The Ramsey Show - App - There’s Peace in Not Owing Anybody Anything (Hour 3)

Episode Date: November 7, 2023

Девочка-пай Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's The Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. I am Rachel Cruz, hosting this hour with Ramsey personality and best-selling author Dr. John Deloney and we're here to answer your questions America. It's a free call anywhere in the country at 888-825-5225. All right starting off this hour we have a this is a good question John to start us off on the Ramsey show. We have Gary. Gary's calling from Phoenix. Hey, Gary. Gary, Gary. Welcome to the show.

What's up, dude? Thank you. Thank you. Yes, how can we help? Well, my question is, I listen to your show and on the car radio driving around, and when people do their debt-free scream and stuff, if they're paying off all their debts

and everything except for their house, or everything, including their house, they are making a significant raise anywhere from $20,000 to $90,000. I can't see them possibly working that many hours of overtime to make $90,000 more. So can you explain what's going on here for different things? I mean, that's great, but it sounds like too good to be true. Yeah, I could see that. I think a couple of things are going on. Number one, I do think that they pick up extra work. I mean, that is a real thing. Side hustles have become a big part of how people up their income. And two, Gary, I mean, this isn't, I don't have specifics on this, but there is something to be said about somebody that is so lasered in and focused on a goal, like getting out of debt, that so much of their time, so much of their energy is

focused on it. And when you start to focus on one area of your life that has been so out of control, and you start to see progress, and you start to actually see the movement that is happening in the direction that you want, other parts of your life start to be affected by that. You start to actually, because we get the same thing with people when they do their debt-free screams, people that lose weight, the amount of people that say, I lost 100 pounds in this process too. People that say our marriage has been different. These parts of their lives that aren't correlated specifically to money start to actually improve.

And so for some people, I mean, you could even take someone on commission. When they're so focused on something, they're going to be working so much harder and as a result be making more because they are so focused and so lasered in. And then on the flip side,, I think employers even see that and we hear people all the time say, I got a raise because their work has been so effective because they are so lasered in and focused. So I think it's a combination of a lot of that. I'll also say just, this is all anecdata.

So I'm just trying to rack my brain here for all the debt-free screams I've been a part of. Often people decide like, I want to get out of debt and a stay-at-home mom goes back to work full-time or someone's just now finishing graduate school and they're entering into their job. And so they may have made $20,000 working part-time through grad school and suddenly they get their job and they're making 85 and it looks like a strange, bizarre jump, but it's really not. So I think- Yeah, like for example, like for example, for the last part of my career when I was working,

I was making like $30 an hour, so $20,000 was in overtime. So all that together in one year was $80,000. But some of these people are getting a raise of $90,000. So it just kind of sounds hard for me to... What did you do? It's a great, but, you know me to... What did you do? I think that's great, but, you know, hey. What did you do? I worked in utilities and mainly on a valve crew.

Okay. Yeah. So imagine you had put yourself in a management track and at the same time you decided to get out of debt and you became super laser focused, and you did that work, and you left the crew, and you went to a management track, and then they put you into the ownership group. That's not a far jump, right?

I guess so. Yeah. I can see where you're sitting, and actually I appreciate this question because I know that it gives people um the one that sticks out in my mind uh rachel is the teacher there's a teacher in new york city when they shut down everything and she had all the student loan debt i think in my head i remember being over six figures over a hundred thousand bucks yeah and she just felt trapped in her apartment and so she started driving early early in the morning and

then she would go teach class via zoom and then the second the computer closed she'd go out deliver food all night into the night and she paid off like in 30 some crazy number yeah and i remember thinking i told her oh you're one of those people that is just a curve buster you ruined it for everybody because now we have no excuse right right right and so i can imagine if i'm sitting there going i just don't buy it now if i've worked on a crew my whole career and i am a i i turn wrenches and i'm amazing at that's what i do yeah dude you're gonna get a raise of a dollar dollar 75 an hour you're gonna go up to four dollars an hour when you get put in charge of the crew i can see that being a hard jump yep but if you decide i'm sick and tired of being sick and tired and part of that is i'm going to give away my dream and i'm going to go do the management track

yeah that's the other thing people changing positions because they're like oh my gosh i could literally be making this we cut our debt in half and for right now it's not about me loving my job and doing my passion it's about getting out of debt that's right we're going to jump ship and we're going to we're going to get something that pays more and we find that too so it's a great question great question man all right up next we have Orlando. Hey, Matt, welcome to the show. Hey, thank you for having me on. Absolutely. We're doing great. How can we help? All right. So I have kind of like a unique question. So I've done pretty well financially, but I'm still at the point now I'm trying to spend a little more money than I used to.

And I'm very frugal and I'm kind of a sacrifice, you know, a lot. And I've saved up a lot and I want to do some more things with my family. And I kind of look at like family experiences is like a good way of spending money. And the money we're spending is starting to make me a little nervous. So a couple of things that we've done recently, like we're spending a little bit more on vacations and more on some like season tickets for a sporting event. Hey, Keith, speak directly into your phone for me. I am, sorry. I'm sorry, Matt. Sorry, Matt.

Okay. And I'm also having a, we're also considering a house addition, like a large one. Okay. And it's a pretty large one. So that being said, I'm just kind of, I don't really know the metric, you know, how much you need to have in order to spend this much. And I hope maybe you guys can help me out. Yeah.

Well, when it gets down to the point when you have no debt, you have your emergency fund, are you, is your house paid off? My house is paid off, yes. Okay. So you guys are, yeah, living in that Baby Step 7 world off? My house is paid off, yes. Okay, so you guys are, yeah, living in that Baby Step 7 world. You know, it is all about ratios. So how much, how much you guys have in your nest egg? So in like investments, like just like stock market and retirement, we have like 9.2 million, give or take, but I don't check it every day like I used to. Okay, and how much are you making a year? It's based on the year, but like the last few years,

it's been between like 1.4 to like 1.7. Yeah, that's great. Well done, Matt. Well done. Okay, hold on. I got to know, brother. What vacation are you sweating? Well, it's not one vacation, but like the kind of, we've done some really nice vacations,

but every year we're kind of spending more. So I was kind of thinking to myself, what's the amount of money per year we can like just allocate towards vacations that's kind of like more my question if you want to know the places I can tell you but it's as far as like the vacations it's kind of like it's first it was like maybe 15,000 a year and now in like last year it was like 35,000 this year it's like 52,000 yeah totally well what I would I mean the way I would look at it is allocating more not just on vacation specifically but i would be looking at what am i spending what are we saving and what are we giving all three of those buckets need to have a percentage to them and you get to put that percentage matt to it and you guys are fine let me just you're fine i think you're fine i think you can spend spend some of that okay

but make sure you're doing all three things with your money. You're fine. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Rachel Cruz hosting this hour with Dr. John Deloney. And we got some news in that Mint is closing up shop come January and it's going to leave about 4 million budgeters out in the wide open range, John. In the cold. In the cold. In the Christmas cold.

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we're going to be going to New York next week. Even planning that, I'm like, we have a line item for New York. It's like when the hotel, you pay half of it. When you have the deposit down, that's in there and like tickets to a show, like everything is there. And it just helps you stay on track, know where your money is. And it just gives you a sense of control, which is just so powerful. So if you want to check out EveryDollar, make sure

to go to EveryDollarcom and every dollar premium honestly is one of the best things that you can do because it connects to your bank you have a bank connectivity paycheck planning so much so many options uh with every dollar premium so make sure to check out that budgeting app every dollar well and um i never used mint but the way george explained it to me is mint Mint was great at telling you what you spend. What you spent. How to-

It's a- Yes, yes. It's like the old checkbook register. Right, right. I paid for this and this was withdrawn from my account. Every dollar is so much more because it helps you plan into the future. And I love it that it connects me. My wife can both be connected to it.

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What bills are hitting between now and the 15th? I mean, it helps you plan out your life. So again, it's an incredible, incredible budgeting app and that is EveryDollar. All right, up next, we have Keaton in Spokane, Washington. Hey, Keaton, welcome to the show. Hi guys, how are you? We're doing great.

How can we help? Hi. I just had a quick question here for you guys regarding my student loan payments here. I'm just curious to know what's the best way to attack my student loan repayments here upcoming. Okay. How much do you owe? Currently, I have just under $27, upcoming. Okay. How much, how much do you owe? Currently I have just under, uh, 27,000. Okay. Um, I do have, I've been saving up for the last few years to pay this off. I do have

about 40,000 saved up. Um, so I'm able to. Hey, speaking to the phone for you, brother. Speaking to the phone. Yeah. It's echoing. I'm sorry, guys. Now we're back. Okay. Sorry about that. I have about 40,000 saved up to repay the student loans, but I've had, you know, family members and friends kind of give me their advice of the best way to get rid of these student loans. And I was just curious what you guys thought is the best way to do so. The best way is pay them off today. I would write a check right now. When you get off the phone.

Yeah, just get rid of it. Just get rid of it. All of it. Yep. I'm curious, why does your family say, oh, keep them, they're so beautiful. And they give you so much joy and love in your heart. In the last couple of months,

I've been paying well above the minimum payment. I've been paying about thousand dollars for, for, um, for each month. Um, essentially what my mother says is that, um, you know, I guess, you know, it's better to have that, that money in case of, you know, you know, emergency or whatever, rather than just being out 27K. So I guess that's where the reservations come from. What do you do for a living? I work remotely. I work for a sales company. I make around $125 a year.

Don't tell me the name of it, but what's your product? What do you sell? We sell telematic devices for large logistics companies. So you can think of dash cameras and GPS units for large companies. Yeah. So Keaton, oh, go ahead. I was going to say, I remember a few years ago when a lot of people got sent home and then people had to make their Q2 and Q4 numbers. And there's a lot of work from home layoffs.

Is that ever a possibility in your world? Not that I'm expecting. Our company is actually doing extremely well. So I wouldn't foresee that. Actually, it's the opposite. We're actually growing exponentially right now. So things are pretty solid. So I have a wired in. This is just as mean.

I don't want to project this into your world. I just grew up in Houston when there was this incredible company, one of the greatest companies in human history called Enron. And they were always growing. And they were so amazing that they just printed money. It fell from the sky. They extracted it from energy sources. It was amazing. Until everybody woke up one day and millionaires just, they went to bed millionaires. They woke up literally with zero.

Here's why I tell you that. I think there's a fallacy that the job is always going to be there unchanged. That the one thing you know is going to be unchanged is that you owe the government money. That will never change. They even tried to do it, went all the way to Supreme Court. It failed. That's not going to change. And so I would look in my life, what are the 100% constants? And I'll start working down from that. And even if it's 99% chance that your job is going to keep flourishing,'re going to keep crushing it keep making six figures awesome that's still a one percent differential from the guaranteed you're going to owe the government

money if on the off chance that your company's the next enron which i'm sure it's not but you get that call it says hey man we got a um or the email that says hey effective this date this is your last paycheck thank you for your service. The student loans still due the next month. Yeah. Yeah. And there is something, Keaton, about having, and it may feel a little different because you have the money in the bank just to pay it off if it got down to some crazy situation. But John talks about this a lot. But there is something about just owing someone something. There's like this lack of autonomy. And when you just write a check or you go online and you do the payment and it's done, like there is something that you have this level of freedom

that you just don't have right now. This level that I am not attached to anyone and I have complete freedom and you end up making other choices. You know, the mindset your mom, not to like bash your mom's mindset, but that mindset, it is so normal of just like, hey, keep that there. It's fine. It's not a big deal. And that's the game people play day in and day out. And they don't realize how much of their income is going to this debt, how much you're paying in interest now. And it's playing this game versus

saying, you know what? I'm going to do an extreme situation that is not normal. I'm going to be completely debt-free. Keaton, you're still going to have $13,000 for an emergency fund. Are you single? I do have a girlfriend. Okay. But yeah, not married, no kids. That's a great emergency fund. Maybe you can beef it up a little bit more if you want. And you're going to be able to do a whole lot of things without ever being tied to the government anymore, not having that line of debt. And so there's just something about cutting it out that is going to give you a level of peace that you almost don't even imagine because you've been carrying it around so long. It's become so normal. And that's what people do all over, especially with student loans. It's like the one type of debt. People are like, oh, my car loan, my credit card. But student

loans somehow kind of just, it's just the thing that just stays around is what it feels like. And people just get so used to it. And when you finally get rid of it, I bet you, Keaton, there's something tonight, because I want you to do it today, tonight that you're just like, okay, it's done. Now I get to go back to my plan and saving up for me and not sitting here and like dealing with the government every month. What is your take home every month? It fluctuates because I work in, you know, sales. So it's anywhere between 10 to 12,000 a month. How much do you send to student loans right now? Say that again. I'm sorry. How much do you send to student loans right now? Say that again, I'm sorry. How much do you send to student loans right now?

Right now, I've been sending a thousand dollars a month. Okay. My minimum payment is around 250. So you get to do even more. So a thousand. So in six months. Keaton, did we, I'm just curious, say yes or no real quick. Did we convince you? Are you going to pay it off today and just be done with it? Yeah. You know, I've been following Dave's baby steps, and I know that this is part of the plan is to attack your debt and just get rid of it once you have it.

Well, we've got to go to a break, but I love it. Paid off? You did it. Paid off. Six months, you'll have $18,000. You'll be good to go so the holiday season always creates conversation around stuff and what we have and especially you parents out there if you have kids and you got the amazon booklet with all the toys my kids did and they circled every single thing in it as i opened it i was like oh really children really

is that is that all is that all that you want? Is that all that you feel like you need? But that contentment piece is so huge. And it's one that I keep kind of drilling into my kids. I'm like, you guys, that excitement. My six-year-old the other day, she just was so mad. I put this on Instagram. She was just so mad in her room.

And I was like, what's wrong, Caroline? She's like, I'm so mad at Brilliant Sky, which is a toy a toy store here in Franklin I was like why are you mad at Brilliant Sky she was like there's so many great toys and I can't have any of them and I was like oh well I feel that way about J.Crew I get it like I get I want all that stuff too Caroline. That would have been a perfect time for you to be like well honey I wrote a book. I know I know but I was like but it's a constant, especially if you have little kids in your life of like, you guys, listen, you can have the fun toy, but that excitement that you want out of that fun toy fades in about 15 minutes.

And especially the younger you are, the faster that fades. But it's true for adults and kids. And so, yeah, that is one reason I wrote my book. I'm glad for what I have. It's my first children's book and it's out today. It's launch day and has beautiful illustrations. It's so fun, but book and it's out today. It's launch day and it has beautiful illustrations. It's so fun, but it's just a great book to remind kids and adults, the reader,

that stuff is not bad, but it doesn't fulfill you the way you think it does. So it's gonna be a great Christmas gift or even Thanksgiving gift if you have kids in your life. So make sure to check that out. And we have other great meaningful gifts for Christmas at our $12 sale at ramseysolutions.com slash store.

So there's books like The Total Money Makeover, Baby Steps to Millionaires, Own Your Past, Change Your Future, all for just $12. And the Questions for Humans cards that John has done is there for less than $10 or as low as $10. And the Christmas edition is back and those sold out last year. So make sure to check it out. So some great stuff out there to actually help create great habits,

great conversations around your life and your money for this Christmas. So again, check it out at ramseysolutions.com. Hey, real quick, before we go to call, I want to call this out for parents out there. So I took my son to breakfast to Waffle House, free advertising, there you go. We go to Waffle House every Tuesday.

Not this Tuesday, but last Tuesday. I am starting to pregame. And I said, Hank, this year, we're not going to buy 50 things. We're going to do a couple of things here. And we're going to do some educational stuff because his mom and I are nerds. And we gonna have a couple of clothes that kind of stuff some museums yeah exactly just books and things like that and he looked at me and you know what he said

he goes yeah that's exactly what you said last year i'll see if you hold to it oh my god and so really quick i was using my son in this big announcement like hey christmas is gonna look different but i was trying to get my son to make me feel okay yeah because i have told myself a lie that the only way my kids will love me and the only way my kids will feel fulfilled is if i buy a bunch of crap yep and it was it was my 13-year-old going, well, that's cute, Dad. Cool. You always tell us that and then you buy a bunch of stuff

because you're insecure. He didn't say that. But so parents, we often point it to the kids. It's often us. Oh, yes. We try to buy our way out or buy our kids' love

or to put stuff under the tree because we feel guilty that we're always at work or whatever we have to be okay with ourselves too yes and maybe as we read this book to our children we need to absorb that message too that is that's right that's i know that was one of my goals in it and it's so funny even with the christmas conversation i remember last year taking a picture of like our christmas setup because people do that on instagram and they're like christmas i know you hate it john do that on Instagram and they're like Christmas. I know you hate it, John.

And I did it. And I was like, yeah, we like, I don't know. We have some good toys. And everyone's like, I love the minimal Christmas. Oh, my gosh. Like that was every comment. I was like, oh, man. And at first, one second, I was like, did we not get our kids enough stuff?

And then I thought, no, we had a budget. And I'm not going to go. I'm not. I don't want to like load it with a bunch of crap. It's just toy stuff is so annoying. It's just, it's just gets everywhere. And it's like, you got Sonic toys. Dear God, please be with Rachel Winston.

They're clearly struggling. All of it. I don't know. It just was really funny. So I feel like I practice what I preach subconsciously. I'm going forth this year. So good. All right.

Up next, we got Allie in New York City. Hey, Allie, welcome to the show. Allie, are you there? Hi. Hey, Allie, what's up? Hi. How can we help? So actually about a month ago, I purchased the financial peace university stuff and I was going to do it with my husband because we had gotten into some debt and things were not great. But we had a plan and we were going to get ourselves out of it. And he was changing jobs and we had a really big plan. And then he died about a week ago. Oh, honey.

Oh, gosh, Allie. I'm so sorry. What happened? Which was a tongue., gosh, Allie. I'm so sorry. What happened? Which was it, Tom? Allie, what happened? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. What was his name? I don't know yet. Bill. Bill. So, I have children that I need to take care of, and things are changing very quickly and our house was being sold and I am going forward with that plan because financially I really

need to do that. So here's my point. Um, I don't like, so there's like sort of the traditional financial peace way of doing things. You know, I, um, we didn't get to start it, but I'm actually taking the first class tonight and I know like what the steps are, but, um, so much has changed so quickly and I really need to think about, um, do I buy a house for them? Do I rent? Um, I want to have some sort of stability. Um, I just have all these really, really major choices that I'm being faced with, and I

don't know what my first steps should be. Yeah. So this is super, super important. Number one, I'm so sorry. I'm heartbroken with you. I can hear it in your voice. This is a week ago. Yeah, it's brand new. Okay. Do you have somebody that can hold your hand right now? No, I have to be alone for a little bit. There's been a lot of people around a lot, and they're helpful, they're great. But I have kids, and I'm trying to be okay when I'm home. So I try to do things when I'm out of the house. Okay, a couple of things here.

Number one, the greatest gift you can give your kids right now is to let them see their mommy be super, super sad. If you try to become perfect in front of them, become an iron statue of strength and stability, they're going to feel that humongous hole in their heart and they're going to think they're crazy. And it sounds counterintuitive, but if they see mommy cry and they come sit with mom and y'all weep together, and then you say, let's go get something to eat, that's going to be the greatest gift because they're going to know they're not crazy. They're just like their mommy and their mommy's really, really strong. Okay. That's number to be the greatest gift because they're going to know they're not crazy. They're just like their mommy and their mommy's really, really strong. Okay.

That's number one. Number two, the greatest wisdom I ever got during some pretty profound loss. And as I've sat with people over the years, don't do anything permanent for six months to a year. If the house was already being sold and that was already in the works and that's the right decision for y'all, then fine. Please don't run out and buy a house. Please don't do that.

And everybody's going to give you this and that and the stability, quote unquote, for your kids is going to come from y'all. It's not going to come from a geographic location right now. Okay? You're going to get a thousand different pieces of advice. Please double back on this one. Don't buy a house right now.

Because you don't know what six months from now or a year from now is going to look like. When it comes to job, when it comes to moving back with family, when it comes to your business closes, who knows what's going to look like. Yeah, it's the big decisions, Allie, and the small ones, like even FPU.

Like if you want to take that tonight, you can, or I would even just wait on that. Like I think that, yes, I want to make sure there's food on the table and your basic bills are covered. So if you feel like that's going to help you get a level of stability, that's great. But even the small tactical stuff with money,

I think goes on the back burner even there. I think right now, Allie, to grieve, yes, I really, I would take the pressure off. And again, if you feel like you need that for an educational standpoint, that's fine. But I don't want you to feel this pressure that you have to get every single thing in order right now. I think the number one thing for you is to grieve and to get this house sold because it's in the process. Find a place to rent. Make sure food is on the table. Lights are on. Your basics are covered. But I would sit in that for about two to three months. And then if you feel like, okay, now I can start to actually learn and expand in that way, I would do that. But if you'll hold the line,

Emily's going to pick up and we're going to give you some stuff, Allie. And we are so sorry. So sorry. Our scripture of the day comes from Philippians 4.12. I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. Plenty. Plenty? Plenty. That was my Southern accent coming through. Plenty? Plenty. That was my southern accent coming through.

Plenty? I have learned the secret of being content in every, in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty. There it is again. Plenty or in want. Thank you, Paul. In case you're wondering, America, there is not a reading quiz before accepting the job of personality.

Plenty. I was saying plenty. I sound like an English accent or a Southern accent. You sound like you are like six Xanax into the afternoon, which you sound like. Plenty? What's so hard about plenty? Plenty. I don't know.

Bob's saying I said it okay. I don't know. It just sounded weird when I said it. Anyways, Jordan Peterson says, perhaps you are overvaluing what you don't have and undervaluing what you do. Because you might have plenty. Plenty. Plenty.

Plenty. Plenty. Plenty. Plenty. That's what you say when you walk into an apartment and it has lots of plants. It's like, it feels planty in here. It feels a little...

I don't know how many apartments you walked in and said that, John, but good for you. Good for you. Well, you guys, the Ramsey Show Annual Listener Survey is live now. Give us good ratings, me and John. You know, this was a struggle. You just did a bang-up transition there between I can't read, but

you should vote me. Vote me good. We want to know what you love about the show. We want to know what you want to hear more about. Everything around this show, we want the show to be helpful to you. So knowing what you want and what you like, what you don't like, all of it is helpful to us. So if you'll text survey to 33789

or visit ramsaysolutions.com slash survey, fill that out for us because it helps us here on the Ramsey Show. So you can sign up today and actually enter to win a $500 gift card, which is amazing. So hey, real quick off that last call. Yes, this is super important,

especially as we enter into the holiday season. Unfortunately, this will happen. This will happen. Holiday seasons sometimes see a spike in people who pass away for any number of reasons. And as the caller in the last call said, she didn't even know. Holiday seasons sometimes see a spike in people who pass away for any number of reasons. And as the caller in the last call said, she didn't even know. Right?

Didn't even know. Please give your family the greatest gift you can give them, which is a will this holiday season. Get a will. And life insurance. Yes. And life insurance. Separate from your job. In that last call, he was transitioning jobs. He's moving from job A to job B.

And please, please do that. One year, my parents got all three of us kids long-term care insurance for themselves. And we all applauded. It was one of the greatest gifts ever, right? It was amazing. Yes. Because we all were kind of quietly talking like,

hey, if something happens to mom, like, do you got any money? Do you got like, we're kind of talking. Right. And that's what they got for, it was a, what a gift. Yes. Even if you tell your adult kids or your teenage you got like, we're kind of talking. Right. And that's what they got for Christmas. It was a, what a gift. Yes. Even if you tell your adult kids or your teenage kids, kids, we got life insurance.

They might go, oh, I wanted Xbox, but I promise they'll be happy. Absolutely. Get a will. A will, yeah. Mama Bear legal forms, check them out. And Zander insurance for term life insurance. Please, please, please.

Taking care of your family and this stuff, you guys. It's a, sometimes it's an awkward discussion for people or they don't want to face reality and maybe even your parents you know like you were saying even with your parents john but having those conversations and encouraging the people in your life to have things taken care of because um which is because life happens and we see that all the time on this show and just like ally in the last segment it's just terrible and heartbreaking but when that stuff is in order it gives some peace and stability to a really hard and sad situation. So it's a great point, John. All right. Up next, we have Beth in LA, Los Angeles. Hey, Beth, welcome to the show. Hi, I'm actually just calling because I need some encouragement.

I have known about FPU for years, 16, 17 years since I've been married. And for some reason, it's just taken me till June to finally get on board and my husband get on board. So we paid off $23,000, but we have $83,000 to go. And I just feel like I've kind of lost that, like, drive, not to keep going keep going but like I just need encouragement because I feel like we started too late with this and there's just so many pressures going on like not gonna have enough for our kids we're not gonna have a house because we started too late so I just kind of need like no you got this you can keep going it's okay you're yeah yeah well how old are you guys beth um i'm 38 my husband's 40 okay how old are your kids uh three and seven okay so great well for sure it's not too late not even

close no let me just say that out loud and you guys are on a hard journey beth like this isn't easy if it was easy everybody would do this and you guys have just started in june so you're kind of six months in and a little bit of that newness and the excitement of something new has probably faded and you're realizing oh my gosh like this is the path that we're on for what how many how many more years have you guys mapped out this probably two more years um yeah do january 2026 is what the plan date is okay put in 3500 a month two years all right that's amazing can i ask you a hard question yeah why why los angeles why one of the most expensive places on planet earth to live because it's where my family is boo not a good answer what's another answer i know god god know. God keeps bringing us back here.

Hasn't I moved around three different times? No, you can't pawn that one off on God. You keep getting back in a moving van and going back to LA is what you keep doing. I have a very good job though. How much do you guys make in a year? We make $10,000

a month after taxes. I may bring in $116,000 and he's at $75,000. $120 a month after taxes. So I may bring in one 16 and he's at 75. Okay. Yeah. So one 20 after taxes. Yeah. Yeah. So Beth,

I mean, I, I think, you know, this is a, it's a marathon. It's not a sprint. And for where you guys are,

you're right at that 24 month mark that you have 24 months to go and continuing to put your head down and just, and driving it down. I mean, it's amazing how easily you can be distracted. And especially when you make great money. I mean, you guys are bringing home 120 and feeling like, oh my gosh, we work hard, but we're not able to go and do the things we want to do with it. It's that continual going back, going back, going back when things are hard, going back.

And I would celebrate along the way. Is this 83,000? Is it broken up into multiple deaths? Yeah, they're smaller. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So like have things that you guys do as a family to small celebrations. I mean, it could be something as, I don't know, maybe you, we always say don't go out to dinner, but maybe it's like, Hey, one night we're going to go and enjoy a dinner out. Or maybe we're going to go and do this thing you you had the chains the the visual things with the um the construction paper john did but yeah i mean finding finding these elements that you can say okay we've checked that off we've checked that off we've checked that off but it's two years beth i'm like by the time you're 40 all of it's gonna be done like it's not that long do you know that either i mean you've got this and let me tell you this

there is that part where i love that rachel you said marathon because right as you were talking here's what i thought of i thought of the gun goes off in the marathon and everyone is like waving flags and it feels so great you're like're like, I'm going to run 26 miles. And then you're at like mile three and a half. And you realize, oh, geez, I'm tired. Nobody's cheering. This weirdo's breathing all weird behind me. And I have 23 more miles.

And here's your option. You can quit or you just keep putting one foot in front of the other. And so I think it's really important that you and your husband map out the social norming part here. There's going to be some moments of excitement. Like, yes! There's going to be some moment of, I hate you. I hate money. I hate everybody.

There's going to be some like, if you ask me to have a stay-in date one more time, I'm just going to set the apartment on fire just to watch something burn like i want you to know all those feelings are totally normal you're not crazy you're not broken okay this is a disciplined march from here on out it's i'm gonna do the right thing next month and i'm gonna do the right thing the month after that and i'm gonna i love what rachel said me and my wife had little little chains like when you're a kid you're gonna go on a ski trip or something or christmas is coming and we just put every um every dollar amount we were gonna pay for the next x number of

months and we hung it in our bedroom it was so ridiculous but i wanted it every day that i woke up on to see it and we just ripped one of those things off and that's no too as you guys are pushing through the hard this hard season it's like slump that you're feeling that's that's the care that's the stuff where you're continuing to say, we're going to do what we said we're going to do. And that discipline that's created in that and not the flashy, exciting moments of life. It is in the dirt and in the mess and in the frustration, but you continue to do what you said you're going to do. That level of stability, Beth, and that level of refining and that level of maturity is the same spirit that's going to carry you guys

when you start to build wealth. And Beth, who's 50, who has awesome money in her Roth IRA, and she's killing it, and you guys are like living the dream. What you had and what you went through in this process is the same character that's going to hold you in that. So we believe in you. We see this every day, Beth. You got this.

You got this, Beth. You got this. You got this, Beth. You got this. Well, thanks to all the guys in the booth, including Emily, John. Thank you so much. And thank you, America, for listening. This is The Ramsey Show.