The Ramsey Show - App - Should I Pay Off My Husband’s Debt? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: November 27, 2023

Белая ночь Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions in Nashville, Tennessee, it's The Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, get out of debt, do work that they actually contribute to and they love, and we help people create incredible relationships. I'm John Deloney. Don't even know my own name. Joined by George Campbell, and we're taking your calls on money, life, emotional, mental health. Both of us have been walking alongside hurting people, trying to figure out what's the next right step for years and years and years, and we're live talking to real people going through real challenging times. 888-825-5225. That's 888-825-5225. Let's go out to my hometown,

H-Town and talk to Christopher. What's up, Christopher? Hey, how's it going? We're doing good, man. What's up? I'm pretty good. So I'm in a relationship right now. Everything's going great. And I'm planning on proposing maybe in the next two weeks. All right, dude. Congratulations. Thank you. So there's a little dilemma, I guess.

I love engagement dilemmas. Bring it on. All right. So I was in a relationship previously before the one I'm in now, and I was engaged to the girl, and she gave me back the engagement ring. Oh, don't do it! Don't do it!

I was thinking about just using that same engagement ring. No! Dude. Does your girlfriend know about this past engagement? No. No. Dude. Does your girlfriend know about this past engagement? No. Oh, boy. Okay, number one, have that combo first.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no. She knew I was engaged before. So do you not think her first question is going to be, wait, is that the ring from? I know. I just don't want to spend extra money on it because chris chris christopher i've been going to a different the moment you slide that ring on her finger her her finger will catch fire okay like it will just electrocute her and then by proxy you'll end up dead that's

just how this that's how this will work dude don't don't do this. You're going to lose your both butt cheeks when you resell this ring. You will lose your butt, and that's okay. Okay. It's called... It's called... It sucks tax, and just spend it, dude. Do not re-gift an engagement ring. Okay. It's just too much bad juju and i'm not very you

know i'm not that guy john i don't do the whole uh you know astro astrology and all this stuff and i'm like well i just feel like there's too much sentimental value tied up in this ring from a past relationship that fell apart that didn't work out you're gonna be feeling that emotionally she she's going to be thinking that in the back of her head and then it's going to spark a giant fight and you're going to have to get a new ring anyways and you better hope that relationship even survives that fight i don't know how i don't think either of uh john and i's wives would react kindly if that was the situation and i think that would be my wife's first question it just kills me to spend more money, but okay. You know what's going to kill you also?

Your fiancée, when she finds out that you got a ring, except she's going to kill you for real. What's a new ring going to cost? Well, I guess I'll probably get another one for $2K to $3K. Does it have to be a $3K ring? I think so. For it to look decent, I guess don't know man they've got some rings out there these days on etsy that are gorgeous and they're not that you know a full carrot real diamond it might be moissanite or something but i think it's more about the

thoughtfulness behind it versus and especially not giving her a real diamond ring that was meant for a real past fiance. Okay. I'd take a fake ring any day over that. I'm just almost at the $50,000 mark at savings. And just to see that I'll be going back. You have 50,000 in savings? I have 48,000, almost at 50,000.

Chris, why are you calling us? Chris, what are you calling us? Chris. What are you doing with your life, man? Is this this woman's future? She's going to be, can we go on the vacation? And you're like, I almost have $50,000 in savings, woman. Leave me alone.

But I had this coupon left over from my last relationship. I know. Let's call my ex's father-in-law. He has a bedroom we can rent out. Like, for real, dude. Man. Okay. I'd bite the bullet and get that new ring and sell the old one for what you can get for it. real, dude. Man, I'd bite the bullet and get that new ring

and sell the old one for what you can get for it. Hey, listen, this is just like a straight up, like I grew up in Houston. Do you not have some buddies there that you could have run this question by that would have just knocked you upside the head? Well, I do, but they love to spend money, so I didn't really.

All right, that's fair. That's fair. I support that then. Thanks for calling two wise guys. And ask any woman. That's also a good indicator. I'm pretty sure 99.9% would say, yeah, don't do that. I'm going to do a litmus test.

There is one woman on the front row in the studio audience. Are we right? Okay, she just two thumbs up. And she's got a ring on her finger, so she's got experience. Yes. Thank you, ma'am, for that. No matter what, don't. Oh, geez, don't.

Hey, George, this is awesome. Not only are we helping people get out of debt, we are now saving lives and preventing homicide. Yes. We're doing it. Preventing homicide was a stretch, but I like it. I like where you're going with it. I'm sweating even thinking about

proposing to Whitney with a previous Oh my gosh. I can't breathe, John. That's a lot for me. James, can we take another call? Sure. Dad said yes. Let's go out to Dusty in Boise. What's up, Dusty?

Hi, how are you? Phenomenise. What's up, Dusty? Hi, how are you? Phenomenal. What's up? Okay, my question is, just last week for Thanksgiving, my dad gifted my husband and I a house mortgage-free. For Thanksgiving? Yes! Wow, not even Christmas yet.

My dad gave me a FaceTime. Wow. I know, I know. yes wow not even christmas my dad gave me a facetime wow so i know i know we were bawling our eyes like little babies so it was pretty cool um but we're living in a house right now we owe two hundred thousand dollars on it still um but we're wondering if we should move into the mortgage-free house and rent this one out or if we should sell this and with the profit we make, pay off our debt, and then put the rest away in an account that accrues over years. We don't know what to do at all. I like that plan because if you keep this mortgage, move into the mortgage-free house, you're still in debt. Doesn't really solve your debt problem. Yes, we have about $30,000 in debt. Okay. And what's your household income?

It's about, so he is salaried. After taxes, we bring home about $4,500 a month. Okay, now being mortgage-free, you should be able to pay off this consumer debt fairly quickly, I imagine, with no mortgage, right? Yes. So I would crunch the numbers, and if you wanted to keep this house debt fairly quickly, I imagine, with no mortgage, right? Yes. So I would crunch the numbers. And if you wanted to keep this house as a rental,

you just have one mortgage hanging around, I would still want to aggressively pay that off because I don't like investment property that has mortgages attached. But that's one option. I think the option that will give you more freedom and more peace right now would be to sell it and move into this home. Okay. Are there any tax implications and move into this home. Okay. Are there any tax implications with moving into this home?

Yeah, I would do that instantly. I'm so sorry. Say that one more time. Are there tax implications of inheriting this home while he's still alive? Nope. Uh-uh. I would just want to make sure of that because you may have to pay the capital gains on that. And I would talk to a tax pro. You can connect with one at RamseySolutions.com of that because there's so the tax you may have to pay the cap capital gains on that and i would

talk to a tax pro you can connect with one at ramsey solutions.com just to make sure your i's are dotted and t's are crossed on this financial transaction and sometimes gifts are incredible and they're life-changing and they're not what's best for our family so make sure before you just go running to move into this house it's it works for you and your family for a season um but yeah i'd sell my house the equity, pay off all my debts, be completely free of everything. Hey, you guys, health insurance costs are only moving one way, and that way isn't down. And if higher costs aren't enough, the wait times to see your doctor are longer, and it's harder than ever to get anything approved through the bureaucracy.

So if you feel like the system is working against you, try a biblically-based alternative to health insurance, Christian Healthcare Ministries. CHM is a health cost-sharing ministry that's helped hundreds of thousands of families like yours take care of over $11 billion in medical bills since 1981. And CHM has also helped them stay true to their values and avoid miles of red tape. And CHM support goes far beyond meeting financial needs. They'll also help meet spiritual needs. Members become part of a family who will pray with them and for them when they experience a medical event. So listen, y'all, there's no better way to take care of health care costs.

CHM programs start as low as $98 a month. So learn more today and join at chministries.org slash budget. That's chministries.org slash budget. This is the Ramsey Show, 888-825-5225. I'm John Deloney, joined by George Camel. Let's go out to Milwaukee and talk to Tony. Tony, Tony. What's up, Tony? Hey, how are you? So good. How are you? Good. You? I mean, you are as joyful as we are. What's up? Well, I'll see if my tone doesn't change. Uh-oh.

No, I don't think it's too big of a deal, but I do. It's been, like, you know, thinking about it and all that. So I thought I'd give you guys a call. Hey, Tony, do me a huge favor. Talk directly into your phone for me. Oh, he was telling me to do that. Can you hear me now? Yes, perfect.

Okay, cool. So here's kind of the background. So we got married a few months ago, and we grew up in different financial philosophies. My parents were older than his and whatnot. So he has some debt. I don't have any debt per se besides a mortgage. So I have some savings. So I have two questions going on.

So one is a money thing, but another one is kind of like a, a career choice type of thing. So the first thing with the money is, um, so I have money in the bank and I could easily pay for his debt. And I know you guys always say, oh, you guys are married, you know, now your finances are together and everything like that. But I kind of have like, oh, he had this before. I don't want to pay for it. And then it happens again.

And it's just like, it's a whole big cycle type of thing. So I was kind of wondering, like, should I kind of help him pay for it or just let him deal with it how he wants? Tony, why did you get married? Why? Yeah. Because I wanted to? I mean, why did you want to? What benefit was marriage going to bring to you?

How is it going to enhance and improve your life? Oh my gosh, I don't know. That's throwing me back. Because you're not, you're not asking a money question you're not you think you are but you're not you're asking a marriage question and the way you framed it and you can go back and watch it on on youtube whenever it posed or listen to the podcast the way you ask the question is very similar to a caller we had in the first hour who was concerned about her stepson getting too much stuff from her new husband. You spoke about your new husband as though you're his mom and you're considering teaching him a lesson. And this is your husband, for better or worse, sickness and in health, in good times and in bad times. He doesn't have a financial trajectory

separate and apart from your financial trajectory. He doesn't have a life separate and apart from your life. Y'all opted in together in front of your parents, in front of God, in front of each other and said, I do till death, till one of us dies.

And that means ride or die. And so that starts at a bare minimum with, hey, I got a whole bunch of money in this account. We're going to start on the same financial footing. But deeper than that is, the thought of you doing this again and committing financial infidelity scares me so bad. Will you take this class with me so we can become on the same page? Well, what do you mean? Like how, uh, well, like I want us to be on the same footing. So I don't know if that's what I should do, like help him out. But he doesn't want me to pay for his debt, which I totally get. Well, here's what it looks like,

Tony. It's you guys setting new goals together. One of those goals is how cool would it be to start this marriage off completely debt free? So our goal is debt freedom. This is now our money. We're going to combine bank accounts. Right now you're treating him like you're the healthcare company and he's coming in with a preexisting condition. And you're like, nope, that's on him. He came into the marriage with that. I mean, nobody wants to be treated like that. And by the way, you talking to him as though you're a parent. This weekend I was out hunting with my son and I forgot something out in the field.

And my son was like, oh, dad, here, you can just use mine. He was trying to make me feel better. And during your courtship while you were dating you know in your early part of your marriage i'm sure your husband's gotten loud and clear that he married someone who's kind of like his mom and so he's like no no i'll take care of the debt i'll take care of it mom i got it i got it i got it i got it and sometimes people do that to preserve peace and so if you look out 10 years from now and you could wave a magic wand financially for your family, what would it look like? We're taking some trips.

We're money happy, you know, having some money in the bank and saving for retirement. That sounds exactly like conversation with my seven-year-old daughter. Be specific. Ten years from now, what does your financial picture look like? Some unicorns, some wolves with wings. Be specific. What do you want? Just having some money for retirement,

and we can take some traveling for experiences. I'm older, so if kids are in the picture, great. And we don't have to worry about any money. Are you paying for those vacations or is he paying for the vacation? The ones that we've taken we've split it like you pay for part of it and then i pay for a part of it so we've split it in the past that's what me and george do when we go to chick-fil-a sometimes john even pays for me which i think is very chivalrous sometimes but you see what we're saying tony marriages are either growing together or they're growing apart

and if you start to say well it's his dead he's got to run his own race, I'm going to do my thing, you're going to grow apart. You're running in two different directions. When you're both in the same direction, you're going to grow together and you're going to have shared goals, shared common language around money. And that's going to not only grow your finances and your wealth, but it's going to grow your relationship. And that's what we found time and time again, when people take that, get over that big hurdle of combining finances. It's not about, well, I don't trust him with money. It's about what are we building together? Because what we can build separately is fine. What we can build together is monumentally greater.

And you kept mentioning retirement. It sounds like your chief concern might be one of safety. And if you married somebody like my wife did, who's kind of immature and silly and goofy and runs around and is kind of like, ah, it's all going to be okay. You may be looking down the road and say, hey, I need to make sure that I am preparing for our security, right? For our retirement. Yeah.

I was blessed when my wife brought me into that conversation and it was something along the lines of, I'm so terrified that we're not going to have anything with the way you spend money. And I remember thinking not, all right, I got to figure out this budget thing with Dave Ramsey. No, I remember thinking, I never want my wife to feel terrified with me. And she wasn't in protection. She wasn't in a, I'm always going to work hard, but she was in how I was not saving money and how I still had debt. So we worked together and that's how we changed stuff. And now she's got more security than she could have dreamt of.

And I do too. You see what I'm saying? Like, it's just, it's just a matter of working together. If I send you the financial peace course, will you and him watch it together? And y'all imagine a future where y'all work together and not apart? I believe I would, but I don't know if he would. I think if I really pushed him to, he would. How about instead of pushing him, again, like a parent, you invite him. It would mean the world to me. I would feel loved and safe inside my own home and

inside my own new marriage if you would watch these nine videos. And you can roll your eyes through all of them. You can just go, oh my goodness, this is so ridiculous. Whatever. But will you just watch them with me? Please? It'd mean the world to me. Invite them in. And if he says, I ain't doing that, then here's the hard truth. Your marriage is on way shakier ground than you imagine. Y'all need to deal with that because that's respect and dignity and love. That's not a money conversation. That's way deeper, but invite them in. Stay on the line. We're going to hook you up with a year of Financial Peace University and the EveryDollar app that you and

your husband can do together. Y'all can grow together, like George said, and not apart. This is The Ramsey Show show we'll be right back welcome back to the ramsey show i'm george camel joined by dr john deloney and it is one of my favorite days of the year i'm not going to call it a holiday but i do get a little pep in my step on cyber monday and ramsey's getting in on it with our one day cyber monday sale and it's our lowest-day Cyber Monday sale. And it's our lowest prices of the year today only. That's not a joke. We don't make stuff up. That is truly the lowest prices you're going to see on some awesome gifts for your family and friends. As low as five bucks. We got some audio books starting at just $5. My friend, Dr. John Deloney's new audio book, Building a Non-Anxious Life, is 10 bucks for the first time ever. Financial

Peace University, just $59.99, our lowest price of the year there. We've got the 2024 Ramsey Goal Planner on sale, down to $40 right now. Rachel Cruz has got a new Navy wallet and a new kids book on sale. I've got a new book called Breaking Free from Broke on pre-order. Jade Warshaw's got a new quick read called Money's Not a Math Problem. Everything is there. What are you waiting for? Just go shop at ramsaysolutions.com slash store. You can tell them George sent you.

It won't matter. You won't get an extra deal, but it'll make me feel good. Actually, you're really going to confuse everybody. Hey, George said to tell it. No, yeah, you don't have to tell anyone. It's fine. I did that the other day at the grocery store,

Starbucks. It didn't work. George sent me. George sent me here. And then he called security. All right, let's go out to Cincinnati, Ohio and talk to Kathleen. What's up Kathleen? Thank you for taking my call. First of all, both my husband and I are retired. We're totally debt free. And the question that we have is, I hope you're still there. We're listening intently. Okay.

The question that we have is we're going to have to put a new roof on the house. We've got our six months of emergency fund or whatever, but we're wondering do we need to take that to pay for the roof or should we go ahead and take a withdrawal from our retirement? Yeah. What's the roof going to cost? or should we go ahead and take a withdrawal from our retirement? Oy. Yeah. What's the roof going to cost? Oh, between $20,000 and $25,000. And you're sure that this is not covered in any way, shape, or form?

Oh, yeah. No, we've been in the house since 99, or since 03, so it's over 20 years old. Okay. So it's time. How much of an emergency is this? Is it falling in? Do we need to do this tomorrow? Well, no. We've got to do it by next year for sure. Okay. And do you have the money right now in the emergency fund?

Yes. Okay. I'm just going to use that. And if you want to build a little savings account until the roof is there, start doing that. Are you guys in a good financial spot to do that? Oh, I guess we could. It's just that we feel uncomfortable draining the emergency fund. Just what if a washer, refrigerator, whatever has to go? Okay. Well, you're retired, so you can pull from your retirement accounts. Do you guys have a giant nest egg where this would barely touch it, wouldn't make a dent? Unfortunately, no. We're very simple. Got like, I think, $350,000 in retirement.

Our savings, that's about it. What's in the emergency fund? About $50,000 a year. We've got $20,000 in the emergency fund. Okay. And our social security is around $20,000 in the emergency fund. Okay. And our Social Security is around $50,000. Okay. Are you guys just making money from Social Security? You're not touching the retirement account?

Exactly. Sorry, you broke up with us, Kathleen. Are you still with us? Yes. Okay. So just Social Security. You haven't touched the retirement account, but there's only $350,000 in there. Right.

And you guys are how old? 66. Okay. So you could have a nice long retirement, and I want to protect that nest egg as much as we can. So I would rather tap into the emergency fund and then replenish it versus drain 10% of my entire nest egg to cover this one repair. Okay. That's what we were thinking, but wanted to... Can I throw a third option?

And John has a third option, which is probably even better. Well, it may not be better. Just another thing to consider. My mom is 73, 74, recently retired from her job as a professor, and she is looking for a part-time job. And it might be... It'll be, it'll be adjacent. So it might be editing dissertations or editing manuscripts, or she's an extraordinary editor. Who knows what she can be doing, but is there a possibility that your husband is retired or you, you'll head back and take two part-time jobs. And with just the intent of we're going to earn this money,

we can work through the holiday season, we can work into the fall. It's going to be freezing cold anyway, so we're in Ohio, so we need to be inside anyway. We're just going to make some extra money, and we're just going to do this together, and we're not going to do anything strenuous, and we're going to earn this money and pay the roof with cash. Well, yeah, that's an option.

You don't sound too surreal by that one. Boo too john wants me to go to work i totally get it i do medicare insurance so i'm in the annual enrollment period right now okay so i'm going going nuts but i will have, you know, some extra leeway come January. Cause that's when they pay us. Okay. So, you know, that, that will, that will help. Um, my husband is getting ready. We see an orthopedic surgeon for back surgery, so he's not going to be in a position to do that. Okay. Well, just something to consider if money's tight. Or to soften the blow. Yeah, there you go. And maybe you're not draining the entire emergency fund, but maybe you can earn $10,000 between the two of you over the next six months. And that's working at Home Depot. That's working online. That is finding some sort

of part-time gig, whatever that looks like, and maybe you're only pulling $10,000 from your emergency fund and the other $10,000 you're paying with cash for the roof, whatever that looks like, but that's just a third option. Just an idea. But it's better than going into debt, either of these options.

Absolutely. All right, let's go out to Sabrina in Honolulu. Hey, Sabrina. Aloha. Aloha, what's up? Hi. What's up up the cost of living no yeah for real hey how can we help well um i have been blessed to be able to go to the financial peace university classes and thankfully i am debt free but i want to know know how I have a lot of family and friends and even church members. I'm a leader in the church, and I just want to know how I can help them do the same.

I mean, I don't have the means to buy everybody off my Natural Peace University class. So how would I be able to help people in my life to also become debt-free and get this, you know, fulfill the baby steps? Hello? Yeah, we're here. Oh, okay. Yeah, I'm just thinking through it. That's a fascinating question. I think the first thing I would do is invite them into a conversation in

your home. And the struggle is some people have no interest in getting out of debt. They don't even understand a world outside of a credit score and a car payment and a mortgage. That's not something that's ever even occurred to them. And so sometimes you're looking at people being like, hey, you want to move to Mars? And they're just like, nah, I'm good here on earth. And so sometimes you're looking at people being like, hey, you want to move to Mars? And they're just like, no, I'm good here on Earth. And so sometimes they're going to see the fruit in your life over the next few years. And they're going to say, why are you always smiling, Sabrina? Why do you tip so generously?

Like, because I can, right? So that's number one. But I'd invite them over to your house and ask them if they're interested. And with the limited resources you have, you might be able to talk them through it, point them to the show, decide you're going to serve as a reference point. And if you hang on the line here, we can put you in touch with our Financial Peace University team that actually has a division that works with churches and where

you could start a class at your local church and teach your family members and your local parishioners, people who attend your church, if they're interested. George, what do you think? Yeah, I think your life is the best kind of financial testimony to get people excited about it. But John's right in that they need to want to make a change. And you can be there for them when that happens. And, you know, it doesn't have to be Financial Peace University. Like John said, we pretty much do everything for free. If you want to grab a bunch of books,

the Total Money Makeover is on sale right now for just 10 bucks. You could get 10 of those, maybe start a book study at the house and say, hey, I've got financial goals for next year. I know you guys probably do too. Let's all get together and just encourage each other and just kind of create this little community of people who are growing. Yeah. When I was in my early 20s, Sabrina, I didn't have money to pay for it. And I had a group of people that I cared about. So I bought everybody a copy of Total Money Makeover. And I got online and printed off the free budget template.

And I put it in a binder. So everybody for Christmas got a binder full of 12 monthly budgets. And everybody got a copy of Total Money Makeover. And I didn't have enough money for everybody. But that's what I bought. And that's the best I could do. And then I've been available for conversations and questions ever since. But thank you so much for your heart, for feeling this sense of freedom and this sense of light.

And you want everyone in your life to share in it with you. What a generous, generous spirit. Hang on the line and Austin can direct you to our FPU team. This is The Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. Today's scripture is from Proverbs 16, 16. How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver?

The great Muhammad Ali said, a man who views the world at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life. What an amazing, amazing athlete and a great quote. I love it. I love it. All right. Let's real quick, George, let's talk about this every dollar app. We talk about it a lot on the show and people are going, what do they keep mentioning this EveryDollar thing for? What is that? It's the greatest

budgeting app on planet earth. That's one way to put it. And I would agree. If you want to manage money the Ramsey way, you can go download EveryDollar on your iOS device, Android, or you can access it online as well. And you can start for free. And what it does, it immediately shows you where you stand with your money. It's going to help you get organized. It's going to help you personalize your budget, help you stop overspending and save more money. And if you're new to EveryDollar, we've got some new features like a long-term financial roadmap where you can track your net worth, your debt-free date, your retirement date, your baby step progress, and more. We're going to proactively coach you to build wealth and reach your goals all from the palm of your hand. Go download the free EveryDollar app for iOS and Android, or go to everydollar.com to get started. All right, let's

go out to Washington, D.C. and talk to the great Will. Hey, Will, what's up, man? Hey, how we doing today? Outstanding. How are you, good man? Doing amazing. I just wanted to call in and thank you guys for giving away Financial Peace and Every Dollar for Vets. I was listening to the show right before Veterans Day, and I'm a Marine Corps reservist. I've been in for 20 years. And I went in and put my name in the hat to get one of those, the Every Dollar signed up. And me and my wife went down, and we put our budget back together. We're currently working through Baby Step 4. And we started getting the transactions coming in every couple days later.

And we're going through all the spending and found out that there was a bunch of Uber charges and Chipotle on our account, and we didn't know what it was. Did George Campbell steal your credit card? My bad, dude. Yeah, I think that's a George Campbell move right there. That dude loves Chipotle and Uber. And we don't, so we knew it wasn't ours. That's one way to find out.

It was about $200. Somebody had gotten some free rides and some free Chipotle on us. Oh, so it was your card stolen, huh? Yep, it was stolen. And it's the card number? Yep, card number, yep. Man, I'm sorry to hear that. Well, it also showed us that we were spending about $1,000 on eating out.

You were robbing yourself right there. I was wondering how to get through baby step four, and I think we found it. We were eating our retirement. Wow. What a great awakening. We were eating our retirement. Yep. How do we get to 15%?

Well, for starters, we've got to look at our bellies. What are we doing there? That's smart. Well, that's good. How can we help today? Did you guys resolve the card issue? Did you contact the bank? Get the card shut down? Yep. And we don't have credit cards. And just like you guys said, full protection on that debit card. They returned the money. It was great. So just wanted to call and thank you for that gift to veterans. I liked it, shared it, texted every vet I knew. So hopefully a bunch of them got in there and got the same gift from Ramsey that I got. So just wanted to call and say thank you guys.

Love what you're doing. Sharing and telling everybody about it that I can. Ramsey and Jesus, man. That's all we've got to keep talking about. Well, thank you, Will. We're honored that you called in, and thank you for your service and sacrifice. Yeah, man.

It's a small price to pay. Would we give out $10,000? $10,000 free Financial Peace Universities and every dollar to our veterans. Veterans and their families. Yeah. And we ran out of them, which is amazing. I was excited that we actually got 10,000 people to go to the site, fill out the form,

and people were sharing this all over the country saying they have veterans in their life, they want to take advantage of this, and they did it. Yeah, I saw this inside the student loan industry when I was working in higher ed at how many universities for profit and otherwise prey on veterans. And so this idea that we're going to give them a tool is really, I'm glad to be associated with a team that does that, but let's not put the spotlight on the wrong thing. It is much easier to give out a, the greatest budgeting app on the planet. It's much easier to give out an app than it is to tell your family for 20 or 30 years,

I'm going to go serve something way bigger than myself. I'm going to go serve people that I don't even know. So on behalf of me and George and our wives and our kids, thank you. Thank you to Will and thank you to the 10,000 veterans and to the thousands and thousands and countless others who continually raise their hand when everyone else is staring at their shoes. They raise their hand and they say, I will. I'm in. Thank you so much, Will. I'm grateful for you, brother.

Let's go out to Rhiannon in Palm Springs. What's up? How are we doing? Hey, guys. How are you? Good. We're up against the clock, so get right to your question. Yes, yes. I have a really quick question regarding Baby Step 3. I'm in Baby Step 2. I have a unique living situation.

I don't have any rent or any real expenses, so I'm not sure how much I should be saving for my baby step three. And also because I live in Southern California and our home prices are outrageous and my age, I'm 46. Like what can I do? Where do I know when to start saving for the home and how much to start saving or how much to have for my three to six months living expenses? How much more debt do you have? I'm only in about $20,000 worth of debt. It's just like lingering. Only? That's a lot of debt to me. I'd want to be out. It is. It is. I'm doing my best. I'm in baby step two. I'm motivated. I have financial peace university. I'm into it. Awesome. What's your income? My income is $52,000 a year. Okay. And with very

little expenses, how quickly can you pay this $20,000 off if you get aggressive? I'm looking at summer of 2024, if not earlier. Okay. So we're talking eight months or so? Yeah, because I've already paused my 401k contributions as well. Oh, wonderful. Okay, so you're going to be throwing, you know, two or three grand at this debt, making 52 with no rent. Okay. And your question is, what do I save up for the emergency fund? You're going, are you going to have rent in the foreseeable future? Yeah, where do you live? Well, I live in Southern California. I live in Palm Springs. So I do live in a retire, like a resort community. So everything is really Springs. So I do live in a resort community.

So everything is really expensive here. I do want to buy here, though. This is where I want to make my home. But where are you living physically right now? Oh, where I'm living, I live with my boyfriend. His parents, they own a condo here, and they're really generous. They like us to live here because they like having somebody here. So it's really given me a great opportunity

to just save, save, save, save, and pay off, pay off, pay off. But I do want my home place eventually. Yes, this is one of those gravy trains that ends suddenly. Yes, yes. And I don't want to take it, you know, I don't want to be here forever.

I want my own home. Okay. What do homes around there cost that you would want? Let's say a condo for you, if don't want to be here forever. I want my own home. Okay. What do homes around there cost that you would want? Let's say a condo for you, if we're going to be realistic. A condo, probably, I would say well over $200,000, if not inching towards $300,000. Okay. So let's say you have a goal of $300,000. So now we have a down payment savings goal, and you want to get a 15-year fixed rate mortgage where the payment is no more than a quarter of your take-home pay. And so as you start to do that math, it will help dictate how much down payment you're going to need.

Now, for you, that might be a $60,000 down payment, and that might mean we have to increase our income so that we can accomplish this goal in a reasonable amount of time, let's say five years. Okay. Let's say you could save 15 grand for five years or 20 grand for three or four years. That will help you get there faster if you can increase that income and keep your expenses down. Okay.

But that's a great goal. Once you have your emergency fund and you have no debt, that's the time to start saving up for that house. Now, does my age play into that? Because I am 46. I just turned 46, and I know it can be different when you're does my age play into that? Because I am 46. I just turned 46. And I know it can be different when you're at my age in life, like doing the, is it going to impact my future? That's kind of... No, the only reason age would play a factor is you may want to be investing

for retirement while you save up for the down payment. So that might slow down your down payment, but it'll also help you retire with dignity. I balance those. I know this is frustrating for some folks, but my mom didn't start her second wing until she was 53 and ended up with a whole back-end career that was amazing. Keep after it. I want to thank everybody in the booth for helping the show.

Even you, Zach Hendon. George, great job as always. Congratulations on continuing to pre-sell an amazing book. Thank you. Thank you, America, Zach Hinden. George, great job as always. Good stuff, John. Congratulations on continuing to pre-sell an amazing book. Thank you. And thank you, America, for joining us. In a world gone mad, choose freedom, choose to live debt-free, and choose compassion. We'll see you next time.