The Ramsey Show - App - I Make Good Money as a Stripper, but I Hate It (Hour 1)

Episode Date: March 22, 2024

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's The Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and build actual amazing relationships. I am your host, Jade Warshaw. I am joined by my buddy, my friend, Dr. John Deloney. He's also written a couple of really awesome books. We're going to be taking your calls all hour about your life, your money. Feel free to give us a call. The number is 888-825-5225, and we will chop it up with you. Hey, let's get right into it. We've got Elsa in Detroit, Michigan. What's going on, Elsa? Hi there. Hi, how are you? I'm here. What's going on, Elsa? Hi there. Hi, how are you?

I'm here. How's your day? My day's going good, but I want to know what's behind the sound of your voice. Yeah, you sound nervous. You all right? Yes, yes, I'm fine.

I'm here. I'm just wanting to get some advice from you guys. Okay, tell us about it. Well, I've been a stripper for 10 years, and I now know better. I know the dangers and how bad it is to work there. I've realized how unstable that world is and um I'm 29 so I just want out but it's me my financial goals right now and um I have um I have some debt to pay off and I have a dilemma I just don't know

if it's worth me staying there to pay everything that I owe or just get out and find a normal career, find a normal job right now and then little by little go on to move on to something better, you know, go on to my university dream. Is it true that, is it true what you said that you kind of made it seem like only your debt is keeping you in that lifestyle? Is that true? Because you just laid out that the back half of that was this beautiful scenario that didn't involve the dangers and lifestyle that you laid out at the beginning of the conversation. Yeah, I didn't know. Yeah, that's the only thing that's keeping me, really. Yeah, it is. How much debt is it?

It's about, let's see, it's about $12,000 in medical bills, and then it's about another $12,000 in credit card debt, and then I have $18,000 left in my car. Okay. Where do you live? Detroit, Michigan. mean do you have a home you have an apartment yes I have an apartment I live by myself it's just my my dog and I I've never really um been the typical dancer that has um that has you know three four girls living with her or has a pimp has, no, I've, I've actually, I've been smart in that aspect, but I've become friends with girls that have that lifestyle and

I've now been, you know, it's just been dangerous for me. And I just don't know. I don't know if it's worth me staying there. I think that's your answer. No. Yeah. That's your answer. You said it's dangerous. What I'm looking for, what I was waiting to hear from you was, I want to get out of this, but I can't because of, and then maybe there being some danger to you, like bodily danger to you because of the people that you're associated with. I was waiting to hear something along those lines. But truly, truly, truly, Elsa, if you're telling me that

the only reason is because of this debt, then I want you to know that when you told me those numbers, like I didn't break a sweat, like my heart rate didn't increase at all. We take hundreds of calls a week, thousands of calls over time. Millions of people have called this number. And when you told me that debt, I was like, oh, okay, Elsa can do that. Like she's capable. She's confident. She's smart. Like there was no part of me based on anything that you said that would make me say she can't go out and get to your words. You know that get that education, get a job and go and work in a profession that doesn't cause you to take off your clothes or do things illegally. Like there

was no part of me that thought, I don't know, for Elsa, I only had confidence in you. Well, thank you. It's just, it's so hard to have confidence in oneself whenever you've been there since you were 18, 18, 19 years old. And you were told many years, like, you're only here to please men. You're not worth it. You're not good enough. You're not this. You're not that. And then you don't have a mom or dad to tell you any different.

You know, I don't have, I don't, it's hard. It's hard to believe that I can make it by myself in the real world with a normal career. It's just, it's so hard. Where are your parents? Well, my dad, my dad passed away when I was three and my mom, she's just not in my life. Okay. Do you have anyone else counting on this money or just you? What was that? Do you have anybody else counting on this money or just you? What was that? Do you have anybody else counting on this money or is it just you? No, just myself.

It's just me and my dog and that's it. If you were to give me a number, how much money do you need a month to make your minimum debt payments, to make your rent, and to get some food for you and your dog? Well, my rent's $1,800 plus food. I don't know. I spend $120 a week, I guess. Okay.

So sometimes— My car payment, I don't know, I guess $3,000, $4,000. Is that— That's not crazy. No, that's not crazy at all. So you called us okay so here's here's my promise to you all of us every one of us finds ourself at some season in our life in the dark and we don't know which way is up we've done something that we can't we don't think

we can come back from we find ourself in a job that we can't quit we have found ourselves 10 years into something that has compromised who we are and yet we don't think we can come back from. We find ourselves in a job that we can't quit. We have found ourselves 10 years into something that has compromised who we are, and yet we don't see a path out. And there's nobody that we can see that has a light at the end of any tunnel anywhere. And then you call us. And what Jade and I are telling you right now is we haven't been in your particular situation, but we've been in our own dark rooms and we reach out and call somebody that we trust

and they say, you can't see it yet, but I promise there's a path out. And that means the first step you take is gonna have to be a scary one because you won't see where you're stepping. You're just gonna have to trust Jade, you're gonna have to trust me, and you're gonna have to trust that millions of people

before you have walked this path. It have to trust me. And you have to trust that millions of people before you have walked this path. It's going to be scary. Are you in? Well, yes, I, of course. So what does it look like for you? Let's say, let's say you come off this phone call today and you say, you know what, John and Jade, I'm going to take that first step and I'm going to leave this profession behind and find a different profession. What does that look like for you? What's the first step to you saying, I'm not stripping anymore? Is it walking into the club and just saying, I quit? Is it as easy as that? Tell me a little bit more about that.

That's so hard, and that's to just not go back to that club anymore. It's so hard because I, I'm just, I have everything written down here, my whiteboard, and I'm seeing these numbers go down little by little, you know, and I'm just,

yeah, but you know what else is going down and down and down and down? Your sense of self, your sense of who you are, your sense of purpose, your sense of your own ability to breathe, to be okay with who you see in the mirror. And that's way more important right now than a dollar amount. Hang on the line here. We're going to hold you over because we want to continue this conversation with you. I'm really proud of your bravery and your vulnerability. We're going to figure this out. Okay. Hang on the line.

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take care of health care costs. CHM programs start as low as $98 a month. So learn more today and join at chministries.org slash budget. That's chministries.org slash budget. You're listening to The Ramsey Show. I'm Jade warshaw next to me is dr john deloney and uh first segment we had a caller on from detroit michigan elsa she was explaining her situation to us right now she's in this stripping industry um and she's making a lot of money doing that she's got 42 000 of debt and she's not sure that she's ready to leave that profession in order to kind of pursue that life that she's always dreamed of going to school, getting a quote normal job and getting into, you know, a lifestyle that's not full of danger and scary things. Yeah. So we've got her on the line. And Elsa, did I get that right? We're kind of just trying to figure out what's your next step forward, right?

Yes. Cool. So, you know, John and I, we had a couple minutes to just talk on the break, and we were thinking, you know, for you, it's not as easy as just walking into a club and saying, that's it, I quit, right? It sounds like you've got some feelings tied up in this. This is your community.

It's the only thing you've known since you're 18, right? So it's not just that easy. And you have, Elsa, do you have a bunch of people in your life telling you you're crazy? The money's too good. You're, you're an idiot. You're whining about nothing. Yes. I actually, just a month ago, Amanda sat me down. You, you're crazy for wanting to leave this industry. Why don't you just take two days off? Because I worked 40 days straight. I was so focused on this one credit card that I owed about $9,000, and I brought it down to like $500 in those 40 days. How much debt did you start with?

Can I just ask that? debt did you start with? Can I just ask that? What did you start with? It's just been credit cards that I avoided. You know, I moved, you know, I used to work in New York and then Vegas or, you know. So it's like you pay it down and run it up again, pay it down, run it up again. Yes, yes.

And I didn't, you know, I just, I wasn't, I would always, I kind of always did that, you know? Yeah. I mean, what can I just ask? What are you making? Like, what do you make on an average week? What do you make an average month? Maybe 3000, a good month, maybe 45 to 5000. Listen, listen, I'm gonna say this and I don't mean anything by it that's all right like it's fine but you could easily go out and get another job to replace that I like I feel like there's an erroneous part of your thinking that's like man this money's so good there's no way I could make that like on the outside and I'm just sitting here telling you like yes you can easily John

yeah I'm gonna ask this almost the same way i would ask somebody who's ready to stop drinking because here's what this is going to cost you elsa it's going to cost you everything you've known since you were 18 it's you're going to cost you a bunch of parasitic awful people who have are are basically pseudo family but they're not they're leeches or predators it's going to cost you all of it and it's going to change your your day-to-day it's going to change you have to get up and you're going to have to go to a regular job and you're going to have to interact with quote-unquote regular people in the light and you're going to have to learn to not feel socially anxious about that and it's going to take some time and some practice and it's going to be uncomfortable.

And if you do it, you're going to wake up in eight months and you're going to easily be making, you're going to be working a couple of jobs, but you're going to easily be making $4,000 over the course of a month. And you're going to start to accumulate something that you have never had.

And that is dignity and self-worth and a pride in yourself. Is that worth it? Because if you're not ready for that, that's okay. We love you. We'll still be your friend. We'll hook you up with FPU. But none of this changes, and you know how this ends, right? Well, yeah, it's taken a toll on me I know it is I'm having nightmares I know it is it's just are you done I'm just so

scared are you done if you're done we'll help you out we'll give you everything we got. I want to leave this trip close just as much as I want to breathe. I mean, I want to, I want to go to bed early and be in bed at seven. Let's make it happen. Listen, you, we're going to give you three, four or five steps, whatever steps it is little by little that you can take today and make changes today and throughout the next the rest of next week I think this is going to the the physical effort is going that it's going to take is going to be a lot less than the mental effort right because to John's point like you said this is all you've known but physically for you to say okay I quit or tonight I'm going and I am applying for every

job I can think of. I don't care if it's a Kroger grocery store. I don't care if it's McDonald's. I don't care if it's Amazon stocking shelves, whatever it is, you apply for it and take the first job you get. And then you can always upgrade later. Take the first job you get out. I think that's step one, huh, John? I think you, I want you to have two jobs by the end of this week. Will you commit to that? I will look for two jobs. You've got... No, no, no.

You look for 50 jobs. You're going to accept two of them. And you're going to start at 7 or 8 in the morning. And you're going to get done about 6 o'clock at 7 at night. And then you're going to go home. And you're going to play with your dog. And you're going to go for walks. And nobody's going to chase you. And then you're going to go to bed. And you're gonna go home you're gonna play with your dog and you're gonna go for walks and nobody's gonna chase you and then you're gonna go to bed and you're gonna

practice going to bed because you have never done that not in your entire adult life have you gone home and just watched a tv show and gone to bed right i just crashed and i crashed for 12 13 hours i'm so exhausted i hate wearing those heels i I hate it. Then be done with them. Wear running shoes like I'm wearing right now. They're amazing, right? When you get off the phone, you're signing up for Uber and you're signing up for Instacart.

You have an $18,000 car. That's thing one. And then I want you to go down the street to two, three different grocery stores. Apply. Get the job. Just like that. Just like that.

There's nothing. Now you can't go well where should i apply what should i do i just gave you five options so i should get a normal job even though it's gonna take me longer to pay this it's not gonna take you that much longer girl you told me you're making three thousand dollars a month you're not scrooge mcduck on that all right like i i want you to stop saying that that's like this pinnacle it's not and i'm not saying that to be ugly i'm just telling you the fact it's not a ton of money that's not a ton of money that's what people make when they call our show and we tell them you need to make more money that's what that is and so i don't i'm not going to subscribe to that with you that you were just doing okay and you're about to do a lot better like you're a lot

you're about to do so much better and i're a lot you're about to do so much better and I know that you said earlier no one no one has told you that you're worth anything but I let John and I be the first to tell you man you're worth so much you can do so much you're just so valuable and there's so much talent inside of you and you have so much to offer we see it and we hear it just talking to you we truly do and if you need to borrow some of our self-belief for a minute go for it borrow it but listen yes go get two jobs tomorrow or start this afternoon but start tomorrow and the moment you sign on job number two i'll start tomorrow you make a commitment i will never walk back in that club again ever, ever. I'm

going to block the people on my phone. I am out. I am out. I am out. If I have to change apartments, I'm going to change apartments. I am out. And there's going to be a season of loneliness. You can go get involved in a local group. You can hang out with people at your new job. You can go to a local church. You can figure that part out, but we're going to start cold turkey. We're out. I'm out. I'm out. I'm out. And we're going to give you all the tools you need. We're going to give you a budgeting tool to help you budget your money. We're going to set you up with coaching. We're going to give you Ken Coleman's career assessment so you can figure out what your path is toward doing what you truly want to do career wise. We're going to make sure like on our end, we're going to make sure you have everything.

I'll talk to you. I'll talk to you separately on my show about how to get into a college that you want to get into. Okay. We'll, we'll, we're going to walk with you. We'll take care. We'll hook you up with a financial coach so they can walk you through your budget. You think $3,000 a month is a lot of money. It's not.

No, no, no. I said, I said I'd make two to 3,000 a week. Ah, okay. So six to eight, uh, six to $8,000 a month. Yeah. six to eight, six to eight thousand dollars a month. Yeah, that's a good salary. That's a good salary. But looking at what your lifestyle is, A, it's not necessary. It's not sustainable. And B, I'm not living a fancy life. I know. You know, I'm very I'm actually frugal. You know, I know whether I make my point that I'm making to you, Elsa, is you don't need that much money a month

you told me your rent's eighteen hundred dollars a month you've got forty two thousand dollars of debt right now an average income is going to be just fine for you that's what I was saying if you can get four thousand bucks a month I'm happy for you you're making steps in the right direction and then that income is going to go up and up and up and right now you're that money's going somewhere it's being piddled away on debt and bad decisions because you haven't known how to manage that money. We'll teach you how to manage your money and you can make less money go further when you know the correct way to manage it. And we're going to help you with that. You're listening to The Ramsey Show. I am Jade Warshaw,

joined by your other host for the day, Dr. John Deloney. And we're here to talk about your life and your money. So if you have a question, if you want to talk about budgeting, you want to talk about why your spouse never sticks to the budget, if you want to talk about student loans or paying for college, whatever it is, give us a call. The number is 888-825-5225, and we'll help you out. That's what we do here at Ramsey Solutions. We're really just existing to help you with your life and your money. And that goes through a lot of different aspects, whether it's your mental health, your well-being, your career. It spans all these different areas. And because of that, we're offering a really,

really cool live event coming up here in May. It's the Total Money Makeover Weekend. And a lot of you are probably familiar with the book Total Money Makeover. It's kind of what started all of this. It's a process to get your life and your money together. And it works through the series of baby steps. It's what we teach on every single day, day in and day out here at Ramsey Solutions. And we're doing an event surrounding that. It's a total money makeover weekend. It's going to be here in Nashville or Franklin here at our headquarters, Ramsey Solutions. We have a really, really cool event center. It's up on a hill. It's beautiful. It's brand new. And that's where the event's going to be. It's May 10th and 11th. So you can come up there. It's one weekend and you're going to get a crash course on all of the things

that you hear us teach about. And it's going to get a crash course on all of the things that you hear us teach about. And it's going to be all the personalities spanning all of those different areas of your life and your money. So it's going to be myself, Dr. John Deloney, Ken Coleman, of course, Rachel Cruz, George Campbell, Dave Ramsey, the goat himself will obviously be there. And I'm really excited about this event because it really doesn't matter where you're at in your money journey. You could be at baby step one or baby step seven or not really sure if you want to dip your toe into the water yet. This event is for you. There's going to be so much information. If you've ever been to a Ramsey event before, this one is about to blow it out of the water. Totally different. We're just taking a completely new take on things. It's going to be really, really cool. So don't wait to get your tickets. Our Platinum Plus tickets are already sold out. Whenever's going to be really, really cool. So don't wait to get your tickets.

Our Platinum Plus tickets are already sold out. Whenever I say Platinum Plus, I feel like a rapper in the 2000s. Whenever the Platinum Plus tickets are sold out, but you can still get Platinum or VIP if you get them now. So get your tickets. You can get them at ramsaysolutions.com slash events.

Do it today. I'm excited, John. Bling, bling. Bling, bling. Every time I come around your city. John, just when I'm excited, John. Bling bling. Bling bling. Every time I come around your city. John, just when I thought I could have no more respect for you, you go and do something like that. Pinky ring cost of our city.

Let's go to Leah in Los Angeles. What's up, Leah? Hello. Hi, Jayden, Dr. John. What up? Thank you for taking my call. While I'm calling with a question, I am trying to find out if it makes financial sense for me to put off buying a house or maybe not buy one at all why um well so here's here's you live in

los angeles so they're a billion dollars listen i just want to know she might make five million dollars a year i don't know let's hear it okay so a little background i'm 45 happily divorced no kids it took a long time but i made it to baby step number four that means all credit cards car payments all paid for all right i know thanks i now max out my 401k every year i have an emergency fund for about six months good job now that's that said, thank you. But that said, it doesn't translate too much. My 401k is only about $250,000. My emergency fund is around $40,000 sitting in a high yield savings account. I am never ever remarrying and I don't plan to have kids. Hey, listen, listen, just real quick. Jade and I will both commit to coming to your wedding within 24 months.

That type of like, I guarantee it. You will be married in 24 months and we're going to do our best to be there. All right, keep going. Keep going. Okay, so 250 in retirement, 40,000 saved, all your debt's gone. That's not good enough for you. Tell us more. Yeah, well, I think, you know know conventional wisdom says it's a waste you know

obviously to spend money on rent instead of paying for a mortgage but i travel extensively for work i don't know when or where i'm going to eventually settle down so it seems to me like maybe it's better to keep stocking away money instead of trying to put down like a mortgage let's let's let's break let's break up that way of thinking. It's not so much that rent, throwing money, people think of rent as throwing money away or it's a waste. And that's not true. Obviously, if you're renting until you can buy, it's just you buying time. Like you're buying the ability to buy a house the right way, right? That's what you're doing when you're renting. It's not you throwing money away. But on the other side of that,

I kind of want to make you understand that when you are renting, for most of us, myself, John, everybody, for most of us, the biggest line item on our budget is where we live, right? Whether it's a mortgage or it's a rent, it's housing is the biggest line item.

And as long as you're renting, that line item is not stable it has the ability to fluctuate it has the ability to change and in most cases it's just going to go up up up and how old did you say you were leah 45 45 here's here's what i want for 70 year old leah no no house payment and so when you think about stability you think about risk and as you get older and i can imagine coming out of a divorce you are i can feel it in your bones you're playing catch up in your mind and you're playing i will never be dependent again in your mind so if you if you play that game all the way to the x factor all the way out don't be reliant on a landlord, like Jade said, who's going to make your rent go up and down

at their whim or whatever. Because at that point, you are throwing money away. If you were my sister, I would tell you, the greatest gift you can give yourself right now, and you're already well ahead of the game in terms of your finances. By the way, if you keep that $250,000 invested properly, then it will double every seven years. So it'll be $500,000, be half a million dollars when you are 52. When you're 59, it's going to be a million dollars.

When you are 66, it's going to be $2 million. You see what I'm saying? So you're better than you think you are. Okay. What I want you to think through, though though is what age do I want to be when nobody's going to tell me, you know what, your rent just doubled. I don't want that to be part of your equation. But also Jade, I want to honor the fact that she, you don't know where you want to live yet, do you Leah? No. And honestly, just from seeing my parents and my in-laws, what they have to do to maintain their homes, it just seems like way more work than it's worth.

I mean, get a patio home. Yeah. Get a condo. Yeah, I think you're coming up with excuses. I mean, don't get me wrong. Home ownership definitely does have something that comes with it, right? But you don't have to have this giant expansive yard you don't have to have water features and you know hedges that are cut into animal figures like you you can keep this very simple you can have a condo you can

have a place that's got an hoa and there's something to be said about that and you know yeah if something happens with ac you're responsible you know if something happens and you get a water leak you're responsible but i think you can handle that so here leah especially at the expense of having a paid for living situation jay do you think maybe because i'm thinking about this in terms of debt like 30 years of debt you know that's what it sounds like to me. It's not debt. It's an investment. Let me say this because this is not just you, Leah. This is a lot of people listening. We talk about investing a lot, right? We talk about baby step four, five, and six, and you're investing in your 401k. But don't forget, real estate is

an investment, guys. It is not the same as debt. Real estate is a forced savings account. When you pay your payment, it is not going down a black hole. It is going towards equity. It is you. It is another form of a savings account. And the great thing about it is the interest that it pays is great. When property values go up, that's your interest making payments towards you. So it is an investment.

It is not throwing money down the drain. Now, to your point, you have to treat it like the ocean, like you need to have a proper, you know, fear and respect of it, because there is a situation where if you buy a home in the wrong way, it is a burden and it is not a blessing. Right. And so if you do choose to do it, Leah, I want you to make sure that you're following our parameters so that it is a great investment. It is peaceful for you. It is something that you enjoy having. And like John said, that's something that you will eventually own. And to add to that, most people, when we look at most millionaires, Leah, their portfolio is between three areas. It's their home, which is usually one of the biggest portions.

It's their 401k, their retirement investments, and just their cash sitting around. And so home ownership is key. 67% of millionaires that we've surveyed, and we've done the biggest survey of millionaires ever, 67% of them own their homes. It's a big component to this. So I don't want you to be afraid of it.

I just want you to have the information going in to where you're getting a home payment. It's no more than 25% of your take home all in on a 15 year fixed rate. If you do that, you're going to be sitting pretty. This is The Ramsey Show. What's going on? You're listening to The Ramsey Show. I'm your host, Jade Warshaw. I am joined by Dr. John Deloney. We're taking your calls all afternoon long, really. So you can give us a call. The number is 888-825-5225. And we'll be here to help you talk through whatever it is that you're going through. It could be something with your spouse. It could be something with your family, whatever it is. Money touches all these areas of our lives. So make sure that you are giving us a call so we can help you through it. We've got Jessica who's in Chicago,

Illinois. What's going on, Jessica? Hi, how are you? I'm doing good. How are you? I am happy but terrified. I'm going to tell you why. Okay, let's hear it. So we just found out that we're pregnant with baby number two. Oh, yeah. All right. Yes. So my question is, we are in the baby step two right now, and I know you say to usually pause and go into stork mode. What happened was when I called insurance, they just said, we're going to put you back on pregnancy Medicaid,

which usually means everything is covered and free. But after a traumatic birth with our first daughter, I kind of want to go with a midwife and a home birth. Now, the minimum, because nothing's going to be covered through insurance, would be $5,200. And I'm like, well, do we just use the insurance and have a hospital birth because that chunk of money would be pretty big towards her to snowball or do we put aside for the birthing experience that we want? What was the traumatic birth the first time around? So, well, I've actually had two births. My first one was a, um, I have an open adoption

with my first daughter and I actually hemorrhaged, um, to the point where I was almost bleeding out about four days after the second one, I had a, um, subchorionic hemorrhage, which is where you bleed, um, while, while they are in utero. And it was just so painful and so intense. It was nothing like my first birth, which was actually pretty okay. Okay. What will a home birth solve? Because you've got two hemorrhaging.

And the reason I'm asking this level specifics is I'm all about, people at the office make fun of me. I'm all about homeopathic the office make fun of me. I'm all about homeopathic everything and like fight the man. I got my own gardens and all that stuff. But if this is something that is part of your values and what y'all want to do, great. Knock your lights out. It's just going to come at a cost. If you're doing it to try to avoid some sort of malpractice issue that you ran into the first few times, then that's another issue.

And it doesn't sound like you're solving, it sounds like the first issue and you're trying to make it okay by saying, well, it was bad these other times, so we're going to do this one instead, instead of just saying, this is what we want to do this time. Well, it does more align with our values it's one of those if i would have known then what i know now um i would have loved to home birth all of my babies um with a midwife okay um so it is you know you grow up you change um it is realigning more with

our values to go through a midwife and have the baby at home listen i'm with it i the whole point of stork mode is that you save up for whatever cost the baby could accrue. And so if you can pay for this in cash, if you know, for a lot of people, the $5,200, that would be likened to their deductible if they hit their deductible. So at any cost, most people are going to have to pay that much. You mentioned Medicaid. Can you tell me more about that? Yeah. So I've been on the state pregnancy Medicaid for both of my previous pregnancies, and everything has always been covered.

I've never received a bill. Is that due to lower income? It was due to lack of income from my first two. So we went through Marketplace this year, and me and my husband did not qualify, but our daughter did qualify for the Medicaid. And when I called insurance, they didn't even ask me questions. They looked at our Marketplace and they're like, oh, we'll just put you back on the pregnancy Medicaid. Okay, I look further into that because if you don't qualify and you take it, you're going, we'll just put you back on the pregnancy Medicaid. Okay, I'd look further into that because if you don't qualify and you take it, you're going to have to pay at the end of the year anyway. You're going to have to pay them. If you take the money and you don't need the money, it's going to be back on your tax bill

and it's going to be back. They're not going to just let you take it if you don't need it, if your income outweighs it. But you and your husband don't have a job with insurance? No, they don't offer insurance through his job. No. Okay. And then I'm a 1099. So. Okay. Okay. And in either case, if you decide to do this, make sure you're paying cash for it. Like I said before, that's the whole point of stork mode is to save up for baby and it's your prerogative how you want to birth the baby. Yeah. I mean, that's my take on on it it's just going to come at a cost and you're going to

decide our values in the in in situation a b or c is going to come at a cost of x y and z and i think where jade where people get frustrated is we really only want to eat organic foods or we really only want to do home births so we really um don't want to go to a traditional doctor we want to go to a homeopathic doctor and but my insurance doesn't cover it it's going to cost this okay that's a choice yeah it's just going to cost x y and z and it's going to take you a year longer to get out of debt if that's if that's your values it won't matter at all right but your values are your values are your values i agree i mean all of this is about trading you're trading one thing for another and in some cases it's trading what you want now for being in debt a little bit longer,

honestly. So let's go to the phone lines. Thank you for the call, Jessica. That was a good one. Let's go talk to Heather in Atlanta, Georgia. What's going on, Heather? Thank you so much for taking my call. I was wondering if I should sell one of my rental properties to pay off a pretty chunky IRS debt that I have.

Ooh, tell me about the rentals. I would sell my child to get rid of the IRS off my back. What do you owe? At this point, it's down to 47. I started with 150 and have just been throwing money, throwing money, throwing money at it. And we've got it down to $47,000. And if you sell it, what will it bring? If I sell the property?

Uh-huh. We have a few. My concern, you know, is if I sell it, one of them, they all have substantial equity now. My thought is, kind of back story, is we started giving these rental properties to help find either A, supplement future retirement with rental income, or B, sell them and have it paid for retirement home in the future. Listen, I'm always, here's where I stand on this. I mean, obviously you bought these properties long before you found Ramsey, I'm guessing, but I'm not going to have, I am not going to have rental properties paid off while I live in a home with a mortgage. That just doesn't make sense to me. If anybody's going to feel the peace of living in a mortgage-free home, it's going to have rental properties paid off while I live in a home with a mortgage. That just doesn't make sense to me. If anybody's going to feel the peace of living in a mortgage-free home,

it's going to be me. That's the way I feel. So how many rentals do you have? And then tell me about your primary residence. So I have a primary, we have a second home, and then we have four rental properties. Okay, so primary, second home, and four rental properties okay so primary second home and four rental property properties tell me about your tell me about your primary residence a primary is on a 15 year okay it's uh the rate is two and two point one two five just tell me what you owe and tell me what you want. Okay. I owe about 180. Okay, cool. Now tell me about your second house.

What do you owe on it? Something, probably about 180. About 180. Okay, now let's go through real quick. Sorry, I'm in a rush. I want to make sure we get before the time hits. So rental property number one, you owe 47K. What would it bring if you sold it?

That was the IRS debt. Oh, that's the irs debt okay um then tell me about rental property number one what would what do you owe i owe uh so the first one i owe um about 190 you owe 190 and if you sold it what would it bring um i would i would gross probably $100,000. Okay. And then I got to pay taxes on that. Sure. So my thought is I'd probably net $50,000. Okay. Now tell me the same thing about

rental property number two. Alright, the second one I owe roughly about $390,000. Uh-huh. Here's the thing. At the end of the day, I'd hate to cut you off,

but we're up against it. At the end of the day, you are going to have to sell some of these off. I would be willing to part with whatever I have to do to be completely debt-free from the IRS and be completely mortgage debt-free. You've got too much money and too much equity laying around to be owing money

on a primary residence and to be owing money to the IRS. The whole idea here is that you own these properties outright. I would even sell a property, a rental property, so that I can own the other rental properties outright. You see what I'm saying? So the key is to clear the debt and own it outright. This is The Ramsey Show.