The Ramsey Show - App - If You Want To Win You Need To Account for Risk (Hour 3)

Episode Date: December 11, 2023

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's The Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. The phone number here is 888-825-5225. YouTube sensation George Campbell is my co-host today, Ramsey Personality. He's also the co-host of the Smart Money Happy Hour. And we appreciate you guys joining us today. Open phones, Merry Christmas to you. Thanks for hanging out.

And George, you and Rachel got my wife to do something I can't get her to do. What's that? Go on a podcast. We got there first. You got there. I mean, she did this show 30 years ago one time when there were four people listening to it. Oh, my goodness. But after that, she won't come back on.

Yeah, it was the honor of a lifetime for Sharon Ramsey to agree to do Smart Money Happy Hour. I cornered her at last year's Christmas party, and she's a big fan of the podcast. And I said, well, Sharon, you should be on it. And she said, I'll do it. And that was it. And then you all sent her all the positive comments from YouTube, none of the negatives. And so now she thinks she's a star. There was weirdly only positive comments, Dave. Even in the YouTube comment section, which is generally a cesspool, everybody's like, we love Sharon. She needs to be a third co-host. She's America's sweetheart. Wow. She's a star. They love her. Sharon, if you're listening, which you're not listening to this show,

you're busy listening to Smart Money Happy Hour, so they don't have to worry about her head getting too big. But it was a great episode. So I encourage you guys, go check out the Smart Money Happy Hour episode featuring the one and only Sharon Ramsey. Courtney's in Canada. Hi, Courtney. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave and George. Can you hear me all right? We can. How are you? Oh, I'm doing all right. I am so honored to talk to you guys. I'm very excited. We're glad to have you. How can we help?

I have a question. I'll tell you my question. I'll give you a little bit of background. So I am wondering what I should do with my rental, excuse me, my rental property income. I moved in with my fiance and so my house was empty. I tried to sell it. I was on the market for about a year and no luck. So I decided for the winter season to get a renter. And so now I have this extra income from a renter, and I'm just wondering if I should put it towards, I'm in baby step two, I'm wondering if I should be throwing it towards my debt snowball,

or if I should be saving a portion of that in case, worst case scenario, and I have to do repairs on the house. Yes. A little bit of both? Yeah, you need an emergency fund for the house because as a landlord one of the things you're going to discover is owning real estate's not cheap and so you're going to have to have some what we would in business we'd call it retained earnings uh in ramsey talk we call it an emergency fund right where you've got some money set aside so when the water heater goes out you've got to fix it you got a tenant yeah so if you if you have zero money and something breaks over there you're screwed right yeah and i have i have a very good income um i'm

just obviously what is your very good income i make about 150 that. That's nice. Good for you. I still would set aside, like, what's your rent on this place, income? I charge $2,000 a month, and it costs me $1,850. Okay. It costs you $1,850. Well, my mortgage is $1,850 you do. And I'm charging my tenant $2,000. So this is a money-making scheme of $1,800 a year. It's $150 we're discussing here. Yes. The market is, it's a very small town. I know. I don't think $150 is going to change your life either way here.

What really is going to change your life, you get this property sold. And I sure hope you're married by then. When are you getting married? June 7th, 2025. We are working separately on our debt and we are paying cash for the wedding. So we decided to give it a year and a half. It's going to take you a year and a half to cash flow a wedding? Well, to get rid of our debt and then cash for our wedding. Can you scale down the wedding and just get the wedding knocked out and be married and then knock this debt out together?

I mean, we could. With your very good income? Yes. Yeah, we could do that. I don't know if the world's going to be around in 2025. I don't want to be married to this guy. I guess that's silly because we both know we're going to spend the rest of our lives together and we want a really nice wedding.

It's nothing crazy. It's only, well, I mean, it's average. It's $20,000. So we just thought if we get all our money in order first and then we can save. I plan to be debt free by April or May and then get some time to plan and all that stuff. Okay. Sell your house as soon as possible. And if I woke up in your shoes, you can do whatever you want to do.

You're grown people, okay? But having lived and sat with people where things didn't turn out like they thought they were going to. If I were in your old shoes, I would put my debt snowballs on hold temporarily. What does your fiancé make? He makes about $150,000 to $160,000. Okay, so you have $300,000 you're playing with. Stop everything and put $20,000 together and go get married now, like March.

Okay. That's what i would do oh you could put a wedding together by march and go get married and then start then take your three hundred thousand dollar income and clean up your your debt we don't tell people that they should be debt free before getting married but they should be in agreement about doing that before after during whatever you should be in agreement about your money but you don't have to be debt-free to prove it to each other. And you're just, you're in a very, you're taking a lot of risk here that you don't even realize you're taking.

Let's say you sell this house and then something goes sideways. Yeah, you got a mess on your hands, kiddo. So yeah, you guys need to decide what you're going to do, and let's go ahead and get things in the right order here. And you do whatever you want to do, but that's what I would do if I woke up in your shoes knowing that I know. I'm not waiting two and a half years to get married to do this.

I'm with George on this. I'm going to put it together. I would put the debt snowball on hold temporarily quickly. I mean, you could, what, two months, you get $20,000. Yeah, I mean, with $300,000, they only need to put in $10, you could, what, two months, you get $20,000. Yeah. I mean, with $300,000, they only need to put in $10,000 each, and this thing's done. Yeah.

That's a paycheck. It's really not hard. Yeah. And then let's get rid of this house because this house is a burden as soon as you're married. So, yeah, March, the house goes on the market right after we get married. If I woke up in your shoes, that's what I would do. I want to know why it didn't sell for a whole year.

That part is interesting. She said it's a rural area, not a lot of market. So she wasn't able to rent it, though, for $2,000. So it's an interesting thing. That's tough. But yeah, some of these rentals, Dave, we get the call in, and we always ask them, well, how much are you making? Well, after the mortgage, we make about $100 a month.

And I go, for $1,200 a year, I'd rather just go do a side hustle that's a lot of risk that's a whole lot of risk and that's if everything goes perfectly and it never goes perfectly it's called rental property i mean it just doesn't go perfectly something's always busted people don't pay i mean stuff is always and they don't treat it like their own house no it's it's a it's a thing, man. And so, yeah, you just, the longer you leave a renter in there, the harder you're going to be to get rid of this property without spending some more money on it. So, yeah, I really think I would do those things. You do whatever you want to do, but you guys have got great potential,

and you're dragging this stuff out to your own peril. Putting your life on hold for this $150 a month. It's not worth it. Yeah, exactly. This is The Ramsey Show. George Campbell, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host today in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage. Kevin and Ginger are with us. Hey, guys, how are you?

Great. Can't complain, Dave. Welcome. Good to have you. Where do you guys live? Cleveland, Ohio. Fun. Welcome to Nashville.

How much debt have you paid? So we paid off $120,000. Cool. How long did that take? About 28 months. Good for you. Yes. And your range of income during that time?

So it was $78,000 and then all the way up to $138,000. Cool. What do y'all do for a living? So I'm an accountant and then I do cybersecurity as well. Ah, good. And I'm also an accountant and I do auditing. Wow. Great careers.

Way to go, guys. Thanks. So what kind of debt was the $120,000? So we paid off our house. Oh, a couple go, guys. Thanks. So what kind of debt was the $120,000? So we paid off our house. Oh, a couple of weirdos. Yeah. I love it. What's the house worth?

The last time I checked, it was $220,000. Wow. $220,000 in Cleveland, Ohio. Yes. And how old are you two? I'm 28 and Kevin's 30. I'm 30. 28, did you say? Yes. 28 and 30 and 30. I'm 30. 28, did you say?

Yes. 28 and 30, and you have a paid-for house worth a quarter million dollars. Yeah. I love it. Way to go, you two. Thank you. So how long have you been married? Three years.

Okay. So right after you got married, you look at this and go, this is doable. We're a couple of accountants. We can do math. Yes. We can pay this house off. Yes. A hundred percent, yes. We can pay this house off this house off so how did you get connected to Ramsey so my mother-in-law

was like hey there's this guy this old guy kind of like your grandpa I know I know that's what she said how old is she blame it on the mother-in-law she's uh 62 but no she was like I know you're really attached to your grandpa and he's kind of like him so you should look at him and kind of be guided with what he's gonna say so i'm like all right so i got a couple like youtube videos i'm like man this guy is he does finance super simple and it everybody can understand it so i'm just like i'm gonna go full-on just gazelle intense on all any kind of debt so that's pretty much the whole thing so uh ginger you're like my mother what did she do i'd be like you keep sending me youtube links what are you doing

love it so were you on board ginger did this all make sense to you we're like all right sure like that sounds fun. What a cool goal. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I was like, let's get this done. And that's how you do it in 28 months. 120,000.

That's impressive. Well, like school is always like leverage and all that stuff. And like fancy, you know, trying to like time the market and all that stuff. And I'm like, well, or we could just pay off everything and then just not have to worry about anything for the rest of our lives. That's a strategy. That's a strategy. That's a strategy. I'm going with that one.

Yeah. I like that. I'm going with the peace and calmness. I like this. This is good. Way to go. So your mother-in-law's got to be happy. Yes.

Oh, yes. Oh, yes. She was like the first big cheerleader. She's like, holy crap, you did it. Yes. I love it. Well, congratulations, you guys. Thank you.

Yes. How's it feel to be 30 years old and not have a payment in the world? Great. Y'all are welcome. Feels pretty good. Feels pretty good. I mean, I know, what's it called? We both had a goal when we got married.

I'm like, all right, we need to do this before we're 30. And I missed it by one month. I missed it by one month, but it was okay. It was okay. I wouldn't call it a complete failure. Such a way to be a failure. I'm just saying. Did you have friends that were cheering you guys on?

Did they know about this? Or was this kind of a private thing? Oh, they thought we were crazy. They were like, you make all this money and you're not getting a Tesla? And I'm like, because I want a Tesla. But I'm like, man, it's just so expensive. There we go. Right?

I know. Like, I know you're in the Tesla all the time. And I'm like, man, I want one of those. But like. Here's what I did, though. I waited until the house was paid off. Exactly. And then I bought a very used Tesla that didn't hurt my stomach.

For such a thing as a junkie Tesla, that's not on fire. George has one. That's it. It hasn't burned down yet, Dave. Yeah, so a lot of our friends got new appliances and new stuff for our housing, and they always are upscaling their lifestyle, and then here's us with our 2010 Ford Escape, just like, you know, it's good, but it's not great. But we just thought, well, if we're just deaf-free and have that good journey,

it's just, you know, we'll have peace for the rest of our lives. You'll be driving like no one else soon my exactly exactly 140k with no payments so now that you're free are you two weirdos gonna lighten up and go do something cool so that segues us great so as soon as we promised ourselves that we would buy a luxury hot tub that i did give an image to them but a luxury hot tub after we paid off and we did indeed buy the hot tub touchdown all right that's better than a tesla i know i was like you know a tesla hot tub i was like well i get to relax all day i'm telling you yeah that's a lot better that's a lot better uh it's fireproof way to go man thank you excellent that's cool i love it good for you

guys you guys are on you're on track to be multi-millionaires you can be able to do anything you want to do you'll be able to be generous with money you'll be able to change your whole family tree pretty incredible and all because your uh mother who's my age said there's this old guy that was the most offensive part like she's his age this doesn't make sense i know i was like he's not even that bad compared to you she was saying hey listen yeah i get he's not as young and strapping as she was talking about relative to you i get it i'm not mad it's funny it's funny hey thanks guys so proud of y'all what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is follow a budget stick to it check check in on your budget have your cheerleaders with you i i think make

you got to make sure that you hold yourself accountable too right you know you just got to make sure that like if you're with a relationship or a partner they make sure that you're accountable and they're accountable too um but if you're single i got a feeling both of you guys were pretty dialed in from oh yeah oh it doesn't sound like we were it's not like anybody was kicking and screaming yeah when we went to marriage counseling because did that, also my mother-in-law said you should do that. So I'm like, okay. When we went to marriage counseling, they did like this test or whatever.

I don't know. And then for the finance section, it was literally, I couldn't even believe it. We were in opposite rooms, 100%. We were 100% aligned with that. I was like, what? That's a less parents test. Oh, that's right. The Simbas. Simbas.

Yeah, that's a great test. Save your marriage before it starts. Exactly. That's a great test. Wow. That's what happens when two finance nerds come together and they're actually aligned. Look at what you guys can accomplish. And what happens is they're going to be so rich. It's so cool. Way to go, you two well done

hey we've got the live and give box for you it has in it the baby steps millionaires book which is where you're going for sure uh the total money makeover book you've got that memorized and uh financial peace university membership to give to one of your doubting friends and uh that's right you can get them going in the right direction now so this is stuff for you to live and stuff for you to give. Our way of saying thanks for coming down from Cleveland. Let us celebrate with you. We're proud of you.

We're proud of your mother-in-law. We're proud of everybody. Way to go, you guys. You're in such great shape. Pretty incredible. Thank you so much. Hot tub. That was not on my bingo card, but I love it. Well played.

Kevin and Ginger, Cleveland, Ohio, $120,000 paid off in 28 months. House and everything, not even $30,000. Did it in making $78,000 to $138,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! Yeah!

Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo! Yeah! Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo! Yeah! Love it! Way to go, you guys. Way to go. That's impressive. What I love is that 28 months of sacrifice is what it took,

and the next 28 years are drastically different. 38, 48 years. And most people would rather just live in mediocrity for 28 years and not do this. That's what's crazy to me. They'll just sort of stumble through life and wake up 28 months from now going, yeah, we're still broke, still got the same money stress. But if you're just willing to sacrifice for this short period of time, this is a blip in the scale of your life, changes everything. You know, we had my old friend Art Williams speak at Entree Leadership, and he used to say, you're going to pay a price period everyone is going to pay a price you're going to pay a price now living like no one else like they did so that later you can live and give like no one else

or you're going to pay a price of living a whole life like you said the money fights of media problems never building wealth a whole life of mediocrity a whole life of financial stress you'll be normal god help you don't be normal people that's why that's why when someone does this we yell hey weirdo because it's weird to pay off your house it's weird to be a grown-up and live on less than you make it's's weird. Normal is broke, stressed out, freaked out. Number one cause of divorce in North America today, money fights, money problems. That's normal. You don't want to be normal. Normal sucks. This is the Ramsey Show. George Campbell Ramsey Personality is my co-host today I am Dave Ramsey your host thank you for

doing this I've been doing this radio show taking calls for those of you listening on podcast or watching on YouTube this started with and is still a talk radio show it's on 680 radio stations the second largest talk radio show in America that That's how this whole thing started. Been doing it for over 30 years now. And during that 30 years, I've taken some wild calls, some funny calls, some sad calls. We've taken calls. But, you know, what we don't do a good job of here, because it's just not the format, it's not what we're here for, is we don't ever get the opportunity very often to follow up and go back and say,

did you do what I told you to do? Were you able to turn it around? Did it turn out okay? How'd this work out? Did you follow the advice? Was the advice good? Were we able to help you? we don't ever follow up and find out later sometimes we hear a little bit of that with a debt-free scream george but where are they

now yeah but it's kind of where are they now stuff we you know we just uh help you and you go on your way and your friends know what happened your family knows what happened in some cases but um but you know we don't bring you back on here and do that. So we're going to change that today because on August 1st, we took a call from Sarah, and she was in a pickle. We've got an edited quick version of the call just to give you an idea, and then we'll recap it. So James is going to fire that. Let's hear it.

I'm kind of in a financial crisis, and I'm not really sure what to do. My house is in the process of being foreclosed on. Oh, my. And I don't know if I should just throw in the towel or fight. I lost my husband four years ago, and we've been surviving off the Social Security and insurance payments. What happened? payments what happened he was working for a roofing company and he fell through a skylight working on a roof 30 feet oh my i'm so sorry and um he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and the the insurance company that was what workers comp or liability insurance for the, for the employer says they're not liable.

Yeah. They filed an appeal and you have an attorney. I have one through workman's comp and they have denied the appeal and restarted my payment. But that put me in a place where I got behind, really behind. And then by the time I got a job, I was drowning. Yeah. You are not getting foreclosed on.

Breathe. I know how to stop this. I mean, I know this is my fault. It's not your fault. Nope. It's not your fault. Life has happened to you. You've had a tragedy, honey.

So you're okay. Now, do we have some problems that we need to address yes okay we do but you're not going to lose this house i'm a hundred percent sure of it okay my car got repoed last month okay Okay. Do you have a car at all? No. Okay. And so you don't have anybody around you and family and things, do you?

I lost my father six months before I lost my husband. Okay. How many kids you got? Four. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to wrap our arms around you and make sure you're okay and we're gonna put a bunch of people in your life and um you're gonna follow the instructions of these people and we're gonna save your house and we're gonna get you back up

on your feet and get you a car and get you going again okay okay all right we've got we've got ramsey counselors right here in your town we're in town, and we'll use one of our on-staff people to take care of you. Okay. Her name is Lisa, and Austin's going to hook you up with her, and she's going to get in touch with a mortgage company, and this is taken care of. We're going to take care of it. So that's a quick grasp of what the call was a little longer than that. But her husband passed away at 36 years old, as she said, in a roofing accident.

And the insurance company quit paying the payments. She only owed $64,000 on the house. It was worth $375,000. It was 45 days from foreclosure when she called on August 1st. So that's a lot of equity. I mean, she had $ hundred thousand dollars worth of equity that she was going to lose on that foreclosure um she'd just gotten the job making about twenty dollars an hour uh she was five months behind on a six hundred dollar house payment three thousand

dollars no car because she like she said her car got repoed no family around her except her four kids um which are 20 17 8 and 6 um wasn't plugged into her church in her community um and we sat her down with our our top counselor the lady that runs our whole counseling area lisa barber and um lisa stepped in and began to guide everything through this situation because we knew we deal with this stuff every day and we knew exactly how to pull this off. Well, what happened in the meantime was God showed up miraculously. A roofing company in the area heard this and said, well, that's not okay. And they wrote the check and Lisa got with the mortgage company and caught the payments up, stopped the foreclosure,

the $3,000 or whatever it was to get the $4,000 with legal fees, whatever it was to get the house caught up. And so the house is not in foreclosure. Like I told her, she's not going to lose that house. Not for three grand, my God. You know, not going to happen. So this other company heard the story and stepped in and was generous. And another guy that listens to the show all the time in her area that's been a fan for years purchased a car and handed her the keys.

So she got a good used car, got her house current. Lisa was able to sit down with her. And with the insurance payments reactivated and the budget going um she's able to get a hold on this um the you know this turned around so we've got sarah on the line let's bring her up and check on her now sarah how are you hey dave how are you i'm doing great you sound a little different than the last time I talked to you. I do. I feel different. I've got to tell you, Lisa Barber is a huge Sarah fan.

All she can tell me over and over and over again is how tough you are and how resilient you are and how you can fight through anything. I don't think I would make it without Lisa. She is a godsend. None of us would. That's why we have a Lisa. Yeah, she's forever a part of my family, like it or not. So the house is current. You've got a car, the job.

How's everything else going? It's going. I mean, in the beginning, it's taken me some time. I set my expectations for myself a little too high and thought, oh, I can just write it all down and I'll get it right overnight and I'm good to go. And I didn't realize how much those behaviors have to be unlearned. And that I didn't really think about that in the beginning. And I kept getting it wrong the first couple of months. And I can't make it work. And I don't know what about that in the beginning and I kept getting it wrong the first couple of months and I can't make it work and I don't know what I'm

doing wrong. And one day I would be like, okay, I can't do this. I give up. And then I'm like, no, there's no room for failure here. We can't do this. We've been severely blessed, immensely favored, and I cannot, I can't let this happen again. So, I mean, it took me some time. I'm still, I'm still getting there there we're still turning this ship around but it's definitely been different and um you guys i can't i just can't thank you if it wasn't for you guys just taking my call like my whole world was saved by so many people. It's an impressive story of generosity, the people that were inspired by you to come around you.

I stand back and watch all that because we didn't write any checks out of Ramsey. We just provided Lisa's help. And the knowledge base does it. But the generosity in the community, and you're the kind of people people like to help, you know. People that got the grit in their belly. You're a lady that's not going to quit, like you said. It's just not an option.

No, it's not. I mean, these kids need me and they need me to get it right and they need me to do it right and teach them right. And I don't have a choice. Well, we love you you we're here with you we appreciate you you're an amazing lady so you keep it up and thanks for letting us follow up with you we're proud of your journey and proud of where it's taking you anyway i'm sorry for how you got here but proud of where you are our team is cheering you on and so is america and we're glad to hear you're doing better. Amen. This is The Ramsey Show.

Our scripture of the day, James 1.5. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him. Charlie Munger says, it is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid instead of trying to be intelligent. George, that's like right up the alley of your whole YouTube show. Oh, absolutely. If you'll just not be stupid, you have a marketplace advantage. Absolutely. And Charlie Munger, rest his soul, passed away recently. But, man, that advice is timeless.

So I'm still using it today. Just trying to help people avoid the stupid. Those clips of him and Warren Buffett together sitting and talking are fabulous. They're so brilliant, and they have so much wit. Yeah, they're just, well, they're dry. It's like two old man Muppets. That's what it reminds me of. It's pretty funny.

The two guys in the balcony. But with a lot more wisdom. Statler and Waldorf. Yeah, a lot more wisdom than the Muppets. That's right, than the Muppets. But yeah, they just don't give, that's classic old men, don't give a rip. I can't wait to get there. Let me know how it is, Dave, when you're there.

Don't care what you think. I've been there since I was a young guy. I don't care what you think. Kind of lost the need for that. Started it early. Max is in Boston. Hey, Max, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Thank you for having me. to be here uh just last week blew through total bunny makeover in just like two

days and it really spoke to me and i've realized that i just i have tracked all my like spending for the last almost nine months since the beginning of March. I have absolutely no idea how to just go about the right behaviors. I see it and I feel like I'm not saving enough money that I need to be for my future goals. I know I want to buy an engagement ring for my girlfriend. I know that I want to start doing those next kind of things in life and I'm just not. I feel like I'm behind,

but I feel like I'm behind, but I feel like I'm not in a terrible spot. I just died. I don't know how to navigate money, I guess. How old are you? Just turned 30 in October. Well, the good news is you got plenty of time to reroute this ship. So what is your current financial picture? Do you have much debt? I have $1,200 with no interest for a mattress I got a couple of years ago. That's it. That's it. So $1,200 would get you completely debt-free,

but you're living paycheck to paycheck. Are you making good money? What's your income? My gross income for this year will be $91,000. Wow. But I'm still, yeah. Do you have anything in the bank? Yeah, I got, um, I got 1300 in checking, 8,500 in savings, 29,000 in a 401k. I was very lucky and had a grandma who left some money behind. So I have 72,500 in an investment account and then 3,000 in crypto. And so that's what I'm working with. Well, you got plenty of money. Yeah, I still just stress. The beauty, you read the total makeover. So let me tell you, those baby steps, they work. As long as you don't think you're unique or special and need to mess with them, it works.

And so you already have $1,000. You have the money and savings to pay off the mattress today. Let's get that out of your head. It's living rent-free in your head right now. It is. So get that out of the picture. Now we can work on a fully funded emergency fund, which you could have very quickly, make $91,000. You already have a good start. I'll buy the investment account create the emergency yeah you already have it

sitting there so you're in you're in baby steps four five and six if you move some money around cash in the crypto pay off the mattress build your emergency fund out of the money that you've got it for your fingertips if you can't quite get there on the three to six months, use a little bit of the investment money and move it in there and go that route. And then you're at baby step four, start investing 15% of your income into retirement. Do you own a home yet? No, I rent.

Okay. You thinking about buying a house? I don't think I'll be ready for that for a few years, I think. What does ready mean, emotionally or financially? Financially. Okay. Why? You make plenty of money.

I'm not really saving a ton. I'm paying $1,900 in rents. My total living expenses is about $2,500. Okay. What's your take-home pay? Take-home, I think it's going to be, if you read some math, about $58,718 for this year. So you can save $3,000 a month. In one year, that's $36,000.

With some of the money you've got from your grandmother, you've got enough for a good down payment in a year. So I should use that on a down payment and not just ride in deficit? Some of it, yeah. The problem is, Max, you're just doing a lot at once, and they're all good things. Saving is great, investing is great, paying off debt is great. But when you do it with some focus intensity, like the mattress is gone tomorrow All right, next up, we got to get the emergency fund. Great. We got that. Let's invest 15%. Then you've got some margin and you have a focused goal. And so beyond

the 15%, it's let's get the engagement ring. Let's work on the down payment fund. The engagement ring. Crypto will do that. Yeah. Hey, there you go. It's a good trade. Good trade. Fake money for a girl. It's a good trade. Good trade. Fake money for a girl. That's a good trade. Do you want a wife or do you want some Ethereum?

That's the call to make here, Max. I'm going to choose the thing that's real and not the thing that some guy made up. Max, you're on your way. George is right. If you'll take this stuff from the Total Money Makeover and follow it straight through, it'll give you a sense of power because you've got a step-by-step plan laid out there. It also sounds like you need to probably do a detailed budget and give yourself permission to walk these steps. Somehow, it sounds like you don't feel like that this is all possible.

It's very possible with the math you gave us. But part of it is you have to start taking the actions based on that you start to believe that it's possible. And when you start taking those actions, pay off the mattress, get rid of the crypto, get the emergency fund in place, get the ring, you know, then take a year and let's save up the money for down payment. During that time, you're probably going to get married. That'd be awesome. Then you got two incomes to save towards a down payment on the house, and you'll be in really, really good shape at that point. That's where I would take you.

Josephine is in Brooklyn. Hi, Josephine. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, how are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? I'm in a little limbo here. I was watching your show off and on,

you know, I worked, but then I was home working from home this day. And I watching your show where you was talking about, um, uh, old debt when you go into debt, when you have a debt and, uh, you don't pay it off and they go into collections and what they do is they pay a penny on the dollar. So, um, I, uh, took a payday loan out um probably 13 years ago a little longer yeah and uh all of that time never heard so i was working for a company that went out of business so all the emails and all that got got blasted so i probably owed maybe

another 200 on it uh and i you know was waiting for them to contact me and he didn't not make an excuse. So I didn't pay it. So, uh, in September of this year, I got a call from a law office saying that that loan now was 14,000 something dollars and they could settle it out of court for, uh, about $3,200. So for the fact is that I'm actually saving for a home and I want to, you know, uh,

not have any increase on my, uh, my credit report because I worked hard to build up my credit. I paid them. And now I'm getting another call back from another law firm saying that, that the, what I paid them did not cover the law fees. And now they're asking me for another $2,700.

So you did not get it in writing that $3,200 paid the account? I have what they call an OOCR. I have something saying yes, that I do have something in writing saying that this settles the account. I do have something, yes. Tell the other law firm to stick it. You have a bill in your hand that says paid in full on an old bad debt for $3,200. You overpaid on that, but you gave them $3,200,

and they gave you a piece of paper that says you paid the bill in full. Am I right? Well, no, they sent me, so this is what I did. I sent an email for an OOCR saying that this amount is for the debt and this settles the debt. Yes, it does say this settles the debt. It settles the debt. This is a scam.

Just tell them to bite it. Not a chance I'm giving them a dime. Nope. Good luck with that. Yeah. I'm sorry. People,. Nope. Good luck with that. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry. Oh, people, people, people, people.

Payday lenders. Scum of the earth. Scum of the earth. That puts this hour of the Ramsey Show in the books. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the prince of peace christ jesus