The Ramsey Show - App - There Are No Shortcuts To Building Wealth

Episode Date: October 20, 2025

🤔 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Can an online will work for you? Take this quiz to find out!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Jade Warshaw and Rachel Cruze answer your questions and discuss: "I'm in $60,000 of debt, how do I pay it off?" "The government shutdown is effecting my husband's paychecks, should we jump to Baby Step 3?" "Should I pay off my student loan debt before I buy my house?" "I was able to get out of debt while still enjoying my lifestyle, did I complete Baby Step 2 correctly? "Is "house hacking" a good idea?". “How can I feel blessed by my husband’s gift giving when it comes from our finances?” “How much life insurance should we have on our kids?” “Should we use the money we set aside for taxes to pay off debt?” “How do I get out of over $30,000 of debt?” "We just got married and are in over $40,000 of debt." "How should we approach paying this off?" “Does it make sense to keep our more expensive health insurance so that we can access our HSA investment options?” "My husband doesn’t make much money, how can I inspire him to get a higher paying job?" “How do couples merge their finances when they disagree on how money should be allocated?” “How much should I spend on a car?” “I paid for my sister’s house. How should we title the home to protect ourselves in case something happens to her?” “Should I keep hustling or slow down to spend time with my family?” Next Steps: ✔️⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Help us make the show better. Please take this short survey.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 📞 Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 weekdays from 2–5 p.m. ET or⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠send us an email⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. 🏠 ⁠Get organized and prepared to buy or sell a home. ⁠ 💵 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 💻 ⁠⁠⁠⁠Find out where you stand with your money and get a free plan. ⁠⁠⁠ Connect With Our Sponsors: Stop paying more and start shopping smarter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ALDI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get 10% off your first month of⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ BetterHelp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Boost Mobile⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to switch today! Go to⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Casper Sleep⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and use promo code RAMSEY to learn more. Learn more about⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Christian Healthcare Ministries⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get started today with⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Churchill Mortgage⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get 20% off when you join ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠DeleteMe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Go to⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FAIRWINDS Credit Union⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for an exclusive account bundle! Debt collectors hassling you? Take back control of your life at ⁠Guardian Litigation Group⁠ Find top health insurance plans at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Health Trust Financial⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Use code RAMSEY to save 20% at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Mama Bear Legal Forms⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Visit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ NetSuite⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ today to learn more. For more information, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SimpliSafe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get started with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YRefy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or call 844-2-RAMSEY. Visit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Zander Insurance⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for your free instant quote today!  Explore more from Ramsey Network: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Ramsey Show Highlights⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🧠 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Dr. John Delony Show⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🍸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Smart Money Happy Hour⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 💡 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Rachel Cruze Show⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 💰 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠George Kamel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🪑 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 📈 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠EntreLeadership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy⁠⁠⁠

normal's broke and common sense is weird so we're here to help you transform your life from the ramsay network in the fair wins credit union studio this is the ramsay show i'm jade warshot next to me rachel cruise taking calls from you guys for the next couple hours about your life and your money you can get involved and we hope that you do. In the meantime, we're going to Matt, who's in North Carolina. What's up, Matt? Hey, how are you all? Good. How can we help today? Well, my wife and I have been looking at our numbers, just the debt that we have, and we wanted to see what you guys would recommend. Now, I've got about 60,000 and just various debts aside from my mortgage, and we just want to figure out how to get rid of those in a systematic way.

I love that. Do you want to list those 60,000 of debts out for us, like the type of debt and how much each one is worth? Yeah. Yeah, I can do that. Great. So I've got about 900 for a cell phone. I've got about 1,900 for medical bills. I have a truck that's about $29,000. I've got our family van. That's about $9,600. And a credit card. that's about 11,000, and then a loan from my family for about 12,000. Wow. How old are you guys? I'm 33 and my wife is 30. When did you guys kind of tally everything up, Matt, and just realized, okay, here's where we are.

Was that a recent conversation with you and your wife, or is this something that you guys have been? You've known. She's been wanting to do a budget, but it's been my fault because I've been, I haven't, I say I've been busy, I could have made time, but we did yesterday, actually. Oh, yeah. So was yesterday the first time you saw all these numbers together in one place? Yeah. Okay.

For a good little while, yeah. Yeah, that's fine. Okay. So what were you thinking? When you saw it, what did you think? Did you think it was more than what you would have guessed, or was it pretty spot on? Yeah, I mean, it was around what I was thinking? And then I was like, what have I done?

What am I doing? Yeah, I was going to ask the same thing. What caused? Do you know what caused this? It's, for you, does this feel like an income thing or does it feel like an overspending thing, which, by the way, I didn't ask, what is you guys' income? So, well, I started a new job. I'm an insurance agent now, and I make about $100,000 now.

I've gained about $20,000 since last year. I started at $80, but it was, I was just looking at monthly stuff because I'd wanted to get a newer vehicle because my other one was wearing out. And it was paid for. I should have kept it. Yeah. But it's just, we're both, we're both spenders. we realized that yesterday and we're like, you know, we're wasting too much money.

What about your wife? Is she working outside the house? No, she stays at home. We have three children under three. Oh, Lord help you. Okay. Got a house full, Matt. Yeah. Okay. So it sounds like typical lifestyle creep. You've got a $20,000 raise and you're just like, well, I can afford this payment. I can afford this. And this is good. We'll just kind of keep going and enjoy that $20,000 of margin. And then it turns out $20,000 in debt more so. Yeah. Yeah. So I would suggest, I mean, I know you're kind of new to this. You just laid this out the other day, but I'm going to suggest the debt snowball, which is what we suggest to everybody, which is you're listing the debt smallest to largest. The method is you pay minimum payments on everything so that you don't get behind. Because if you get behind, then it really gets out of control. So make sure you're making minimum payments on everything. But all of your extra margin is going to go towards the smallest debt with a vengeance. Like you're going very, very quickly.

So as much margin as you can find, which leads to my next question. I'm assuming that you don't have any savings lying around anywhere. Is there any extra money that we should know about stocks? I mean, I've got some crypto. It varies. It's XRP. So it'll be 270 one day and the next day you know, it'll be up or it'll be lower. I've got some in Nvidia.

It's not much. It's about $210 worth. Okay. So just some play money. I forgot to mention the mortgage too on the house. So I was going to say that. I forgot to say that. Yeah, just tell me what the mortgage is, by the way.

218. 218. And what do you pay every month for that? 16, 28. Matt, is your job, what do you do for a living? I sell just auto, home, like, insurance, that's right, that's what you were saying, okay. Yeah. Is there margin for overtime in that position, whether that's getting, like, working more just to get more commissions and more accounts or from, like,

salary perspective even what would that look like well see since i'm 1099 i've i was given a book of business when i got here but it's my job to you know i can grow it as quick as i can because i mean i work 24-7 if need be so yeah yeah okay okay because the way i'm looking at this i mean it's um added up close to 60 000 and you're making a hundred thousand and that's probably before tax and health insurance and all of that. So yeah, are you contributing anything to retirement at all? No. No. Okay, perfect. Yeah. So what Jade's saying, I mean, that's it. I mean, you know, Matt, the problem is going to be you and your wife. I mean, you know what I mean? Because you're going to have to change the way you've been handling and viewing money like a 180. Like you said,

We're both spenders, which I appreciate the self-awareness. I get it. I'm a spender. Like, I understand. And so you're going to have to do things that you've never done before. You're going to have to say no to yourself in places that you've always just said yes, because of course we'll just go out to you. Of course we'll just do this.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or things didn't seem like a big deal. Everything's a big deal now. It kind of feels like everything's on fire. Even though you guys are going to be fine. It's not like, okay, you know, bankruptcies around the corner. It's not that. But the sense of urgency, like what Jade was saying earlier,

is going to be, have to be notched up like, 10,000 notches for you guys specifically. You know what I mean? Because we talk to some people and they're their natural savers. It's okay. But when you have two spenders, but again, it's not a bad thing. It's just how you guys are wired. This is going to just take that much more of a discipline. And so, yeah, paying it off. But I'm like, yeah, get the cell phone out. Do the, get the medical debt. Have some lofty goals that if you, even if you worked extra at a different job, whatever is more lucrative for you to make extra money. I don't know if that's working more it's just like the insurance job

to get more accounts or just to go. Yeah. And if you can up it, Matt, I'm not kidding. You know, I mean, people are driving or doing like Uber Eats and making a thousand easy. So like that's your low bar. You know, if I'm you. I'm like, I'm making two, three thousand extra a month. And you can start knocking this stuff out.

You'll start to see a lot of progress, which is great. When you plug these numbers, have you plugged this into an every dollar budget, Matt? No, not yet. We've got the, we had that. app and then we stopped using it because I slacked off on and that was the problem. Okay. But I wanted to ask real quick before I forgot. Um, I did have an offer for a dealership to buy my truck for about 25 or so and I have 29,000 on it. Do y'all think it'd be a good idea to just go ahead and sell it?

Yes, but not to them. Okay. Do it private sale. Because if the dealer's giving you 25, then you may be private sale would get 29, I bet. But the key is, now I don't know how long you guys can go with just the van, but the key is you're going to have to stack up some cash, right, to get something in the meantime to get you to and from work. And you don't have to spend a lot on it. Maybe you spend $6,000 on it. But just know that, yeah, for a while you guys are going to be a one car family, which that could be a challenge with three under three. But all things are possible. So, I mean, there's families here that the, you know, I mean, honestly, the wife drops them off at work. And they go, you and Sam were a one car. our family for a decade, Rachel Cruz. Yes. Listen. It is doable, Matt. Doable.

So it's just, again, your life is just going to look different for a period of time. And then you guys can get back and enjoy the fruits of your labor and be some great responsible spenders and have fun. Like, that's not the bad. That's not bad or wrong. But you just got to do it in the right order and you guys went out of order spending more than you make. So, yeah.

Homework is every dollar. You got to get on there tonight. You and your wife. And we'll hook you up with a trial of the new every dollar, the new and improved one, because that's really going to help you. out. In Columbia, South Carolina, Samantha's online. What's up, Samantha?

Hey, Jane. How are y'all? Thank you for taking my call. You bet. How can Rachel and I help? Yeah. So my husband and I are 11 months into babysat two. We're putting like three or four thousand a month toward our debt.

Way to go. We paid off work. Yeah. paid off four credit cards and one of four student loans. Oh, my gosh, good for you guys. Thank you. So the last three student loans are kind of our big fish. And we were on track to get those done.

We have about 100,000 left. So we're on track to get those done about two years. But my husband is a federal employee. And with the government shut down, we are experiencing a hold in his paycheck. So about half. of our monthly income right now is being held. Dang. How much is that?

5,400 take home right now out of 11,000 take home a month, yeah. So we're just kind of trying to get by. But I guess in the future to be prepared for this, again, I was wondering if this would be a weird situation where we maybe go to Baby Step 3 and save an emergency fund and then come back and hit those last three student loans hard. I don't know if I would do that, but I think I would pause baby step two right now. I probably, I would not be, I mean, you guys don't even have, you don't have it. Yeah, you don't have money to put extra, right?

Because you were putting $4,000 margin? Yeah. Are you guys able to stay current with all the bills, all your bills, even housing and all of that? Yeah, it's going to be, it's going to be tough to the next month. But I'm just really thinking in the future, if this happens again, that's kind of where I was going with that. So as of now, yes, everything's been halted. We're making minimum payments on everything since middle of October, you know, two weeks ago. Sure. Yeah, the only time, yeah, I hear you.

Yeah, I hear you totally. But really the only time that we would suggest that is if there's something in the immediate future that you're certain to have. Like, oh, there's going to be, like, we have people call and they're like, okay, they're laying us off in three months. We would say, like, sure, pause everything, pile up in a. emergency funds because it's happening or even a health situation you know like there's a family member or a child that's sick we would say okay get get some get some funds in place because you know that's going to be some ongoing challenges but I hear and again we're in the middle of a government shutdown so it's harder for me to say this to you to be like we don't know if it's

going to happen again but it is a question of like I don't know it when it is if it is who knows and because of that uncertainty you almost would think I would want an emergency fund because of that but I would actually say because it is uncertain you don't know what's going And so I would rather get this debt cleaned up faster because of it. So that's what I would suggest. There's more piece there because if you think about it just in terms of the numbers, let's pretend that instead of paying off the $100,000 of debt, you stacked up, I don't know, $20,000, right? Well, now you still have all the payments that you have to pay along with your normal month-to-month budget.

So you're still going to clip through savings a lot faster because you've got this extra debt there. whereas if you said, I'm going to focus on paying off my debt first, then if it rains and pours and maybe you have a little bit less saved because it's, you know, you haven't had as much time, your lifestyle is still paired way, way, way, way down, right? So you're not having to pay debt payments on top of whatever it takes to live. So I really, I get where you're coming from, but at the end of the day, I think there's more peace in having no debt and payments when things like this strike versus having, it's almost like insult to injury when you have to use hard saved money to pay off debt.

Yeah. So no, we would still say probably be gazelle intense, Samantha. Yeah. Oh, sorry you're going through that. Hopefully that gets cleaned up soon. You know, I've had so many people message me on Instagram and thankfully more on the positive end of, you know, they're probably three years from where Samantha is because they're like, oh my gosh, if we didn't have an emergency fund and we weren't used to living

on less than we make and the government shut down happened because they've lost, you know, they're like we're good like we we have six months saved like we're able to we're able to like even squeeze our lifestyle down and we're okay with that because they've walked through paying off debt you know so there's like the the saving grace of why to do this that's right as fast as possible because if and when life happens yes you're set you know that's right and if you know you do have a job that has the propensity for layoffs or things like that it is good to kind of know it's like having an emergency plan do you know what I mean like if there's a fire you know where the exits are it's the same thing if you're in a job where, hey, I kind of know, like, a layoff could happen from time to time

or in the case of a government, a shutdown could happen from time to time, and knowing, okay, when that happens, here's what we do. Here's what our budget looks like. These are the things we cut out. This is how we live. And we know that that's kind of our plan. But it could go four or five years without it. Yeah.

You know what I mean? And you don't need it. That's right. That's right. All right. Let's hit the phone line again. We've got Sean in Washington, D.C. Maybe he can tell us something.

What's out, Sean? What's up, Sean? Hi, good morning. After New Ladies. Thank you for taking my call. You're welcome. I'm sorry. I said it was a he. I like Sean as a girl's name too. Thank you. So just a little background about me. I am in my early 30s. I live just outside of D.C., but on the Maryland side. I don't have any kids. I'm single. I just received a really good job offer for my first six-figure jobs. So I'll be making $100,000 soon. Congratulations.

Thank you so much. question is, I do want to buy a house next year. I just removed the lease on my current apartment. I'm currently paying $1,300 a month for my apartment. Next year, I do want to purchase a house, but I have student loan debt that's about $18,000. So my question is, do I just save up for the down payment on the house or just pay off the student loan because I'll finally be making six figures now? listen I love that you're making six figures I think that that is so exciting and I'm happy for you that's really a milestone if I were in your shoes today Sean my biggest priority would be twofold number one I'd be like I'm getting these student loans out of my life once and for all

they've been around long enough I make you know 18 you can do this yes I make six figures I'm a knock them to the curb as fast as possible then if you're really considering home ownership let's talk about this in real talk with which is what you'll really need it would be foolish for you Sean to just roll out and buy a house with no savings can you agree with that because once you buy a house everything's on you the air is on you the roof is on you the yard is on you something breaks it's on you right so the better way to enter that would be to make sure you have three to six months saved could you agree with that yes that's more reasonable and i have worked until first time home buyer programs. And one of the stipulations I found was a program that offered to pay off my suit

loan debt, but it will not give me an additional funding for, let's just say, the down payment. Yeah, no, a lot of those programs, Sean, are, I mean, honestly, towards people that are broke. I mean, they can try to get them in a house. And so right now, I would say for you, yeah, there's probably look appealing because you're like, I can get this faster. But I think this one-year timeline, that's just self-imposed, right? No one's forcing you to buy a home next year. You just want to, right? yes yes I know 100% and I don't want that for you yes a hundred percent and I think the new income has got you excited to be like oh my gosh I can actually start doing making some big moves

but if you start making moves out of order it causes way more stress down the line and so yeah I'm I'm with I'm with jade I would be I'd pay off the 18000 I'd save up an emergency fund and for you honestly Sean it could be three months like start you know what I mean yeah you have a solid job you don't have anyone dependent upon your income like kids wise or a spouse or something you you're in a good spot three months would be totally fine with me and then save at least five percent for a down payment because what those things are going to force especially down payment forces you out of these programs of what you're talking about yeah yeah because again they're going to have terrible um they have adjustable rate mortgages i mean they have terrible interest rates

usually they they lock you into something yeah sean um and it and it's not worth it long term i want you free of everything any program any debt all of it Sean um so yeah getting out of debt an emergency fund first and then. And so that may pump the breaks. I mean, maybe nine months, Sean, to 12 months maybe for you to do this. Well, I mean, I will interject this. If you can at 5% down, if you can get a payment, that's 25% or less of your take home, yes. But if you have to bump up that down payment to get that, yeah.

You don't want to be more than 25% of your take home. And that's talking HOA's, taxes, insurance, all of that in that payment. Sean can't be more than 25% of your take home. Or else you'll be calling us back. Yeah, maybe not next year, but maybe three years out. Yeah, but be patient. Yes. The calculators on Ramsey Solutions.com, Sean, that you can use.

How much mortgage can I afford? And it's going to help you figure out what your down payment needs to be so that your month to month is okay. All right. We're continuing to take calls about your life and your money. Tell us your situation. We've got Lewis in West Palm Beach, Florida, doing just that. What's up, Lewis?

Hey, guys. Good afternoon. Thank you so much for taking the call. I love you guys and everything that you do. Well, thank you so much. Thanks for calling. So to keep it short, a pest control business, service business, we got through COVID really, really well, and, you know, got a big head spread into five different cities,

and we spread ourselves way too thin, but didn't realize it at the time. Took a while, but we threw away all the money we had. allowed myself to get up to my guilds in credit. Any credit that was offered, we took it trying to get through a cool phase. It wasn't a fade. It was just a bad setup. And ultimately, kind of last February, we realized, hey, the game is over, right? So we sold off, you know, the businesses that we could to get the investors,

their money back, and they were made whole. But we kind of found ourselves with a lot of bills, a lot of credit, a lot of debt, and a business that wasn't really earning enough anywhere near enough to make that happen, to make the numbers work. So during that time, obviously, like many were in a, horrible spot kind of rock bottom you would say and i found big ramsie and all the teaching you guys do and i should have probably sold the house sold the expensive car sold everything we own but instead i just dialed back any expenses we had no nights out you know you know kind of fun money none of that

and i said let's give it two months to rebuild as strong as we can as hardcore as we can and see where we land and it wound up working we've quadrupled in the last eight months and now things are finally in a place where we feel better and we know that we're going to a good place oh great wow My question. What a turnaround. Well, my question is I felt super irresponsible for my family, for my child. Hey, do we cut these things? Do we need to?

And I'd just love to have a little more insight of, you know, how well, how much should you trust yourself in a turnaround or when you realize you're making stupid decisions, go down to the basics. Like, should we have cut? Should we not? Because it could have very easily been 10 more months of failing and then we would have done dug a deeper hole. Sure.

And God forbid, you know, we're never there again. Yes. I hear what you're saying because you didn't cut certain things out of your lifestyle if the business had not quadrupled you still probably would be in a bad spot Yeah Is what you're thinking yeah

Do you know the motivation Lewis Of why you guys wanted to keep the house in the car My wife Trusting me with a lot of the decisions And maybe a good or a bad thing But I didn't want to First off I didn't tell her I bet it really was And maybe that was a bad idea

But I didn't want her to face the music The way I was trying to privately And I said all right, let me see if we can get ourselves past this and save her that hurt and that, you know, that because she's been through enough, I thought. Was any of that about you saving Face 2 if she didn't know the extent of it? No, no, no, no. Okay.

No, not at all. She knew she'd still be there. She's amazing. I just didn't want to put her a baby through any of that. I think the biggest thing here is understanding wisdom that you've learned going forward because there's a lot of things that got you into this mess. And I think that a lot of times when we come out on the other side of things, if we haven't really examined what it was that got us there in the first place or all of the things that got us there in the first place, yeah, there's the fear that can I trust my choices? Can I trust my judgment going forward? But if you've done the work of examining that and understanding why you did what you did and why you're not ever going to do that again, then you can have a little bit more confidence. In this case, yeah, I am seeing just some frivolous behavior, obviously, with money. But then there was the secret of nature of keeping certain things from your wife. I think there's just some behavior that going

forward can't be the case. So I know if I were in your shoes, Lewis, going forward, I would be completely transparent with your wife about money and make sure that you guys are both owning roles within how you're handling money. So it can't all fall on you. It can't all fall on her, but together you guys are in this and understanding what's our main priority. Why are we building what we're building. Why are we doing the things we're doing? Because it can't just be for the exterior, right? That's right. The house and the cars and all those things. Yeah, the two things I would say, Lewis, from like beyond just the nuts and bolts of the math side of what got you guys there, which I think you know. But two things we run into a lot. And I commend you, first of all,

I just applaud you for even asking the deeper questions because a lot of people will just kind of get through it and not really think through what got me here in the first place. And what's going on within me because we're the ones handling the money it's the people right it's not the math and all of that like we're the ones making the decisions and so understanding ourselves is really important and so um i would say isolations and is negative no more isolation it's kind of what jade just said and i think you isolated yourself from your wife and from the reality of what was going on and you were just trying to do it yourself which again i commend you for doing it there's a lot of wives listening right now they're like i wish my husband would step up but it was too extreme that way

you know like you can't be isolated in it and and for your sake louis but also for the relational there's so much to be said when a husband and wife worked together as a team with their money that does far and far and above more than just the finances so there's just something really big relationally that you you miss and you do it to protect her i hear you but it almost can end up not even just hurting but it can it can continue to put a wedge a little bit because you feel like you have to hold a certain level of truth with her to protect her, but yet she's a grown woman, Lewis. She's a grown up. That's a good point. And so she has to be able to handle the reality of her situation too. And you may feel the brunt of it because she gave you a lot of the

responsibility, but she doesn't need to do that either. She needs to say, Lewis, I'm so sorry that I put all of this on you. I have a functioning brain. I'm an adult and I can handle it. I'm going to have my strengths and weaknesses just like you do. But together as a team, we're going to sit down together as a married couple and lock arms and be a team. And then the second thing I would say, Louis, I'm going very stereotypical here. So forgive me if I'm totally off base. But I'm going to put the dudes more in this category that I'm about to talk about. And then I even see West Palm Beach. I see, you know, I see Florida. And I know where you're going. Yeah. And the ego hates going backwards. Oh, man. Yes. And so when you feel like I have to sell a car, a nice car.

In that lifestyle? Yes. Hello. And then downgrade a house. the ego is shot to the extreme. And again, stereotypically, I think guys feel this a little bit more. I think there's something about saving face, like what you're saying. So those are the two things I would watch, Lewis, next time from an internal perspective.

Am I isolating myself? And is my ego in charge or am I in charge? Yeah. Yeah. What do you think? I think you guys are great. Well, thanks. For sure. And I think there's something to ponder

and kind of sit on there on the side of the wife. I think it was one of those things when rock bottom head. I said, okay, cool. I think I can manage this and I don't need to put her through. But you're right. Maybe it would have been better to go through it together. So there's a lot to chew on there. And there is something to be said for, I mean, selling a house is a huge deal.

And if you felt like, hey, I'm going to ride this out for X amount of months. And if I'm not here, you know, if I get to that stopping point and it's not any better than I got to let go of the house, right? But if you made it there, then it's great. you got to keep the house. So I don't know what, did you do that or? So just to give a slightly more context again, I hate to take up too much time with other callers. They didn't help as well. It was, you know, when I was younger, I moved 30 times. We were super unstable, you know, as a family and I was younger. So I just said, hey, it was absolutely no ego. I just didn't want my family to ever have to feel. I hear that. Yeah, that's fair. That's totally fair. And it wasn't about

the car or whatever like, you know, yeah, it was dumped by a car, but, you know, for whatever reasons. It was just about having stability, especially for a young child and not having her love this home and make friends and a school and everything. Sure, sure. And go out and going out somewhere. So that was... Listen, Lewis, I think at the end of the day, you went through something and it was a learning experience for you. And that is part of most of our stories. Yes. And I'll say this. Dave says this a lot for himself. Because you sound very entrepreneurial. I mean, you're a very smart guy. I mean, he's growing businesses and doing all this stuff. But you can't out earn your stupidity. And death says that a lot. And I think that could be another thing to think through

because you kind of out-earned it. You probably worked your tail off to get these businesses revenue to be able to cover up some of the mistakes. Yes, that's right. Which in one way is fantastic because you know how to work and yes, and you can bring in revenue and all of it, but you can't out-earn it. And so that's a little bit of the band-aid over the situation, is that you earn so much that you could get out of it, which again, one side of the coin, that's fantastic. But we got to deal with the root issues of how we got there in the first place from the nuts and bolts. And then from just the perspective of who we are as people and like checking ourselves. Because we can hold ourselves back a lot and make really stupid decisions. Yeah, based on what feels good and what we want in the

moment. And we all do it. We've all made those mistakes, but kind of tempering that side of it too. I agree. And I do think that when you've hit a certain layer in your income, which it sounds like Lewis has, making those sacrifices, it does hit different. I'd almost rather someone call in who's, you know, not hit that point yet. It's almost easier for that person to go, okay, yeah, I'm just going to take to the streets and work hard and sell my stuff than the person who's kind of been living that life. Then, yeah, you're right. Your ego does take a hit, and that is tough, but it's good for you.

It's good medicine for the soul. All right. The all new every dollar is here. And now it's way more than just our world class budgeting app. Guys, in here, there's a ton of advanced features and it really is going to help you make faster progress with your money. The average person right now is finding thousands of dollars of margin in just the first 15 minutes. And you might be like, Jade, what are you talking about? When you first log in, it's going to ask you 15 minutes worth of questions about yourself and your money so that it can really tailor a plan that is for you, personalized to you. And it's going to find those margin that's been falling through the proverbial couch cushions, as George Camel would say, it's going to help you find that money. So you can start every dollar for free today, get it in the app store, or on Google Play right now. All right, Sebastian's in Richmond, Virginia. Hey, Sebastian. Hey, how are you doing today? Doing good. How can we help? Well, I just have a couple questions. So a little bit about my situation. I'm actually a recent college graduate. I graduated technically in August, and I've just landed my first big boy job,

as I would call it. So I'm going to be making 70 grand. Cool. Congratulations. Thank you. What are you doing? Starting very soon here. I am a associate research consultant for a real estate company. Oh, good for you. Great. Yeah. So just a couple questions. And so my plan going forward is they have a 401k with no match. And so I'm actually planning not to contribute to that. Okay. Okay. So my idea is I have a Roth IRA currently have about

4K in it and I'm thinking about doing about like a $580 a month into that so I can max it out right and then I want to save the rest because I want to start right now I have about 20K in savings and completely

debt free by the way as well. Good. And I want to get into house hacking maybe mid maybe like June, July next year, if I can. Okay. So let's talk about the investing part first. I would rather you invest based off of a percentage than based off of a limit or a certain amount that you want to spend.

Okay? So walking the baby steps, I don't know if you're familiar with it, but after you're out of debt, which you are, and after you've saved up three to six months of expenses, maybe you save up three or four months, whatever you decide, have you done that yet? Just asking. Yeah. Yeah, so I have like 15K in a Roth IRA, like 2K in a savings account, and then like 4K in a Roth IRA. So the three to six months of expenses is non-invested.

It's non-retirement. It's literally a rainy day fund, Sebastian, for if something were happened if you lost your job, if you had an emergency, this is liquid money that you can get to. So I would suggest that needs to be your first order of business because here's what happens if you don't have it. If something happens and you need to get your hands on, I don't know, 5,000. dollars, you would have to unplug your investments to get to it. And you're working way too hard to be doing that. And you'll get penalized too for bringing it out early. Exactly. So you need

separate money. Let's start on that first and just stack that up. You can do that fast with 70,000. It's just you. Then after that, Sebastian, 15% is the number we're looking for. Now, I'm with you on maxing the Roth first because for you, that's the better advantage since your 401K doesn't have a match. But depending on what you have, after you hit that, after you max out that Roth, if you still have money left to invest, yeah, then go ahead and throw it into the 401k. That's fine. But do it based off of percentage of your gross income, not just, you know. Yeah, I guess the number I gave was just because I think it's what, like 7K years, the max for me at this point. So, yeah, seven to eight in the Roth. And then for you, 15%, yeah, we'll be around 10,000.

Yeah, you have more to go. You should be able to max it out. with a couple of thousand left, and Jay's just saying put that two to three thousand just in the 401K. Even if you're not getting the match, it's still a great retirement vehicle just to put that 15%. And then if you want to do investing beyond that, then we can talk about the house hunting or house hacking thing. But yeah, the maxing out the Roth and then putting a couple of thousand more into the 401k every year is just a great starting baseline for you. I like that you're thinking like that. Yeah, that's amazing. So what I'm thinking is because I'm currently living at home. So my idea was, you know, purchase that first property, you know,

as I'm moving out, right? It's like when I have obviously the baby steps done and then I'm obviously investing and saving, right? The idea is to just kind of move out into that first house hack opportunity, which I'd hope to acquire sometimes. Which is what? When you're saying house hacking, what do you mean specifically? Like you're living in one side, the other person's living and the other? Yeah, I was probably going to do probably single family rent-by-room strategy. Okay. Yeah, so probably just purchasing a single family and then having a couple different tenants living in there with me. Here's the thing, though. I'm going to give you two words of caution. Number one is, let's say you do this, you've got to be able to cover it without them.

So, for instance, let's say you buy the house and the mortgage is a couple thousand, you know, $2,500 a month. You've got to be able to. to cover that on your own to know that, hey, if for some reason these tenants don't pay. Or I can't get tenants. Yeah, or I can't get tenants. It's not going to jack me because I can cover the mortgage. Does that make sense? Yeah, I 100% agree. And that's what I was kind of hoping to call about. Like, I know kind of, you know, there's a little bit of caution with, you know, Ramsey steps and whatnot around, you know, like leveraging yourself in real estate. But I'm kind of trying to figure out like to me there's no real difference between buying a single family home

as a primary residence just for myself and then doing it as a house hack as well as long as at my baseline I can cover that more sure we're fine with that there's more to it though and that was going to be my second word of wise yeah if you on the financial side if you're doing what we said sure but just remember this is your first entrance into home ownership and you're doing it with two or three other people strapped to your back so for the layman like for the layman like for the person the first time they buy a house is already stressful because they're realizing for the first time it's all on me yeah and so you're not only doing that for yourself but now all these tenants are going to be counting on you if something happens with the AC if something happens with the roof

if they get a leak in their bedroom right so there's part of me Sebastian I think I'm not mad at this idea but there's part of me that wouldn't mind you if you did get the house you hang out there for a minute before and just like get your bearings about you before you're just up and having all these people yeah because i think it's just okay yeah you got to paint reality which is always hard to do if it's not been a reality but what jade's saying is because my my line of thought honestly is that's great you're a single guy if that's what you want to do and you can cover it even if they don't pay and you're like listen i can make so much money off of doing this and i'm going to save here whatever whatever that's your prerogative that's what you want to do but i'm telling you

Sebastian, when you start making, you start going to work all day, you're making your income, you're coming home, you know, you're dating someone, you're doing this and that, you're going to get tired, I think, tired of the roommate situation if it's just to get extra money. Now, if you're going for a goal to be like, hey, I really want to make an extra 20 grand this year, this is a way I can do it and I'm, and maybe there's like an end point in your mind, I don't know, but just the, the endless idea of it overall. I just think you're going to look up and probably maybe a year,

maybe less, maybe a little more and be like, I'm a grown man. I'm a grown man. And I work and I pay my taxes and I want to come home to a house that I get to do what I want. It's clean. The kitchen is clean.

Yeah, I don't have to deal with roommates. You know what I'm saying? So just always remember that. But I think that's the line that I feel safe with you doing it is that you've already said, I can cover the mortgage without any I'm going to just do it to make some extra money, maybe to hit a, you know, maybe it's a goal or

whatnot. So, so we're not against it. We just know, I don't know. Just think, we just want to encourage you to think about it from every angle. Yeah. And I definitely agree. Because I think I have, because the end point for me is, you know, maybe house hack, you know, over the course of five years or so, four or five years, maybe do it, you know, two or three times, acquire multiple properties that way. And then at that point, I'll able to, I'll be able to get, you know, my own primary residence where, whether it's whether I just want to rent somewhere like a condor or do whatever but I haven't thought that far ahead but the idea is of course I don't want to live with random people forever but right but even as you expand well building tool in this

aspect it seems kind of like I mean there's there's there's two alternatives it's either do this or go out and just afford the mortgage on my own or go and rent and just throw money at the wall the thing is so it's kind of seems like the optimal idea to me the thing is you've got if you do this I I like it for the one house thing but if you're thinking about expanding this and going above and beyond, you do know you've got to do that in cash, right? Yeah, so that's the thing where I'm thinking of, because you have some people who will say, like, you know,

just over-leverage yourself like crazy. Then you have Ramsey's side, which is, you know, pay cash. So then you already know, you've got to pay cash. Don't put on the wrist, Sebastian. You're young, you are going to the wall with all these ideas, and it's great. But slow and steady wins the race over time. People that keep wealth, they do it.

Slow and steady. It's not a get-rich-quick thing. Welcome back to the Ramsey show. We're here in the Fairwinds Credit Union Studio, continuing to take your call. So call in the numbers, Triple-8-825-5-2-25, and we will do our best to get you on the show.

I'm next to Rachel Cruz today. I'm Jade Warshaw. Let's get into it. We've got Kim in Memphis, Tennessee, right down the road. What's up, Kim? Hi, so glad to be talking you all. My husband and I, we have combined finances, and Christmas is coming up. And I want to know how to give and receive gifts from yourself when you have combined finances. I love this question.

It's such a marker of someone who's really trying to do this, the Ramsey way, this question. I'll tell you what I've done, and I know probably Rachel has her own take on it. I am a lover of gift cards. This time of year, I'll go to like Costco or wherever I can get like the dollar of like Visa gift card that I can then take that money and spend it on whatever I'm trying to get for Sam. And then he doesn't see it. He might, of course, he'll see the gift card purchase. So he might get an inkling for what it is based on the amount of the gift card. But he won't know what it is because he won't be able to see that transaction roll in through every dollar. What is that, what do you do, Rachel? Yes. A couple of things. One, honestly, well, Kim, we're terrible gift givers to each other. So I'll say that first and

foremost. We're not great at it. But the times in the past that we have, two things. Either it's an obvious holiday, like an anniversary or a birthday or Christmas. And so Winston will be like, hey, I'm going to buy your gift. Just don't look at the bank account. And he'll delete it off of the every dollar app. You know what I mean? Like, make a mark. I'll just put it back on. Just don't look at it online. And we're fine. And I'm like, that's great. Like, I know it's coming. So like, that's fine. You're not snooping around anyway. Yeah. And I don't care. I don't know. I have I have three kids deal it. I'm like, I don't care.

That's fine. Nobody got time for that. So that or he did buy me a very nice ring for our anniversary. Two years ago, he got me a band. And, well, you got to have some friends in high places. For sure. You can't do that on a gift card. Yeah, but he had a friend that bought it.

And then Winston paid him back after. I love that. But you got to have a friend to be able to do it. And I did concert tickets one time and my mom bought them. And I just told her I'll rush your check after because Sharon does not Venmo. which makes me laugh. So I still like, we'll write her a check if something happens. So yeah, we'll get around that way.

But you got to have like a good, like, you know, you've got to have like a trustworthy source to do that. So I don't know, I don't know if that helps. But there's ways around it. And I'll tell you this too, Kim, for people listening. We will hear this randomly as an excuse not to bring in to combine finances. They're like, well, we give gifts and we can't because we give gifts and all this. And I'm like, y'all, it's like three times a year.

And you're a really great spouse if you're getting like, anniversary birthday and Christmas like I don't know are you all gift givers Sam Warshaw has made me a gift giver okay see y'all are his family is gifty and yeah he's guilty and Sam and he has an expectation he's like I want a good gift yeah and this man has expensive taste I'm like man I got to what am I going to do oh my gosh yeah we'll we'll pull the parent or the friend card sometimes to to cover something yeah I like it. Yeah.

That's such a good question. That is the true mark of somebody who's trying to do this. All right. Thanks for the call. We've got Kenny and Jackson, Mississippi. Hey, Kenny. Hello. How are you all doing?

Good. How can we hope? Awesome. Yeah, I have a question about life insurance. So me and my wife have four children under six. And we do have life insurance for them. It's a lot more than what you all recommend. We have $150,000 on each of them.

and some people have told me that's really like you don't need to be spending that much and some people are like well that's totally fine my thought process on having the 150,000 on each child was it's a going to be probably the most thing if I obviously like a child passes and having to be able to take significant time off work and then if we do have any debts at that time you're able to pay that off I know you guys to recommend 20,000 and no more than that and I know that because I called Xander insurance and that they won't even sell any saying over 20,000. Kenny, I got a break in.

I think you are, I think you either got a hold of some wrong information or I think you may be a little confused about how we teach insurance. Can I, can I explain it? First off, I do want to say, I love that you're thinking about that and you're thinking about how can I protect myself, my family. The thought process is right. The method for how you did it is a little off, but we can fix it. So the purpose of life insurance is to help the person who is dependent on your income.

It's an income replacement. So let's say your family, for instance, you've got the four kids under six and you've also got the wife. They're all dependent on your income. So if something weren't happened to you, Kenny, the insurance needs to be on you and your wife. So you're the breadwinner, or maybe your wife is. But if something happens to you, your kids need to be able to have a source. of income that they can say, okay, we can pay for dad's funeral, you know, hopefully that never happens, and we can afford to continue the lifestyle we've had because this nest egg is there.

And same thing if your wife were to pass away. She's contributing something, whether it be in the form of taking care of the kids and being a household CEO, that needs to be replaced with money because if she were to go, yes, you would need child care. You would need help around the house. So that's the purpose of the insurance. And we don't do it by lump sum. We do it. We do but 10 to 12 times your income. So whatever you're making, Kenny, we would say 10 to 12 times that amount. And if your wife is a stay-at-home mom, maybe four, you know, four times your income, something around that number.

And we want term life policies on the two of you. So not on the kids. We have life insurance ourselves, and that's great. And I understand about the replacement of the income. Okay. I guess just my thought is like I'm not going to want to have to work for, I mean, I've never had a child pass and God forbid that ever happens, but, like, I know you all have kids. Like, you wouldn't want to work for a substantial amount of time while you're grieving

that. So my thought process is just, like, have, you know, a decent little, you know, plump some of money for the kids in case, you know, one of them passes. So we actually have, like Dr. John says, to grieve and just miss them and figure that out. Where are you in the baby steps? Yeah, so we're on, we're on baby step two. I think, baby stuff too. So we have our emergency fund and we're going to pay off debt right now. So my goal is, is once we pay off all of our debt, then, you know, scale back on the life insurance. You know, we don't have a huge emergency fund right now besides our $1,000. But, you know, once we get that taken care of them, we can kind of back off on the life insurance.

So what do you think about that? Do you think that would be good or no? I don't think it's necessary, Kenny. I mean, I do think it's one of these things. As an adult, you get to get off this call and do what you feel comfortable doing. And if that's what you want, that's fine. Um, my word of caution is, I, because I mean, they have to probably be cheap policies. How much are you paying per kid, like per year? How much is going to this? Uh, well, per month, it's about 40 bucks a kid.

Okay. Because to me, that's, I mean, you know, 100, I mean, 160 bucks a month. Yeah, so I'm like, if that, if you, I, we don't recommend this. This is not the way we would go about it. We would never tell someone to do this. Uh, but if this is where you choose to spend. some of your money because it makes you feel better and you want to, that's fine.

But also, word of caution, there's so many, which I don't think you're in because you're working with Zander, but there's so many bad philosophies around kids and life insurance of things of like, oh, you get them wealthy here. You're doing it for a financial strategy, not really from what you're

saying, as if they actually did pass away, you would need that money to, you know, not work. But just be careful that you don't go down this rabbit hole of life insurance because there's a, like, there's I'd say it's more crappy things out there about life insurance than good. Sure, sure, sure. The good is very slim, and the good is good.

Like, the good is good. But there's weird stuff with life insurance policies that are really expensive for kids and all of it, and where you just don't play that game. So I don't think it's necessary. But if you want to spend, you know, 160 bucks a month, you can, but that's, you know, $1,000 or so dollars not going to the debt. Yeah, I agree. All righty, we got Ashton in Austin, Texas.

That's a bit of a tongue twister, but it didn't get me, Rachel. What's up, Ashton? Hey, hello, how you doing? So thank you for taking my call. So I want to ask you guys a question. Me and my wife are on baby step number two. And so we started with $130,000 in debt at the beginning of year, and we got it down to $23,900 and some more down the day.

Oh, my gosh. Good job. Yeah. And so we both, we've been blessed enough to work at a company that we get to, SPP stocks and stuff like that. So we really helped us get this push. And we thought about $5,000, anywhere from $4,500 to $5,000 a month at our debt every month. So when I'm trying to figure out it is this, though, I'm like, okay, we have, so with the ESPP stocks, we have about, we're going to owe about $14,000 in taxes, right?

So I'm like, okay, should we take that money, throw it at the car, and I'll be, I'll have the car. If I do that, I'll have the car done, because that's what the last that is. I'll have the vehicle done by, like, uh, right before Christmas. Well, maybe even Thanksgiving time. Okay. I'll have the car done. And then we can, I can, we can, go back, you know, stock, pollen cash and then be ready for when, before April 15th comes with the 14,000 taxes.

You get what I'm saying? But I'm like, or should I leave it or should I, should I just, you know, because either way it's going to get done. Because it's like, now, like I have the tax money. What's directing should I go with it? Have you run out the number? You're positive that with just your income alone, you'll be able to cash flow the tax bill when it comes? Yeah, because we, once again,

we're blessed enough to be able to live off of one income. So basically, we live off and we live off my wife's check. And my check is about anywhere for my overtime, $45 to $4,500 to $5,000 a month. So I'm like, you know, I'll be ready. You know what I mean? I'm definitely ready. And the taxes are coming from, I'm sorry.

They were cashing out stocks to pay this. And there's single stocks? Yeah, single stocks, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, we tell anybody to do that. I was going to say, I would go ahead and do it anyways,

because I wouldn't have single stocks anyways. So I would probably tell you to do that and move some stuff to mutual funds or index funds anyways, let alone pay off the debt. So I think it's a good move in general. It does hurt with the tax bill. Like what you're saying, it's like, ugh. But in the long run...

Yeah, I'm scared. I'm scared. I'm scared of the sound. I know. I think we all kind of have a little bit of fear. Well, if you want to play it. out with your accountant first and like just be double sure that you know what the number is going to be. I think regardless of, I mean, if you're in the ballpark, I think you'll be fine with your

income and cash flowing that. But if you want just that extra knowledge of just tell me, you know, get as close as possible to it, I would do that. The other question I had for you is I thought you said you had $22,000 left to go, but you said like $23,981. So you've got, other money that you're putting with that to finish the car? Is that what you're doing? Or is there another debt? So every check like last, I just paid $2,000. I'm paying $2,000 every two week. If I get

a little more, like I say, it's about anywhere from $4,000 to $5,000 a month. Got it. It's my, a wider ballpark of what I'm putting on the debt. Regardless. I've been doing that since the beginning of the year. Way to go. Good. Yeah. Well, I'm with Jade. If you're able to double check that you can tax flow, or I'm sorry, cash

the tax bill in April, I'd go ahead and cash it out. Yep. Be done. and then build up some savings to invest in, like, a good index fund or something. But for some reason, if you can't, Ashton, I don't know, if you guys run the numbers for some reason, then you're going to get this car paid off in five months anyways. So you could pay it off, save some cash on the side after that, and then sell the stock and pay it. You know what I mean? Either way, I would be doing both.

It's just the order you want to make sure that you're good at. But if you are 100% sure, you will have that money saved for the tax bill, I would go ahead and cash it out and get this car. get it paid off because when you don't have that car payment and Ash and y'all did crazy. That's good. That was fast. That was so amazing. Those numbers you just gave us.

So well done to you and your wife. I mean, y'all are like textbook, exactly what we talk about. And so, yeah, you guys got a bright future ahead. So good. Thank you for the call. That's so good. All right. Now we've got Austin and Charlotte, North Carolina.

What's up, Austin? Hey, Jade. Hey, Rachel. I'm 25 and I make about $60,000 a year. I'm about $35,000 in consumer debt, and my payments are around $800 per month. The largest debt is what I'm most worried about, and that's a $22,000 truck at $400 per month, and I just got this truck about five months ago. That hurts.

Yeah, and the KBB values $18,000. Yay, yeah, y, aye. Good night. You've already lost $4,000. Man. Wow. Yeah. I am not very good when it comes to No, you're fine. At all. Yeah. Well, you're learning. You're 25. You're learning. Yeah, our friend's kind of side note, Austin, our friend bought a new Tesla and he bought it with 4,000 miles on it.

So like it was literally a brand new, one owner, all of it. Oh, really? 22% he got off of what he bought that 4,000 miles versus what if he went retail brand new. Wow. Yeah. So that just shows you guys how quickly cars drop. So you're not just the only one Austin we we see it all the time and it's real um how their value drops so you know the truck we would always say if it is half of your annual income you need to sell it um so you're not there um you're close but you're not there um with the 22 000 versus your income but the question is i mean yeah the depreciation of what you would have to pay in different and get a and get some money to replace the car it kind of ends up being a wash so i probably would just keep

it and pay it down. Yeah. What are the other debts? What's the other 12,000? So I have just under 10,000 on a personal loan. And that was for another truck, actually, that it has a lot of motor issues. And that's why I went and bought this newer truck. So you spent 10K on a truck still didn't get fixed. And then you, so you spent $32,000 on cars very quickly? Where's that truck right now? I still have it. I have a welder actually coming this weekend to help fix the frame. Okay. How much can you sell it for once it's all done? Right around 8,500. Okay. Well, that'll help bring down your $22,000 car payment. And what's the other, what's the other $2,000? $3,000 debt. That is what's remaining for my fiancé's lawyer. She is in the process of going

through a large custody dispute with her baby's father, her son's father. And she was having some trouble trying to come up with that. And it was something very big for her. And very important to myself so I told her that I would go ahead and take care of it and we will handle that handle everything at the end and what do you guys get married um we haven't set a date um we're not so I will sort of listen to you guys about nine months ago and that that is something that has been heavy on my mind and it's something that I definitely want to get the all rolling towards we both she

I'm ready to go to the courthouse and just get this over with because I also just bought a house about six months ago oh my goodness hey hold up hold up I'm going to stop you for a minute you've been listening for nine months you've been listening for nine months

thank you Rachel because I was I think here's what I want you I don't want you to keep going towards debt. I want you to start practicing patience because I see a guy who's like, I need to do this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. And I just think that it's going to start to compound on you. I'm glad that you called now before it's gotten too crazy. But I think, Austin, you got to just slow down a little bit. I do. The truck is too much. The loan for the other thing is too. Like if it's not on fire, we should certainly don't need to be going into debt for it.

yeah um so just take a little bit of a chill pill um i agree with you if you're going to start paying for things for your fiancee you probably need to get married or you guys need to decide what that line is because i think this could get messy really fast and it doesn't it sounds like she's got a lot of loose ends to tie up and it might not be time for her to jump sure so quickly in but also you can't be saving a ship while yours is sinking yeah and so you got a lot on your plate austin so i would I would focus first and foremost on paying off this debt smallest to largest. And so you're going to do the, you know, the fiancé's debt, personal loan for the truck, and then the car payment.

Get that taken care of. Get a good emergency fund and start cash flowing your life altogether. All right, guys, thanks for listening to The Ramsey Show. And if you are an avid listener, and even if you're not, make sure you're sharing the show because I believe that the content that we're sharing is so very helpful. I mean, after all, it did help Sam and I pay off $460,000 of debt. And I truly hope and know that it's helpful for you guys too. And it's something that you can do to just spread the word of the Ramsey way. That kind of sounds creepy, but it's not. It's just a way to spread the information so other people can have

help with their life and their money. So just, you know, hit the little paper air playing if you're on Instagram or you know copy the link on YouTube and share it with some friends uh we also have a really cool playlist uh that is easy to share so just make sure you're like subscribing and sharing that really helps us out and it's something that you can do that's free that doesn't take any time at all all right let's get back to the phone lines Ryan in San Antonio Texas what's up Ryan how can we help today hi yes uh good afternoon everyone how we doing everyone good oh yeah doing great yeah awesome I'm glad to here. So really, what I wanted to call and ask for is how I can just tackle my debt

at a fast and efficient rate, want to be debt-free. I love that you want to be debt-free. How much debt are we looking at? So my wife and I just got married August 2nd, so our combined debt is $48,000. Okay. Perfect. What did you say right before that, Ryan, you said something about wanting to be debt-free. Do you say a musician? What'd you say? They just got married? No. Yeah, we did. just got married in August 2nd. Yeah, we just want to be debt-free. Yes, okay, before that when you, okay, I'm sorry. I thought I heard something else.

Okay, that's great. Yeah, so how much do you guys make a year together, household income? Combined, yeah, combined before taxes, we're looking at $100,000. Okay, good. And what kind of debt is it? Is it from the wedding or? No, the wedding we paid out of pocket, nothing that we owe for that. It's student loans.

and a car loan along with credit card debt. How much is the car? How much of the 48 is the car? $26,000. Okay. And what's the student loan? Student loan together, $16,000. Okay, in the credit card.

Correct, yes. Okay, got it. Okay, so is this, did this come mostly from one side? Or is this just really both of you together? This is both your debt? the loans under my name my wife didn't come in she has no car payment and the student loans i have a little bit more as well and then the credit cards together for sure okay okay so all yours ryan bringing all this to your debt-free wife no i'm just kidding that is funny that's wild um

so yeah i mean i think that you have the right spirit this is something that is great to tackle head on um as you guys are combining your finances so yeah that's the first thing is combining everything together. I don't know if you've done this or not, but you guys together need a joint checking account that both all your money is going into so that there's complete transparency there. Do you guys have that? No, so we're very new to this whole, to the real world. Yes. How old are you guys? I'm 26, she's 25. And that's why I wanted to call. Yeah, that's great. all in rights. Perfect. Yes. Well, Jade's right. So combining everything that can be combined. So that's going to be any savings in a high yield or a money market. If you guys have any of those accounts,

put both names on it, checking account. Yeah, the most efficient way of combining is that joint checking account. And people get all squirmish about that because they want their own money and all of this. But we've just found financially, not only do you get ahead faster when you work together as a team when you say yes all this money's coming to our household as a household as a family what do we do with this pile of money regardless of who brings in what this is our money to run our household how do we most efficiently do that and then just from a dollars and cents standpoint just working out of the same account because ran i mean it's it's still kind of amazes me which i know i'm the weird one probably in the world today but that people venmo or split grocery bills as a married

couple you're just like oh my gosh y'all like you you're both adult like let's just let's just call it what it is we're a married couple and we're sharing our life together so they have the joint the account would be all of that so that's kind of the tactical side and then go ahead jade well i was going to say does you're i know you're calling but your wife is on board with this she she knows that we're doing this we're paying it off of aggressively does she know this or is this just you talking so i'm the more uh financially savvy one i'm the one who's trying to find strategy she's all on board though she's on she's all on well we say the most financially savvy ryan but you are the one bringing in all the dead.

I don't. Yeah, what's it mean? I'll just follow a spade here. So, yeah, and then I would sit down for you guys and do a budget. We'll give you as a wedding gift from Jade and I. We'll give you every dollar, which is our budgeting app. But it also, you plug in all your numbers so you see your numbers as a household, which will help you start working your way out of debt, giving you a plan and giving you some guidance that way. And I also throw in my book, Know Yourself, Know Your Money,

because understanding how you guys function, separately, how you grew up, your money personalities. You know, I've made fun of you right. You said you're the savvy one. But you're probably the nerd. You probably enjoy the stuff. She's probably a little bit more laid back, which is great. Like all of that's so normal.

But working together and seeing each other's strengths is really big. And you'll probably get those conversations doing a budget. So when you guys do your first monthly household budget together, that's a great, I mean, some people have a lot of bad memories around that. You know, I think it's a, I have a okay one. I think it's a great starting point to be like, hey, here's what I think we spend on groceries. What do you think we spend on grocery?

You really start to get a handle on where your income's going. And in that budget, Ryan, is where you guys are going to be listing out your debts as well. And you guys will start working on tackling the smallest debt. So it's probably one of the credit cards paying that off. And then you just, you pay minimum payments on everything, but you start attacking the smallest one first.

And if you guys together, Ryan, can get fully on board. And if you guys go crazy with this. And when I say crazy and Jade, Jade, live this out. And so you go by speak to, it. But I mean, it's not only, yeah, not only cutting expenses, but you both getting extra jobs, working nights, working weekends. Like, you just go all in. You could get this 48 paid off. I think

at 18 months. For sure. I think with you guys being newlyweds, you're going to have to basically live like your college students. Like, don't mistake getting married for now we're, you know, about that life. Now is the time for you to be like, okay, we're eating peanut butter and jelly because we're newlyweds and everything is fun, right? Like make everything fun because you're newlyweds. And also I would say, Ryan, don't mistake, and this is for anybody listening, because sometimes a wife or a spouse or a husband can say, yeah, sure, do whatever you want, right? Don't mistake that for being on board. Make sure she's on, like, wants to be a part of it. Because I think sometimes if you're the nerd, it can be, that can be interpreted as, oh, she says,

I can go do this. Yeah. And you may be excited about it. And Ryan's like, oh, I'll do it. I'll do the budget. Don't worry. You got to do it together. So you, you, you, you, you, You got to make sure that this is not just, hey, she said it's fine. So you go off to the spreadsheet and, you know, just dive in there on your own. Make sure that you're both, to Rachel's point, contributing. She has a, you know, she has a say in the budget. You might be the one who makes it, but she's the one who's commenting on it. And you guys are both tracking transactions.

Everything's transparent. I think that's the part of this that's super duper important going down the line. Yeah, for sure. Ryan, can you already tell if you guys are opposites with money, meaning like, are you more of the spender or she's more of the saver or vice versa? I think we're both pretty conservative. It was just actually writing down the desk where we were just like, holy smokes. Okay, this is why I need some, we need some advice and how to do it.

But I think we're both a little bit on the conservative end. Okay. Yeah. No, that's great. Yeah. And I'll say this, Ryan, you know, the faster you guys can get out of this debt, the brighter your future is, because we would tell you, like, stop investing. stop everything until you get this debt paid off and then you guys build up an emergency fund after

that if you guys want to buy a home or I'm not sure if a home is in the equation you know that would be after that but but it is amazing when you look up and run some numbers if you go to ramsysolutions dot com and our investment calculator if you start investing at 30 oh man oh man and you start looking ahead of like what your income's going to be and the compound interest and where you guys could go financially like it's insane and just put in your car payment from age 25 to age 65 and see if you live to the car payment your whole life instead of investing you paid a car company that payment what you're missing out on so together just like start building this dream of like this is what we want to be we want to be about this and we're we want to be out of debt we want to

be investing you know it that's the fun part of all of it when you're working together which I think couples miss out on when they keep it so separate it's like you don't get to dream together and be like here's what we get to do as a couple and as a family so um there's a lot of upside Ryan so I appreciate you calling and trusting us with this because I think you guys are you're on the right track and you guys are you're going to do incredible things so congratulations on the marriage so you guys we're always giving you advice on obviously how to manage your money and the components that go along with that so of course we're always telling you things like you need to get on a budget a budget is a huge part of

managing your personal finance you need to be paying off debt that's a huge part of personal finance. You need to carry the proper insurance, a very big part of personal finance. Obviously, we care about saving for the future. We care about things like generosity. But another big part of managing your personal finances is what would happen if you were to leave this earth? What happens to your personal finances, your assets, all of those things. And so, of course, that falls under wills and estate planning. And it's kind of one of those topics, Rachel, that's a little bit like, you know, it makes you feel some type of way to talk about it. but we really do need to talk about it.

So we get questions all the time about wills. Can I just make my own will? Can I do it online? Do I need to get with a lawyer? How do I do this? So let's kind of pop through this, Rachel, and answer the number one questions. Actually, the top four questions that people tend to ask us.

So the first one, how do I know, Rachel, if I need a trust or if my state's too complicated for doing the online thing? Oh, yeah. Well, we always say if your estate is worth less than a million dollars, then an online will is just sufficient. That's fine. Anything past a million probably can get complicated with passing down assets and taxes and all of that. So at that point, you may want to look into more of a state planning, which may include a trust. I love that. Okay, what about this one? What do I need to start my will online? Well, making a will online or not, some big decisions you got to think through. So who's going to be taking care of them? And also, who do you want to make decisions for you if you are incapacitated? If you're not available or- Yes. conscious enough to write to make these decisions about your finances and then there's even power of attorneys for health decisions all of it is there in the will so important and it may

seem a little morbid but you do i mean this is part of the the plan is part of the risk there number three is an online will legally valid yes it is but just not any online will that you find on the internet may not be legally valid in your state so again it has to be a state specific will that's one reason we recommend mom-bearled legal forms because they do a great job with that. Yeah. When Sam and I moved from Florida to Tennessee, we had to change our will because state law applies. Okay. And finally, number four, why would I want an online will versus a traditional one that's made with a lawyer? Why would I even bother with that? It's more convenient. You're able to kind of do it at your pace. You're able to get to it. I'd say it's less expensive as well. It takes less time.

Yeah. So again, it's very doable. And again, our world today, the way we've made things accessible. So whether it's, you know, even brokerage accounts or index funds, you know, you can do through Vanguard, you know, your will you can do online. And so there are times that you can just do these things yourselves. But when things get more complicated, whether it's investing, again, your estate even, like we're talking about making a will, bring in professionals to help you with some of this stuff, especially if you have anything that's a little bit complicated because it's worth getting an expert. opinion. Yeah, I agree. So if you heard us talk, but you're still not sure, why don't you take our will's quiz to find out kind of where you fall on either side of the fence? And you can do that by going to ramsysolutions.com slash will's quiz, and you can find out which approach is right for you. All right. Thank you, Rachel. Let's go to Gina in Jacksonville, Florida. Hey, Gina. How can we help today? Hey, ladies. How's it going? Doing great. Awesome. So my question today has to do with investing but also insurance. My husband and I have gone through financial peace university and we've taught it two times. We're debt-free. But we are also saving for a home.

We sold our home like eight years ago up north and moved to Florida and we've been saving since then, bought new cars and all that stuff completely debt-free, cash-filling everything. We are awesome. Thank you so much. So we are at this point maxing out basically all of our retirement accounts. And my husband recently got a new job, and the health insurance has doubled. Our high-yield health insurance has gone from $3,000 a year to $6,000 a year. And we don't use it ever. So we cash flow all of our health expenses because we do all alternative health.

So we have a chiropractor, massage, acupuncture, nutritional therapies, everything. And they don't take insurances traditionally, yeah. Correct. Yeah. And I've even tried to like, I've taken hours even like, you know, sending in receipts trying to see if I can somehow like build up that deductible and do anything and nothing has ever been. So did you drop your policy? Is that what you're thinking of doing, letting it lapse? Well, I just keep going back and forth because technically it's in play like rate at the this moment like we did sign up for it but now open involvement is coming around again and I'm thinking I'm going to lose out on the investment portion of the HSA which we've been maxing out the last few years

but have never taken any money out of and so I'm like which you can keep until 12,000 you can keep until what is it 60 62 and be able to I mean it can it can work just like a investing vehicle like your you know 401k or any type of investment like you can actually use that money and invest it which is great but you're worried about the premium, the 500 bucks a month? Is that what you're worried? Are you worried about the premium? You just don't want to pay the premium anymore because you don't really use the insurance? Is that what you're saying?

I'm thinking I can just invest that and continue to cash flow my health care and just invest separately. I mean, we're also doing about $1,000 a month in an outside retirement. What's your nest egg now? What are you guys worth now? It's not huge because it's only been allowed. You can not do it. I wouldn't because the truth is if something, if a.

car. I mean, if something... You could get in a car accident tomorrow and need brain surgery. And it would yeah, millions of dollars. You know what I mean? Like it just, I mean, the health care costs are just it's extreme. And so if you don't have health insurance in place, I mean, it's worth it. It would be worth it. Even if I don't use it year to year, it's an extra padding if something

big happens. A diagnosis. I mean, anything, yeah, you're going to want health insurance. I would not risk cash flowing that. You got to remember And that's basically what my husband thinks to, but I'm like, and I'll tell you, you talk to Sharon Ramsey, Gina, and even my sister, and they are on your train. They are. Oh, man. Activated charcoal with stomach bugs. I mean, they're into the whole thing. I mean, I think that's great. But they all keep health insurance. Yeah, because the truth is, yes, if something really bad happens to you, when your children, I'm like, you know, I don't know. Yeah, we don't have to get like in a medical debate, but I think you're going to want surgery or what I mean? can't fix certain things. I'm not against that. For sure, I get it. I just, I guess I was just thinking, like, would the auto insurance just come into play at that point? The what? Umbrella insurance. Like, there's other insurances that we have that I thought, okay, if something like that

happens. I don't know. Tell me the problem you're trying to solve. What, what, I think what, you hate paying the $6,000 every year. Is that it? And you'd rather invest the money. Absolutely. So what I would do, if I were you, if I was so hung up on that $500 a month, being invested, I'd go out and find another $500 a month and invest it. I'd earn it if that's what you're trying to do. Um, but yeah, I just see this and insurance too. I'll say this, Gina, like, you know, home insurance, ours keeps going up and it's just, it's, it's a little bit of a pain. No one likes paying it. No. Yeah, but it's for the just in case, the worst case scenario. That's what insurance is for. And, you know, even life insurance, right? You have life insurance in case something

happens to you for your kids and like, and God forbid, nothing does happen, but it's the just in So I would keep, yes, I would keep it for the just-in-case category and you're paying for peace of mind if something really, really bad happens that costs literally hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars of, you know, whatever may happen, that you have that in place. That's right. Well, at least my husband's peace of mind. Yeah, that's right. I know. I know, Jeet. I hear you.

I hear you. But yeah, I don't think I would let that go. No. If anything, think of it as there are certain things. in life that feel like a pain in the butt sometimes like insurance or when you you know people call in they're like I don't want to go to the next tax bracket and I'm like guys at the end of the day actually these things are a blessing to be able to afford and to be able to shoulder the weight of that payment and to say something like oh man if I could have that money I could invest it because

some people you know they they can't even afford the payment that's right that's right kind of try to keep it in perspective like that it's great to be able to transfer that risk It is a pain in the butt, but at least you can, at least you can handle it. It's not causing you to miss out on dinner or anything like that. And you guys are killing at other places too. And it's great that you can afford it. And God forbid you never. All right.

Well, welcome back to the Ramsey show. We're here in the Fair One's Credit Union Studio. Continuing to take calls about your life and your money. I'm Jade Warshot next to me is Rachel Cruz. And we're just chopping it up with you guys. So call in, AAA, 825, 522. 25, and we'll do our best to get you on the phone line. We've got Jasmine and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Hey, Jasmine. How can we help today? Hey, yeah, so I'm calling kind of on behalf of my husband. We live about two hours away from Raleigh in a small town. But basically, my husband is a wonderful guitarist, and his income has decreased pretty steadily over the past. past few years due to not to his part, but the people he plays for. So I was calling to see exactly how he could increase that income and be a better contributor

because I feel like it's difficult for us because of the stress of not being able to play as much as he wants to. So what level was he playing on? Was he like touring with a major artist or was he doing session work? Like explain what that was? So he's not touring with a major artist, but he is touring with a guy based out of Nashville. So he commutes back and forth between our little town in North Carolina and Nashville quite or used to a couple of times a month.

Now it's like once a month. In the winter months, it's hardly any. At the height of that, what was he earning when he was doing that, like at the height of doing his thing? So at the height, he was actually still living in Nashville, majority of his time, and also working with another music company as a sound engineer. Okay. And so he probably at the height was doing, I don't know, maybe 75. Okay.

How long ago was that, Jasmine? That was three years, three and a half. Okay. And what's he been making sense? Why did you move to Raleigh? sorry. Why did you move to Raleigh if he's a musician and he's doing music work in Nashville? So he moved back home. How long have you guys been married?

He never wanted to live in Nashville. We will be four years or three years this coming November. So he made the choice that it was more important to be home than keep this gig, the sound engineer gig and the playing gig. And now he's in Raleigh and can't find the work. He's still playing with the same. guy. It's just that guy doesn't play. Yeah, but he was also supplementing, touring and doing sound. Because we know Nashville, I mean, there's like tons of musicians, and they do

all kinds of things. Uh-huh. To be able to supplement a full. And where we live, there's no. Yeah. So that's his choice. But you do understand. It would be like, you know, we have some students from Pennsylvania, I think. So I'm like, it'd be like working at Hershey's and being like, oh, I still want to do chocolate, but I'm going to move

to Atlanta. There's up thinking, and you're like, well, there's not a lot of chocolate. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. You moved out of the the work not that you can't be a musician anywhere but what was the plan is the question what was his plan yeah the plan was to still work with the musician and then another guy that has a band here and that he does sound for here and so he still works with these guys um this is the problem lies that they are yeah they're not working as often and not making as much money so I'm going to tell you as a person who lived in this lifestyle. A, it feels like he's got all of his eggs and one to two very small baskets. And that gets tough because he's reliant on these people because to do their job. And if they're not doing their job, he can't do his job. Right. So because of that, he's got to have diversify and have his hand in a lot of different things. And that is a full-time job. That alone. He's got to be on this.

all the time. He should be out marketing, you know, networking every single night. He should be at everybody else's live shows, getting to know people. So if somebody's sick, they're like, oh, I know a guy who can sub and he's great on guitar. Like that's, has that been his full time job? Because if it has been and he's still not getting anything, then he's got to consider where his strength lies. If his greater strength is in sound engineering, maybe he needs to veer more towards that side of things. Do you see what I'm saying? Like, I think as a musician, as an entertainer, you have to have a lot of tough conversations with yourself and you have to be very realistic on what you need to be doing next, especially when there's money involved

and a family involved. So what have you observed? Is he grinding or is he kind of like he has been distracted with a new baby. So I, we had our baby not almost 10 months ago. So that has definitely taken a front seat to his work and being that person that is always going and networking and making phone calls and all that you just talked about. But it's been four years. You said four years ago he was making $75,000 and what's he making now? This year, he, last year it was about 45 to 50. This year, it's 30.

Yeah, he's on the decline. So you guys, you said that you're calling in for him. Did he ask you to call? Is that what you meant by that? Or you're calling for you? No. I'm calling for me to kind of see how I can help him. Oh, okay.

I think you need to sit down. And I think you have to frame this not around his talent, not around what he can or can't do. You have to just frame it around the reality and say. And of your reality, too, what I'm feeling. Yeah. It's about, yeah, you're talking about it from your perspective. which is we have a brand new baby.

It's been four years, and I'm feeling a shift. I'm feeling a decline, and I'm very scared because I haven't, you're not talking about it, and I don't see what the plan is. I don't know what the plan is, but I know that we need one, right? Have you had those types of conversations with him? Yeah, we've talked about the plan, and it's, oh, well, once we, you know, get new babysitter well established because he's kind of being a stay-at-home mom while I was working. because my income is more.

Oh. What's your income? Yeah, and so mine is 83.3. Okay, so I will say I thought you were, I thought his income was the only income. So it's good that you are working. Got it. Do you enjoy your work, Jasmine?

Is that what you're wanting to do? Oh, I mean, ideally, if I could be a stay on mom, that would be amazing, but I can't do that. We can't financially. But I do enjoy what I do. Okay. concerned though with him because you know household you guys are at over six figures right now even with him making 30 and he's replacing child care right I mean he's not you guys aren't paying

for child care while you work he's the one watching he was he doesn't do well um with child care because like he feels like he needs to be the provider and um then he needs to go out and provide respectfully. Like you can't have it both ways. Yeah. And we had discussed like what's the plan and his plan as a whole once we get, you know, somebody in, I'll be able to focus and work and bring, like, get more gigs and bring up the income. This is what you need to remind him.

The baby's 10 months old, but this decline has been happening for four years. So that the baby might be a distraction, like a further distraction, but it's not the root of the problem. And I think that's what you need to talk with him about is say, I get it. We do need child care. I'm not saying we don't. But this proceeds that. And that's what I'm worried about. And you sound like a really kind, sweet, you know, a little bit more soft spoken. But I think that you need to lay this out in very clear terms that he's going to understand that you also have dreams here, which is to stay home. So your dreams matter and his dreams matter. And you've got to come together on a plan and a tipping point that's, like the go-no-go on this music deal. All right. Today's question of the day is brought to you by Why Refi? So if your private student loans are in default and if you're feeling stuck, just no, you're not out of options, okay?

Why Refi specializes in helping borrowers just like you find real solutions with low fixed rate financing. So go to Y-Refi.com slash Ramsey. That's the letter Y-R-E-F-Y dot com slash Ramsey. Remember, it may not be available in all states. Today's question comes from Ryan in Vermont. He said, I'm 40 years old and engaged to a lady who is 37. However, I'm struggling to see how to move forward.

I own a house, and I've been using cash to upgrade and repair the home. She believes that I should put her name on the house without her putting anything into it. I disagree and have asked that she at least match some of the equity before her name goes on the house She makes significantly more than I do But chooses to own horses And we need George on this car Her hobby causes her not to be able to cover her own bills

Because she spends so much on them and their upkeep I'm at a loss about how to approach this issue I have studied the Ramsey principles On how married couples should approach finances but I can't figure this step out for us. How do couples merge finances when they completely disagree on how their money is being allocated?

It's a lot there. Ryan, I don't think you're worried about the house. I think you're worried that you're marrying someone that can't do math. There's a lot there. Right? Yeah. I'm like, girl, you're 37.

Like, I'm sorry that you're, yeah, I'm with him on this. Your hobby causes you not to be able to cover your own bills. Yeah, that, well, well, I do. okay let me let me I don't know if it was just the way I heard it but I also feel like he has a tone yeah with the house yeah but I think it's deeper I think it's because he's seeing her not being able to function as a human being and then she's like just going to jump in and he's like are you going to be able to help function as a married couple or am I going to be drowning in irresponsibility

the rest of my life because my fiancee isn't even covering herself like I think that I think it's a deeper fear I think it's coming out as the house which I don't agree with Ryan I don't agree with you on that from a principled standpoint. I agree. But she's 37 and she can't pay her bills because of her body of horses. I didn't know.

I don't know. And I may have misinterpreted this, but I didn't know if he was saying, like, she can't even cover her bills saying like her putting the equity that he wanted is one of the bills that he wants her to cover. Like I was trying to understand if she really is like not paying her utilities.

Yes, she's not able to cover her own bills because she spends so much. on them, the horses and their upkeep. Yeah. Yeah, I guess so. I guess so. Yeah. I think if she was, I think if she was a, I think if she was successful, responsible, she's investing, she's doing this and that. She's got her own place. She's going to sell. I mean, sure, yeah, you're right. You're right. I don't think he'd be worried about it. No, I don't either. I think that you're marrying, I'm sorry, a woman that's not like, she's not responsible. Yeah. You're a little uptight, Ryan. So you probably need to like, you both need help. Have a, yeah, have a glass of wine and chill for a second. But like,

man I think the I need marriage counseling well you do and I think and again not from like the X's and O's and the in the math side but from a reality of what you're getting of genuinely money is a stress point for couples big time and if you guys do not see things and again you don't have to be the same person she can still be more of a spender you're more of a saver but if you're not aligned on a value system at which you approach money you're going to have an uphill battle to climb yeah It makes it harder. 100%. You're marrying, again, I'm so sorry, but a 37-year-old, yeah.

Like, I just, you can't, you can't live like that your whole life. And so, no, you can't. That's, that's what I would worry about. And that her, it's a, it's a prioritization of importance in life. Yes. And, and what, yeah, their values are not aligned. Would worry me, yeah. So no, Ryan, when you get married, you don't need your new spouse to

bring in the equity that you put about that. No. You're all the same when you get married. You are together. You are one. You're choosing a life with a partner. So get that off. But again, I think he's highlighting that and worried about that because of this other stuff. I agree. I agree. That's like his guarantee that he's not going to get burned. A hundred percent. Yeah. Oh, man. Good luck to you. Good luck, Ryan. Again, you got to have these conversations when you're in like before you're engaged. Like you got to know who they are financially. Yes. And if you don't get this straight. out, I don't know if I'd, well, I don't know if I could do it. I could at 30, you know, I don't know if this is her first or second marriage, but at that age, I have a, I was just telling Rachel in the break, I couldn't

be out in these single waters at 40 because the stuff that I could not tolerate. Yeah. It's very high. It gets higher and higher. It gets higher and higher. The standards go up. Oh my gosh. I don't know if I want to deal with that. Man, I couldn't do it. Life's too short at 40 at that point. I know. That's right. We got a solid 30 years. We could travel the world. I don't know. It's like, I can't say it on air, but if you've seen lethal weapon, Danny Glover's famous line, I'm getting too old for this. Yeah. You know, anyway. Keaton is in Chicago, Illinois, online too. What's up, Keaton?

Hey, how are you guys doing today? We're doing good. How can we help? Awesome. So, I am currently 24 years old. I don't have any debt. I don't own a car. And recently just found out for my job. that for my new location, I'm going to have to buy a car. And I'm looking for a direction on should I lease a car based on my salary? Should I buy one? And just exactly how much should I spend?

And I have to make a decision like the next four weeks. So I decided to give you guys a call. Yeah, that's great. Well, you got some time. That's good. How much are you making per year at your job? I'm making $81,000. Okay.

Probably like another 5K for bonuses. Okay, great. Good job. Do you have any money saved right now? Yeah, so I've like 5 grand in my checking and then like another 24,000 in investments that I can sell off at any moment. Okay. Single stocks? It's all just the S&P. I put all my money into investing.

Great. So I would say, you know, the rule of thumb here is, of course, you don't want it to, the car to be anything with an engine. to be any more than half of your take-home pay. And honestly, I mean, you're young, you're starting out. I probably wouldn't even go that high. I would try to keep this frugal. Do you have, you said you have no debt, right? No, I don't owe any money.

No debt. And this $24,000, is that your only, that's your only savings anywhere, the $24 and the $5,000, that $30,000, right? That's it? Yeah, then I have like another probably like $30 in retirement, but I don't really touch it. Right, we don't need to touch that. Okay, great. So what do you have your eye on? what are you looking at? I mean, if you tomorrow were to choose something, what would you

spend? I'm like thinking, I think I want to spend like 15 to 20K because if I, in my mind, I'm like, if I buy a cheap car that like is just going to have problems and stuff for, you know, for like 7, 8K, then I'm worried that in like another two years. I'm going to have to buy a new one. I'm going to spend a time. I agree with you. You're not in a position where you need to have a beater. You're not in debt. You've got a nice savings here. I'm with you. I think you spend 15 or 20 on a car, that's not a bad thing. Yeah, I literally wrote 15 down, Keaton. I think that's great.

What's the commute going to be? Are you driving a lot? It'd probably be like, I'm in Chicago, so the traffic's insane, but probably like, I think it's 13 miles there, 13 miles home. Okay, but just traffic, okay. I was going to say, because if you're putting a 10 of miles on it, that's something also to consider of not just like wearing down a car, but that's not going to be the case for you.

You're not getting brand new. You'll get used. Yeah, and leasing, it is the most expensive way to finance a vehicle. Like, from a mathematical standpoint, you'd be better off getting a car payment than leasing because of the baked-in interests and all of that and all the fees around it. But we don't want you to get a car payment. We want you to stay debt-free and cash flow of the car. So, yeah, so I would put those options, yeah, off the table.

And, yeah, and I would just, yeah, I'd buy a 15-20. I think that's exactly right, 15,000, I think that's great. you'll probably have to pay some taxes on when you're pulling money out so I'd be thinking about that and then my next step Keaton I think from a financial goal perspective is I would probably just have some cash available like three months of expenses and just putting that in a high yield savings account don't invest it just have it over there liquid in case you need it as just kind of a standard emergency fund so yeah that would be my that would be my goal I think in the next few months is to get a new car get a car make sure you got the taxes covered in April if you got to be paying that

That's right. And then, yeah, have a quick savings goal of about three months of expenses just to set aside. So if you run into an issue like this, like anything in life that you just need some cash, that way you're not to pulling out your investments. Because what you're invested in is probably great. And the rate of return the past few years has been fantastic. So I hate to pull it out of a great index fund, but you need the car and at least you have the cash. So we'll see it as a blessing.

in 2026 don't just set your goals you need to actually learn how to reach them and the 2026 goal planner is here and it's packed with content from myself rachel cruise john deloney and all of it's there to help you stay on track in all the areas of your life that matter talking about your money your faith your relationships all of it's going to help you follow through on your goal so you need to know guys we sell out on the goal planner every single year they sell like hot cakes So do not wait to purchase one. You need to get yours today for 4997 at the ramsysolutions.com slash store. Ramsey Solutions.com slash store.

Or if you're watching on YouTube or podcast, you can just click that link in the description to get one today. All right, we've got Anne in San Jose, California. Hi, Ann. How you doing? Hi. Great. How can we help today? Well, I've been listening to Dave Ramsey.

I look forward to hearing him every day. And I just would like to have your opinion on how should my younger sister take title to a house that I sent her the money because she didn't have any money. And so I sent her $245,000 to purchase the house in South Carolina. And I just want to make sure that if something happens to her, I would get the house so I can get my money back. Oh, okay. So you, I just want to make sure I got the story straight. You gave the money for the house. She purchased it. And the house is for her to live in? Yes. And then at what point were you hoping to get the title back? Is it just if she were to pass away or was there another circumstance that you would want to get that house back? Well, she's looking for a job. She said if she's looking for a job, she'll start paying me back. That I don't really need the money. And I trust her. So if she pays me fine, the only thing I worry about is if something happens to her, if she was to, you know, die suddenly or she's 60 years old.

And I would then like to have the money or the house back without her husband getting it or her son. Oh. So you would want her to will it to you over her immediate. Does she know that? Yes. she said she's willing to do a will but I was told if she does a will it's going to be in probate and all that

and not if she does a will well it may go through for a little bit but I mean yeah the will if it's a state specific will it'll go through any legal but I do want to does the husband know this and the son yes okay all right

and they're okay with it because they get to live there right as long as she's alive yeah and then if she were to pass what would you do? Would you kick them out and get the money? Oh, I didn't think about that. I mean, probably not. That would be a little heavy-handed.

But I guess what I'm saying is you said you don't need the cash. Is that right? No. Okay. What are you worth, Ann? What's your net worth? Five, six million without my two houses. Okay.

So, yeah, you're doing. well um why do you want the money back like it's a lot of money it is but also you're setting up a life for your sister which includes you know her family um and if she passes away and it says in the will that it's titled to you then um yeah you got to think through are you giving them and it needs to be all communicated that needs to be all in the will to be able to say yes within 12 months and Aunt Anne expects us to find a different place to live and you take the house back, which again, if it's everyone's wishes, that's on you guys. I was wondering if we could do like tenants in common.

Do what, say it again? Tenants in common? Tenants in common. Were they the tenant of the home? But you have the title. Right. Right. But I don't really, I don't want to be responsible for insurance and taxes. She'll take. I don't want those in my name. Oh, boy. I think if she passes, you don't want those in your name, or just today?

Just today. Just today. I guess I could think this out a little more. It's complex. I think you have to make a couple of decisions. And whatever you decide, you're the captain of the ship, right? right? Because you paid the money and it sounds like your sister would go with whatever you said. It sounds like it. It's the husband that you need to make sure also understands. I just think the main thing is whatever it is. It needs to be in writing. Yeah. If it ends up being the case that she wills it to you, you need to know about that.

Yeah. Why did you do it in the first place, Ann? Were they a need? Do they need a place? Yes. Okay. Yes. Because of her and her husband can't provide. enough income to sustain a home themselves? Right. Yeah. Because her husband was with the military. He's got TST. He's not working. And the money he gets is they can't live on.

Okay. Is the house in San Jose too? No, the house in South Carolina which is not a community property state. Okay. Understood. I'm trying to think currently, I'm just, I'm thinking, of the best solution because Ann, I also don't want this whole idea of owing people money, especially within family. It just kind of changes the dynamic. So I'm just thinking out loud

here, Ann, I wonder if you tell her, hey, you don't have to pay me back. I mean, you're worth a lot and you gave this as a gift, but maybe you say, instead, I need you to be in charge of the bills of the home, the property tax, all of that. That's what she's in charge of. Because you pay, She paid for the home outright. There's no mortgage on it, correct? No market. She bought a cash with the money I sent. Yes, I hear you.

So, and legally, everybody thinks it's hers. Like, you're not on the hook for anything right now. Correct. So, does it hurt you? Like, does it bother you if it becomes a gift? No. It's just that I kind of, you know, my poor husband and I worked all our lives. And now my husband,

I just have helped my family. I gave my mother a house, my brother a house. Oh, wow. And hands out houses. Oh, my gosh. People are like, we got born in the wrong family. I know. And Jade and I are great.

We're great people. And I would will it to you. I'm just kidding. So is it that you're just, you just feel like I've done too much? Maybe I need to pull back on this. Is that what it is? You're having like a little regret, maybe?

Um, not really. The reason I do it is that she rescued old dogs, rescued greyhounds, and they cost a lot of money for vet bills and to feed them. So I'd always help with that. And, you know, anybody who rescues animals to me, we give them the house. To all these rescue places. Yeah.

Oh, wow. I didn't have kids. What I want you to work on, so I need you and your husband to get on the same page. And if he wants this paid back because he feels like it's off, then that's y'all go for it. In the will, it needs to be very clear. Anne gets the house back if she passes.

Husband and son have to be out within 12 months and they have to find the place to live and we're done with it, right? Everyone needs to be on the same page. But also, Anne, you sound like a very kind person, but you are on the edge, if not the textbook of an enabler maybe. Uh-huh, right?

Some boundaries. I know. I know. And I want you to work on that, Anne, because solving problems with just money doesn't always work. Even though it feels like it does, it still can leave people in a cycle of irresponsibility. And that's not good for them.

And so I love your generous heart and your spirit. And I think it can be taken in such a better, healthier way as a recipient if the recipient is actually doing the work to take care of themselves as well, right? You pair that with generosity. And it's a really beautiful pairing if you're able to do it, which you are financially, which is so great. But you just need, next time you want to give a house away, just pump the brakes and just you and your husband need to get on the same page and just think, okay, what's the situation that we want to give to? And again, I love the generous spirit. When you got $6 million net worth, like to be able to do stuff for people. I mean, it is amazing. But you also want to give in a way that it's not a burden for both. You know? The pattern of giving houses away.

Yeah. Well, it's creating, it's a blessing on the front end, but it's creating a burden on the back end and chaos. That's right. Chaos. So thinking through those things is very, very important. And, yeah, I'm with you. Borrowing a house is probably not the way to give. You probably want to either give it or... There's some stipulations. Yeah, you need the stipulations. All right, our scripture and quote of the day, Job 3432 says,

teach me what I cannot see. And if I've done wrong, I will not do so again. Simon Sinek said, appreciate when things go awry. It makes for a better story to share later. I know that's right. That's funny. That is good. That's like, well, I told Rachel, my story that went awry was in New York City this weekend. And it's true. When things go awry, it does create a better story. That's right. Anyway, let's go to Lewis in New York City, New York. There we go. What's going on, Lewis? Hi, thank you so much for taking my call. You're welcome. What's going on?

My question is just a little backstory. I'm 23 and I've been hustling nonstop since June after graduating to pay off my debt. Okay. Now I'm struggling with whether hustling so much and not really being home as often, if I'm losing time, quality time with family, while health isn't good. Oh, whose health is not good? Yours or somebody in your family? My parents. Okay.

I'm sorry. Is there something immediate happening or is it just kind of like they're just getting older and their health is declining? Exactly. Just age, getting older, losing that time. How old are they? 70. Okay. Okay. Are they, again, is there like an immediate health concern or are they generally healthy? You just see them getting older?

Generally healthy, but we do have, like, a time on it. The doctor said, like, within eight years, so. Oh, so there's a diagnosis. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay, how much debt do you have left, Louis?

So I started with $130,000, and I'm down to $90,000. Good for you. Okay. And what do you expect if you were to stay on this pace? How long it would take you to pay off that $90? So it's nice. So I live with my parents right now. I'm a little old to still be there,

but I'm able to throw about $7,000 a month at the loans. Amazing. Be able to have it done by next Christmas. Okay. Okay. So. Well, let me tell. Okay.

Yeah. Okay. So, I mean, can I just from someone that's not emotionally entangled in the family? Just from an outsider's perspective. June, we got July, August, September. October. We have about four months of hustling. You live with your parents. There's possibly an eight years, a diagnosis of something, you know. So you do have time. So if you stayed on the track that you're on for one year, I think you'll be okay. I mean, and I think you'll probably

pay it off sooner than that. but just from like a time perspective like let me say this list if you had called and your mom had a diagnosis and she had four months to live i'd say pause everything yes and and do what you got to do with your family like that you would never regret that but it doesn't seem necessarily urgent and i think if you got out of debt faster it would free you up not only to get out on your own but also to have the ability to actually save and build wealth and do some things in these next seven years to maybe even be a blessing to them in some way. Yeah. I'm also thinking about, okay, so you're living with them now. Let's pretend that you weren't living with them and you were just, you know, as a 23, right?

Yeah. As a 23-year-old, you're just in your apartment, right? What does quality time look like? Is it we do a family dinner every Sunday? Is it, I want to challenge that because living with them now, I'm like, you see them every day. You probably see them in the morning. You maybe probably see them when they come home, or when you come home. So I'm wondering, what is it that, what's the specific thing that you're like, man, I'm missing out on that? Because that might, maybe there's a remedy there sooner than later. So if it's like a family dinner thing, maybe instead of family dinner, we do a thing on Saturday.

You know what I'm saying? Is it something that you can shift around where you still feel like I'm doing the special thing with them that I feel like I'm missing out on? Or is it just in general, I'm just used to seeing them more throughout the day. Because then I would just challenge that and say, hey, if you didn't have this debt, I'd be like telling you to move out anyway and start your life and go visit them when it makes sense. Does that make sense? Yeah, that does. And that's been like part of the question is I feel like I should be moved out already, but they're not rushing me

to move out. And my mom's always saying, what's the rush for? You have no bills here. We pay for your food and whatnot. But it also, I listen to you guys a lot. And they could dwindle my growth as a man. Sure. Yeah. And I do wonder, are they questioning how hard you're working? Yes. Okay, they're putting some guilt on it.

I work like a dog. What does that mean? How many hours a week? Probably over 100. Oh, wow. I make about 110 to 120,000. Okay. What are you doing?

Is it a bunch of side hustles put together or one main job? I have a main job that makes 70K base. Okay. And then I do a business. bunch of side households. I do freelance work. I'm a dog sitter. I do Uber. I teach at my alma mater. Godly. Lewis, well done. Yeah. And I wonder is some of this feeling like I need to pull back because of my parents' health and spending quality time with them, that's coming from them more so than you. Yeah. So there is a, there is an interesting season of life that

I think happens naturally if you, and again, not that this is right or wrong, Lewis, I'm not saying this at all, but if you, like, get it, you know, you're out of college and you get married, there's a natural break that happens, or there should be, right? There's, or you get a job in a different city and your first job is in Dallas. You're like, I got to move. Like, there's some natural breaks that happen. And when those don't naturally happen, which, again, it's not a bad thing. It's not that you're staying, you know, near your parents are still working.

Like, none of that is wrong, but there's a harder dynamic. to happen for a natural break to happen because it kind of naturally sets back into the norm of what you were like at 15, 15 year old Lewis versus 23 year old Lewis. And there's a difference there. And yeah, 15 year old Lewis is at dinner every night. You know, there's an expectation. Yeah. And I think too for some parents, and I don't want to put this on yours, but there's a, there's a codependence there that you're around and you're there and they need you and all of this. And no, there is. I'm still vacuuming the house. Yeah. Yeah, so I'm like, man, Luce, that's a hard.

Do you have good friends in your life or any like older men that are not family in your life? Not outside of work. Okay. I just wonder if there's like someone that knows you well to help kind of guide this. I feel like this next season for you is really important to gain that independence. And there's going to probably be some harder, uncomfortable, sad conversations with your parents. And listen, I have a son. and I joke all the time that Charles can live

with me forever because I just it's so right. But when rubber meets the road, I'm like, no, I want him to go out and become his own person. So I'm like there is a natural bent towards a mom and her son, absolutely. But the fact that they're putting a lot

of weight on you, Lewis, in this. And that makes me sad because you're going to have to untangle that yourself. And there's going to have to, yeah, be some harder conversations of some boundaries of what's good for you and not what's good for us as a family unit at this point in life right i just think that there's a yeah the unit the unit changes over time it morphs

and it changes and none of it's all for good because you're you have to be able to go out in life and do what they've done which is they started a family and they they built on what they had and you need to be able to go out and do that too and i i honestly would probably challenge you to do that sooner. Like, you don't need to have paid off this $90,000 in debt before you go live on your own. I would say to rent, like you can't go buy something because you're in debt, but you can go rent an apartment and have a roommate and kind of get that taste of independence. And I think at the core of this, this is no longer a money question. I think it was more about you feeling good about going out and being Lewis. And, you know, yeah, our parents age and they get older and

the time shrinks and we figure out what that looks like in our in our life as adults with other things that we're balancing um and that's kind of that's kind of like the facts of life yeah it's just kind of the way it happens and yeah you're not a bad son lewis and nothing's on fire but i would i would i would start i'm with jade i would i would start kind of pushing some some um changes for you right and this is all for you and you're not doing anything wrong so hear me say that everything that you laid out i'm like nothing here is is wrong that's right Right. Well, that does it for this hour of the show. Thanks for hanging out with us. And remember, there's only ultimately one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.