The Ramsey Show - App - How Do I Surprise My Wife With a Trip if We Share a Bank Account? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: October 28, 2021

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Thank you. Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studio, this is the Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your money, your relationships, and your life. I'm John Deloney, joined here by my friend George Camel, and we are taking your calls on pretty much anything. And some would say the advice is worth what you pay for it. Venmo us.

Yeah. If it's good advice, tip your bartenders. Because I'm not Venmo. Actually, this morning, George, my wife said, we have to pay somebody, and I texted her. Somebody texted me a Venmo thing, and I texted her, and she said, it's the 21st century. I need you to have this. John is just John and 86-year-old grandmothers who are still writing checks at the grocery store.

I actually – You are so anti-tech and privacy-oriented. I have a checkbook, actually. It's not that I'm anti. I don't know. You know how mad I get when I have to write a check, John? I'm like, come on, what is this? The 1950s?

I've got to find my checkbook? I saw a blog recently that just was talking to young people about how to write checks. That's the thing. How it works, and I thought, oh, no. I'm officially an old man. Yeah. That and some of my favorite childhood music is now on the oldie station. That's how you know it's happening.

And I'm only 27. That's so weird. That's so weird. Anyway, what are you going to do about it? Yikes. Yeah, we actually included that in our high school curriculum. This is not a joke. We included a segment on how to write checks because students have no idea.

How is nobody talking? Everyone's talking about inflation and housing prices. John, they don't know how to do laundry. How are they not talking about check writing being a thing of the past? We're doing the Lord's work over here in the solutions. That's the sign of the apocalypse. Unbelievable. 888-825-5225.

It's 888-825-5225. Speaking of crazy, John, let me tell you, this article came by my desk, as it does. And here's the title to this article. Man spent $150 eating every meal at Six Flags since 2014 to pay off student debt. That's not great. You know what I love? I love a good loophole. This guy found a loophole in the Matrix, and he exploited it.

California man named Dylan shelled out a measly $150 a year to eat every meal at Six Flags Magic Mountain in order to save thousands, pay off his student loan debt, got married, and purchased a house in Los Angeles. And that's the loophole. He found out $150 a year, year-round access to Six Flags, includes parking and two meals a day. So he went every single day for years and got these free two meals a day. Dylan, genius. Unbelievable. I love a great loophole. That's a killer deal, man.

Yeah. The other killer deal will be – His health? Yeah, when he's 60 and he goes to have his heart examined, they're going to say, this only could happen if you had Mountain Dew and if you just had nothing but soda and shenanigans for about 30 years. And he would say, well, have I got a story for you. He talks about this. The first year menu was kind of lame.

All you could get was burgers, fries, pizza, breadsticks, or a pathetic sandwich in a refillable soda cup. It wasn't healthy at all, which was rough. So clearly he knew this, but he said to his digestive delight, Six Flags began introducing healthier delicacies to its menu. I don't know that I'd call any of that product a delicacy. This whole article feels like an ad for Six Flags' new menu. That's what it is. Well, for $150 for an annual, for all of your food for a year. To his credit, he did live like no one else.

He did. That's like a few glasses of sparkling water and a granola bar at Whole Foods, $150, man. The question is, he lived like no one else, but how long will he live? We just don't know. This is bad. He lived like no one else for 11 months.

But it's sad. John, people are real desperate to pay off student loan debt, and I respect this guy's tenacity, his gazelle intensity. Shout out to Dylan. So big shout, Dylan. Call in with your story. We should have featured him in the Bar of Future documentary. Just follow him around six legs.

He's solving problems. I like that guy. Yeah. 888-825-5225. Let's go to Jason in Pensacola. Hey, brother Jason, what's up? Hey, what's up, guys? Y'all doing all right? So good. Outstanding, man, what's up? Hey, what's up, guys? Y'all doing all right?

So good. Outstanding, man. What's up? How can we help? So my wife and I actually just moved from y'all's area. We sold our house and used the proceeds to set up Roth IRAs, max amount for the year, pay off my truck. So we are now officially debt-free.

We've got some extra leftover money. We don't know what to do with it. We were told maybe mutual fund, possibly. Okay. Tell me this. Do you have a three to six months emergency fund of expenses? Yes, sir. So you've got that completely debt-free.

You've already maxed out your Roth IRAs for the year? Yes, and we set aside money for January to max out next year as well. Jason! Dude, you guys are crushing it, man. Get it, man. What's your household income? Between 80 and 90. Nice. And how much extra money are we talking to you have just sitting in cash um in in my account probably about 44 and my wife's account probably about 70 just sitting there in cash how did you guys save up this much money making 80 to 90 uh my wife does not spend money wow she. She's the saver. I'm the spender. She has trained me well in seven years. Before George answers, you know I'm going to say this or ask you this. Why do you got two different accounts, man?

Because she was with Navy. We're joint owners on each other's. She didn't want to turn loose with Navy,. She didn't want to turn loose the Navy and I didn't want to turn loose my credit union because we both got pretty, uh, really, really good returns or not returns, um, annual APR yields on the savings account over one on checking On checking, high-yield checking. So who's got the higher yield? She gets 1.25. I get 1.7. So let me tell you, for a quarter of a point or half of a point,

it's not worth the marital discord. There will come a moment when one of you will spend something quietly or secretly or I'll just cover it or, hey, I need you to pay for that or I paid for it last time, I need you to pay for that or I paid for it last time I need you to pay for it and that seed of dissension will grow and grow and grow it's not worth it man combine your money y'all

why wouldn't she put her money into yours if it has a higher yield because if I got access to it like I said she's a saver I'm a spender so she's worried youver. I'm a spender. There we go. So she's worried you're going to spend the money. Yes. Dude, this is a much bigger problem.

Yes. Be a grown-up, Jason. Act like an adult. Oh, I'm acting like an adult. I'm acting it. All right, good. One checking account by the end of the weekend. All right, George, go for it.

So once we've got that, you're telling me you guys have $114,000 just sitting in a liquid savings account? Well, they're between checking and savings, yes. Wow. And that's some pretty impressive interest rate you have on there. Yeah. And we both have credit cards, but they're paid off regardless of the balance every month. Jason, you're losing me, man.

You're losing me. What's up with these credit cards, but they're paid off regardless of the balance every month. Jason, you're losing me, man. You're losing me. What's up with these credit cards? Just for cash back. If I'm going to spend the money, whether it's off my debit card or not. You make $90,000 and you have $114,000 sitting in cash. You can give yourself freaking cash back. What are we doing here, man? All right, to your question.

Investing this money, you can put it in mutual funds. You can put it in index funds to let this money grow if it's going to be five years or more, if you guys are looking to buy a house or something like that, but otherwise just keep it in those accounts until you know what your next goal is. Don't go throwing into the stock market and hope for the best. Cut up your credit cards and get one account. Jason, quit playing Christi Wright. Do you ever feel lost, maybe a little alone? We have all had that feeling. And I'll tell you what has helped me in these moments is listening to worship music.

That's why I'm so excited to tell you that we are partnering with the number one daily worship app called Glorify. This helps remind us that God is with us. And the best thing is Glorify is free to download. Just search for Glorify in your app store, or you can get 50% off their full library when you use the code Ramsey by October 31st. 888-825-5225. I'm John Deloney joined here by Ramsey personality, George Campbell, taking your calls on money, on life, health all of it let's go to john in tulsa oklahoma hey john what's going on hey guys how you doing today outstanding brother what's what's up all right well actually my call actually kind of ties into the last college thing um pretty much my wife and i got married about two years

ago um when we got married we started baby steps did all that made it through we're up on four or five and six now going through that congratulations man thank you very much um the problem that i run into now is i want to get we never did a honeymoon or anything like that so i want to take her somewhere as a surprise how do i do that since we have combined income combined bank accounts and everything else where I can withdraw the money to surprise her without doing it on a credit card or something like that. Good question. What kind of gift are we talking here? I mean, you don't have to tell me the gift on air in case she's listening.

Yeah, well, it's on a trip. So it's going to be airfare and everything else, something I can't do cash for. I got to be able to use our debit card to purchase the airline tickets and stuff like that. Sure. So what kind of budget do you have for this whole gift, all in? The whole gift is probably, by the time we do meals and everything, excursions, all of that, it's probably about $2,000 to $2,500.

This is a serious gift, man. Yep. Wow. Well, we didn't do a honeymoon or anything else, so this is one of them excursions, big treat, because we don't treat ourselves, so here it is. So have you guys agreed on what we think would be appropriate for a birthday gift as far as spending goes?

Like, is this in the budget and she knows? Yeah, it's in the budget. We've talked about something similar to this and everything else, and I'm just going to jump and do it. But I don't know how to do it to do it as a surprise aspect, seeing that we share the account. Yeah. You know, share that one account. Well, there's a lot of ways to go about that to where you're not just using the debit card on that website to purchase the flight.

I mean, you can do prepaid debit cards and things of that nature to where you could basically debit that money out, buy a prepaid debit card with it, and use that debit card to then make all the purchases for this gift. That would be the easiest way. I've done a couple of these, John, and I've got a buddy. My buddy Todd will have bought some nice things. Even when I buy Christmas presents, I would send them to his house so that my wife and kids wouldn't have them. For a physical gift like that. I had a buddy that would make the concert tickets purchase that I wanted to surprise

my wife with and just exchange it back for that very reason there. So there were some ways around that. I would be careful about opening a secret account or something because, again... Yeah, that's what I want to do. We're very open, very honest with everything and have it all laid out there and we'll sit down and go through the statement at the end of the month and make sure everything's budgeted out and appropriate.

But a good surprise is so great, man. It's so awesome. Could you also just say, hey, I'm trying to do this big surprise. Don't look. Do not log in. I wouldn't do that. Just for a week. Because if Whitney came to you and did that, you would look immediately.

100%. Yes, exactly. Looking under the Christmas tree. Exactly. Yeah, but like John said, this is a trip, right? So you've got to book a few things. There's some flights, hotels, things like that. Correct.

Yep. Yeah. You could use a prepaid debit card to do something like all of that with no issue. So you shouldn't run into any problems if you do that now you'd be getting an expensive card so make sure that you can get one that has no to low fees um that's not hey we're going to take a percentage of the amount but if it's hey five bucks you're going to prepay to get this debit card that has two thousand dollars on it then you're good to go and you can use that and she knows the money's coming out she goes all right there's two grand that came out.

What the heck is that? And you go, hey, it's a surprise. I don't want the amount to surprise her. Don't worry about it. That's what I don't want her to go, well, hold on. You spent two grand on what now? Yeah. That part you can't really achieve.

Do what, Bob? Sorry, what did I what? So are you wanting to hide the amount from her too she knows the amount but I figure if I did the amount it's going to be kind of obvious what's going on of course get with a friend get a prepaid card

the thing I would stay away from is opening up a secret account somewhere at a secret bank and siphoning money off that just feels like a step in the wrong direction there. Yeah. But I do love the idea of a good surprise. That's fun, man.

I'm pumped for that. Good for you guys. All right, let's go to Cindy in Baltimore. What's up, Cindy? Hello. Hey, Cindy, what's up? Hi, how are you? Outstanding.

How are you? I'm good. Thank you. And thank you for taking my call. You got it. How can you? I'm good, thank you. And thank you for taking my call. You got it. How can we help? Okay. I have been given a financial gift from the passing of my parents.

Okay. And I am trying to decide if I should pay off my townhouse or should I just keep the money in the bank because, you know, in 10 years I'm going to be retiring and, you know, moving out of state. So I don't know what to do. The townhouse, it's in the community I'm not real happy with. But, you know, with the housing market and everything being so expensive, I'm not even entertaining the thought of a single-family home at this point. So I don't know if I should pay off the townhouse or not, and I'm really struggling with this. I'm so sorry about the loss of your parents.

When did they pass away? My dad passed away in May of 2020, and then my mom passed away in January of 2021. Wow. I'm sorry. That's a lot of loss in a short period of time. I'm so sorry. It is. It really is.

Yeah. So you've got this, how much is the inheritance? $230,000. Would that clear your condo? Oh, yeah, absolutely. What's left on the mortgage? Well, we just refinanced for 15 years at $2.25, and we owe $130,000. So you're still going to have $100,000 after you pay it off?

Yes. I'm paying that thing off today yeah i know you get all this feedback from people like you know no no don't do that you know go ahead and put all that money you know and invest it and i'm like i know but i i listen to you guys every morning at 6 a.m i'm at my job you're on the radio on my phone i mean and thank you for that so yeah here's the truth cindy there's a possibility that there is um a mathematical return that would be against that would be higher than the the apr you just you just refinance for that's true okay there is Okay. your parents left you. They were great stewards of their money. They were great stewards of their daughter who they loved. They thought highly of you, left this money for you.

And so you can look at it as they left me $230,000. That's one way to look at it. Another way to look at it is my parents' parting gift to me was freedom. I owe nobody anything. I can take this neighborhood and tell them to shove it if I want to. I can pack up and move if I want to. I don't have to pay anybody anything ever again if I want to. And that, to me, is worth a potential 5% return against this 2.5%.

Does that make sense? Oh, absolutely. And like I said, the only thing that's been holding me back is i'm not real fond i mean of the neighborhood i mean the house is worth more than what's owed on it i mean it's actually gone up that's fine i mean it doesn't matter if you love the townhome do you love the payment and so you can use all that money and equity when you go to sell it and get you something else so i like the idea of you getting free today. I mean, what an awesome way to use that inheritance. And you're still going to have a hundred grand left over. And by the way, that mortgage payment you are

making plus interest, you can now use to invest. Yeah. Look at that. You're in baby step seven, where you can build wealth and give like no one else and do all kinds of things without a mortgage payment over your head. Sidney, if you were going to move in a year, in two years, we would tell you to hang on. If you're going to be there for 10 years, pay it off. Because who knows what the world's going to look like in 10 years. So pay it off. Wake up this weekend completely debt free. Walk in that grass.

Let the toes dangle out there. They're going to be asking, why is Cindy making snow angels in the middle of the grass? Because she's free. Be free. Solve for freedom.

This is The Ramsey Show. People always say, when I get this promotion, I'll be able to make a real impact. Wrong. When you make a solid plan on how you need to grow, you can become the leader you want to be. And that's why Ken Coleman, America's career coach and national best-selling author, wrote his new book, From Paycheck to Purpose, The Clear Path to Doing Work You Love. And it's available for pre-order right now. If you want to grow or create a legacy in your career, you need this book. It's not just a concept. It's a proven, clear path that will walk anyone in any industry through a step-by-step plan to take their career to the next level.

Plus, if you pre-order From Paycheck to Purpose today, you'll receive our Get get promoted bonus pack for free which includes the audiobook ebook disc assessment an exclusive talk from ken and access to our live event and more pre-order from paycheck to purpose at ramsey solutions.com This is The Ramsey Show, and we are back and on the debt-free stage. We have Michael and Ricky. It's so good to see you. We know you're here for one reason. What was that? To announce you're debt-free, right?

Of course. Thank you. Congratulations. So where are you in from? We are from Elkhfree, right? Congratulations. Thank you. Congratulations. So where are you in from? We are from Elkhart, Indiana. Beautiful. Love it, love it, love it.

Awesome. So tell us the story. How much have you guys paid off? Well, our total debt is just a little under $210,000. Wow. $210,000? All over 10 years, yes. Wow. So $210,000 paid off in 10 years, yes. So $210,000 paid off in 10 years.

In about 10 years, yeah. A little less, 9 years and 10 months. What a journey, man. You guys have been on a marathon. So what was the range of income during this time? Well, when we started out, we were bringing home around $50,000. I work as a nurse. I was making $20 an hour, and I live on overtime,

as you can figure from being a nurse. Wow, for a long time. So it was hanging around $50,000 for the 10 years? No, $50,000 was the starting point. Our ending point was around $90,000 last year because at that time I was up to the mid-30s. Way to go. And again, able to go over that because I live on overtime I don't think I've worked less than 50 hours in 10 years wow way to go so tell

us about this debt what was this 210,000 well the 210,000 is actually broken down between my wife's student loan debt and hey I brought a bunch to my marriage, so good for you. And the houses that we had. Whoa! Yeah, we're no house payment. House is plural? Well, we went through two houses. Okay.

Like a starter house. Like we bought our first house, and we were there for three years, and then we moved and upgraded to a larger house, and that's the house we have now. We sold the first one and put all that equity towards the second mortgage we had, and now it's all gone. That's incredible. Y'all are officially weird people.

We are. What is this house worth? You know, honestly, with the way the home prices are, I have no idea what it is. We paid, what was it, $150,000 for it? We paid $150,000 for it. It should be worth somewhere around 175 000 maybe 200 by the time we're all done with all the upgrades that need to be that's incredible so what got you started on this journey 10 years ago well actually i started the journey over 10

years ago okay um and my story is a little bit different um with my story i had come down or I had come down back down to Indiana and because of an identity theft issue in my senior year of engineering school it took me about 10 years to go through that in the meantime though however I heard about this crazy guy that hated creditors even more than I was learning to hate creditors during that time. So I got involved with that, started paying off my own debts, found my beautiful wife, insisted that she take Financial Peace University and go through the course before we got married. He paid for it for me because I was in college at the time.

What a romantic guy. What was your thought when this guy's insisting that you go through this course? I was open to it. I was like, I'm pretty good with money. He's like, well, there's some really cool stuff, though, about how to like long-term goals and everything. And he's like, I'll pay for it for you. I'm like, okay, well, if you pay for it, then why not? Like a true gentleman.

That's fantastic. Your money where your mouth is. All right. That is so awesome. That's a guy who loves you, and that's a woman who definitely loves you. Excellent. So, 10 years, $210,000. What were some of those sacrifices along the journey that you guys had to make,

especially in such a long period of time to stay motivated? Well, we have always wanted to do an international vacation. He wants to go to Japan someday, and I want to go to Australia and Europe someday. And a lot of people are like, you know, let's go do that for the honeymoon. And that's one thing we sacrifice. We've never done that international trip that we've always wanted to. And now we can and we're going to do it in a couple of years. Awesome.

We were going to actually do it for our celebration for paying off our mortgage, but I had a baby four months ago. So there's like, okay, now we got to like put that off for like two years because I can't leave a four month old for three weeks with somebody's a baby's pretty much a vacation right of course spoken like a guy who has no kids vacation with no sleep exactly wow so did you have any cheerleaders along the way in a decade of doing this stuff yeah kevin and sarah kevin and sarah they went through the class and they understood like why we wanted to do this plan and what our goal was. And they're doing it too.

They're a couple steps behind us. But they are definitely our biggest supporters is Kevin and Sarah. That's our brother and sister. Oh, awesome. Did anyone think you were crazy over this period of time going, wow, these people are just in this thing for the long haul. They drank the Kool-Aid. A couple of immediate family members were like, well, why don't you just go on vacation and have fun? Or a comment of like, you don't need to be that intense.

You're only, at the time, 28 or whatever when the comment was made. It's like, you're only 28. Go do something fun. You don't have to pay off your house right away. And it was like, well, they just didn't understand. And how old are you two now? I'm 33. I was born in 79.

He's 42. I'm not that old. He's making us do math, John. It hurts my brain. I'm 32 and he's 42. So you're a 33-year-old and a 42-year-old with a paid-off house. Yes. No debt in the world.

Nope. No one can take our house from us ever. A $90,000-a-year income, and that's only because you work a whole, whole lot. Yes. That'll probably be leveling out a little bit below so that I can have a life. Yes, exactly. I did work some through that 10 years. Of course you did.

I spent four years teaching throughout that time period. One year we made 120 when I was teaching and that was a one time year. And you grew a couple of humans. Right? Congratulations. Two girls. You have changed your family tree. I'm so

proud of you two. So how does it feel? No mortgage payment, nothing. It feels really good. Yeah. It's really nice because, like, COVID hit, you know, like last year. And the one thing I never thought would happen is they sent nurses home. They said, you'll come back when we call you back.

And he was unemployed for a month, and I was unemployed for a month. And we had our fully funded emergency fund. So it's like knowing we were really close at that point. It wasn't paid off last year when COVID hit, but we were really close. So it was like knowing that we were going to be okay. We had the emergency fund. We were really good with our money, making good decisions. And so not having a payment anymore has allowed us to do things like take FMLA off and stay home with our baby. And instead of actually not meeting budget one month because it was just PTO, no overtime for five weeks,

instead of having to pull money out of our emergency fund, we met budget because we didn't have a mortgage payment anymore. That's incredible. Options. That's what it gives you. Options and freedom. Exactly. Look at you guys.

And a vacation coming up. A vacation. This is awesome. In both Australia and Japan. Easy, quick and easy flights from Indiana. I'm sure. Just a puddle jump. Wow. You guys are awesome.

Thanks so much for being all the way down here in Nashville to do your Dead Free Scream. And you've got two little ones. You want to bring them up? Yeah. Eleora. So we got Eleora and Adoniah. Yes.

Let's meet them. We got one that's a long ways off. Long, long ways off. Well, while we get them up here, we've got a copy of the Legacy Journey for you. That's absolutely the next step. You're already living that. You're changing these little girls' legacy.

And we also have a copy of the Total Money Makeover for you to pass along to someone else, maybe another young couple who's going, you know what? We'd love to have a paid-for house one day and go to Australia and Japan. So thank you so much for being here. You guys are an absolute inspiration. You guys ready to scream? Yes. All right, so we got Michael and Ricky from South Bend, Indiana,

paid off $210,000, making $50,000 to $90,000 over the course of almost a decade. You did it. You did it. You did it. Count them down. Ready to go, Lior? Three, two, one. We are the free! it you did it you did it count them down ready to go there three two one that little girl right there with that big old smile on her face she's never

gonna forget this moment and that other little girl who is three or four months old just happy to be here. Will never know debt. She'll never know that she was even here, but she'll never know debt either. They'll show her the video a whole bunch of times. It's on YouTube forever, right? That's right. Oh, boy. We're so proud of you two.

Congratulations. Change your life. Start today. We'll see you next time. Today's scripture of the day is 2 Corinthians 4, 17-18. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all so we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen

since what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal Marie Curie says one never notices what has been done one can only see what remains to be done Marie Curie says, one never notices what has been done. One can only see what remains to be done. Marie Curie. All right, let's go to Ian in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

What is going on, Ian? Hi, guys. How are you? Outstanding. How are you, man? I'm doing good. I feel like I accomplished one of the greatest things in getting through the phone screening process today, so I'm really pumped about that.

Hey, Kelly is really tough to get through, man. So yes, you have achieved something great. So John and George, I guess I wanted to share. So I'm a 36-year-old, apparently disabled police officer from Wisconsin. So my injuries are all mental health. I have a really debilitating form of OCD and depression that kind of came about two years ago and were really triggered by, you know, a lot of the stuff that I dealt with at the police department. I spent a lot of time at Rogers Behavioral Health. But after kind of getting to a point where I can manage everything, I got a full retirement, a disability. And two days ago, I found out I'm getting the National Chiefs of Police Association Purple Heart Award. Excellent, and two days ago I found out I'd getting the national chiefs of police association,

purple heart. Um, so I wanted to share that with you guys. Um, one, because thank you. Um, because you guys talk a lot about, um, mental health on the show and I listened to it every day. Um, you know, but had I not followed the baby steps um you know even with a really great retirement package you know i don't i don't have to worry about finances because i follow those baby steps and i i think it's important that people you know you never know what's going to happen when you're you're 36 and being on baby steps. What am I on? Was it four, five, six? I'm going to pay off my house next year.

All right. Very good, man. No other debt beside that. So, you know, I just think it's important that people know, hey, anything can happen. And had I not been following you guys, it probably would have added more stress to, you know, an already traumatic two years. So I just, I wanted to say thank you to you guys and thank you to Dave and all the listeners because, you know, it made the financial part of my life a lot easier so I could deal with the mental health stuff. Well, Ian, I want to, you know, my dad was a police officer, and I've spent a lot of time working with police officers and showing up to a number of those scenes that will be in my head for the rest of my life,

and I know you've been there too, and so I want to personally thank you. And, George, we want to thank you for your service, for taking care of folks in the middle of the night when nobody else in your community even knows you're out there. And I want you to not, not, not give up on Ian, okay? Right. There's healing on the other side of this, and you've got a journey ahead of you,

but we've got full confidence in you. Thank you so, so much for calling in and for the shout-outs. But as we always say here, man, me and George are just – and Dave, we're just talking on the radio. You're the one that put the hard work in. You did the hard work, and you changed your family's trajectory, man. And I'm just so grateful for you. Thank you so much.

I appreciate that. Thank you, guys. You got it, brother. Take care of yourself. Take care of your family. And good for your community for taking care of you. Awesome. The last 18 months have been a lot, haven't they, George?

They have. Somebody earlier mentioned a pandemic, which I hadn't. That happened. Oh, yeah. Yeah. A lot of worry. A lot of wondering what would happen next. Maybe that's how you feel about your money.

Too tired, stuck, stretched thin. Or you are like Ian, who just, man, it is starting to really pile up on you. And you're tired of worrying about money too. It doesn't have to be that way. You just need a plan because a plan gives you confidence even when everything else seems out of control. And that plan is Financial Peace University. This class will teach you everything you need to know to save money, pay off your debt, build wealth for the future. You can stream the lessons on your own or get support by going through the class with others.

I like to support. I'm that guy. You're more of a streamer guy. I'm a big fan of the support side, though. Are you? Being around real people and being able to have hard discussions and going, oh, I'm not crazy. I'm not alone. You too.

That's so huge. That's something you don't get from streaming it. So I will say, if you can do it in a group, do that. Then you'll put up that plan into practice with the premium version of our EveryDollar budgeting app, which I use, my wife uses. Y'all use that too at home? Big fan.

By syncing your bank to your budget, you can easily track your spending and see where your money goes. You get all this only with the Ramsey Plus membership. Don't stay exhausted and overwhelmed. You can win with money, and it starts with your free trial of Ramsey Plus membership. Don't stay exhausted and overwhelmed. You can win with money, and it starts with your free trial of Ramsey Plus. Text TRIAL to 33789.

That's TRIAL to 33789. Let's take one more call. Let's go to Gabriela in Oakland, California. Hey, what's going on? Hi, I'm calling about a leased vehicle that i have awesome and i just want to say thank you for all of your help um and your advice you got it hey we're coming up against the clock you want to make sure we get this in before the show rolls over so get right to the question so uh i have a 2027 bolt and I'm trying to buy it out.

But because there's a recall on the battery, they will not sell the car to me, and I'm stuck making the payments. And if I'm trying to get out of the lease, I'll have to continue to pay the rest of the lease amount. There's no current fix on the vehicle, and that's available. And I just don't know what to do. I was wondering if you guys came upon this before and if there's anything I can do to get out of the lease or purchase the vehicle. So they won't let you do an early buyout because of the recall?

And they're saying there's no fix for the recall? There's no fix for the recall right now that's available. I've never heard that in my life. I thought, are you holding a lease contract, it says, or a buyout option? I don't know. I would go back and look at your lease contract. A year ago. Yeah, I'd go back and look at your lease contract a year ago yeah I'd go back and look at your lease contract

and say because it should say here's the lease and or here's the buyout option and if they are not allowing you to buy it out then they're in breach of the contract okay have you gotten details on what the parameters are around this

or is the dealership just giving you a hard time or the company are around this? Is the dealership just giving you a hard time or the company? Or is this legit? As far as I know, I've looked online at some of the other people who own the vehicle and they said they've had a difficult time doing it. There's been a few people who said that they've been able to just calling back and bugging them. But I've contacted the finance company I've contacted the dealership and they're just telling me and then they gave me a number that

I could file a complaint about it but that was it have you gone down and to speak to somebody in person um no I was on my way to to do that and they asked me not to come in because there was nothing they would be able to do. Yeah, of course they did. So I would get a copy of the lease contract and highlight the portion that is the buyout option. It may have a clause in there that says if there's a recall, you can't buy it out. This sounds real fishy to me. I've never heard of this. I've never leased a car either,

but I've never heard of someone being trapped inside of a contract this way. And then the owner of the contract that has the buyout option cancels the buyout option. I'm going to fight them and go, I'm going to raise some hell until they let me break this lease with no penalties because they have to provide a safe vehicle for you. Yeah. And so if that's the case, they've got to come up with a solution.

This isn't on you when the recall is just floating in the air and you're stuck here with a car that has a recall on it. So I'm going to fight them. I'm going to show up every day until they go, we got to get this lady out of here, man. Fine, fine. We'll buy it out. Whatever you need to do. So is the value of the car more than you owe?

What's going on there? No, that's about the same. Okay. So it'd be a pretty even break, and you can pay cash for a car, save up, and do that later on. Yeah, I'm fighting them. Don't give up. All right. I want to thank producer James Child and associate producer Kelly Daniel.

George, it's always fun to hang out with you. A blast. Thanks for being on the show with me. Thanks for letting me be on your show today. Thank you. It's been great. Good luck to the Astros. Take care of yourselves. Be kind to one another, and we'll see you soon on the show with me. Thanks for letting me be on your show today. Thank you. It's been great. Good luck to the Astros. Take care of yourselves.

Be kind to one another. And we'll see you soon on The Ramsey Show. Hey, guys. This is James, senior producer for The Ramsey Show. Did you know over 18 million people listen to The Ramsey Show every week? And a lot of those people listen on one of our 600 plus radio stations across the country. To find a station near you, head to theramseyshow.com.