The Ramsey Show - App - Keep Hustling: You Have Power Over Your Debt

Episode Date: November 14, 2024

This is the Ramsey Show. America, thrilled to have you with us. This is where we help you win with your money, win in your work, and win in your relationships. The phone number to jump in is 888-825-5225. Win with your money. Win in your work and win in your relationships. The phone number to jump in is 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225 is the phone number. Alongside the incomparable, the fabulous Jade Warshaw, I am Ken Coleman, and we're here to coach you up today.

So we got those money questions. We got some work-related questions. Hey, I need some more income. I like helping people make Mo money. Mo money, Mo money, Mo money. And by the way, if you're at the Ramsey show and we help you make Mo money, it doesn't come with Mo problems. It better not. Not here. Yeah, we have the good kind of Mo money. That's right. So let's get right to it. Josh is going to start us off in Augusta, Maine. Josh, how can we help today? So I've got a bit of a strange problem here. Perfect. Jade loves strange problems. I love weird problems. Perfect. It might not sound so strange once I explain it, I'm 25 years old. I, uh, I own my own home. I built a construction company.

I make, um, about 130,000 a year. Um, and I've got a real proclivity for building my income, building my business, building my personal wealth over time. Great. And one of the things I'm really struggling with, and I'm looking for a non-biased opinion because you know how friends are. They're great, but you know, you can only get so much. I'm looking for any sort of advice on how to select a partner who's not remotely interested in my position in life.

When you say we have a lot of. Are you talking about business partner or romantic partner? Romantic partner. Got you. Your position in life. I mean. At 25, I'm doing fairly well. Tell us what that means.

What's your net worth? Net worth. Like, are you saying if I, my business net worth or if I were to liquidate all that? You don't have that much, my friend. You just can't answer that question. Listen, I appreciate where you're at, young man. You said you're 25 and you have a proclivity. Great word, by the way. Yeah, wonderful vocabulary you're 25 and you have a proclivity. Great word, by the way.

Yeah, wonderful vocabulary. I'm a big fan of proclivity. Just used it twice there because I like the way it sounds. To make a lot of money and all this kind of stuff. No, we don't know that. You're 25. I appreciate your confidence, but if the question is, how do I make sure I find a girlfriend who's not into me for my position in life?

I go, well, I don't know that I want to find a woman who's not interested in my position because that position in life, the way I'm hearing that is you've got to provide. Position leads to provision, Jay. Come on. Okay, Ken, you're right. So, I mean, you're not in a place, my friend, where you're worried about gold diggers unless you're hanging out in the trailer park. Are you dating women that are in

poverty situations i try not to but they uh they pop up well okay so listen this is good listen don't listen if a if you are dating i gotta be very careful how i say this but i'm gonna answer the question i got you here to correct me but maybe i had to say it no let me say it okay if i'm trying to i gotta i'm i'm channeling stacy right now make sure my wife is right beside me and i'm thinking what would stacy want me to say okay because she's a good woman if a woman who is in poverty pops up into your dating life i don't have a problem with that. People deserve dignity and there's lots of great women and lovely women and lovely men who come from poverty. So I'm not saying cancel it out. However, if a person from poverty pops up in your dating life, as you begin to date

them, you should have some discernment there to go, am I a ticket out? Yeah. Or, and so you just have to have some extra judgment and discernment there. I wouldn't cancel them out, but at the same time, I wouldn't necessarily be, you know, hanging out in those areas either. So I'm trying to walk the fence there. I just think this is a problem he doesn't need to be worried about. I don't think it is a problem. I think it goes both ways. The same way you are, all that stuff matters to your point. Your station in life, your work ethic, what you're accomplishing, that's part of the resume. Yeah. You know, the personal resume.

And so the same way that you have built a personal resume that people will learn about as they get to meet you, you will learn about their personal resume as you meet them and learn about them and you get to decide who gets the position based off of their personal resume and so there's nothing wrong with that you opened up the call talking about um this was a strange or weird problem and i don't think it's strange at all i think it's just part of everyday life when you meet somebody and you get to decide okay is this person going to be somebody that i'm going to decide, okay, is this person going to be somebody that I'm going to be friends with? Or is this person going to be somebody that I date long-term? Have you had a lady, you said that this has popped up a few times. So have you had someone that has come from extreme poverty that has dated you

and you felt like they were only dating you because you were a meal ticket out? Yes. It's happened to me more than once. How do you, how'd you know? Tell us, be very specific. How'd you know? When did you know that she was only after you for your money? Um, it happened a couple of months, about three months in. Um, I noticed at first she was very big on balance. Um, as far as our personal time and psychological investments. You know, we're able to talk and work things and figure stuff out between us as people. provide for me and my future children and and there's no reciprocation besides physical which to me is you know it's got a value but i'm not sure i'm not gonna lie i'm not sure i understand and i want to understand i agree you're not being specific enough there's part of it that i think it

is part of the conversation maybe maybe and i don't know you were there i was not there maybe she's saying hey here's what i'm looking for in life um i these are these are what i consider consider gender roles i would love to be in a relationship where maybe the guy works maybe i stay at home with the kids she could just be sharing that that's something that she's looking for am i did I miss it? I think she's right. Josh, did she say, I want you to buy me this and buy me that? I mean, was it very obvious? Or is this just a young lady talking about what life might look like?

In separate instances, it's been both. Well, you're worried about stuff you shouldn't be worried about. Let me put it this way. Jade, when you and Sam got serious. You don't want to ask me this question. Yes, I do. What were you thinking? Like, what were you wondering about Sam? My exact words were, you got to come correct. Those were my exact words, meaning I have a high standard of work ethic and what we both do. Did you ask him about his professional future and what he thought he was going to do with his life? I didn't have to ask. I could see it. Okay, but my point is you were interested in it.

I was interested. I'm like, listen, I'm a go-getter. You're a go-getter. Everything we do, we do 100%. That was the standard. It's like, if you're going to be around me, you got to come correct because I'm an intense person. And so that was that on that. All right, so I'm josh on hold here i i said what i said what are you what's your dating i think he needs to be in better pools he probably needs to be in better pools i also think that i and i don't say this to be there's no salt or shade on this i do think that he's viewing himself in a light that's a little bit puffy.

Oh, 100%. And so I think that if he just kind of chills a little bit, everybody's not after him. You're doing well, but you've not like... You don't have a proclivity to build wealth yet. You're 25. Can I just say that? Yes. I mean, come on, man.

You're doing well, but chill out. Yeah, relax. Use your discernment and get a good group of friends who can discern on the ladies for you. That always helps. This is The Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. There's a time in your life and in the baby steps for renting, but you don't want to do it forever. Because when you rent, you're still paying for a mortgage just somebody else's.

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It's her latest work. It's really good stuff. Total Money Makeover, the OG of money books, is on sale now. Go to ramsaysolutions.com to check out all the Christmas deals. If you're listening on YouTube or a podcast, you can click the link in the show notes for those deals. All right, Sarah's up in Phoenix, Arizona. Sarah, how can we help today? Thank you so much for taking my call. You bet.

What's going on? So I am curious on your thoughts on once you've paid off your consumer debt, my husband and I are 40. We've been married 15 years, paid off about $150,000 in student loans when we first got married. Now we've got three kids and I'm just sort of looking at how our expenses keep growing every year. A combination of kids and inflation and lifestyle creep. And just sort of curious on that balance of, you know, the intensity from where we started our marriage to the intentionality and how you balance that in a way that's honoring the hard work and being mindful of the future. Yeah, I think that's a great question. So would you consider yourself on baby step five, baby step six? What's the plan? Where are you? Four, five and six. We still have a balance on our mortgage. Okay. And you're still putting aside for kids college? Yes. I'm putting aside for kids college. Yeah. I think there's, you said all the right buzzwords, which is at this point you're moving from intensity to intentionality, which you're right.

And the way that intentionality balances with the idea of, I still want to enjoy my life. At what point does it become a quote unquote lifestyle creep? Because lifestyle creep kind of has this negative connotation that if I'm increasing my lifestyle too much, I'm putting myself kind of in a red zone or in a place where I'm not being financially smart, right? And so the way I like to think of it is, first off, the reason that we do the baby steps is so that and you get to fill in the blank on what the so that is so that I can live in a nicer house so that I can travel more so that I can go to more of my kids sports games, whatever the so that is. Chances are it does cost more because this is a whole money thing. Right. more because this is a whole money thing, right? And so for me, where the barrier lies is as long as I'm doing all of the things that would cause me to be a financially responsible adult, it's okay

for me to increase my income and therefore increase my lifestyle, right? So for you, you're a baby steps walker. I kind of like to filter this through just a general kind of five pillars of personal finance. Am I a person who keeps and sticks to a budget monthly? Yes. Okay, great. Check that box. Am I a person who is out of debt and values never going into debt again? And I'm putting that and have put that into practice? Yes. Am I a person who carries the proper insurances? I've checked all the boxes. I've done all the stuff. I check my coverage yearly. I carry what I need to. Okay, I do that check. Am I a person who has valued savings and investing for the future, whether that's emergency funds, whether I'm contributing the right amounts to my investing for the future, right? Check that box. And am I a person who prioritizes generosity?

If I'm doing those five things, I'm also working on my baby step. Yeah, increase your lifestyle, knock yourself out, have a good time. That's what it's about. It's not about I have to limit myself like this all the time, all the time. Otherwise, what was the purpose? What was the point? Yeah, I agree. The only thing I would add to this, Sarah, is I think there's three questions that even now I'm constantly asking myself because we got we've got three teens one's in college I got two drivers I got a third one on the way I mean I feel like I'm running a garage service I got so many cars at my house and I think there's three simple little questions and this is about intentionality so maybe this will help here's

three questions I could do it I should do it I must do it so it's like I could do it. I should do it. I must do it. So it's like, could I do it? Question mark. Yes. Should I do it? Oh, I got the on the other end of the phone. And then, and then must I do it? So when I think about things, if it's in the must category, well, then we've got some values that are driving that decision, right? This is the important stuff. If I'm in the, should I do this? Well, we still got values driving that question, but it's not apparent that it is fundamental. It's just, okay, do I do this? Like, I'll, you know, I'll tell you, I got one of those right now. It's a dry sauna, outdoor dry sauna. Okay, that's good. Should I?

I'm in the should I. Should I do this? And I'm doing my research and I don't want to go down the rabbit trail and waste everybody's time. Well, walk us through it. Walk us through it. I like this. Well, it's an expensive purchase. I mean, it's not a $500 purchase.

Yeah, that's right. That's an expensive purchase. So I'm looking at it going, should we, Stacey and I, should we do this? I've got to get a car for Josie who turns 16 in a couple weeks. So we're doing the homework on that. And, you know, she's not going to be ready to drive right away, but she's going to be close. You start looking through other things. I got a college kid.

Okay, we're cash flowing a lot of that. So I start walking through. Okay, that's a sizable purchase. So I'm going, should I do this? So I start to weigh, it's got a lot of health benefits and i've already gone down that yeah it's really good for stacy and i in our health you know uh it has all of those positive benefits uh we've got space for it i got a place for an outdoor space as you know you've been over the house uh and i go okay it's not gonna cramp anything it's a i've

got the cash for it it's not gonna going to hurt me. And you're still doing all the other things. And I'm still doing all the other things. So I'm in that place of going, I'm walking through that even at this stage where I've got the money. I'm not going to feel it, but I do feel it. I still go, that's a sizable purchase. And do we do it now? So then Stacy and I change our Christmas plans for each other and go, this is what we're going to do. I mean, all I'm saying is I'm using a super simple thing that I like to walk through. Could I do it?

Yes. Should I do it? Well, we got to wrestle with that. And then the must I do it. And I think maybe that'll help Sarah with staying in view of your values so that you know if your values are right, your money's going to be right. Yeah. And the truth is your values change and get to change throughout this process.

Something that would not have been important to you maybe three baby steps ago could become important to you now. And that's also okay. So just a little permission. Let's say you and Sam call us up and go, hey, let's go on this trip. I'm going right to should I oh okay yeah because we have margin in our life that's right that's right the could is there so but there are times in life where it's going hey I know could yeah no private jet no no yeah could I know the answer is no so um you know Sarah I hope that helps you I think you

need to give yourself permission I thought Jay did a wonderful job of setting it up, but I hope those little questions, that just keeps you, I think you're worried about you're doing something dumb. And I just don't see that if you've got values aligned with how you spend your money. Thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah. Good, good, good. I mean, that's, and we see this a lot, Jade. I want you to share with our audience that's on the front end of this. Okay. Why we got that phone call there, because there are a lot of people who are just in baby step one or they're in baby step two and they're just like rice and beans, beans and rice. It's gazelle. Well, now Sarah's on the other side of that and still dealing with some of that. I'm

going to call it a leftover intensity. Yeah. You put the rubber band on tight when you're on baby step one. It's like, oh my gosh, it's like you're squeezing into a tight pair of jeans. I like that. If you put a rubber band on your wrist, it'll leave a mark. It'll leave a mark. You got to let some time for that skin to heal. Yeah.

That's interesting. And it's like, okay, have you ever, this is a horror, I'm not going to use this analogy. I was going to say it's a horrible analogy, but you're like in the tight jeans and then you get in baby step four, you know, when no one's looking, you can let the zipper down a little bit and you can just listen. I think every man in America identifies with being in the jeans and you went to the buffet one too many trips. And you get underneath the table and no one's looking. You just let a little air, a little out, just a little, a little breathing room. That top button, just so we go back and get a little more stuffing and gravy.

A little bit more. You know what my theme is during Thanksgiving and Christmas, folks? This is bonus. Eat through the pain. You want to know what mine is? What? If it's brown, it's going down. There it is, folks.

That's why you come to the Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. Hey, you guys. Health insurance costs are only moving one way, and that way isn't down. And if higher costs aren't enough, the wait times to see your doctor are longer, and it's harder than ever to get anything approved through the bureaucracy. So if you feel like the system is working against you, try a biblically-based alternative to health insurance,

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life here on The Ramsey Show. 888-825-5225 is the phone number. We're here to coach you up today. Sharon is up next in Cleveland, Ohio. Sharon, how can we help? Hi. Thank you guys for taking my call. So I'm in a bad situation that I can't really get out from under. I'm about $350,000 in debt. Mainly, I have really high car payments. I don't have the option to get a loan or anything, so I'm considering a voluntary repo or bankruptcy. Okay, I want to make sure I heard you right. Did you say $350,000?

Yes, that does include a house. much is how much of that is the house the house is 153 okay okay um here's the thing i want to know more about this car because i i'm i'm never going to tell you that bankruptcy is the way out of this and i'm never going to tell you that voluntary repossession is the way out of this so And I'm never going to tell you that voluntary repossession is the way out of this. So let's get our head around the numbers and let's see if we can offer you some better solutions. I can't guarantee they won't be painful, but I think that they'll be better than what you're talking about. So tell us about the car. So there's two cars. One was for my son, who obviously that didn't work out.

So first car payment is $992. I owe about $49, and it's only worth about $23. Okay. My second car is $780. Wait, before you go on, you said you owe $49, and it's worth what now? $23. $23. What happened that caused that steep depreciation?

Is it a lot of miles? What's the year? It's a 2023 Hyundai Santa Cruz. Interest rate is about 9%. And you've been paying minimum payments? Where are you getting the value of it? Let me start there. Are you going on Kelley Blue Book or did some dealer tell you this?

This was from Edmunds and some offers from like the car max they gave me around 23 what would cause this to drop 50 in two years less than two years you said 2022 uh the car is actually at 2023 i have absolutely no idea okay. Okay. So Edmunds is the private seller? Is that what you looked up there, like Kelly Blue Book or Edmunds? Did you look at private sale, you selling it to somebody else? I believe that value was private sale. Well, maybe not private sale.

Is it electric? I do have it listed, too. Is it an electric vehicle? How many miles you got on it? It's not. About 18,000. Something's not right. No, I just think your numbers are off.

Here's what we want you to do so that Jade can keep coaching here. You need to go look Kelly Blue Book, be as accurate as you can on it, and you're looking at private seller value. The number seems really low, and that matches up to what a CarMax or another car dealership. They're going to give you way less for the car because they got to build some profit into it did you roll a lot of other negative negative equity into it when you got it i did have negative equity okay all right now we got some how much did you roll in i'm just trying to understand do you remember uh honestly i don't know i purchased these two cars the same day and they did some fancy stuff okay that was fancy all right yes okay so tell me about car number two that your son has and by the way how old is your son he is 18 he no longer has possession of the car anymore. So it's $782. My sister who is helping with

the payment. All right $782 car payment. What's the loan on it? $30k. And what's it worth? This one is, it told me around $K, but there's damage to it. So I wouldn't think it would be too much higher. Okay. Is it the type of damage that, is it running?

Like, is it working? It does run. It does work. There are a few mechanical things, but it's mostly just body damage. It was side swiped. Okay. All right. But it's your name on it, even though your sister is operating it and paying the loan. It's your name on it. She's only paying a little bit towards it, but yes, it is under money.

Okay. So, and tell me, you said before, like, there's no way I can get a loan there's no way I can get out of this because I would rather you owe another lender 18,000 than owe 30,000 and I would rather you owe another lender 26,000 than owe 49,000 do you see what I'm saying so it's about highly highly understand uh my credit has tanked there's been a series of unfortunate things that took place. So I don't actually have the ability to even get a loan at this point. Okay. So then in that case, tell us about some of the other debts that you have and then tell us about your income. So the house is 150K. It's a duplex. I bought it for the sole purpose of having someone help me pay my mortgage. So I do have a tenant. I have $80,000 in student loans. They're on the deferment. It wasn't $80,000, obviously, when I graduated.

Sure. But nothing's due on those right now, right? You're paying almost zero. Correct. You should be. Okay. Correct. What else? About $8,000 in credit cards, $18,000 in personal loans, another $10,000 to $12,000 in medical. I recently started working with a nonprofit debt management company and they're handling that, but that's also a very high payment. Yeah. I wish you hadn't done that. Okay. So the credit cards, personal loans,

medical debt, is there anything else? No. Okay. So tell me about your working situation. Tell us about your income. I make about 75 to 86 with bonuses at my job. I work more than full time. When you say 75 to 86, are you telling me 75 to 86 per year? Or are you telling me 7,500 per month, 8,600 per month? Tell me, give me your monthly. Okay, give me your monthlies. Monthly, I'm at about, do you want take-home or gross?

Take-home. Take-home is $52.56. Okay. So there's only a couple of ways to remedy this. The first is you get your income up. There's no other way around this. And then the second thing is time. Okay. So you getting your income up, I mean, you have a great income now. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that you're like behind the curve or anything like that, but you've got a lot of debt here.

And the whole thing with the car situation, I mean, I'm going to look for anything almost is better than what you've got yourself in now, truly. Anything to lower this number so that you can find some breathing room, because paying $992 for one and $782 for another, any way that you can knock that down so you can find some breathing room and get further into this, I'm doing it. I'm looking at whatever I can to get a loan for the difference on these cars to get out of them, especially the second one, because you don't even need that car right your your your son is um almost grown now basically and he's not driving it anyway so you got to get out of that that 18,000 find any way to get that that you can come up with um the the duplex uh what's it worth? I think the last time I checked, it was like $205,000.

Okay, so there's not much there. Okay, not much there. Yeah, you're going to have to, Ken, I mean, there's no superpower on this. Well, I think, I know you don't have time to tell us. We're running short on time. One of the things I want to do is I want to get our session with a financial coach because there's so much complexity here. So hang on the line and I'm going to have Christian connect you there. But what you're going to have to do is you can't assume anything. You go, oh, this happened, this happened, this happened. I can't get a loan. I

would be going to every credit union that you can locally and go, here's my situation. I've got a good paying job. I've got to lower my expenses. And to Jade's point, you sell these cars. And if you can consolidate that loan through them and get those payments lower, number one, that's a raise. Yeah. But real talk though, I mean, with her income, unless she's investing or doing something else after the car payments, I don't know what percentage her mortgage is, but her student loans aren't due at all. And so that's still, there's still $3,500 left. So if you're not on a budget, you got to get on one.

But when I look at the $10,000 in medical debt, which you should be settling, the 15,000 in personal loans and the 8,000 in credit cards, there is money here to pay these debts. There's something here that we don't know about. Challenge yourself. What do you have to do right now to make an additional 30 000 a year that goes to this mess and you can get out of this hang on the line we're going to get you a session with one of

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Welcome back to the Ramsey Show, America. Thrilled that you have joined us. I'm Ken Coleman, and I'm alongside my friend, Jade Warshaw. So, so good to have you. 888-825-5225 is the phone number to jump in.

But before we get back to the phones, we've got today's question of the day, which is always brought to you by our friends at YRefi. YRefi refinances defaulted private student loans. Defaulted means when the borrower can't make the required payments. So if that describes you and your private student loan, contact YRefi. They can offer low fixed rate loan built for you. Go to YRefi.com slash Ramsey today. That's the letter

Y. R-E-F-Y dot com slash Ramsey. It may not be available in all states. Yeah. Today's question comes from Dylan in Montana. He says, I fully subscribe to Dave's philosophy on personal finance, but here's an issue I don't recall being addressed what are your thoughts on zero percent financing for cars oh yeah yeah we've never addressed that one in all the years well that's not readily available now my hope is that it will return at some point perhaps with some manufacturers extending the term for 60 months i realize this is debt but it's cost-free debt right oh boy um so let you handle that one jade if you're well hey let me just call out the the obvious if you fully subscribe to Dave's philosophy then this would not even be on your radar so there's uh holes in that that argument

but anyway um yeah at the end of the day we we're talking about risk. That's really all this boils down to. Let's say the car that you want is $32,000 and you say, okay, I can get it on a typical term. I think right now the average loan term is 69 months, which is ridiculous to be paying six years for something. Really? Yeah. 69 months? Yeah. That's a thing? Yeah. Wow. Yeah. The stats right now are the average new car loan is $31,722 with a monthly payment of $545 on an average loan term of 69 months. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. This is where I need Tums. Yeah. I need to just like open the bottle and chuck a couple Tums right down here.

Yeah. So this guy's like, well, what if I want the same car and I get 0% over the same term or okay, a little bit less. So five years. It's free money, right? It's free money. But I'm like, okay, think about all that can happen in five years. And so again, it's really back to the risk situation of, okay, why carry debt A when

you don't have to? And why carry debt? Because when life hits as it will, you're on the hook for that. So if something were to change with your lifestyle, you still have to make the payment. And so for me, even though you're not paying for something at a premium, in this case, APR interest rate, you're still carrying debt around your head and around your neck that you don't need to have and so for that reason i'm out yeah well speaking of crazy terms i cannot believe what i have in front of me uh folks this is real this is an actual article i'm holding in my hands yeah what is it uh this is the dumbest person in America. That's the title.

This is a headline from Finance, Yahoo, Yahoo Finance. Apparently, this gentleman made a $1,000 down payment to Joe the Car Plug. Sounds reputable to me. Oh, my gosh. That's the dealer's name. Joe the Car Plug. Oh, wow joe the car plug okay you're gonna begin to see how this thing unravels quickly uh and the deal he agreed to was jade and this is not a typo i'm assured by kelly the producer this is not a typo 590 dollars per per month wait for it folks for 27 years what uh which means he will ultimately pay 191 000 for a bmw 530i now a brand new one according to bmw's website is is it's got an msrp of 58 000 MSRP of $58,000. And it gets worse, folks. Oh, my gosh.

Not only is this moron agreed to pay $590 for 27 years. Oh, my gosh. The car already has 289,000 miles on it. Joe, our board op, about fell out of his chair uh it's not a typo so um we actually have real evidence of this it's not just an article we also have a tiktok apparently about this story let's roll this and then we'll react to it a little bit more yeah sir Mr. David just sold his soul for this BMW 530 Mr. David how much did you put down? $1 down.

Mr. Joseph hooked me up. How much is it a month? $590. All right. How many months? $425. Oh, I am speechless. We're celebrating this.

I am without speech. He's happy as he could possibly be about this decision. I mean, the facts are the facts. Oh. He's thrilled that he only put a thousand dollars down. Now that BMW at 289,000 miles has a lifespan of about seven weeks. I think I, I, am I right? There's nothing about this that makes sense. And there's nothing about this that there's no logic here yeah but he's as happy as he can be do you see a smile on his face joe the car plug did me a favor they should arrest the guy who owns joe the car plug isn't there some kind of laws against this yeah you know i can't resist

because i'm an opportunity cost person and so i can't i can't resist running numbers on something like this take it away because we look at this and go, oh, David with interest, he's ultimately going to pay $191,000, which that alone is shocking. That's a lot of money. But that doesn't even scratch the surface of the true opportunity cost here. So 27 years, I mean, we say it on the show all the time, the car payment is what keeps middle class broke, or the car payment truly is what keeps whoever wants a car payment broke, right? So because you're locked in and when you

lock yourself into a five, six year term, in this case, 27 years, that is a term of time that you're saying with this money, I will pay my car. No, I will not invest it. I will not do other things. And so that is the opportunity cost that we play here. But this doesn't even, can I just say this doesn't even make sense because I'm in the used car game because I got three teenagers. I've bought, as you know, two cars in the last three years. Joe, you're a gearhead. I know for a fact that a BMW with 289,000 miles on it, it could be a 2023. The most you could probably charge for that is 15 000 at the most i'm making that's if it's a 2023 and if that's two or three years old that car's not even worth 10 grand at that kind of mileage yeah on bmws so i really think i was making a joke but

i think this is illegal well like this is how do you charge this man590 a month for 27 years? This man is paying rent for Joe the Car Plug. Well, that's what he's doing. He's paying the man's lease. He's paying the man's lease. I have to believe, and I don't know. His numbers don't add up. I don't know how vetted this is because anything's possible on the internet. And so they might, who knows?

This can't be real, guys. I'm starting to wonder if this is even real. They did it for the gram. I believe that. But just know that if he had taken that same money and invested it over the same term, it's almost a million dollars. Literally, it's $970,000 that it really is costing him to operate this vehicle if this in fact is... This can't be real. The more I think about this, let's round it up to $600 a month. It's $7,200 a year.

The car itself. I know this is real. I just don't think a person could be that clueless. I'm told that this is real. This is a real article. That cannot be real. Are you with me, studio audience? That's absurd. That is fraudulent.

Yeah. He's being defrauded. That's not a word, is it? Is that a word? He's being defrauded, but he also word is it he might is that a word he's being defrauded but he also is playing a role in this because yeah i don't i don't mind saying he's not a smart guy nobody twisted his arm it doesn't look like to get this man i don't know what to do this is a sign of the apocalypse it's it's what this is yeah this is a sign of the apocalypse this is a real news article

from a reputable thing. And here's a TikTok with this guy with a smile on his face like he just won the lottery. And the music. I got five on it. That was messed up. I didn't even pick up on that. I was listening to the music. I was like, this is a bothersome.

I just the idea like I literally was just from the question of the day I was processing because I don't pay attention to this stuff anymore. I was having a hard time processing a 69 month term on a car. Wild. Yeah. That's what people are doing. And that means rooms to go must have a 10 year plan now. But here's the thing.

Delinquencies. They've always got something. They're always the leaders and like, no interest for 99 years. I'm watching college football and it's like, you can get a sofa today and finance it to the year 3000. It's like, what? Will I be here?

Oh gosh. Rescue us, folks. Yeah, we need help. Alright, more of your calls coming up. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome to The Ramsey Show. Thrilled to have you, America. This is where we coach you to win in your life, win with your money, win in your work, and win with your relationships.

Alongside my good friend, the incomparable, fabulous, fantastic Jade Warshaw, I'm Ken Coleman. And I've got my fall sweater on. That's what I got for you today. This is nice. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. I just saw it in the camera. I realized, oh, you know, it's kind of cool here in middle Tennessee now. Sweater weather is what I like to call it. Sweater weather. John's going to get us started first in Houston, Texas. John, how can we help today? Hello, thank you for taking my call. I got myself into a situation. I signed a lease for an apartment about three months ago,

and I kind of think I bit off more than I could chew. Everything was going good at first, but unfortunately the brakes went out to my car, and I kind of fell behind on rent. And so I am contemplating whether I should break the lease and get a roommate to get my finances under control, or what would be the next best option. All right. Well, give Jade a picture of your finances. How much do you bring home, and how much is this lease and what other debt you

have? Give us a bit of a picture. Okay. So what I bring in every year, so this is gross. Tell me monthly. Tell me monthly. Yeah. $2,000. Okay. So $43 a year, $2,000 a month. Correct. Hold on. Quick clarification. Is that take-home? $2, 2000 is take home okay gotcha all right keep going okay and the the lease is 8.99 a month um there's you know various other charges like water sewage all that stuff so it comes out to like 980 underground um i've kind of looked at kind of like what the um termination costs would be for this contract. And they talked about a re-letting fee, which is 80% of the $899,000 and then $899,000 for the rest of the lease, which comes out to like $7,000,000, $8,000,000. How are you getting that? I thought it was $899 for the lease plus the half of the lease.

So like $450? Did I? What am I missing? She said 85% of the letting fee and then the rest of the remainder. When I calculated, it came out to a grand because this is what? I think a 12-month lease. Oh, for the entire thing. I got you.

I got you. Okay. So yeah, that's not an option because you don't have that money. Definitely. Okay. So, yeah. entire thing i got you i got you okay so yeah that's not an option because you don't have that money definitely okay um so yeah so uh this is a symptom of a much much larger problem um my first question when you first started talking was i wanted to know how far behind how many months behind are you well that's the thing it's just only actually, it's only like two or three weeks, but this happened in October when the breaks went out. I was late. They say on the contract, you can't be late. I talked to them, let them know about my situation. They said, okay, we'll take that payment late. And I said, November is going to be late as well. Now, you know, this is messed up my

paycheck to paycheck cycle. So they said, we'll take November as well well because now, you know, this has messed up my paycheck-to-paycheck cycle. Sure, sure. So they said we'll take November as well, but now they're saying, okay, December the 1st, you have to be on time. If you're not, we're going to go ahead and file for an eviction. What do you do for a job? I actually work in mental health. Unfortunately, it doesn't pay a whole lot. What do you do in mental health? I work with people who have chemical dependency issues.

Okay, and so are you an hourly wage? Yes. What is your hourly wage? Well, right now it's about $20.70 an hour. Yeah, I'm jumping in very quickly because Jade can help you and walk you through this, but you have an income problem in addition to the fact that we know you've signed it. You know. You've already admitted it. You signed it for a lease you couldn't afford. But you can dig out of this, and Jade will walk you through the rest of it, debt, whatever. But I'm going to tell you that right now, you can happen to this problem. And right now, you're a good man who loves taking care of people, and you're just not making a whole lot of money, but you got yourself way over your head. And so until you get yourself out of this, you're going to have to work

like an absolute madman, and you're an able body. So that may mean swallowing your pride and working the graveyard shift at Walmart, stocking shelves, getting 20 an hour somewhere else. You have got to bring in some income to get current and get yourself some breathing room here. But this is going to be hard for a little while. I'll hand you to Jade on that, but I wanted to at least make the point that you can work and you should be working. And I mean, every second of the day at this point to get yourself out of this. Well, John, how long have you been working? How long have you been in the career that you're in right now?

I actually entered it earlier this year. Earlier this year. And before you entered this career, were you doing something that earned you more money or less money? No, I made a little part of less. And actually the last four years, I was actually in training.

Okay. My internship. Where I'm struggling with this is, i think that you know how old are you uh i'm 30 i'm 30 okay i think that you know that two thousand dollars a month you can't it's impossible right i think that you know that and what what kind of shook me on this is you're like okay back in october my breaks went out I'm I'm struggling with man if that happens then it's like okay I gotta go tonight like I gotta get to Wendy's tonight and get a job I gotta go over to Dollar General tonight and like there's this urgency that

I feel like is missing and then when I'm like well how long have you been doing this job then I realize oh this urgency has been missing for a while. And then when you told me that you're earning less before that, there's something missing here. And you've got to have a, when house is on fire, you don't just lollygag around and be like, oh, you know what? I think I left a pair of socks upstairs. You know what? I think I need to go over here and get these keys off this dress. You run, you move with a sense of urgency to get to safety. And I think that you got to start moving with that sense of urgency because this house has been on fire for a little minute now.

One quick question on that urgency issue, Jade. Is this a two-bedroom apartment? No, this is just a one-bedroom. Man. All right. I was going to try to get your roommate real quick but um yeah that's not enough no i think right now we got to go to work today that's it i mean you're literally selling stuff anything you own right now income everything income you're selling your bed

you're selling everything that you have that's there's a value on it you're selling your bed you're getting a couple hundred bucks and you're buying an air mattress for 30 bucks at walmart and taking the rest and putting it towards this because you got to hit this december 1st deadline to kind of get everything right side up again for you um and don't let that trick you into thinking okay i'm okay now now i'm safe no that was just you getting from upstairs to downstairs the house is still on fire so um that i mean that's what you've got to do two thousand dollars is not going to make it work and i understand if you love your career but then you got to be proactive about adding additional income to it every single month and a lot of it

yeah i mean here's advice for other people that may be in john's shoes here um if you if you want to get into the mental health space and and we'll see what a ladder looks like for him going forward. But at that point, Jay, this is why we teach percentages of your income that go to housing, to give you this safety net from getting overextended. Because he should have been renting a little place over some old lady's garage. Facts. 500 bucks, max. I was thinking 400. Yeah. Because that gets him about 25%. renting a little place over some old lady's garage for $400. I was thinking $400.

Because that gets you about 25%. No one wants to hear that. But what's the alternative? You go out and get an apartment going, well, I got a job. I'm doing the thing I want to do. I'm an adult now. And then you go, oh, I actually can't afford it. If anything bad happens in my life,

oh, like the brakes going out. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I mean, this is bad. Michael Jackson. So, man, tough stuff. Oh, folks, listen to what we teach. It keeps you from doing this stuff.

This is The Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show, America. So glad you're with us. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show America. So glad you're with us. I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw is alongside. 888-825-5225 is the phone number.

888-825-5225. We go next to San Jose, California. Jeff is there. Jeff, how can we help? Hi. Yeah, me and my fiance were we're about a million dollars in debt right now. And we kind of, most of it's student loan debt, but we still have a million dollars. We just don't know how to really tackle it. Oh my goodness. What type of degrees did you guys have? Yeah. We're both dentists. So I guess that's a good thing kind of yeah yeah

i can tell you're fired up by that bless your heart yes are you making money like what are you guys making every year uh so i what we're told when we go into this is we'll be able to pay it off don't worry that's right we make make about probably average $170 a year. That's what you guys are actually paying yourself? Yes. Before taxes. Before taxes. Oh, my gosh.

$170. Gross. And are you separate practices? We are currently, but we're probably going to group in together and and just try to grow i guess did you say 170 each or combined okay okay 170 gross each that's not bad yeah and you're living in okay well san jose is expensive that's an expensive part of the country what is your debt break it down for jay let's go you first you're the one on the phone and you're not married yet. So what's your debt? About, let's see, $450,000 right now in all student loan. Okay. And no other debt?

Luckily, we're both pretty good on that side. Okay. Pretty good or good? Good. How long have you been practicing? About a year now. We just came out of school. It's just kind of a nervous thing to be a million dollars in debt just so soon. No, no. Listen, brother, this is real. And I, oh, this makes me so mad on your behalf. Not mad at you, but people are just selling this and now you're facing it it's like staring down the barrel of a gun right now i can feel it all over you and and well here's the thing i'm asking about you're only a year into this based on i don't know if they teach you any

business skills probably not but unfortunately they don't they don't't. Any sense of how big your practice is in its first year? Are you small for first year? Are you medium size? Do you have any sense of that? I would say we're probably small, getting to medium, hopefully, by the end of this bill. Do you know any dentists at all that are very successful? Huh? Yes, I do.

Are you in contact with them on a regular basis to go, how did you grow your business? No. You need to be. I'm not. You need to be. I'm not kidding you. Jay's going to give you some financial advice,

but I was leading you this because let me tell you something. They don't teach you how to run a business. They teach you how to take care of teeth. But taking care of teeth is not enough to be a successful dentist. You have got to know how to get people in the chair. Yeah, that's right. And I want you on the phone. I'm going to give you as a gift of mine, Christian, at the end of this call, I want to give him the proximity principle.

It's worth a quick read. You get the audio book if you want that. We'll give you as a gift of mine, Christian, at the end of this call, I want to give him the proximity principle. It's worth a quick read. You can get the audio book if you want that. We'll give you whatever version you want. But I want you to be in touch with successful dentists, and I mean successful. And I want you telling them, I need your best advice. What would you say to me where I'm at right now about growing my business? And try to replicate this with two or three other successful dentists get all that feedback in one bucket and start doing it because

the quicker you grow this business the more you can pay yourself and the more you pay yourself the easier it is to do what Jade's going to tell you I just wanted to give you that you've got to be like and she's got to be the same way if you guys combine practices this can't be like we we're married and we have to know you both are like you're the most i don't want to say desperate dentist we've ever seen but it's like you got to get creative in the community and be competitive so that everybody's coming you to get their teeth cleaned okay can i ask a question and this is both to Ken and you, Jeff. So you come out of dental school. You've got all the goods to be able to practice. Are you working for someone else or you started your own thing? I'm working for someone else, but we're working on a contract to hopefully partner.

Is that going to cause you to have to go into more debt? Because that's what I'm trying to get a sense of what your next plan is, because I don't want you to go into more debt. And that's why we're trying to hold off because we don't know if it's worth getting more debt. No, you got to do your own practice, man. I thought that's what we were talking about. You can't go into debt. It's not worth it. No. You got to work for someone else until you can afford to do whatever the next step is. Is your income fixed, though, after all that big speech I gave? Is your income fixed or are you able to go recruit new patients and get some of that? No, not fixed.

So you can benefit from hustling like I told you to do? Yes. All right. That's good news. That's all I was trying to get at. And I don't want you to go into any more debt until this is cleaned up. Because again, what you're realizing now is true. Yes, you have agency over this, but there's no guarantees and there's no guarantees at how quickly this will go. And so going into further debt, I would not advise that. Looking at the

numbers, the hard part for me is you are in an expensive area. What are you paying? Like, what's the housing situation? Are you renting? Do you own a place? What is it? We're going to be owners because it almost doesn't make sense to rent because then we're just throwing that away from the map. What are you doing right now?

What's the situation now? About $4,500 a month. For your place? Or are you guys together already? Together. You're already together? It'll be $4,500, yeah. Okay.

To rent. But to buy, it's the same. Yes, but you're going into debt to get it. You're adding more debt to your name. We will be, yes. And you're tied to that. Like, you got to pay it. And now you're adding expenses to to your name we will be yes and you're tied to that like you you gotta pay it and now you're adding expenses to your life as well you can't afford to do that you need to be

living as cheaply as possible and if it's the same price uh per month it's not really the same price because your complex or whatever is paying for yard and garbage and all those things so i don't want to add weight to you of having to replace an AC or having to replace a roof or having to use what I'm saying. So that's it. Or adding insurance, you know, all that stuff is really expensive. And so I would continue to rent. You're not throwing money down the drain. You are buying yourself time until you can truly afford to buy. So please promise me your homework coming off this call is to promise me that you won't go into debt into this practice right now and that you will not buy a home right now because that would add insult to injury. I'm going to throw in here, I'm going to challenge you to get a much, much better rent situation.

Just try. Find a place over an old lady's garage. I say that all the time, but I'm telling you, I don't think you guys should be paying anywhere near $4,500 a month. Not now. You guys are so broke. You almost need to be staying in a place where they're paying you. Jeff, you're going to have to fight hard because the truth is you guys have got these shiny degrees.

You're in a great profession where there's the potential to make a lot of money. And the people around you, probably the people that you're working with, they're coming in with their Tahos and their Cadillacs and their Teslas, and they get expensive salads and juices for lunch. You don't do that. You eat lean cuisine and you drive a Ford Taurus. And I would prescribe a lot of fasting for this couple. It's the new craze.

It's a biblical principle. And I think it's got some financial advantages here. Y'all need to try fasting three days at a time. You're going to look great, but you can't even afford to buy cold cuts. Carl Budding. Do you remember Carl? I don't know. Listen, Jeff, I don't know if you remember when I was coming up, the cheapest cold cuts you could buy were collars. We're older than these youngsters. But in all seriousness, Jeff, listen, you have got to reduce your living expenses right now. That's one of the biggest raises that you could give yourself.

So I'd be, as soon as this rental term is up or whatever's going on, I would be looking to slash those costs. I mean, big time. Even if I got to drive aways at this point, I'd rather pay gas. You know, y'all ride together. It's called public transportation. Everything's on the table now, right, Jay? Everything. You get you a bus pass, it's on and popping.

It's the truth, man. It is. And by the way, you're brown bagging it and you're recycling the bag. Oh, yeah. Do you know what I mean? That thing's going to be all crinkled and refilled. When you rinse out the Ziploc bag and you've got to dry it out and use it again. Yeah, like y'all put the whoa in broke.

I mean, yikes. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Colma. Jade Warshaw is alongside. You know, we were talking during the break today about some of the calls we've had so far on the show today. And we keep coming back to the same thing. People get into tough financial situations largely because they have no budget at all.

And because they have no budget at all, they have no idea when they make a decision for too much rent, what the real impact is. So the best way to make the most of your money is by creating, take it to a budget. Every dollar makes it simple to plan, spending, track expenses, save for what matters most to you. And can I just say, keeps you out of traps. Yes. Because you know what you actually have coming in that's right and what's going out and you're not susceptible to shiny things or things that are going to hurt you keep your pulse on your spending by downloading every dollar for free in the app store or google play or you can click the link in our show notes if you're listening on youtube or our podcast

all right john is up next in Dallas, Texas. John, how can we help today? Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my call. You bet. So kind of in a situation right now, job searching, setting up interviews, but we're getting towards the end of the year, right? And I work in an industry where, I guess, bonuses are pretty much guaranteed at the end of the year, even though I don't bank on them at the end of the year.

I'm setting up these interviews. I'm due up for an end-of-year review of my current job. I'm pretty – I've taken those should I quit my job quiz. And it's actually, you know, told me I'm in a wrong role, wrong place. Those were the results. Good. So the answer is yes, you should quit your job when your results are wrong role, wrong place, unless you raise your hand and your leader or other leaders go, we see that and we'd like to get you the right role. But when you get the wrong place, that still may not change it. So let's just keep going with the question. So what is your question on this? Well, I mean, what's the bonus, I guess, is, you know, I'm expecting usually, you know, $5,000 to $10,000 at the end of the year is what I'm due up for.

And I don't know when I'm going to get a job offer. I'm pretty confident how to navigate this situation where I feel that I'm owed this bonus. And what makes you feel that sense of, I am owed this bonus? What makes you feel that? Well, I just feel, well... This is not a difficult question.

I know what the answer is. I want you to say it though okay why do you feel that you're owed this bonus at the end of this year it just feels like i'm leaving money on the table no that's not the right answer let me ask you a couple questions are you doing a good job for these folks at my current job yeah yes yeah are you giving it your best even though you know it's not where you're supposed to be long term are you giving it your best yep absolutely all right so let me re-ask the question why do you feel like you deserve your bonus yeah because i work hard for

it yes all right ding ding ding all right jay tell him what he's won some confidence yeah all right so john i led you into that because uh let me let me just tell you i know what the question is i'm going to jump ahead okay um first of all i appreciate that you believe that you're going to have an offer before um your year-end review and bonus but the reality is you don't know that i don't know that and jay doesn't know that either so i would keep walking forward you are not doing anything unethical by searching for other jobs. Nothing, nothing dastardly and dark and, and unethical, nefarious, great word. There's nothing wrong with what you're doing. Now, let's just say that you do get an offer before your year endend meeting and your bonus and uh they say they want you to start

first of the year what are you gonna do yeah i don't know yeah you do i don't know what are you gonna do do you do you just do do you deserve that bonus for the work you've done this year? Yeah, absolutely. So, John, what are you going to do if the start date is after the first of the year? What are you going to do? I'm going to get my bonus. Yes!

But because here's the deal. Here's the deal. First of all, this isn't the normal question that we get. This is not for Jade and I to tell you what you should do. I'm trying to walk you into a situation where you are thinking clearly because you've got two strangers who we don't have any dog in this fight. But if, in fact, the bonus is based on the work you've done for this organization this year, then get your bonus.

If you don't feel comfortable with that, then walk before the annual's up. I don't think there's a right or wrong here because the bonus is based on the work you've done for them to this point if i'm understanding this correctly jay do you have any kind of head tilt on that no not at all so so you know i just don't i don't think that you're as certain as you think you are um i think by where my concern comes from is what people think of if i do leave after the fact. And then, you know, I mean, I like the people I work with and the industry I'm in, like, you know, connections and like, you know, I just think right now with that change, like I don't want people to be like,

oh, that John guy, you know. Right, and I appreciate that. But, John, is accepting a bonus and then a bonus for work you've done and then leaving is that unethical no it's just called planning is it's just planning one more question john is it illegal no all right then i don't give a crap what anybody thinks about me taking the money that i've earned you can think all the things you want to and i'm going to tell them to go pound sand kick rocks kick rocks listen they uh here's the other thing you're a good guy john but this is

about this is about some manufactured guilt that you've got put up in your head because you're a good person and uh i don't think that if this scenario plays out this way you get to choose you get to choose because the bonus is not a signing bonus the bonus is on work that you've done this year and you're not stealing any money from the company so there may be people who take issue with Jade and I on that I don't think anybody would even think that of you John well first of all they got too many other things going on with their life yeah you're leaving for a better opportunity if they don't like you because of that guess what those aren't people i want to do life with also true i can tell you this right now this is a true story if if me or jade leaves ramsay

solutions i can promise you that me and jade will be friends with each other after this place because I'm for her. She's for me. We're friends outside of this place. And I'd have no thought of, I wonder if he tried to stay longer to get a bonus. I would be like, if Jade came in and said, I get this great opportunity and I'm going, I'd go. Good luck. That's great. Two things.

I would go, I'm going to miss you around here. And then I'd go, go girl. That's the absolute truth. Yeah. So I'm only bringing that up to say, that's who you know are your actual work friends. People that would bad mouth you because you took a good opportunity for you. Yeah. That's not a friend.

Well, that doesn't even make sense to me. I agree. I, yeah, 100%. I think you're overthinking this greatly. Yeah. So, John, this may not even be a problem. You know what I hope happens? I hope that these interviews go well

and you get a job offer late in the year and they pick the start date and it's not until mid or late January. Ding, ding. And you cash the bonus and everybody's right with the world and then the people that like you and value they're going to go way to go john good for you pal are we still getting together for uh pickleball on wednesday night you know or whatever i think that's the play here so you're a good man i walked you through that because when there's guilt jade we've got to go, why is there guilt? And there should only be guilt when it's unethical or illegal. Yeah. Or mean-spirited. Yeah, none of that was there. A jerk move. None of that was there.

So, John, you're a good man. As evidenced by how you handled that. I hope you get a fat bonus. I hope it's not a jelly-of-the-month club like Clark Griswold got. That's no fun. Although, Cousin Eddie said it was the gift that keeps on giving. This is The Ramsey Show.

I've been doing this show for over 30 years, and some of the saddest calls I have taken are from situations that are completely preventable. Yeah, and what's so hard is I feel like one of those, especially the ones that I'm like, oh, it's terrible. People that call in and their spouse has passed away suddenly and they don't have life insurance. When you have to think through, how am I going to pay my bills? How am I going to eat next week? Yeah. In the middle of all that grief. Like it's just, it is, it's terrible. And so life insurance is the one thing, especially as a mom with three little kids that I'm like so big on for people to get because it's inexpensive. Zander is the place that Winston and I actually get all of our life insurance is the one thing, especially as a mom with three little kids that I'm like so big on for people to get because it's inexpensive. Zander is the place that Winston and I actually get all of our life insurance.

And it doesn't cost much because Zander shops among a gazillion different companies. It doesn't cost much. You just have to admit that someday you're not going to be here. You got to say it out loud and you got to say, I'm going to say I love you to my family by taking care of them and taking the time to put this stuff in place. The cost of stinking pizza. To get a free quote, call 800-356-4282. That's 800-356-4282 or go to zander.com. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. I'm joined in studio with, or by rather, Jade Warshaw, 888-825-5225, 888-825-5225.

All right, let's see. We've got our Ramsey Network app question, and this is from Gabriel. He asks, can you really win money with apps like Bingo Winner and Mr. Beast's new app app or is it a scam also i was wondering if acorns and robin hood what's i'm sorry our good investment options uh i i i i i'm 50 years old i don't know what bingo winner is and i barely know who mr beast is so I'm unqualified to even answer this question because I don't even know what that means I'm gonna win money with their apps I don't have the foggiest idea anybody in there anybody Zach Kelly do you know what they're talking I have no idea

the last game I played was words with friends and there was no like option to win money so I'm guessing it's one of these apps yeah like a candy crud the only app that i play in is a fantasy football and that has nothing to do with any of this that's just me can i give a can i give a a hot take yes please bail me out because i don't know how to answer this question all right this is good this is controversial and i i own that oh boy i am here for this i'm gonna boy, I am here for this. I'm going to get here for this. I feel like if you have time to play games on your phone,

something's wrong. Like, who has... If you're out working and crushing it and taking care of your family, you don't have time to play games on your phone. I have zero problem with this. This is not controversial to me. And to put money into it. Here's my phone right here. I have no game apps on your phone i have zero problem with this this is not controversial to me and to put money into it like money i have no game apps on my phone so i i i feel like i'm in jade's good good stead

right now and i'm like i just i can't understand that yeah i can't watch watch a show like watch a show with your spouse or or read a book but to spend money on a game inside your phone, that's called bingo winner. Yeah. I'm going to go ahead and say that I don't know if it's a scam, but you should not be spending your time on it. There's no ROI on your time. And I'll bet there's not much ROI on the money. And then I was wondering if Acorns and Robinhood are good investment options. Robinhood is an investment platform. We are very clear at Ramsey Solutions what our investment strategy is. I'll hand it to my colleague to give a very quick, give a 60 second investment strategy. That would be our answer to any of this. Yeah. I don't like these apps because they really,

they're really more about trading and the idea of I'm putting a little bit here, but I can move it at any time. And that's not our strategy. We are long term investors. We are people who dollar cost average. We are people who set it and forget it and keep it there for a long period of time and so that's why I don't like these apps because they don't promote that um so I would invest with my 401k through my job or I'd be a part of a brokerage and have my Roth IRA I I gotta confess I just uh put the old readers on look at the graphic on that I just typed in bingo app and boy talk about getting me in trouble yeah Anything that looks like that is designed to suck the brain right out of your head. It's yeah. It is my ruling on that. It looks like it's designed to keep you addicted, whatever it is. So, so let me tell you what I know. Successful millionaires aren't spending a lot of time on bingo win. So now I've got a ruling. Okay. Now we can move on. Move on. Goodness. Wow. that was something, wasn't it?

I'm never getting that time back, neither are you. No, I'm not. Matthew is up in Austin, Texas. Matthew, how can we help? How are y'all doing? Well, we're better now. Yeah, we're glad you're here. We're thrilled about your question.

What is it? You sound like y'all always got it together, son. Just need your help thinking I'm supposed to get married here in a couple weeks. Congrats. Thanks, sir. But yikes, kind of. And it has mainly to do with kids. I've got kids and how my new wife interacts. I guess the question being, how much does my new wife have say so into how I

raise my kids, spend money on my kids and that type of thing? Cause it's really, I'm really kind of struggling with it. All right. Real quick question. Cause I, I, my colleague is loaded up, ready to go. Um, I, I, I want to know know this how long have you two been dating two years two years and in the two years has there been moments of tension based on her maybe stepping into some situations that the kids weren't really cool with or you weren't cool with or there been some comments I'm just giving you what i mean when i say moments is have there been several moments of tension that lead to this concern there's enough i knew the answer to that yeah my friend yeah i would just say this i this needs to be settled in premarital counseling stat how old are the kids immediately they're not young and so

i got two in college i have one that's a teenager well the two in college that's a non-factor she doesn't get to say anything about that and how old's the teenager she's 16 but for example like when the subject comes up and i don't like saying this and I know it's probably wrong but I say I'm a dad first if you make me choose is that a wrong thing to say yes yeah because you're you're treating it like she's expendable and technically now I know this is different and and I I am going to step lightly on this but typically when you get married it's the marriage first that's why I said what you get married, it's the marriage first. That's why I said what I said.

And then it's the kids. Now, also traditionally, the person you're married to is the person you've had children with. So it's easier to make that statement. And I want to hang out there. It is easier to make that statement when that's the case. In your case, I don't think it makes it any less true, but I think it makes it more difficult to stand on that. Ken? I agree. I agree. I'm going to default to you called us because you've got some real fear. And I'm glad you called us. If for no other reason than I'm telling you as a guy

who went through premarital counseling, and I've been married 26 years, long enough to know that had Stacy and I not been on the same page about the major things, I don't know that we're here. Same, same. Do you know? Yes. And so I'm just saying that, Matthew, you need to invest time and money into premarital counseling to sit with a professional therapist and get this stuff out on the table. Like you've got to say, she has created this tension here. I feel like she stepped over here. She needs to be able to say, I didn't like it when you said I'm a dad first. Like we got to get this all out before we lock in. And then there's the kid's side of this too. There is the kid's side of it, but they've got to solve it between the two of them first.

You've got to know what life is going to look like day one. Now, we manage those decisions after that. He's nice to my kids. That's not it. But we're kind of different when things come up like, well, I go, well, if they're 22, they're going to be on their own. I'm like, well, yeah, but I sure hope so. go uh what she said well if they're 22 they're going to be on their own like well yeah but i sure hope so but what if something happens and they need to move back in you know that kind of thing again those those things come up or do you are you are you going to pay for the uh master's

degrees too instead of us going to hawaii for those things. So I'm like, wait a minute. So yeah, she's got to realize that there's a whole life here and there's other people. These are good questions. She's marrying into the family, not just you. And that's the case with anybody. You marry into the family,

you marry into the situation, whatever it is. So I think that you guys, Ken is right. There's a lot that must be discussed before this happens. And Matthew, look. Oh, Ken is right. There's a lot that must be discussed before this happens. And Matthew, look. I only got two weeks. Oh, wow. Is this a big fancy

wedding when we got a lot of people coming and a lot of money being spent? No, but I can't move it. It's not moving. You know what? I appreciate Matthew. He's going, listen, Ken, I know where you're going, pal. I don't want to walk down that path. I would.

I would. I would. I'd press pause. I would because what I don't want, I would never want you to feel like you don't have a choice or like once the wheels are in motion, you can't put a wood stick in it and grind it to a halt. You can. You have choices still. You have a lot less choices once you say I do.

I agree. I'd get a session in at least and talk about these majors. I really would before the wedding. But can I also say that if she says, hey, are you going to pay for their master's degree or are we going to go to Hawaii? The answer is, where is my grass skirt? That's what the answer is.

The kids can pay for their master's degree. Go with mama to Hawaii, man. Aloha. Come on. I thought you were going in a different direction with that kid. No. Kids need to pay for their own master's. No, I'm glad you did. This is The Ramsey Show. This is The Ramsey Show

where we help you win in your life. We're going to help you win with your money, win in your work, and win with your relationships. The phone number for you to jump in so we can coach you up today is 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. Alongside the fabulous Jade Warshaw, I'm Ken Coleman. We're so excited to be together with you. Let's get right to the phones. We head to the Big Apple. Michelle is waiting for us there. Michelle, how can we help? Hi, Jade and Ken. Thank you so much for taking my call. I'm actually very excited that it's the two of you on the desk today because I have a little bit of a dilemma. My husband and I were recently introduced to the Ramsey Method

and we realized quite quickly that we've done everything a little backwards. And so we're looking for guidance from you on next steps. My husband recently finished all of his medical training. And so he's finally in a place where he's completed residency, he's completed all of that. And we need to start tackling about $100,000 worth of student loan debt. How much? $400,000. Okay. And just saying that number out loud is like nauseating.

And we also have two car loans that we are working through. One is at $35,000 and the other one is at $22,000. Okay. Now, we were introduced to the Ramsey method about a month ago. And ever since then, we've worked really hard to just pay off what little credit card that we had. But now the cars are next and then we're going to tackle his student loans. And one thing that we're kind of getting between is after we finished the cars, he likes the sense of security of having emergency savings. And that's obviously not what you teach.

And so he wants to finish the cars, save up the emergency savings fund, and then tackle his debt. And just looking for your guidance on how to work through all of this. Yeah. So I understand his thoughts around that. What he's thinking is how can I do this in a way that's going to make me feel more comfortable?

Right. That's that's at the core of that. And I will say this because when when you said the number of debt, I was like, oh, gosh, this sounds very familiar. My husband and I had that same amount, four hundred sixty thousand. And so there is a level of that that you're like, man, this is a real situation. It's going to require real action, but maybe I'm the exception to the rule and maybe I kind of want to do it my way to make it a little bit more comfortable. And the question that I, the thing I had to ask myself, which I think might be the same thing that your husband has to ask himself is how many people have I helped to get out of $460,000 of debt? And the answer was none. I'm the one who

stuck here and I've not helped anybody else. And so I had to kind of internalize that and go, there's, there's a way that works and there's a method that's proven. I might need to stick with that. So that's, you know, I'm just going to let that marinate. And maybe if he's listening, he'll think about that. So what I would do is with the cars, I want to know, should you even keep these cars? What are they worth? The $35,000 one, what's it worth? It's worth the $35,000.

And the $22,000 is probably worth right around there. And the thing is, like, we feel pretty confident that we can pay these off in about three, four months max. Yeah, see, I want to jump in for a second because I don't want to get too much further in the call because I got something I want to share on that fear that he has because I get that. It's very real. What is your take-home income between the two of you? So he nets minimum $20,000 a month. Okay. And I net after, because we pay for health insurance and I still contribute to my 401k daycare spending as well as our health

savings account. I net about 9,000. Okay. So we've got 29,000 combined bring home. Okay. Minimum. Yeah. Minimum. Yeah. So here's what I'm going to throw out here, Jade, because I was listening. I think Jade's right with what she said, but I want to give you something that I can take right to his fear. Okay. Yeah. Aside from this debt, what's your total, like if you guys are being real conservative, what's your total burn rate in a month out of that 29K take home? What's your burn rate i mean between daycare and schooling and our mortgage right there is about 10 11 000 and then about our groceries are about another 1200 and then the cars are 700 and 500 p all right what's the math on that about 13 14 all right so max so here's the point i'm making the answer to his

should i pause going after the 460 000 a student loan debt to build up an emergency fund jade's answer is right but i want to come right to his actual fear gland and go i think there's not many emergencies that you guys couldn't cash flow with the 13k burn rate and 29 take-home. So we've got about 16k a month that if a real emergency hits, you guys can cash flow it. We're going to say $1,000, just like Dave's always taught you, and Jade was right. We want him to do it the way we teach. But listen, if you're going four months in a row and you're putting $16,000 a month, you're right.

You're knocking those cars out fast. Right, right. But if an emergency hits. And that's his argument, right? Like that's been his viewpoint. And so what I'm trying to look for is like his point is, well, why can't we pause for four months? You don't need to.

Get that cushion under us. Don't need to. And then knock down the cash. You don't need to. And the other thing that I, I'm sorry sorry the other thing that i didn't mention is that his loans are frozen currently through december 2025 even more reason to do it so here's the point i'm down yeah yeah you guys aren't going to have to be in a situation like get after the loans and start knocking them out and you're going to make progress he's going to feel great about it. I just can't think of an emergency that you guys couldn't cash flow

over the course of a month or two months. Yeah, because that's part of the baby steps as well. If something pops up, you pause paying off the debt, and you handle the emergency. And you guys got it. Yeah. You more than got it. What's the worst that could happen?

The roof blows off the house? Yeah. Like, that's truly the worst. I just don't think there's many $16,000 emergencies that are coming your way. Would you agree? No, I agree. I think it's just that. And also the other thing that I do have to add is that everyone that we're around has student loan debt, right?

So it's very normal. And this is one of the challenges is like changing that mentality. But he wants to get rid of it, does he not? He definitely, yes. All right, so the only thing that we're addressing, but the only thing I'm addressing is his real fear, and I get his fear. As a man, I don't know if it's our provider muscle, Jade, I don't know what it is about us dudes,

but that made sense to me what he's thinking, and I'm trying to give you something to take back to him and go, hey, listen, here's what Ken said. Blame it on me. Or use the math. It's just math. Or it's math. Yeah.

At the end of the day, go back to the math and say, well, if I save up, you know, how much does he want to save up after the cars? I would think about $40,000 to $45,000. Okay. You save up $40,000. That's not really your money. At the end of the day, when you owe $400,000, it's simple math when you're calculating what's mine versus what's theirs. Simple net worth calculation. You take what you own minus what you owe.

And so you owe $400,000. If you have $40,000, it's not yours until you pay off. It's like profit profit it's the same thing with the business you start at that top line i didn't think of it like that yeah nobody does nobody no one does and so at the end of the day it's not just what we think it's best it's not just what feels better there really is there's a mathematical component and you almost have to there's a moral component as well when you say i told somebody I was going to give them their money back. I should give it back instead of keeping. So those are just some ways to think through it.

No one's mad at him for that. Those are very, very real emotions. And I want to validate that. And Michelle, I got a sneaky suspicion that once you two pay those cars off as quick as you're going to pay it off in two to three months, he's going to feel the mojo. Yeah. And boy, that is hard to stop. So good for you.

Welcome aboard. You're only a month into this thing. Great question. He's not wrong. He's just feeling real emotions. That's right. Appreciate you guys. This is The Ramsey Show.

This is The Ramsey Show. Alongside Jake Warshaw, I'm Ken Coleman. The phone number is 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. Let's go to Phoenix, Arizona. Jonathan is there. Jonathan, how can we help? Hey, thanks for taking my call. Sure. I'm not quite sure where to start to be brief.

I'm 24 with two kids of my own. My fiance has two kids from a past relationship. And I am the only one that works at the moment. And it just seems like I'm always drowning. I come from a family that has never really been financially stable. So I don't even know where to start to begin to get out of this like drowning feeling. Yeah, man, I'm so sorry. But can I just tell you real quick before we go into this? I sense in you a guy who wants to change his family tree. I sense in you a guy who is busting his tail and trying to do right by those little ones. And I wanted to encourage you because I think you've got a lot of character,

and I love the fact that you're calling and asking for help. It's a big deal to go, I need help. I just felt like you needed to hear that. You're not a failure, and you are going to be able to figure this out, and we're going to help today. You got me? Yeah. All right, a couple quick things here.

I'm going to turn you over to Jade, all right? We're going to try to do as much as we can in a quick amount of time. Number one, what are you doing and what is your income? I work in the HVAC industry, and my yearly income is around $60,000 to $80,000 on a good year. Okay. That's not bad. So we've got somewhere between $60,000 to $80,000 gross. And are all four, if I heard you right, you've got two kids and your girlfriend or fiance has,

is your fiance or no? Yes, she's fiance. Okay, I thought I heard that. Okay, she's got, are you got all four kids staying with you guys all the time? Yes. Okay, so she's at home taking care of the kids. Yeah. Gotcha, okay. And what kind of debt do you have? We're in about $23,000 in a minivan. Now, wait a second. When you say we, did you both sign on to that deal? Yes, yeah, we did. All right.

And it's $23,000 on a minivan. Yeah. Okay, what other debt do you have and then i have about let's say 1600 in collections and credit cards and then she has around let's say 600 to a thousand in collections and credit cards that? Yeah. You got any money in the bank at all? No, I did, but we had to go through it, hit some unfortunate times. So yeah, no, it's cleared out. What do you mean by unfortunate times? Give me 20 seconds on that. I lost my job, my last job where it was great money, good work. I was able to save up around four4,000 to $5,000, and then once I got laid off from that company,

we had to use that to keep our bills going. Was that HVAC work as well or something different? Yeah. No, it was HVAC. You don't have to tell us, but was this something you did? Yeah, unfortunately. Did you learn from it? Yeah, absolutely.

Okay. So what that tells me, though, is that you have more income potential in that industry because you were clearly working for somebody else making more. What were you making when you were with them? About $96,000 a year. So what would need to be true for you to get back to that? Honestly, find a different company but it's possible yes or no yes okay i just want to leave that there yeah let's get to it all right uh i i always like to kind of ask all the questions i'm kind of like the general doctor and then she's a specialist and so she kind of sits over there and she's like rubbing her chin you filled out

the paperwork for me yeah that's what i have let's be honest i'm the intake nurse that's not true no but i i think this is doable jade i do too i like i like what you just said about the opportunity to make more and if i'm you i'm getting on that today ken what's the first step where's where do you go about that it's a budget no i'm talking about for him to find the job oh sorry i apologize you see where i was at you you had already clocked out well no because they know because they've not done it they have no idea where their money's coming and going that's the issue uh here's what i would say uh jonathan because you're in the trades of hvac um you don't have to stay at this current company for a 10 i

mean you go to the best situation that you can go to. So I would be really, because you're stable now, now I'd be looking and you learned your lesson from the last one. HVAC can make really, really good money. And so you're looking everywhere all the time until the next opportunity comes. And the minute it shows up, walk right to it. Love that. So that's homework number one is we're looking for that. Homework number two is you do need a budget. We're going to make sure you get set up with an every dollar budget. It's the best way to budget because you're going to see all the things that you're spending money on and you're going to be able to pinpoint, okay, where's an area of concern?

Where's an area I can cut back on? Maybe there's more at our disposal than we realize, but it's just been going out to things, I don't know, DoorDash, Instacart, whatever. So we're going to give you the budget. I also wanted to know, what's your living situation? Are you renting? Do you have a house together? Tell us about that. We're renting. Okay. And what do you pay every month for rent? Just under two grand, so $19.80. Okay, that's a squeeze. I'm not going to lie, and I know you've got the kiddos, but you need to find something that's more along the $1,400, $1,300 area so that it's not squeezing you so much because you told me you make $5,000 to $6,000

a month. And so assuming it's somewhere right in the middle. Yeah. Thirteen, fourteen hundred is really your max. So I'd be thinking through what that could mean, because unless you see a pathway quickly to earn more money, this rent is going to continue to squeeze you. The van, what's the van worth? You owe twenty three. What's it worth? It's about twenty one. OK, I'd be looking at getting out of that and into something a little less expensive. Take a couple months and save up the difference so you're not upside down and get out of that van and get it. Or you go over to the credit union and say, hey, the van's worth 23 or I owe 23. It's worth 21. Can I get a $2,000 loan and can we add like seven or

eight to it so that i can get something else jonathan listen real quick to what she just said okay this is doable you bust it go to a credit union or something get a different loan you know whatever we got to do pay this thing off um because you're going to save yourself a lot of money what's the car payment on that you guys don't want to know yeah we do we do. Oh, we do want to know. Oh, I know. That's why I'm asking. $741. $783 a month. So, Jade, tell him how to get rid of that car because that is a $700 raise instantly. This is the how-to.

The how-to is the first place I want you to try to go to is a credit union because they're going to care about the fact that you're a human being. But wherever you end up going to get this loan, I want you to get this loan. OK, so what you're doing here is you have to pay twenty three thousand dollars to get clear on this, but it's only worth twenty one. Right. And so you need to clear that two thousand dollar difference. That's what you're going to get the loan for so that when it comes time to pay this off, you actually get the title. Right. That's that's or you can give the person the title who buys it. That's what we're talking about. But then you're without a car, right? And so the idea is don't just get the loan for 2000, get it for a little bit more,

maybe 7,000, start looking online tonight and see what can I get that'll get us from point A to point B. This is temporary. This is not forever. This might be for a year and a half until you can get, you know, later on, add some more money with it and trade up. Okay. But look for an $8,000 car. Now you're in for $10,000 instead of $23,000. You see what I did there? And now instead of paying $7.83 a month, if you can get in with a credit union with a better interest rate, maybe you're only paying $300 a month. You see what I'm saying? Yeah. So that's what we want to do with the car. With these credit cards and collections, let's settle them. Okay. And whenever you settle them, you're calling them up and saying, hey, I know it says I owe you $2,000. Today I can give you $700, take it or leave it. That kind of thing. And you get it in

writing first. And they're going to settle with you. If it's already gone to collections, they will settle. But you're going to have to be like white on rice. Like you're going to settle with you if it's already gone to collections they will settle but you're going to have to be like white on rice like you're going to have to be on them calling all the time because if you dealt with betty before and betty didn't do it call back and talk to shirley and if shirley won't do it talk back call back and talk to heather somebody's going to do it for you but you have to do your due diligence and stay on top of this the good the only good news that comes out of this collection stuff is that you're going to end up paying it for a lot less but it's going to be at your expense as far as the effort goes. Yeah. Jonathan, you can do this. Hang on the line. We're going to get you in every dollar.

Please just start plugging the numbers into this thing. It's so intuitive. It's so simple and it's a game changer because you will now know where your money is going. Yeah. And that is half the battle. What Jay just did for you is a huge victory to get out of that car payment and on the path to building prosperity for those kiddos. You can do this, Jonathan. We're here to help. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show.

I'm Ken Coleman. Jade Warshaw is alongside 888-825-5225 is the phone number, 888-825-5225. Ramsey Trusted Pros are always out there to help you. One of the areas that we really encourage that you enlist this army of Ramsey Trusted Pros is in the area of insurance. They'll help you shop the market, compare insurance quotes so you don't have to. They're going to compare quotes, discounts, and bundling all at no extra cost. And they're going to make sure that you have all the coverage you need and nothing that you don't. A lot of times people can save a lot of money by reducing coverages that they really don't need.

So these folks are interviewed, vetted, and coached to make sure that they're market experts who have your best interest. You can shop the right coverage based on your needs by going to ramseysolutions.com slash coverage. That's ramseysolutions.com slash coverage, or as always, anything we talk about during the show, you can get links to that in the show notes. We love the show notes. Jay loves the show notes. So let's get now back to the phones. Kyle's up in Macon, Georgia. Kyle, how can we help? Hey, good to see you. Good afternoon.

Thanks for having me on. Sure. What's going on today? So my wife and I are newly married. We're about three months in. Oh, congrats. What a time of life. Yeah.

Right, yeah. You guys haven't even hung up all the pictures yet, right? We were talking about that last night, actually. You're still on your best behavior. Yeah, right. That's right. Yeah, so we're newly married. Neither of us have much experience in budgeting or figuring out the way that we need to spend money wisely. So that's kind of why I'm calling in.

Well, you are in good hands because the budget queen herself is at the desk today. Well, I mean, I think the first step is that you both say, okay, we see that this is an important part of the marriage. Let's talk about it, right? So maybe it's you broaching the subject. I don't know. Maybe you've already sat down and talked about it a little bit, but I'd start with the budget. It's the perfect place to start. And if we were going to roll this scenario out, like a role play, I'd say, hey, here's what I've been thinking about. We're married. We should probably be thinking about our finances. There's a show that I've been listening to. I actually called in today. Oh, I like this. And they said that we needed a budget, and they gave me one for free. It's called Every Dollar.

So I was thinking this would be fun for us to do. I ordered a pizza. I got a bottle of wine. Let's get into it. And can I say, side note, coming right back to you, partner. Okay. Okay, this is quick. She has got the budget wines down.

I got to say, you showed up at our house one time for a little get together and you were bragging about your cheap wine. And I got to tell you. Apothecary. There it is, folks. She could save you some money on that. Keep going, Jade. Okay.

So how much is the apothecary? $9.99. We did a taste test on the show once. That's right. So you go, listen, Kyle, you go pick up your bottle, $9.99. You know, whether it's nachos, pizza pizza I don't care but something something that is comforting right because this is we want this to be fun oh okay and so and then you guys just start playing you say okay what's your income okay what's my income you put the numbers in and then

make it light okay what are all the things we spend money on okay put the rent in here or I'm sorry put the mortgage in here put everything in and then okay make it fun okay here's the fun stuff is there anything that you what does it cost to get your highlights done okay put it in there what does it cost you to get your nails yeah all that stuff you put it in there and right now it is no pressure we're just looking okay this is us having a good time we're not talking about debt yet we're not talking about what we should what we need to cut off yet we're just looking at it and if you do the budget and you see that it's in the red don't panic because that's usually the way it starts you go oh man we've kind of been we we did more than we thought and you're going to be

guessing on some of the numbers that is all good and fine what i just want is for you guys to normalize talking about money in a non-stressful way. Okay. And that's all this is. And then on the next week, you have another date and say, that was fun, wasn't it? Let's do it again. And now we go, hey, I've been brainstorming some ways. I don't know, you probably have too, but I noticed since we were in, you know, $200 in the red, here's the area that I was thinking I could cut out. Did you have anything that you were thinking? And see, this is how you talk about it. Kyle, she just dropped gold on you this is not just financial advice she just gave you marriage advice you need to always lead with what you need to do different and better you feel me kyle you

can't be coming in there going hey babe you know like there needs to be a lot of grace for yourself and for her and i'm having some fun with it but what she just dropped on you is gold you since you're bringing it up you called us you got a lead with i kept stopping to the gas station and getting myself a 64 ounce mountain dew i knew it i knew it was gonna be mountain dew and don't forget a moon pie because that's what we eat in the south all right i promise you i eat too many moon pies oh and then and then here's how you really make yourself look good i've been thinking about the future of our family. Oh, wow. She's dropping gold again.

I want to be able to take care of you and the kids. Oh, man. You know, when we retire, I want us to be able to travel. I like your dude voice, by the way. You know what I mean? But that's what I'm saying. Like, say these are noble things that you're sharing. And if you share it right, she's going to go, oh, man, what a good girl.

I married a great man. She already feels that way. But she's going to go, oh man, what a good, I married a great man. She already feels that way, but she's going to go, oh man, I want to be on board with this. And so this is the way you share it. And I think that you sound like a good guy. I think that she's going to be right on board. And now, you know, if you want to ask us, I don't know if you have debt or anything like that, but this, this is the basis is the budget. So if you can lock that in, that's like baby step zero. It is, it's ground zero. It's where everything takes place. So if you can lock that in, that's like baby step zero. It's ground zero. It's where everything takes place. So if you can get that going, that already, especially if there's some things that need dealing with, that's going to allow her to see too. Oh, okay. Yeah. That is

interesting that we're in the red. And so you're on the same page and then you can start walking through and introduce the baby steps. And again, I love format ken hey good advice they have these this thing called financial peace university i thought it'd be a really cool thing we could do together all of this is about being together and great point going in as one and and i'm going to add to what she said kyle i would look for an fpu class in your area yeah because if you could join a class with other couples there might be another young couple that's older folks, some older couples. And all of a sudden she doesn't feel like you guys are in this alone. And, uh, I will tell you that when Stacey and I were newly married, we, we actually led our first class. This was long ago, a long

time ago before I ever knew Dave. And, uh, it was great for us. And we were probably married two, three years and we led the class. But to be in this class with other couples, it was so rewarding because they were talking about their conversations and their challenges and where they were messing up with the budget. And there's so much encouragement. There's no shame in that environment. And that's what that class, in this case, I would actually think about if you could get her to go to a class it could be a game changer i think it will be a game changer do you are you guys part of a church we are yeah uh we we go to a church here and we've got great community and that's one thing that i've learned since being here is you know being in community you learn so much from the people around you maybe get with somebody who's you know in charge of what you

can do there and say, hey, I heard about this financial peace thing. Can we do this here? Because my wife and I are trying to get our money together. And I'm sure there's other people here that want to get their money together and kind of facilitate that because this is an opportunity for you guys to grow and grow with other people who are just like you. And Ken is right about the community aspect. And by the way, offer to lead it because we do all the work for you. You don't have to actually, all you got to do is be smiling and kind and organize the time and press play. You don't have to do anything. We have the discussion

questions, but it would be a great way for you guys to build that community if it's not already there. So you might be surprised in your area how many churches in that area offer it. I love this for Kyle. Kyle, I love this for you. I think if you go away from here and take this advice, I think that you will be patting yourself on the back. I agree. Yeah. Good for you, young man. Good for you. And by the way, start to hang the photos. Start to hang the photos. And when you coordinate the class, and by the way, when you coordinate the class, you get it for free. So anyway, Christian will pick up on the line. He'll make sure you get set up with everything wow we i tell you what that was i don't know what was my favorite part of that call i don't know if it was the advice you gave uh or the the man voice that you dropped into when you were

role playing i want to be the right man for this family i just thought that was a really unique i was like i think that's pretty good i like i think we need more of jade uh playing the role of a man in these conversations but i think what you what you know just your man voice i thought the man voice is fun but i think you're right you know it's like make this a date night not this like thing that you're dropping in her lap yes um making it special taking some ownership of that i thought that that was really funny. That's true. I mean, anytime you can do pizza and nachos, it's a good night. And the red wine for $9.99. $9.99. I mean, that's unbelievable.

Extra cheese, probably, if we're going to talk the budget. That's right. That's an emotional thing. I'm an emotional eater. Are you an emotional eater? All of the emotions require more food for me. All right, Jay, this feels right. I want you to take us to break instead of me,

but do it in your man voice. Take us to break. We're going to take a few minutes, but join us back here in about five. This is The Ramsey Show. She's Jade Warshaw. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show alongside Jade Warshaw. I'm Ken Coleman, 888-825-5225 is the number. Our scripture today comes from Hebrews 4, verse 16. Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. I feel like that should be the verse for all budget meetings.

Yeah, you're probably right. Let us approach this budget meeting with grace and confidence so we'll receive mercy. That's pretty good. And our quote of the day from Mark Twain, a man cannot be comfortable without his own approval. Classic. The man was deep. Wow.

He would have owned Twitter if it was a thing back then. That's got a lot of depth to it. Good stuff there. All right, Paul is joining us now in Edmonton, Alberta. Paul, you are on The Ramsey Show. How can we help? Thank you so much for taking my call. How are you today?

We're good. How can we help you? So I recently got a raise at my job. I doubled my salary. I just needed to quickly Google my currency. I make $37,000 U.S. a year. It's not a today purchase, but down the line, the reason I called was, is it worthy, an

investment to purchase some farmland and then lease it to farmers as like a, I don't want to say passive income, but like as another source of income. All right. Before we answer that, I'm guessing you've done enough research to answer this question. So give me an example of some acreage and, and how much you could lease it for to a farmer in this scenario. What kind of real revenue are we talking about? Have you run the numbers?

I just know, I just only heard about like this kind of format through some of my friends. Like they worked with farmers in the past. And then like, I had another friend that leased their farmland to like farmers. So it's like kind of been a short thing that kind of I got introduced to. So I wouldn't have that number. All right.

So you get my point in asking this question. Before we get to the financial side of this, there's just this good old fashioned common sense. And so it's like somebody saying, should I buy a business? Well, we want to look at your financial situation and we're going to dive into that. But we want to also go, what's the business and does it have viability? And have you done a business study? And so in this situation, this will not be hard for you, but you need to go become an expert in the numbers. In other words, it's got to be this amount of acreage and then based on that, and it's got to have this kind of soil quality. And then based on that, and it's got to have this kind

of soil quality, and then based on that. And you got to be able to buy it. Well, you know, we're going to get to that part, but I'm just saying, like, even if financially you can do it, which you're going to coach him on, I just wanted him to know, is this an actual smart investment, even if you're in position to do so, which I don't think you are. But that's my little quick warning. I want Jay to jump in on your financial situation. And I'm getting in King Coleman territory here. I don't sense that it's necessarily something you'd be passionate about. It sounds like something you just heard some folks doing. That's a good point. And it's like, oh, maybe that can work for me. And I think that could also be a bit of a, at least an, I'll call it an orange flag. And can

we also say real quick, there's no such thing as passive income no it doesn't exist that's a lie um yeah for sure so uh back on to the other side if we do let's say let's just pretend for for i can't say what i was gonna say let's just pretend that you had vetted this out and you had some numbers okay and you said yeah i've looked into this i can make x amount of dollars then my next question to you would have been, okay, what's it cost to buy these acres of land? And then if you would have said, well, Jade, it's going to cost me $400,000 to get the land, dah, dah, dah, dah, because I need at least this many acres.

And I would have said, okay, how are you going to pay for it? And so I think that's where we get into the numbers nitty gritty of this, which is you're making $37,000 a year. I would never tell you to invest in $400,000 and go into debt for it. I would say the first line of your investing needs to be you investing 15% of your income. And that's steady. And that's like your kind of country road of investing. And then on down the road, if there's other things that you're interested, like real estate or land, that sort of thing, I would say, listen, the idea is to pay cash for it. And that's really, really, really the best way to purchase land and real estate is in cash.

So I like that you're thinking about more ways to earn money. I like that you're kind of creative in what that could be. It's not just, I don't know, kind of the typical route, which is cool. But I think that you have a lot of work to do and a lot of study on this. It was never something that I was going to put like a, like be in debt for. It was always going to be something that it would be a cash transaction, but that would be like 10 years. Like it's not like something.

I don't have that money today. I don't have that money today. I love the question. It would just be something that like, you know, given with the recent bump in income and then like, I've been already investing on the side and whatnot. Okay, good. Yeah. Paul, I was just telling Jade this during the show breaks today. I'm kicking around an idea. A friend brought me an investment opportunity. I've never invested in something like this before, and I am doing a lot of due diligence. I've had some really smart

guys that have done things like this before that are my friends, and I'm going, take a look at this. What questions do I need to be asking? So the advice I'm giving you, I'm actually taking, and I would never want to make any kind of investment. Yeah. This is what we teach, by the way, in mutual funds and everything. We want you to sit with a smart investor pro, multiple people.

Who do you connect with? Chemistry. Do they have a heart of a teacher? Do you understand what you're doing so that you can make your decision? They're not telling you what to do. You are telling them what you'd like them to do with your money. And so this thing on farmland, my advice is just do your homework and know it inside and out. Know what the risks are.

Know what the upside is, and so that when the time comes and you've got cash, you can do it. So really appreciate the call, young man. I love the forward thinking. Let's get in one more quick call. Andrew is joining us in Indianapolis, Indiana. Andrew, how can we help? Hey, thanks for taking my call.

You bet. We've got about three minutes, so make it fast. All right, I'll make it quick. I just wanted your guys' opinion on giving, say, friends or family financial advice. I was approached by my mother-in-law, gave her some advice. She's kind of thinking about taking it. Mother-in-law? Well, the key is that she approached you. My answer is don't give it unless they ask for it.

Well, and she did. Yeah, good for you. It seems like a no it seems like a no-brainer based off what i've learned from you guys and i absolutely appreciate that but part of me is is going well if she does it and doesn't do it right and it doesn't work out then she comes back to me and says hey you told me to do this listen that's our job every day kid and i yeah but it's interesting you say that because the advice that we give on here if somebody does it the way we tell them to, then we're not worried about something.

So what was the advice that you gave her? Well, she's paying a car payment, and miraculously, somehow, I'm not sure how, she timed it just right. She's got a lot of equity in said car, but also has about the same amount of credit card debt. And she doesn't really drive much. And the numbers are there to make it work to sell this car, pay off the credit card debt, buy a $4,000 or $5,000 car to do the minimal driving that she does, and then pile up that money to maybe buy a better car or work on her mortgage. The only way that doesn't work out is if the $4,000 to $5,000 car she buys is a lemon. So this is where you as a son-in-law can get massive son-in-law points and go,

hey, I will do the legwork or help you get a mechanic who will be willing to see said cars and don't buy any $4,000 to $5,000 car that the person won't let you take it to the mechanic. And you just walk her through that and guard. I just don't see how that turns out bad. Do you? No, I don't. I really, I really don't. It's really up to how they work out the advice and if they take it to the letter and to the T. Yeah. And that's where we're struggling.

She keeps sending me links for cars that are like eight or 9,000. And I say, you can't afford that. You need to lower your budget. I mean, the hard part for, for where you're sitting is again if they've asked for advice you offer you offer the advice and then after that there there comes a time where you do kind of have to go okay now my hands are off of it if you choose to do it great if you don't if you need help i'm i'm here to help you but what i'm not going to do and i'm going to say this very carefully because we're on air. You cannot, for people asking for advice, you cannot be what I call an ask-hole. Boy, I'm glad you slowed that down.

Because an ask-hole, not you, is there a person who asks the same thing over and over and over to avoid actually doing, okay? And that's annoying. And so if you feel like it's getting to the point where this person is being an ask hole. See how I stepped in there? Then you go, okay, I've given you the advice.

It's up to you what you do next. I like that. I think that needs to be your next little product. I think it needs to be some type of a money bumper sticker that you sell, Jade, in your store. A t-shirt. I think a lot of people some type of a money bumper sticker that you sell, Jade, in your store. A t-shirt. I think a lot of people would like to wear that. I'm afraid to say it because I know I'll mess it up and the FCC will not be happy.

We hit that K pretty hard, too. Oh, we did. Hey, thanks for the call, Andrew. Thank you, Jade, for always being awesome. Thank you, Kelly and the team for keeping us on the air. Thank you, America. This is your show. This is The Ramsey Show. Bye.