The Ramsey Show - App - Should We Borrow Money From Family at 0% Interest? (Hour 2)

Episode Date: January 27, 2023

Dr. John Delony & Rachel Cruze discuss: "Should we borrow money from family at 0% interest?" How to use money from a settlement, "Should we pay off debt or wait to see what we owe on taxes?" Piling up cash when expecting a baby, Which to pay off first: student loans or mortgage, John & Rachel react to Sebastian Ghiorghiu's viral video. 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

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Pods Moving and Storage Studio, it's The Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your money and your marriage and your work and your life. I'm Dr. John Deloney, joined here by Rachel Cruz, bestselling author and great human being. And we're taking your call to really just about anything. The call is toll free and that's about what the advice is worth, but we're here for you. 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. All right, let's go to the question of the day, Rachel.

Today's question comes from Samuel in Georgia. Yes, so Samuel says, we just bought a $330,000 house knowing it needed some updating. We got quotes for a $200,000 remodel if we did an addition and updated every inch of the house inside and out. We have $180,000 in the bank currently,

but have a family member willing to give us a $50,000 loan interest-free. Our income is roughly $6,800 a month. If we budget and don't spend money on anything outside of bills and groceries, our expenses would be around $5,000 a month. I don't feel good about spending that much, but just curious what you guys think about an interest-free loan helping make it a dream home.

What a nice little spin there at the end. So good. So good, Samuel. Oh, Samuel, I want to give you a hug, buddy. Let's hug. Samuel. Okay, just short answer, Samuel, no. Yeah, don't do that.

No. I mean, I understand mathematically, you're like oh there's no interest that seems like a good deal but when you involve debt period into your life it changes the equation and then on top of that it's not a bank you're borrowing from some big building it's a family member which honestly feels like it feels worse oh dude because every every every dinner every every Sunday afternoon dinner, he's going to look over and be like,

first he took my daughter, and now he gives me $50,000. Or you're going to buy a new rake, and he's going to be like, I know that's it too. Oh, huh. I thought you were going to pay me my money back. I thought you owed me some money. And it's like, yeah, he's your bank then, whoever the family member is.

It's just weird. I got a new opportunity to take a job, a new job. You need to stay where you are. I need my money. I need to get you, I need your payment.

Dude, it's just, and even with like, no, there's gonna be no strings attached. You just do your thing. It rarely works out. Don't, don't, don't, don't. So, so I would not say

no. So if I were you guys, you're saying it would be an addition and updating every inch so pull back the bid I mean I would say okay let's just do the downstairs for now maybe one or two bathrooms upstairs which won't be 200,000 maybe 100,000 and you have that in the bank go ahead and start it and do a little bit at a time or wait and save up until you guys have the cash

which which is going to be months from now, and do it then. But no, I would not take the loan. I would go at the speed of cash when you guys have the cash to do it. And just, I'd say simmer down, Samuel. I feel like there's this lifestyle level that everyone expects to have, and it's not necessary.

And we sacrifice our mental health john our sleep at night our peace to go and just acquire stuff in the name of just having that new house and when you drain your account when you go into debt for this kind of stuff it's not worth the trade-off right Right. Just to have stuff and then you're stressed and you're having to go to a job that you hate to pay the bills, I mean, all of it. So- We were just talking off air and Winston was in here earlier.

And Winston is, I've been talking to him about a particular truck that I was into and he likes the same kind of truck and we were talking about it, talking about it. And my wife and I made an agreement that if we hit a financial milestone at Christmas, that the next big purchase for us would be getting me a car finally. I got my car.

It's not great. And I found myself getting insane. Like I was waking up in the morning, and I was scrolling the things, and I was emailing guys, hey, can you see if you can find this? And I was checking in with Winston, and he's like, dude, just be a grown-up and get the car. And then I realized this fervor is the absolute worst time to buy anything so i just stopped and he just came out and goes hey did you get the truck and i was like i'm just waiting at least a month probably two maybe even four or five

and when i when i did that everything went my angst anxiety left i just it was it was just it was just chill out i'm only going to make purchases, especially of a new truck, which evidently they're pressed in platinum and gold. They're so expensive. Or a $100,000 or $200,000 remodel. Only do that when you can just plop right down in bed at night and go right to sleep.

Yes, yes. And if you owe your father-in-law or mother-in-law or dad or uncle money, I'm telling you, you're not going to sleep, yep. And if you owe your father-in-law or mother-in-law or dad or uncle money, I'm telling you, you're not gonna sleep, man. No matter how good they say the interest is. You're just not. Yep, that's right, that's right. So Samuel, nope, move at the speed of cash.

Take your time. You're okay. Everything's fine. There's no rush in this. No one's making you do this either. You know what? I know we need to move on, but I really like what you just said about

do one bathroom at a time or just do the downstairs. I bet you, as you get into this project, what you want to do to that house will change and it will morph and, oh, y'all did this. So what if we, and if you do it as you, as you do, if you pay for project by project, they're going to tell you it'd be way cheaper if you just did all right now. Fine. Then I'll find somebody else who will meet this bid and they'll take care of it. But I like the idea of doing it project by project instead of just getting mowed down your whole house and basically starting over.

Yeah. And if you said, you know, I have a million bucks. Can I take 200 and go? I'd be like, yeah, go. You know what I mean? Like it's all, it's about the math. It's the money here. And so the ratios, yeah, it's just not worth it not worth it right now all right let's go to melissa

and san luis obispo what's up let's see here do we have um all right let's do it let's uh melissa what's up this is right up against the clock so get right to your question yeah i'm working two jobs aggressively paying off student loans. And I was recently in an auto accident, totaling my vehicle. Oh gosh, I'm sorry. Yeah, I'll receive $21,000 in settlement this coming week. And my question is, in purchasing a new vehicle, does it make sense to spend that settlement amount, invest more money from my emergency fund, or spend less money in order to put some of that settlement amount, invest more money from my emergency fund, or spend less money in order to put some of that settlement amount towards my student loans. Great question. How much student

loans do you have left? So I have $80,000 remaining and currently under interest-free forbearance when interest begins again. My rates are anywhere from 4.5 to 7.5 percent. For the past year, I've been making payments of $30,000 or more from 4.5 to 7.5 percent. For the past year, I've been making payments of $30,000 or more per month. Good for you. How much do you make a year? I make $100,000 in my full-time job and approximately $20,000 a year in my weekend side hustle. Good for you. Can I ask you a question, Melissa? Yes. You know what you want to do. What do you want to do? So because of maintaining these two jobs and long commutes, and I also happen to be in a romantic relationship in which we're four hours apart, about 500 miles twice a month.

And my hobbies are mountain activities in which four wheel drive is necessary. I lean towards spending the entire 21,000 again on another reliable fund vehicle or even investing maybe up to $5,000 more. But I'm not sure which will bring me more long-term happiness. Do you want to do that or put more money towards my loan? You're going to hate what I'm about to say, Melissa. Yeah. You ready? You're broke. You owe $80,000 to the government. If I were you, I would spend $5,000 on a good Camry or a Honda Accord, and I would put the rest of that money towards my debt,

and I would use that as an incentive jet fuel to pay that stuff off as quick as possible so I can get the car that I actually want to live the life I actually want to live. Right now, you can't live the life you want because you owe the government money. Knock it out, knock it out, knock it out. We'll be right back on The Ramsey Show. Hey, you guys. Health insurance costs are only moving one way, and that way isn't down.

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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 budgets. That's chministries.org slash budgets. Hey, what's up? This is The Ramsey Show. I'm John Deloney, joined here by Rachel Cruz, 888-825-5225, taking your calls on money and on life.

Let's go out to Abby in Omaha. What's up, Abby? Hello, John and Rachel. How are you? Remarkable. How are you? Great. Thank you.

I just had a quick tax question. My husband pulled out some money from a Roth IRA that he had from a previous job last year. And we are working baby step number two. We just bought fpu um and so we have money in savings but we are trying to figure out what the best plan is of do we use that money that we have in savings to go ahead and just you know push us forward on our snowball or do we hold on to it and just kind of see um for a couple months and see what what's going to happen with our taxes. How much did you guys pull out of the Roth? He pulled 50.

Why? You keep saying he. He did this. Why did he do that, Abby? Yes, he did. Well, he was kind of concerned about, you know, the crash and losing it. So he initially rolled it into a gold Roth iron and then he pulled the gold what a box of farts on a stick that's like yeah I can't believe

you did that we usually get a tax refund back um how much you guys make a year? I know. Combined, it's about $140. Okay. Listen, you need to have a hard conversation with him and just look him in the eye, hold both of his hands. Put YouTube down. Put the internets down. Take his phone away. It was a topic of many discussions.

Yeah, it was a topic of many discussions so but it was i i say he because um we agree to disagree i guess so but i just you didn't understand that it's all coming down abby abby i did it's all coming down he's being facetious I'm just being an idiot. That's okay. I totally understand his desire to be prepared and we have two little kids at home and so he just wanted to make sure that we were going to be okay. How much do you guys have in savings?

Abby, how much do you guys have in savings? $20,000. So it's like, okay, well, we usually get a tax refund back. I'm expecting to have to pay in. I'm not really sure how much that's going to be. He wants to wait and hold on to what we have in savings until we see how much we're going to have to pay in.

I want to put like half of that down and kind of... How much debt do you guys have? Right now, about 85. What's it in? Various things, small personal loans, credit cards in one vehicle. Okay. I mean, yeah, you could get with a tax professional and look and see, okay, what are the taxes we're going to owe in their tax bracket? What are the fees associated with this, right?

And kind of get that estimate. I mean, you're going to know here soon of what you're going to owe. So, yeah, you don't want to, I would not recommend taking this 20 and just throwing it at the debt right now. I want you to have an emergency fund and IRS when it comes to paying the government. That's top, right? So that knowing that you're going to have that tax bill coming up is huge. So yeah, if you guys can get any kind of estimate on what your refund is going to be, tax bill coming up is huge. So yeah, if you guys can get any kind of estimate on what your refund is going to be,

what the taxes will be on taking this out, and then kind of look and see, okay, you can make a move from there, or you can pause, save up a bunch, and when you guys kind of clear tax season, then go and throw the rest at your debt. And I want to, there's some wisdom underneath what Rachel is saying. And I want to make sure you get it because you need it.

Your husband needs it. All of us need it. Okay. Back in 2010, when the market was bananas and I was not well, I was an anxious, anxious mess. I was like a beautiful mind. I'd come up with all these spreadsheets about how the next housing market was going to collapse. They're going to have to nationalize housing. It was going to be a big thing. I had this whole thing lined up. Yeah. And before I had a whole plan. I was going to cash out on my retirement.

I was going to take the hit. I was going to do this. I was going to do this. I was going to do this. And thankfully, I went and sat with a buddy who worked at a bank. And then I sat with another buddy who was, admittedly, I was privileged to have this relationship, but he was a close friend, but he was the CFO of a large company. I walked through my whole crazy plan and both of them said, I'm not certain about what you're doing here. And they're just being gentle with me, but they said,

don't cash out anything. Whatever you do, don't do that. And I listened to them because they had this thing that I didn't have, which was information and wisdom. And I'll tell you, you're struggling with the tax. I don't know what we're going to owe. Should we pay all this debt? What you need is information and wisdom. And Rachel was so wise to tell you, call a tax professional today. Don't sit there and just spin out on, I don't know, what should we do? I don't know. Just hire somebody, go get an accountant. Some of the best money you will spend in your life is to get a tax professional with you. And does that make sense? You're going to get some very clear information about what your next steps will be. Yeah. And we actually reached out to one that we found through your website,

instead of using the same lady that we worked the last couple of years. Um, so we did reach out to one of your guys's trusted tax professionals. And so kind of gave him a rundown of, um, what we had going on. And so he said he was going to look into tax law and everything for the last couple of years and just kind of see what would benefit us the most. But my husband was like, well, let's wait. And then I was like, well, let's, can we use at least half? My assumption is we're not going to have to use all of that. I would wait. I do not want to owe the government money.

That's what I would do. Yeah, for sure. And then you guys need to have the discipline, Abby, because you got $85K in credit cards. You guys have just been all over the place. And that's not to shame you, but it's like we got we gotta we gotta straighten this up right we're pulling money out of the market we're we're in this mess and so you guys together need a really solid plan and i mean like i would go detailed detailed and to say okay we need an answer from our tax professional by uh february 20th on february you know um 28th i was gonna say february 30th fe On February 28th, I was going to say February 30th, February 28th, we're going to

be putting money here, there, and there. I want it down to the dates, and I want you guys having a plan that is so shored up that you can look down and see on a sheet of paper, this is exactly what's going to happen. These are the dominoes that are going to fall. And we know exactly what we're doing to knock out this debt. You guys make great money. And to budget. Have you guys gone through Financial Peace University? I just bought it, actually. Okay, great.

I just bought it. Sit down together and do that. Yep, I think that's great. And do a budget, maybe for the first time ever. Do every dollar. But you guys, you know, you have been scattered is what it feels like. And so I'm glad you called because I'm like, I really want you guys to make progress. Because you can.

You know, you guys are smart. You're smart. You can do this. We are, you know, I'm trying to work extra hours on my job. And then he's also took on a second weekend job. Awesome. Awesome. You're ready for it. Yeah. We're taking all those steps and we know that it's going to be a short-term sacrifice, a long-term gain. And so that's what we're doing. I just, one tax

question I had, and so now we're going to fuck her down and get gazelle and tent. That's right. Excellent. I love it, Abby. So John, this has been really a common thing this is you know we did our building wealth events around investing because this time last year it was like the real estate market people were freaking out and now it's this market and we cannot stress enough you guys i don't care how much the news is barking at you i don't care what your family is saying on Facebook. People that are wealthy, long term, that actually build real wealth, not like this flash in a pan, but long term, stable wealth. One of the second thing that they say is most important out of our millionaire study is investing consistently, regardless of what the market is doing. Warren Buffett says to be greedy

when people are fearful and be fearful when people are greedy. And greedy is not a great word, but it's a powerful metaphor because when people are jumping on like crypto and all these new things and they're like, get in, get in, get in, get in, be cautious. And then when people are freaking out, that's when you get in because you guys, when the market is down, it's on sale and people that build wealth, they are in it consistently. And when it starts going up again, which it will, we believe in the American economy enough to know that it will, they make all those gains as it's going up. They make all that money and everyone sitting on the sidelines tries to jump in then when it's going up. So wealthy people stay in consistently, you guys. Stay in the market. Don't cash out. Don't

slow down your investments. If you are out of debt with a fully funded emergency fund you find that 15% we're doing Roth IRAs right now I just signed the DocuSign literally today I'm like we're invest invest invest invest yeah we've upped our investment too in our house you know the feeling. You've been on a few awesome dates with a person. Things are getting a little more serious. And suddenly your brain stops working. You can't figure out what to talk about next.

And then you all sit there and just stare at your phones. And then you order another appetizer and things get weird. And then you bring up your stepmom or something and the whole thing just falls apart and things get stupid and awkward so fast. Listen, deeper relationships happen when you have real in-person conversations. I saw the phrase Rachel the other day, digital intimacy. I just got hemorrhoids. I just insta-hemorrhoids. I just almost died. Listen, deeper relationships happen when you have real in-person conversations

and get to know the humans behind the profiles. The ones, or if you're already with somebody long-term, like they're sitting right there on the couch next to you. That's why I created Questions for Humans. You're going to spend time laughing together, learning something unexpected about each other. I've been married for more than 20 years. sheila and i were coming up with these questions like my wife and i were you know we were doing the questions back and forth i found out stuff

about her that i did not know really and it was weird it was super weird who have i been married to for real um you're going to learn unexpected things. You're going to build deeper and stronger relationships like humans together in a room. Not like weirdos or robots. Not even like Chad GPT. It's just, listen, it's just humans talking to people. And while you're working on building your relationships, maybe you also need help with other things holding you back from your goals.

You can pick up my latest book, Own Your Past, Change Your Future, and learn steps to how to deal with old hurts and ask yourself that terrifying question. What are we going to do next? All right, so go to ramsaysolutions.com to get questions for humans and own your past, change your future today. All right, let's go to Janelle in Tacoma, Washington.

What's up, Janelle? Hi. What's up, Janelle? Hi. What's up? Not a whole lot. I'm doing pretty well. How are you guys? Excellent, excellent. So what's up?

How can we help? So I kind of have a... We paused the baby step because we found out that we were pregnant. Yay! All right! Congratulations. Yeah, so we were starting on baby step 3B.

We completed 3 in October, and so we've been piling up money. And I find myself feeling like I want to keep moving forward, but we're in a pause. And so I just kind of want to make sure that we're doing things kind of in the right order, I guess. Yeah, that's a great question. We usually, honestly, Janelle, say to pause baby steps one through three. So you guys are on 3B. So, I mean, if you want to just keep, you're going to keep piling up money, do you have

the cash for the down payment in 3B? Not yet. No, that's where we were starting. We were starting to save that up. Okay, perfect. So either way, you're just saving money, right? You could quote unquote say we're pausing and just piling up money, but also you're not going to probably get your down payment

in the next few months, right probably not it'll be after the baby comes is when mathematically the baby comes perfect so either way it's just you're just naming it something different right so you quote unquote say we're pausing and just piling up money or you could just say we're just piling up money for baby step 3b which is what you're doing okay does that make sense yeah i guess so because way, you're pulling up money. You can rob from the 3B fund if it gets to it, right? Yeah, yeah. If something happens and you need some extra cash, yes.

Yes, you could take from the 3B fund for sure. And for everybody listening. It's okay to label it as 3B. Yes, yes. You're doing great. Janelle, you are awesome. When do you do? I'm due in June.

Awesome. What number is this for you guys? This is our first. Oh, congratulations. I was about to say, this has to be your first because it's like, what do we label the envelope? We're like super planners, both me and my husband. He's more of the geek, but it's nice. That's so great.

So great. more of the geek but it's nice that's so great hey the beautiful thing about having a kid is for super planners is you get to learn how your plans don't matter kids don't care about your plans when you think you have control over life have a kid you can be like wow i really don't and if you think you i remember when hank was hank was born after after about three or four years. My arrogance was so insane. I told my wife, I was like, what are we doing? We're amazing at parents. Everyone else is terrible.

Everyone else is like sucks at this. And then the second one came. And then Josephine shows up. And I was like, I don't know what we're doing. Like this is, I don't. Oh, our first, Amelia. I think I was like, should I write a parenting book? told i told my wife i was like why are we why are we professors this we should just write our books and go on the road to be about a parent we're so good at this

and then number two which i can say i'm the number two of the family i am too so we can we can we can speak for those middle kids oh man i know so i was wrong all right let's go to craig and west palm beach oh yeah craig we're coming to you but real quick for the listeners out there so yes when you're doing the baby steps we do say pause your debt snowball if you're paying off debt and you have a big life change whether it's a big move a job change you're pregnant anything like that you can pause your debt snowball and pile up cash to make sure you have a good big pile of cash in the bank for those big transitions. And then after it happens, you know, after you have the baby, mom's home, baby's home,

everyone's good. Press play, take that cash and throw it at the debt snowball. So that's what Janelle was, that's what she was asking. All right. Now we'll go to Craig in West Palm Beach. What's up, Craig? How we doing? Hey, how you doing? Good, good, good. What's up? So I've got, we have a mortgage at 3% fixed. There's about 123,000 left on it. And I also have student loans of about 49,000 locked in at 1.75%. And we're, my wife and I make about 160 total. And so I noticed that we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're salarying out, I guess, or whatever you want to say with the taxes, the tax benefit of, you know, deductible interest for the student loans. And I'm wondering what is smarter to put any extra money that I can sign toward to try and pay down or does it matter? I would take the, my notes and my spreadsheets on

the interest rate differentials, and I would flush them down the toilet. Okay. I would not look at that one more time. I would just simply look at, I owe the government money. I need to get that paid off. And then I've got to pay my house off. I've got to get an emergency fund, and I'm going to pay my house off.

And with the money you guys make. We've got some emergency fund. How much do you have in the new roof? How much do you have in that? Well, we don't have the new roof yet. It's got to come up. And we're getting estimates around $30,000. How much is in your emergency fund?

We're doing okay. We've probably got about, well, honestly, like $35,000, $40,000. Okay. But we've been saving very hard because we knew the new roof was going to be a problem you know it's florida being the homeowner's insurance and everything just went up too so yeah of course we're we're kind of okay ish um this one's going to hurt yeah and we'll we'll start saving again but i just want to know like i've got to do something my my daughter's 14 and she's going to be going to college pretty soon. We're going to have to do that, and we can't afford to have all of this.

Yeah, so is the student loan, is that the only other debt you guys have? Yeah, cars are paid off. Great. No credit cards. So yeah, we always kind of lump in consumer debt to paying that off first, and then after the roof is gone, I would bump up your emergency fund to three to six months of expenses. And then are you guys saving for retirement? Yeah. Yeah, we are saving. We do the Roth IRA. I don't think I put anything in last year.

Okay. Well, I would pause that, Craig. Yeah, just pause for a year or two, or not even a year. I mean, just a year probably. You'll get this $49,000 paid off quick if you guys really take your income and say, hey, we're going to live on nothing and put all of it towards the student loan. Pause retirement. Pause everything until the student loan is knocked out.

Once it's knocked out, then that's when you bump up that emergency fund and then press play on your investments and say, okay, yeah, we're going to go back to invest 15% of our income into retirement. And then your daughter's college comes next after that. So that's the order. That's called the baby steps. If you hold on the line, Jenna will pick up and we're going to give you guys a membership to Financial Peace University

for a year. And this is a great class to go through. Craig, are you married? I am. Yes. Great. Perfect. Okay. So you and your wife sit down and go through. Craig, are you married? I am, yes. Great. 24 years. Perfect. Okay, so you and your wife sit down and go through this class because in a two-minute radio call,

we can only just give you that information really quickly. But I want you guys to absorb this because it's a proven plan that walks, you guys are perfect for it because it's exactly everything you're wanting to do and doing it in the right order with the goal of, at the end, being debt-free, controlling your money money and building wealth and being generous. And the quickest way from

point A to point B to do that is the baby steps. And so you'll learn all of that in Financial Peace University. So thanks for calling. All right, we'll be right back right here on The Ramsey Show. Субтитры подогнал «Симон» This is The Ramsey Show. I'm John Deloney, joined here by bestselling author Rachel Cruz. Give us a call at 888-825-5225. All right, Rachel. I know you know this because we talk about this off air a lot. I am a huge consumer of TikTok and YouTube,

particularly viral videos. You love viral videos. I love TikTok sensations. And so there's one making the rounds right now with Sebastian Georgiou. Georgiou, that's right. 25-year-old finance YouTuber. Just that phrase.

That phrase didn't exist like three years ago into all of human history. A 25-year-old finance YouTuber told his followers they should be able to easily afford a $200,000 car. He called it literally pocket change. We have a clip for it. We're going to show the clip? Okay, let's show the clip. Do we have the clip? Let's roll it. If you're a guy in your 20s and you don't have a Lamborghini, you should actually sit down

and have like a serious discussion with yourself as to why you don't have a Lambo. Yep. Because I realize now that it's so incredibly easy and there's so much money out there and 200 grand relative to what is out there in circulation and what you can grab, especially now with AI tools that you can leverage like never before. 200 grand is chump change. 200 grand is chump change, which as you can imagine, he's just gotten blasted for being a privileged whatever whatever whatever turns out his um parents immigrated to this country when he when they were teenagers he was raised in a very low income and worked at taco bell he is literally

if his if his story is to be believed earned this money yeah so yeah self-made and literally started from nothing and probably in the tech world you know whatever he's doing job wise i don't even know um yeah has made this okay so i have like just polar opposite reactions in my head because at first i'm like dude like who what no yeah like that's no no that's not chump change. Like $200,000. Because you look at what the average American spends. I mean, we deal with, you know, everyday people on the show. And it's like, man, you know, they're living paycheck to paycheck and all of it.

Household incomes of $60,000 to $70,000. Yeah, that's like my first reaction. But then you hear a story and you're like, man, you know, immigrants that come to this country, they say, you know, build wealth, and I don't have the stat right, but I think it's like five times faster if they come legally versus just someone that's born here in the States. Because that's the other argument.

I'm like, okay. So he sees opportunity. He sees it everywhere. And he's like, how could you not be making so much money? Because there is so much out there to be made. And there's so much opportunity. Of course, you're going to be making a ton because you can, right? Like that's his mindset.

So when I worked at the universities for all those years, my international students, I would always do sessions and we would hang out, we'd have lunch together and they were part of my classes. It was always amazing to me how my international students that came in, they were so wide-eyed with opportunity. They just saw it everywhere. It was wild. And they inspired me. I remember 10, 15 years ago, you're missing this whole thing, right? You are so focused on getting this one job with this one salary

so that you can meet some sort of internal. And I was just missing opportunity after opportunity after opportunity after opportunity. And so it really, it inspired me years ago that they just gave me a new set of glasses with which to see the world. And so I see this and you got a guy whose parents immigrated over here as teenagers,

grew up with almost nothing. And now, yes, I would tell him if he was my friend, don't say that out loud, right? I know, I know. Don't say that out loud. I sound like a tool. You sound like an idiot. But also, man, if you were able to sit down and see the world and say, there's so much opportunity.

Get up and go find the opportunity. Go make it happen. Go make it happen. Go make it happen. It's inspiring. I mean, in that sense, right? And again, I hate that Lambeau was his example. I wish it was like, go get a $200,000 house.

Or like, you know what I mean? Something that feels a little bit. Go give $200,000 away. But the sentiment is interesting. get a $200,000 house or like, you know what I mean? Something that feels a little bit. Go give $200,000 away, but it's, it's, it's, yeah. The sentiment is, is interesting. I mean, it is, it's inspiring. I mean, when you think about it that way, you're like, man, what else can I be doing? But I think too, we can get in that mindset of like, just pilot money, pilot money, pilot

money, make more, make more, make more, make more, make more. But there is more to life than just that equation, right? And so all that plays in as well. So there's many different angles to this. I think this kind of story for me is as important as somebody like Cam Haines or David Goggins, somebody who's running marathons every day or running 200-mile races, whatever. The average person's not going to do that. But when you have these pace setters out there who are doing these amazing things,

it makes me, when I want to skip my 30 minute workout or my 60 minute workout in the morning, because I don't feel like it or I'm too tired. I can't today. Yeah, I can. Yeah. You know what I mean? Right. I just can't get ahead.

It's just too hard. I just can't find the job. Yeah, you can. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah, right, right. I just can't get ahead. It's just too hard. I just can't find the job. Yeah, you can, right? There is opportunity somewhere and it might be doing stuff you don't like, like working at Taco Bell. I spent four years at Burger King. Like it's not my,

it wasn't my dream job. Yeah. Man, I learned a lot of great lessons and learned how to love and take care of people even while asking them, would you like fries with that, right? And so, yeah, it just reminds me of that abundance,

scarcity mindset, man. It's just everywhere. And if you change that mindset, it does have, it doesn't solve your problems. Money doesn't go in your bank account, but you begin to look at the world a little bit. What is it, Henry Ford? If you think you can, if you think you can't. You can.

You can. Or it is what it is, right? So like what you believe, you know know does have fruition in your life i mean there is power to that so you gotta go make it happen so yeah that's great anyway sebastian just in the future just don't get on the internets and tell people that $200,000 pocket change and thank you for inspiring us to see the world a little bit differently that there's opportunity everywhere um all right let's go to Zach in Shreveport. What's up, Zach? Hey guys. Thanks for taking my call. You got it. What's up, dude?

Hey, so I'll start with my question. Um, and then I'll give you a little bit of background. Uh, so my main question is, am I putting too much money towards baby step six? Um, so, uh, me and my wife, uh, we combined after taxes make about one, a year. Our mortgage, so we're completely debt free. So we're four, five and six right now. And our mortgage is about $1,700 a month. And only about $300 of that, $400 of that is going towards principal every month. So I've been trying to put as much money as I can towards the mortgage, you know, anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000 extra a month. So I've been trying to put as much money as I can towards the mortgage, you know, anywhere from three to $5,000 extra a month. And so my question is, you know, should I be kind of not putting that all towards that and putting it maybe a little bit more towards, you know, something like fun money or, you know, maybe upgrading my wife's car in the next year or so um probably all the above zach i mean in a way so are you guys

i mean we say baby steps four through six is kind of just that like okay yeah you can take your foot off the gas and just breathe a little bit and that's when margin comes back in um and but i also think it's very dependent on the couple's personality there are some couples with me and they're like, I don't need any lifestyle. I don't need to up my lifestyle at all. Like we're good. We could still just live how we're living and throw extra at the house,

get it paid off crazy soon. And we're happy with that. Some people are like, oh, thank God. I'm out of baby step three. And like, finally, we get to plan a vacation and enjoy life and we'll pay down the mortgage and we're working on that. So where would you guys be on that spectrum, Zach? Just as a, from a personal note, you and your wife? Yeah, I'd say we're kind of in between. I think I was always kind of, you know,

wanting to buy new things until I actually found you guys. I sold my Camaro and so I've totally changed my outlook on money. And I think my wife is very much on board. And so, you know, we live well below our means. But, you know, I want to be able to put money toward the car. But I guess maybe it's an emotional and mental thing inside of me that's, you know, seeing $1,000 every month going towards interest on the mortgage. And it just kills me. Yeah, I hear that totally. Is the car, is it needing to be replaced? Or you guys just want to upgrade because you can? Yeah, so, I mean, she's got a Prius, so it's, I mean, it's got 170,000 miles on it. So it's, you know, it's getting up there, but it's still running great.

So, you know, eventually we'll want to upgrade her car, and we're actually putting money into a super fund specifically for that. Well, Zach, from what I got with the math, you could have this paid off in 18 months. Yeah, you're pretty quick. So I would just go ahead and pay it off, do what you're doing, and then go back and say,

hey, let's replace the car and everything after the mortgage is paid off. Either way, you're good, but you can do it. Yeah, I'm weird about debt. So anyway.

Hey, this is another Hour in the Books. Thank you, Rachel. Thank you guys in the booth. And thank you, Jenna. Hey, thank you, America, for listening. We'll be right back on The Ramsey Show.

Hey, it's Rachel Cruz. If you love the show and want a deeper dive on your money journey, we have a weekly newsletter that gives you trending and helpful articles and tips on following the Ramsey way. Just go to ramseysolutions.com today to sign up for our newsletter. Again, that's ramsesolutions.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.