The Ramsey Show - App - She's 20 and Her Parents Want Her To Buy Them A House
Episode Date: November 5, 2025✍️ Help us make the show better! Take this 6-question survey. George Kamel and Rachel Cruze answer your questions and discuss: "My parents want me to use my savings to buy them... a house" "I'm $65,000 in debt and I feel completely overwhelmed" "My father has a $1.3 million net worth and none of it is invested. How do I help him grow his wealth?" "Should I stop investing in Baby Step 2 and lose out on my employer match?" "I lost everything in my divorce and I don't know how I am going to pay rent this month" "How do I save up for our wedding while I am in Baby Step 2?". Next Steps: ✔️ Help us make the show better. Please take this short survey. 📞 Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 weekdays from 2–5 p.m. ET or send us an email. 🎅 You could win $5,000 in the Ramsey Christmas Cash Giveaway! Enter today. 🛡️Protect yourself with trusted insurance coverage that fits your budget 💵 Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app! 📘 Preorder What No One Tells You About Money today now and get $100+ in bonus items. Connect With Our Sponsors: Stop paying more and start shopping smarter at ALDI. Get 10% off your first month of BetterHelp. Go to Boost Mobile to switch today! Go to Casper Sleep and use promo code RAMSEY to learn more. Learn more about Christian Healthcare Ministries. Get started today with Churchill Mortgage. Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. Go to FAIRWINDS Credit Union for an exclusive account bundle! Debt collectors hassling you? Take back control of your life at Guardian Litigation Group Find top health insurance plans at Health Trust Financial. Use code RAMSEY to save 20% at Mama Bear Legal Forms. Visit NetSuite today to learn more. For more information, go to SimpliSafe. Get started with YRefy or call 844-2-RAMSEY. Visit Zander Insurance for your free instant quote today! Explore more from Ramsey Network: 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 🍸 Smart Money Happy Hour 💡 The Rachel Cruze Show 💰 George Kamel 🪑 Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman 📈 EntreLeadership Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Normal is broke and common sense is weird.
So we're here to help you transform your life.
From the Ramsey Network in the Fairwinds Credit Union Studio, this is the Ramsey Show.
I'm George Camel, joined by my co-host, Rachel Cruz.
and we're taking your calls at AAA 825-5-2-2-25.
Anna is going to kick us off in San Jose.
Anna, welcome to The Ramsey Show.
Hey, guys, thank you so much for taking my call.
Absolutely.
I'm calling in today to see if it's worth it to buy a house.
A little background of me.
I'm 20 years old.
I'm doing a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering.
I have a degree in biomedical engineering as well, and I plan to go to medical school.
um my parents want me to buy us a house because i have the money financially i'm just
wondering to see what do you guys think i don't want that sentence was wild you see your parents
want you to buy us a house yes like went to buy entire house the family you them do you have
siblings yeah i do um i have two brothers and i have one sister one my my brother does not live
with us. Okay.
Where are you guys living now?
Sorry, say that I go.
Where are you guys living now?
Like, are you guys renting?
No, no, no. We own a house. It's a pretty big house. It's like 2,000 square feet,
but my mom wants a nicer house because my uncle has a nice house.
And, you know, it's going to go all on me, and I'm just, I'm really stressed, and it feels
like a lot of pressure. Well, sure, Anna.
I want my mom to be happy.
Okay, so, okay, so I'm so curious
how this conversation goes.
Are they saying to you,
Anna, you should buy us a house.
We need a new house, Anna, you have the money.
Why don't you just do it? Is that like, is that how the
conversation goes?
Yes.
That is insane. I want you to know that.
Why don't they just go buy a house if they want a house?
You can afford it.
It doesn't matter if you can afford it. You're not the one who wants a house.
If they want to upgrade in a house, that's something they need to do as grown adults.
How much money do you have, Anna?
I have around $150K cash.
A lot of it is in the market.
How do you have that much money at 20?
I'm just curious.
Have you been working or how did you get that?
I've been working since I was 15.
I had a business at 15.
I used to tutor people.
We actually made an app.
I don't want to say it publicly, but we sold the app.
I made that money.
And then I've been working, like, all throughout university through my degree.
And right now I work, I make, like, 70K a year.
Oh, my gosh.
And how are you going to pay for med school?
Like, through my money, through my savings.
And, you know, like, I know money always comes and goes.
I mean, as long as you have the skills and you can provide value, you can always make money.
Okay, so this $150,000, is that even $150,000?
earmark to pay for med school?
I have around 100 cases.
So, yes.
Okay. So therefore, it is not house buying money, especially when it's your parents who are
forcing you to do this. So I would just tell them kindly and firmly, no, the money I have is
to cash flow my med school expenses. I will not be buying a house. And the truth is, Annie,
when you go to med school and you start doing all of your programs, you know, you have no
idea what city you're going to be at.
You have no idea what hospital you're going to be at doing, you know, all of your
clinicals.
I mean, all of that.
You might move across the country.
Yeah.
So, no, in no way do you need to be buying a house in your, you know, where you are in
your season of life, let alone the complete dysfunction of your parents.
Like, you know that's crazy, right?
And it sounds insane.
I don't want to do it, but I want my mom to be happy, you know, like she says my mom.
It's not your job to make your mom happy.
It's not your job.
And she sounds like she's a woman that probably will never be happy.
She'll get this house.
If you went through with this and you bought this,
I guarantee you in three to four years,
she's going to be like, oh man,
well, my new friend has this house.
And a nicer car.
It's time for the car upgrade.
And the fact that she would go to her 20-year-old
and ask to, not even ask,
kind of sounds like demand or requested.
A house is so wise.
So wild. And you're smart. You know this. And so it is difficult, these will be difficult conversations, Anna, but the earlier you start doing this with kindness, but being very firm and knowing exactly where you stand, it's going to ruffle some feathers. But I would, that this is going to be your life, right? I mean, I hate to say it. If these are your parents, I'm sure they were wonderful and raised you, obviously did a great job, you know, raising you because you're incredible. But this is going to be a picture of what the future looks like.
like. And if you can start putting up those boundaries now at 20 years old with a very
obvious situation that there needs to be a boundary there, that's just good, it's a good starting
point for you. But I'm so sorry you have to do this. That's so unfair. It's an uncomfortable
position. Yeah. The fact they've put you in the situation is crazy. Have you ever heard of the
quote, you give someone an inch and they'll take a mile? Yes. That's what I think is going to happen
with your family. They're going to continue to exploit everything you have because you're the successful
on one of the family and they raised you and therefore how could you not buy them a house after
everything they've done for you and they're going to use that to abuse and guilt you into things
that's the future that you have if you say yes to anything yeah you're right whatever you're
saying yes to look at what you're saying no i always keep this in mind um okay here's one of my
issues i told her i can't do this she came in here and she was like you just need to sign the
papers, and she was screaming at me for like an hour, 30 minutes, an hour saying, oh, don't worry,
you'll remake the money. And I told her, what about medical school? She told me, you can take
loans. No. And I mean... And I'm going to be honest with you. I would move out if I were you.
You make $60,000, $70,000 a year. You're a grown woman. You're very smart. I would just go rent
and say, you guys need to figure this out. I'm going to go out on my own. And you don't give them a dime.
You don't owe them anything.
okay that's the only way out of this because if you stay they're going to say well you're under our
roof and look at everything we've done for you you need to just call it quits now because it's becoming
a transaction instead of a relationship it's about to be bank of anna for the rest of your life
if you don't put a foot down and do they have what papers are they giving you do they already
have a house they want to buy there's a house um they've been looking at houses and they'll send
me like links of houses every day and um i i signed the house like yesterday because i was like i mean
i didn't know what to do so i signed the contract and now i just need to give the earnest money
no no no no no no no earnest money no you need to back out of all of this okay and yeah and i
would kind of put it back on her if money can just be earned and you can always make more money then go mom
are they both working full time and support yourself this is crazy
my dad used to own a dealership he he lost it in COVID um so I sell his cars
we still have cars but I sell them but if I don't sell the cars he doesn't do anything
so right now he's made no money my mom is a teacher she makes around 30k year or 25 and you're
running dad's business while he sits around waiting for you to run his business yes but I've
sold no cars this month or last month I mean I haven't had time yeah
You're pretty busy.
Yeah, Anna, this is, I hate that you're in a position like this at 20 years old, but this is your reality.
And there is going to have to be some real hard conversations.
And if you have the ability bandwidth-wise, which financially you do, you make great money, I would sit down with a counselor or a therapist to walk through this.
Like, this may be some ongoing discussions that are going to be had, and I want you to be guided the right way.
So I almost would just find a professional to help you walk through this.
Best of luck.
Lance is in Columbus, Ohio.
Lance, what's going on?
Not a much.
I'm just calling and get some advice on my current financial situation.
Sure, lay it out for us.
Okay, so I moved out to Ohio exactly a year ago with the goal to start clearing my debt away.
I'm about $65,000 in debt.
it's a year later and I'm still pretty much in the same situation and I don't understand why
I pay rent now and I had to furnish my apartment when I got out here but it's just the math isn't
add enough for me how much do you make uh that at my new job I make about a hundred thousand
on a good year assuming no layoffs okay so in the past year a hundred thousand dollars has
flowed through your hands in the last year or at least that's the
gross pay. Yes. Are you doing a pretty detailed budget, Lance, month to month?
I mean, about six months in, I really started cracking down on it because I saw that I wasn't
gaining much traction. Yeah, yeah. I mean, how much is your rent a month?
Rent's not too bad. It's $1,450. Okay. Yeah. Are you taking home five or six grand a month?
a little bit more actually it's about two thousand dollars a week okay that's great so where is the
rest of the money going well like I said I pay rent now before I didn't pay rent when I look back
home in New Hampshire and then I had to furnish my apartment I guess the rest just just gets
trickled out there and six thousand dollars doesn't trickle out there so if
I looked at your bank statement and I added everything up, where would be the big piles of money
that disappeared? Is it eating out? Is it subscriptions? Is it spending? Is it gambling? Any vices?
I don't gamble. I have a lot of bills. I mean, I have a truck payment. That's $500. I have
insurance. That's $400 plus. I have a Harley. That's $500.
Break down the $65,000 for us. What are the balances and what are they owed for?
I have about, it's $65,000, give or take.
I have $30,000 on my Harley.
I have $25,000 on my truck.
I have $8,000 on a personal loan.
And I had $10,000 on credit card debt,
which I was able to manage down to $1,000.
Oh, good.
Well, what good news is, if you sell all the vehicles.
Well, I mean, yeah, you got, that's,
55,000 of your 65,000? I think we found the problem. I looked into selling my Harley back to the
dealership. No. No, not to the dealership. They're going to give you the worst price. They'll screw you
harder than anyone. Have you, have you? Kelly Bluebooked it. What's the Kelly Bluebook private party
value? I believe it's at 17,000. I don't buy that. How are you that far underwater on it? What about your
truck?
I haven't looked up the blue book value on it.
Did you roll over negative equity for this Harley?
The Harley, no, it was a $30,000 Harley.
It was brand new.
Yeah, but how long have you had it?
I'm going on this third year now, I believe.
Because if that's the case, it's in half.
I mean, the value of it went in half, which I don't,
I'm not up on my Harleys.
I know that's probably shocking, but I don't keep up with the market on
Harley's, but that's a Mitsubishi gal. That's bad. That's bad. Okay, let's just keep playing with
the numbers here, Lance. Okay, your truck, when did you get the truck? I got the truck last year
right before I moved out to Ohio. And was it used, I'm assuming? Yes. Yes. Okay. So the good
thing is the truck probably hasn't lost a ton of its value. So let's just throw, I don't know,
let's say it's 22. Maybe you've, maybe you lost three grand on it in the last year. So,
What I would, I mean, honestly, what I would do is go and take out, let's see, I would do 20, I mean, maybe go, if you can, maybe sell both of these things, sell both the truck and the Harley, you may take out a, well, I was going to say that's a good chunk of a personal loan with all the negative equity.
You could save the difference pretty quick, making the money you're making.
I'm willing to sell my truck and Harley.
I do have a small car, like a beater, winter car that seems to be reliable.
So you have three, you have three.
Things with wheels and motors.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yes.
Okay, so here's your homework.
You need to find out the private party value,
and then the amount you're underwater on,
you either need to save that up through future paychecks
or get a loan from a credit union for the difference
so that you can clear the titles and sell these.
Because that's going to be about $15,000,
and you'll be negative on both of these around.
I just don't know who to sell my Harley.
I don't know how to sell my Harley, I guess,
because the dealership was the only way I knew, and when they offered me less than half.
I mean, Facebook Marketplace, Cars.com, AutoTrader.
There's a lot of people looking at...
You bought a Harley brand new for $30, so three years later, someone's looking for it at half price.
Okay.
I just, I've never sold anything that a bank owned, you know?
Sure, well, here's the deal.
You're going to need to clear the title before they can actually take possession of it,
and that's why you need the difference either in cash that you save up or,
that loan from the credit union.
And you can do all the transactions in the same day.
So the day you sell it is the day you go down to the wherever you owe the loan to
and you pay off the loan with the difference.
Yeah, because you just cut all your debt in half lands when you do this,
which means you get back again.
You said the $600 payment for the Harley, the $500 car payment.
I mean, that's $1,100 left.
But here's what worries me a little bit is even after some of the things you were just saying,
I mean, you still have a couple of grand sitting there that is kind of
disappearing that you still at the beginning of the call weren't able to tell us exactly where it was
going. So that's still enough money for me to be like, oh, my only fear lands is when you do all of this
and it does give you margin and freeze you up, that you're going to go back to this kind of spending
habit that you're in of not knowing exactly where your money's going. And that's not going to be
helpful either because instead of $4,000 slipping through your fingers now, it'll be $6,000, right, or
whatever it is. So I want you to be able to know and control your money and where it's going.
So before we got off the call, Christian will pick up and we're going to give you a year of every dollar,
which is not just our budgeting app, but our overall financial.
You can put in all of your numbers and your entire financial picture can be in this app,
which is so helpful because you're going to be able to walk through the baby steps,
pay off this debt, and we can really walk with you through it in this app.
And you'll feel a whole lot less overwhelmed when you just see all the numbers.
You can see the progress because right now you're just sort of hoping.
You make great money.
You work really hard.
and it's disappearing through your fingers, and every dollar is going to help you take control of that
to help stop that.
Yes, I understand a year ago I was terrible with my money, and I'm still not the best,
but I have tightened down a lot, and I've been living like a hermit for the last four or five
months. I'm desperate to get out of debt. I want to...
Yeah, I totally hear that, Lance, but what worries me is you've lived like a hermit for four months,
but there's no been, there's been no progress. So that's what I'm saying. It's like the two things don't
up. I want you to be a hermit, but I wish you'd called him, like, I was a hermit for four months,
and I paid off $9,000 of my debt, you know, or whatever it is. Like, I want the, the sacrifice
to produce a result, because it's just crazy to sacrifice and have no result, right? And so that's the power
of when you are working a very detailed plan, as you're getting the results that the sacrifice,
you know, is allowing. And so that's what I want those two hearings, because you'll, you'll run
on fumes the rest of your life if you're living like this and not making any progress, which is
what I'm sounds like you're doing so um yeah as a single guy lands me i really would i this is this is
the time in your life to cut everything and even if you want to work extra you make great money but man
if you even want to just throw in some extra income just to get it paid off that much faster um to be
able to have some savings i yeah i mean i think the money i make is is with immense overtime like i
they operate it's there gotcha and i do work a lot gotcha yeah i believe it and i think that work ethic
if it's channeled to, I just think you just maybe need more details and direction and it's
going to help you see kind of where you're going. But you're right. Your habits are, like I hear
that, that you are changing for the better, which I think is a great way to go. And you know what,
Lance too? I'm going to say, like, some people, their money story is that one day they've, they
had the high hat moment and they change everything. And then some people are like, hey, it took me
about six months to kind of get all this under my belt to really learn and understand it. And
then they take off. And that just may be your story, which is great. But I just want you to see
some progress to at least keep you motivated to stay with it. Yeah, hang on the line and Kelly will
pick up. Christian will pick up will get you every dollar to get you on the journey.
Martin is in Savannah, Georgia up next. Martin, welcome to the show, man. What's going on?
George and Rachel, awesome to talk to you guys. Thank you so much. Yeah, you as well. How can we help?
Awesome. All right. So this call is actually, I'm looking to help my dad out. My dad has $1.3 million net worth
that is $500 in a house paid for, $400 in a money market. He's got $200 in a thrift savings plan, and he's got $200 in checking.
He lives very frugal. He's by himself. My mother passed away in 2008. He has four forms of income.
government retirement, the required minimum
distribution, his social security
and a VA disability
that he doesn't even touch
all of that throughout the entire
How much is that per month?
I don't know exactly, but it is
well, well enough for him to live off of
and he is just adding to his
money market, his checking account,
it just continues to grow, but he has nothing
in any sort of investment.
He is 80 years old.
His health is not great.
We recently moved him
So my wife and I can take care of them and the other day I was talking to him and he mentioned
Hey, I think about buying some gold and I was like whoa pump the brakes on that. I was able to talk him off the ledge on that. I did talk to him about investment in stocks and he has no
interest in it but I just want to help him out the best that he can. I will be managing or I'll be the beneficiary along with my brother
We'll be splitting everything even even selling the house selling his car just any assets that he has and
And I just want to set, I want to set him up for the remaining part of his life, but also set us up for the future, just to do this very smartly.
Yeah.
Well, here's what I would say to him if he called in, okay?
I would tell him that usually when it comes to emotions around money when we make big decisions, that's not really a great guide because our emotions can take us places that are not, it's not reality.
So understanding reality is really big.
and so understanding that the market is a safe place to put our money.
I mean, it is.
When you look at the long-term track record and the money that would be going into
these accounts, if he did choose to invest them,
he wouldn't even need them or see them because he has a paid off house.
It sounds like he's a pretty low maintenance guy.
He makes enough through what you were saying in his streams of income to pay his bills.
And he's 80, not in the best health.
what you're saying. He's not going to go, like, climb Mount Rushmore or whatever.
Mount Rushmore. No, you don't climb out Rushmore. I mean, I guess you could. I don't think it's
legal. Climb in the president's faces. We don't want to do that. No, we don't want that. No, but,
you know, he's not going all over the world traveling. It's what it sounds like and doesn't have a
desire to. So because of all of those things, the reason he would put money in is to continue
the legacy at which he's built, which is pretty fantastic, like what he has set up already.
is incredible. So the reason he would do it is to pass on to future generations and to make more
money. I mean, that's, that's, that would be it, right? But I also would say on the other side of
this, if he's 80 and he's not in the best health, and if putting money in the market
stresses him out and loses sleep over it, that's not worth it either. He's fine. He's fine. He doesn't
have to do this. He's going to be fine. Yeah, I don't think you're going to like scare him into
investing, be like, dude, you're going to run out of money. He clearly, he's fine. He clearly, he's fine. He's
Yeah, so it's a, it's either a, okay, my knowledge and my reason why has changed. So now I'm
going to choose to do something differently, like put the money in. But again, I mean, we've talked
to elderly people on this show and it terrifies them. And we always say, if you're fine financially,
it's not worth it. That is not worth it to be, to lose sleep at night for a reason you don't need
to. You don't need to. You're fine. So that would be the two sides of the coin. I think he should
because I think it's a wise thing financially. You can use like an investment calculator and show him
the track record of the S&P 500 and show him how he could have 2.6 million instead of 1.3,
I don't know that he's going to be impressed.
I think he might be like, ah, I'm fine, who cares?
So here's the truth.
He might pass away, you inherit this, and then you grow this money the way you want to.
Correct, yeah.
I don't know in his remaining lifetime that you're going to be able to change an 80-year-old's
mind on how he views money in the world.
Yeah.
But you can steer him away from scams and traps and commodities that.
will not actually benefit. And we have. And that was the gold. And I said, listen, if,
if you want to put money in gold, imagine, you know, like Dave says, put in the middle of the
living room, let it on fire, are you willing to lose that much money? Yeah. And, you know, so awesome.
Yeah, that's good. When I mean, when I do acquire this, since none of it is an investment,
well, the 200 in the thrift savings plan, but for the most part, we sell the house, that's cash,
everything else is cash. Will I be also looking at taxes on this since I'll be inheriting
it or, you know, I'll just, or just get with a smart investor pro and stuff like that.
I believe it would just go against his estate. And so as long as, you know, he doesn't have
liabilities and you're the beneficiary on these accounts, I don't believe that you would be paying
taxes on that, because you're not selling off a stock. And so there's no capital gains here
to be paid. If it was in a traditional account and taxes haven't been paid on the growth,
then you might be liable for taxes. But I would get in touch with a tax attorney. And if he's, does he
have any professionals working with him in his life across any of this tax financial advisors he just moved
and he said he needs to go to a lawyer and get his estate not his estate um the will all redone and everything
with the new state so he's at least willing to do that he is and him and i've got a fantastic
relationship and we're actually he's very open to talking about this with me because he wants to know
that um not only is everything going to be handled correctly but also he wants to know that i know that i know
what to do with it too.
That's wonderful.
Well, I was going to say, it might, it'll be worth seeing if he would sit down and you go with him
and sit down with a smart vester pro, you connect with one on our website, and just have
an outside professional look at it, and maybe they'll convince him of, hey, you have a lot
of money sitting on the sidelines, you're losing purchasing power every day, inflation
is eating away at this.
You could really do something with this money to leave a legacy, and that might convince him.
And maybe he does some of the money over time.
He does $50,000 this year, another $50,000 next year.
he gets more comfortable with it.
And over time, we start moving these two investments.
Yeah.
And one of the things I was concerned with him for was that some of this money is not FDIC insured.
Maybe at a minimum, we move that over to something.
So awesome.
Oh, 100%.
Yeah.
Thanks for the call, man.
We're seeing more and more of this for sure of just.
And he sounds amazing, Martin.
I mean, what a great job?
Yeah.
And just the fact that he'll even dialogue with his son.
There's so many.
And be willing to create a will and talk about the estate.
Honestly, we talk to so many adult children who say, like, my parents will not do X, Y, and Z.
Or they're having to take care of them.
I mean, so the fact that, yeah, you hear something like this, like, man, just incredible.
Absolutely amazing.
We got a call, I think it was yesterday.
And he was like, hey, my dad won't make a will.
We have 10 siblings.
He has a ton of real estate.
Oh, man.
And he refuses because he thinks Jesus is going to come back before he dies.
Oh, no.
What an M-night Shama-Lon twist that was.
And you're like, how do I convince this guy?
I'm like, I don't know.
I don't know what information he has.
I don't know the day or the hour.
He somehow knows when he's going to die and when Jesus is coming back.
Those are two pieces of information that nobody knows.
I think you should just climb Mount Rushmore and call it a day.
You have a better chance of climbing Mount Rushmore.
I know.
That is so true.
But think about it.
If you truly love your family, why would you leave it to chance?
Why would you leave it to the government to decide what happens?
That and the relational strain it causes on the family of them trying to make the decisions and decide.
and it ends up tearing families apart.
It really does.
So the clearer you can be,
the more communication you can be,
or you can have before you're passing.
I'm like, that is such a gift to your family.
It really is.
And it sounds morbid and it's not fun to talk about.
But, golly, it is such a gift for everyone to know
exactly what's going on.
And yeah, and when you're down,
you just say, okay, press play on the plan.
And it's, yeah, and it's smooth.
You said it much nicer than I would.
I like to say, if you hate your family,
don't have a will and make it as confusing as possible.
If that's what the route you want to go.
If that's what you want, if that's what you want.
Yeah, it is, yeah, I don't know.
It's interesting, though, the people that truly don't even want to engage on any level of a conversation when it comes to death.
And again, it's not fun to talk about.
But you guys, having life insurance, having a will in place, like these things.
Making sure your beneficiaries are correct?
Yeah. I mean, genuinely, it's like, it is. And it takes some work. And again, it's not always fun to think about. But that, it's irresponsible not to do that if you have a family. It really is.
Well, then you run into the issue of, well, now they can't cognitively make these decisions. And we never got financial power of attorney. And now you have a real nightmare on your hands.
Yes. So just do the work. Be an adult. It's not always fun, but we got to do things that aren't fun sometimes.
I can't wait until I'm 80 and senile. My kids are trying to tell me what to do. That's going to be a good time.
You're going to be the grumpiest. Poor Mia and Henry.
I'll just be settling into who I was made to become. That's all it'll happen.
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Jenna is in Boston up next.
What's going on, Jenna? How can we help?
Hi, thanks to take my call.
My husband and I recently have become just huge fans,
And so we've had an implement for a little.
We went through the life insurance you guys recommend.
Oh, my God.
So proud of you guys.
Good job.
Well done.
Yeah.
We did the budgeting app.
And we, so we've been comfortable.
Like, we've been fine, but we're in debt.
So I feel like we've just been paying our minimums and going along with it.
And through your show, I've been getting, like, that sick feeling that, like, we,
are doing this all wrong. So that's what kind of encouraged this. And we do okay. So, but we have about
nine, combined $98,000 of debt. Okay. Because of mostly student loans. I have about $36,000. My husband
has maybe 50. And then $10,000, give or take in like medical bills, private card and stuff.
Okay.
So any cars, Jenna, or is that just?
No, no cars.
Perfect.
Okay.
No car payments.
So with the small like $10,000, I feel like we can do real quick and then it's getting
into the student loans.
So we budgeted it and I kind of mapped out.
It looks like we could say have it paid off in about.
Under three years, it looked like, I think.
What do you guys make?
With that, though, combined somewhere around 2.30 typically.
Okay.
All right.
So the reason, I originally my plan was like a five-year plan.
I really wanted to knock down faster than that.
So my husband puts like 6% of his salary, and he makes more than me in his 401 pay.
And so we talked about him stopping doing that.
So I make less than him, but I like have hold the benefits and things like that.
And I work for a really big investment firm.
And I get a 7% match.
So I do have a decent 401k with them.
Do I stop getting, like do I, should I stop putting money in that even though I'm getting that 7% from them by doing it?
Yes.
Yeah. All of your focus needs to be on paying off this debt. And Jenna, I would challenge you guys because of what you make. I would think you would only need a posit for maybe two years because I think you could pay this off in a year. You guys make $230,000. You have $100,000. What if you guys lived on $95,000 a year? And you did nothing with your life.
eat that.
So I do, I definitely think we need to cut back on our spending and we could pay things off
a lot sooner.
But the big, so we have, we own a house, we have a mortgage.
Our mortgage is about $2,600 a month, which for us is affordable right now.
That's fine.
But we also have a son.
So we pay for daycare, which is about 300 a week or so, so about $1,200 a month.
So that's kind of where the bigger economy.
expenses are. But you guys are bringing home, what, like 15K a month? What do you, what's your
take-home pay? Um, when I was doing the math and the budgeting up, originally it showed like
11,000 or so, but I think that was before we touched, um, that was health insurance and
401. Yeah. So what does he make a year? Yeah. What's his gross income? He makes about 155 without
his bonus. Okay. And then what do you make? Um, I make about,
70 without overtime and without my bonus. Okay, so we'll call it, can we call it 80?
Yeah, yeah, give or take around. And you're doing 7%. So here's the amount that you would free up to
throw toward your debt per year. You're looking at 9,300 plus 5,600. That's pretty sizable. So you're
talking $15,000 a year that could go toward your debt on top of all the margin you have. And that's why
we're saying, what if you pause for one year, go down to zero, and you come back guns blazing in
2027 investing 15% both of you investing 15% you're you will well make up for any lost employer
match investing 15% for the rest of your life versus the current track which is I guess we'll just
invest up to the match forever because we're going to have this debt for a long time so do you see
the intensity that we're after here and by the way going down to zero percent investing is going to
make you both mad isn't it mad at your debt yeah yeah no absolutely not mad at each other so that's
going to make you get out of debt faster because you want to get back to investing. And so it's
kind of like a carrot you dangle in front of you saying, man, I want to get back to that.
And that's going to fire you guys up. Okay. So it's part math, part psychology.
You think we could pay that off with daycare and the mortgage in a year? Yeah, I don't think daycare
and the mortgage is your problem here. I think it's the other things that are. Yeah, because that's
that added up to 3,800. Out of 11 grand. So it's like, can we live off of five for the rest and throw
the other amount at the debt? Yeah. And that would get y'all paid off in.
a year and nine months more than just two and a half right so like maybe make it a year and a half
see if someone can take on a job you know part-time job for a couple of couple of months bring in
and we talk to people making side hustles and they make two grand a month just on side hustles if
you know if you guys did that for even just you know three months or something right i'm like
it's just crazy what all of this can compound and create and when you guys do that and then
you get an emergency fund in place then yeah you are you are good to go but it's just the
decision you guys have to make, and everyone does that does this and chooses to pay off their debt
is the more intense you are, the more you sacrifice, the faster you get out. And so it's just
a decision of, are we going to just live like crazy people for a year and four months and get
this just taken care of? And it's just insane. But it's done. Or do you want to drag it out
for three or four years? Life's going to happen. You're going to get comfortable, complacent,
and go, well, four years is okay. I want you guys to have such an aggressive,
specific goals. We go 98,000. That's 8166 a month. We have to throw with the debt. We're going to
pause investing to free up 1250 a month on top. If you start doing it like that, that makes me
believe you'll actually get out of debt in a year. And people end up getting out of debt faster than
what they originally calculate Jenna, too, because there's things that you don't see and you don't
know, like bonuses or raises, you know, or you pick up this thing or this thing you forgot you had
over here and you throw it at the debt. I mean, it's just... You're just willing to work harder.
Yes. Stuff ends up coming up, which is amazing.
And then you get a promotion and get the bonus because they're like, man,
Jenna's on fire this month.
I don't know what got into her, but she is crushing it.
And that, I think, will truly propel you guys into this debt-free journey.
And then once you're debt-free, you're never going to go back.
And you'll get that emergency fund.
Do you guys have savings right now that you could use to start this process?
Yeah.
How much?
Yeah, we usually have between five and ten and savings.
Okay.
Oh, that's wonderful.
So what if you used a bunch of that to knock out the smallest debts right now,
just to kind of kickstart it and say, you know what?
This is us putting skin in the gas.
Yeah, that's like a month or two of not having to pay off debt that you could, you know, subtract from your timeline, which is awesome.
Yeah, that's not about idea.
Thank you.
Yeah, if you guys could pay off.
Is he going to be convinced?
I feel like he's still going to go, babe, we're not doing that.
No, he's pretty, the only thing he doesn't like is just the, he's on page with me on all of it.
He wants to pay it off.
He's kind of dove into it all with me.
He's been great.
The only thing he likes is having a bit more of an emergency fund than a thousand.
with kids and stuff.
But other than that,
like, he's pretty much good to jump into all of it with me.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Well, I'm glad you guys are, you know,
on the same page for the most part.
And that's a normal fear.
We hear that usually from if it's a couple,
especially with kids,
that is kind of a thing that we get.
But the truth is, too,
if something were to happen and you guys had to pause
that at Snowball, you have eight grand freed up per month.
Do you know what I mean?
Like, you guys could get cash really fast if something comes up
that's more than a thousand.
And again, with that emergency fund,
that's going to add another fire lit under you.
You pause investing and you take your savings down.
You're going to go, oh my gosh, we need to get out of debt ASAP.
And that's going to, again, get you out of debt even faster.
And so I encourage you guys to go all in on the plan because it works.
And if you do it a la carte like a buffet, it's not going to work as fast.
And you're going to say, well, I guess the Ramsey plan doesn't work.
No, you just chose your own plan.
So just try it our way.
Let me say, though, kudos to you guys.
I mean, y'all are at the very front end of all of this.
I mean, just even during the life insurance and the will and the will
and the budgeting app, every dollar and everything.
Keep them on that tomorrow.
Yeah, you guys are doing awesome.
Love to hear it.
Welcome back to the Ramsey show in the Fairwinds Credit Union Studio.
I'm George Campbell, joined by my co-host on Smart Money Happy Hour, Rachel Cruz,
and we're taking your calls at AAA 825-5-2-2-25.
Anne is in Jackson, Mississippi up next, and welcome to the show.
Thank you.
Thanks for taking my call.
Absolutely.
I'm 60 plus years old, starting life over again or supposed to be, just got divorced.
He was the breadwinner of the family.
We had been putting like 15% away in 401's and savings and all of this or so I was led to
believe.
And it turns out we weren't.
And found out about that and affairs, and I told them that this wasn't acceptable,
and he told me I could get out of the house, which I did.
It became very abusive, very fast.
I got an apartment.
I dug a hole, got in an apartment, trying to get my life back together.
I walked away without nothing from the marriage.
Um, we had no kids together.
I have two, I have a couple of kids from a previous marriage.
And my car broke down and I'm that person.
I can't pay my rent this month.
Um, I don't know how, I don't know where to turn or what to do.
I'm using the everyday budget.
When I just put like my expenses and everything, it works out okay.
But then there's always the other shoe that seems to be dropping.
And I can't get it.
ahead and catch a break and I just really need like advice I've gone back to work so I'm getting a
little bit of income that way but I'm just like terrorized I just feel like well your whole life is
turned upside down completely I don't know who to turn to or where to go or what to do oh and I'm
so sorry how long were you guys married 14 years 14 years okay I'm trying to help my daughter raise her
two kids. And it's just, I feel like I'm, I can't breathe. I'm drowning. Yeah. Well, you're in a,
I mean, a state of grief completely. I mean, it's almost like someone has died, right? Is that
feeling? So you are, from an emotional standpoint, turned inside out, which is horrible, I mean,
much less a divorce, but the reasons why of the infidelity and the secrets and the law. I mean,
it just seems to just be piling on. And so, um, and I've heard Dr. John Zolone talk about this that,
you know, in that case, it's almost like you question yourself. Like, how did I not know, right? You
start to feel like, am I the crazy one? I can't trust myself, right? And so I just want to free you
from all of that, um, that you made, you made the exact right decision on what you did. And,
and you still have another quarter to go in life, which is amazing, right? Like, you get to now
create something totally new. And while it's so scary, because you would never have even
dreamt of being where you are today, it is the reality. And so it's, it is what are you going to do
literally one day out of time is kind of where you're at when I'm hearing you talk. And so,
okay, so you got nothing in the divorce because there was nothing. Is that basically it?
Yes. Okay. Correct. Is the divorce finalized? Yes. Okay. And no, did you have an attorney?
attorney? No. Why? I didn't have money to hire one. But you should be getting alimony from this,
some spousal support, something. No, I'm not, I'm not entitled to it. The house was in his name
because he owned it before the marriage. Was there a Prina? I wasn't entitled to that. I did talk
with an attorney, but, no. I just don't see how you're married for 14 years. He's the breadwinner,
and you get zero from this divorce.
Yeah, usually there's alimony until you get remarried if you do.
And there's no child support because they're not his kids,
so that's probably not.
What did the attorney say when you spoke to the attorney?
And he said that I could hire the attorney,
hire a forensic accountant to go through to prove everything.
I mean, but that would be expensive.
And he said that I would,
You know, I could spend $10,000 and walk away with nothing.
Yeah, which is true, but I would be curious on the...
I still think his future income needs to play a part in this.
Regardless if he had anything in the bank account, what are you doing now for work and how much do you make?
I'm on disability because I have a disability, and so I get $2,000 from that,
and then I'm making about $800 in addition to that.
And what's your rent every month?
A thousand and seventy-five.
You're making $800 a week or a month in addition.
A month.
Doing what?
A month. What are you doing?
Part-time substitute teacher.
Okay. And what's the nature of the disability?
Is there something where you can't do certain types of work?
Correct.
Okay. So could you do, if you're a substitute teacher, that's fairly physical.
You've got to get up, go there, stand all day.
So I'm wondering, can you do something?
different that pays more that is more regular and stable?
I'm looking. I am. I'm looking. I'm looking. I've got applications in a lot of different
places. And why can't you pay rent this month if you have the 2000 and disability plus your
800? I put $700 to get my car repaired. Like I said, when I moved out,
When I got my place in May, I have been one-foot-in-the-hole the whole time.
I've...
I've...
What kind of debt, Ann?
Yeah, Ann, what kind of debt do you have?
I don't have any.
Okay, okay.
Can you say in the hole?
Are you just saying there's emergencies that come up?
Yes.
Okay.
So you have the car repair, 700.
You paid that.
What else is on the horizon?
I'm also helping my daughter raise her two kids.
We can't do that right now.
You can't do that, Ann.
You're drowning.
You don't have a life raft to throw at her.
Yeah.
All right.
When you're saying that, are you saying that you're doing that with your time or what does that mean?
Or money?
I'm doing it with my time and helping out with food and things like that.
Okay.
Because they're with me a lot of the time.
Okay.
So, Ann, I'm telling you, and you can get back to, I know that's your heart and that's
probably where you want to be as a grandmother.
I want you to get back to that place.
You just can't probably in the next two years.
So you need to have a conversation.
And your daughter doesn't want you in this situation.
Like what you're describing to us is you can't even pay your rent.
If you get evicted, you have to live with her.
It's irresponsible, okay?
It's irresponsible to be watching your grandkids right now from a time and money perspective.
It just is, Ann.
We can get back to that place because I want you to be able to do those things.
But right now, we have to get you stable financially, okay?
And so your daughter will, has to understand that.
Like, I would assume if you came to her,
said, I can't pay my rent mom. Okay, so then she needs to figure out another plan for herself
and her kids for the next 24 months. Like, that's what I would say. And so that you have the time
and the bandwidth and the money. So, Ann, your first things are food, shelter, utilities, transportation.
Those are the only things that get paid, okay? And then beyond that, we have to be upping the income.
And hopefully with some time bandwidth back from not being super grandma, that we can start funding
and actually getting some savings, looking at retirement and starting those steps.
But if you hold on the line, Ann, Christian's going to pick up.
We're going to get you with one of our financial coaches to help walk with you through a next
couple of steps because I know that, I mean, I know you probably just feel like you're in a
complete fog because, yeah, it's just horrible, horrible where you're at.
But I know you can get to the other side of this.
We have talked to people just like you and your situation and they get out.
Faith is in Cleveland, Ohio up next.
Faith, welcome to the show.
Hi, thanks for taking my call.
My question is, how do I save up for an upcoming wedding while I'm in Baby Step 2?
My only bet is my car loan.
Cool.
What's left on the car loan?
It's about 29,000.
And what do you make?
It's 42,000 a year.
Perfect.
like, we need to get rid of this car, don't we, Faith?
Yes, I've convinced myself that the car is necessary to keep
because my family is very unlucky with cars.
We currently have two cars in our driveway that don't run.
And I drove no car.
I borrowed cars for over a year, and then I bought this car I have.
And it's like fully on warranty and stuff, and I'm like, cool, I'm good to go now.
But now it's also taking up a good job.
come my pay, and I'm like, oh, no, I have a living to pay for.
It's as much as you bring home after taxes is what you owe in a car, so we can't do that.
Yeah, we got to get rid of it.
But the good thing is we can always learn how to have better luck with cars and learn how to buy
use cars, maybe more responsibly with more intention and know what we're looking for and
all of those things, because I don't want you making a really stupid financial decision on, quote,
unquote, we have bad luck. So, I understand what you're saying. Is there like a voodoo doll? Like,
did your family, was there like an ancient king? There was like a curse, a curse that was put on
Faith's family. Faith is like, actually probably yes. No, I feel that. Okay, what's the wedding
going to cost? What are you looking at right now? Um, it's, our budget right now is 15. We do have
a family member that has set aside 5,000 for us. That's nice. Does that bring it down to 10?
member that has, huh? Does that bring it down to 10? Yes. Perfect. And what about the fiancé? Are you
guys going to split this 50-50 or what? We're going to attempt, I guess. He currently isn't working
right now. He's full-time in flight school trying to cash flow that with, he's also in the Air Force.
So he uses whatever money he makes from that to cash flow his schooling. Smart. That's great.
When does he finish school? He's, if the weather permits,
He's supposed to graduate the December after we get married, which we're getting married next September.
Okay. So we still have a year to deal with all this?
Yes. Okay.
I have tossed around the idea of many times of getting rid of the said car.
Yes.
My fear, though, is that I'll get a car because I'll be upside down on the Jeep,
and I fear that I'll get some cheaper car and it'll immediately break down and then I'll have an expensive repair.
because that's what's happened
all these other cars I've had.
Sure.
How much are you underwater on?
What's the car if you sold a private party?
What could you get for it?
I don't, I haven't looked that up.
I know that I bought it in July for 23
and my loan is 29.
How did that happen?
They sold you a $6,000 warranty?
Yeah.
Okay, here's the good news.
You can get the money back from that warranty.
Mm-hmm.
So you can get the majority.
It'll probably pro-rated,
but you can get that money back.
Okay, that's good news.
So try that and then see what the car is actually worth.
And if you're underwater by a little bit, you can come up with the savings to cover it.
Let's say it's $1,000 that you'll still owe.
Cars worth $22, you owe $23, for example.
Did you buy it brand new or was it?
No, it was used.
Yeah.
Because jeeps don't have the best resale value.
Yeah, what's the model of it?
It's a wrangler.
Okay.
Okay.
So the only reliable car you could find was a Jeep Wrangler.
everything else was a crapshoot.
Can we just
commit that Faith just wanted a newer Jeep Wrangler?
Oh, yeah, for sure.
I feel so much better.
If it was like a Honda Accord, we'd be like, yes, we got it.
A Jeep Wrangler has, I want this energy, you know?
Faith wants that vibe.
The good news is we can get your reliable car
that's $14,000.
That's not going to be riddled with repairs.
And here's what you need to do.
Research to make models.
year, look up what the common recalls are, common repairs are, and then pay for a pre-purchase
inspection from a mechanic that you trust. It's going to cost you maybe 100, 150 bucks, but that's
going to give you the peace of mind that you're not buying a lemon. And so this bad luck was really
just impulsive car purchases out of desperation when we didn't do the research to make sure we
weren't buying a lemon. So I want to encourage you that you can break the cycle just by pausing
and being a little bit intentional. Okay. So what you could do,
faith is, again, you probably are underwater on it a little bit.
Probably not a ton, because it's used and it's only been since July.
Is that what you said, July?
Yeah.
So, I mean, you may be able to get, I don't know, private sale, you might be able to,
or I guess if you get the warranty back to, can you, do you got to go back to the dealership?
Yeah, wondering how that work.
I also work at the dealer I bought it at you.
Oh, well, that makes this real fun.
Would they take it back for what you bought it for?
Or maybe a little bit less?
I mean, maybe.
If it's your employer, I would hope you tell them, hey, I can't afford this.
Yes.
Yeah.
Which is so, I mean, I hate to say, Faith, there's like all these Instagram videos of people
that work at car dealerships and they're like bragging about their car payments,
how broke they are.
Yeah, all of it.
So, yeah, you'll be kind of an uphill battle there a little bit, but it's so worth the conversation
because, yeah, if they can just be a flat, like.
Do they sell $14,000 cars at this dealership?
I'm just scared.
Faith doesn't have $14,000.
I mean, do you have any?
Do you have any money? Do you have any money saved?
I only have my $1,000 dollar emergency fund.
Okay. So you get out of this, you free up the payment, which is how much?
The payment plus the insurance.
It's $5.30 a month.
Okay. So you'll at least free that up.
If you just put that in a savings account for a year, that's $6,000.
Well over that.
Yeah, that's without having a car, though.
Could you get a loan from your credit union to cover the difference plus some for a little bit?
Like, it's not going to be a super nice car compared to what you're driving now,
but it'll get you from A to B until the wedding, at least.
Okay, I guess I could throw this in there.
I could probably do that,
but my fiancé also has two very old trucks that both still run.
Yay!
Faith is now a truck driver.
She is driving a truck.
It's great.
Do it.
Do it.
This is like the biggest ego play, though, for most people is the car.
To go from what you're going to to to an old truck,
you're like, oh, golly.
it's going to be a ego play.
But I'm telling you, Faith, when that money is freed up, you save it, you get a side hustle.
Because I think you, and I think even though your fiancé's in flight school, I think at night he could drive it.
Like, you guys could save up $2,000 to $3,000 a month and easily fund this wedding really quick.
And I would just keep going until you're married.
And you guys start off marriage, debt-free, start off marriage with actually a couple of thousand dollars or more above the wedding.
that when it's all said and done, you guys have some money to start out your emergency funds with.
And yeah, you guys are on like a really great path financially.
It's just putting the ego aside for a bit.
Just one year.
That's what it is.
You deserve a Jeep Wrangler Faith, but you deserve to be debt-free even more.
Yeah.
And so one day.
It's your third Jeep.
And you've had bad luck with the other two Jeeps.
And you decided, well, it's not the Jeep's fault.
Faith is not a Jeep.
This is not your identity, Faith.
Just say that over and over again.
This is not, because when you get in that truck, you're like, I am not a truck.
And you got to get rid of the rubber ducks if you're going to drive that truck.
That's going to hurt.
You can't do the Jeep wave anymore.
Oh, yeah.
That's true.
You'll get back there, though.
I think it's a good goal.
But I want you to do it the wise way.
I mean, honestly, making $42,000 a year before taxes, what you bring home is close to what you owe on this car.
I mean, like, that's just not sad.
And that's going down in value.
What's your interest rate on this?
7%.
Eesh.
That's not terrible.
There's shock that dealership lets you do this.
Like the debt to income ratio just hurts my soul.
Do you know the salesperson well?
Can you talk to them?
Yeah.
It's probably Faith.
Faith is the salesperson.
I don't know.
Yeah.
Well, I will, yeah, I would, and again, it's going to take a lot of humility to go in there,
but it is worth it.
How old are you guys, Faith?
I'm actually going to be 25 on Thanksgiving Day.
Okay.
Coming up.
My June Day is 24.
Awesome.
Yeah.
If you guys can start getting these habits in place and you can start
actually living this out, and I'm talking about the humility, like putting the what I want
and what feels good and what feels normal aside, and you start living in a little bit of this
discomfort. I'm telling you, that discomfort is going to cause you guys to persevere in life.
Like when we just live comfortably 24-7, and that's what debt helps you do. I want it,
and I'm going to just live there. We actually don't gain any level of perseverance and grit.
we just kind of sit in what feels right
and then we get screwed financially.
So let's be smart faith.
When you guys can get this this young,
I'm telling you,
y'all could be multi-millionaires.
When you start investing,
you start living on less than you make.
Like, it is insane what you guys can do,
especially when debt is not in the picture.
Welcome back to the Ramsey Show.
Open phones at AAA 8255-225.
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Drew is in Kansas City up next.
What's going on, Drew?
Hey, so I really want to get an electric bike, but I still live at home at 28 with my wife.
Whoa, what happened?
Nothing really.
we just got married a couple of months ago.
We were looking at getting a home prior to the marriage,
but decided to hold off due to the interest rates.
And my parents offered for us to stay with them to save some extra money.
Okay.
How much are you saving currently per month by living with them?
Like what's actually going into a savings account?
So $3,000 a month is going into the savings account.
And then I have other money being set aside into like an employee stock purchase program.
do you have any debt no debt two cars paid off 20 20 camry 2009 Mazda 6 good for you guys what do you guys make a year
combined a little bit over a hundred thousand dollars true why aren't you're not renting somewhere
uh we just wanted to be able to buy a house and not pour more money you'd rather live with your parents
than not rent i'm so the situation is not bad at all true can we just be honest you're like
Our newlyweds. Nothing in me wants to be in a house with parents or in-laws for an extended period of time. Do we agree?
Are there some codependency issues going on here, Drew?
I don't believe so. No, we're just trying to save as much money as we can.
Okay. I know, Drew. But do you, I mean, is there any, like, is there any part of, like, the dignity in y'all that are like, I just want to get up in the morning and make cereal and not open the refrigerator and look at the milk and, like, there's my mom in the kitchen making eggs and a robe?
Like, do you know what I'm saying?
Like, y'all are married.
What is your, how does your wife feel about this?
She actually doesn't mind it.
We have a great relationship with my family.
Okay, but you can have a great relationship with your family and also not live with them after you get married.
I just want you to be adults.
And you called about an electric bike, Drew.
Like. You have a vehicle.
You got to have fun while you're young.
Okay.
But you can't tell me you're doing all this because you really want to be a homeowner and then we're blowing money on toys.
That's a valid point.
How old are you two?
28.
Okay, let's play this out.
What would a one-bedroom cost in the area?
A thousand, twelve hundred dollars.
Okay, perfect.
Drew, I just imagine you.
I'm so sorry.
Can we just be honest?
Like, I love you guys.
Like, if we were out having a beer, I think we would really get along.
I just can't imagine Drew right in your electric bike pulling into your parents' driveway.
Honey, I'm home.
No, Mom, I'm home.
I'm home from my electric bike ride around the neighborhood.
Like, Drew, you're a man.
You're a man.
Like, you've got this.
Like, you've got to like, come on, come on.
Anything?
Nothing?
All right.
Okay.
I mean, does it not kind of make you laugh?
We have a large sum of money saved up.
So go rent an apartment.
How much money do you guys have saved currently?
So right now we have about $60,000.
Drew, what's the goal?
Move out of your parents' house.
What's the number before you go, all right, mom, I'm out.
The goal is just to move out at the beginning of next year.
So we're planning on saving $3,000 a month until then while we look at a house and then find that and move out.
Okay.
What's an electric bike cost these days?
It's $4,000.
It's like a dirt bike, but it's electric.
Dude.
The motocross dreams need to go for now.
Like, we need to put $4,000 towards our deposit.
it for an apartment. You can afford both, Drew. Like, buy the bike and move out. Like, you can do
both? How about this? If you buy the bike, can we force you to move out tomorrow?
I feel like that's a fair deal.
Yes, that's fair. Congratulations. You're the owner of the bike. I think that's it, true. You can
buy the bike, but you have to move out of your parents' house. And I mean,
just, please, I'm telling you. Real question, though, does she fold the laundry?
She does not fold the laundry. I do all the laundry. Proud of you. That's our boy.
That's our boy
Drew, it's just good for y'all
You just you all need to spread your wings
You're leave and cleave
Y'all got to figure out how to pay the bills
And get the water turned on in the new apartment
Like y'all need to be self-sufficient
Jumping from living with mom to being a homeowner
Is just too big of a gap
It's going to be a rude awakening
Yeah well and I guess I think I would feel
A little bit better about it if y'all were like
We're $300,000 in student loan debt
and we're both lawyers and we're about to get our law.
I don't know.
Like if there was some, like, big reason, but there's not even that.
It's just to, quote, unquote, save money.
And I think your dignity is more than that.
I mean, genuinely, you and your wife together.
I think you just learn a lot when you are not sharing a wall with your parents.
That's true.
Yes.
And you'll still.
We both have lived alone before and with roommates.
So it's not like it's our first time, you know, spreading our wings and flying.
but well it will be as a couple it is as a couple and y'all are going to now have to share a bathroom
and you're going to have to like yeah i mean you yeah you guys are it's a different situation
than the dudes living in the rental house together so no it's your wife and yeah y'all will
you'll run into things that you're not running into relationally when you are out on your own
which is a good thing it's how it should be it's how it should be so um yeah drew get the bike
and and and apply for an apartment this afternoon and fly away on that
that bike to your new apartment.
Make sure they have e-bike parking
at the new apartment. That's the big question.
Where are you going to park that thing? If you got to store
it, this might be a nightmare.
I don't know. On the visual, I just
can't.
There it is. Into the driveway.
Right into the driveway. I'm home.
Oh, man. I love this so much.
You're a thousand fun. Y'all are awesome, though. And you've been very
smart financially. I will give you all that. You'll
have a lot of money saved. You're debt-free.
You're very capable people. I think
that's what's driving me crazy about it.
you're so capable.
If it slows you down six months to buy a house,
I'm okay with that for the sake of your dignity.
Yes, yes, yes.
That's it.
I know.
All right.
Nick is in Kansas City as well.
Maybe Nick knows Drew.
What's going on?
They can ride bikes together.
They're in cahoots.
Not much.
I do not know Drew.
Okay.
Sorry to say.
Sounds like a great guy.
I'll connect you to them.
So my question is,
is my wife and I are recently called in to do some missions work.
Cool.
and we are in the waiting period between the call and going.
Now, God hasn't given us a timeline as to when that call is,
but some financial stuff has been brought to my mind as I'm kind of processing this call.
So I've worked with one of your Ramsey pros as far as real estate goes,
and I know the value of your house to sell,
but we also have some student loans and some other debt as well.
My question is, should we sell the house,
knowing that we are leaving the country to be called omissions
and live in a renter's market knowing full well that the rent we will pay
is two to three times what we are paying for our mortgage right now
or do we continue to attack our debt aggressively as we have been doing for years
and wait to pay off the rest of that debt when we sell the house and leave
I'm confused. If you're doing mission work, how much are you getting paid for that?
So I am, here's the thing. If I am a disabled veteran as well, I'm sitting at 90% right now, which is around 2820, the country that we are called to, this is more than five times the median income for a family our size to be able to live in the country.
what you will make on disability.
You guys can cover your costs living.
Oh, yeah.
Okay.
Perfect.
That's great.
I was just confused.
You said we're still going to aggressively tackle our debt.
I've just never heard of a missionary being able to do that.
Well, before, they're not on the field now.
So today, what should they do?
Yeah, no, we're not in the field yet.
And do you know timeline when you will?
No, we don't.
Okay.
I would just stay in the home, Nick, I would stay.
Actually, you could sell the house to Drew because he's looking for a house.
Perfect.
But no, I would stay.
in the house aggressively paying off your debt and then when you guys are in a position to move
and start the missions, I would put the house for sale. Do you guys have family in the area?
We have my wife's parents, but the relationship's kind of strange. Okay. I was going to say
because if you guys go, you're going to have to sell this house kind of long distant. You'll just need a
great realtor. And then when you sell the house, the equity of the house, you could pay off the
remaining debt. But I would stay in the house, continue to aggressively pay off debt. Yeah, I would do that.
I would just stay in the house aggressively pay off debt. And then when you guys move, sell
the house, even if it's kind of a long distance purchase, I would do that.
I like that plan. I wouldn't hang on to it while living across the world long term.
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All right, Renee is in Miami up next.
What's going on, Renee?
Hey, thanks for taking my call.
And we are struggling right now with deciding if my daughter is going to go to
graduate school or not.
and if the ROI on, you know, the fees and the cost of graduate school is going to benefit her.
Very nice.
What she's studying?
She is studying business and entrepreneurship.
She is a great student.
She went to a very expensive four years of undergrad that was all covered with merit scholarships.
Wow.
Good for her.
Yeah.
Great, golly.
She's doing amazing.
Yeah, that's so awesome.
So why the grad degree?
She's really liking the classes.
She, you know, to be completely honest,
she doesn't have anything lined up yet as far as work goes.
So I think it's kind of weighing on her.
And I know how early it is.
I have another child that already went through all this.
So it's very early.
She shouldn't be worried.
But I think this is kind of her secondary plan.
And we're trying to, you know, we're just trying to weigh the benefits here.
If this is what she, I think she really wants to.
go she loves school she loves i'm sure she does i'd rather go to school than enter the real world right
i mean i'd rather kick the can down the road applying for jobs is a real buzzkill that's right i'd like
to go back if i could so who has the money to pay for grad school so that will be on her and how is she
going to pay for it with no job is she scholarship i mean she's smart obviously is there any programs
yeah she did get a merit scholarship for school um which was a surprise we didn't know that was coming just
That just happened this week.
Good.
We think it's going to be the one year.
It's a 10-month program.
She's already got a couple classes under her belt for it.
So it's only going to be 10 months.
Okay.
They're looking at about $75,000 for the whole thing for the whole year.
She got 30 in scholarship.
So I can probably help her with 10.
We're probably looking at around $30,000.
Who's we?
Well, as in student loan debt?
Me and her.
Her and I.
Yeah, I'm student loan debt.
for the grad program.
Oh, boy.
Yeah, she doesn't have any debt for anything undergrad or anything else in their life.
For someone who loves business, this would be a terrible business plan if I walked into the bank.
Hey, listen, I can't get a job in business after I went to school for four years.
I need $30,000 to study more business.
I think that's the problem.
I know.
I know.
What if she just got a job and used, I'd rather her take $30,000 and go to Europe and experience culture
than go to another year of grad school to hope that a job.
appears.
What is at the heart of her loving business and entrepreneurship?
Does she want to start a business?
Yes, she's in the process.
So why not invest money into the business she wants to start?
Yeah.
I'd rather you take your $10,000 put into that.
It's a $30,000 kick the can down the road for 10 months.
And then what's going to happen, Renee?
She's going to have to apply for jobs.
I mean, that's the 10 month later.
Again, I feel like it, not that my answer,
went and change on the student loan portion, but there's a part of me that's like, okay,
a three-year thing, whatever, you get all these certifications, you get this one thing and it kind
narrows down a path and it gets you like, this is just 10 months. Like, you can have a,
grow a baby and have a human in that amount of time. Like, do you know what I'm saying? Like,
it's not that long. It's very short. So the same problem, and it's her that's going to follow her 10
months later. She's not changing. So to go $30,000 to basically be the same person and have the same
problem? No, thank you. I'd rather come out financially on top and go and deal with the fear
and the problem of not being able to find a job, then go and have that fear and the problem
not having a job and be $30,000 in debt. I know. She's averaging it out in her mind that the
undergrad was around $375,000 worst. Holy crap. Well, then take that knowledge and go get a job.
I'm sorry, but if you can't get a job after all that, then what's the point of anything?
I know. What did she learn over four years? So it's a common thing we see in this and that you don't know what to do next. So you just go to school and then you make really bad financial decisions and it takes years, years to get out of this. And it's not worth it. That is not worth it because nothing is really going to change in 10 months. If she loves textbooks and homework, let's go ahead and buy her a textbook, but we don't need to go $30,000 in debt to do it. That's the truth.
Seriously, Renaud, it would not be smart.
Real entrepreneurs, and they'll tell you, you don't need an entrepreneurship degree.
You need to have a good idea.
You need to know how to serve people well to create something called revenue.
And so she needs to sink her teeth into that.
So if you want to honestly give your 10 grand to invest in her business idea and you become
the bank and you're like, hey, I'm willing to invest in this idea because I believe in it.
She needs to come up with a business plan.
Or even help support her for a few months while she goes an intern somewhere, right, and doesn't
get paid help her there and then six months later it's like okay now she does have to apply but now
she at least has on her resume that actually real business leaders and people actually look at
which is experience which looks better than a 10 month program i mean honestly if she if they knew
that she was working in a field in that business and being about to plug in like that to me she's
going to become what they call overqualified because they're going to go listen you have an MBA
and you have no job experience we can't hire you
that's my fear and so I would rather her go do something get some experience maybe she tries to
start her own thing maybe she ends up being you know an executive at a company somewhere I don't know
but I just know grad school is not the next step she needs to take and again if she had a full
right scholarship and that's what she chose to do that's I mean to me that's a different story it just
makes no financial sense no financial sense to go $30,000 in the whole to deal with the exact same
problem she's going to deal with and to your point at the very beginning of the
call Renee, which was so wise. You said it.
She still has time. I know this is
really early because it's not until May. I mean,
yes. Right. By the time.
Oh, my gosh. Is she living with you?
Yeah. Well, no, she's been
in another state for the last four years. She's an athlete
too, so she's got to be up there year round.
Good for her. She sounds awesome.
Like, she really does. I just don't want this
decision to put her back financially
for three to three years,
you know, is what it could be.
So I think as her mom,
I think you're really wise, and I think you can keep encouraging her to apply.
And what's causing it is it sounds like it's more running away from reality because of fear
than, oh, I actually really love this one program, and I can't, you know what I mean?
Well, I know she loves school, so maybe she does love it.
Maybe she should work out of school.
She loves school so much.
She could work at a job at a university.
Yeah, she could work at the school for a year and see what they'll pay her.
Yeah, I don't know if that's what's driving here.
I think it's a little bit of everything.
She's just trying to figure it out.
Her brother's got his MBA, you know.
So she's like, you know, there's a lot of other little factors there.
She sounds competitive, too.
Yeah, yep, yep, yeah, exactly.
She gets that from her mom.
Probably.
Well, you raised a great daughter.
I'm glad you're calling in with this question.
I hope you can convince her.
Do you think she'll be convinced to avoid this?
Well, because you're not signing anything, Renee, as her mom.
Do not co-sign.
If she does this on her own volition, we can't stop her.
She's an adult.
But I hope that you have influence over her life.
Right.
I do.
And that's exactly it.
We're right there on that balance beam.
And, you know, I think she'd be fine without it.
I really do.
So I'm hoping we can, you know, we can just decide to start working, start working on something else.
Work is scary.
I think that's the smart thing.
That's a tough one.
Especially in this job market.
It's not a job market where you just leave college and everyone's knocking on your door to hire you.
No.
No, it takes a.
lot and you and it's in a lot of who you know king coleman talks about this a lot
proximity prince yes um who you know the connections me all of that is it's really big matters
more than the piece of paper and where you went to school and you can't just apply online and they
just look at resumes you usually have to get your foot in the door another way so it does take
some creativity for sure but she sounds smart i think she could do it i hope we we talked her off
the ledge of grad school for the sake of grad school if we did that we did one good deed for the
day today, Rachel. Thank you. That puts this hour of the Ramsey Show in the books.
Welcome back to the Ramsey Show in the Fairwinds Credit Union Studio. I'm George Camel,
joined by bestselling author Rachel Cruz, open phones at AAA 825-5-225. Ashley is in Idaho up next.
What's going on, Ashley? Hi, thank you for taking my call. Absolutely. How can we help?
I have a question.
I have a daughter that just turned 21, and she has a horse, and we, her parents, pay the $400 a month in boarding.
Her gas for her car.
Oh, George, George and horses are not a good...
Yeah.
Yeah, okay, keep going, Ashley.
I'm just preparing your heart.
This is her life.
She's been riding horses since she's been six years old.
and we pay for her insurance, her gas for her car, everything.
And we're kind of wondering not to be so mean and tell her, hey, you need to kind of start
contributing.
Now, the backstory about this is we don't want to be too hard on her because a couple
years ago she went through depression.
Pardon me, I'm going to start crying.
Start cutting, self-cutting, self-harming.
Oh, my goodness.
was very, very depressed.
Yeah, so you want to be sensitive.
That makes sense.
And literally, literally, yeah, literally had a plan for suicide.
Oh, so sorry.
Did she get some help?
Yeah, she's in therapy now.
She has a cut in probably two years.
It was one of those when she was like 15 through 16,
just trying to find out who she was and confused.
And so we kind of almost walk on eggshells.
Yeah, as I say you have PTSD around that problem.
I mean, you know, as a parent,
You're just like, I don't want to do anything.
We don't want.
Right.
Exactly.
Yeah.
So we can afford paying for her horse every month, but I just tell you my husband,
she just got a second job.
She's going to be making a lot.
Did she go to a school?
What happened after high school for her?
She does not go to college.
She basically helps give lessons at the barn with the main trainer.
How much does she make?
We never, she doesn't make a lot.
I don't know, a couple hundred dollars a month, and she just got a job, a second job.
Okay.
And now she should be bringing home close $1,000 a month.
So we really feel like she should pay for some of her own.
Well, I'm trying to think of like five years from now.
Are we still doing this?
Is she still making $1,000 a month at 25 years old, living with mom and dad?
Because otherwise we need a totally different plan.
Well, we just need a trajectory, and it can be baby steps, Ashley, because I totally
get your caution around it
because of your history
and what you guys walk through as a family
that's horrible.
It's every parent's worst nightmare, right?
Of something like that happening.
So I can totally
understand that.
But I also think it's two different things.
I think helping her become an adult
is not being mean.
I think it's actually the most loving thing
you can do because it actually is going to give her
self-confidence.
It's going to give her some dignity.
it's going to give her a reason to wake up in the morning and be productive and like these things
are good for all of us right we were created to work and to and to make and to be part of society
and so what how that looks and how that plays out over time you know we can talk about but
but that in general that principle that's not harmful to her if anything that's actually a gift
and again if you do it in the right way right you we want to be cautious and in the sense of like
how you handle it with her and I totally understand that but but that avenue is the best thing for her
in general as an adult so just hear that that's a loving thing that's not a that's not a mean thing
how do you how do you approach like going about it considering we feel like she's been spoiled her whole life
you know I would start with even with you guys don't make it about her say say hey we we really love you
and part of that love has caused maybe some enabling we've covered your expenses we wanted to give you a great
but part of becoming independent means you need to learn how to handle money and contribute
on your own. And we're not going to throw you in the deep end. We're not going to say you need
to pay all these expenses tomorrow, but you need to start taking on more responsibility so that
you're not 30 years old still not unsure how to live as an adult because that's unfair to her.
Yeah, I like that approach actually. I mean, honestly, taking accountability for your actions because
as the parents, y'all chose this. You know what I mean? Like, this is what you guys implemented.
And so I think on that end, talking to her of, hey, I'm sorry that we have failed you in a sense of how to set up your life as an adult.
And again, she's 21.
So I think there's a lot of grace here.
She's not 31, right?
If we're talking to, I mean, like, you guys have not screwed up as parents by any means.
But I think it is a, hey, we want in the next season, maybe over the next six months, we want to start working with you on finding some more income, finding a schedule.
that that, you know, is sufficient as an adult, you know,
and a, whatever it looks like.
And then the money you're bringing in,
we want to write down a budget and have some things
that you're going to start contributing.
And again, that can be slowly over time
every two months or something.
You know, you add something else in or whatever that looks like.
And then eventually a plan, Ashley, and again,
I'm not in a rush with this.
I don't know. George may be more urgent than I am.
You know, but where you guys feel comfortable as a family
to say, okay, and our goal is by next,
July you rented apartments and we will be with you you know every step of the way in these
transitions but starting to make a a year plan I think is really great from November to November
what does that look like yeah um from she has a 17 year old brother and now he's kind of he
he's a little bit more of a small woman her but for instance he wanted this winter baseball thing
and it was 150 and I feel we have to give it to him that look we're we're doing your
given your sister 400 a month for her horse.
So, yeah, we have to say yes to you now for certain things, too.
I wouldn't do the quick, I wouldn't do the tip for tat thing, but I think brother is 17.
So he needs a student checking account with a debit card and you guys can put a certain amount
of money in that account and he needs to start budgeting his life and that he needs to start.
Yeah, he does.
Okay, perfect.
That's great.
That's a great start.
Does he have a part-time job?
Yeah.
Yes, he does.
He's very hard.
They're both very, very hard workers.
Yeah, it sounds like, I think we just need to, yeah, I would just kind of up a little bit of the pressure of, okay, let's find two things that you're going to start paying for.
Because we want her to start experiencing real life.
And it can still be under your roof for a period of time, which, again, is a soft place to land, which is great.
But when she starts to learn these things, then when she goes out on her own, it's part of who she is.
She knows how to do it, right?
That's equipping her really well.
Right.
How does the horse situation work?
If you guys stop making these payments, what happens?
Are you leasing the horse from someone else?
No, she bought it.
She actually watched Mama give birth to her.
People at the barn and her family.
That's a bonding experience right there.
Yeah, like eight years.
Okay, so the expenses for the horse just to keep the horse in good shape is $400 bucks.
Well, it's at the barn.
And all her friends are at the barn, and that's boarding.
boarding speed. I mean, she works there too.
They should give her a discount. They should give her a discount.
Is that discount? But her life can't be that forever, Ashley. Do you know what I'm saying?
At some point she's going to have to say, wow, that makes me really sad. I can't be where all my
friends are. I'm going to have to go get a job. Right? Like eventually that's what's going to.
She does, she just got another job. Well, she needs a full-time job that can support all of the
expenses in her life. That's where we need to get to. That's our goal. That's the goal. Otherwise,
she needs to go to school and pursue something that can actually pay the bills.
So that's the hard truth that you're going to have to unravel with her over the next several
months. But this idea that we're just going to work part-time at the barn, not making enough
to even cover the expenses for our horse is not a winning plan. There's only two types of
horse people, broke horse people and super wealthy people. And she's about to be a broke horse person
for the rest of her life if we don't change this ASAP.
All right, let's get to our question of the day.
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Today's question comes from Ethan in Ohio.
I'm in my mid-20s and recently became engaged.
My fiancé has over $100,000 in student loans.
debt. And since we have lived together for the past year, most of our expenses are joint. My salary is
roughly $100,000 while hers is 80. I have no debt. So this $100,000 debt is the biggest obstacle
to building long-term wealth. I also roughly have $100,000 in non-retirement investments.
Should I set aside a percentage of my income to pay off her loans or is it a better option
to sell those investments and pay them off?
Ooh. Good question. Here's the thing. He's going to be upset. Paying like,
selling off his investments to pay off her debt, that's going to sting a little bit because he
worked really hard to invest all this money and have it grow and now it's just wiped away.
But that's what I would do. If you're combining all, if you just clear the deck and go, okay, now we make
$180,000, we have $100,000 in debt. And then what do we have on the plus side? Well, we have
$100,000 in investments we could sell. That's right. I mean, at that point, when you get married,
your net worth is combined, you know? And it's like, okay.
well as a household now we are a negative plus 100 minus 100 you're at zero right so what do we yeah
so what's the what's the best way to uh go about that and it is to pay off the debt but like you said
it stinks you know we talk about couples that you become one when you get married and her issues
are your issues and your issues or her issues that's financial and otherwise um but it doesn't come
without emotion and it hurting a little bit but that means that you guys together make a hundred and
$80,000. So you can build it back so fast. You know, so you can get back there so quickly.
You have a dual income. You're really young. You've got time on your side. Compound growth will do its
thing. And one day you'll be multi, multi-millionaires looking back at that gun. Oh yeah. I remember that
day. I remember that day. Pay off the student loans. But we did it. I don't think you'll regret paying
off the student loan debt. Now you could try to attack it and keep your investments, but you're just,
that's going to be a different sacrifice on this side. So you just got to choose your heart in this
case. And I personally, if you got non-retirement assets, I would just sell it. You'll have some
capital gains potentially. Make sure you account for that, but then knock out the debt ASAP.
Thanks for the question, Ethan. All right, let's get to Jordan in Pittsburgh on the line.
Jordan, what's going on?
Hey, guys, I'm honored to speak with you today. I can dive right in. At the beginning of this year,
my wife and I were transferred an energy stock, about 200 shares. It's valued between $16,000 and $18,000,
depending on what month you look at it and wondering how I can best use it to progress through
the baby steps.
Awesome.
What baby step are you guys on?
We are over the halfway point of baby step two.
We've been really going at it this year.
So we have about $40,000 in student loan debt left.
Good for you guys.
That's great.
Yeah.
Do you know how much you'll owe if you sell the stock?
I want to say I would need to set around $2,000 aside to cover the taxes.
Perfect. So you got about 14 that you could net from this to throw at your debt.
I put 16. See, that's glass half empty. You said between...
He said 16 and 18. I put 18.
That's Mrs. Optimism.
Okay, but you'll have, yeah, but you'll have 14 to 16,000 left.
Sure. To throw at the debt. Yeah. And what's left on the balance?
On the balance of the debt?
Yeah.
40,000? Yeah, we owe about $40,000 left in student months.
How much do you guys make a year?
Our household gross is about $148,000.
Oh, awesome.
Okay, great.
So this debt's going to be gone fast no matter what.
The selling of the stock just kind of helps expedite that.
That's kind of how I'm looking at it.
Maybe, you know, I can use this to progress faster through one of the next baby steps,
whether it's two or three, you know, just trying to find the best way because it is an energy
stock, so I've kind of seen it, you know, go up and go down.
And I know there's always that risk with the stock, but I just wanted to get a second opinion on,
And is it worth hanging on to for another few months and then waiting till we only have that
$14,000 to $16,000 left to pay off in our debt?
Or is it best to just use that and set it aside as our down payment for a house or our
emergency fund considering its value?
I would still do exactly what we said.
And I'd sell it today because we just don't know what the future holds.
And you're going to be heartbroken if the stock suddenly takes a dip and you go, oh, my gosh,
now it's only $10,000.
What do we do we do?
Do we keep waiting? Do we keep waiting? Do we try to time the market? So I don't do single
stocks for that reason. I just already have too much anxiety about other things in life.
So I stick to mutual funds and index funds, giant groups of stocks. And likely that energy
stock, if it's any good, is probably, you know, somewhere in the mix. It's just not all your
eggs in one basket. How much extra a month, Jordan, do you guys have going towards paying off debt?
we set aside in total about $3,000 a month and put that toward debt and I think our minimum
payments right now add up to about $500 honestly I hardly pay attention to the minimum payments
anymore I just throw whatever I can at it so but yeah about a little over a third of our take home
goes toward our debt that's right yeah it'd be about more eight more months if you guys just
through you know all of this at the debt um which is it I mean gosh that's what June by summer y'all
and then debt free by summer and then keep that
keep that momentum of that 3,000 going into an emergency fund, you know, and by this time
next year, you guys could be on to Baby Step 4 and start back investing, which is really exciting.
So to George's point, yeah, the single stock regardless, even if you didn't have debt,
you're like, I have the single stock, would probably say, go ahead and catch it out and
move it into an index fund anyways. So I would get, I would get rid of it regardless of your
situation, but it's even better that when you get rid of it, you can actually apply it to your
life today and get you guys jump started, which will probably be a breath of fresh air because
you guys have been grinding to get out of debt. So it kind of feels nice to get a big jump start.
Just skip a few levels. Yeah. How many stocks? How many debts would you knock out if you threw 14,000 at it?
14,000. So the student loan debt, we actually just paid off my wife's student loan debt last week,
which was awesome. That's great. So it's just my student loan debt. Half of it is federal and half of it is
private, and the 14 to 16 would likely knock out the rest of my private student loan.
So we would be down to just my federal.
Oh, that's awesome.
And then it frees up some payments to apply to the next ones, and so you really get that
debt snowball rolling with that, which I love.
That's great.
Okay, let's get to Sarah in Denver.
What's going on, Sarah?
Hi there.
I am, my main question is, so I owe about $15,000 on my car loan currently.
and my husband and I, we've been, you know, patting our emergency fund.
So we have about $16,000 in our emergency fund right now.
We actually just found out that we are now expecting.
That was just last night.
Oh, my gosh.
Last night.
Well, early congratulations, Sarah.
Are we the first to know?
Thank you.
You guys are the second to know.
Oh, I knew we were probably high up on the list.
That's a win.
Thanks.
Thanks for letting us in there.
Okay, so you, and so you have the money saved to pay off the car, but you guys just find out you're pregnant, and so I'm assuming you're probably a little nervous to do that.
I'm super nervous. I'm actually really terrified to, you know, just throw it at that debt. My vehicle is not the only one that we have. My husband currently has a truck also, so we're paying his down as well. I think he owes about 25 on it, but we're throwing all that we can at the debt right now. I'm just wondering,
do I use my emergency savings or do I just continue making the minimum payments and then
just throw whatever extra I can.
How much do you guys make a year?
Combined, we make about 120.
120, okay.
What's the payment on your car?
382.
Okay.
So you'll free up about 400 bucks, which is, you know, that's five grand right there.
If you just pay it off a year from now, you'll have five grand in that account.
And you make 120.
So the question is, could you guys pay off both cars and have a fully funded emergency fund by the time babies here?
I mean, I think so.
As of right now, it is, our duty is expected in July.
Okay.
I'd start crunching some numbers.
If you want to pause, we call it stork mode, where you kind of pause the baby steps to stack up cash if you don't have any.
But you guys have the cash.
But if you have the cash already, now we're just going to attack the debt, then you're kind of already there.
So I would also look at your health insurance, look at your out-of-pocket Mac.
your deductibles. Get a full picture of what it would really cost if you had to, like, go all in on
the medical stuff. Yeah. And that'll give you a little bit of peace in the chaos. But congratulations.
How exciting. Thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah. We're rooting for you guys. And maybe he sells the
truck. If you want to expedite this, you got a baby on the way. Let's speed things up. Life is
happening. I think we can get another truck later on.
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James is in Manchester, New Hampshire up next.
What's going on, James?
I think you're taking my call.
Sure.
How can Rachel and I help?
So I'm 19 years old.
I currently make about $150,000 a year.
I have $60,000 saves, $20,000 of which is investing in retirement accounts.
But my question is today is that I'm interested in buying a house or a multifamily unit next year.
But I'm honestly not sure if that's what's recommended to me, since I'm so young,
I see on other Dave Ramsey videos
It's 50-50 split
Between whether they're okay with younger people
What do you do for work to make $150,000 at 19?
So this is honestly
You luck, I believe it, but I'm a casino dealer
So I deal high-stakes blackjack
And high-stakes poker games for a living
You play them?
Myself, I keep all my tips
No, I do you're a dealer, you're a dealer
In Manchester, New Hampshire?
Yes
Okay
Well done.
I was unaware.
that there was a big casino ring over in New Hampshire.
All right.
How stable is this?
Like, is this what you want to do long term?
So that's one thing.
It's stable in that I'm basically guaranteed $100,000 all the year.
But my income, like, month to month, varies quite a bit.
But for the most part, yeah, this is what I want to do for a career.
For the most part.
Okay.
So you see yourself, your third?
35 years old, you're dealing at a casino.
Well, hopefully I'll be financially well-off enough to be doing what I want by Tom 35.
That's my question, is what is the thing you want?
Because I want to make sure that this money shouldn't be used to fund education or an investment in a business
before we just lock it up in a home just because you feel like a home is the next step.
Honestly, I am very passionate in it, and I really haven't ever thought about going to school.
Thanks, thanks, but in particular.
Okay. There's nothing wrong with renting. There's nothing that says in this situation where I'm going,
well, you really should get a house. You're 19 and you got money. I would just pause and get a house when it makes sense for you because you're renting right now on your own or what, or living at home?
I'm blessed enough to be living at home still.
Okay, so you've got no expenses. There's nothing wrong with just stacking cash, live at home for now.
And then once you're kind of out of that, this phase where you kind of know that you know and you're, you know, 21 maybe, then we go.
go, okay, I'm going to go rent on my own. I've got $300,000 saved up.
You think making $150 a year? He should still stay at home.
You could go rent tomorrow. You could rent yesterday. You make more than most adults in the U.S.
You probably make more than your family does.
Yes.
Are they like, dude, pay rent? You make way too much?
Yeah, I pay them $1,000 a month in rent.
Oh. Well, then just go pay $1,000 and go rent somewhere.
I almost would go move out, James, just from what you're making.
And what you're paying rent.
You're a very mature dude who knows his stuff and very entrepreneurial.
Yeah.
So what I would say, James, is I would not be in a rush to buy a home.
I would, I think you've done an incredible job saving, and I would continue to do that.
And maybe just wait two, three years.
I don't know.
I'm kind of making up that timeline just to kind of see from a career standpoint where you want to be.
And if it still looks like, okay, in the near future, this is probably where I'm going to be is this area.
then I probably would buy.
But I just don't want something coming up in the next one, two, three years that for some reason
you cannot take an opportunity because you've just bought this home, if that makes sense.
Okay.
And I wouldn't just get a duplex and house hack because, you know, TikTok said it's a cool thing to do.
So I just don't want you jumping on it just because it sounds good.
I want you to do it because it's the right move for your future.
Okay, thank you.
That's why I called you guys.
Absolutely, man. Happy to help.
Yeah, well, done, James.
Yeah, I'm impressed.
Yeah, a lot of people go, I can do the duplex and I can, but he doesn't need it.
He makes great money.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's not worth the $700 a month from a renter to have them next door.
So I would just live your life and figure out what that next thing is.
All right, Thomas is in Seattle up next.
What's going on, Thomas?
Hey, guys.
I am recently married and my wife and I are trying to combine our finances, and I just found out she has a condo
with the tenant, and the tenant isn't currently covering all the costs of the condo.
And so I want to approach a conversation with her about potentially getting out of this
condo just because it's not a great situation for us.
But I'm concerned because obviously we're newlyweds.
I don't want to feel like I'm overstepping or anything like that.
How did you just find out that she has a condo?
Well, I didn't just find out.
I knew she had the condo, but I didn't know the exact numbers of everything, so I'm just
finding those numbers.
You didn't know it was like a dumpster fire that she's losing money on, but you knew
before you got married. Hey, she has this property over here. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so what's the math ending up
being, Thomas? Like, what is she charging for rent? And then how much is she having to pay?
Yeah, so she's charging 1291 a month for rent. And she's short about $312. And that's roughly,
well, not $312. It's roughly $200, but that's primarily H-O-A fee. She's paying out of pocket.
And what's the market rate for that condo?
Is she undercharging on purpose?
No.
Well, yes, she is undercharging on purpose.
Okay.
And how much is the mortgage payment a month on this?
The mortgage payment is $1,171 a month.
Okay, yeah.
So she's barely, but she's not breaking in.
And that's without maintenance, repairs, vacancy, taking all that in consideration.
Why is she undercharging again?
Why did you say she is?
The tenant who is renting from her is in.
She said she's in a tough situation, so she doesn't want to increase the rent.
Okay, but this person can't afford to live there.
So they need to be evicted if they can't pay rent.
They need to go find somewhere they can afford to live.
Right, and that's sort of why I want to approach the conversation of selling with condo.
If she's into charity, let her give to a charity, but this is not the way to do it.
And I would be okay with it, Thomas, for like a period of time, but usually these situations are ongoing.
and then she's going to look up in three years and is not able to up the rent because this person
that she is being generous to now is staying and she's like oh gosh now if I up the rent in three
years how much more is there for sure going to have to move out like at some point this person's
not going to be able to afford to live there is what I'm assuming yeah so it's kind of like
it's going to think about it yeah it's going to happen today or it's going to happen in a few
years when your wife looks up and she's like oh my gosh I can't even yeah I mean
mean, it doesn't make mathematical sense.
So she either needs to have a conversation with the tenant, which is probably going to be hard to do, and she may not want to do that.
But even I would possibly sell, do you guys have a lot of consumer debt?
We do, yeah.
Yeah, we do.
Okay, how much with the condo, how much does she owe on it and how much could she sell it for?
I don't exactly know what she owes on it, but she bought it three years ago for $100.
$195,000. And I looked on Zillow today, and it looks like it's roughly worth $177,000. So I think she's under water on it. Oh, boy. Does she have any equity in it? I can't, I wouldn't, I wouldn't imagine a lot. Yeah. Okay. I would find out the balance. I mean, you guys are married. I would run through all these numbers and go, hey, based on what we're looking for financial future, which is to become debt-free and have our own financial stability, it would be wise to sell this condo.
Because right now you're losing money on it.
So even if you sold it and broke even,
it would still be a net win for you guys.
Yeah, but yeah.
So I probably wouldn't have a second property
if you guys have a lot of consumer debt anyways.
But on top of that, she's not charging enough
to make it make sense.
And it's not even like she's, you know,
there's a formula out there
where it makes sense, right?
If she's charging market rate
and she's making a little bit on the side,
I'd probably still sell it,
but all that'd say,
that would at least make financial sense.
This makes double no financial sense.
And even if she breaks even, she's still losing money when you factor in all the maintenance and repairs and vacancy.
So we need to get out of this and you have the, you know, you have some influence now being the husband to go, hey, this does not make sense.
It's moving us backwards financially.
We're trying to move forwards.
And this is one step of.
Yeah, and it could be a kind conversation.
I mean, you guys can go into it and just be curious.
Ask her some questions.
Tell her what you've found.
Like, hey, you know, this is kind of what I'm seeing.
Like, help me make sense of what you're thinking.
and we just want to be on the same page financially.
Like, that's the main goal.
But I think, yeah, you can be kind.
George would probably be like, here's the numbers.
We're selling it tomorrow.
We're selling it tomorrow.
I'm calling an agent.
Our scripture of the day, Jeremiah 2913.
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Abraham Lincoln said,
you have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.
Ain't that the truth?
There you go.
I wish I could keep growing.
Be nice.
Lynn is in Eugene, Oregon up next.
What's going on, Lynn?
Hi.
I'm 75.
I quit my job to take care of my mother who had dementia the last seven years.
Oh, wow.
And, yeah, I'm glad that I did it.
But I find that, and I did get an inheritance.
When I was caring for her, she had money invested, and it was bringing in $1,200 a month,
and then we had her Social Security, and then my Social Security of $1,055.
And so now that she's passed, I have inherited half of what was invested, which is $1,000,
sorry, $105,000.
I've never invested before.
I'm very frugal.
I began tithing when I read the Bible and became a believer 47 years ago, and
I'm a weirdo, I suppose, as far as I've counted on God for things, and there have been
miraculous provisions like an inheritance that paid off my house a year before my husband
left me and my seven kids. So I've kind of, I've, and I've always worked, I've never
depended on others, and I mean, there have been gifts of love occasionally through the years.
But my point is this, it's hard for me to ask for, like, wisdom. I mean, I'm asking for
her wisdom. I need it because I've never
invested. To me, it's always looked like gambling.
But I recognize that
the income actually that
was important as I was caring for mom
was coming from her investment.
And so that was
certainly a good
indicator to me that it does
work and your money doesn't get
gambled away. It was because that's what it's always
felt like when I look at it.
Feels risky to you. Yeah.
Yeah, very. And B&I am 75
and I didn't, I became rather sedentary caring for my mother.
And so I'm not in the best shape right now.
I don't really want to go back into the workforce again if it's possible.
I understand it may have to happen.
So my question is, do you have any recommendation as to what you would think would be best for my present situation as far as to bring in some income from my inheritance?
Or should I just, I mean, I figured out I need past my,
income I laid out all my expenses and yeah what are your monthly expenses my
monthly expenses are 2,417 a month including tithe I'm very blessed to pay a very
low rent of 1,045 a month and then I have storage so and just regular paying for my
Wi-Fi paying for my car insurance okay so 2,500 a month covers you
comfortably it does and you have a thousand fifty-five coming from Social Security
Yes.
And no other money, no other assets, other than 100 grand from this inheritance.
Right.
Well, I actually, I have, I have, I saved myself 16,000, but I had used, anyway.
Is that your savings, essentially, your emergency fund?
Yeah.
16,000?
Okay, so we won't touch that.
We're not going to count that on the income side.
We need to protect that.
So you're really asking, I make 12 grand a year.
I need to make, you know, you need an extra 1,500 bucks.
And so can we squeeze $1,500 a month out of $100,000?
Not for a long time.
I mean, how old was your mother?
She was 93.
So let's assume you go to 93 at the very least, right?
Yeah.
We'll make this work.
We'll go 20, 20 years.
Rachel's very generous.
So 95, we need to make $100,000 work for 20 years.
The math on that is tough.
Yeah, it is.
Even invested aggressively, I don't know that you could make that last without running out of money.
So I do think it would be wise to find work that you can do as long as your body allows you to do it and make as much as you can.
Right. Yeah. I think I'm gearing up for that, for sure.
What would you do, Lynn, in a perfect world?
What sounds life-giving to you?
Well, I wrote one book. It was of my first 50 years of life, raising 10 children, becoming a believer through reading the Bible.
when I was 28, all the supernatural things God did.
My husband leaving us was after 27 years of marriage.
And it was well received by the people who read it, but it's not gotten much reading.
But writing is my love, and I still have another 25 years.
I'd love to write more about how he has done so many awesome.
God has done so many awesome things through being in youth with a mission with my five
youngest.
Yeah.
I just wonder with that gift of writing.
And you may have to be a little flexible on topic or whatnot, but, you know, the ideal world for me, for you would be to do something that you love, that you're good at, that you're passionate about. And you can make some money. And the good thing is, Lynn, you know, you don't have to be making a ton, right? I'm like, you know, even if you're making, golly, two grand a month, you'll be fine. But to George's point earlier, the more you make, even if it's above what you need can be
put away with that $100,000 so that in 10 years or in five years, you are able then to slow back
and live off those investments, right?
So right now, the goal is to not touch that $100,000.
That feels like your worst case scenario, because truthfully, you could probably live off that
for six years and then it's gone.
That's what I figured already.
Even if it's invested, yeah, you could make a little more, but it's $100,000.
It's not a million.
So even invested, if you're making 10% instead of 4%,
it's four grand versus ten grand it's still not enough to cover our bills forever and so you're
going to need to get support elsewhere from working maybe even from the kids you have 10 kids are they
do you have a relationship with them would they be willing to yeah like group everyone put in
a hundred bucks and let's help mom that i don't know i don't know they're most of them are homeowners
some have rentals but they have to ask rent higher than i can pay they had hoped maybe to be
able to help that way but i've never asked them for actually
One has already given me their gas card after my mom died and said, please use this.
We want you to let us pay for your gas from now on.
That's sweet.
Very, very, very kind.
Yeah.
Yeah, so I think, Glenn, yeah, I do think work is in your future.
And again, finding something that you can do, ideally, again, towards, you know, the fact that you're 75, I would love for you to be at a job that you love and enjoy.
It doesn't have to be something miserable.
But we do need to be making some income.
And the more income you can find,
even though you're so humble and so grateful,
I can hear it in your voice,
you may feel like, oh, I don't need that much.
But just remember, if you're making extra,
that's money being put away
so that you don't have to work, hopefully,
for the rest of your life, right,
that you can be living off some of these investments too.
So I think that's the goal.
It might be worth getting a third opinion
from a financial advisor, Lynn.
So if you want to jump on to Ramsey Solutions.com and click on SmartVestor Pro, they can just crunch the numbers for you and go, hey, if you did this, here's how much money you could make with this investment. If you put it over here, here's potentially how much you could make in the market if you put it over here. And at least they can run that to show you, you get the best shot if you do X, Y, Z to let this money last as long as possible. But they're probably going to also go, income is going to be a big factor here. If we can get to work for a little bit to at least cushion that.
yes but that's tough and I think it's a you know it's a good point that she made that a lot of people
we've taken a few calls I feel like today about this of the caution around investing um so whether
it's people are nervous and it's usually the older people we talk to the more cautious they get which
makes sense because you're like okay I don't want to lose this money it feels overwhelming yes so
just remembering you guys to focus on the facts when it comes to money is so important especially
that side of looking at what really has happened when you put money in the market. And that's what
you have to bank on, right? You have to focus on the facts, not this idea of what could happen one day.
Could Jesus come back? That was a one. Oh, yeah, I took that call. Yeah. That was a wild one.
And a good reminder that Social Security is not going to be enough. It was never meant to be enough.
It was meant to cover a portion of your salary. But in this situation, as we can see,
a thousand bucks, it's a nice start, but it's not going to cover all the bills.
And so do not rely on Social Security as your income and retirement.
You've got to stack up your own nest egg, and that's through investments in the stock market,
through mutual funds and index funds.
And if anybody listening wants a guide on how to do it the Ramsey way and a wise way without falling on your face,
you can go to Ramsey Solutions.com slash guide.
We've got a free investing guide that walks you through all of this,
and it's a great resource regardless of your age to learn.
Because we tell you, don't invest in anything you don't understand,
but it's still your job to learn it and understanding.
So go check that out as well.
That puts this hour of the Ramsey Show in the books.
Until next time, remember there's ultimately only one way to financial peace,
and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.
