The Ramsey Show - App - The Best Gift You Can Give to Your Family Is Financial Peace (Hour 3)

Episode Date: February 22, 2024

МУЗЫКАЛЬНАЯ ЗАСТАВКА Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this is The Ramsey Show. It's where we help you win in your life. And we're going to help you win with your money, in your relationships, and at work. 888-825-5225 is the phone number. I'm Ken Coleman. Dr. John Deloney is with me, and we're excited that you are here. Let's get right to it. Shamula is joining us in Black River Falls, Wisconsin. Sounds like a lovely place to be from. Shamula, how can we help?

So I just did my taxes, and it kind of got me into looking at my finances. So I have $9,500 in debt currently, just paid off one in collections. And I have a savings of like $9,184. That's liquid. But I'm just kind of scared to pull the trigger because that's mostly all of my savings. What do you mean mostly all? Is there more than the $91,084? Yes and no. Me and my husband saved my daughter's child tax credit over the last two years so she has $7,500. Why do you think that that's her money not her money yeah because I want to set her up for the greatest future I can and don't owe anybody any money how about fixing your money first yeah but then I'd still have that in my account if I paid off our debt.

Okay, let's just run the numbers. You got $9,500 in debt. You got a savings of $9,184. So our baby steps would say, baby step one is you save $1,000. Okay? The $9,184 now goes down to just $1,000. You with me? Yep.

So $8,184 is going to go over to the $9,500. And then we're going to go get the $7,000 that you think is your daughter's money. And we're going to take what... You understand what I'm saying? And we're going to take the money and we're going to pay that off. We're going to pay the $9,500 off today. Like when we hang up the phone. You're like...

Listen, you are the actual conversation they have on the airplane. Like, the oxygen masks have fallen and you're trying to get one on your daughter's face while you suffocate. And then your child's going to look over and have a mom slumped up against the wall over there, up against the side of the airplane, unable to help anybody. The greatest gift you can give your daughter is not an account of $7,000 while mom and dad are frantic and walking around the house anxious all the time because they owe money. The greatest gift you can give your daughter is to pay all this off, have an emergency fund, and have some peace in your home. I feel that. I just have a hard time, I guess, liquidating all that money.

But you're not. Okay, let's walk through this, okay? The money's yours. Did you say $7,500 for your daughter or $7,000? $7,500. All right, so I'm doing really simple math. $16,600 and some change is what you've got in savings. You've got $9,500 in debt, okay? You wipe the debt out today, you're not liquidating all that cash. By my simple math, you're still going to have just a shy under $7,000. And then are you getting a tax return? That

$9,100 is including the tax return. Okay, so you have about $7,000, give or take, and that becomes your new Baby Step 3 emergency fund. And you're just going to start putting some money away. In the next six months, you're going to work really hard and get that emergency

fund filled up, and then you're going to have something you never thought possible, and that is peace in your home. You're going to be able to sleep all night. You have a false narrative. There's no liquidating. Yeah. You're actually by our baby steps, which has helped millions of people. This isn't John and I's opinion here. You're actually going to be debt-free and you're still going to have more than the $1,000 emergency fund. What? Except for a mortgage. Yes. But the point is, is you're now moving into baby step three and you're on your way to a three to six month emergency fund. What is that number? I'm just curious. What's a three month emergency fund for you? All expenses. $20,000 right now. We live very minimal. great so you you are on your way and now watch this

so let's just play with this what would you say it would take you to get to 20 000 if we're starting with about six six or seven how long before you got to the twenty thousand dollar mercy fund number with no debt it would be fairly easy i know how long i'm walking you through something here how long you think it'll take i don't know a few years a couple a couple years a couple of years to save thirteen thousand dollars well yeah we live all right let's still play that out our mortgage okay that's fine. Let's still play that out. We're going to pay our mortgage. Okay, that's fine.

So let's just say that there's no increased income here. There's no second or third job, right? So you could actually get there sooner than that. Do you follow my reasoning? Yes. Okay. Let's just say you did it in a year and a half for the sake of conversation. That's a year and a half from now.

You're now into Baby Step 4, which is saving 15%. And you should be able to do that of your income towards retirement. Baby step five is saving for your daughter with a 529 education plan as an example. You're going to be fine. She's going to be fine. You're going to play catch up really quick. Do you understand that path? Yeah. Do you believe it's possible? Yeah. I don't know what's your hang up i feel like you get off the phone and you're gonna go i'm not doing any of this and you're gonna turn the tv on throw your feet up grab a beer and just call it a day i thought the same thing my problem is it's not just me so my husband husband kind of, he doesn't want to leave. He feels like it's leaving us short.

You've already spent the money that you owe. That's what I've said, but... You're already short $9,500. And the heavens opened up, otherwise known as tax return in the federal government, to hand you a check, you gave you your money back, and you can wipe all this stuff out,

clean it up. Within the next two months, almost. No, the next like 30 minutes. Well, minus the 300. Well, if I took out of, yes, Gretchen's account, yes. It's not Gretchen's account. Listen, if the government wanted to give your kids money, they would send it to your kids.

They don't. This is, the tax credit is for parents who have children and they are struggling. And that is you. It's not her money. It's yours. How old is Gretchen? Two. Good God on a stick with a pony.

Now I'm really upset about it. I thought maybe she was 12 and you told her it was her money and you're trying to reconcile that. This is absurd. She only wants to know where the goldfish are. She has one thing on her mind, her next snack. And another thing, where to poop, where to poop. Not, hey, Ma, where's my $7,000 child income tax credit?

Good gracious. Get that money and, oh, my gosh. This call is brought to you by Preparation H because I've got hemorrhoids right now. Folks, that means he has been mentally strained. I think those are mental hemorrhoids. I think. I hope. We'll figure it out during the break.

We'll let you know when we get back. This is The Ramsey Show. This is The Ramsey Show. This is The Ramsey Show, where we help you win with your money, in your relationships, and at work. 888-825-5225. I'm Ken Coleman. John Deloney joins me. And, oh

my gosh, it's that time of year. It's that time of year. A lot of indigestion all around America based on taxes, and we understand that. And the reason this is the case is because taxes can be really confusing, a little bit scary. And so we always want to help you with this issue of taxes. Let's unpack a recent question from one of our listeners. I want to avoid overpaying taxes each month.

What do I need to change with my paycheck? Fun question. Two simple ways to figure this out, and the reason this matters is we don't want to give our money to Uncle Sam and then get it back after a full year, right? It's kind of an interest-free loan to the government. That makes you want to throw up. So there's two simple ways to figure this out. One, if nothing has changed in your tax situation, take your refund amount or the amount you owed last year divided by 12. That's how much more or less you want taken out of your paycheck each month. Two, if your tax situation has changed, use tax software to do a fake tax return. It's going to show if you're paying too much or too little, and then you can

do that paycheck math then. And then third, get with HR to fill out a new W-4 so that you're not over or underpaying on your taxes anymore. Now that's just a quick snapshot. If you need help, go to ramsaysolutions.com slash tax. That's where you're going to find Ramsey Smart Tax, our no-nonsense tax software. Very low upfront pricing and zero hidden fees. Or you can connect with one of our tax pros who's a Ramsey trusted, who is Ramsey trusted, and they can do it all for you. Again, that's ramseysolutions.com slash tax, ramseysolutions.com slash tax. All right, let's go to Midland, Texas. Jessica is there. Jessica, how can we help? Hi, yes. How are you guys? We're having a blast. How are you? I'm good. So I was calling because I get a lot of anxiety around spending money, around budgeting. Like I have my planner budgeted all the way through May, and I'm trying to get past that.

I'm trying to find a balance between saving and doing fun things with my kids. I get guilty about telling them no. And I feel like I'm constantly trying to balance that. So I didn't know if you guys had any advice for me. Yeah. So what is, I like to look at anxiety as an alarm, okay? This is a way your body trying to get your attention that you're not okay. Things aren't safe.

So when you're about to spend money, what's your body trying to tell you is it trying to tell you hey you remember how bad it was when we were young when we were seven eight and mom and dad had nothing dad left mom we were broke and don't spend money is it trying to tell you hey uh you've just got a steady diet of evil end-of-times news stories for the last six years. What's it trying to tell you? Honestly, I went through a divorce, and I felt like he was always spending money, and we weren't on the same page money-wise. And so every time that I would try to save,

I would check the bank account, and there was something spent. And I felt like I had no major control, but I'm also a people pleaser. So I never really like told him it bothered me. So I feel like now that I have like full control of my bank account, I don't know. I feel like I'm scared to go back into the situation where we were living paycheck to paycheck and I don't want to go back there. So the greatest gift you can give your body is some confidence. And we don't get confidence by just shouting things out in the rain. We get confidence by doing things, right? So do you have a budget?

I do. My budget is about, I spend about maybe $2,900 a month max on bills. Okay. But how much do you bring in? I bring in about $2,850 every two weeks. Okay. So $5,600 a month, $5,700 a month? Yeah.

Yeah, my salary is $75,000 yearly. Okay. So you've got your expenses all the way down to $2,900. And so you've got thousands of dollars left over every month. Do you have an emergency fund? I'm working on baby step three right now. I just paid off my car January 31st. That was my last day.

Congratulations. Thank you. But I just feel like my kids, they go with their dad and then they come back and they brag about everything like what they did. That has nothing to do with money. That's not about money. That's about kids being kids and you trying to get some sort of like your kids are your scorecard. And if they're happy, you've got an a and if they're mad at you then you have a d and if dad is doing better than you got an f right you're not competing with him i hear all over the country when i talk to parents in your

situation where one parent feels like i'm having to re-establish humanity after my kid goes to see their dad every other weekend because all they do is eat ice cream and Twinkies and go to movies and stay up all night and play arcade games, and then they have to come home and go to school, and I'm the bad parent. Exactly. Here's what that makes you, the adult, the good parent. Your job right now is not for your kids to just think,

I'm having so much fun. Your job is to make sure that you're raising great adults and it's going to be hard because it sounds like yeah they have a dad that's not participating yes so i'm not going to i'm not going to hook my self-worth to how my kids quote unquote feel on any given day over over an arc yeah if they're miserable then i'm gonna i'm gonna dig that. But your anxiety is going to be around. Is our home financially secure? Yeah. Am I a good mom? Yeah. Am I working hard? Do they have rent, food, whatever? Yeah. And do we have some money set aside so that we go out once a week together?

Do we have money where we go play with a friend once a month? You see what I'm saying? It's both and. See, and I don't do that. I don't have any kind of fun in the budget. I'm trying to balance. Do you have any kind of fun, period? Do you have friends? Or are you doing this all by yourself? I have my mom. She helps me. That's not what I said. Do you have any friends?

Not really. That's your new adventure that's right and i don't really do anything that's your new adventure you're lonely as lonely can be and jessica just i want to jump in really fast and say you cannot give take care of you and and spending on you and spending on what you believe is right in this season like the to take the other side of fear is fear is is very very real but the way we get through fear is going what is fear telling me is fear right is it true is it true if it's true we need to adjust if i'm near the ledge of a of a cliff and i'm afraid i'm going to fall over fear is telling me the truth i need to back up but if i'm afraid that um that i'm going to fail if i take a new job when there's no evidence that

i'm going to fail then then i'm being lied to and I'm holding myself back. And I think in this situation, you have got to stop holding yourself back because now it's you and you do make good decisions and you're not going to do something stupid. Isn't that true? Yes. You're not going to spend stupid and willy-nilly and irresponsibly. And here's your new homework assignment. Once a week for the next three months i want you to take a couple of friends out from work from your local church from your neighborhood and y'all go over to roses right down the road over there and all i want you to do is get some

queso and a big old thing of a dozen tortillas and some chips and if y'all are margarita people they've got great margaritas there and i want y y'all to sit at Rose's and just chit-chat. I like it. I'm told that today is National Margarita Day. She should get one tonight. Yes. How does that sound? Just for her.

Crazy? No, it sounds doable. Okay, here's the word I want you to keep in your head. You're not broken. There's nothing wrong with you. Your body's been through crap. I want you to think of this as i have to practice this i'm just practicing i haven't had friends in years i've been trying

to hold together a marriage that didn't hold together i've been trying to figure out how to survive because i had a husband who spent money like a child i'm trying to figure out how to raise healthy kids by myself and so i'm'm going to have to practice laughter. I'm going to have to practice having fun. I'm going to have to practice hanging out with girlfriends and just being silly again. That's right. And the greatest gift you can give your kids is to go let mama be well

so that you can anchor back in. And after they're all twinkied and video gamed up and they come back to your home, you can, here we go again, right? Here we go again. I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you. It's hard, but you're on the right path. Hang on the line. We're going to send you a year subscription for every dollar, the premium version, and we're going to send you the FPU Baby Step videos. I want you to watch them all, and we're going to put you

on a path to success. Hang on. All right. Hang on the line. This is the Ramsey Show. 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. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Dr. John Deloney is with me as well. 888-825-5225 is the phone number. Jesse is now joining us in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Jesse, how can we help? Yes. So in the last two years, I've gained over $100,000 in equity on a property

that I bought back in 2021. And I kind of face an issue that a lot of people who bought a house back then, we got a really low interest rate. I got around 3%. And I don't necessarily ever want to sell this property, but I do want to take this equity and buy another property. But I really don't know how to go about it. And I'm also co-signed with my parent on this property. So it's, yeah. So it was a situation where I knew where the market was going and I know where the market's going to go in the next couple of years. You do? Whoa, whoa. Can we ask you a couple questions?

How is it that you've got your crystal ball? I think that my dad was right about 2007, and he kind of taught me a lot about how the markets are working. And unfortunately, the only way the market's going to fix right now is the baby boomer generation has to get out of their homes. Okay, that's one theory. What do you mean? They have to get out of their home by dying?

No, sell. Yeah, or they need facilities. But again, I'm a healthcare worker, and the biggest issue in America is these people don't have anywhere to go beyond their homes. But you said they need to get out of their homes. Yeah, meaning either whether they go into a long-term care facility or whether they pass away. And that is kind of like the big issue is a lot of Americans are still like in that boomer generation that take up a lot of the homes.

I would say a majority of my generation, which I'm in my 20s. They're not taking up a lot of homes, brother. They bought them. It's their house. Yeah. Your generation can build some new ones. That'd be cool. Yeah. And that's what I'm trying. That's actually like my question is what I'm trying to do because the problem is it's so expensive to build houses, and I've looked at properties and the value of property now compared to what it was back then, and it's costing a lot more money now to build a house than ever. So what's your specific question? So my specific question is I am trying to take a,

I want to get a heat lock. Don't do what you're about to do. You're not going to listen to us, and so I know that, but I'm just telling you if you and I were having a drink and you were one of my best friends, I would say do not do what you're about to do. You're not going to listen to us, and so I know that, but I'm just telling you, if you and I were having a drink and you were one of my best friends, I would say, do not do what you're about to do. Period. Is it a bad, do you think it's a bad time to do a HELOC? I think it's never a good idea to put your house on the block, to put land or a home on the block. I don't give seven craps what the interest rate is. I don't care how much equity you have in it.

You're betting into an unknown future. And by the way, I was you 15 years ago. And I have to say these words out loud on a regular basis to remind myself I was wrong. I thought I was smarter than I actually was and i thought i'd figured all this stuff out i didn't know anything about black swan events i didn't know anything about pricing and supply and demand i watched a lot of tv and read a lot of internet right and so i thought i knew all these stuff so i started making these things i'm gonna make this move and move over that move and what and here's what i did i

dug a hole that it took me and my family a long time to get out of and so what i'm telling you is the smartest move moving forward is to be really grateful that you got a good rate really grateful that your house is appreciated i think it's a terrible idea to co-sign with your parents because they're still um have some sort of oversight with you. No, we're partners. You're not. They're mom and dad, right? And I would sit until I've got cash to buy my next place.

But you're going to get in the equity game where you're getting a little bit equity and then pulling it out so you can put a down payment on this place and get a little equity there so you can pull a down payment on that. And it's going to be fine until you turn out like dave ramsey and the whole thing comes down on your head they call the note and you go bankrupt that's the end game the only way this works out for you is if you watch a ton of instagram reels oh that's it that's it yeah because all that does is give you dopamine to make this decision. That's it. You are playing a slot machine, and Vegas always wins. Yeah.

So, again, like, so you think it's better to just look into, like, maybe selling the house down the line? Because, again, like, obviously I'm going to count my blessings and stay where I am and kind of wait for the market to kind of in a way correct it. Hey, hold on. This correction, bro, I put an offer on a house yesterday and I got outbid.

All these people, like it's going to correct, it's going to correct. There is a shortage. It's the lowest number of houses on the market. If you simply know supply and demand, there's very few Mickey Mantle rookie cards. That's why they're worth so much. They're going to have to build a whole bunch of houses on the market. If you simply know supply and demand, there's very few Mickey Mantle rookie cards. That's why they're worth so much. They're going to have to build a whole bunch of houses.

They're going to have to increase supply. Okay? You're just playing with basic economics. And bro, I want it to reset. I want all housing prices to cut in half so I can get a nicer house for me and my family. It's not going to happen. It's not going to happen. And so if you like your house,

live in your house. If you want to move from your house and you have the money, sell your home and then buy something that you can buy. Does that make sense? Yeah. No, no, that makes, that makes perfect sense. Like the thing is for me, like I look at like trying to get into more assets and I understand like, like, yes, like I don't want to rush out of this house, but I'm trying to use this current asset as a rental property and then buy a second property. I basically took my equity to buy a long-term home and use my current property as a rental property because of my area and what I've studied the economics of what's going on in my area right now. But again, you just listened to everything. Well, you heard everything John said,

and then you came back with the same formula so yeah do what you're gonna do brother we still love you yeah we just we've made our position clear i mean you've watched a lot of instagram reels about this that's why you laughed i mean you literally hit him right between the eyes there he laughed because he's like yeah and you should probably keep watching those well it's gonna no i'm just saying we we told you what we would do which is not this he's bought into and he does see the future it so the future i feel like that's the x factor it it it breaks my heart because i was him i know but but again um you i, this gets back to what you studied.

There is reason and then there's emotion. And the way those two things interact with each other sometimes, it's a very interesting mix. And there is a constant, if you get on the wrong algorithm, there's a constant stream of people telling you, you're behind, you're missing out, you're behind, you're missing out, you've got to, got to, got to, got to, got to, got to. And you just end up going, okay, I got to do this.

I got to take this asset and move it over to there and move it. Here's the thing. My house right now, if I go get a quote unquote appraisal, they're going to give me a number that they think the house is worth. You know what that is? It's a guess. It's an absolute guess. It's a guess.

It's not money. It's not cash. It's not, it's not an asset. It is an estimation. And at the end of the day, what somebody actually pays me, hands me money for, and I shake hands with them and hand them the keys, that's what that house is worth. And so I'm not going to make any moves on estimations, on guesses, on approximations. I'm not going to borrow against it. I'm not going to put my house on the market for it. That's a recipe for disaster. Yeah, and to follow that up, let's just look at the numbers.

So he's going, well, I want to use this house as a rental, and then blah, blah, blah. Okay, run the numbers. Run the numbers. What are you going to make? What are you going to make on the actual rent itself? So you have a mortgage payment that you owe the bank, and you're going to charge the renters plus plus. So whatever there is. So just run the numbers.

You make it $1,000 a month. That's not happening very often. 500 a month. Let's just say 500 a month. That's $6,000 a year, but that's before there's any kind of, I got to fix the gutters. I got to fix the HVAC because as the landlord. The lawn care. Lawn care. There's all this risk. My tenants flushed whatever down the toilet. Yeah. There's risk associated with this. For what? How much money are you actually clearing? Well, I've got the asset. Then sell it. Then sell it. Then flip. Right. Or if it's an actual cash asset and you're going to sit on it for the next 15 or 20 years, knock your lights out. Well, that's different. Do that all day long. That's right. But that's yours. It's an actual tangible asset. And there's a risk there. Right. We've eliminated the risk,

or just about completely. Because I own it. It's it. That's right. I can flip it. I can sell it at any time. So it's a game of, I think I can time it right. By the way, no disrespect to Jesse or anybody. I listen to, you know me. I'm like an old man. I listen to the news and read the news every day. On business news and market. Guess what?

Nobody knows. Nobody knows what the real estate market's going to be six months from now. Nobody. Everyone was waiting two months ago for the rates to drop. Last month for the rates to drop. They didn't. Nobody knows what the stock market's going to do. It's just, so listen.

Live your life. Here's what we do know. We know solid financial principles work. That's what we know. And everything else, well, it's how much risk are you willing to take on. So hang in there with us, folks. This has worked for over three decades, and we want it to work for you. This is The Ramsey Show.

This is The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Dr. John Deloney is in studio with me as well this hour. Our scripture of the day comes from Psalm 37, 23 and 24. The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him. Though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. And our quote today from Bono, as a rock star, I have two instincts. I want to have fun and I want to change the world.

I have a chance to do both. I think it's pretty interesting when you get to a point in your life when you can start a phrase with a sentence with as a rock star like that's pretty cool don't you think and like i didn't think that was pretentious at all because he is in fact because he's bono a rock star right yeah you know as a rock star as a middling youtuber ken i believe that yeah nobody quotes me uh as a middle-aged podcaster as a rock star, as a middling YouTuber, Ken, I believe that... Yeah, nobody quotes me. As a middle-aged podcaster... As a guy on a failing radio show.

Just kidding, James. I believe that... So crazy. That's hysterical. Wow. Unbelievable. I'm still shook from that last call. We got to talk to a real-life fortune teller.

I know. He should put out an e-book because if you can time the market the real i feel like you're on to something you like that one yeah that's a genuine laugh right there that's funny because there's a whole industry of e-book people putting out e-books on how to teach other people how to buy no-down real estate. And you'll learn it by buying my e-book. And then I buy that e-book, and I learn how to make an e-book about writing e-books for no-down real estate. It's just this loop. Well, we live in a world where you can be an expert without being an expert.

It's grown-up Tupperware sales. Yeah. Right? It's grown-up essential oil pyramid schemes. I'm going to show you how to do it. Question. Have you done it? Nope, but I got seven steps that you can use.

By my course. Very interesting. All right, let's go to Brooke in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Jeez Louise on a stick. Brooke, what's going on? Hi, guys. Thank you so much for having me on the show. Sorry, I'm having a temper tantrum, Brooke, so I'm going to get better here.

Go ahead. No problem. Thank you so much for having me on the show. Sorry, I'm having a temper tantrum, Brooke, so I'm going to get better here. Go ahead. No problem. Thank you so much for having me on the show. I appreciate you guys showing up every day and doing the work that you're doing. Well, thank you for calling. What's going on with you today? Hey, we've got a little extra unexpected money that came from the sale of a couple of calves that we had. Obviously, that's not coming to us being taxed, so we'll have to pay taxes on that at the end of this year. Meanwhile, we are in baby step number two. I've got an IRS debt that we are trying to punch out.

It's totaling $8,700 right now. The unexpected money totaled just under $3,000, so it was going to be $1,000 I either put in savings. But I'm wondering if I don't just take that money and pay the IRS now and then withhold $100 a month throughout the rest of the year for my check to make up for that. I like the idea of creating that habit of when we get that money that's not taxed of putting it aside. But I also want the IRS out of my life now. So I wanted to get your guys' opinion.

I'm going to go with IRS out of my life now. Okay. And I'm going to go with, you're asking you, are you married? I am, yes. You're asking you and your husband to do something y'all have never done before, which is stick to an actual budget and actually save money. Yes. And so I'm going to challenge you.

I don't believe that you can do this. I actually do, but I'm just doing this for theatrical, for theatrics. I don't believe you can do it. So if you do in six months, if you will send me a direct message on Instagram that you have an account with six times $100 in it, 600 bucks in it, I'm going to send you any of my books for free. How about that? Okay, great.

That's my challenge to you. Okay. I'm like, Ken, get the IRS out of your life, away from you as far as humanly possible, but you're robbing Peter to pay Paul on this one. Yeah. Just take care of that first. That's kind of where I was, and I really thought, well, this is the more urgent where I can

also just pay that later. But, I mean, we do have other debts in Baby Step 2, but this one, obviously, Dave says IRS goes to the top of the list. That's right. And that's sure enough what we wanted to do. But this is the exact same thing that got you in this mindset. I mean, in this predicament, not mindset, in this predicament, which is, oh, we'll just pay that later. Yes, absolutely.

And now it's later, right? And let me tell you what, you never want to go with the later option with the IRS. They just don't mess around. Absolutely. Is there a chance you could go to a local credit union and get an $8,000 line of credit and pay this thing off? We actually have $6,300 ready to go. We've paid $9,600. We have $6,300 more to send, and that includes the $2,000.

I just wasn't sure about that extra $1,000, whether I should hold that back to pay next year or just go ahead and send it now. So we'll have almost all of it ready to go this month. Okay. When you say next year, you guys are $1099 income? This would be $1099 income, yes. We're W-2 employees, but we do ranching on the side. Right. So this is just a couple of calves we had that went to sale barn.

Oh, calves. Calves. And so you just didn't hold the money back. Right, yes. It's 1099 income for the calves. And so what I'm saying is in our W-2 jobs, I could just take that extra $100 out each month to make up the $1,000 that we would owe at the end of the year. Right. I see. You just have to promise you'll do it.

And then take that $1,000 now and send it direct to the IRS. That's right. I run payroll, so I set it up myself. Good. Do you work with a tax pro, one of our Ramsey tax pros? We are not with a Ramsey tax pro. We have a local accountant that's been helping us get caught up. We had some businesses and we sold them and got a little behind there. Okay. But

we're trying to... Whether it's your local accountant or not, you need some accountability there and a pro there that's helping you navigate this stuff too. So just to give you personal experience, I'm W-2 at Ramsey. My wife, she works when she wants to. She has a lot of fun stuff that she does. And so she brings in a decent little amount of 1099 income every year. And so we've got our tax pro that we're going to get clued into all that. We just changed over to a great guy. And so we're going to be getting ahead of that and having a pro walk through,

here's what you need to be doing. I just really recommend that. I love accountants, but I love tax pros. And I think there's a difference. And I just would get them involved. And if they're really good, they're going to check in with you two, three times a year and you won't get in this mess. Awesome. Thank you. I appreciate that. I'll definitely look into them all right you got the dm book challenge by dr john deloney coming your way so it's pretty good i would tell her to slide in but that it comes i've come to find out that means something differently than i thought now you kind of revealed your technique it was kind of interesting you you were real serious i believed

it like if you would put a strong bet in a poker hand i'd be like oh he's got a set of cards you were like i don't think you're gonna do it and then you went you immediately gave it yeah i think i think they could i think they can but all right so you think that you what are the chances that she hits you with a dm uh i think 95 chance all right i think you take an oklahoman which is just like a super northern texan i think uh they respond to challenge quite well. Now, can you say that? No. Actually, because growing up in Texas... They take great offense to that, an Oklahoman. Oh, no, Oklahomans. They wouldn't take offense to being called a North Texan?

No, that's like the greatest compliment you can give them. I think he's messing with me. There's the Red River rivalry in football. They don't like each other. Well, I know. At Oklahoma and Texas. But it's... I'm calling I don't like each other at Oklahoma and Texas. But it's... I'm calling I don't believe that on a...

Did you like the PG version of that? I kind of PG'd that up. I just don't believe that people from Oklahoma would take kindly to being called North Texans. You're going to hold to this? Well, as a Texan, I don't know what I'm talking about. As a Texan, I think I'm bestowing quite the gift. This I understand.

As someone who's not an Oklahoman, I can see possibly they take offense. I think they probably would. But in Texas, Oklahoma is called Southern Canada. So anything above the Red River is another country, essentially. All right. But all I have to say is I believe in Oklahomans that they can respond to challenge. And so we laid down the gauntlet.

We'll see if Brooke can come up with $600 over the next six months. I think she's going to do it. Make it happen. I think she's going to do it. And can we just say this? I thought she was talking about cabs. C-A-B-S. I'm going to tell you I thought the same thing. In fact, I heard cabs, but I wasn't sure what the cabs were, so I didn't follow up.

Yeah, I kind of wimped out. Come to find out they were baby cows. Which, if I'd have heard that earlier, I would have made the noise. Much to James' disappointment. He does not like when I do my own sound effects. But I've gotten away with it so far. Hey, good show, Dr. John Deloney, James Childs, our fearless leader, and his band of merry men behind the glass.

Thank you, guys. And you, America, this is The Ramsey Show. We'll see you next time.