The Ramsey Show - App - I Haven’t Filed Taxes in 3 Years… (Hour 3)

Episode Date: April 17, 2023

Dr. John Delony & George Kamel answer your questions and discuss: "I haven't filed taxes in three years..." "Are braces a frivolous expense?" "Should I save for my emergency fund or college?" "Is there a way to help our credit score disappear?" Support Our Sponsor: Neighborly 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/3cEP4n6 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

Лавровый путь Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Pods Moving and Storage Studio, it's The Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work they love, pay off their debts, and create incredible relationships. I'm John Deloney, joined here by my good friend George Campbell and we're taking your calls on money, life, mental health, relationships, whatever you got going on. We're here for your work, whatever it is. 888-825-5225. It's 888-825-5225. Let's go out to Gabrielle in Spokane, Washington. What's up, Gabrielle? Hi. What's up, Gabrielle? Hi.

What's up? So I work for myself. That's nice of you. Thank you very much. But I haven't filed my taxes in several years and I just don't really know where to start. That is not nice of you. Why haven't you filed? I have struggled a lot with mental health and physical health. And last year was kind of the first start of my life where I could kind of take back control, where I got things sorted out.

I started taking big steps in really taking know, really taking back control and not just letting life go by. Um, so, but you've run the business the whole time and it's made money. So I do pet sitting. And so I started on this app called Rover. Um, and I was getting fully booked, but then back in 2020, COVID hit. And I ended up having to move from Hawaii back to the Pacific Northwest to be close to family. And then I kind of had to restart all over again. So I'm barely making ends meet right now, but it is progressing. I am gaining more clients.

So it's going in a good direction. How much do you owe? So on that, I am not even sure. Because during COVID and maybe one or two years after, I wasn't even making up to $10,000. And so all of the tax advice that I've ever heard in my life was if you don't make up to $10,000 then you don't even have to file. So for me, it was just... I don't know where you heard that advice. You could have done a Google search

in that time and figured it out. Yeah. Okay. Well, it sounds like you're done burying your head in the sand. You want to deal with this. Completely, yes. Can I just say I'm proud of you?

That's a bold move. Good for you. That's amazing. Okay, and I say I'm proud of you. Everyone should be paying their. Good for you. That's amazing. Okay. And I say I'm proud of you. Everyone should be paying their taxes and there's people listening, rolling their eyes and blah, blah, blah. You've been struggling for a few years and you're saying, I'm ready to get this broom and go clean up this mess that's in my past.

And good for you. Good for you. Thank you. So there may be a boogeyman under the bed and it's going to be penalties and taxes. And so we have to get a very clear picture of what we owe, including those penalties. And that will at least go, okay, it wasn't a boogeyman. It's $5,000. Great.

How much pet sitting do I need to do? What kind of jobs do I need to take to get the IRS off my back? Because I promise you they haven't forgotten. Right. And right now the hard part for you is just going, hey, IRS, I'm here. Sorry it's been a while. I'm ready to pay what I owe. What do I owe? Do you have your 1099s from the last two years? I don't. Okay. No, I'm pretty much as unprepared as I could possibly be. What do you have? Do you have bank statements that show the money coming in? Or an email from Rover saying, here's your annual?

I do, yes. And I'm in the process of trying to get, I figured I'd start from the most current back because that's the most clear in my head. But I have started to work my way backwards throughout the years to get as many bank statements, receipts, any sort of actual documentation that I can. I think the most important documentation is to go back to the companies that you worked for and ask for 1099s. And I would imagine that

a place like Rover will give you a login site that you'll go in and put your stuff in and it will just tell you, we paid you this much in 2019, we paid you this much in 2020, we paid you this much in 2021, whatever. Did you do this on your own as well through Venmo or just payment services, PayPal? I did, yeah. Okay, so they will have records as well of all of the transactions that came through. Right, okay. So I would gather all of that that you can to be as accurate as you can.

And even cash, if there was of that that you can to be as accurate as you can. And even cash. If there was cash payments that you know happened, if you have statements, write all that down. And the next thing I would do, because this is scary on your own, is get with a tax pro. And we have a network of amazing tax pros at RamseySolutions.com slash tax, and they can walk you through this, and they're going to help you get through

this mess to where you're now current on your taxes and you're going to do quarterly estimated payments from now on they're going to teach you about that and you're going to have confidence moving forward instead of kind of burying this under the rug yeah that sounds great this is not the end of the world no you're not you're not close you're not even close to the end of the world. Do you have any money? Right. I actually just got my $500 saved up. Awesome. Good for you. On my baby steps because I do have an older vehicle, but I drive, you know, one to 200 miles a day, pretty much. I'm in a pretty large radius. So, and my, my car is, you know, up to in the mid 200,000 mile range. So I know I have

some stuff coming. Um, what does your life look like in three years? Is this your forever job? So I actually have, have thought quite a bit about this and I would like to have an additional, whether that's an independent contractor or an employee to help me run this business. But I also started baking and selling dog treats, which are doing pretty well. So I know I want to stay kind of in this realm. Um, I am an LLC, like I'm bonded, licensed, insured and everything everything like that. So I do want to kind of take this and run with this. So I'm going to send you a copy. I want you to stay on the line here, and AJ is going to get it for you.

I'm going to send you a copy of our friend Ken Coleman's book, The Proximity Principle. You know what you want to do. You know what you like to do. Now you're having questions about scaling this up and how do I get more customers and what does it look like in this area. And he wrote an entire book about how to make those connections with other people and other industries and how to take this thing from an idea, which right now, quite honestly, when you

look at your bottom line this year, it's a glorified idea, right? You're making a little bit of money, you're scratching and clawing, but you're going to need other people in your corner to take this to the next level. And so Ken's book will help you do that. Yeah, get online and get Ramsey Trusted. And what's the website there, George? Ramseysolutions.com slash tax. Slash tax, T-A-X.

And then somebody in your community, call them and just say, be 100% honest. Say, I'm in a mess. I'm in a mess, and I need some help. And they'll give you a step-by- you a step by promise you they've seen worse oh that's the good news yes they've seen multi-millionaires who haven't paid their taxes in decades and they come and say whoops whoops right well i'll tell you this much john as a dog dad i spent a lot of money on doggy daycare and people to come walk the dog during lunch all that you can make great money. Speaking of trauma and being disillusioned and having not a great grasp on reality. Today I'm celebrating a pretty big milestone. One year ago today my book Own Your Past, Change Your Future hit the shelves

and the reason this anniversary is so special is because of you. I'm talking about thousands of you who picked up a copy and decided to take your first step towards healing. It's not too late for you, George, that first step towards wellness. It's my way, this book is my way of sitting one-on-one with you and talking about life, the struggles, the good stuff, the not-so-good stuff, and the hope for your future. So for today only, with every purchase of Own Your Past, Change Your Future in the Ramsey Store, I'm throwing in the audiobook and ebook versionsbook versions and my bricks in your backpack talk. Go to ramsaysolutions.com slash store.

That's ramsaysolutions.com slash store. It's National Financial Literacy Month, and we are taking today to celebrate financial literacy is important stuff and we don't spend enough time talking about it with our kids in the years that we've been teaching the baby steps i can't tell you how many times we've heard someone say i wish this stuff was in high school i wish i'd learned this stuff earlier and that's how we created our foundations and personal finance curriculum. It's now been taught in over 45% of the high schools in the United States. It's incredible. But you know who really makes this possible? Teachers. Teachers. If we learned anything over the last three or four years is the country stops without teachers.

Today we have one of our rock star foundation teachers, Laura from White House, Texas. It's near Tyler, Texas. They're on the border on the show with us today. Let's go to Laura. Hey, Laura, what's happening? Hi, it's a great day to be teaching personal finance, right? You're so incredible. You sound like a teacher.

It's so amazing. I feel calmer already. All right, so what school, where do you teach, Laura? I teach at White House High School. And how many students are there? There are about 1,400 now in our high school. Wow. How long have you been a teacher?

This is my 17th year. That's like 2,000 years in teacher lives. 17 years. Incredible. What grades do you teach? I teach all grades and business classes, but most of my personal finance classes are juniors and seniors. All right. So do you have some success stories from current or previous students about how this curriculum impacted their lives? Of course, yes. I love running into former students around town. For example, I was in a clothing store one day, and I noticed the cashier was one of my former students. And before we could even say a greeting, she told me she has $3,000 in her savings account, and she's going to Tyler Junior College, and she's paying cash.

Oh, my gosh. And, you know, just exploded with excitement to tell me and share with me how she's managing her money well and doing what she heard in the class. Normally, if you're not a part of a weird group like this Ramsey Way group, just meeting somebody in a grocery store and they yell at you how much money they have in their checking account is pretty weird, except here. Right. It's completely normal with this group. So, how does that feel? Oh, it's wonderful.

It inspires me to keep teaching and motivates me. You know, the students are looking at me and they're engaged and they're listening because they know this is relevant. And half of my students are working right now. So they're applying this now and eager to get started and when I you know they listen and when I run into a student like that or a student in the movie theater the other day I was walking to my movie and a student i heard footsteps coming behind me and i turned around and there's a student a former student and she said hey i pay i just bought my first car and i paid cash for it and the next thing i know there's a phone screen with a little red car you know that she's showing

me and we just had to hug and jump and you know celebrate. I have no idea what movie I saw, but that makes me want to get back to work the next day. How did you get involved with Foundation's curriculum? How did you get involved with this Ramsey stuff? Well, I've been a fan for a long time, years and years ago. My husband went to Dallas to a conference and came home saying, we need to do this. And we got on board getting our money organized. And when the opportunity to teach personal finance came to our high school, I said, you know, can I use the Ramsey curriculum? And they said, absolutely.

So I've got a supportive administration that we've used the foundations, and I'm so happy to have it. It is great curriculum. I don't know that I've heard the sentence, I have a supportive administration from a teacher in a long time. That's incredible. Incredible. Well, you know, I work for a great district, and they see the importance of financial literacy. And the state of Texas did not require a financial literacy course be offered in the high school until 2016. And we were doing it long before that. How long have you been teaching foundations?

Ten years. Wow. You're incredible. You're a hero. So cool. And I can't think of anything more fulfilling and more joy than to meet those kids and go, I got to be a part of their financial success, their financial freedom, and see them graduate debt-free. Yes. What are the most common questions you get about foundations?

Well, the students get super excited about investing. They see the compound interest. Compound interest. And, you know, at the beginning of the year, we talk about savings and part of savings, emergency funds for large purchases and building wealth. Well, you know, we give that demonstration of compound interest and they're ready to go. They're like, I got $30. Where do I put it? You know? And, um, I say, calm down. We got, let's build that emergency

fund first. We're going to go in order here as things we need to do as a high school student. And, um, you know, they're, they are patient for a minute. And then they, after class, they come up to me and say, so where exactly do I go? Where do you go? What's the address, the name of the place, and how much do I give them? And so that's the biggest thing is how do I become a millionaire and build my wealth? No high school teacher ever told me to calm down, Laura. So I don't really know what hearing those words is like. Hey, do you know the current legislation in Texas regarding personal finance is a required course?

You said it's 2016, so it's required every high school student has to have it to graduate? Well, yes, it's required that a half-credit course is offered. No one has to take it, but at least it's on the course schedule. They have to offer it. And they have to offer it at this point. That's a start. But it's not required. Well, I'm sure you're pushing all the kids going,

you should sign up for my class because it's freaking awesome. You know, I don't have to push it hard because they're signing up and the classes are full. That's amazing to hear. Well, George and I are both in the curriculum and we can say that it's good, but it's not that good.

That means you're a great, great teacher. Well, you guys are awesome, and the curriculum is great. And you know what? I get emails asking for feedback, and your team listens, and they apply what teachers are giving in feedback and it's a great curriculum to start with and it's even getting better week by week well i want to tell you i come from a house full of teachers a family full of teachers and so on behalf of teachers everywhere who get up at five o'clock in the morning to answer parent emails and then get to the school at 6.30 or 7 and they don't stop grading papers and answering emails until 7 p.m. at night and they do this day in and day out for months after month after month after month after month. Thank you so much for loving these kids inside of that classroom, loving them outside of the classroom.

Teaching foundations for a decade means you love their grandkids and you haven't even met them yet. That's just who you are. And so on behalf of all of us who aren't in the classroom, date and doubt, thank you so, so, so much for your heart and your compassion and for teaching these students the financial literacy. For any teachers listening, don't forget to enter the Ramsey Teacher Appreciation Giveaway sponsored by the Army National Guard. One teacher will win a $5,000 vacation and two more teachers will each win a $3,000 vacation. Teachers, you need vacations. We're going to give them to you. Go to ramsesolutions.com slash teacher to enter. That's ramsesolutions.com slash teacher to enter. That's ramsaysolutions.com slash teacher to enter.

George, you have a teacher that made a huge impact on your life? Absolutely. Dr. Laflamme, senior year of high school. Changed my life. English. He inspired me, creative writing, songwriting, got me into music, got me to just went, hey, you've got something here, and I love it. I want to help you hone this craft.

And it was one of the first people who believed in me. Wow. And I'll never forget them. My list of teachers that were important to me is so long. Gosh, I could sit here all day, and then I'll get all emotional and weepy. I know. I just feel like it's warm-hearted just listening to Laura. It's amazing.

What a hero. It's amazing. Teachers, thank you for what you do. This is The Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. It is The Ramsey Show, and I'm looking across the lobby to the debt-free stage, and I see Mark and Jenny from North Carolina. How's it going?

Wonderful. Great. So good to see you. So you're on the debt-free stage, so I'm assuming you're here to do your debt-free scream. How much have you paid off? $703,072. Okay. That works for me.

Wow. All right. It's rare that I'm speechless, and you got me. How long did it take you? 23 months. Okay. The story continues. All right.

He's got Kanye money. Okay. What was your range of income during this time? We started at 250 and we, through the process, increased it to 300. Wow. Wow. Okay. So there's a story here.

What got sold? We did300,000. Wow. Wow. Okay. So there's a story here. What got sold? We did sell some properties. Nice. We had quite a few rentals, all with mortgages associated with them. And the increase in income was mainly due to Mark's increase in retirement benefits through the military, as well as we were able to raise some rents on some others. Yeah. What did y'all do for a living?

I own a party rental business. i'm a practicing attorney awesome very cool so that's a great combo right there oh party rental attorney i'm still practicing though so what kind of debt was the 703 it was a lot of rentals about 163 0003,000 in mortgage on rentals, about $220,000 in business debt, the acquisition of his business and just some various lines of credit. And then we had, I still had some student loans. I've been out of school for 20 years. Wow. Law school loans can hang on you for a while. So are you operating this party business debt-free? I am now. Wow. That's incredible.

So how much of this payoff was the rental properties versus you guys using the cash flow? So we sold about $250,000. Well, that was the debt proceeds that we applied to the debt. And then the rest of it, we were just killing it. $10,000, $15,000, $20,000 a month going toward debt. Wow. Okay, what happened 23 months ago i gotta hear the story so we're a blended family of six we have four adult kids

ranging in age from 28 to 21 and i was really upset about the way these kids were handling their money because they just didn't know how to do it like we were with the 700 000 in debt so um i was really looking for some content on how to talk to them about money management and um and that's where i learned about the ramsey show so i mean that's still there's learning and then there's going all right we're going to clean up 700 grand in 23 months so the interesting thing was um i started reading the books listening to the podcast um enrolled in fpu and i realized how many mistakes we were making. So it really humbled me. This is a question that can sound like a backhanded compliment to other folks we've

had up there and so I don't mean it in that way at all. But I spent most of my career working with attorneys. They have a very particular way of experiencing the world the world there's such a gift to the world and it's rare that i see somebody sit in a room on something as i would say as simple as the baby steps and and not over complicate it and sell the way back and go oh man i was wrong i think that's a that's a tell me about that so that's the beauty of the baby steps they're so simple they're not easy but they're very simple and baby step zero which you guys gloss over all the time, that was my problem. I couldn't stop spending, especially on our home equity line of credit, which is how I funded all of our acquisition of rentals. Gotcha.

Wow. How much was on the HELOC? Probably about $100. Part of that rental debt was actually on our HELOC, but I just associated it with the rentals. So what is your financial picture like now with the properties and your primary and all that? So we have about $2 million in paid for real estate. Wow. Our house is $300 of that. His warehouse is $600 of that.

And that was our baby step six item. And that's not even touching your retirement. Correct. So we're talking even touching your retirement. Correct. So we're talking many millions of dollars. $2 million worth of houses. You have your own paid off house. You just have a huge warehouse, right? Correct.

It's pretty awesome. No wonder you guys are so calm. Couldn't shake these people. No, I'm shaking now when you actually say those numbers out loud. I mean, does that not just boggle your mind and your kids are watching all this yeah if we could if we could just get them not to be knuckleheads like we were and keep them on the right track they'll they'll be set well you've probably heard me say over and over um we often want to know like what are the right things

to say to kids kids don't listen to they watch right and they have a ringside seat to two people saying absolutely no more so you were spending willy-nilly um a couple years ago and now you're in a place where you can kind of spend willy-nilly intentionally but you can kind of spend what you want to spend now because y'all are multi-millionaires and you're making a couple hundred grand every year um what's the difference in your marriage what's the difference in your psychology because you're the actions are going to look very similar the context is going to be completely different now so we've been married 11 years and we were we were both independently um successful in our own right and so we never really focused on doing things together. So that really changed when we took the FPU.

And by the way, we've taken FPU four times. We just kept taking it. It doesn't cost any more. You just keep taking it. And it kept us focused and on track while we were, you know, we go, you know, meet different people that were in different situations and all that. We had four great coordinators, Ben, Greg, Ronnie, and Michelle. Shout out to them. So what do you say to,

and George gets this a lot, to those who are 35 and younger who are super obsessed with having this magical unicorn called passive income and they go buy a whole bunch of rental properties and they leverage themselves to the

hilt, but they have this magic called cashflow and they think that's solving all the world. What would you tell them? Because y'all played that game. There's nothing passive about being a landlord. I managed all our properties and it about drove me insane. You manage your properties on top of being a lawyer? Oh, wow. Yeah, she's a big deal. I believe it. So what do you tell people the key is to getting out of debt because you guys had a mountain and you made some sacrifices what is the one thing the biggest thing is budgeting whether you make a hundred dollars a month or a hundred thousand dollars a month um i used to as long as i would put my atm card in and i got money or if i would buy something and it was fine i was

like i got money i'm good as long as the money in the account i don't care what i spent now knowing where everything's going it's it's pretty neat and especially being out of debt it's like wow what are we gonna do with this it's a good problem to have. Oh, yeah. Wow. You guys are amazing. What's your favorite fight? Favorite fight? The favorite fight y'all had over 23 months trying to pay all this off. Oh, it was more, we're both so competitive that when, you know, we put everything in the app and it said, it's going to take you 48 months.

And we were like, nah, that ain't happening. And it was just like you know hey like we got to find some more money we got it we got it we got to find this and then you started selling properties you're like there's some money yeah exactly wow did you sell the ones that were the biggest pain yes let's get rid of those ones that's smart those were actually the ones that appreciated the greatest so it was a no-brainer it paid off well you guys are incredible i mean these numbers are just staggering yeah and the best part part is you did it in a way that is peaceful now. And I'm just, it's inspirational.

So thank you so, so much. We're going to give you the live and give bundle here, which is a copy of Baby Step Millionaire. I guess you can just write a new chapter. And if you'd like to just tell your story, because y'all are there and then some. And a copy of Total Money Makeover for you to give away to somebody that you care about as well as a subscription to financial peace university so you can give that away as well

multi multi millionaires you guys don't owe anybody anything you know what you can do tomorrow whatever you want man whatever you want you can a client can come in and you can be like i don't know john that's the thing i wanted to tell you about is not only did it free up a lot of margin in our budget it it gave me the opportunity to free up a lot of margin in my schedule because i was suffering self-diagnosed of course uh with high functioning anxiety there you go and um i was to the point where i wanted to quit but i knew i couldn't quit and leave him with all this debt so um i don't want to quit anymore i just don don't want to... Work his heart. Exactly. Mark and Jenny paid off $700,000 in 23

months selling some property and making $250,000 to $300,000. Count it down. Let's hear your debt-free scream. One, two, three. We're debt-free! They did it, and you can too. This is The Ramsey Show. Today's scripture of the day is Philippians 2. 2 4 instead of each person watching out for their own good watch out for what is better for others charles dickens writes no one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of another i love that i love it all right let's go to joshua in

huntsville alabama what's up joshua hey how's it going guys right, let's go to Joshua in Huntsville, Alabama. What's up, Joshua? Hey, how's it going, guys? Outstanding, man. What's happening? Okay, so my wife and I are on baby step six, and I'm curious if it's frivolous to get braces, one orthodontic one. How much are the braces going to cost?

$5,300. Why would you think it's frivolous? Is it just purely cosmetic? Are you having headaches or? No, no, no. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I mean, uh, there's a little extra wear on my, you know, teeth or whatever. Uh, but you know, I, it's not like it's a, it's a ton, but it's something, I mean, I've been wanting since I was a kid anyway to get braces and never got them as a kid.

And, you know, the orthodontist said it helped with my wear a lot and maybe jaw pain, but it's not so much as to where it's a medical need. You know, it's mostly cosmetic. Well, we can free you today. You're going to get braces, my friend. It is not frivolous at all. Do you have the money to do this? Yeah, yeah, yeah, we do. We have, and of course, we'll be paying in cash, so. Awesome. Hey, Joshua, like, spend some money on yourself, man. Okay. Have you guys been real focused on

this house payment? So, it's a little bit a, I'd say we're still kind of holding on sticker shock because we moved a few months ago and sold our old house. Right now, the reason, another big reason we want to get it out of the way is we're still paying PMI on it because we got a, we had a lower down payment because we hadn't sold the, our first house yet. So cool. Well, in the baby steps, when you get past baby step three, you move from intense to intentional. And so as long as you guys have a plan to pay it off in under 15 years, you get to live your life, save for vacations, save for braces, save for home upgrades, upgrade the cars.

As long as you're doing it in cash. I've got to know, man. I know it's kind of a cut and drag call. Like, of course, go get braces, man. Where did you come to believe that you weren't worth $5,000 or something you've wanted to do for 20 or 30 years? It's more, I probably feel less pressure if we didn't have, know we literally didn't have pmi on that on the mortgage right now and even then it's just one of those things of where well you know here and uh i'd say probably projecting out about 10 years or less we'd have the house paid off anyway so you know it i've been waiting this long for them waiting a little longer doesn't seem like a bad idea but at the same time time, you know, this is a good step.

Go get it, man. And maybe that little bit of extra confidence you've been looking for for that long will get you that raise, right? Yeah, possibly. Let's hope. Let's hope. Never make financial decisions on that kind of hope. But, yeah, man, go get braces.

Braces are life-changing. Go get braces. Did you of hope. But, yeah, man, go get braces. And braces are life-changing. Go get braces. Did you have braces? Oh, yeah. Up through freshman, sophomore year of high school. In college. Yeah. I promise you, I don't think I smiled up until then.

Yeah. And it changed my face. Yeah, yeah. It changed how my posture changed. Yeah. I was standing up straight for the first time. I've had issues with my teeth my whole life. And so, yeah, I just hear this and I think, man, go get them, go get them right now. You're worth it. Fantastic. All right.

Uh, let's go to Lauren in Minneapolis. What's up, Lauren? Hi. Hi. Um, so basically my question is, I'm currently a college student and I have a thousand dollar emergency fund and I'm debt free. But my question is I'm going to grad school in the fall. Should I continue my sinking fund to pay through grad school or should I save a three to six month emergency fund before that? What are you going to grad school for? School counseling. Yes. Hey, be one of the good ones, will you? I will. Okay, fantastic. So let me hear these two options. Option number one is you get an emergency fund,

but then you have no money to pay for your master's. Yes. Meaning you have to take out student loans. Yes. I think you know what option we're going to take. We're going to cash flow the master's, and any money left over becomes the emergency fund. And if you have an emergency that's more than a thousand dollars, we're simply going to pause

and stack up cash and sell stuff and get side jobs and do whatever we have to do to cover the emergency. But then we're back on track cash flowing the masters. How much is the masters going to cost? For the three years, it's about $32,000. Okay. So about 10 grand a year. Yep. And you're going to start working today to start saving up $10,000? No, I've already started saving. I have about $20,000 saved. I'm putting away $200 a week.

Oh, my gosh. So you have $1,000 in the emergency fund, but you have $20,000 in a savings account. Yes. Who are you, Lauren? That's fantastic. Good grief. So you just have $12, 12 to go, and then once that's sitting there, we can start saving up for an emergency fund on top of that. Okay, so that's

like you would suggest, like, I don't need the three to six months yet, like, just continue the cash flow and the thinking fund. Yes, get out of school debt-free. If an emergency truly happened, I would dip into that savings to pay for it, because you still have time before the next bill hits for your master's and i didn't in my master's program but in my two doctorate programs i took a semester off at least in everyone life happens somebody gets sick somebody gets work gets busy things happen so um it's different than undergrad sometimes there's a there's a pace to it and i know sometimes you go in as a cohort and it kind of locks you in there, but yeah. Yeah. Head in there with your head held high.

You are going to be one of the rock stars. It's amazing. Good grief, George. I want people like Lauren in the school system helping our kids with their challenges. Yeah, when you're not worrying about your student loans, you can be fully present. And when you're the kind of person, it reminds me of you,

like I'm just going to put $200 in an account every month of my life. And then now I've got $20,000 and that could grieve. All right, let's take one more. Let's go out to Anna in Flagstaff. What's up, Anna? How are we doing? Hi, I'm good. My question is, is there anything that we should be doing right now instead of just waiting for our credit score to disappear? It's been two years since we paid off our mortgage. It's been a year and a half since our last like open credit card account. Wow. And you're checking the score? What's it at today? So my score is completely gone, indeterminable. My husband's is at 550. So I guess that's where we're a little confused. Have you pulled his credit reports from all three bureaus? We have from two of them.

All the accounts show paid and closed. Yeah. Interesting. I mean, you can try the third one. I don't know what would be holding it up unless he has some kind of open account, or he may be reporting payments like utility bills by accident through one of these sites like Credit Karma, and that can keep your score alive.

And so I would make sure to log into every site he can remember using to see if anything's being reported. And, Anna, I'm going to ask you a question, but I'm going to actually ask it to George. Why does it matter? Is it just fun to see it at zero? I mean, you guys don't plan on going into more debt, do you? Are you getting a mortgage soon?

No, I can tell you why. We think within the next three years, we're going to reevaluate the house that we're in if we want to move. If we want to stay in our city, we will have to get a mortgage. We are saving money, but we just can't make that jump quite with what we have. Okay. Well, one thing that could happen is they use your income and your non-score to get the loan. Would you qualify on your own? No, I'm a stay-at-home mom. Okay. So this would largely be on his. Well, I'm going to do some

digging to figure out what the holdup is because a year and a half to two years is far too long. Generally, it's six to 12 months and that thing disappears. So my thinking is he may have forgot. And that's what happened with mine, yeah. Because yours was six to 12 months? Yeah, mm-hmm. My guess is there's some little dinky account sitting out somewhere that he forgot to officially close or there's some bill being

reported but 550 means that something is amiss because if he something was reported like utility bill that was paid on time it would give you a good score and 550 just seems too low so there's some more digging to do okay i would get back with the credit bureaus and check in with them and check all the websites he's ever signed up for and do some homework there. And hopefully by the time you guys buy the house, that thing is long gone and you do manual underwriting with a no-score loan. George, great show today. You too, man. Good times.

I want to thank Kyle and Zach and James and Ben and Christian and Austin. I want to thank you, America, for listening to us. Hey, be kind. Take care of yourself. Take care of each other. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Dr. John Deloney. If you like what you heard in this episode and want to know more about getting started on the Ramsey baby steps, go to ramsesolutions.com and click on the get started button. We'll help you figure out the best next step for you based on your specific situation. That's ramsesolutions.com and click get started.