The Ramsey Show - App - It’s Never Too Late To Start Investing in Your Future (Hour 3)

Episode Date: March 10, 2022

Dave Ramsey & Rachel Cruze discuss: When it makes sense to buy land vs. a house, When it makes sense to invest in precious metals (never), How to start saving for retirement even in you're over 60. 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

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality's number one best-selling author, is my co-host today as we answer your questions about your life and your money. Your life, your money, your relationships, your career, your work, it's all right here on The Ramsey Show. Brad starts off this hour in Atlanta. Hi, Brad. Welcome to the show.

Thanks, Dave. We're debt-free as of last year. We have a decent income. We have four kids, but one of them is currently sleeping in our closet. We desire to move, buy some land, and build a house later. We're considering buying a particular lot that recently became available that we've been kind of eyeing and waiting on. We're thinking about purchasing it with that and paying it off quickly. What would you recommend, pass on it or go for it?

I'm a little confused. How is that going to keep the kid from sleeping in the closet if you own a lot? It won't, but gradually over time we will build and move the kid into a room. Why don't you just buy a house that has a room? We could. Do you all want to build brad is that like a dream like you want to build your own home yes but it feels like you have a more immediate problem than your solution is providing um we've put each child as they've gone gotten older into the closet and then we move them into the room with the others as we were paying off our house and unwilling to go into a larger house just to satisfy getting them a bigger room so eventually so the kids in the closet because he's like in

a pack and play type of thing and then when he gets older for a bed he has a room he can go to he will share with a sibling so it's not yeah you're just saying it kind of as a joke. Yes, as a joke, not as a necessary to move the child. There's a room for the other child that they could go into. That's what the other – Okay, so we don't have a five-year-old sleeping in the closet. No, no, no, no, no, no. It's a pack and play.

Dave took it literal and I took it as a no. It was literal. He, he was literal. He said he had a kid in the closet. Okay. So, okay, so if you do that, if the child grows up, leaves the pack and play, moves in with a sibling in a reasonable bedroom, normal human beings do that. That's fine. And then you start building a house,

and within how many years are you going to be living in the house, the new house? How many years until we move in? Is that what you're asking? Yeah, yeah. What's your plan? Within three years, the house should be completed, and we should have enough to pay it off. Okay, no problem.

That shouldn't be a problem. I mean, I don't know why you could. I mean, if you can buy the land and build the house and be in it within three years, that shouldn't be an issue. What's the scary part? The scary part is we don't have cash for all of the land purchase unless we sold our house and made some unusual move which would probably leave you silent again, like buying an RV, selling our house, and living in it while we build with cash. So you're asking is it okay to take out a loan to get the lot?

Correct. Yeah. You know, you can. You're just adding debt to your situation. And any time you add debt to your situation, you destabilize your situation even more. So I'm trying to think what – we would not do that. And so if I wouldn't do it, what would I tell you I would do?

But how does that come into play with the mortgage? I know – well, you've just added debt. So what I would do is I would sell your current home and move to a rental, not an RV, move into a rental, and take the money from your home, buy the lot, get a construction loan, and start construction. Now you've got one mortgage, and you're renting until your house is completed. Instead of a home mortgage and a lot mortgage and waiting on all that, I would not keep piling up the debt like that. And that's actually the kind of thing that we did do, Sharon and I, many years ago.

And so, yeah, that's how I would go at that. No, I would not just buy the lot, and no, I would not live in an RV, and no, I would not stay there in a cramped situation. I would be making plans to move to something else. But you can rent something for the— Yeah, y'all did that for two years. We did, and that got us into the home that you grew up in then, is what it amounts to. to something else but you can rent something for the y'all did that for three two years we did and that got us into the home that you grew up in then is what it amounts to we were there 13 years

and then in the next property um that that um uh i mean you were like six or seven when we moved in you left you left for college you left for you never lived in another house yeah we lived in the rental first grade through third grade. My first through third grade, and then moved. That's right. But you left there and went to college and never lived in another one of our houses again. So that's how we did it. In other words, it worked for

us and it lasted. It was a nice home. It was a good home for the kids to grow up in. Alright, Ben is in Dayton, Ohio. Hi, Ben. How are you?ton ohio hi ben how are you i'm well and how are you better than i deserve what's up well i wanted to uh first start off by saying that my wife and i are 25 and we're on baby step seven thanks to your tools so thanks to you and wow for all the help congrats ben that's awesome's awesome. Good job. Well, thanks. Just I'll keep it brief

so I can respect your time. For funny money investing or investing that's less than 10% of your net worth, what is your opinion on two times and three times leveraged S&P 500 index funds? I don't borrow money, so I don't leverage anything no i'm sorry not not borrowing money like a leveraged account but um like an index fund that mimics two times what the actual index does oh oh oh oh okay um i thought you were leveraging into this fund okay no no sir wouldn't borrow money again okay all right good then we're back on the same page i mean if it's a small amount and you want to play with it that's fine um i've not used that vehicle personally so i can't tell you one way or the other about that part of it but if it's

something you've researched and you feel fine about and like you said it's less than 10 of your overall thing it's like buying a stock i don't buy stock but if you want a single stocks but if you want to buy a single stock and it's less than 10 of your overall net worth it's not going to affect you if it evaporates and so it's fine to go ahead and try something like that at that point um but it's um it's here here's the thing you want to always do okay um you never want to look for a get rich quick vibe on an investment. He who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished. And everyone who's trying to find a shortcut, everyone who's trying to get an angle. My wife always called it when I was doing it.

She said, you're scheming and scamming. You know, stop that. Just be steady. Just be steady. Just be steady. You don't have to be super boring and just do a CD. That's not what I'm talking about. But any time that if you catch your, and I can still do it to this day, and I teach this stuff, I have to catch my spirit, and if my spirit is looking for a cheat code for investing.

There's a way to get here that's a little easier, it's a little faster, and then you start to ignore the things that are going to, and you're going to get yourself in a pinch. And I've seen wealthy people make themselves poor doing that because they keep looking for that angle. They keep looking for the quick hit. And as long as you're not doing it with that spirit, that's a spirit. That's not a math thing.

That's a way you feel about something. And that's my biggest problem when people are doing a lot of these weird investing things that they do just because it's faddish and it's big on the Internet and some stupid Reddit thread or something like that. This is The Ramsey Show. For a lot of you, last year was another year of just trying to survive. But you don't have to live like that. You can have confidence in your money and your future. So if you're tired of being stressed out all the time, you can decide to make a change. You can follow a plan that works.

For almost 30 years, Financial Peace University has helped millions of people take control of their money. You'll learn our proven plan to save money, pay off debt, build wealth, and give generously. Watch FPU on demand or get plugged into a class for encouragement and support from other people. You don't have to face another year of stress and worry. You can have confidence in your money. FPU is only available with a Ramsey Plus membership. Start for free by visiting ramseysolutions.com slash FPU. That's ramseysolutions.com slash FPU. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today here on The Ramsey Show.

The new Rachel Cruz wallet is in and it hasn't quite sold out yet, has it? Nope. A few left, but it is a limited quantity that we did on this. So it's not going to stay around forever. But. What's the color? Rachel's favorite. Champagne.

If they had a color called pizza, you would do it too. It's beautiful. Shines, glistens. Oh you would do it it's beautiful shines glistens oh i mean it's it's awesome so yes so this wallet has um envelopes that are sewn in so you get five or six depending on how you kind of look at it uh envelopes for your categories for your cash there's 10 card slots for debit cards, insurance cards, gift cards, all of that.

Membership cards, a place to put your change. If you want that, a wrist slits that we added, which is beautiful, uh, real leather. And we partnered with join, uh,

a company or nonprofit out of India. And they employ people that were coming out of really hardship type situations and giving them trade and skill and now they can work which is awesome too so um it's just a beautiful beautiful product which i'm so excited about make a joke about the slots being a little bigger for the money for inflation we added a little extra room this is the inflationary we did not go up on the price though did we uh no no we didn't okay so we we're not participating in inflation yes so it's it's awesome so yeah i you know my my thought behind this whole wallet was i was like

you know i had the envelopes and i had like clips that i did for so long and put the only my own wallet that i liked versus like paper envelopes and all that and i thought why don't we just create one and anyways very excited about it so the new color company joined it's a very high quality product yes genuine leather everything yep it um you know it does fit for international women's Month here. So there you go. That's right. The new Rachel Cruz wallet. Check it out at ramsaysolutions.com. You smell it?

How much are we selling it for? You smell it? No, I can't smell anything. I love it. I love it. Tennessee hay fever. It changes. So just go to ramsaysolutions.com.

Oh, the prices change. The store, yes. Do you just change them every day? Smelling out fast is what I was going to say. Smelling out fast, yeah. Okay, there you go. Broadcast excellence. All right.

It smells wonderful, so FYI. Our question of the day comes from Blinds.com. They have a 100% satisfaction guarantee that means even if you mismeasure or you pick the wrong color, they'll remake your blinds for free. Free samples samples free shipping and with the new promos they run every month you'll save even more use the promo code ramsey to get the best possible deal and today's question comes from norman in louisiana this question has been a big debate in our home after reading your book my fiance and i have two loans to pay a

student loan around 28 000 currently at zero percent interest, a student loan around $28,000, currently at 0% interest, and a car loan around $20,000 with 0% interest for the life of the loan. I think the student loan should be paid off first to take advantage of the zero interest since the auto loan has no interest at all. After reading your book, my fiance says paying off the auto loan first is the right way to go. Given the two loans, what would you recommend paying off? The auto loan or, I'm sorry, would you still recommend paying the auto loan off first, utilizing the snowball method? Neither. You should not be paying each other's debts.

You're not married. You jumped in. That's what I was going to say. Oh, sorry. So, yeah, I mean, yeah, you're at this point because you're not married. You guys should not be combining money. So paying on your own is the way to go. So let's just pretend, though, Norman, that both of these loans are yours. Then, yes, the debt snowball method is the way to go.

So it would be paying off the car loan first. So in the mathematical sense, your fiance is correct. But depending on, again, whose loan or loans they are is the person that should be paying because you i mean you've done this obviously longer than i have the horror stories of of even engaged couples with the intent of getting married but you're paying on people you know you're you're spending your savings on the fiance's debt and then you end up not getting married it's and it just turns we had one just the other day that the person died in the middle and they were married and they had the house together and now he owns a house with her mother i mean he owns a house with her father i'm sorry his fiancee

died in a car wreck oh and um and they bought a house together and so now he and he and her father own the house together this is and talk about awkward and horrible in a bad situation and all that so no you do not combine money until you're married and you do not buy things together until you're married with both of his name on it because you're creating a partnership in a legal sense a general partnership and unless you have full-on partnership documents that what occurs if one of you dies or is disabled or whatever, you get yourself in a real mess here. But back to the question, let's pretend you were married and these loans were just there,

and back to the argument about the 0%, the 0%, the 0%. The 0% doesn't matter. What matters is you need to get stinking loans paid off, both of them, as soon as possible. And if you lean into it, they're both going to be paid off both of them as soon as possible and so they're and they're both if you lean into it they're both going to be paid off so fast that the interest rate or the lack of an interest rate is not relevant mathematically it's not going to create that much and so yeah you get the car loan paid off as quick as you can because it's the smallest debt and then you pay off student loan as fast as you can because it's the next smallest debt that's assuming they're both that

that's assuming you were married or both of them were one of you like yours norman as an example that kind of a thing mike's with us in tampa hey mike welcome to the ramsey show hey dave how are you thank you for taking my call i really appreciate it sure what's up i have been listening to you guys now for about a month and i am absolutely hooked. I'm on a travel nursing assignment here in Miami, so I have nothing better to do with my free time, but listen to you guys. My wife, I'm trying to get on board with everything and the thought of us getting out of debt is scaring her to death. However, with that being said, last year we sold our home and we were able to profit around $60,000 on the sale of the home.

We spent $10,000 on some debt and we have $50,000 sitting in our savings account, hopefully ready to put a down payment on another home. We have a friend of ours, a mutual friend of ours that is trying to convince us, and I'm not for or against it, I just don't know. I'm very neutral on it. Trying to convince us to move that $50,000 out of our account as soon as we can

and put it into precious to protect or lose, but to protect it from anyone that might be trying to come in and steal it from us if you will, from our checking account. You've got to be kidding me. This guy's a conspiracy theorist from now on, isn't he?

Sounds like my friends. Just kidding. Again, I don't know. Very neutral. I don't know enough about it. I haven't done any research. Well, I've got to tell you, he's gone down the rabbit hole with Alice in Wonderland. I mean, there's just the chances of somebody stealing your $50,000 out of a checking account out of a bank in the United States of America is very close to zero.

That's absurd. Okay. That's crazy. That's crazy talk. I mean, and the chances of you losing your butt putting this into precious metals is very high. It's a good chance you're going to lose your butt. And so really, really bad advice. Any other advice this guy gives you don't take it either because he's got he's really bad at advice so are you are you talking about buying a home

here in the u.s you're u.s citizens or what i'm hearing the accent uh yes uh um i'm a green card holder i'm of course eligible to to purchase a home, but we have a little bit of debt that we need to pay off cars and 401k loan and such. But we were wondering, should we save the $50,000 to put down on a home before we get out of our vehicles and stuff like that? Or should we take the $50,000 and put that on our vehicles and then try to cash flow on the home? How much debt do you have? So I would say probably $60,000, probably $70,000. And what's your household income? It's difficult to say right now, but probably this year I'm probably scheduled to make about $120,000.

Great. Okay. What we would tell you to do is to become debt-free as soon as possible, build an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses, and then build up your down payment, which will be fairly easy to do when you don't have any payments anymore. So no precious metals under any circumstances. Yes, pay off debt. Become debt-free. It is the shortest distance between where you are and becoming wealthy. Appreciate you listening, Mike. Don't listen to this guy anymore.

He's not smart. Thank you. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage, Amy is with us. Hi, Amy. How are you? Good. How are you guys doing? Doing great. Doing great. Where do you live? Battle Creek is with us. Hi, Amy. How are you? Good. How are you guys doing? Doing great.

Doing great. Where do you live? Battle Creek, Michigan. Battle Creek, Michigan. Home of Kellogg's, right? Yes. Yeah. I love it.

Very cool. Welcome to Nashville. Thanks. And here to do a debt-free scream, how much did you pay off? $39,992.58. Very cool. How long did this take you? Nine months and eight days.

All right. And your range of income during that time? No range, just $73,000. Straight up. What do you do for a living? I'm a forensic chemist and crime scene responder. Ooh. Wow.

Interesting. So you're called in. Yes, for all the crime scenes. Wow. That's an intense job, for all the crime scenes. Wow. It's an intense job, girl. Good for you, Amy. There might be some crime podcast junkies in this building, and they might be sitting near me. Some in there, too.

Amy can give us everything. But, Amy, what an incredible job. Yeah, wow. Incredible. So what kind of debt was your $40,000? The first half was a car, a treadmill, and two credit cards and an refrigerator. The second half was a HELOC that I took out due to Murphy visiting before I was quite ready. Oh, okay.

So something happened nine months ago. What was the wake-up call? What made you do this Ramsey stuff? Because you went after it when you went. 2020 happened. There's that. Yeah, so professionally, our homicide rate tripled in our city. But personally, I had, other than that, the pandemic did not really impact me at all.

But in January, I started out the new year with monotonsillitis and pink eye in both eyes at the same time. In February, my doctor told me that due to a chronic health condition that I've had since I was 16, he did not believe I'd ever have kids. My furnace broke. My air conditioner broke. I was diagnosed with skin cancer. And then my neighbor's tree fell on my house. Good Lord, it's a country song.

Wow. That's a lot. It was a lot um it was a lot at work would just be in busy but it was personally very overwhelming well and you you know these these uh i mean you're a professional you go on these scenes but that's a lot too for to see that much more tragedy yes with the homicide rate increasing so on top of that all these personal things boom boom boom boom boom boom boom and boom, boom, boom, boom. And you just said, I got to get rid of the debt. I mean, how does debt come up out of all of that?

Mainly because there was nothing I can control in 2020 except for my finances. So after the skin cancer diagnosis, the week of Christmas, I finally said 2020 was out of my control. And the only thing that I could control was my money. And so I bought the total money makeover. I signed up for FPU in January. And by the time the class finished in March, I was completely debt free of everything except for that HELOC, which I had not yet drawn on. But due to the damage of the house, it totaled $50,000. And the contractor had came to me and said, insurance hasn't paid enough. And so we need you to start paying. And then once we finish the job,

you'll get reimbursed. So I maxed out the HELOC at $20,000. And then the insurance actually declined his final invoice. So I was on the hook. And so I was gazelle intense for the first three months to pay off the original consumer debt. And then I had to restart that gazelle intensity in May. Oh, that's what you meant by the first and the second half. Yeah. So I kind of had to pause because I anticipated getting paid back everything. And when I did not. Why did they deny his invoice?

They had agreed to pay quite a bit of money. But the insurance had said that basically he did upgrades to the house that they didn't approve of. So it was simple things as far as switching from aluminum siding was no longer available. So he switched it to vinyl, which was a lot cheaper, and they didn't agree with that. So I was on the hook for a lot more money than I anticipated. So my gazelle intensity had to restart in May in order for me to finish by October then. Wow.

So what was that like? I mean, was it, I mean, I'm sure devastating. Man, that's a kick. But then, like, what, did you feel like you were just, you kind of put your anger and your frustration towards that process? Yes, it was a lot. It was overwhelming as far as the roofing shingles. Of course, they were out of stock and didn't have what insurance would cover. So I had to pay more to get what was in stock. Choosing the siding color, choosing the whole

inside, which some of my pictures showed the drywall on the interior was all wet, so they had to rip out several sections of drywall and replace it all. All the light fixtures needed to be replaced, so it was a lot of decision making that single, and that was all on me to decide. So it was just basically eight months of a lot of construction and just overwhelming. How's your health right now? How are you doing health-wise? Because that's a lot of health stuff you had to. Yes.

Doing all right, yeah. Good, good. Wow. You're incredible. Yeah, you've come through a lot. This is, I mean, the $40,000 in debt pales to the comparison of everything else you've done. I mean, that's amazing. So very well done.

Well done. You're a warrior woman, no question about it. Good stuff. Okay, in the middle of all of this, this was your insurance company? Yes. Okay. Have you contacted an attorney? No.

I talked to my contractor. I think a lot of it, too, was miscommunication between the two of them. Yes. Okay. Have you contacted an attorney? No. I talked to my contractor. I think a lot of it, too, was miscommunication between the two of them. So I did spend a good month fighting to get some of the money back, but not all of it. And a lot of it was just due to a lack of communication between the contractor and the adjuster during the process. I'm so sorry. Yeah, I think I'm getting a different insurance company too yeah changing my homeowner's insurance for sure and i'm tempted to ask you who it was but i'm gonna leave it alone i was like i'm gonna talk about insurance and talk about amy no i know but

i mean i just she's been pooped on by an insurance company so it's true it's unbelievable i can't stand insurance companies anyway so oh my gosh wow way to go well in spite of them yeah you you fought through it all. You're amazing. You're a hero. I usually ask, like, what's the hardest part? But there's a lot of hard parts. The whole thing was the hardest part.

I don't want to ask that question. What do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? I wrote this down. So, sacrifice and ownership, like I said earlier, there's so much out of my control. But finances were a part of something I could control. And so, once I took responsibility, where I was in life was my choice. I was in debt, and that was one of my of something I could control. And so once I took responsibility, where I was in life was my choice.

I was in debt and that was one of my decisions that I had made. And once I took the responsibility and ownership of that, it was a lot easier to sacrifice. I think the hardest part for me was I traveled a lot to see my family. They live a couple hours away. And so I cut that out. So that's the hardest part for me

was to not go in and see them. But yeah, it was a lot easier to make the sacrifices that I needed to once I cut that out. So that's the hardest part for me was to not go and see them. But, yeah, it was a lot easier to make the sacrifices that I needed to once I took that responsibility. Yeah. So who were your biggest cheerleaders? My twin sister over here is my accountability partner. All right. And then my mom, who actually would send me stuff in the mail with a little cash to go get that pop that I know you can't afford. So, yeah yeah they were definitely

big motivators for me i love it that's great well done well you're a hero i'm proud of you great work really great work we got a copy of baby steps millionaires that's the next chapter in your story you can fight through this you can fight through anything and when you take it you know put the shoulders back like that and say it it's my responsibility. That's a big part of the whole healing process. So very, very well done. Very well done. Also, a copy of Total Money Makeover, which started the whole thing for you. And you can give that away to somebody and go, this is how I did it.

This is how I paid off $40,000 in nine months in spite of all the unbelievable year that you've had. Wow. Pretty cool. All making $73,000. All right. Amy from Battle Creek, Michigan. She did it. She's a warrior.

$40,000 paid off in nine months, making $73,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. I'm debt-free! Yeah! Yeah! Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo!

I love it! She has such this sweet, calming voice. I was like, I wonder what her debt-free scream's going to be. Man, she did it. Yeah, I love it. Oh, man. Well, with what she's been through, she deserves a belt of a scream. Absolutely.

Absolutely amazing. So the moral of the story is make sure your contractor and belt of a scream. Absolutely. Absolutely amazing. So the moral of the story is make sure your contractor and your insurance company are working together. I know. It's heartbreaking. Ouch. Ouch. That is like life, though, right?

It piles up. But we talk about, too, sometimes the baby steps, some of the most defeating things when you have to go back and forth. Because life happens, right? And it's one of those. But I love that she just still grinded it. Like, I was like, okay, this is happening. Grind it, grind it.

And I'm going to do it. I mean, she, and sacrifice. The numbers, too, on this. Man, she kicked it. Pretty incredible. She kicked it hard. It's awesome. It's pretty amazing.

This is The Ramsey Show. Thank you. We'll be right back. Our Scripture of the Day, Proverbs 17, 22. A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. Tom Landry said, confidence comes from knowing what you're doing. If you're prepared for something, you usually do it. If not, you usually fall flat on your face. Well, that would be true. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today as we answer your questions about your life and your money. Joanne is in West Palm Beach. Hi, Joanne. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave and Rachel. Thank you so much for all you do for us people. And I am feeling so blessed that you took my call today.

Well, we're honored. How can we help? Okay, so I'm 62 years old, and I've got some problems. I am in about $80,000 in debt of with $17,500 is car, $31,000 is HELOC, and $29,000 is credit card. I am a Christian. I want to pay my bills. I don't want to make anybody, I don't want to screw anyone over. I'm just having a hard time.

And by the way, I have $13,000 cash. I've been saving some cash because there's a lot of wonkiness going on in our world today, and I'm scared. I'm frightened. I'm very frightened. But the Lord, my Lord Jesus Christ, sent me someone who helped me get a loan modification. God is so good. That's amazing. What's your household income? My household income is wonky because I'm in sales.

Last year I made $58,000, but this year I see that when I'm making now I'm on track to make $10,000 less, and I think it's because people are afraid to spend money. Well, they're spending like crazy on some things. So how old are you? I'm going to be 63 in June, and I know I'm never going to be able to retire because I don't have all but just this $13,000 in cash. So I just want to do what's best.

Okay. All right. Well, what we would tell you is that you can retire. You're not going to retire soon. And if I'm in your shoes, I'm going to get really geared up on my sales job. And instead of taking $10,000 less, I'm going to make $10,000 more because I'm going to get geared up with some serious goals and start plowing my way through this debt so that I can start investing

so I have a nest egg. And if you did that for the next, I don't know, six, five, six, seven years, I think you not only would be debt free, have an emergency fund, but you also could have the beginnings of a nest egg. You're not going to be worth millions of dollars, but you could get really, really stable. But it's going to require a lot of hard work and diligence on your part to do that. And so the way we teach people to do that is called the baby steps. We'll send you a copy of the book, The Total Money Makeover, to show you how to do those.

But Rachel, I think she can do it. Oh, absolutely. And Joanne, it's going to sound like a little bit of a mind shift, though, for you, because you have a lot of credit card debt, which says something to me, right? I don't know if you're spending money just to acquire. I don't know if this is to help pay your bills. I don't know what that credit card debt is, but there's a lot there. You have $17,000 car loan.

You could sell the car and reduce some of this debt by just doing that and looking. But the way you've been living just by the numbers you've given me, it's a little bit all over the place and it doesn't feel extremely sharp and organized. So like Dave just said, I'm like, I would take on an extra job. Your job in sales, that's right. Have the mindset of like, hey, I'm going to make more this year, not less. I'm not going to settle for anything more. And you go in and make a larger income this year. And then you're going to tighten up your budget and you're going to start working your way out of this debt. And it's going to take a lot of intentionality, strictness. And even from your voice, you sound so kind, Joanne, so kind. But I want you to be a little bit more on your money and in your situation.

You know what I mean? A little bit of grit in there to have some level of forward motion into the baby steps. But again, don't give up. I mean, the age, I understand, can be defeating because you feel like you're 62 and you just have your $13,000 and that's it. But if you start working this process, it's going to take a little bit, but you can see progress. I think you can be debt-free and have $100,000 to $200,000 in the bank in seven years.

But you're going to have to make more, and you're going to have to be very, very diligent. We're going to teach you baby step one is $1,000. So wonkiness in the world or not i'm gonna have a thousand dollars set aside i'm gonna put twelve thousand towards your smallest debts listing your debts smallest largest and that's probably those credit cards uh they're probably individual cards it's probably not one twenty nine thousand dollar card so we're going to list those out and we're going to use that twelve thousand towards those smallest ones we're going to cut them all up and we're going to get on a budget living on a plan and working the plan working the plan

working the steps working the plan working the steps and again we'll show you how to do that with the total money makeover book and if you'll get you just use that as this is the process this is what we do this is the process nothing else this is the process i've got to work the plan i've got to work the plan then uh you'll be able to push through and get moving in the right direction so hey good call thank you for joining us brayden is with us in tulsa hi brayden welcome to the ramsey show how are you doing good man what's up good um i just have a concern i feel kind of of like my wife and I are drowning. We have a two-year-old, and we're expecting another baby in October.

You are drowning. Congrats, Brayden. That's awesome, man. Thank you. That's great. Wow, what a house full of love. There's a lot going on here. Definitely.

On to the drowning part. My wife and I, she's a teacher. I just work part-time because I'm trying to go to school full-time. And we make about $50,000 a year. And that turns out to be about $3,000 a year and that turns out to be about $3,600 a month and with a $1,000 mortgage payment

we budget $400 for groceries and our total debt payments are about $1,000. We have $10,000 in credit card debt, $24,000 in student loans that we're paying on that now, $10,000 in credit card debt, $24,000 in student loans that we're paying on that now, $10,000 in card loans, and all of that just leaves us with very minimal money. Oh, yeah, you've got no room in this budget.

Yeah. So when do you graduate? I graduate in, let's see, fall 2023. So in a year and a half, basically. In what? In human resources management. Okay. You've got a tough 18 months ahead of you.

You've got a lot going on. Babies, young young marriage debt coming out your ears your house payment's too big your other debts are too big yeah you are overwhelmed i don't blame you i get it i see how you feel drowning um but you're gonna you're gonna work an extra job a lot more than you are now you've got to get your income up or something's gonna have to give and the something may be selling the house it may be selling the car it may be selling both of them than you are now, you've got to get your income up or something's going to have to give. And the something may be selling the house, it may be selling the car, it may be selling both of them, but the numbers you're giving me are not sustainable. That's why you feel like you're drowning.

Yeah. We have $10,000 for two cars, so my wife and I both have a car. Yeah, okay. You've not got super expensive cars but but a thousand dollar house payment on a three thousand six hundred dollar take-home pay is not sustainable now you can you can you can do that for 18 months but you're going to have to be door dashing and and delivering pizzas and some other stuff you are going to have a a bizarre schedule y'all are going to be exhausted within this 18 months, but at least then you'll be able to go get a job making 50 or 60,000 bucks.

Stay in the flow for the 18 months. If you can hang on, do something ridiculous to hang on for the 18 months and get out the other side, you can make it. But you're not even going to make it 18 months with what you've got right in front of you. Something's going to give. Hang on. We're going to put you through Financial Peace University as our gift. That puts us out 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. Hey, it's Rachel Cruz, co-host on the Ramsey Show. If you want to do your debt-free scream live on the show, visit ramsaysolutions.com slash debt-free scream. We'd love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story. That's RamseySolutions.com slash debt-free screen.