The Ramsey Show - App - Should I Sell My Car? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: November 24, 2022

Rachel Cruze & Dr. John Delony discuss: Dealing with an alcohol problem, Selling a vehicle, Manual underwriting when buying a home. Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6 Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

Девочка-пай Live at the headquarters of ramsey solutions this is the ramsey show we are broadcasting live from the headquarters and from pods moving and storage studios and this is where we hang out to have a conversation about your life and your money it's a free call anywhere in the country at 888-825-5225. I'm Ramsey Personality, Rachel Cruz, hosting this hour with Dr. John Deloney, best-selling author and Ramsey Personality. And we're taking your calls on life, relationships, money, career.

All of it. Anything and everything. So give us a call, 888-825-5225. Starting us off this hour, Sarah out of Tacoma, Washington. Hey, Sarah, welcome to the show. Hi. Hello, hello. How can we help?

So I have two things that I have going on in my marriage. Oh, you're lucky. I've got like 15 things going on in my marriage. Oh, you're lucky. I've got like 15 things going on in my marriage. You just got two. That's awesome. So one issue that I have is, I'm sorry, I'm trying to, I noticed that my spouse has an issue with drinking. And my second issue is our finances. We have our finances separate. And so I'm not sure what he's doing with his money,

and he's not sure what I'm doing with my money. So I had suggested marriage counseling. My spouse doesn't want to do it. I had suggested counseling for him. He doesn't want to do it. So I'm like, what do I do next? I'm like, are you safe? Yes. Okay. Um, when you say he's got a problem with alcohol, what does that mean? Like, every time I sit around, he's drinking. Okay. There's not a lot that can be done with finances. There's not a lot of work that can be done on your marriage until he's sober.

Mm-hmm. The person you left out of the, hey, maybe we should go to marriage council maybe you should go to marriage counseling with me maybe you should go to counseling the person you left out is the only person you can actually do something about and that's you yeah i mean i'm going to counseling for my own personal issues good for you but it's kind of yeah it's kind of tough when you have someone that's dealing with their own demons. It was like, you know, how am I supposed to, um, get healthy? How am I supposed to, um, you know, heal if I'm dealing with someone, um, I don't want to say someone when I'm dealing with a hurting spouse, when they have their own issues. Absolutely.

I mean, it's, this is a question millions of people ask or forced to ask all the time. How do I get well in an unsafe environment? And what I would tell you is at some point you've got to draw some boundary lines and say, whether that's, I've got to take 30 days and go stay with a friend. I've got to step right here for a minute and get my head clear and get my relationships clear and get my health clear.

Or I'm going to need to step away for 30 days. I don't very intentionally planned separation here while you go get well. And if you're not interested in getting well, then I understand that you're not interested in us working on this. You see what I'm saying? Like there's a point when you have to draw some pretty firm boundaries when you are married to somebody who is struggling with addiction

because like you're noticing, it makes you financially insecure, which makes you at the end of the day, very unsafe. Yeah. Right? You don't know what he owes, what he's spending it on,

where it's going. If rent's going to get paid, if bills are going to get paid, if you're going to have food in the fridge. I mean mean it's a very unstable way of being yeah exactly and um and i tried to bring it up and i'm like hey listen listen listen you can't and i know that feels so powerless but you can't fix him you know why why? You're not the problem. Yeah. He's not doing this because of you.

And that's what makes this so hard is that you love him and you want to just snap your fingers and have it be okay. Yeah. How long have you guys been married, Sarah? Four years. Four years. How long has he been drinking?

He's two years and i think he's been battling with addiction and i don't think he's ever got the proper help yeah yeah well i don't i don't think he has either yeah um at the end of the day you can control your thoughts and your actions and how much you love him and then at some point you've got to draw boundaries that make sure you're safe and that you can have peace and those are very very complicated hard conversations i'm glad you have a relationship with a professional counselor and sarah and that's some i'm sorry go ahead no no no go go you're good yeah and that's something i'm talking about in counseling, how to draw boundaries and not be so passive. How to say, hey, if you continue to do this,

then I have to do this, that, and the third. That's right. So that's something I'm learning in counseling. And that's a new muscle to build, Sarah. So give yourself some grace in that. Yeah, you're practicing this. It's a new muscle to build Sarah so give yourself some some grace in that right like if you're yeah if this is a new way of looking at life in a new lens and even a new way to communicate and say out loud like that's scary right like if there's even if there's like a level of intimidation you don't want to hurt him I mean there's so much and if you've been a

peacekeeper your whole life when you're growing up if it was your job to make sure not to say the wrong thing because mom was going to fly off the handle and dad would get mad. Yeah. It's like I don't like conflict at all. That's right. I really don't. That's right. Because it's like I don't like being in situations like that

because I know I'll get super, super angry. And so that's something I'm learning also, too, is how to control my anger and get my point across. And if you've been told your whole life, how about you just shut up and you make sure that everybody else is okay first, that what you need and what you want and what you feel just gets compressed, like just gets pushed and pushed. And eventually that stuff comes out in rage right comes out in rage and so here's the deal you are like we tell people on you are on baby step one when they're just trying to get that thousand bucks and they've been grinding at it for two

months and they're trying you're on the right path it's just going to be hard and because you're doing something your body has never done before it's going to be tough you got this sarah yeah and you deserve that right like there's to to have that peace um and not to go super tactical as we end uh this segment but you mentioned about the separate accounts and we come on the show day in and day out telling married couples join accounts join accounts join accounts except when there's issues if there's a if there's a divorce looming if there's a separation if there's an addiction addiction uh we say that's a time to actually to keep them separate so hear me say that loud and clear that i would not combine accounts with him uh with an addict because it it's not going to help the situation you guys need to heal your

marriage first and then out of that comes combining your accounts and working together with your money. But the money is a totally side subject at this point. Healing and getting boundaries for you, Sarah, is the number one goal. So thank you so much for calling. I hope that helps. Thank you. welcome back to the Ramsey Show. I'm Ramsey personality Rachel Cruz hosting this hour with Dr. John Deloney. And David is up next in Richmond. Hey, David, welcome to the show.

Hey, how you doing? We're doing great. How can we help? So basically, I have 19,000 owed on a truck, and I was wondering if I should sell it. I can get between $21,000 and $28,000 and buy another vehicle that I found, another truck, for $14,000 cash. Okay. How much other debt do you have besides the truck? That's it, just the truck. Oh, it's just the truck. How much do you make a year? I'm not exactly sure. Right now,

I'm bringing home about $2,000 a week. $2,000 a week. Okay. Yeah, so I'm unsure about the four taxes. Okay. Yeah, so it'll be a little less than $100. Okay. Do you have $14,000 in cash? I have $34,000 in cash. Why don't you just pay off the truck, David? Yeah. Well, I really don't want it anymore.

Oh, okay. You don't care it anymore. Oh, okay. You don't care for it. It's kind of like, eh. Well, it is a $1,500 truck, and $2,500 would really suit my lifestyle better. Fantastic. That's the first time I've ever heard somebody say it's a 2500 that really will suit my lifestyle. So does that mean you're going up and trying? I don't know anything about trucks. So you need a bigger truck.

That means he... I need to be able to haul more. To haul more. Oh, so you're actually hauling. You're not just like wanting to show up at the club a little bit louder, a little bit cooler? No. No, yeah. I'm definitely hauling. David, I think you are. Yes, I'm a little bit cooler? No. No, yeah. Not exactly Holland.

David, I think you are. Yes, I'm with you, David. John's not, but I'm with you. No, I'm not. I don't even know what that means. Okay, so my thing is, so you don't want the current truck you have. You can sell it for $28,000, and then you can turn around and pay cash for the actual truck that you want.

Is that what I'm hearing? Correct. Yeah, do that today do it do it well yeah your gas price will double but do it today why would you not what's what's what are you what would what would cause you not to what caused you to even call and ask so i'm a dave ramsey nut basically and other than financing that darn truck um so i mean i've worked really hard to save up thirty four thousand dollars i went today i pulled the 14 out in cash and i almost had a panic attack just looking at it is that your emergency fund dude oh i guess you could i don't know you could consider it my six months. Well, it would definitely last longer than six months.

Yeah, you're going to spot, yes, I would sell the truck, make some profit off of it, take some of your savings, put it together and go buy a truck in cash that you can afford. And then you're going to be even probably past maybe step three at that point with a fully funded emergency fund. Just lock up your emergency fund and never, ever spend it out of it, ever, unless it's an actual emergency. This isn't an emergency. This is something that's going to fit your lifestyle. That's a different thing, right?

Right, and I also have another truck that's just older, a lot more miles. That's what I'm using to work out of. I do a little bit of landscaping and tree work on the side. That thing, it's on its last leg, but I'd like to get rid of this newer one, get another new, well, not new truck at all.

It's a 2005, but another really nice truck that can tow a lot more. It'll be better set up for my lifestyle. Yeah, do it. Do it. Do it. Quit thinking about it. Get it done. Get it done. Get it done.

You got it, David. And then lock up that emergency fund, put it away, and then get on with your life. Yeah, and I think that, and I feel, and we could be different on this, but I'm like,

I kind of feel semi-justified for him using that savings because it's, he has more in it than what he needs for his emergency fund. Right. And he's going to be in a position

where he's getting rid of that truck, pairing some money together for what he needs, and he has the extra margin. So that's great. Great call, David. Thanks for the question. Up next, we have Andrew in Phoenix. Hey, Andrew. Welcome to the show.

Hey, Rachel and John. How's it going? Great. How can we help? Hey, so my wife and I, we're 27 years old. We follow the Ramsey plan, but we have credit cards for the sole purpose of Great. How can we help? Yeah, you're kind of breaking up a little bit, Andrew. So, yeah, so basically what manual underwriting is, is where you don't have a score, and it's not a score of zero. It's basically an undetermined score because you have paid off all of your debt.

You have no debt on record for close to 24 months. A credit score. A credit score. So your credit score will start to lower as you're paying off debt because the way your credit score is calculated mathematically is all around debt. So it's, you know, how much you're paying on your debt, how much new debt you're acquiring, your debt history, all this. So if you stop going into debt and you pay it off, naturally that score is going to lower and it's going to take about 24 months for it to basically get to undetermined, 18 to 24 months. And then from there, when you go and get a mortgage, you do the process called manual underwriting. And that's where the mortgage company actually has to look at you, the person, versus just a credit score,

they look at you. So you have to have really on record an employer for two years to show that you have income, a stable job, and you have to be current on all of your bills. So your cell phone, electricity, so you keep track of all that and to prove that you've paid on time bills for two years and usually those things together maybe some more paperwork it's it definitely is more of a confusing labor intensive process to do manual underwriting versus just a credit score because again when you have a credit score it's a score and it's just you get it or you don't I mean it's that simple where manual underwriting they actually have to look at you, the person. So there's some investigating that they do, but then the mortgage company will literally just underwrite you the mortgage.

They'll just write it themselves basically in a sense. It's always picture it. And you can go through the process. So, um, and if you've ever in the last few years, now's the time, right? Because mortgage companies are not having the years they've had the last few years. Yes. And so if you sit down and say,

I want to do manual unwriting, they'll work with you. Yes. They'll figure it out. And having a good down payment too, Andrew. So when you guys go into purchasing a home, you want to make sure that you're completely debt-free and you have a fully funded emergency fund in the bank.

And then separate from even that savings that you guys have a good down payment. So if you're first time homebuyers, you know, 5% is kind of the low end. If you can get up to 20%, you can avoid PMI and you save some money. And that's ideal. I know that's not the case always for people. But that's kind of the formula we look at and that your mortgage payment is no more than 25% of your take-home pay on a 15-year fixed rate. So if all of that kind of works, Andrew, yeah, then that's what you do. And again, mortgage companies, they still do this process. Some won't.

Like I've talked to people, like, well, I tried with this bank or this, and they said no. So you do have to shop around. Churchill Mortgage is a company nationally that for sure does it. We endorse them because they are some of the top ones that help people get homes without a credit score doing the Ramsey way and what we teach. So it is possible, Andrew. And yeah, that's exciting. It always blows my mind how that conversation never happens. Nobody knows that even exists.

There's an alternative pathway. There's a way to opt out of the system, right? And to still get the home that you want, still do the things that you need to do in your life um just people just don't know yeah don't know yep and andrew too i would encourage you guys just get rid of the credit cards like if the sole purpose was to have them to build up this credit score of a credit score that you don't even really need when you buy a home then get rid of them just don't even have the temptation there yeah i I think back to college, I had a credit card that I just used to pay off everything

till that one month that my reimbursement check came in and my transmission fell out of my little 88-year-old cell hatchback. And I have a check and I have no transmission. So I took that check and I fixed transmission and now I've got a credit card bill. Right. And I never had a bill, but I didn't have the money to pick it up. And all of a sudden, oh, that's how that happens. I was just playing the game. It was always going to be a dollar for dollars. It was never going to happen to me. And then it did. Right. And everyone's like,

well, I just have it just in case there's an emergency, you know, we never use it, but it's just there. And I'm like, okay. And then Christmas sneaks up and you're like, oh, crap. We got to get here here just charge us this one time somebody gets sick and we gotta buy tickets right now yeah we gotta get airline tickets just go ahead and do it you know da da da

life starts happening yes and Visa will get you caught your slack that's right they had a plan so have a plan America are you sick of planned obsolescence you, when companies make products crappy so you have to buy more of their crappy products?

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And Rita in New York is up next. Welcome to the show. Thank you, Rachel and John. How are you? We're doing well. Thanks for calling. What's up, Rita? Fantastic.

Okay. My question is, should I pay off this last debt? So I've been working on my budget. I'm so proud of myself. Thanks for the app that you guys have. We're proud of you too, Rita. Well done. I'm crunching all the numbers. And after I pay this debt, which is a consumer account about $1,600. I'll tell you, in the beginning of the year, I had about $6,000 worth of debt.

It just piled on. I don't even know how I did it. I was working at a retail store making about $17 an hour. But as of last month, I was offered a position making $95,000. Oh, wow. Yes. Doing what?

Rita's a gangster, dude. What are you doing? I'm in insurance. And I want to thank you guys too because I used to be in insurance about 12 years ago. Left that to live a little more. And I've been out of insurance about seven years now. And I was listening to one of the shows, and I don't know what happened,

but you guys were just talking about insurance, umbrellas, this and that. And I was like, is this a sign? I reached out to a buddy who I know is still in the insurance industry. I said, hey, listen, I'm thinking about coming back, and I'm back. Rita, that's amazing. Okay, Rita, so tell me about this debt. Is it handsome? Is it just so lovely?

Like, why do you want to hang on to it so tightly? You know what it is? I think it's a mental thing. I think it's a mental thing. I think it's a mental thing. And in my heart of hearts, I know I can do it. Just pay it off. I did crunch all the numbers, rent, everything.

I'm good. You know what? I think I answered my own question, right? Pay it off. Rita. We're so glad we could help. Are you the first person in your family to go down this road? No, I don't think so.

I think I'm the only one who's taken a stand on it. That's what I mean. That's what I mean. Okay. So here's, I can imagine, this is just a psychological thing. You're about to cross a line that was always in your life for other people. Other people didn't owe money. Other people got to sleep all night and not worry about how their bills were going to get paid. Other people. And now you're about to step over a line that really doesn't exist by the way,

but you're going to step over a line and you're going to become the other person now. And often we get hung up right before that. that's why weight is so hard to lose because man oh those people the skinny people just gets it is hard right and we can fill in the blank oh they drive those kind of cars um so you're about to cross the line and what rachel and i would tell you is don't just step over that line sprint across it screaming and yelling the whole way okay because there is no other people we're all in this big sinking ship together so just run across it as fast as you can cheering all the way okay and you make 95 grand your emergency fund will be built up in what three months you'll be good to go yes Yes. Yes. I already have the $1,000 in there. And I have a retirement fund from my previous job.

I have $130,000. Rita, Rita. You're trying to make this a math problem. You're free, lady. Okay. You're free. You got it, Rita. Do it.

Do it today. Do it today. Done. And then, oh, I just cut her off. I'm got it, Rita. Do it. Do it today. Do it today. Done. And then, oh, I just cut her off. I'm so sorry, Rita. I thought you were going to tell her. Rachel's the hospitable one on the show. No.

But isn't that, it is. You're free. I'm like, it's right there. And it's almost this intimidation of, oh, is this real? Like, is this, what is this? And I get going down to $1,600, which we say $1,000. So you're even $600 buffered more than what we even would say, Rita. No, I think she has her $1,000.

I think when she pays it all, she's still going to have $1,600 in her account. With that, yes. Yeah, yeah. Yes. And so, yeah, you got this, Rita. And well done on pursuing a whole new career. She's working retail, making $18 an hour, and just thinks, oh, I could get back to insurance. How many times do we hear that?

When somebody's getting, when they cross the halfway point of their debt-free journey, they just start walking taller and demanding, like, I don't have to live like this. Yes. And then all of a sudden they get promoted, get new jobs, making $95,000. Start to see hope. Rita, you did it. Well done, Rita. We are cheering you on.

Ha ha. Sleep well tonight, knowing that it's paid off. It's paid off. It's awesome. Only free person in New York. That's awesome, Rita. Oh, my gosh. All right, up next we have Chad here from Nashville.

Awesome. Hey, Chad. Welcome to the show. Hey, thank you guys for your time today. Absolutely. How can we help? So we began our debt journey here about 11 weeks back. It's going phenomenal.

We're on track to be debt free except for mortgage come the end of this January. And one of life's circumstances has just kind of shown up. One of the unique ones where my dad who lives in Michigan, he's 82. And he's no longer able to safely live on his own. Um, and, uh, a combination of the siblings that are up there, um, who are either not willing or able to provide any more help. And he only has a $2,000 a month, um, social security check that he gets. So from what I've looked into assisted living is, is just beyond his means.

Um, with that check, he has nothing, basically nothing in savings. Um, so, um, me and my wife talked about it and with,

uh, her support, we convinced him to come and stay with us to help them okay um and thank you to my beautiful wife for that because she's been amazing i'll i'll personally thank his um remarkable son too because this y'all working hard y'all had a picture of what this was going to look like and all of a sudden that picture's gone and y'all are having to scramble to paint something new like Like, right. You're having to change the oil on this thing while it's driving down the road. And so good for you, man. That's

hard. That's a hard choice. And I'm proud of you, man. It's hard. Thank you. Um, the, so the, the couple, a couple of things I wanted to throw at you guys and get your opinion on there's a couple. So first we were thinking as far as him coming down here um contributing to the household um we're you know we're talking about you know maybe just if he contributed you know just for groceries um out of what he gets three to three hundred dollars for the month for groceries and we're talking about um maybe having him put uh ten thousand dollars aside for his own personal emergency fund. It was kind of the ideas we were tossing around for him and talking with him about. And is this for your motivation for this, Chad?

What's he in an emergency fund for? In case he has to go to the hospital or something? Yeah, general emergencies and if for the day that we hope is still a long ways out, celebration of life, you know, expenses. Okay. So here's the thing, Chad. It's common that when our worlds blow up that we try to solve that explosion through extra means of control.

And what you're doing now is things blew up and your dad's moving in. It wasn't in the plan, but here we are. You're disappointed, your brothers and sisters. Here we are. And now you're starting to rehearse tragedy that might be 5 or 10 or 15 years away. I would recommend get settled. I do love the idea of giving him a role to play financially in the home.

That sounds counterintuitive, but- Gives dignity. Gives dignity, yes. Hey, old man, you're paying rent. You see what I'm saying? Like he's gonna participate, even if it's a little bit, and that will give him some responsibility there.

And then I think you'll have a hard conversation about recommendations and savings and things like that. I don't know, Rachel, it's hard to tell your dad what he's going to do with his money. I know he's living under your roof. This whole thing's flip flopped, but yeah. And getting his, his, his thoughts as well, Chad, having that conversation, it's a dialogue and to say, Hey, let's do this together and figure it out. Cause we both, we all want the same outcome. We want to have a peaceful household. And how can we do that well? But we commend you, Chad, you and your wife both for doing this.

It's very honorable. Get Power of Attorney, too, by the way. សូវាប់ពីបានប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្� This is the Ramsey Show, 888-825-5225. Let's go to Brian in Savannah, Georgia. Let's see here. What's up, Brian? Hey. Hey. What's up, man?

Hey, thanks for taking the call. Of course. What's up, man? Hey, thanks for taking the call. Of course. What's up? How can we help? So my wife is, she's part of a nonprofit, a very small nonprofit. They do Christian counseling. Okay. And she's kind of been tapped for, she's been part of the ministry for four or five years now,

but she's kind of been tapped to kind of take over as a CEO of the nonprofit. The founder, who is the CEO now, is stepping down to basically retire. She's late, you know, late 70s. But anyhow, so as she steps down, the question came up or the request is that she still gets paid a certain amount of money per month, which is actually a pretty big burden. It's less than a $100,000 annual budget, probably, and she's getting somewhere between $2,000 and $2,500 a month. The question is, we're not really sure how you would handle that, her stepping into that. My wife doesn't want to, we want to honor the person, you know, that started the ministry,

but then there's also the burden that it puts on the ministry itself, that it's kind of hand-to-mouth kind of thing. So we just, we wanted some unbiased opinion, I guess, is what we're looking for. What does she want to, why does she think she's entitled to eternal payments? Um. Because she founded it? I guess because she is, yeah,

she's the founder. I mean, she, yeah, she started it. And then I guess that, um, you know,

for her, I guess that's what she, she looks at it as, is kind of like, Hey, I started this. I should continue to be paid, you know, for a while, you know, for her, I guess that's what she looks at it as, is kind of like, hey, I started this. I should continue to be paid, you know, for a while, you know, at least in perpetuity as far as she's concerned. Is this like her retirement, Brian?

Was she banking on this? Like, was that? I don't think it was something she was banking on. I mean, she gets Social Security. I mean, she's had other jobs previously. I mean, this has been her full-time job. This has been the full-time

job for her for probably the past maybe seven or eight years, I guess. And my wife, we've already talked about it. She doesn't expect to get paid at all. It'll be basically because it is Christian counseling.

She gets paid when she counsels people is this done out of a church uh it is not out of a church no sir okay so it has like you'll have rent you pay and all that kind of stuff yes sir so they have rent they have you know yeah they rent offices they have like three or four offices they rent so it's actually grown quite a bit since my wife's been part of it they they sure they have um yeah honestly the non-profit side you know the profit side you sell those you sell the practice to someone you got you know what i'm saying like it's that but the non-profit yeah this whole thing feels gross to me brian i'm just gonna be honest with you um and i'm i'm willing to be wrong here uh so i won't speak on behalf of the Ramsey Company. I'll speak on behalf of John Deloney.

I've worked at nonprofits for the majority of my career, whether it was a university or an educational setting or when I was in college at a church, right? Yes, sir. In all of those places, I was on call 24-7, 365. I showed up at hospitals. I helped design and build buildings with architects and engineering. To expect to then leave and just get paid on work I'm not doing anymore just because I founded a program or started this. That to me sounds insane. If I'm doing a job that has

intellectual property rights to it or I'm running a business that is not propped up by the nonprofit status that I don't have to pay taxes on, and I get all these different cuts all over the place, and I'm owning all of the risk here, and then I'm going to sell that? That's one thing. Yes, sir. Somebody is saying, okay, it's time for me to retire. It's time for me to resign. Then it's time for you to retire, and it's time for me to retire. It's time for me to resign. Then it's time for you to retire and it's time for you to resign. I'm just thinking here, I couldn't, I can't imagine myself leaving and be like, hey, Dave, how about you just pay me a salary for the rest of my life?

That just seems bizarre. But it seems equally bizarre to call back old universities I worked for and say, hey, you should give me something. She did found it. She did help people out. She's probably benefited from people working for less than market rate for a long time because they've got great hearts. She's probably benefited from the nonprofit stat, all the stuff.

And that doesn't undermine how much work she is. But this is not about personal ownership or intellectual property. This is about I've been trying to help people for a long time. I want to keep helping people for a long time. And now I'm passing that helping baton on to somebody else and so I don't feel good about it yeah and that's kind of where we were at just because it's it's pretty heavy burden you know a quarter of your budget kind of goes to that yeah which makes me sad for her where I'm like her legacy if she goes through with this can't even be propped up well because I'm taking the

money out of out of the counseling center for my own good and you kid they can barely make payments on rent and salary and stuff so from a mathematical standpoint it's like she's driving her own thing into the ground which makes no sense either so and let's let's be honest about two things okay one she probably I want to I want to think through her side of this i want to be empathetic i can't imagine that she has put heart blood sweat and tears into this thing for years and this is a big part of her identity and this may be a way less less she has to have the money and more she wants to stay connected because this thing is part of her and that's hard right so maybe having some way to honor her in the right so maybe having some way to

honor her in the community get the paper some way to honor her will be i think would be worth this i mean it would be right the other thing is this you can't control what she goes and does after you say we're not going to continue to fund we're not going to continue to pay you she can go out and trash you she can go out and trash all she can go out and say mean things about you she can try to close the non-profit down then before she she can try to do any number of things she might be able to close it down as the as the ceo who's leaving she might be able to shut the whole thing down just cancel it y'all have to be prepared for here's what could happen and don't be surprised by it and don't don't let your boundaries waver

because of the loud volume and the screaming and the yelling or whatever might happen or the name calling or the mean emails or whatever does that make sense oh yeah yeah of course yeah i appreciate you guys all right hey thanks for that good luck moving forward that one's that one's tough that one's tough man oh man all right let's go to uh chester in washington dc hey chester we're up against the clock uh what's up man yeah so uh thank you guys for having me i do appreciate it very much so um let's see where i start okay so i'm about if you count student debt uh car debt, well, one car debt, every debt, I guess, combined equals about, I guess, $125,000. Okay.

And currently, I'm a congressional staffer. I'm not a staffer, intern, right? But you are on staff. And my wife works at Cracker Barrel and recently we've been presented with an opportunity from a church that is uh near us to be directors of a program they have that is basically um it helps people who who are homeless of course there's a thorough background check so it's not like violent criminals or or any of that that are allowed but they give them a place to stay, and it also helps them find work and then gives them a spiritual foundation to send them back into the world so they don't fail.

Are they going to pay you real money, Chester? $4,000 a month, yes, sir. What does your congressional intern pay you besides a high five? Oh, Jesus. $1,500 a month. That's right, yes. I would make the move. Yes, sir. But one thing, they're also going to provide us a place to live, not with the people, but it's like our own place to live.

I'd make the move. With all amenities paid. Get your debt paid off. That's awesome. Yeah, get your debt paid off. What's the hesitation, Chester? Ma'am? What's the hesitation?

Just, I don't know. Honestly, ma? Just, I don't know. Honestly, ma'am, I don't know. My wife, I guess she's a lot more spiritually in tune than me, and she feels like it's a God thing. And I guess I'm starting to feel the way, too. So I guess it scares me a little bit. How old are you guys? I'm 27.

She is 22. Do you want to do this, Chester? Like with your life? Does this sound... I love helping people. That's why... That sounds crazy, but that's why I... That's not crazy at all.

We do too. This is my wife's dream as well. Yeah. To do something like this. I think it's great, Chester. I think it's great. I think you guys, both young in their 20s, change is weird, change is hard, change is scary, but it's great. I think you guys, both young in their 20s, change is weird, change is hard,

change is scary, but it sounds solid. The math works out well. Better in your favor. Better in your favor. And you guys can do something you love together. You don't have to be a 27-year-old intern anymore. Go for it, man. Go for it, Chester. You got it. You got it. This is The Ramsey Show. If you want to do your debt-free scream live on the show, visit ramsaysolutions.com slash debtfreescream. We'd love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story.

That's ramsaysolutions.com slash debtffree screen. We'd love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story. That's ramsaysolutions.com slash debt-free screen.