The Ramsey Show - App - My Student Loan Is Part of a Lawsuit (Hour 1)

Episode Date: April 21, 2021

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. Number one best-selling author and and bestselling author many times over. We're here to answer your questions about your life and your money. Open phones at 888-825-5225, but that's 888-825-5225. And you are here also to announce a new offering today, a new thing you did.
Starting point is 00:01:06 A new thing, yes. A new thingy. So thanks for having me on. Sure. And yeah, I came out with my new wallet a few months ago, and the colors were black and camel, anyone wondering. But I was like, I want to design a fun wallet that you can use the cash envelope system, but yet, as a woman, it's cute and you get to carry it.
Starting point is 00:01:25 So, we did a special. It's a limited edition, so we only ordered a pretty small amount, honestly, so you'll have to get it soon because it probably will sell out in the next day or two. For Mother's Day, but a blush, metallic, a metallic blush color. Metallic blush. Sounds like a punk rock band. Which is... Metallic blush. Look at it on camera. I mean, it's just the most beautiful thing ever. metallic a metallic blush metallic blush sounds like a punk rock band which is metallic blush
Starting point is 00:01:45 look at it on camera i mean it's just the most beautiful thing ever it's it's my favorite i mean it's i was like okay i i need i have every color but i was like no this is i want to use this but what's also great about these wallets is we partnered with join which is an incredible organization they make authentic leather goods and they they're incredible. They take people in parts of India that need a job to literally feed their family. And get off the street. And get off the street and get out of other sectors of life that are just terrible. And so they give these women and men jobs to create this. So they're the ones that actually make it.
Starting point is 00:02:22 And so it's amazing. So it comes from India, and then every wallet comes with a card of the person that made it. So it's handmade, authentic leather, and it's just beautiful. There's 10 card slots in here. So for gift cards, debit cards. This is like QVC or something. Oh, man. I should do it.
Starting point is 00:02:37 Demo in your wallet. This is great. No, but then it has the envelope systems there in it. Yeah. And a pocket for change, zipper, gold accents. It's just beautiful. So we did it for Mother's Day. So if you need a gift for your mom, you can get her the new wallet.
Starting point is 00:02:53 The Rachel Cruz Metallica Blush. Oh, yes. I'm telling you, that's a great name. Well, we did... Thank you. I didn't name the color, but that's the name of the color. But we polled my tribe and people that bought the wallet. Okay, if you want another color, because that's what they keep saying, we i we you know we pulled my tribe and people that i bought the wallet okay if you want another color because that's what they keep saying we want another color
Starting point is 00:03:08 and it was like pink light pink blush pink pink pink pink pink we want pink we want pink and so the metallic pink there it is it's beautiful yes yes yes yes so again you go to ramsey solutions.com to order it we have a limited uh, and then it's going to be gone forever. But it's beautiful. So it does. It has the whole envelope system built in, 10 debit card slots built in, coin pouch, wristlet, the whole thing.
Starting point is 00:03:33 And our product guys have worked very, very hard on the development of this thing for the other two colors to start with, and then adding this color to it. And, you know, the truth is I had absolutely nothing to do with any of this. Rachel had a little bit to do with the design, speaking into it, and, you know, so it would do what she wanted it to do.
Starting point is 00:03:52 But so RamseySolutions.com, and just check out products or go to the store, slash store, and you can get the new metallic blush. And in the inside of the envelopes, it's like this mauve color in there with the plaid. Oh, it's important. It's just very pretty. All the ladies will appreciate it. All the ladies will appreciate it. I have no idea.
Starting point is 00:04:14 I would imagine you're right. So check it out. RamseySolutions.com slash store the metallic blush. Rachel Criswell. And we really, you know, you guys know out there that supply chains are all screwed up. Shipping lanes are all screwed up. Getting stuff here from another country and getting stuff here from North Carolina is dadgum near impossible these days. So, you know, we really did end up with a limited quantity because of everything so screwed up.
Starting point is 00:04:43 And so that's not well and we did it because we didn't and i mean yeah the logistics of it but also it's a color that's not going to just be consistent like throughout the years we decided let's just do a fun new color but then you're not gonna make it anymore no not the blush no oh yeah it's done after this after this oh so it's like beanie babies you're gonna run it's like you're gonna run out the princess diana kidding we went to all this trouble just for a few hundred no a few thousand two It's like Beanie Babies. You're going to run out. It's like Beanie Babies. You're going to run out. The Princess Diana. You're kidding. We went to all this trouble just for a few hundred? No, a few thousand.
Starting point is 00:05:08 A few thousand? 2,000. 2,000. 2,000. Oh, my gosh. But it's already selling. Like yesterday, they sent a text out to people that signed up for the early one. Yeah, I mean, it's still.
Starting point is 00:05:18 No, it's not gone. It's not gone, but it's going to go. I keep getting updated numbers, and it's fun. It's great. Hopefully, people can handle their money better you know there we go with a metallic blush wallet open phones this hour as we talk about your life and your money and your metallic blush wallets the phone number is 888-825-5225 i cannot believe we're doing this and they're going to run out and never get more after you've made a hot
Starting point is 00:05:42 product that just runs against my whole way of marketing things. You should always sell until nobody wants to buy the meeting. Well, we have the camel in the black color. I know. I know. I just didn't know we were doing that. So I learned something new every day live here on the air. You didn't come to the meetings.
Starting point is 00:05:56 So we'll just say that. Probably wasn't invited, but there you go. So, all right. Open phones again at 888-825-5225. You jump in. We will talk about your life and your money. The other thing you can do is you can check out Rachel Cruz's show. It is, of course, on Facebook and YouTube live.
Starting point is 00:06:18 And the podcast is huge. Tons of people attending that. And be sure to check that out at RachelCruz.com or ramseysolutions.com and you can find any of our personalities anything they are doing and plug into the the podcast and the youtube live streams and the whole bit so the 14-day money finder is out there as well sign up for this two-week challenge on rachelcruz.com the average person's finding an extra two thousand dollars with these 14 day money finder which means they get something new every day to look for money that's right yeah so when i created this i wanted quick tips because i just know how crazy my life
Starting point is 00:06:55 is so i was like if i'm going to do something i kind of need a something that can be quick so you can do it you know under 15 minutes or less most of these and so it's everything from as easy as signing into your checking account online, which some people don't even know their password to it because they don't do it, to things like insurance rates, all of it. But, yeah, it's been great. I've had it for a few years now. And people, I mean, it works because, again, it's helping you get intentional with your money.
Starting point is 00:07:19 So you get an email once a day with an idea. Exactly. To save money. 100%, yeah. Find money. Okay. All right. And you sign up for that at RachelCruz. To save money. 100%. Find money. Okay. All right. And you sign up for that at RachelCruz.com as well.
Starting point is 00:07:28 So be sure and check that out. Again, the number here to join us is 888-825-5225. Now, guys, I wanted to stop a second, sidestep. Rachel, this time last year, most people were at home. Yeah. Yes. Quarantining or sheltering or whatever word we used for being trapped in your house. And a lot of people were very afraid about their money.
Starting point is 00:07:58 A lot had lost jobs. They were worried about if they were going to lose their job. They were worried about the debt that they have. They were worried about their emergency fund. And a lot of people said, you know what? I'm were going to lose their job. They were worried about the debt that they have. They were worried about their emergency fund. And a lot of people said, you know what? I'm never going to be here again. And then some of you had that feeling, but you never did anything about it. And now you're kind of just back to normal doing stupid butt stuff again.
Starting point is 00:08:18 That was your wake-up call to do the Ramsey stuff, to do the baby steps, to get the total money makeover book, to get in Ramsey stuff, to do the baby steps, to get the total money makeover book, to get in Ramsey Plus, for God's sakes, to get your blush wallet, whatever it takes for you to change your life and never be back in that situation again. You need to have a never again moment from COVID where you say, never again is my family going to be vulnerable financially because I didn't do the stuff to get out of debt and build the emergency fund. I heard a statistic recently that absolutely blew my mind. 43% of Americans are not protecting their
Starting point is 00:09:02 loved ones with life insurance this drives me crazy people what are you thinking taking care of your family has to be a top priority think about it if you died today would you be the hero by making sure that your family had the money necessary to carry on their life without struggle and hardship would they be able to pay the bills and plan for the future that's what term life insurance is all about. Regardless of where you are in the baby steps, you've got to make this a top priority. Have I gotten my point across yet? That's why I talk about Zander Insurance every day.
Starting point is 00:09:36 They keep it simple and make sure they find you the best rates out there. Zander will do their job to find you the best rates and make sure you're served like I expect. But you have to take the first step. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. Thank you for joining us, America. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. Ashley's in West Palm Beach, California. Hi, Ashley.
Starting point is 00:10:21 How are you? West Palm Beach. I'm good, David. Florida. Florida, I would think. Yeah, I saw that on the screen and read it like I was Anchorman or something. Okay. So I knew better as I was reading it.
Starting point is 00:10:32 How can we help? Well, I am currently in Baby Step 2, and I have about $10,000 left on a student loan. However, it's currently in part of the class action lawsuit, so I'm not required to make any payments on it. So I've been using what I would have paid on that towards the rest of my snowball. It's not currently accruing any interest, anything like that. I'm just not sure if I should pay it off. What's the nature of the class action lawsuit? It was for false advertising for job placement rates and things like that. So it was for like a technical school. Technical school still open?
Starting point is 00:11:14 No, they have closed. They went broke? They went shut down. Well, your student loan is supposed to be forgiven under federal guidelines in that situation anyway. Well, I had already graduated from the school doesn't matter that happened so i wasn't currently really yeah doesn't matter if the school closed due to if the school went bankrupt it's an indication that they were running a scam and the fed one of the federal it's one of the few types of student loan forgiveness that actually does occur you can you actually get a high rate of these that are forgiven so you need
Starting point is 00:11:50 to get in touch with the feds and work that through you said it's a ten thousand dollar balance and it's your only debt left uh it's why two left i have about eight thousand left on a credit card but i've been using the student loan payment to pay down the credit card faster since i've not been required to pay statements on the student loan. Yeah. Okay. Well, yeah, what I'd do is knock the credit card out, and then I would save up $10,000 extra above your normal emergency fund of three to six months so that if this all falls
Starting point is 00:12:17 apart, you can write a check and be out of debt. That's what I thought you'd say, but I needed to hear it from you. Yeah, but in the meantime, you need to investigate the federal, you know, get on the websites with the feds, because I think you're going to get this whole thing forgiven anyway, regardless of the class action. Okay. Now, do you think they would forgive and reimburse for anything that I've paid? No. That's my concern.
Starting point is 00:12:38 No, it's just a phrase. No, the feds don't guarantee that schools don't go broke, but they do forgive federally insured student loans on schools that close. Okay. Regardless of if you're a current student or not. Yes. Yeah. Okay.
Starting point is 00:12:56 Double check it. Jump in on the student loan websites. And, James, that site that you sent me the other day that had the different types on it, do you remember what it was off the top of your head? Not off the top of my head, but I can find it and send it to you. Okay. Yeah. Well, she'll be gone by then. But anyway, yeah.
Starting point is 00:13:10 But there's a site we were just looking at the other day, and there's two or three types of student loan forgiveness that actually do occur. Yeah. That's what I was about to say, because usually it's one of those impossible things. It's a dream that people have that's going to happen and usually doesn't. The PSLF is the one that sucks that everybody thinks is going to happen and nobody gets that doesn't doesn't really occur yeah and so the public student public service student loan forgiveness after 10 years and that's what so many people are betting the farm on and they're getting screwed and the current numbers that we just pulled this up the other day off this site that we were talking about here um
Starting point is 00:13:45 the uh 227 000 people have applied for that and only 3 000 have gotten it so it's less it's about one percent of the 10 year yeah of that 10 year type now the type that she has were a closed school discharge it would be 100 or a discharge due to death or a discharge due to disability. Or there's another one for teachers and sometimes nurses that do the inner city or the rural underserved areas, they're called. That's a five-year plan, and there's a high rate of the forgiveness on those. But the public service student loan forgiveness one is the ones that joke. So it's educationdata.org. Say it again. Educationdata.org say it again educationdata.org so if you're still there uh uh it's educationdata.org educationdata.org or
Starting point is 00:14:34 data.org and um yeah that's where you can start to find out this this deal but the the if you went to and a lot of them were very few very few times there's like a four-year university close. Right. But there were a lot of these VoTech things, a truck driving school, a computer programming school or whatever. And you go in there and they run the student, basically they run a scam to, you know, get people to sign student loans. They cash in all the money. They take off and the school closes. How often does that happen?
Starting point is 00:15:04 Often enough that they decided to put it in the dadgum thing. I mean, it's too often. Yeah, yeah. It's not to say everybody in that space is slimy, but there was enough slime in that space that the discharge due to school closing is a thing. It's a thing. And you don't have to do it through a class action. So jump in there and learn about it and you can get the details and get moving on it sam is in atlanta hi sam welcome to the ramsey show hey thanks dave what's up hey
Starting point is 00:15:33 rachel hey dave uh thanks for taking the call this afternoon um i had a quick question so uh my wife and i uh we're in i I guess, starting out baby step six now. So we've paid off any debts we had and got three to six months of expenses and are able to invest 15% of our income. We are set to receive about $180,000 in inheritance in the form of a mutual fund. And our current mortgage is about $140,000 in a inheritance in the form of a mutual fund. And our current mortgage is about 140,000. And I was just curious what would maybe be the most smart thing to do with that inheritance. Would it be to pay off the mortgage immediately with it or keep it invested and continue for that to grow in the mutual fund and let's just continue to attack the mortgage.
Starting point is 00:16:28 Sammy, yeah, you guys are... With an online income. Yeah. Well, you're in a great position right now because you are literally going to be able to cash out mutual funds and have enough to pay off your mortgage with $40,000 left over. So if I woke up in your shoes and that was given to me, I would pay off the house that day and be on my way to Baby Step 7 and continue on. Sam, it's interesting that you said, you know,
Starting point is 00:16:56 we're going to walk the baby steps until you got a lump sum and then you questioned it. Yep. Isn't that weird? I mean, that's kind of weird if you think about it but that's what it does it made you question the whole the whole theory because if if the other way if not paying it off and you and use it to invest then we would have put that in the baby steps right we would have said never pay off your house always keep your money invested right and what we found though is is that all the millionaires that we've studied and all the
Starting point is 00:17:25 tens of thousands of people we've walked with over all these 30 years that have built wealth none of them said when interviewed oh i got rich because i kept i always borrowed all i could on my house and kept the money invested in mutual funds none of them said that none not one you know instead i hear all the time we paid our house, and that was the biggest breakthrough. Because when the house was paid off, man, we took all those house payments, started investing those, and we ended up with a million dollars so fast it was blinding. And I am a paid for house in the mix. And so you end up, you know, with a net worth of one to two million dollars fairly quickly. Yeah, and it's a good question, Sam.
Starting point is 00:18:03 It is. I understand how you got there, because you're thinking're thinking okay suddenly math starts to come into play and you're thinking okay can i kind of outsmart this and invest that because i'm going to make more off the interest versus what you know i mean you start but if you were going to pay it off gradually it would never would have come up right right but the fact that there's something weird the way our brains trigger yes yes we'll have to ask deloney how that works because i don't there's something about the way our brains you know our brains well and i would say sam too i i mean i would feel this way right you're working hard you guys are on baby step six yeah you've done a great job you sound like a fairly young man you know you're not you know from just the tone of your voice so i'm like
Starting point is 00:18:40 there's almost this emotion you have to catch up to for being handed $180,000. Like, you know, you're because you hardly don't feel worthy. I almost wish. Yeah. You know, I wish I could hear more of his story because I'm like, I bet they worked hard. You know, you're just used to just cranking it out and and then you're giving it. It almost feels too good to be true or something. It's like, whoa, it can't be this easy that I do something wrong or something like it can't be this easy.
Starting point is 00:19:03 And and it's like your emotions haven't caught up to the reality of what's happening financially for you guys. And what a blessing. What a gift. And whoever left you that in the inheritance, what a way to pass on their legacy to do something like this with this money. I think it's just tremendous, Sam. It's awesome. Off your house, dude. Use the house payment to become wealthy.
Starting point is 00:19:21 Change your family tree. I'm so proud for you. You've done really good. You've done a great job. This is The Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. Thanks for joining us, America. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality, my daughter, number one bestselling author many times over, is my co-host today. Taking your questions about your life and about your money. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Nico is with us from Estonia.
Starting point is 00:20:26 Hi, Nico. How are you? Oh, hello. Thank you. How are you, sir? Better than I deserve. What part of Estonia are you in? Part two.
Starting point is 00:20:35 It's a very small city, although the second biggest city in Estonia. Rachel and I and our family visited Tallinn a few years ago. It's Tallinn. Is that how you pronounce it? Yes. Yeah. Beautiful. It's Tallinn. Is that how you pronounce it? Yes. Yeah. Beautiful. It's a beautiful city.
Starting point is 00:20:47 How can we help? I saw Estonia, and I said, not many people can probably say, I have been to your country, Nico. I have been to Estonia. How can we help you, sir? Me and my fiance are moving to U.S., to Indiana, Notre Dame, for our Ph.D. degrees, both in the same department. We are debt-free. We do not have any debt. We have
Starting point is 00:21:07 all our moving costs covered and we both have fellowship. The thing is, we don't have some salary left over every month and we have no idea about American economics or how can we invest or what we should do with it. Should we go ahead? Let me say that
Starting point is 00:21:23 we will have about $2,000 left each month on the side after eating, providing for shelter, everything back. What should we do? Should we plan to buy a house maybe next year? Or should we invest in a different way? I would love to listen to your advice. Wow. What's your PhD you're studying?
Starting point is 00:21:43 Bioengineering. I am building synthetic hearts. Ph.D. you're studying? Bioengineering. I am building synthetic hearts. Wow. Wow. So when you finish the Ph.D., will you be returning or will you be staying in the U.S.? I haven't made up my mind yet, but I think I will stay a little bit longer for postdoc. Mm-hmm. Okay.
Starting point is 00:22:04 Well, South Bend's a beautiful town. Been there a lot of times. Notre Dame's a fabulous campus, so you've signed up for a world-class ride there. If you're going to be there five years or longer, buying a home is not a bad idea. If you're not going to be there five years or longer, it's questionable. All right. I was thinking the money I'm going to pay for rent, which is about $1,200 a month, I can just pay it for mortgage.
Starting point is 00:22:33 Even if I don't stay there at the end, I can sell the house and get some of those money back instead of losing it in the month. You won't necessarily unless you stay five years. We don't know if the house – typically the house will not go up enough in value, and you've got to make sure you can get the house sold. Houses, you know, right now houses are selling like crazy. The real estate market's wide hot. But a few years ago you couldn't give one away.
Starting point is 00:22:58 So, you know, you don't want to get into a home if you're not going to be there five years because your trade-out for rent is not one for one. Because you can turn around and lose money on the house and make you wish you had rented if you're only going to be in the house two or three years or something. And the South Bend market's a solid market. There's nothing wrong with it. You know, it's not a bad place to own real estate, but all real estate needs to be purchased with a five-year window or longer. Other than that, I would just pile up the cash because, Nico, a pile of cash just gives you lots of options. And then as you decide where you're going to stay and where you're going to be, that pile of cash can be applied wherever you are.
Starting point is 00:23:38 And that's true in any economy. Yeah, absolutely. Would you recommend him investing if he's not going to be here five years or longer? Yeah, if you want to do like an index fund and park some of that money, that's fine. But the big thing the money's going to give you that's going to be more than anything else is just the flexibility to move to another city if you're going to stay in the U.S., to move back to Estonia if you're going back. You know, Polycash just gives you options, and sometimes those options are more valuable than what you might have made on an investment.
Starting point is 00:24:06 Yeah, that's good. And so certainly real estate will be a mistake if you're only going to be there a couple years, most of the time. I mean, there's a few times you get out whole, but I just, I love real estate. But it's not a short-term play, and it's not a play. It's not a trade-off for rent. Everybody's got this thing about, you know, versus rent. It really doesn't work out that way except in the long haul. Short range, it does not work out that way.
Starting point is 00:24:30 Jordan's in Portland, Oregon. Hi, Jordan. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. What's up? Hey, Dave. Rachel. Thank you both for taking the time to talk to me today. Sure.
Starting point is 00:24:41 So long story short, my wife and I, we just got married in August of last year. Uh, been living out here for the past three years. Uh, hometown is originally in Colorado where I own a rental property. The rental property right now is under contract to be sold for 685. Original listing price is 501. So all things considered, I think it was a great return on investment. But, um, yeah, real estate in Denver has been blowing up recently. So, uh, what would you, is my wife and I, we both have some debt right now, uh, outside of the mortgage and it's, um, truck payments and credit card debt and some school. And, um, what we want to do is
Starting point is 00:25:23 just move them forward from here. We want to make, be good stewards of our finances and some school. And what we want to do is just move forward from here. We want to make be good stewards of our finances and make sure we're doing what's right and doing the best with these proceeds from the sale. So I was looking for some guidance from you both today. See what any suggestions you may have in mind. So how much cash will you get out of the home from what you owe, what you made? I mean, obviously you guys made a ton on it. Right, right. And after, what I calculated after closing costs, commissions and all that and taxes, I think we'll be stepping away with about $225,000. Okay.
Starting point is 00:25:55 And how much debt do you guys have? I know you said you have credit card, all of that. How much is all that? That was a boneheaded move after listening to Dave recentlyave recently uh i kind of got over my head and bought the truck and with not a whole lot down i've still got about 40 000 up on the truck what is all of that what is all that debt total to including the truck uh let's see bear with me $63,000. Okay.
Starting point is 00:26:27 All right. Awesome. Well, so, yeah, Jordan, I mean, when you get that $225,000, yeah, you can write a check for $63,000, be completely out of debt, put a chunk of it away for an emergency fund. So you and your wife sit down and figure out, okay, how much is our expenses per month and multiply that by three, four, five, or six.
Starting point is 00:26:48 You have three to six months worth of expenses saved for that emergency fund. And then from there, I mean, you're going to be able to do a lot of this in like one day when you get the check from that house, which is so fun. And you're going to be, yeah. I mean, and then, yeah,
Starting point is 00:27:02 start investing some of it into retirement. Do you guys own a home right now, did you say in Portland? No, we're renting right now in the apartment complex. Do you guys want to buy a home? That's what we'd like. Yeah. That's our dream, one of these days. Yeah, that's awesome.
Starting point is 00:27:18 Well, after that emergency fund, I mean, you could take some of that for a down payment if you guys. I would use the rest of it for the down payment. Yeah. Throw it all there. Be debt free with an emergency fund and whatever's left is your down payment so if i remember what you're saying three to six months in an emergency fund and going off of what our monthly expenses look like right now that's about 24 000 and then okay so you're gonna have 130 000 bucks to put down on the house right i mean that's what that's all that gets a lot of house and i don't i mean that that's the decision i think i've i've been we've been going back and forth on is do we want to use all
Starting point is 00:27:59 of it for the down payment in the house or would it make sense to only maybe use a chunk of it and invest the rest or you know you know well again our experience from the last 30 years working with people who become millionaires is they get their house paid off yeah and the first step to getting your house paid off is a big hairy down payment not investing the money we just do not meet very many wealthy people in the millionaire range the one to five million dollar net worth the first time people become millionaires that did it by keeping their house leveraged and investing the money. Almost all of them say, we got the house paid off as quickly as we could, and we started
Starting point is 00:28:34 investing 15% of our household income into retirement, and then when the house got paid off, we started investing even more, and they end up with a million to a million and a half in their 401ks and in their retirement plans, and a paid $400,000, $500,000, $600,000, $700,000 house. And that's how they end up with their million-dollar net worth. And it's a very stable way of doing it. It's the baby steps that we teach from the Total Money Makeover book. And I would say to Jordan, look to see the size of the house you guys want. You may be thinking that's a huge down payment.
Starting point is 00:29:01 That's a lot of house. Well, then don't get that much house. And then that down payment will take maybe 50% of the mortgage. And then from there, once all that cash is gone, start investing. Go back to your baby steps, four, five, and six. So the house won't be completely paid off. You'll be investing before that. Absolutely.
Starting point is 00:29:15 I'll send you a copy of the book, The Total Money Makeover, that has the baby steps on steroids in it. It shows you every detail. And if you'll follow that, you'll be wealthy. You'll be a baby steps millionaire. That's what's going to happen follow that, you'll be wealthy. You'll be a Baby Steps millionaire. What's going to happen? Awesome, Jordan. Great job. Ramsey Personality, Rachel Cruz, number one bestselling author.
Starting point is 00:30:03 My daughter is my co-host today here on the Ramsey Show. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Our question of the day comes from Blinds.com. They have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. It means even if you mismeasure or you pick the wrong color, they'll remake your blinds for free. You get free samples, free shipping. And with the new promos they run every month, you'll save even more. Use the promo code Ramsey to get the best possible deal.
Starting point is 00:30:28 Today's question comes from Sandra in Virginia. I just completed Baby Step 2 and am able to cash flow college tuition for my two teenage children. This has drastically slowed down my ability to save for a fully funded emergency fund. Both kids work and applied for scholarships. Should my priority be to pay their tuition for three more years or build my emergency fund? Sandra, it would be to build your emergency fund. So your kids, they're working, scholarships, all that's amazing. And that should all be applied to their college, but hopefully they're going to a school they can afford while they're doing all of that. And so it sounds like, you know, I know as a parent,
Starting point is 00:31:08 it feels like, okay, I'm being a bad parent because I'm putting myself first. I should be able to help them because I have the ability to, but you have to be able to help yourself first. You need this solid financial foundation under you to make sure that if anything happens in your life, you have the cash to cover it. And so that emergency fund is crucial. And then saving for retirement next. And then I'll be putting 15% of my income into retirement. And then after that's completed, as you're doing that, then you can help with kids college. So again, parents, it goes against their natural way of thinking with parenting of no, no, I'm just to help my kids. And I do want you to help your kids kids but you're not a bad parent if you don't help your kid with college so taking
Starting point is 00:31:49 care of you first and foremost financially is the priority yeah and um when the oxygen masks drop they don't say put your oxygen mask on your kid first they say put the oxygen mask on your kid first. They said put the oxygen mask on yourself first. Yep. Then you are able because you can breathe and you haven't passed out to take care of your children. And so retirement, unless you die, is going to occur. Emergencies are going to occur, period. College may or may not occur. Now, they're in school, so it is occurring.
Starting point is 00:32:26 But, you know, we just have to find a way to do this. We have to find a way to push it through, pull this off, and you guys are going to have to scratch around. I think they need to have applied for more scholarships. I think they applied for three, and then they quit. And they need to do 300. Yeah. And I think they work, but I don't think they work enough. I worked 40 to 60 hours a week when I was in school.
Starting point is 00:32:49 Most people work while they're in college. Most people in America work while they're in college. It's highly unusual for someone to not work while they're in school. I mean, I don't know where we got this idea that people don't have to work while they're in school. Now, these kids are working. They're working. They're working. Well, and it's a school choice, too.
Starting point is 00:33:08 I'm just saying, what are you doing for money? Are you making a stinking minimum wage? Are you doing something that's actually profitable? Yeah. Because, you know, flopping whoppers is tough to pay tuition with. Right. At minimum wage. It's just really hard to do.
Starting point is 00:33:20 So you need to do something where you actually make some money, whether it's an entrepreneurial endeavor or whether it's hard work that other people don't want to do, like cutting grass, delivering pizzas. You know, you can make a lot more money doing some things than you can doing other things for college work. Absolutely. And so we need to address that. We need to address the scholarships and how many. We need to address where they're going to school. Is it affordable and if you address all of those things i think you guys can pull this off
Starting point is 00:33:45 but it is not healthy to um go with the natural instinct of i'll take care of my children first which you should i mean you should you know and you know we most of us would say we would jump in front of a bullet for our kids most of us would say we would dive in front of a car and push them out of the way for our kids all of that is is true, but that's a life-or-death situation. You know, we would feed our children before we fed ourselves. That's a life-or-death situation. This is financial. And so it goes against your natural instinct, but it's also the right way, the wise way to do it.
Starting point is 00:34:20 I am suggesting you help with college, only after the emergency funds in place and 15 percent's going into retirement as rachel said so guys what we figured out a few years ago is there's 73 000 things coming at you that wants your money and then when you get some money because you went to work or because you get a lump sum or because you sold your rental property or whatever it is you get some money. And you go, I don't know, which of these $73,000 do I do? How do I do this? And people become overwhelmed, and they do nothing,
Starting point is 00:34:54 and then they end up doing something stupid with the money instead of actually being intentional and having a plan. So 20-some-odd years ago, almost 30 years ago, coaching families, we determined that you needed a very specific clear path and we developed that over many years in actual practice it was not theoretical meaning tens of thousands of families that we walked with to develop these highly tuned baby steps. And baby step one comes before baby step two. It's not an accident that two is after one, and that three is after two, and that five is after four, and that six is after five, and that four is before five these are not accidents this is a highly developed highly uh processed series of concepts that are have proven to tens
Starting point is 00:35:59 of millions of families in america now to be the shortest distance between where you are in wealth now you can go make up your own freaking plan but your plan got you where you are and so you need to decide you know you don't need to call rachel and anthony and christy and deloney and me and coleman and ask us if baby step three should be after baby step two. It is. That's why we called it three. And you don't need to change it. You know, it's a pretty, and it doesn't really change.
Starting point is 00:36:38 It is the shortest method to get there. Shut up and do it. Okay, tell me this do you feel like you've heard more of this happening in the last five years the last hour the last few years versus over the last 20 because i feel like more than ever today the culture it's a it's it's a little bit infested with yeah but this is my way i'm a snowflake i'm a snowflake i'm unique you're unique but the law of gravity applies to all snowflakes i know but i'm just saying it did you see it culturally like do you think that that like do you had do you see this resistance or have you always no it's always
Starting point is 00:37:15 it's always been it's a natural because it's your unique i mean people say yes it's my because what happens is is the very confusion of the 73 000 things you can do with money, you have to bring it back to the table continually until you actually believe that there is logic and data and decades and tens of millions of lives that have done it the right way and gotten the positive result. Until you submit yourself to the plan you know it's like hiring a personal trainer and he says well you probably need to eat less yeah but i'm not gonna do that i just want to do the workout you know well no you gotta eat less fat boy you know that's what
Starting point is 00:37:57 i'm looking in the mirror i got a keg he's got a six-pack why am i arguing with the six-pack boy about nutrition when i'm fat why am i arguing with him he told me what to do he i hired him i paid him to tell me what to do and then i've got a better plan and then i look at my belly and go well how's that a better plan you know this is what ought to go through people's head yeah it's true it's true and it or the trainer says do more lunges i'm like i'm not i don't want to do those i don't like leg day i don't like leg day i don't think i want to do that yeah i think i'm just going to pick out i'm going to do my version of your plan that works because my version has got me where i am it's the dumbest thing ever well it's not the dumbest thing ever it's because i know why. Because
Starting point is 00:38:46 it feels good in the moment to do what you feel like is safe to do. And stepping outside of what you feel like is safe and doing a plan that makes you uncomfortable because you're having to change. That's why, you know? Oh, yeah. It's comfort zone crap. Yeah, it is. It's exactly what it is. But you have to decide,
Starting point is 00:39:02 you know, you have to decide, did your comfort zone get you to where you are? Yes. Do you like where you are? No. Then get out of your comfort zone. You look great though. I've lost 37 pounds because I looked in the mirror and I went, fat boy, you got to do
Starting point is 00:39:16 something different. That's shame talk. I did. I did look at myself and say that. Dr. Joan Deloney. It caused me to lose weight though. I mean, you just, you know, your self-awareness is part of the process, right? Oh, my gosh.
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