.

And there is a little bit of debt actually. It's just the debt that I'm accruing from starting my business. What's that? We're looking at currently about 40,000. Oh, that's a little bit. No, so the money we're entering with the US at 300, I've factored in that we're going to be paying

this debt down as well. Well, what I would do is I take some of that. I take 40,000 of the,000 and pay it off completely. Because if you want to talk about going into your new business, whenever that is, sounds like you're trying to build that bridge now. That for me would provide more stress. Having debt on the business would give me more stress than having $50,000 on a home. Because with your home, at least it's a forced savings account.

Every time you make a payment, more goes into the equity right and more goes on to that principle but with this debt hanging around i'm sure there's an interest rate attached plus there's just the stress of oh my gosh i've got to make this thing successful because if not we're left with this price tag and working from that place of debt is never what i would recommend you're going to make completely different decisions do you see what i'm saying like You're going to make completely different decisions. Do you see what I'm saying? Like that is going to affect how you run your business more than you could possibly imagine. And comma, I want to make sure that you're not continuing to add debt as you start this business. Right. I hear you. So to summarize, you're saying pay down the accrued debt and then pay off and transfer the debt over to a small mortgage that is manageable monthly. I'm saying take the $300,000,

pay off $40,000. So now you're left with $260,000. And then now this does change a little bit what size home you get. So I can't, I wouldn't necessarily. It's not swapping debt for debt. It's not swapping debt from debt. But it is using, yes, that cash that you have from the sale of your home in Canada to help pay off the business debt. And then I think because of that choice, yeah, there's, you're taking on what we had said earlier, anywhere from 50 to 100,000 may go down to 50. Maybe now you max out a a fifty thousand dollar mortgage and that's what we're going to do and i think that is gonna that's gonna give you a totally different mindset um and and yeah on the on the business side i mean i think jade is right we we talked to so many small business owners through entree leadership a department here at rmc solutions

and help walk with them and one of the the phrases, and again, we're pretty countercultural. I mean, even talking about taking on a small, you know, we understand all that, but moving at the speed of cash, it changes who you are. It changes how you go home at night. It changes your sleep. It changes the anxiety that you feel towards a small business. When there's not that risk there, you're going to move slower. It's not as fun and as exciting. And people, what we find, especially with entrepreneurs, they have so many ideas

and a lot of them are great and hopefully they all work. But sometimes they get stuck with a bill with something that didn't work and they're having to pay for it for years to come. So just be thoughtful on that. So yeah, we're like half team wife.

I'd go half that year mark. 50,000 maybe. 50,000 on a mortgage and you guys can pay it off quickly and get a better home that you're not going to have to keep up with as much. I think that's great. Well, thanks so much for calling in. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, you guys.

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was walking by ken coleman yeah i got the bat signal it's very exciting come in here and join us for this segment because there was a video that was published. Was it Bloomberg? Maybe Business Insider? Do you guys know? I mean, it was just everywhere. It was everywhere. It was a TikTok video of a young girl. We're going to say Gen Z.

Yeah. And she was struggling with the reality of what working full-time meant and how it felt. Nine to five. Nine to five nine to five the exhaustion so let's go ahead and uh play play that video sweet girl i know i'm probably just being so dramatic and annoying but this is my first job like my first nine to five job after college and

i'm in person and i'm commuting in the city and it takes me forever to get there there's no way i'm going to be able to afford living in the city right now so that's off the table like if i was able to walk to work and it would be fine but i'm not so it literally takes me like i leave here like i get on the train at 7 30 and i don't get home till like 6 15 earliest and then like i don't have time to do anything i don't i want to shower eat my dinner and go to sleep i don't have time or energy to cook my dinner either like I don't have energy to work out like that's out the window like I'm so upset oh my god nothing to do with my job at all but just like the nine to five schedule in general is crazy being in the office nine to five like if it was remote you get off at five and you're home and everything's fine but like

I'm not home it takes me long to get home and like like people that drive to the office like it doesn't you don't get off at five and i know it could be worse i know i could be working longer but like i literally get off it's pitch black like i don't have energy how do you have friends like how do you have time to like meet like a guy i don't know like how do you have time for like dating like i don't have time for anything and i'm like so stressed out i just want to hug her okay first things first she gets home around 6 15 and all she has time for is eating and showering i want to know how long of a shower she's taking does she have that's a long shower do you have kids no she has no concept of time i don't have time to work out, to see boys.

It's 6.15. What are you doing? Wait, though. Wait, though, Ken, because I kind of, there were parts of me that kind of felt what she was saying a little bit. What part? Because I've always worked from home. I've always run business from home, which means like you get the, you have the ability

to tweak your schedule very easily. You don't have to ask anybody. If I say I'm going to start my day at 9 a.m. or if Tuesday I go, I got to take my daughter to daycare. I'm going to start my day at 10 a.m. and then I'm going to come back at 9 p.m. and make up that hour. I can do that. But when you when you have a nine to five job, it's like, no, you're here from nine to five. That is your block. So it is a lot less freedom in that way and when i took this job it was my first nine to five i i felt this shell shock like i was like oh wow this is a big block of time i've always blocked my time in smaller chunks you're very sweet that you what you're

saying is not the same as what she's saying it's not the same when she gets home at 6 15 all she has time for is a shower and maybe a quick microwave meal. She can't even boil noodles. She's tired. What she's really saying is she's weak. No! No, this is a weak-minded young girl.

No, Ken Coleman! She said, I like my job, but if I lived in the city and I could walk there i'd be fine the whole meltdown was about her time from 6 15 until bedtime i'm telling you and she didn't account for the four hours thus this is a young girl who's very kind but if you're used to more hours this is a meltdown on tiktok it is a meltdown but if you are used to more hours in your day that you can spend the way you choose.

Okay, but it does feel like this is her first job, though. It's her first job. 100%. She is reacting to like, oh my gosh, I just hit like the world. This is adulthood. This is adulthood. Thank you. It's adulthood.

But let me say this. I remember waking up probably like four months into work after college. Okay. Coming here and thinking like, oh oh my gosh like this is my this is my life this is my life for the next 40 years or however long like every point up until then there's a transition right elementary school to middle school to high school there's something new and and you wake up in this like daunting adult brain where you think this is okay this is my life forever.

And I remember getting home watching Wheel of Fortune at 630 and at seven o'clock, I was tired. No, I wasn't on TikTok. I knew like I have bills to pay. Like we have to work. We're adults here. But I do think it is. I get it.

I think so too. You're tired. Please tell me you're tired. You get tired. You're tired. 100%. Last night, my two teenage boys were out of the house with friends. Josie, our youngest, had a friend upstairs.

I was in the living room watching the football game and completely snoring. In between. So I get it. That's not what this video is about. This video is, hold on a second. You guys think I'm so mean. You're being curmudgeon-y. The curmudgeon.

Since when did having common sense make you a curmudgeon? Well, it does. Then guilty as charged because this gal is freaking out over the amount of time she has between getting home from work and going to bed. I know. That's what this is about. She is freaking out, but she also could be learning something about how she's, she could be, I'm not saying she is, she could be learning something about how she's she could be i'm not saying she is she could be

learning something about how she's what she's bent towards because i do think some people are more bent towards i can go to a nine to five job i can punch my clock i can be there from whatever eight to four nine to five whatever and it doesn't bother me and i get used to it great fine and then other people are like i need to work for myself i need to be able to set my schedule i need to be able to start and stop she could be like oh my gosh if this is the world like i need to work for myself i need to be able to set my schedule i need to be able to start and stop she could be like oh my gosh if this is the world like i can't do it she could be doing that all right let me take another oh i think it's another angle but but even jade let me say this not against this girl i'm ready for another angle but okay but but i'm just saying if you had to and

didn't have a choice you got to work, you wouldn't necessarily probably be melting down. Here's an idea. You're saying if she had no other options and this is what she had to do, you would have to find that inner strength. She doesn't have another option. You got to work. Yeah, that's right. You got to work.

Let me take another tack. Okay. All right. Let me just not be a curmudgeon for a second. All right. Let me put on. I curmudgeon for a second. All right. Let me put on. I think most of America is probably agreeing with you. Of course they are. We're playing devil's advocate.

Which they almost always do. But anyway, here's the thing. Let me take the caring dad hat for a moment. Okay. Take the caring dad. I understand, sweetheart. This is a real shock to your system. All the things that Sister Jade and Sister Rachel said.

They love you. They're your older sisters. Sister or sister? You would be sister with a UH or an a only i get it here's the point if you're struggling like this call your friend uh listen to a taylor swift song uh talk to mom and dad don't go on tiktok and melt down stop with me i. I'm going to share every, I'm not, because let me tell you something. I got some crazy thoughts in my head.

I don't want anybody to know. I sure as H-E double hockey stick. I'm not going on TikTok going, I'm wildly insecure and I'm anxious and I'm melting down. Well, let me just tell you, I edited some things out that were even more personal.

Wait, what? I edited some things out that were even more personal. So that what? I edited some things out that were even more personal. Oh, wow. So that was the edited version. That's right. You did. I have seen, and I know, yes, he did. So what I'm saying is, as the dad, can we stop sharing our souls on TikTok?

Now, that, Ken, is very good. Very good. We all deserve a chance to melt down. Yes. But for God's sake, do it in private. With a friend with somebody safe get with jesus yes now we're talking about this poor girl on a huge show and i don't i don't i don't mean her any ill will at all because i'd actually go oh i want to give you a hug i get it

life is hard this does suck yeah either move into the city later when you could afford it, or let's get a job where we don't have to commute. Because commuting is a real stress. Yeah. I don't want to in any way minimize the commute. But, you know, look, you get home at 6.15, maybe you don't take a three-hour shower. I don't know. Or maybe you work out at five.

Maybe eat on the train. Maybe get up at 5.30, work out. I don't know. Lots of things we don't know there's a way to do it there's a way to do it and i will say this it's a cry for having multiple children sitting here all of us yes we probably can adjust more by the way i'm not kidding it makes you it makes you adjust they don't know tired having multiple kids is tired to the bone can i get an amen amen there it is. Amen. Hallelujah.

Thank you, Jesus. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I am Ramsey Personaite Rachel Cruz hosting this hour with Ramsey Personaite Jade Warshaw. And we brought our other fellow Ramsey Persona, Ken Coleman by. Big bro stopped in.

Just walking through the halls. Nothing to do. We waved him in because we had a reaction video last segment and we just love Ken and we said, we'll keep him. Why don't you stay one more segment? So fun. And help answer a few of these calls coming in. So let's go to Kyle in Macon, Georgia. Hey, Kyle,

welcome to the show. Hey, Rachel. Hey, Jay. Hey, Kim. Thanks so much for taking the call today. Absolutely. How can we help? So just, I guess, a little backstory. My wife's a teacher. We live in one county and she teaches in another. We're currently new to the whole Baby Step thing, but we're all in. We've signed up for Rambly Plus. We've got every dollar premium. We've got everything set up. We're starting our budget. So we're going hard.

But we're kind of future thinking, and so we're considering whether to, when we get to Baby Step 4, pay off our current house completely as we're kind of working through the four, five, and six, or just pay off enough as a down payment for a new house in the county where she teaches. Now, the reason behind it is because it's going to cost us about $2,500 a year per child to send them across county lines to a school where she teaches at. So we're kind of trying to figure out what's the best option to be more financially prudent for our family's future. Okay. Yeah, it's a great question. So your wife, she's teaching in the county over, and so you're, just I want to clarify, make sure I got the question correct,

that you guys are trying to decide, okay, once we get to Baby Steps 4, 5, and 6, should we just go ahead and move or pay off our house in full in the county that you're in? Correct. Yeah. So we want to determine whether we want to pay off here before moving or just pay off enough to move to where we can move into a house with all the prerequisite 20% down, 15 near face, and all that. Quick question. What's the benefit of moving the kids to the new school district? Just to be in the same school as mom, or is it a better school district? It's a better school district.

So we're kind of on the outskirts of the town. So Warner Robins is the greater area, and Houston County is the county that it's in. But we're literally like a mile from the border of Houston County. But we just happen to not be a part of it I probably would then I'd once you get to baby steps four five and six I'd continue to pay extra towards the mortgage just like you normally would because it's still a forced savings account and when you get ready to move and you sell your home and you receive that equity that would be your down payment on your next home. That's probably what I would do.

How much debt do you guys have to pay off? We're at about $130,000 and we make $150,000 a year. Okay. So how have you guys mapped out the timeline on when you think you'll have it paid off? Yeah, so we're currently looking at May of 2026. I'm actually about to start a side hustle with a friend of mine doing web development and software development. Oh, good for you. And hopes to kind of make some extra money to help get this done quicker. Okay, but that has the kids in that school for two more years. Do you guys

want to move sooner than that? Well, so they're not in school yet. So our youngest or our only child currently is about to be two. And then we have one on the way who's doing that. Oh, okay. So you guys have some time. Okay. That's great. That's good. Yeah, we have Daniel, our younger, our only child right now will not even start for at least three years. So by the time we even get to where he's starting school, we won't, we'll be done out of consumer debt.

Gotcha. But just trying to figure out, how much time do we give ourselves? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I would definitely still be putting money towards paying off your house, just like Jade said. And then when you guys get to the point that you're like, hey, we're going to move for schools,

you start looking. And then when you sell your house, all that equity can roll down into a down payment and you may have to still take out a small mortgage um especially if your house isn't paid off where you guys currently are which it probably won't be um but yeah that that's what i would do just like jade said it's kind of a forced yeah savings you're not losing anything by doing that do you see that so what yeah what it was so it so i guess that i that was really our biggest thing was is it when we do decide to move it's going to be is it worth five thousand dollars a year

to make the move and you know get into a new mortgage versus just paying the five thousand dollars a year what's the five thousand dollars a year am i missing that pay for the kids going out of district i see so here's the question yeah you already answered one power one part of this is the school system's better where your wife teaches and that's better for the kids presumably yes you check that box yes all right so the question is if the school system that your wife teaches in that you want to send the kids to was in the same place your house was would you be moving houses yeah i mean you would we would yeah well so well no if we were meaning you'd stay in the house yeah so which is more important to you staying in the house that you're in now that it's paid

off or it will be paid off or uh saving the five thousand dollars living in a different house but the kids are in their district because i think that becomes the ultimate question for me. I'd pay the $5,000 a year if I really love the house. Yeah, that's a good point, Ken. Because now I get the best of both worlds. So what's important to you? What's the most important, the house or the kids in the school district? Yeah, I think for us it'd probably be the house just because we're –

the only reason we moved into this house was just because we used USDA and didn't have any down. At the time, we know now. It's not really smart. So here's the deal. That's a line item for you now. When the kids are in school, the $5,000, that's your line item. And it'll be $2,500 at first, right, for one kid? Yeah, that's correct.

Yeah, it'll only be $2,500 for the first two years. I mean, we're all parents here, Ken. You have older kids than us but also kyle my kids they're in public school and i will say one of the gifts of it that we have found is that all the kids are zoned for that school for our elementary school for the middle school and high school in surrounding areas so all my kids friends all live in the neighborhood next to us and all of it so there's like a community that's built so i could see you guys when they enter you know maybe late elementary school to be like gosh we want to be part of this

community and at that point that's another value that we want very good point to add and so then we do want to move for that reason so even your reasons for for you know maybe you're good to stay in the house you're in till they're in second grade third grade then maybe maybe not always maybe you guys feel like oh my gosh we want to be part of that community because your kids are in private school so their friends would be scattered everywhere but uh they're in private schools close by and you wouldn't believe how many kids they went to public school with in elementary school and middle school and they've okay so rachel makes a very good point very good point on this real quick question are the neighborhoods better i know the school system is better makes me believe that And they've... Okay. So Rachel makes a very good point. Very good point on this. Real quick question.

Are the neighborhoods better? I know the school system is better. Makes me believe that maybe the neighborhoods are better in this other area. Is that true or false? Oh, yeah, absolutely. All right. So you can look this up. Google this.

I won't eat up any time on this. But there is actual data out there. And it's why we moved into the neighborhood that Stacey and I moved into years ago. And it was a bit of a stretch for us. We sacrificed in other areas to be able to do it. But there's data out there that the nicer the neighborhood, the wealthier the people, more successful people, and that ends up really helping your kids' long-term relationships. They're around other successful families. There's something to that. It's not a guarantee. It's not a silver bullet.

Don't read too much into that. But there's something to be said, not just from what Rachel said from a community standpoint, but also the relationships and how it bodes for their future. They become good friends with good families. That really helps long-term in their career. They've mapped this stuff out. So I would think about that as well. Absolutely. Yeah. And our church is on that side of town as well. So getting closer to everything is really the goal, and that's kind of where we're going to be. Well, I would go there, but paying the house off, like Jade said, is still the right play. Absolutely.

It gives you more options. Sounds like you're heading in that direction at some point. Yeah, maybe over years, Kyle, it'll probably be a longer-term decision for you guys, nothing you'll do in the next year or two. But, yeah, I think it's a great goal to have. And, again, not to keep on this point but that's how winston i were when our daughter started kindergarten we knew where we were we had five years to say okay we're we our goal was to be in this part of the county all of it and we started saving and that was our five-year goal

and we made it happen which is awesome so again i think having those goals for your family kyle is is huge and all of you listening and watching that too, just be, you think about yourself. It's not just the money piece, which is important. We want to be wise about that. But the holistic view of you and your family unit too, I think is huge. So thanks for the call, Kyle. Thank you, Ken, for joining us. Yes. Always a pleasure. Got busy things to do, Ken. Keeping the world afloat. We appreciate. By the way, buy Rachel's new book, I'm Glad for What I Have, and Money's Not a Math Problem by Jade Warshall. Buy their books, rancysolutions.com. Go now. Thanks so kind, Ken. We'll be back.

Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I am Rachel Cruz, hosting this hour with Jade Warshaw. Give us a call at 888-825-5225. It's a free call anywhere in the country. And I always feel like, Jade, the week of Thanksgiving obviously brings a lot of gratitude and also a lot of shopping that's right black friday uh is a real shopping day and i think it really can be to your advantage if you don't get taken you know carried away with this to find some deals for christmas i know i have some amazon alerts uh that are going to be hitting um yep for some gifts so you can take advantage of that.

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Money's Not a Math Problem. So, again, lots of stuff going on here at Ramsey Solutions. We are here in the festivities of Black Friday. So, take advantage agreed money's not a math problem so again lots of stuff going on here at Ramsey Solutions we are here in the festivities of Black Friday so take advantage of these deals get some great meaningful gifts again for your friends and family ramseysolutions.com store up next we have Alex in Houston Texas hey Alex welcome to the show hey good afternoon how are y'all? We're doing great. How can we help? All right. So, two forms of debt. Unfortunately, I do have a car note, a student loan, and here are the numbers. So, basically, I make $52 gross, which is $41.7 net. At the moment, I've been saving and I actually have $18,000 saved up.

Oh, good for you. Yes, I know. I've been trying to save them as much as possible. So my question is, okay, do I, I know this is kind of a big deal, but like, knock out the car if I have $17,900 left? Do I knock out the student loans? What do you have on the student loans? Basically, $12,000. You know, I would probably go ahead. Well, we teach the debt snowball where it's your lowest amount.

So honestly, Alex, I would go ahead and just knock out the student loan debt, get rid of that. And then if you have your emergency funds of $1,000 or starter emergency fund, you're going to bring that 18 again all the way down to 1,000. So you'll throw 12 at the student loan, get it paid off, you'll have 5,000 left, which is awesome, which means you'll only have, I guess, close to 12,000, 13,000 left to knock out on the car so i would go ahead and just get the student loan done and then start chipping away at the car next okay so i also have kelly blue booked it and it i could sell and get it like i could sell 13 get get 13 out of it so does that play into it at all or like you could sell the car for what uh sorry i could sell the

kelly blue booked it and i can sell it for um 13 3 13 000 no i wouldn't because you're still underwater yeah yeah i would keep the car because it's not it's not an extreme amount um well you're kind of yeah if you didn't have this 18k saved it would look a lot different but with that money yeah you're going to be out of this in no time you know cool very quickly all right so then knock out student loans and then throw the 5,000 at the car payment and then just have that 1,000 saved up right yeah exactly yep that's exactly what we would do that's great Alex I'm really I'm yeah and just the and what's what i love about the idea of just the debt snowball and working this plan is that even though you saved 18 000 which is incredible um you know i don't know if you had a goal you were

saving for but the idea you know a lot of people are just like i just know i need to put savings away and it's kind of this like nebulous idea yeah and so there's something about having that more focused goal of looking at the car and saying you know what did we what did we say you know you have like 13 000 left on it and to be like okay 13 000 that's my next goal and there's like an actual number to it there's something really motivating about that alex and i would encourage you you know if you can bring in an extra thousand dollars a month in side hustles, $800, work a couple nights, maybe some weekends, and just pick up some money for a short period of time, you could

throw a lot at that $13,000 and get it knocked out really quickly. So again, this idea of putting money towards that by upping some income, cutting expenses, I think at your rate, Alex, you're going to do awesome. So yeah, I'd have that student loan paid off by dinner tonight, Jade. Oh, come on now. Get it out. All right. Up next, we have Heidi in Houston, Texas. Hey, Heidi, welcome to the show. Hi, thanks for taking my call. Absolutely. How can we help? Yeah. So my husband and I recently started listening to your podcast, and we are looking at our first house and had some questions. So we're currently debt-free, and we've been saving for a down payment,

and we've been house hunting for a few years and finally found a house that we both really love, and we were actually thinking about putting an offer on it today. We've been looking at our budget a lot and talking about it a lot and looking at the money that we would need up front. And we had a question about the recommendation that you have for the house payment to be under 25% of your take-home pay. Specifically, we're wondering if you include taxes and insurance within that 25% or just the principal and interest. And then kind of tagging off of that also, would you include the 15% of your household income that you're supposed to invest in retirement before you take the 25% of your take-home pay or would that be?

Yeah, it's great questions, Heidi great questions so so no you would you would include that 15 you just look at your entire take home pay that hits that hits your account that and that would include investing right i mean like it would be that entire number so you would not exclude 15 and then look at that amount as your 25 um no you would look at your entire take home pay so that is i guess the good news. And then the bad news is, yes, we do include taxes and insurance in that 25%. Yeah. And not to be, I kind of want to add something else to it. Have you guys picked a house yet? Like, do you kind of know this is what we're thinking of?

Yeah. So we actually, we are thinking about putting an offer on a specific house today, actually, that, um, they're, um, we're pretty confident that we'd be able to get, we were going to make the offer in a couple hours here. Um, but yeah, we do have a specific house in mind, uh, with like a specific price and everything. So good. Good just I always tell people the first time Sam and I bought a house I was shook by really the cost because I was like we've got our down payment that's it that's all we need and then Heidi I was like oh wait a minute there's the down payment and when we had to put the offer and they were like what's your earnest money that you're gonna put down and I was like earnest money what's that and then they were like then there's closing costs and some of those you have to pay out? And I was like, earnest money? What's that? And then they were like, then there's closing costs. And some of those you have to pay

out of pocket. I'm like, closing costs? And then there was the inspection and the appraisal. And there were all these things that I was like, I just didn't know. And luckily, we had extra money set aside. But I always like to tell people, hey, be prepared. I always say when you go to buy a house, come in with a stacked deck. And I say payment for d earnest money for e closing costs for c and then the k i say consider other things such as inspection all those things appraisals so just know going in so i actually have created a very large spreadsheet and included all of those that's awesome i've included i and included all of those. Good for you, Rob. That's awesome. I've included all of those things, down payment, closing costs,

prepaid costs, inspection. Let's go. The rent to get out of our apartment in the next few months, moving expenses. My husband actually has a 401K that we're trying to convert to Roth from a previous job. And we'd like to do that this year since we're in a lower income tax bracket this year. So I've included that. I tried to include everything I can think of. Amazing. Well done, Heidi. Well done. I mean, that's incredible. That's a planner right there. Yes, and the diligence of it. I'm so excited for you guys.

I really am. I think you have your focus. You said you're a new listener, but you are doing all the right things and being so wise with a purchase like a house because it's the largest purchase and we want it to be a blessing and not a curse. So we're excited for you, Heidi.

I hope all the numbers work out and you guys get the house that you want. Thanks, Jade, for being a great co-host. Thanks to everyone in the booth. And thank you, America, for listening. This is The Ramsey Show. Bye.