The Ramsey Show - App - Intentionality Is the Key to Winning With Money (Hour 3)

Episode Date: January 19, 2023

Kristina Ellis & George Kamel answer your questions and discuss: "My wife thinks FPU is a scam", Helping a daughter decide on a career, "Should I roll my loans into a mortgage?" Using savings to pay off debt, What to do after a job loss, Balancing a side-hustle with family time. 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/3nInETX 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

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Pods Moving and Storage Studio, it's The Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. I'm Christina Ellis, Ramsey Personality, joined today by my friend and fellow Ramsey Personality, George Campbell. We're taking your calls at 888-825-5225. Kicking off this hour, we have John in Paducah, Kentucky. Hey, John, welcome to the show. Hey. Hey, how can we help? I have some questions about the Financial Peace University. I'm really interested in it, and my wife is very skeptical. Tell us about her skepticism.

Well, you know, there's so many online influencers that she just thinks it's all a scam. Uh-oh. What kind of scam are we running here, John? I'm curious. Well, how does she define scam? I don't know. I don't know. I'm really interested in Financial Peace University.

I was wondering if I could hear a few more things about it. Well, I'll tell you this. Most scams out there for online courses all involve you making a lot of money really fast. Get rich quick, right? Right. We promise get rich really slow. So it's kind of like the opposite of a scam because it actually involves you doing hard work and us doing very little other than telling you that you can do it and showing you the path. And so this is simply, this online course was something Dave Ramsey has been doing for 30 years

now. 10 million people have gone through Financial Peace University. They've changed their family tree by getting out of debt and building wealth. And none of it involved some sneaky investment thing. It was just, hey, you paid to go through a course one time, and then we gave you the tools to go do it. I want to hear more. And this may just be my own curiosity, but I want to hear more and this may just be my own curiosity but I want to hear more about the scams that she's running into so is it I mean obviously there might be she hasn't she hasn't ran into any scams she just thinks I'm crazy for listening to things I hear online you know well most of the stuff we put out there is free and so I don't know many scammers that are like here's here's all our

cards on the table and if you want to go through this course you can do that so I don't know many scammers that are like, here's all our cards on the table. And if you want to go through this course, you can do that. So, I mean, I'm happy to gift it to you. I don't know if you were calling and hoping to do that. But, hey, you know, I'm happy to gift it to you and your wife for free. So it involves $0, and we're not going to ask you for money later. There's no love offering at the end of the nine weeks. We just want to help people build wealth and get out of debt. No, I wasn't hoping for that.

I was truly just curious. She was curious, and I'm curious myself. I just wanted to know more about it, honestly. Well, the simplest way is there's nine video lessons in there, and you can join a local class that are in your community in the Kentucky area. You can find one online, or you can go through it at home on your own terms, on your own time. And so you can watch each lesson. There's fill in the blanks. There's budgeting as a part of that through EveryDollar, our budgeting tool that's included

in that. And each lesson just covers a different topic. And so we start with kind of the framework. We go into getting out of debt, having savings in the bank for emergencies, investing for the future. We talk about insurance. We talk about generosity. And so there's a lot of basic principles in there. This is common sense stuff that, you know, God and grandma talk about. And so there's nothing in here that's going to like blow your mind of like, I didn't think about it that way. It's the newest, coolest trend ever. It's the least trendy thing out there. Well, and John, I would encourage you to hop on Facebook. We have a really active Baby Steps community.

And you can see a lot of people in there who are winning, who've done the steps, who are the best cheerleaders because they have literally just committed to the process, walked it out, and they're super successful in their finances now. And that's the beautiful thing about Dave having 30 years of experience is that we have so many people who sell it for us now because it's changed their lives. I mean, the proof is in the pudding. And I can't believe I just said that. That makes me sound like I'm 100. But the proof is all these people who are winning with money. So I encourage you to have her get on there and check it out because it's like they'll tell you.

They'll tell you why they won. They'll tell you how they were successful and just be really excited about it. Thanks for calling. Most scams are easy for the person, you know, they'd say, hey, just give me some money. I'll turn it into, I'll 10x your money by tomorrow. Our plan is, hey, here's how to get out of debt. Now you have to go sell the car and work three jobs. So that's like the worst scam ever that we're running over here. And John, since it's free, I'll give you your money back if it doesn't work out for you. How's that? I feel like that's a really good deal. Killer deal.

All right. Up next, we have Tammy calling from Columbus, Ohio. Hey, Tammy. Welcome to the show. Thank you guys so much for taking my call. I love listening to you, too. Thank you. Oh, thanks for calling.

How can we help today? We're trying to help our daughter decide if she should start her Ph.D. in the fall, next fall, or get into the workforce with her master's. And we've had several phone calls, and she's met with her advisor. So I just wanted to see what you guys thought. So tell us a little bit more. So she's got her master's right now. What did she study? So she, engineering. So she has her bachelor's in mechanical engineering.

She'll graduate in the fall and the spring, the spring with her master's in industrial systems engineering. And what does she want to do? Well, she wants to design prosthetics and heart valves and to stay in that area. And you said she has no student loans? We have no student loan debt. No, we did not. We have two kids, debt-free.

But I have one finishing next year. She'll be a senior in college, and my other one is in grad school. But so no student loan debt, no debt at all for them. So we don't know what to do. grad school, but so no student loan debt, no debt at all for them. So tell us the difference. We don't know what to do. What's, what are the career prospects look like between her going out right now with her master's degree and getting a job versus her getting a PhD?

So when she and I had talked, she had said, you know, she's been at school for six years and she does enjoy what she's doing in grad school. But she said, well, I want to start working so I can start making money and putting in towards retirement. And so we had talked about that because a Ph.D. will be four years. She met with her advisor, and he had told her, and she likes him, and she had told him, he had told her, if you get your PhD, you know, you kind of will be the top of your field, not just the top of the company. But in the long run, you'll make much more money in being able to call your own shots. So her PhD is fully funded, plus a stipend to live on. Does she want to do the PhD? Well, and she really does enjoy what she's doing

in mechanical engineering, but she also thinks that there are also wonderful opportunities for her, but she's afraid of the money that she's going to miss out on if she doesn't go into the workforce. Is there an opportunity to do this PhD later? Can she get into the workforce and feel it out, figure out what she wants to do, and then an employer could fund that later if that helps her get to where she wants to go? Well, we had talked to her about that because the university she's at now, it's a great school for engineering, and just with the opportunity of it being completely funded and the stipend, that was her concern was she may not get this opportunity again. Well, it sounds like some of that decision is out of fear.

Some FOMO there. Yeah, like, you know, missing out on the money in the future. But it sounds like she wants to go into the workforce now, that that is her desire. And the reason to get a PhD is more fear-based. So if I'm in your shoes, I'm going into the workforce. I'm getting my feet wet. I'm making sure that, you know, I the workforce. I'm getting my feet wet. I'm

making sure that, you know, I love that form of engineering and just going for that. What if she gets the PhD and then gets into the workforce and goes, oh gosh, this ain't it. Right. She's so specialized in a field that she doesn't actually love. So, I mean, I think that you know the route, but it's still kind of hard because of the FOMO. We'll be right back. This is The Ramsey show give us a call at 888-825-5225 our question of the day comes from Cheyenne in Illinois. I'm currently a nurse with a monthly take-home pay of $3,734. After monthly expenses, I have about $1,300 left.

I have $23,000 in debt plus my car plus my mortgage. Well, from her car. So she got $23,000 on the car and then she has a mortgage aside from that. There we go. I'm enrolled in a master's program and trying not to take on any further debt during my final two terms of school. I'm on a tuition payment plan for the current six month term and paying $986 a month for the first four months with no payments due during the last two months of the term. Should I consider the tuition as debt and save toward it during those Wow, this is like one of those math riddles in school where you have to reread it like 17 times. But here's what I gather from her scenario.

So she's got $23,000 on the car, and then she has a mortgage. We're going to put the mortgage aside. Right now the goal is to cash flow school, Cheyenne, and you've got $1,300 left every month to cash flow this. And you need $986,000, which is great. And so your goal, I wouldn't put anything towards the car until we have college fully paid for. We don't know what the future holds. So let's just focus on paying for school, avoiding debt. Once we graduate from the program, we can start attacking that car loan. And if you really hate it and you want to get out of this, you could sell the car and get something cheaper for now and upgrade later. So that's an option for you. But what I'm seeing is

she needs about four grand for the first term and four grand for the second term. Well, and she's got $1,300 a month left. So she's actually making more than the 986 she needs a month. She'll make 15 grand. She'll have 15 grand extra over 12 months, and she only needs eight extra to pay for this term. So you've got the money. And so if you want to keep saving, well, 15 minus eight, that's going to leave you with a big chunk of money you can start throwing at the car once you graduate. So I would just focus on one thing at a time and make sure that we can cash flow that because we don't know what if the second term is more expensive? What if we didn't account for extra fees or books or who knows what? And so I would focus on that. Well, and that's tricky because it does get a lot of people when they're looking at paying for college. Tuition is a lot, but there's a lot of other expenses that can pop up and surprise people or they potentially take a bit longer. So we do really want you to focus on making sure you go out of school debt free and don't take on more debt. Love it. Thanks for the question, Shaya. Did we solve the riddle, George?

I think we solved it. I think we would have got a gold star if we were in school. Oh, I hope. All right. Next up, we have Lance calling from Syracuse, New York. Hey, Lance, welcome to the show. Hi, big fan. My question is, I just bought a house approximately three months ago and I got a really good deal on it. I got it for $65,000, and it needs a lot of work, though. I ended up taking out a $25,000 loan to pay for the house. It was in pre-foreclosure, so I couldn't go through a traditional mortgage. I took out another loan to do some upgrades on it, and that's approximately $25,000 as well. And it has to be livable for me to refinance it into a traditional mortgage. Now, my thought is, if I can swing it to go ahead and just pay off the two personal loans at 9% interest

and just pay that off and be debt-free in five years. If I go to a mortgage, which is approximately 7%, then I'm in debt for the next 15 years. I'm just wondering which path I should try and go. Well, you don't have to be in debt for 15 years. You could pay that thing off in two if you wanted. Right? True. yeah. So we're just talking about you would save the 2%. Obviously, there's going to be costs with the refinance. So you'd have to figure out

are you even going to ROI based on how quickly you're going to pay these off? Okay. You know, if you're going to pay $4,000 extra in interest on those 9% loans, but the refinance

is going to cost you $5,000, then it may not be worth refinancing. You may just want to get rid of these loans instead of switching to the traditional. What's your income right now? My wife and I, we're about $120,000. Okay. And then... Why would this take five years if you're making $120,000? Because of all the uh renovations like literally this house needs a full gut job all new water lines drainage i just put a new roof on it windows

um it's and i'm trying to cash flow as much as i can did you put 40 000 down yes okay so you put 40 down which left you with a $25,000 deficit. You got one loan there to cover that. And then you got another $25,000 loan for the repairs. So we're $50,000 in debt total? Yes. So the $25,000 loan for upgrades, how close does that get you to it technically being livable? So it actually gets me very close. I've been working at buying this house for the past year and three months before I finally closed on it. And in that time, I ended up accumulating windows and a bunch of different construction supplies. And I'm able to do most of the work myself. So it gets me very close to livable.

When I spoke to the bank about refinancing it, they said it doesn't have to be finished drywall or painted or trimmed even. It just needs to be livable, which means, you know, water line, you know, running water and sewage as well and electric. And are you all living there? I will be. no, no. We're actually living with the in-laws right now, and I give a shout-out to them because they have been a huge help in this process. If it wasn't for them, my wife and I

would have never been able to do this. That's awesome. So how much more money is it going to take to get this place to where you want it? Because you're 50K in debt now, that'll get it to an okay spot. How much more to get it to where you want it to go? I'm guessing approximately 15. Okay. So the goal now is to not go into debt any further on this thing and cash flow that 15 when

the time comes. Yes. Yes, that's what I'm working on. So I would use that. You already took the 25K loan to reno. I would get it livable, talk with your mortgage lender and have them run out both scenarios of, hey, if I'm going to pay this off in this amount of time, is it worth going to the conventional loan at a lower interest rate based on the cost of refinancing? And they can run those numbers out and show you how long it would take to ROI on that. Okay. And then cash flow the other 15.

Once it's livable, let's pay down this debt and then let's cash flow the rest. And that should free up some payments in order to do that. But this is going to be a little bit of a journey for sure. Kind of an adventure. And it's good that you have somewhere safe to live now because the whole process of renovating can be quite intense. I know. Sometimes you get a deal and you're like, I got a killer deal. And you're like, I hope this deal was worth the headache. Goodness gracious. This is a year-long project that always took more time and more money than I wanted it to. But I hope it turns out beautifully for you, Lance. That's awesome. All right. One week ago, we did

our Building Wealth livestream event right here at the headquarters. We livestreamed it to hundreds of thousands of you watching. And many of you are still wondering, Building Wealth live stream event right here at the headquarters. We live streamed it to hundreds of thousands of you watching. And many of you are still wondering, building wealth in this economy, is it really possible? Well, we keep hearing that question. We get the confusion. There's so much noise right now about inflation and layoffs and the debt ceiling and rising interest rates. And you're freaking out and you need some answers. And that's why we're coming to a city near you with our Building Wealth Live event. Dave Ramsey and our entire team of Ramsey personalities will be doing a Building Wealth Live spring tour where we will dig into all of these hot topics and give you a proven plan to build

wealth and keep it. That's a promise. So each Building Wealth Live event has its own flair and unique lineup. Dave, myself, Rachel, and Jade will be in Indianapolis February 16th. Dave, Ken, Dr. John, and Jade will be in Austin, Texas February 23rd. Dave, Rachel, myself, and Christina will be in Salt Lake City on April 24th. And then we'll round it out in Anaheim on May 2nd with Dave, Ken, Dr. John, and Christina. Tickets start at just 49 bucks, or you can get a four-pack of tickets starting at $175. Bring some friends. Borrow some if you have to.

It's going to be amazing. You can get those tickets at ramseysolutions.com slash events to reserve your seats today. It's been so fun meeting people in real life in their own hometowns and seeing the inspiration happen across the stage. It's been electric, Christina. I can't wait for you to join us. I can't wait for you to join us. Oh, I can't wait. And I'm just so excited because in a world right now where there's so much fear and so much negativity for people to see, you know, that you can still build wealth, that you can win with money. It's just really exciting. Hey, we're here. Give us a call.

888-825-5225. We'll be right back. This is The Ramsey Show. I'm Christina Ellis, joined today by George Camel. And we're taking your calls at 888-825-5225. Next up, we have Marty calling from Fresno, California. Hey, Marty, welcome to the show. Hey, thank you for having me. Hey, thanks for calling. How can we help? So I have a question. I have a credit card that has $8,000 in debt. It is a 0% interest rate, but I do have a good savings that I would be able to pay all of that off with.

My question is, would it be wise to use my savings to pay off that credit card or should I continue to pay at the 0% interest rate? Pay it off. Pay off. Yeah. How much do you have in savings? I've got $25,000.

Oh my goodness, Marty. What are we doing here? You have the money. Why are you hanging on to it? You know, a part of it was because it's on my husband's account and we were trying to establish his credit why so i don't well he doesn't have very good credit but why do you why does he need the credit um we are wanting to buy our first home oh there we go okay and and so, yeah, and we have that percentage rate. It's with Citibank, and I scheduled it to where I'm paying it off completely on the last day of the promotion, which is a 16-month promotion. They will get you. They are snakes. Do not trust them.

Pay it off today. Okay. Actually, you pay it at 11.15. At midnight, it actually becomes the next day, and so you're actually going to get charged back to all of the interest. Don't fall for this crap. Oh, Jesus. So here's the deal, Marty.

You actually do not even need a credit score in order to get a house. Really? And I say that with utmost confidence because I've done it, and thousands of people have done it. It's called a no score loan through manual underwriting. And so if you have 12 months of rental history, you've had a year of, you know, cell phone bills and insurance bills, you can use that and real people will actually look at your financial situation to approve you for a mortgage. And our friends at Churchill Mortgage do these all day long and they'd be happy to help. Now, if you already have a score because you opened the card, that's fine, but pay that thing off and don't look back. Do y'all have any other debt? No.

Okay, good. Wonderful. Let's keep it that way. That's it. Yes. Oh no, we don't want to get into debt. We just thought we were doing something good, you know, and getting his score up. But I knew what to do. I just needed to hear it. That's what we are here for, Marty. And if you want more information, I did a whole podcast episode on the fine print about credit scores and about credit card rewards. There are two different episodes, but I think it'll give you some peace and confidence about not needing to play the credit score game because much like you, I used to think that way. And I thought, well, you need the credit scores to, you know, what do I need it for? Oh, to go into debt.

Okay. Turns out you can rent apartments, you can rent cars, you can even get mortgages without having that credit score. All right. Up next, we have Adam calling from Princeton, New Jersey. Hey, Adam. welcome to the show. Good afternoon. Thank you so much, and thank you for all you do. We really appreciate it out here, everything you're doing for us.

Of course, thanks for calling. How can we help today? Well, my wife and I are kind of at a crossroads, actually. I'm 60, my wife is 68, and we have a home in an adult community. It's worth between $250,000 and $300,000. It's paid off. We have no debt. The plan is to look for something less expensive in Lynchburg so we can still have something left over for whatnot. However, in the meantime, I was let go from my position in December. My wife only has a very small social security stipend coming in. So we're kind of, everything's kind of been put on pause and we're not sure if we should

continue to actively, well, we haven't yet, but should we market the home and go forward or do we stay? Do we go? We're just not sure what to do. We have no debt, but we also have no savings. So we're kind of locked into this precarious position. We have one asset and that's all we have really. What was your income before you were let go? About 45-ish. Okay. And what's your wife's social security right now? What's her monthly? A little under 600 a month. Okay. And are you looking for another job? Oh, absolutely. Yes. Absolutely. Okay. So this is a temporary situation. Yes. What were you doing for work?

I've had several positions. My latest position was primarily in customer service. Okay. Is there something where you could get even temporarily, get a part-time job right now, so we can cover the bills for the next month while we figure out what the next full-time move is? That's kind of what I'm looking for right now, correct? Yes. Yes, sir. Okay. Then I think right now we need to figure out how we're going to cover next week's bills. That's A1, because I don't think 600 is going to cut it for all of your bills, will it? Not really. We're kind of robbing Peter to pay Paul right now, so yeah. And you guys have nothing in retirement and nothing in the bank? Correct.

How about your wife? Can she still work? Not at this time, no. Okay. Well, Adam, this is all on you, buddy, to save the day here. And so I'm going to – it may take swallowing your pride and going down to whatever local stores are around and say, hey, I'm able and willing to work. How soon can I start? And if you can bring in – I've done that before, so I know that, yeah. Yeah, even if it's 15 bucks an hour right now and you just work as much as you can,

as many hours as you can while applying for those jobs to get back to 45 or more, but I wouldn't go listing the house as a fire sale quite yet. Yeah, especially with everything going on. I mean, your time and energy right now needs to really be in finding another job and figuring out a way to get your income back up.

Because even if you sell the house, I mean, right now you don't have a mortgage, so you're still going to have to figure out your income somewhere else. And you need to have some sort of savings to be able to make that move and to transition to a new city. That's a pretty huge move. So right now, I would kind of just take a deep breath, take stock of where you are. And then like George said, even if it's just a temporary few week job where you go to Target or Walmart or something down the road, just whatever to be able to get above $600 a month. And then longer term, once we have stable income, we've got to figure out how are we going to retire? What are we going to do? Because I can't work until I'm 75. And so in the next 10

years, how do we make as much money as possible to start to create that nest egg and savings so that we can live? And you might need to downsize eventually in order to create some income for yourself. Maybe you downsize to $150,000 home and take that other 150 from the home sale and invest that. So do you have a financial advisor you're working with right now? Not personally, no. Okay. It'd be prudent to connect with a SmartVestor pro, ramsaysolutions.com, and figure out a plan over the next 10 years. How are we going to get Adam and his wife into a place where they can retire with dignity and they're not freaking out over the next month's bills trying to live off of Social security. Well, Adam, I want to give you a little challenge. I want you to, of course, go out like

we talked about already and get a job, a temporary situation. But I also want you to dream a little bit. I want you to think through like, what is your next act career, even if it's for another five to 10 years? Like this is a temporary fix that we're going to do today. You're going to get that job. But what do you want to do for the next five to 10 years? There's all sorts of people in their 60s and 70s that have amazing second careers. So I want you to not just live in this space of temporary solutions, but also have that vision for what you're going to do in the future. And to help you with that, we're going to gift you From Paycheck to Purpose by Ken Coleman. Yeah. To help you hopefully develop that dream. Yeah, I've been in that position of having to take the only thing that comes along for quite a while, you know?

So I haven't really had that room to like say, what do I want to do? I haven't had that choice in, yeah. Well, right now let's do both and. Yeah, let's do both and. Let's get something to pay the bills this month. And let's also start dreaming about what's next. Hang on the line. We'll get you from paycheck to purpose from our friend Ken Coleman. Thanks for the call, Adam. We'll be right back. This is The Ramsey Show. Thank you. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show.

Our scripture of the day is, Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in him. Psalms 34, 8. Our quote is, it's up to us to choose contentment and thankfulness now and to stop imagining that we'll have to have everything perfect before we'll be happy. Joanna Gaines. Oh, that's good. And I like me some Joanna Gaines. But hey, it's no spend month, so I will not be looking at her stuff this month. Don't go near a target, Christina. Right. All right. Next up, we have Tiffany calling from Virginia. Hey, Tiffany, welcome to the show.

Hi, thank you so much for having me. I'm a little nervous, but please bear with me. Hey, thanks for calling. You'll be so gentle and so kind. Okay, so my question is, I make about $60,000 to $61,000 currently, and I'm in debt. I'm on baby step number one, and I want to pay down my debt, but I'm trying

to figure out how do I balance, because I have two kids, how do I balance, you know, the work life and also making sure I give time to my kids, like on the weekends or, you know, after they come from school. So I'm just trying to figure out how do I find that while still working tremendously to pay down my debt. Yeah. Are you doing this on your own? Yes. Okay. And how much debt do you have? So I have $17,000 in credit cards and then I have $27,000 on the current car that I have now on a loan. And then I co-signed for my boyfriend's car, which is another $27,000. No! I know. Is he still in the picture? He is still in the picture, yes. And he's making all the payments? Yes. So he's currently making the payments on the car.

And what happens if he can't make the payments? If he can't make the payments, then it falls all down on me. That's the scary part. Okay. How much is your car worth? Kelly Blue Book, I believe it said anywhere from $16,000 to $19,000. And you still owe $27,000. How are you that far underwater on it? Well, I had a car previously before this one and then rolled over the negative equity from that one and it fell onto this car.

Oh, boy. Okay. So, your question was really about balancing the side hustles and family time. How old are the kids? They are five and nine months. And what are you doing right now as your full-time job? I am a housing locator. Okay. Do you have pretty normal hours with that? Yes. And are you currently doing the side hustles? Yes.

Okay. And those are bringing in extra or is that 61 total including side hustles? That's including the side hustles. And what side hustles are you doing right now? Well, right now I'm with an attempt agency. So I'm doing my concierge work, you know, management roles, you know, when I'm available and I just can't seem to find enough time to be available. Yeah. Who's watching the kids when you're doing the side hustles right now? Um, well, my boyfriend, he gets off pretty late. Um, it is no set time for him to get off work. He's a tower technician. Um, so I really don't have anyone to watch them after, after school.

So I'm thinking only on weekends, but that's the time I want to take them out and do things with them. And then I feel like I'll be missing out if I do more time on the weekend. So on the weekends, um, are you taking the kids with you? Is this work from home or how are you taking the kids with you? Is this work from home or how are you balancing it? Right now, I'm not. I kind of took a pause from the side hustle, but I want to get back into it with intent. But I just can't find how I'm going to do that. Was the side hustle in person? Yes. Okay. That's what I'm thinking that we probably need to reimagine the side hustle.

Obviously, I love that you're wanting to pay this off and you're gazelle intense, but we got to think through how can we do that and balance being a mom. And I'm thinking Uber Eats where you can drive them with you. Maybe you could get a customer service job from home. Maybe it's a nighttime one where you're working when the kids are sleeping. But I mean, right now, the biggest challenge I think you have is figuring out, you know, how can you work and earn income while also, you know, keeping the kids with you? Does that feel right? Well, I mean, I guess it could be OK, but just get just wanting them to be comfortable

and safe while I'm out and doing things like that. But I'm suggesting, oh, that's true. Yeah. I mean, that is a challenge. So then maybe we look at the work at home route, maybe a customer service position. There's a lot of companies that, you know, they operate 24 seven and they need people answering the phone. Okay. I just want to challenge you to be creative and think through, you know, how you're going to do that. Because I think right now, the biggest thing you can do for those babies is get out of debt, you know, fight and get through, you know, be gazelle intense, get through baby step two. But of course, you still have to take care of them. So I would really think through,

you know, how can you safely, you know, do an effective job that helps you make that money and, you know, move forward while also watching them. And the purpose of that gazelle intensity, Tiffany, is that for a short season, you might not get to take the kids to the park and do all the things you want to. But the end game is we have so much more free time and we're not freaked out financially and we're in a better place. We have savings in the bank and we don't have payments to make. That puts you in a very different place and it makes you a different kind of mom. You make decisions differently. And so it may be a really tough year

where you go, man, I didn't get to see that nine-month-old turn into a one-year nine-month-old. But what they will see is a mom who worked her tail off to set them up for a better financial future. Yeah, it's a season. We're pulling for you. Yeah, it's a season. It's not going to be an easy one, but we've seen people do it countless times and you're going to get through this. And it's so that you can enjoy full weekends with your kids someday without the stress and the anxiety of having that debt looming. All right. We've got time for one more call. Next up, we have Carolyn calling from Raleigh, North Carolina. Hey, Carolyn. Welcome to the show. Hi, Christina. Hi, George. Thank you so much for taking the call.

Yeah, of course. So it's decision time, and the decision is whether to repair an older vehicle or purchase a new-to-us car. All right. Are you guys out of debt? Yes. And you have a fully funded emergency fund? Six months. And so we're on baby steps four and six. Awesome. Okay. So what's the car repair going to cost? Okay. So minimum is $500. Maximum is $1,500. And the vehicle, according to Kelly Blue Book, is in good condition. That means with no mechanical repairs, it's probably only worth $3,000 tops

because we have driven this car for 12 years, and it has 223,000 miles. Woo! Well, do you guys have money for a car outside of the emergency fund that you've been saving up? So we started saving up late last year. We have about $6,400. So we could use that. But, you know, with the market the way it is these days, you don't get that great of a vehicle. So we're just not sure what to do. Do we take our emergency fund down to three months and add that? That'll bring us probably up to about $11,000, $12,000. That's one option.

And purchase a newer car, or do we make the repairs? What if we split the difference? What if we got a bunch of estimates and went, all right, we can get it done for $500. We're willing to sink that into this car, and then we're going to continue to save up beyond that $6,400 up to $9,000 or $10,000? That could be a way to go, all right, we're going to keep the one we have for now. I don't want you sinking, you know, two, three grand into this car. And then it's still only worth four grand at the end of this thing. You're not going to ROI on that, which is fine. You guys

have gotten a lot of life and mileage out of this. So it's definitely time for the upgrade. I want you to do that regardless. But for now, if you're not going to get the car you really want, you guys are in a great place in baby steps four through six. So I want you to have a better car, Carolyn, and you can get there. But let's get a bunch of estimates and see if we can fix it up for just for now. It's a good word, George. And I love it. That 233,000-mile car, that is a Ramsey car right there. All right.

That puts this hour of the Ramsey Show in the books. Thanks to Austin, Ben, James, Zach, and Andrew, and to you, America, for listening. We'll be back soon. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Christina Ellis. If you love the show and want to dive deeper on your money journey, we have a weekly newsletter that gives you trending and helpful articles and tips on following the Ramsey way. Just go to ramsesolutions.com today to sign up for our newsletter. Again, that's ramsesolutions.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.