The Ramsey Show - App - Prioritizing Expenses When You’re Broke (Hour 1)

Episode Date: October 16, 2023

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. Open phones here at 888-825-5225. George Camel, Ramsey personality. Host of the George Camel Show on YouTube. That's Camel with a K. Very popular show. As well

as, of course, the Smart Money Happy Hour co-host with Rachel Cruz. He's my co-host today. Open phones here at 888-825-5225. Kathy starts this hour off in Indianapolis. Hi, Kathy. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, guys.

How are you today? Better than we deserve. What's up in your world? Oh, I'm trying to get there on your level. I am calling today to ask you guys kind of what you think my next steps might be. I've gotten myself into quite the mess. I have followed all of the rules of never opening a credit card in my life. I'm 27, and I've made it this far without one,

and I've kind of gotten to a point where I am desperate enough that I have been riding the line of wanting to open one this week because of all of my debt problems that I'm having. Yeah, debt problems are always solved by more debt. What do you mean? So I've kind of gotten myself into a predicament with bills that are owed, and my shovel is not nearly big enough, and I feel like I'm running myself into the ground trying to do side hustles. And I just graduated in June and started as a hairstylist. And the money is just not there

like I thought it was going to be. And I know you kind of have to get clientele and build up your marketing and all that stuff. And after I signed my apartment lease, I found out that I was pregnant. So I'm six months into that journey now, and I have bitten off way more than I can chew as far as what I can afford. Okay. What does your husband make? I'm not married. Oh, okay. Where is the father in the picture?

Financially not. He is excited about the baby and all that good stuff, but financially not contributing at all. Well, I guess I'll just start there. He really doesn't have that option, morally or legally. If you father a child in the United States of America you get to pay child support that's how that works

so sorry Bubba you get to step up and participate in the financial side of the equation why does he not work or is he just a twerp I was you know it's more I think it's more of a laziness problem if i'm speaking from my own okay from my own perspective so you have an apartment rent you're

not making any money are you behind on your apartment rent yes how far uh at the moment 15 days and they're wanting to file eviction paperwork today. After 15 days? Pretty hardcore. Okay. Is this your first time missing a payment? Yes, it is, and that's, I think, why I'm in panic mode. You mean you've never been late, and after 15 days, they're filing eviction?

Correct. Yep, and they said that that's just their policy, I guess. I don't really know how to fight that part of it. It may take four months or something in Indianapolis. I don't know. That may be why they go ahead and get started. I don't know what the law is there, but you need to find that out, okay, because fear of the unknown is more fearful than fear of the known. So you need to find out what the law is in the area,

how long it's going to take them to evict you, and what you can do to make that right. How much is your apartment rent? It is $1,500 a month. Okay. And what are you making with hair? Just with hair is probably about $1,200 a month. Okay.

And what about other side hustles? Side hustles included, I've been able to pull about $2,500. Okay. And you didn't pay your rent. What did you pay instead? I have a car payment that I pay monthly. How much is it? It is $250.

Is it current? No, it is not. So She didn't pay yet either. What did you pay? So I have paid my Wi-Fi bills, my electricity, all of my utilities are up to date. Well, you made $3,700. Where did it go? I mean, I understand $500 of that may be going towards those basic bills. Oh, no, no, no. The total of all of my income is $2,500 a month. Oh, okay. So you make $1,300 with the side hustles. Correct. Got it. That's still a big chunk of change that is unexplained. Yes, and I think part of it is probably the tradeoff with some of those side hustles. So I've been doing a lot of things with my car.

So here in the last 30 days is really when it has absolutely crashed. And I think this is kind of just a rough patch for me because I've been able to keep up. But here in the last 30 days, it's just been kind of a disaster and i've fallen behind in the last 30 days okay here here's the thing um you you have to find a way to make actual money net of expenses so driving your car around with door dash and making no net profit on the door dashing doesn't make sense if that's what's happening after you pay your car expenses, right, like gas. Okay. So you might be better off doing something else.

But $1,300 on side hustles tells me you're not working much. You know, I feel like I am not really sure how the money turnaround isn't working out. I am constantly working as far as those side hustles go, definitely. I know things have flipped as far as building my hair business and trying to get clients in through the door with that. And I've heard that this is a slow season for that anyway because it's been back to school but how many hours are you cutting here um i would say probably about 30 hours a week yeah and you're working about another 20 hours a week so you've got another 20 hours you need to be working a week that's what i'm talking about okay except for the part that you're six months pregnant which makes this very very difficult. I do realize that. But we've got to change, like you mentioned, the shovel equation.

And the second equation we have to change is the prioritization. Okay? The first thing you buy is food. The second thing you buy is lights and water. The third thing you buy is rent. The fourth thing you buy is car payment. So you make enough right now to, I don't know what you're netting on that side hustle,

but you make enough gross coming in to have been current with everything if you had it properly prioritized. Do you follow me? Yes. Okay, so what we've got to do in this crisis situation is we have to figure out where we can come up with $1,500 the fastest from all sources and new sources. What we can sell and what you can go do from there. How old are you? 27.

Okay. Well, Kathy, it sounds like you're alone and pregnant and scared. You're putting on a pretty chipper face, but if I were in your shoes, I can imagine the terror I'd be feeling. So here's what we're going to do. I'm going to set up a Ramsey coach to help you as my gift because I've been 27 and scared, and I know how it feels. And tell Bubba if he's going to make a baby, he gets to pay. That's how this crap works. This is The Ramsey Show. and tell Bubba if he's going to make a baby, he gets to pay. That's how this crap works.

This is The Ramsey Show. George Campbell Ramsey personality is my co-host today. George, Sharon and I, I was going to say Rachel and I, Rachel was a baby, but Sharon and I learned the hard way, and then we later translated it to counseling, financial counseling, because we were working with people that were struggling when we first started this place. We still work with people that are struggling around this place. To go back to what we called an eighth-grade civics lesson, now they don't have civics in the eighth grade anymore, but they taught us the difference between needs and wants necessities. And the basic necessities of life are food,

shelter, clothing, transportation, utilities. These are the basic necessities. So if you find yourself in a pinch where you can't pay everything that is on the kitchen table, piled up in the form of bills

you take care of the things in that order food first shelter second because if you've eaten and you have a place to sleep you live to fight another day if you're hungry you don't have a place to sleep you got all kinds of other issues here that have got nothing to do with mastercard or student loans okay so food is first shelter second utilities are third so we're gonna we've got a warm place to stay uh then we take care of transportation and by the way probably don't need to buy any clothing you probably got enough you're probably like enough people you got enough for seven people you know it's a you don't even wear half the stuff in your closet anyway so so you're okay on clothing. Shut up.

So you've got the basic necessities. We call that building the four walls of a house, meaning that you take care of the necessities first before you do anything else, and then you will seldom get behind on those key things that cause financial stress to become sheer terror. Eviction, repossession, lights turned off, no food in the refrigerator turns financial stress into sheer terror. But most people, if they're able-bodied and can work, can take care of at least those basic things.

As long as you've got income. And then the question becomes, well, Dave, what do I do when I've got all these debt payments to pay? Well, it's going to go to collections. Now, that's the next step. But you're going to be fed and dry and warm. And the collections people are aggressive. So you've got to tell them, listen, I've got nothing to give you.

They cannot make you hungry, though. Only you can choose to make you hungry if you're working and have an income. Only you can choose to make you homeless if you're working and have an income. Most people can earn enough to keep those four things going if the worst of worst jobs. income only you can choose to make you homeless if you're working and have an income most people can earn enough to keep those four things going if the worst of worst jobs even if you're working horrible you know eight dollar an hour or something and and working 80 hours of that you can keep the lights on so to speak they'll wolf away from the door but now master card may get all bent out well so what you know it didn't pay my student loans well welcome to

america nobody pays them apparently oh my god you know so whatever right so we're gonna we'll get back to those things i don't want to ignore them forever but the first step to getting a sustainable thing is the four walls and that's that's what our last caller before the break needed to hear a month ago. Yeah. It's a sad situation. You don't want to get to that point, but a good reminder and lesson for those out there. Our question of the day is sponsored by Neighborly, your hub for home services. When a disaster like flood or fire strikes, Neighborly's Rainbow Restoration offers homeowners full restoration services,

plus mold remediation, carpet cleaning, odor removal, and more. Download the Neighborly app to find Rainbow Restoration services near you. Today's question comes from Joseph in Ohio. Buckle up, Dave. Here we go. I'm looking into financing a boat to use like a house. I know and understand your normal rules for buying a house, ideally 20% or more down, less than 25% of take-home pay, 15-year fixed. And I know and understand the normal thoughts on buying a boat as a toy, depreciating asset, cash only, value no more than 50% of yearly income when combined with all other depreciating assets. This guy really knows your stuff, Dave.

What I'm wondering is how out of line or not I would be if I combined those two into a houseboat if I adjusted the formulas and compensated for the discrepancies properly. The compensating factors I'm thinking about are buying something used with most of the depreciation already absorbed and financing with a higher down payment over a much shorter timeline. The boat will have some depreciation as opposed to a house, but if I compensate with extra savings, my thoughts are that this could work out similarly. As I know you would ask, I'm currently 100% debt-free and have a fully funded emergency fund. Okay, a lot to unpack there, emotionally and financially, but Joseph is saying, should I buy a houseboat and can I do it with debt because I'm treating it like I'm getting a mortgage on a home. Joseph, a boat is a trailer that floats. He goes down in value. You could buy a fully depreciated mobile home and make the same argument, but it would still be a dumb 10-year plan.

I love boats. Son, in Ohio, that'll be cold in the winter really freaking cold living on the lake oh i can't imagine i like the lake too but i'm not living on the lake in the winter not in a boat oh god you freeze your butt off um and it's going down in value and here's the thing 10 years from today where do you end up if you'll if you'll stretch these things out past friday in your analysis the answers start to become pretty apparent when you buy a mobile home you stretch it out 10 years you take a 70 000 double wide what's it worth in 10 years now 20 what's it worth 10 years after that? Zip. Right? And so you buy a car.

What's it worth in 10 years? Going down in value. You buy a boat. What's it worth? Well, you buy an RV. You can do the same thing. I've had people ask the same question about an RV. We always wanted to retire and travel the world in an RV.

Well, that's great. Pay cash for the freaking RV. It's a toy. And don't call it your house and justify a huge payment on it because you know what a two-year-old RV is. Depreciated heavily. Hello. So, I mean, they go down in value so fast.

That's what Winnebago is actually Native American Indian language for. Really? Depreciating. That's actually what it means. I'm going to have to look that one up. I've got to fact check you on that one. That's what it means. It means down in value. That's what it means means down in value

that's what it means in the ancient in the ancient tribes i didn't know you were well versed in the tribal languages dave you cease never cease to impress the things i get myself into i'm trying to figure out how to say that in a way that i didn't get sued but anyway um good luck with that so no this would be similar to an rv saying i want to live in an rv i'm going to take out a mortgage i don't care if you get your boat honey but pay cash for it and don't try to say it's the same thing as a house and please don't try to say the same thing as a house and a car combined you really got boat fever bad he went to a party on a houseboat last week and

now he's figured out with his calculator how this is a good idea no it's not honey it's going down in value and you're going to end up in a mess and then you're gonna have to buy a house later on down the road and you'll be broke well and you'll have a you know a rusty old i mean you don't an old houseboat oh no thank you oh i've almost bought one of those one time because i really had it bad for a houseboat. I could see you guys just having one, you know, at the lake to party on. Yeah, but I've got a house now. But I mean, back then, before we had that, we were going to get a houseboat.

And I looked at this old, nasty, I mean, you can't say mildew like old houseboat. I mean, it's old houseboat mildew. I imagine the maintenance on those things. It's a special level of science. Because you've got a boat, and that takes some maintenance, let alone a houseboat. Well, regular boats, but I mean, my God. No, no, no. No, Joseph.

No, I wouldn't do that. You don't find any millionaires that go, you know what? I mean, my first million is I lived on a boat. Didn't come up. Never comes up. Robert is in Phoenix. Hey, Robert. Welcome to the Ramsey Show.

Hi, Dave. Hi, George. Yeah, I have a pretty, I guess not unique situation. I'm just in a bit of a bind and I'm kind of curious. Um, so currently I work in the technology field. Um, I, I bring home about a hundred grand a year. Um, and I'm in, I'm in baby step two i've been doing this for about two years paid off 79 000 of my original 227 000 robert you have done a great job i however have not i goofed up and brought you on with not much time left in this segment i'm going to make you get straight to the point it's my fault i apologize okay not a problem yeah i was looking to um do a career

change but i'm not sure if it's the right step to do. Is it going up? Because I'm looking to get in. It's not. Then don't do it. Not initially. How quick until you're done with Baby Step 2? By my math, another four to four and a half years.

Ooh. How far would you go down in income, and how quick would it come back? So, if you're going into mental health, I'd drop to about $40,000 a year. You can't do that while you're in debt and making six figures. You can do that later, but you've got to get the debt cleaned up, and that'll give you that much more incentive

to work more right now and get the debt cleaned up as fast as possible. But there might be a different way to go into the mental health field that doesn't require you work for $40,000. That doesn't sound like fun. This is The Ramsey Show. George Campbell, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Benjamin is with us in Lansing, Michigan. Hi, Benjamin.

Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hey, guys. Thank you so much for having me. This is great. Sure. What's up? Well, Dave, I've got a question for you. How do I cash flow a new construction, or should I get a mortgage?

Well, the cash flow is just, you know, sixth grade division into the number of months that you have and the money you need to throw at it, right? Okay. Like, I mean, how much is the house going to cost? So we're getting our blueprints in a little in about a month or so and you know we're so about a year and a half ago we bought our dream property we live on 40 acres but we also live off grid we don't have any running water we use an outhouse we love it but we also have a seven month old baby and we want to get a bigger house going so all right so you got to put in utilities

and a house what's what's the budget on this so budget well i make 65 000 a year my my wife is a stay-at-home mom um and we're planning on doing a fairly straightforward build uh budget you know i'd be comfortable spending somewhere around $300,000. Okay. All right. And how long will it take to build it? Probably three years. Okay. I'm planning on doing most of the work myself, to be honest with you. All right. Well, that's $100,000 a year, $8,000 a month. You don't have that. Okay. Right? $300,000 divided by 36 is $8 all right follow me yes that's the division i was talking about the sixth grade division and um you know so do you have any down payment or any other money

we haven't discussed yeah so so so far we've saved about $40,000 in cash. We have a $30,000 emergency fund. And this is after 15% of retirement, towards retirement, I guess. Okay. So, yeah, those are kind of the numbers we're working with. Okay. The property itself, we bought for about $160,000. Currently, it'd probably be closer to about $200,000. Is it paid for?

It is, completely. Yeah, thanks to you. Okay. I didn't pay it. You did. Good job. So the, well, I mean, if you take out a construction loan, we know you've got $40,000 to put down.

So if it's a $300,000 build, whatever cash you can come up with between now and the time you're building that you actually break ground and you start putting on it, let's say you came up with another, I the time you're building that you actually break ground and you start putting on it let's say you came up with another i don't know whatever then the rest of it's going to be a construction loan right okay and then that would transfer to a mortgage later down the road as as you finish the house i don't think a construction loan is going to let you go three years and screw around with this and most of them aren't going to allow you to be the GC. They're going to want a GC signing off on it. Okay.

But you can check. I mean, maybe your local credit union will do that. Since you've got so much equity in the property, they might. But this scares bankers because people have a tendency in these situations to not finish, and if they don't finish, they've got a really nice piece of acreage with a half-butt house on it, and that's what they foreclose on. It's a mess. I've tried to buy a couple of those at foreclosure.

They're a mess. But it's someone's dream that turned into a nightmare. So what I don't like about your equation is how long it's going to take you. Okay. I would do something to tighten up your time frame. Gosh, I'm still super against having to pay out monthly towards a mortgage. Would it be better just to save the full amount of the house? If you can do that.

If you do that, how long does it take you to save $300,000? You've got $40,000. You need $260,000 more. How long does that take? Okay. All right. If you do it $10,000 a month, it's 26 months. If you do it in $5,000 a month, it's 50 months, 52 months.

So we're bumping up on five years at $5,000 a month. Which means you're going to have to make more money. $5,000 a month. Okay. So, you know, you're talking about 10 years to save up the money at your current income rate. Now, obviously, you can do something to change that. It sounds like you have a sense of urgency here to build something. You know,

he's got an outhouse and a baby. Yeah, that's urgent. So I, I'm not waiting 10 years. I probably am not waiting three years. I would probably work with a builder at this point and get it done faster and take on a reasonable mortgage that you can knock out quick.

Yeah. Wait, I don't borrow money, so I would be doing something completely different than anything you've done here, Brad. But if you take out a construction loan that converts into a mortgage that is no more than a fourth of your take-home pay on a 15-year fixed, we don't scream at you about that. So I think you've got some work to do yet on adjusting what you can do to adjust your income up and your time frames but a long build is hard on the house because it's it's it it sits in the weather without a good roof on it for a while and then once you finally get it in the dry all the mechanicals and the rough in are sitting there

and it's taking it's it's hard on a house to build it slow it sounds like a lot of work i mean you sound confident that you know what you're doing but man an off-grid build like that sounds like you better be a pro yeah well i mean it can it's just hard on the materials sitting in the weather you know it's um it's just you don't want the framing package sitting there with no roof on it getting rained on snowed on for four months you you know, because you're screwing around in there doing something else. And that's what happens. He's in Michigan.

So that's some rough winters out there. You got some weather issues and, you know, temperature issues on when you can do installs and things. So that's the thing you got to work through is all that. Brad is with us in Huntsville. Hey, Brad, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. Hey, George. How you guys doing? Great, man. How can we help? that brad is with us in huntsville hey brad welcome to the ramsey show hey dave hey george how you guys doing great man how can we help uh yeah so my wife and i eloped last year in february 2022 and we're considering having a reception uh next year late april for about 9500 dollars

we currently have about 90 95 five thousand dollars of debt in credit cards, car debt and a student loan debt. And we also have a mortgage that's currently sitting at about two hundred seventy thousand dollars, seventeen hundred dollar payment per month. I make about one hundred seventy thousand dollars a year growth, one hundred K after taxes for one K, all that jazz. And I wanted your input on that right there. So you want to throw a $10,000 wedding in April. So how much would you need to save every month from right now to do that? Well, we have some savings.

We've got about $25K in savings. But if we wanted to start saving right now uh six months so 25k remind me again you got 95 in debt yeah in credit cards student loans and car debt and we also have a mortgage yeah of 270 and then you make 170 but you're also having 401k coming out and you have 25k sitting there you're doing all the steps at once right now. Yeah, you're doing nothing we teach. Okay. All right.

So what we teach is a process called the baby steps, and the first step is $1,000. Anything above $1,000 saved goes towards your debt. Then beans and rice, rice and beans, stop all retirement savings temporarily, throw everything at the debt as fast and hard as you can how quick do you pay off 70 with no 401k coming out making 170 and no eating out and no going on vacations and no whining really fast like less than a year 170 minus 70 is 100. You can make it, dude. And then you do your reception. After we pay off the debt? In less than one year, yeah.

Because you guys have already waited two years to throw this party. What's two and a half at that point if you guys are able to do it completely debt-free? Yeah, yeah, that's true. $70,000 is $6,000 a month. As soon as you're debt-free, you have the party the next month. And you celebrate debt freedom and marriage. Ta-da! Yeah.

Yeah, so, okay, the current amount that we have in savings, you think take most of that and throw it directly at the debt. Yeah, that's what we teach. Dude, you make $170. If an emergency hits, the next paycheck covers it. Well, yeah, well, the industry that I'm in... Hey, Brad, you do what you want to do, dude.

I'm not arguing with you. We've been doing this a long time. Hold on. I'll send you a copy of the Total Money Makeover book. It'll outline what you should do, and then you get to decide what you will do. This is The Ramsey Show. Thanks for listening, America. George Campbell, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

Doug is in Milwaukee. Hi, Doug. Welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave and George. It's a pleasure and honor to speak with both of you. You too. What's up? Hey, just wanting to confirm what I think you would say, but I'm approaching 65.

I still want to work past my 65th birthday. I recently became unemployed, so I'm job seeking. But I have a small 401k from my last job, only about $25,000. And I wondered if it would be wise to cash that out and pay off consumer debt of about $20,000. Hmm. Well, obviously, you're not going to have penalty on it, but you will have taxes on it. Right. What concerns me is what that leaves us with,

which is nothing, and you're 65 years old. Yeah. So, I mean, obviously obviously what you would love to have is a big old pile of savings and no debt right correct yeah and so uh how how can we best get there and then how do we use this money to do that um i would prefer to leave it alone almost as a symbolic act that I'm going to add a bunch to my retirement as soon as I can get reemployed and clear this $20,000. But in a worst-case scenario, I would clear it. I would use the money and clear the debt. But I think you need to have the mindset of, I've got to get this debt cleared quickly so that I can quickly add to my retirement nest egg because you need to be doing both agreed agreed yeah so what were you making before you got laid off i was making about 60 000 okay doing what

uh it support okay all right cool what kind of debt do you have? I have about between $13,000 and $15,000 in credit card debt and another $7,000 in a no-interest loan on some machinery my wife uses in her job. What does she make? She makes about $300 a month okay three hundred dollars yeah three hundred dollars yes and what's the machinery because it sounds like this is not going to roi for her uh it's uh basically uh high-end sewing machines yeah she's a seamstress by trade well it's there i mean it's not worth anything now so um we wouldn't make that investment again seven thousand to create three hundred um three hundred is thirty six hundred a year uh you need to make a better return on that as a seamstress or anything else in business so um but that you're there, cause that machinery is not worth what you paid for it. So, um, now it's not cause it's used.

Um, yeah, I think you got an opportunity as somebody that knows something about it to do a lot of side hustles, uh, freelance work as well as pick up some jobs. So I just, you know, I want, if I'm in your shoes, I want to create as much income as I can create and knock this 20,000 out as fast as possible living on a very very tight budget uh i'm going to also ask her to to put the uh old sewing machine in gear and let's do a lot more than 300 a month let's try to get that to 3 000 a month um and try to get some income coming in so that we've got a nest egg to retire on here uh but yeah you know i do have a side hustle or i did have a side hustle i am getting some work from now but i'm

actually uh trying to uh cash flow training for another uh another job that i think i'd love more an it cert uh no what actually i'd like to become a ramsey financial coach okay all right um i would not spend money on that right now if i were you i'd love to have you as a coach i'm not trying to insult you i'm just saying i would rather you go and make some money right now and get some of these other things going before you spend money on something like that we we'd love to have you don't misunderstand doug i'm not trying to be mean to you but the um but i also wouldn't be i'd be a bit hypocritical if i'm like yeah give me a bunch of money while you're broke and you can get you know no i i uh uh let's call that an encore career once we clean this yeah let's

put that as something once you've got the debt cleaned up, you've got some money going into retirement, and then go find the money to go get the certification on that. I would do that. But, no, I wouldn't spend the money right now to go effectively into debt because instead of paying it on debt, you're going to spend the money on that. So, no, I couldn't do that for you. I wouldn't be consistent if I suggested that, even though I do believe in our coaches, and I'm, again, not trying to do that for you. I wouldn't be consistent if I suggested that,

even though I do believe in our coaches, and I'm, again, not trying to be insulting to you. Chris is in Augusta. Hi, Chris. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi. Thank you for having me on. Sure.

I really appreciate it. Sure. How can we help? I am three years from retirement. My student loans, I make my 120 payments. I'm in education for my public service loan forgiveness in April. So I'll be done with that. Um, the only debt we have outside of that is our house. And we know we're going to probably move in the next five to seven years, um, back to kind of where our people are at. So should I concentrate on paying off the house or should I concentrate on building up my retirement fund?

What are you investing right now into retirement? I've had a 403B in quite a few different places. I just consolidated those with a Ramsey specialist, a fiduciary. It's right at $40,000. Sorry, you broke up with us right at 40 grand yeah yeah right at 40 grand uh my retirement from teaching will be right at 60 000 a year um so are you putting anything into retirement now at the present moment no because of the student loans and we do not have a fully funded yet okay then you would not be paying into retirement or extra on your house either one you would be did you say you had four payments left you've been on a private or are they a

public student loan forgiveness for 10 years? You have to make 120 payments on the student loan forgiveness. Yeah, it's 10 years. Yeah, I'll meet 120 in April. Okay. Well, I pray that you are one of the few that that works for. You are aware that only 4% of the people that apply for that are actually getting it. I am. Yeah. I've been meticulously keeping my paperwork yeah i'm not and that hasn't mattered because they're a bunch of freaking liars up there i mean i'm serious when the last time i

looked it was 1.16 percent of them are approved which is is 98% are not. And I promise you they thought they had their paperwork in order. So the whole thing is a freaking sham, but I sure hope you get it. Okay, so what's the balance on the student loan? It's more than doubled since I've had it. It's at $225 right now. And that's because you were holding out for this public student loan forgiveness um partially but even when i was making payments it was one of those stories where you make your payments and it

still grows and the minimum doesn't touch it yeah because of the interest absolutely which makes me want to burn washington to the ground um good people like you having been misled like this i sure hope they forgive it i'm i'm hopeful, though, from a practical standpoint. Okay, so let's set that aside. Your first thing is build your emergency fund. Is that your only debt other than your house? Yes, sir. Okay, your first debt between now and April, build your emergency fund as big as you can build it.

Okay. And then let's see if the forgiveness goes through. If it doesn't go through, you're going to have to deal with a student loan. If it does go through, that'll be gone. And then we will move to putting 15% of your income into retirement. Okay. And the rest would go towards anything else you can find. You go towards paying extra on the house, regardless if you're going to move.

I don't care if you're going to move or not, unless you're going to move next month. But because three or four or five years, who the crap knows when you're going to do that? I mean, I don't know. You don't know even. Just a general feeling you've got. That doesn't change the idea that you need to get a paid-for house. So we need to get a paid-for house and a big old pile of money when we get to retirement.

That's the game plan. Okay. Absolutely. Can do that. Yeah. Let's start on the emergency fund right now. You see anything else, George? No, that's it.

But I mean, if that emergency fund, it might be your saving grace to start knocking out these student loans. Well, if it's a dash versus a slash, they'll reject it. That's how silly these applications have been. And that's not just a Twitter saying that's an actual syntax. I saw an actual video of that. Real sad. An actual deal. The guys are looking for any excuse. It's not just a Twitter saying. That's an actual syntax. I saw an actual video of that. Real sad. An actual deal.

The guys are looking for any excuse. It's just horrible. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, George Camel here. If you love the show and you want a deeper dive on your money journey, we've got a weekly newsletter that gives you helpful articles and tips on following the Ramsey way. Just go to ramseysolutions.com today to sign up for the newsletter. Again, that's ramseysolutions.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.