The Ramsey Show - App - “Was I Right To Break Off My Engagement Because of Bad Money Habits?”

Episode Date: November 21, 2025

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Normal is broke and common sense is weird. So we're here to help you transform your life. From the Ramsey Network and the Fairwinds Credit Union Studio, this is The Ramsey Show. I'm George Camel, joined by Jade Warshaw this hour. The number to call is AAA 8255-225. It's your show. We're here to help you take the right next step for your life and your money. Brianna is with us in Minneapolis. Brianna, welcome to the show. Hi, thank you so much for having me today. Yeah, absolutely. How can we help?

So I just have a question for you guys. So was I right to break off my engagement because of long-term money issues and bad spending habits? I've always been disciplined with saving and planning for money, but he struggled with over-spending and staying and employed. Now that he's moved out, I've taken on full financial responsibilities myself. How can I stay on top of my bills while saving and protecting my future? Ooh, that was like 20, 20 things in one. Okay, we'll tackle the first part first. So were you right to break this off because of red flags that were not attended to that he clearly, this was a value you had. And this is a value every woman has is if I'm going to marry some guy, he's got to be able to do at least two things. Provide and protect. Right? That's the reason why we find a mate, primarily speaking. And you're saying he can't

provide for the future. This was red flags that this guy can't hold a job. He's going to continually go into debt, put us in a financial bind. Therefore, I'm out. And essentially, he opted out of this engagement by continuing these habits that you made clear. Am I hearing that right? Yes, that's correct. Wow. I mean, that's your choice. That's your prerogative. I say bullet dodged, because it's either this or a divorce later on. I'd rather, you know, nip it in the bud while we can yeah so many people i would really i mean i wasn't there i'm just going by what you said but based on what you said i would applaud you for it because so many people ignore red flags because you get so far down the line it's like i can't turn back now and it's kind

of like a sunk cost thing or scarier they go well he'll change once we're married well never going to happen okay now if he called into the show brianna what would he say if he were to defend his honor you know i i i would say that he's always tried to maintain a job, but it's just never worked out. Before I previously knew him, he was employed for seven years doing software sales. And now he just can't, ever since I got together with him, he can't hold a job just because the market's been so unsteady. And how long was the entire thing? How long was the dating and then the engagement? Total everything was about two and a half years. Listen, I think that's long enough to get a read on the situation. It's not like this was super

fast. I think that, again, I wasn't there, but you made the choice. You had enough time to see a track record. And you seem like your thoughts are composed. So I'm going to ride with you on this because you are the one telling us your side of it. And it makes sense to me. Now, he could call in and say something different, but still at the end of the day, it's your choice. So. Yeah, thank you. So what's the second part of the question? Yeah. So I would like to be able to better, now that I've taken on, I've asked him to move out. I've taken on full financial responsibility of like paying our rent. And then while we were together, I purchased a car because I was able to make up that payment with having him here. Now that I have, hold on, Brianna, you went into debt during the

engagement? Yes. And that was primarily because he kept telling me that I needed a new car. What were you driving before? I was driving a Nissan Ultima that needed quite a bit of maintenance. Got you. And what did you? And what did you? Get, what did you? I got a 20-5 Mazda CX-70. What do you owe? I owe about 50 on that. Shoot.

What do you make? I make about $100,000 a year. That's a lot of car, even for your income. Is that your only debt or you have more? I have about $15,000 in student loans, and then I have like $2,000 in credit card debt, but that's it. Okay, here's my thing, Brianna. I was really team, Brianna.

And now the more I hear you, the more I go, I'm not sure you believe in your own principles because you wanted this guy to clean up his act financially while you were an accomplice to the crimes so it's like how am I supposed to take you seriously if I'm the fiancé going you really need to get better with your spending habits

and then I'm over here financing a $50,000 car you know what I mean? Yeah and it's difficult because he drives a BMW export M competition so it's just like it's terrible to get a nice car so you're trying to keep up with him and it's his fault yeah but still but wait wait a lifestyle It does seem like, though, it was more, can I, I'm a ride on the fence on this.

I hear what George is saying, and he is not wrong. But the other part is, I feel like you were more on the, why doesn't he have a job regularly side of things? Is that, the fact that it, will this guy be employed or will he be sitting on my couch all day when I come home? Is that, did I get that right? Yeah. And that's kind of what it had been before, too. So that's why it asked him to move out. Because to your, I am playing devil's advocate here. I'm just, I'm just letting y'all know.

She got me riled up. That's all I'm saying. She got a plank in her eye and she's looking at the spec in his. Because here's the thing. There are plenty of people in the world who are fine with debt. We know that. We don't agree with that. But plenty of people are like, yeah, I got my card, note, my credit card. For a lot of people, that's not the problem. The problem is when you have somebody who's not working and seems like they might not be able to hold a job and seems like they might be a tad bit lazy, I could see how that's a bigger red flag to you in the grand scheme of things. That being said, you can't be the, what is it, the pot calling the kettle black? Black. Yeah. No, I see both sides. I think you are right to break off

the engagement and I think we need to accept a little more responsibility that we weren't quite the angel that we maybe made ourselves out to be and he's the devil here. I think both of you had bad money habits. Both of you struggled with money moves and you were looking to him to be a leader and guide you, and he couldn't do that. He was in a place of weakness, too. And so it's hard to fault him for that as much as I want to be like, well, this guy's trash and you should, I think you both have some things to work on. Can we agree? Yes. No, I completely agree. And I hope that if this is a value you have, I want someone who can provide for me. I don't think that means I want someone who can float my lifestyle no matter what and afford a payment. I want you to reframe this

and go, how can I put myself in such a good financial position? Then when I do meet the right guy, we are building wealth together instead of just making stupid decisions together. And there's part of this where if, let's say you, you know, you've broken it off, you guys have gone your separate ways. If it's meant to be, you could go get back together. Like you could give him a, that could have been the kick in the butt that he needed to go out and really show and prove who he's going to be because the truth is you've just never seen it. And it's hard to, like you want to see.

You don't want all the talking. You want somebody to be about it. I love that Jade is not giving up on love here. Is there a shot this could still. work brian or is this like long gone you know we've tried to make it work um we still like right sometimes see each other and stuff but it's just i don't see any motivation from him to want to be better um he's determined to get a job that's been in the process of about six weeks now and he still has he been doing any kind of work uh no what's he doing all day i i mean you live with the guy

i think you better cut it loose aye aye yeah yeah well the riding was on the wall, Brianna, and the good news is you're going to be real busy cleaning up this mess of your own for a while. And I think you also, we need to own up to the fact that we made a lot of decisions that were codependent and hinging on someone we weren't married to. I can make the rent as long as he pays. I can make the payment as long as he's in my life. And I think all of that is why we tell people never combine financial lives or, for that matter, physical lives living together before you're married. It just gets too messy because this could be on the other side. And yeah, now you're going to feel that being the only one covering that rent.

Yeah, I'm wishing you the best as you clean this up. Personally, I would sell that car as soon as possible. I wouldn't even work on paying it off. I would get rid of it. There's no reason you need to be driving a $50,000 car walking out of this mess. So best of luck to you, Brianna. Jeremy is up next and Boisey. What's going on, Jeremy is up next in Boise. What's going on, Jeremy? going.

Pretty good. For taking my call. Yeah. What's going on? My wife and I keep fighting about money. She's hardcore on the Dave Ramsey plan. I support it. I believe it.

I'm doing all the things that I feel like I should be, but I want to spend money on stuff that she doesn't agree with. And it's causing fights, and I don't want to get a divorce over it. But I also want her to kind of lighten up a little bit and have a little bit of fun with some money. Where should I go with this? Because I know I'm wrong for spending the money. but I don't want to just not spend any money.

Give us some examples. How much are you spending per month and on what? And she feels like that's out of control. Well, we both spend money, but hers is more, like, regulated. Mine is on, I'm restoring an old car. And I keep spending, you know, it's like, it's almost done. I'm probably about $10,000 away from having it completely, like, finished. Do you guys have an allotted money that you?

you get each month, each of you? No, we both work. I know. Well, we're saying in the budget, is it like Jeremy's fun money, her fun money, and it's $100 each? You know, like, what's the plan there? Or is it just Jeremy spends what he wants based on the parts he needs? That's basically what's been happening.

Okay. I understand her frustration now. It's just like you're spending like Congress while you're trying to get out of debt and she's going, this is going very much against the plan we agreed on. So when you're saying you support her, it sounds like you're like, I'm a fan of her doing it, but I'm not doing it. Yeah, I think there's a middle ground that you can get to. I think there's a middle ground you can get to. What's the urgency for this car restoration?

It's been 17 years in the works, and it's almost done, so I'm trying to finish it. So what's 18 instead of 17? Right. I get it. What has stopped you, I guess, in the past of finishing this? just not working, you know, like I worked in the movie industry for a long time and there's highs and lows and when the highs are up, you make a lot of money and it's great. And when the lows are there, you're living off savings for months. And it kind of forced me to choose to pay my bills or restore this car and I shows bills. But now I'm at a point where we're pretty much good. We cover

the bills every month. We're still putting into retirement with, you know, we have life insurance policies. We have all that stuff in place. Do you have debt? Contributing a little bit. How much? About 20,000 in credit card debt, but that's fairly recent. That's it? That's a lot. I don't know what kind of town you grew up in, but $20,000 at 29% APR is enough to get me to stop

restoring that car. Yeah, what's your income? Together we're making about $120,000 to $130,000. We owe $190 on our house. It's worth $3.4.5 a mill. We have two car payments, mine's about three years from being paid off. Hers is brand new, 25 Suburban. Yeah.

What's the total debt outside of your mortgage, if you added it all up? Including the cars, 125. So 125,000 in debt total, and you make 130. How long is it going to take, based on her plan, for you guys to get out of this mess? If we did it, her way, it'd take us about two years. And if we do it, my way, it'd take probably three or four. And you're just not, so you're just not, you don't see why you have to do it so quickly, right? I support, like, all of the decisions.

I just, I don't want to, I don't know if it's a midlife crisis because I'm 47 and I'm like, I need to finish this car before I die. Like, I've been working, I've drugged this car around the country for decades and I just want to, I want to drive. Like, the engine's done. It's ready to go in. I just need like breaks and suspension parts. How much does it cost to finish it? about 10 grand for that's including the paint job 10,000 to finish you want to know what I would do if I were in your shoes because yes um I want to be really thoughtful about this because the truth is I wish that you were 100% Ramsey because I know the plan works I've seen and talked to hundreds of thousands of people and we know that it's worked for millions of people so I know that it works however the reality is and like the just living in reality is there sometimes that people are like hey for me it's just it's just not on fire like that and like like you you open with this is not a reason to divorce your spouse right so how can we make this work together right and and that's not good here's what she's seen let me show you her side she's seeing a guy who's choosing a hobby of car restoration over the strength and stability of their marriage and finances that's what

she's seeing and i can't get her to unsee that because that is the stated goal she has is i don't feel good about all this debt we have i want stability i want security i want security i want safety, and you're over here playing with your toy, right? That's how she sees it. I want to give you full credit. This is a legitimate hobby. And also, it's been 17 years. So to use this manufactured urgency that, babe, I got to finish the car this year. I don't think a grown woman's going to take kindly to that when she's looking at a pile of $120,000 of debt. And if you are going to do anything, then at the very least, let me just say this, at the very least, take your income as it stands and do the debt snowball and if you must finish this go out and get a job

get a second job and let your second side hustle job that you're working for fund this this hobby that you have and just see how see what that if that gets you guys any closer to kind of a meeting of the minds on this i did that for a while i did have a second job and what she say about that did that bother her to yeah well didn't it just kind of got to a point where i was just never home and didn't she He was mad that I was never home. Oh, okay. Do you guys have kids? We do.

We have a four-year-old and I have two adult children. Okay. And I am, like I said, I don't want to keep repeating myself. I really am on board with, you know, having our future prepared for, but I'm just kind of tired of waiting. And I don't know how to get that through to her without having an argument. Have you guys been debt-free since you've been married? Almost completely. She inherited some money.

and we used it and just paid off everything. And I always taken the, well, I've always taken the stance. That's her money. It's not my money that. So I offered to take out a personal loan at 10% interest to pay off everything. Well, not the cars, but all the $20,000 in credit card debt and then finish the car. And then I'll just, and that would be in my name so that she wouldn't be responsible for it. And I would just have that one payment to take five years.

I paid it without double pays. I think you're just, I think you're doing so, so much to try to, it's, it's causing you guys to do, to even think separately at this point. I, you know, I agree with you. I, I like what George said, and I think you should give a lot of thought to that because that, I think that is the way your wife is viewing it. And you're saying it's important, but you're not showing that it's important. Because if somebody tells me, if somebody calls me up on the line today and says, hey, I'm, I've

had something happen, it's an emergency, I need you to come right away. And I go, okay, just let me finish up this thing. I got about 30 minutes here and then I'm going to come over. I'm going to be like, oh my gosh, they don't care that I'm having an emergency because they're like, let me fix a snack before I go. And I feel like that's what you're doing. She's saying, hey, this is on fire. This is an emergency to me. And you're going, yeah, honey, I know, I know, I know. But you're fixing yourself a snack before you go check it out. And so I can see why she's upset. And I can also. And I can also, see, because for you, this feels extreme. So I can also see why this feels extreme to you, but you have to ask yourself, what's the bigger, what really is the bigger priority? Is the

bigger priority making sure my life and my family is set up for success? Because you don't know what the future holds. You truly don't. You could lose your job tomorrow. You could jump, step off the curve and break your leg and be on work, you know, on disability. You don't know what happens tomorrow. So I think that's what she's feeling. And we know the car will still be there waiting to be worked on. And I know it's frustrating, but I would let that fuel the dream. And if you're not willing to do that, I would go, all right, well, I'm selling the cars then. If you want to expedite the process, you can do it by getting rid of these payments. Facts. What are the car balances? We owe 50 on the suburban. It's worth 90. And we owe 30 on my truck. I had a 23

Tacoma. It's worth about 60. Oh, my goodness. So you guys could sell the cars. Hear me out. you'd have 40 profit from the first one, 30 from the next one. You'd have 70 grand sitting in a bank account to go buy some used cars and pay off debt. Yes. Are you seeing what I'm seeing? I think we can get this car restoration done in the next 12 months if we actually did this. But right now, we want the cake, we want to eat it too, we want to do the car restoration, we want to drive really nice cars we can't afford.

We also want to pay off 20 grand in credit card debt. It's just too much at once. And she's overwhelmed. You're overwhelmed, but you have a distraction with this car restoration. hobby. And so you're like, well, la la, la, I'm going to go to the garage. I think we need to have a come to Jesus meeting tonight and figure out what sacrifices we are willing to make. Otherwise, you're going to be choosing divorce. That's what you're doing. You're opting out of this marriage by focusing on this car instead of what she really needs right now.

Kaylee is up next in Orlando, Florida. Kaylee, welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, guys. Okay, so I'll get to the point. I'm Canadian, and I moved to Orlando, Florida on a work visa. And when I moved, I bought a house with my mother in Orlando, Florida. And my dad was really, he's like risk-averse, and he was against it. kind of like the whole time in the beginning,

because he was just afraid, like, moving country to country. He just didn't want any part of it. So we ended up, me and my mother are on the deed of this house in Orlando, Florida. We were paying the mortgage. And then after a year, my mom convinced my dad to pretty much, she had, like, U.S. money in his bank to buy the entire house so we don't have a mortgage anymore. And then my question is, we always, we kind of hit heads where, like, house taxes

or anything that happens with the house, if we needed a fridge or, like, the roof or something, we still divide that bill by two between me and my mom, but I keep saying we should divide it by three since he owns majority of the house. So when we sell the house, you can get most of the profit. And I love my parents.

Like we're amazing. It's just I always, in my head, I think we should divide the bills by three, but am I being a bracket? I don't have a mortgage anymore. So like, am I just, like, just not being a good daughter and just should just do divide by two? This is like a common core math riddle.

This is real complex. What was the agreement when you guys, got into the house. Did you both put equal parts for the down payment, 50-50 on the mortgage? Yeah, me, my mom both put 45,000 U.S. So it was like 90,000 down payment. And then we were both paying, yeah. And then he paid how much to knock out the mortgage? 204,000, and I think like over, like it was two years, me and my mom were paying, and we got it to a point where 204 was left. So he owns 204,000 of the house, and then me and my mom owned the rest. And my parents are married, too. According to what and who? Was there a number?

agreement, a contract? No, just like verbal agreement. But your mom and your dad, they keep their money separate? No, no. They keep it together, but just my mom, my dad didn't want anything to do with the house kind of thing, but then they always bring it back, well, they're married. So anything that happens to my mom happens to my dad, right? So if you leave, what happens?

Do you get your share back? Do they buy you out? Yeah, pretty much. Either they buy me out or we sell it all together, and then we all go with our different portions. Well, I think you have to decide something first off. First off, you have to decide, are you viewing, the reason I ask my question is because if your mom and your dad were keeping their money separate, then you could think of it as thirds. But because it's one group of money for them and then one group of money for you, it really is a 50-50 deal. So whether you want to see it this way or not, when you and your mom bought this house, quote, 50-50, your dad was included in that, whether he likes to put his name in it or not, that was 50% of his money. right? That 50% was his money as well. So that's kind of the way I'm seeing it based on the way you said. It's not thirds. It's their group of money versus your group of money. What's the long-term game plan here? You both want to stay in the house?

Yeah, yeah. Well, my parent, especially, this is something too. So they're in Canada most of the time. They come visit me every two months. So I take care of the house while they're here. I have the bigger room because I'm here most of the time. And like, so that's a narrative too. So it's like I'm technically not paying for mortgage. So I guess I, since I'm in the house most of the time, maybe I should be paying half the house taxes. And the health taxes are expensive because I'm a foreigner too. So it's like $7,500 a year. I always get slammed every year. I mean, my mom, divided by two. And then I keep arguing, I'm like, it should be divided by three. No, I think you should be paying half. I think it's half and half. And then whenever,

I think this is messy to begin with, number one. But you have to consider it 50-50. Your mom and dad are an entity, and you are an entity. That's really what it is. And the fact that you are living there and it's rent-free and blah-blah, blah, yeah, I think you should be on the hook for half. I mean, am I crazy here, George? No. Your parents are one entity in this matter.

And there's also insurance. Are you paying half of the homeowner's insurance? Yeah, and then, like, if the fridge breaks down or something, it's divided by two. But, hey, why are you saying it with a tone that's like, you're mad about it? I feel like this for you has been kind of a sweet deal. Like, why do you have a... Because I agree. This is why I'm calling, because I'm like, am I crazy or am I not crazy?

A little bit. Because I just think in my head, when we sell the house, though, they're getting the majority of the profit. I think you guys need things in writing because so far your little verbal agreement handshakes have not worked out because there's zero clarity. Because at every turn, there's a new thing we didn't think about, right? Yeah. When you sell the house upon sale, has it been said? that you're splitting 50-50 the equity, or has it been said that they get two-thirds? No, no.

Like, when we sell, I get my, whatever, like, my down payment that I put. And then, yeah, like, whatever percentage I'm in right now, I'm going to get the percentage of the profit. Okay, so it's 50-50. And what is that percentage? Because you've got home appreciation, you've got the mortgage payments you've made, you've got the insurance and property taxes, money you've paid in. So how are you calculating?

Wait, but it's not, it wouldn't be 50-50, though, the profit. It's like, they get, like, I guess, 80%. percent of the property or I'll get 20 percent kind of thing. Tell me the real number of when you put 50 percent down on the down payment, how much was that? No, so I put 45,000 U.S. Okay, and what did your mom and dad put down? Yeah, so then now they, so over two years, I think I have roughly around 60,000, and they have the remaining.

So I'm going to have 50,000 in this house equity. Okay, what if the house appreciates and doubles in the next seven years? What happens then? you still get the same percentage so i think 60 whatever 60% uh sorry 50 000 of 340 000 that's how much the house is okay whatever that percentage is that's how much percentage i would get for the profit okay it's about 18% is what you'd walk away with if that's worth half a million then after all fees are paid you should get 18% i would have that in writing and have all of you sign it and come to jesus meeting and say this has been messy i love you

guys i don't want this to be living in my head rent free i feel like it's been a club Can we just get on the same page with one contract that we all sign? That wouldn't help you. We're agreed. That's what we're agreed with. We're good to go. It's just, I find the house, like, living here with the bills and stuff. I was, I guess, not against, but I was just questioning it because I was like, well, what did

be, because if it's a buy by three, then I have to pay, I get to pay lower of the bill, you know? Why don't you move? Why don't you move? Well, because I just moved. I just moved here. I know, but hear, hear me out. you're so conflicted by this that you called in the show. You're bothered by the percentage that you have to pay.

You're bothered by what you have to pay every month. You're bothered by the agreement as it stands because what George just said, hey, get it in writing that it's 18%. You're like, that's already agreed on. So you're just not happy with the deal as it is. So get out of it before it gets messier and messier and just say, you know what we did this? I'm not sleeping well at night with this.

It's causing something inside of me. I'm just going to move and get an apartment on my own and just be, on my own. Fair enough. I mean, why not simplify your life? Yeah, well, no, because I do think I have a sweet deal. And it works out perfectly because they want someone to watch the house. You don't think you have a sweet deal.

You don't. You called in saying that there's a problem with the deal because you're having to pay part of taxes and it should be three ways and da-da-da-da-da-da-down. What happens when you called saying that? Yeah, but I guess the question, my question was, like, I just wanted your advice. Like, am I crazy for thinking that? No, my advice for me to pay half. IJ, my advice is get out of this deal and go rent an apartment.

How old are you? 30. Yeah. Get out from under your parents. You don't have to do this with them. Go get an apartment. Do I think it's crazy you feel this way? No.

Do I think it's crazy you've gotten to this situation in the first place? Absolutely. Yeah. Well, no, like, well, I can be more contact too. Like, I'm on a work visa, right? So anything can happen. I have to go back to Canada, too. And I don't know, I think renting, for me, I'd rather buy something than to, like,

Because right now I'm not paying them more either. Really? Because buying is far more permanent than being a renter. Yeah, that adds a whole other layer of risk. If you can't work there anymore, but the house is still tied to you and now you've got to force sell it, I mean, or still make the payments and you don't have the job. That's scary, isn't it? No, no, because we'll keep it out like a vacation home because we come off in Florida. So it was okay either way. And who's going to pay for the vacation home now? You're going to go, well, they're there more than I am. They go four times. It's like a timeshare now. This is really what this has become. And you're living there mostly solo, you said, right? Yeah. So couldn't they make the argument? Well, you're there 284 days out of the year. We're only there 100 days. I think we should split it that way. Could they come back at you with that? Exactly. They might get you to pay more versus less. This could very much backfire. They're holding most of the cards right now as a majority stakeholder in this venture you signed up for. So that's why Jade's saying, hey, I would cut clean and go, you have some great equity now. You could get out with 60 grand, use that as a down payment on your own place. You probably don't need all the space, right? right I don't think it's a bad plan to reset and go all right I'm going to let them buy me out do they have the money to buy you out without selling yeah yeah I might offer that up as one angle to take and if they're into it I would cut ties and go you know what I shouldn't have bought family property across the world that was a risky weird move

Today's Today's question of the day is sponsored by WIREFI. If you've tried everything to fix your defaulted private student loans and nothing's worked, YRIFI can help. They build custom fixed-rate plan. based on what you can actually afford. Learn more at Y-R-R-E-F-I-com slash Ramsey. That's the letter Y-R-E-F-Y.com Not available in all states. All right. Today's question of the day comes from Justin in Michigan. He says, I need help with my budget. I use the free version of every dollar but can't seem to make it through

the month without borrowing from my emergency fund. And then I have to replace the funds when I get paid. My budget reads like I have extra money each month. So I pay that to my snowball. But should I skip a snowball payment for one month to get a buffer in my account to not have to do the borrow payback thing each month between paychecks. Okay. So a couple things are happening here, I think, George. Number one, I think that you don't have a baby step one in place, which is $1,000. And I think that might be the buffer that you need, possibly. It depends on what this, if this money is emergencies or not. Maybe he's borrowing from his $1,000 emergency fund. It sounds like that's what he's doing. Is he short $300 so he dips into the $1,000?

$300 starter to get by, then replaces it. And he just stays in this cycle. Yeah, which means then his budget's not accurate. Yeah. I would have a buffer in your checking account of, you know, $300, $500, depending on what your expenses are. I think that's wise. Because there's always going to be something unexpected. It was a little more than you thought, you know, your groceries and things like that. It's variable. And so life might happen. But I do think there are some other money leaks happening that aren't currently represented in your budget. So I think it's time for a little budget audit and go look at your bank statements, food, food, something you're spending more on than you think. Yeah, if the math's not math, then your line items are off. You may be underestimated.

You said, hey, I'm going to spend 500 on groceries and you're consistently spending six. Well, we need to switch some things around so that you're actually staying under the categories instead of going over. So I would figure out which ones are there. Maybe there's a line item you need to add that isn't currently there that represents that money that's kind of been leaking out and that will help you get there. But I'm proud of you. for even trying this and trying to be aware of where your money's going. Most people just accidentally go $6,000 into debt over the year, and this guy's trying to get out.

So good on you, Justin. Also make sure, Justin, that you're tracking your transactions as they're taking place so that you can get ahead of this a little bit more. Because if you're tracking them, you can kind of start to see what's happening and maybe make some adjustments as you're going to where you're not having this issue. In the premium version of every dollar, there's an awesome paycheck planning feature, which can show you visually when you'll run out of money based on when you have due dates for bills coming out.

That's one of my favorites for people that are struggling with an issue like this. And there's a ton more advanced features we've been adding to make this way more than just our world-class budgeting app. The average person now finds thousands of dollars in margin in just the first 15 minutes with the new every dollar onboarding process. It's incredible. So start every dollar for free today. Get it in the app store or Google Play.

All right, Madison is in Sacramento, California up next. What's going on, Madison? Hello, I'm honored to be able to get your advice. But yes, I am 24 years old. My husband and I got married a year and a half ago, and we are on babysat number four. So we have worked to pay off my student loans and a car as well. Awesome.

And we have about 20,000 saved and 25,000 invested. But I do have a dream to go out. school but for me it feels kind of like a step back in the you know debt savings plan so I wanted to get your advice because we also want to buy a house we're renting right now so I wanted to get your advice on what you think the next steps would be and what you guys feel is a good idea when it comes to going back into debt for school if I do have a stable career that I could grow in right now well I would never go back into debt for school I'm all for you considering furthering your education if you were paying cash for it but you've come so so far why would

you consider debt again what does it cost so it would cost around 50,000 and i agree with you i i don't like the idea of going into debt for school but for what i want to do i would need a license and so i would need to get my degree in that field right but can we cash flow it can we cash flow it is this a two two-year deal? How many years of school is this? This would be more around three years. Three years. Okay. So let's reverse engineer it and figure out, okay, what is it going to cause per semester? What will it take for us to make that happen? Because remember, there before you were taking all of your margin and throwing it at debt. What stops you from taking

all of your margin and throwing it at tuition? Yeah, that's a good question. So I'm trying to figure that out. I'm going to kind of wanted together combined around 165,000 a year that's an amazing income okay and what do you what do you personally make I make 65,000 okay and you want to spend 50 grand on this program to get licensed to do what to be a counselor okay are you in the field right now but you're not a counselor because you need the masters correct. Okay. Have you looked at every single option at your disposal for what the most affordable route to go is? I have, yes. I've done a lot of research, but I also want to go to a school that has a certain accreditation so that I can be certified in multiple states. But I've

also looked at working for a school where I could get it paid for, but I haven't gotten a job in that situation. So I'm still kind of getting in browsing. I just feel like there's a cheaper alternatives that can get you to the stream faster and without debt. That's what I'm all about, because the truth is, never asked a counselor, hey, what school did you go to? What was the accreditation level? You know, so I understand that you want certain licensing and all that, but I just, I don't want you to over-index on the importance of the school that you go to. I want you to over-index on living a debt-free life so that you don't regret this later on. Because how much will you make as a counselor at that point? Will you go from 65 to 75? What's the, what's the upside here initially?

So that depends. If I wanted to do a private practice, which would take a little bit more time, I could be making anywhere from 100 to 200, but I also in my career right now could probably grow into that as well. But I also want to start a family. So I don't know if it's worth it to go to school for that. Yeah, what happens if you go 50 grand to debt, get pregnant, have the baby, buy a house, and now you're like, I want to stay home. And now the math doesn't work. You see what our fear is? Like, I'm looking at your whole. life and not just this one piece. And so I would sit down and go, we can't do all this at once. We can't start the family, get the house, go to school. We got to figure out the priorities here. And if that's going to school, then we're going to put all the, all the, you know, ammo towards that and cash flow it and get the job and increase the income. But if it's not going to increase the income initially, I don't know that it's worth it right now. I might wait to see, let's get the home. That's really the goal. Let's start a family. That's the goal. And when I'm 28, we can

reassess, and I can always go get that master's. Yeah, that's good advice. But I think you've got the right heart for it. I think you'd be a wonderful counselor just based on talking to you, so. Oh, thank you. Best of luck, Madison. Appreciate it. Yeah. This is so real, Jade. Sorry to have to cut Madison off, but I just, this is a real thing. Like, there's nothing childish or immature about this. This is the stage of life where you could do a lot of things. You want to do a lot of things, and you can't do it all at once. Yeah, a few people could do it all at once financially or even time, like bandwidth-wise.

It's a lot. To buy a house and move in and have a baby and go back to school. Yeah, that's a lot. Got to pick. I would focus it. So if you've got the margin right now, you have a great income,

165 grand, debt-free. And they could cash flow it, by the way. I mean, when you think about $8,000 per semester on their income, they could make that happen. I mean, they could probably right now throw $5 grand into a savings account after all expenses are paid and have 60 grand within 12 months.

Yeah. That's the math of it. So we're talking about, you know, even eight months from now, you could start the program and cash flow the rest of it. And so I would crunch the numbers in the budget and go, okay, this is what life would look like if we pursued this right now. Now we could put this toward a down payment instead. Here's what that would look like to get into a home sooner.

But I think doing it all at once is where people get trapped. Yeah. Because then you're stuck. You're stuck with the student loan payment. You're stuck with the mortgage payment. And now staying home, it's an emotional choice, but the financial piece just doesn't work. Well, the baby, the baby part in the mix is really the biggest unknown because nobody, no woman knows exactly how they're going to feel.

Like you think, oh, I think I'm going to want to work and then you end up not wanting to work. Or you think, oh, I want to be a stay-at-home mom. Then you're stay-at-home mom. You're like, I got to get back to work. I need to be around grown adults and be able to use the bathroom. That would be nice. Yes. No, my wife, she dealt with that.

She was here at Ramsey for nine years. And she came back to work for months and it just weighed on her. She went, I got to be home. But we wanted at least try. And financial peace gave us those options to go, hey, we're dead free. You can do what you want. We don't have mortgage payment. You want to stay home?

Let's do it. So she's thriving in the chaos right now. That puts this hour of the Ramsey Show in the books. want to do with your money you need a budget start budgeting for free today with the every dollar app the easiest way to budget track your expenses and reach your goals faster go to every dollar dot com today welcome back welcome back to the Ramsey show in the Fairwinds Credit Union Studio. I'm George Campbell, joined by Ramsey Personality, Jade Warshaw,

and we're taking your calls at AAA 825-5-225. Stephanie is in South Dakota up next. What's going on, Stephanie? Hi, thank you for taking my call. I've been married for about nine years, and I've always had a job that I was able to adjust to my kids' schedule and my husband's schedule. Recently, I decided to go back to school to advance my career,

and my husband got injured so he hasn't been working for six months and I got a second job that more aligned with school in my new career. So my husband's about to go back to work and he informed me that he's expecting me to go back to my original field and

work around him essentially. How do I have that conversation with him that I hope that his new job can kind of correspond with what I want to do in the future? Wow. That's interesting. was, is his request income-based? Were you making more of the other job?

No, he actually wants to quit his job and find a brand new field. He's, for when he says he's inspired by me. Okay, so you're both on your eat, pray, love journey here, trying to find her dream job, but we got to pay the bills as well. So where are we at financially? Financially, we are pretty much just keeping our head above water. I'm on baby step one. Sounds like not a great time to eat pray love.

Would you agree with me? Yes. Okay. So how much debt do you guys have? I would say probably, well, I just started school, so I'm in my first semester. That one, with everything, I say about $25,000. All right. Is that total debt between the two of you? Yes. We're renters. We only have car payments and credit cards. Okay. And how much are you making currently? I've been about $45. Is that with both jobs?

Yes. okay and how much is the main job make uh close to 70 what happened to the 45 i'm confused now i'm sorry i make 45 he makes close to 70 oh he makes 70 from what he tells me but i thought he wasn't back at work yet um he just started getting workers compensation so it's kind of evening out that's how i got to baby step one but he what he wants to do is he wants to, he's on a manager level, he wants to step down from being a manager, which would, I don't know what exactly he wants to do, but it won't be nowhere near what he's making now.

And that's his dream? I, I guess. Or is the dream a different field because the manager life stresses him out? So right now he's wanting to downshift, but long term he wants something different. Yes, and he thinks that I need to support him and have an open schedule so he can find himself. But how can you? Because when George said, what does he want to do?

you said, I don't even, I don't know what he wants to do. How can you support something if you don't know exactly what it is? So that's my thing. Yes, the closest thing I got was that he wants to go back to school and be a barber. Okay, well, that's pretty clear. He wants to go back to school, be a barber. He wants to be own his own shop or, okay. And has he put in any numbers or timeline or anything around that?

Not really. It kind of scares me, though, because with my tool, I know like the first five years is like you don't really see a profit. Well, you're probably renting a chair at first. You know, he's not just going to start a shop out of nowhere and be making bank. It's going to take time to build that up. And what's your dream? So right now you're in this career making 45.

Is that the dream career that you're doing now? I'm staying in the health care field, but I'm making a little bit of switch with the degree I'm going for in medical administration. I should be able to have more opportunities. What does that mean? Like right now I'm a CNA. So to move up, I will have to, get some corner license with the new with the degree i can work as a scheduler my dream is to be a

nursing home administrator okay and how anywhere we go ahead uh anywhere between that i'll be making way more than i'm making as a c and a how much is way more um nursing home administrator started at 90 i think about 90k and what's the timeline on yours um about to get my degree three more years and then six months training and then i can go into the field Okay, so your dream is a three-year and six-month journey, and how much does it cost? All together, at the student loans, I should have probably an extra 30 in debt. So you're saying you would have to go into debt to do this? Yes.

On top of your 25, you're saying you would add to the 25 in debt, you'd add another 30 to finish the program. Yes. In his mind, does his dream require debt? He sees that, no, but Barber School does cost, I believe, from my school, 7,000 and up, depending where he goes. Okay, so his schools cost 7,000 and up. What is your school cost? Did you say 30,000? Yes.

Okay. So here's what I'm thinking about. I'll be honest, I don't like the way he framed it. And I don't know if he's framed it like that or you framed it like that. But it kind of felt like his thing's more important than your thing. And, yeah, that would rub me the wrong way, too, if it really came out like that. But when I'm just sitting here looking at the numbers and the timeline and the risk on this, I'm going to tell you what I see and George hit me.

I do feel like his is more risky because it is him building a business and going into hair industry. I feel like it takes a lot of time to get that margin to start making money. However, so I'm going to say that his is more risky, but I'm going to say that his is cheaper and has a shorter timeline. And then for yours, I'm going to say it's more straight ahead. like you get the certification, you get the job, you get the salary, right? It's pretty straight ahead. So on the actual landing of the job, there's less risk, but the problem is yours is very expensive and you can't go into debt for this

and it's a longer timeline. So you guys have to decide, is it even possible in the state that you're in to be able to cash flow what you're trying to do? Because if you can, I might go your route. well as of right now um they put my student most i don't have to pay into after i graduate however i'm still making payments on it so uh and i'm also doing three-fourths of uh full-time so i'm not i'm not hitting that they have uh it's a junior college so i'm not hitting that top tuition i'm trying to save money while i'm doing it but you still can't go into debt at your old job the job

that he wants you to go back to what were you making on that job uh that one by itself about 30k I thought that was the better job that one was better because just for time yes the flexibility okay well here's the thing a starting barber

probably gonna make 15 to 20 bucks an hour he's probably gonna make 35k a year instead of 70 and so this dream needs to make sense and for that to make sense you guys need to be in a much better place financially so leaving this whole situation with 55,000 in debt and cutting your income and half while you still have years of schooling to go before your income goes up is a recipe for disaster. Do you agree? Yes. So we need to just delay the dream right now,

clean up our financial mess, and try to avoid going into further debt. So if you can cash flow your whole schooling and pay off your debt, then we can focus on his dream. And we can cash flow $7 grand easily, $10,000 and get done with barber school. And then he can take a pay cut for a temporary time and you'll be okay because you're making 90 grand with no debt he has the freedom right okay but please the number one takeaway you cannot go into debt for this degree if you go into debt for this degree it is going to put such a strain on all of this and not you going like especially you going you're going first and adding that debt's going to make it even harder for him to get to his dream so please you'll be dragging each other down if you do it this way and that's our fear we want to

to see you guys work jobs you enjoy so much so we're going to gift you Ken Coleman's get clear assessment I think both of you should take it and make sure that whatever field you end up in there's no regret so hang on the line Stephanie we're going to make sure you get those resources from our friend Ken Coleman Patricia is in Atlanta up next. Patricia, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. Absolutely.

What's going on? Well, I am an 82-year-old widow. and my husband was a mattress saver. Oh, wow. He saved money. Yeah, money under the mattress. Okay. Wow.

And I've got this hunk of money, and I don't think there's anything I can do with it. I'm afraid to try to do something with it. How much? It's over $100,000. Wow. How long was he saving that for? 25 years. Okay.

Is that your only money, or is there, other money? Is there any money in the bank? I have about 400 CDs and I bought my house cash and it's about 425 now. I'm going to pay off car. Okay. But I got 1,400

in Social Security, which is income, you know. And is that all you're living on? I'm sorry? The 1400? Do you live solely on the 1400 Social Security? I do my best. Wow. That feels tight.

What are your expenses every month? Oh, just irregular utilities and homeowners insurance, car insurance, that type of thing. You know, it's a regular day-to-day expenses that a person has. I don't eat much. Now, can I just clarify when you said 400 in CDs, $400, $400. Not $400,000. No, $400,000. Oh, wow.

Okay, $400,000. Is that essentially your nest egg just in case, break in case of emergency? What are you using that for? I'm afraid to spend it that I'll run out of money before I not hear any longer. So you wanted to deposit $100 in cash. What's the question? The question is I've asked other people and they say, if you try to just, take this big chunk of money and put it in the bank or buy something worth it.

The internal revenue is going to come and say, where in the world did you get this $100,000 in cash? I mean, I don't think they're going to take you into a, you know, a room and interrogate you. The bank legally just has to file a report, anything over 10 grand. They just have to file a report saying that you deposit the money. They might ask you, you know, the source of the funds. You can say my husband, you know, saved cash in a safe for years. I'll be honest, I care more about the 400K and CDs than I do about the 100K in cash. I'd love to see you invest that 400K.

That way, if you want to draw a little off of it, you can, and you don't have to worry about it depleting. Well, the only thing with that is I don't know anything about stocks or anything or money market accounts or, you know, all those other. What if you had someone who you could interview and then help you with that? well I probably would listen to them and see what they had to say for sure yeah I think having a smart vester pro would be would be good for you and these are people that we vet and we make sure that you know they're good and that they can teach you and help you to feel good and understand hey this is what it is and you feel good about the investment it's not them just taking the wheel and doing everything for you but it's you making sure you have skin in the game understanding it approving what's taking place and that way yeah i mean living on 1400 is slim pickings yeah so that way you can get a little money more and they can run the numbers for you and show you hey this is a conservative take on what you could withdraw from this without it depleting in the next five or 10 years and so they can show you all the math they're not going to put you in some risky single stock or crypto or something that

you're not comfortable with you stay in the driver's seat but they're just educating you on what your options are and then you make the choice so that's what i would do i would go deposit the 100 cash today, and I would make sure you have most of that money invested so that it can grow for you. Because that 100K, as you know, has been eaten away by inflation. What you could buy with 100K back in the day versus today, it's different. And so you need that money at least growing at the speed of inflation, ideally more, to beat it. And so that's what we're advocating for. Okay. That sounds interesting. Head down to the bank with your winnings. I think they'll have a good laugh. If you say, well, my husband was a mattress saver, they go, yep, we've seen one of these

today, you know? Can you imagine stuff in a suitcase with $100,000 and just heading down to the bank? You just stuff your duffel bag and just head on down. I got to know, you know, was this mattress was lopsided with all this cash underneath it? I'm hoping it was in a safe or something. That's ideal. Even still, the fact that you got to get into your car and drive with $100,000 on your person is different. I might have an armored vehicle for that. I would get a pit bull. to walk everywhere with me just to be sure. Good luck, Patricia. Be safe out there.

Brittany is in Idaho up next. What's going on, Brittany? Hey, thank you for taking my call. I'm trying to figure out what to do with my car. I owe about $12,600 on it. It's valued at $5,000 to $6,000 according to Kelly Bluebook. It needs some repairs currently about $2,500. And at this point, should I voluntary surrender the car back to the lender or keep pushing through and pay it off and get it fixed?

What do you make? I make about $4,200 a year. $42,000, you mean? $42,000, yeah. Okay, you scared me. I was like, goodness gracious, Brittany, what's going on in your life? You're making $2 an hour out there. Okay.

Yeah. Ooh, all right. So this car, you're underwater on it severely. You don't have the money to do the repairs. And I've never suggested a voluntary repo. Because here's the problem. They're going to sell it at auction and still come after you for the difference. So you're better off selling the car for what you can get for it and getting a personal loan from your credit union. Because it's not going to really release you from your situation here. Okay. So how much money do you have right now? saved i have about 3,500 i'm on baby step number two and the car is my last dead okay so you have the money to do the repair but it it feels like is this worth it is that your issue here yes well there's two options one is you do the repair you eat the cost and hopefully the car runs for the foreseeable future and you pay it off that would be nice right that would solve the problem

How quickly could you pay off the remainder 12 grand if you did the repair and then started knocking out the 12 grand? I am permanently disabled, so I'm limited with my funds. Paying my monthly car payment is the only amount I can pay. So you can only make the payment and nothing more. You can't put extra on it, which means this is going to keep dragging out. You're going to continually be more and more underwater, as the loan probably balloons? Correct. Tell us about the car.

Is it prone to issues? Has it just been having issue after issue? Or is just this just popped up and you're like, dang it? No, this is the first issue I had since I've owned it. It's a timing belt that's going out. I've been told if I keep driving it, if it breaks, it will affect the engine. But I've been advised not to drive it, even though I still drive it a little bit every now and then. I don't drive a lot, so it's been working for me.

But I'm worried that if I keep risking it, I could push my leg. Yeah. Have you gotten other repair quotes from other mechanics? I have the $2,500 is the cheapest I found. I went to three different places. Now, if you did the $2,500 in repairs, could you sell it for more? With the repair, with a fixed, it's good. to be about five to six thousand okay and so let's pretend let's so if you if you took 2,500 out of your

saved money paid this off at what rate or I'm sorry took that money and repaired the car the car is driving at what rate would it take you with the income you have nothing extra to pay off the I mean what's remaining on the loan as far as time um that's a good question I'm not quite sure I know I owe $12,600 left, and I pay about $400 a month. Have you tried going to your local credit union and seeing if they would give you a loan for the difference to at least get out from under this? I haven't. I don't have the best of credit. I had a lot of medical issues when I became permanently disabled and it messed up my credit. That's one angle you can try and then use your savings to get you a beater car to get by for now, but there's still a bigger problem. to solve here, and that's going to take getting the income up and getting rid of this debt.

It's going to be a journey. All right, George, I'm hearing. All right, George, I'm hearing something very crazy. about your social media. Tell me more. I happen to pop on there and I saw you had a view, a video with 14 million views. Yeah, I got out of control. That's wild. So we did a man on the street. I love getting in the streets, getting in people's business, asking them questions about finances. And we happened to be in Orlando recently and I said, let's go to Disney. So we went to Disney Springs and we asked people how much debt they had. And our team just clipped that on social media and it blew up with a lot of feelings. I'm sure. And so I wanted to get your feelings about it and

react to it in real time if you're willing. Because there's some trigger words in here that I think you'll have some thoughts on. I'll be honest. Is it weird to you that I saw like the little icon on social and I saw the views but I didn't actually watch the video? It's hurtful but understandable. You're a busy woman. You don't have time to watch all my content. Okay, I'll watch it. I'll watch it. Okay. Let's watch it along with America. See what they have to say. Are you guys in any kind of debt right now? Mine's pretty minimal, I think, a credit card and a vehicle, probably about 60. And that's minimal to you. No, it's a lot.

What's left on the car loan? 53. What are you driving? A 24 Toyota Tundra. How about you? How much that do you have? Probably 75,000. Credit cards, and then a car loan as well.

What's your car loan? Yeah, like 60. 60. What are you driving? I was terrible. You rolled over negative equity, didn't you? Yes, I did. Yes.

Honda Pilot, 25. What's your car payment? $1,200. How much your car payment? $9.82. I mean, you're just giving away the income every month at this point, right? Yeah. How much student loans we have left?

I probably have $100,000 of student loans. Okay, add it all up in your head. I think we're doing this for the first time. How much debt do you have total, total, total? I'm going to say at least $180,000. Can you tell me, did you guys pay cash for the trip? For half of it. The other half is on what?

A Disney card. It's a Disney credit card. What do you get for putting it on the Disney card? versus any old other card. It has six months special financing. So there's no interest for like six months. Okay. So is your plan to pay it off in six months?

Yes. That is the plan. If we can do that for sure, yeah. That doesn't instill confidence. You're like, if we, I, eh, because otherwise it's going to, like, crank up to, what, 29% APR or something crazy? Yeah, absolutely. Do you guys have any debt right now?

Yes. How much? My student loans, they're about 100,000. What was your degree? Business administration. How much total do you have in debt? Probably around $128,000, I'd say total. Do you ever feel like, I'll just die with the debt?

Like, is there a game plan to back? I'm going to pay this off in three years, or is just kind of like, I'll make my payments. It's going to be probably in about 15 years, I'm assuming I'll get it paid off. I don't know. How old are you now? I'm 22. Oh, man, oh, man. Okay, so much done, Pac.

And that was just a minute 49. The video is 15 minutes. If you want to watch the whole thing on my YouTube channel, George Camel, we'll put a link in the show notes. more juicy stuff where that came from, including a guy who was, let's say, under the influence when he took out a car loan. Wow. Oh, wow. Yeah. You would, wow.

Yeah, the interest wasn't the only thing that was sky high that day, Jay. Listen, I'd rather be able to blame it on that than me being in my right mind going into $60,000 of debt and a $1,200 payment on a Honda pilot, George, of all things. So there's a few things I want to point out that were said. So number one, the justification language.

Well, it's minimal. Well, it's zero percent. Well, we were four, we had to. Right. There's all the justification language that we hear on the show. I hear it in the streets. And I don't know if it's people, you know, there's some shame and guilt around it, understandably.

So you make yourself feel better by saying, well, it's only 20 grand. Right, right. You know, those words bother me because I want them to feel the weight of it. And I think you're deflecting when you say, well, it's minimal. It's only. It's zero percent. You really make it seem like your back was against the wall and you had no other choice. And I'm like, here's my thing.

if you were going to go into debt, did it have to be $60,000? There's plenty of great $30,000 cars out there. I'm just saying. That is true. The other part that shocked me was I'm like, I'm the first guy making you do the math on what you actually owe.

So I ruined a lot of Disney dreams that day. Yeah, the comments section, I didn't realize this, but they're like, these people are out here trying to have a good time and George is ruining their day. The guy in the poncho, when you told him that his interest

was going to crank up to 26%. Did you see his eyes? like the look in his eyes there was a sadness i don't know if it's because just a grown man in a poncho at disney's just a sad sight anyways yeah but the fact that he was like yeah i mean i hope we can pay it all like he did a thousand yard stare yeah into another life he's dreaming of you brought him into you know hello darkness my old friend it was a lot going on there and it was also frightened to see how much crippling debt people are in and they're just adding to the pile with a little Disney trip and i asked people how much

their Disney trip cost jade i did not know all right call me ignorant i didn't know it's a lot it's a thousand dollars a day per person to breathe yes in disney yes and this is not a knock against disney it's a wonderful experience it's magical i love disney but the idea that you're going to go another six grand into debt or put it on the Disney credit card because they've convinced you this is the smart way to pay it boggles my mind because they're going to add that to the payment when they get home on top of their $1,200 car payment yeah yeah they got a Disney credit card payment to make how can even enjoy it in the moment knowing that i'm like i can't be the one ruining your enjoyment your decisions have already ruined the enjoyment it's like eating a meal knowing you're going to get food

poisoning oh that's a great analogy how can you enjoy it knowing what what is the future holds for you there's going to be hell to pay on the other side of this but i'm going to enjoy this casso right now oh lord why do i have to be case sorry i don't want to throw casso under the bus goodness gracious so i encourage everybody to watch that video and if nothing else I know why people watch to make themselves feel better about their financial situation

that's like entry tier Ramsey that's why you watch the show second I hope you go you know what this makes me want to fix my situation and then third you actually do this stuff and you want to send it to people to see this is why the Ramsey plan is so important you know

so wow well done George this is why I go into the streets you know in the rain with the umbrella I really sacrificed for the content that day. Right, it paid off. So thank you to everyone who's watched it and shared it. And just know, my heart is not to shame people. My heart is to bring some awareness.

Some people are a problem unaware. They don't know how bad their debt is. They don't know it's a problem. They just think it's normal to have payments. So the more we can shed a light on debt and say, this is not normal. And if it is normal, we need to run the other direction. That is the hope that we have for making it. content like this. Good job, George. I think you did just that. Okay. Let's go to Isaiah in Detroit

up next. What's going on, Isaiah? How's it going? I was just here. Let me tell you guys a little bit about my situation. So I'm 18 years old. I just graduated last year. And during the school year, I started a mobile car detailing business. I've been in about eight months. And so far, I've been doing it part-time, like school and work. And I made about 3,000. dollars from the business. And now that I've graduated high school and entered college, I realized that I want to learn more about business through actually doing it. So I decided that I wanted to move to South Carolina with a family member who runs a different business that doesn't really have to do with card detailing, but they are the closest mentor I would have.

And I wanted to go down there and move in with them. And they said I could stay there for a few months will I get up and running in the area. I currently have about $25,000 saved and my budget for the move is $8,000 to get a car and the equipment and everything I need. So my family thinks that it's super risky. Why? I've completely lost my line. So you're doing this with cash. You have no debt. There's an established business that's going to pay you when you arrive? And so I would have to, I'm set so. There's no job, right? They're not paying. you to work in their business. They'll just mentor you, but you can get a job.

Yeah. And you're willing to get any old job while trying to get your own business off the ground? Yeah, 100%. I actually really like this. I think that school will be there. It's not going anywhere, college. Like, what were you going to college for anyway? I was going to college for business management.

Yeah. I mean, that degree is going to be there. I love on the job training. Like, I love the idea that somebody would mentor you who's, starting a business, are they successful this person? Or is this their first go round two? Yeah, they are pretty successful. They rent out beach supplies. And they've been doing that for a good couple years and I've made a lot of money. Yeah. I like the idea. Man, 18, single, I think this is one of the least risky things you could do. And I would advise you to do it. Because

worst case, you come back home. The key is don't go into debt for anything, not for equipment, not for a degree, cash flow, every next move, and then follow that path that it takes you as you cash flow this amazing business. I think it's a great business idea. Car detailing, big money to be made, especially if you can serve people well, and you don't need a business degree to do it. You don't have to wait for Black Friday to get Black Friday deals. The sale is on now, and that includes $12 best-selling hard covers, $12 questions for humans decks, $699 audiobooks and e-books, $15 assessments, and so much more. Go to Ramsey Solutions.com slash store, or if you're watching on YouTube or podcast, click the link. link in the description.

Jessica is in San Antonio up next. What's going on, Jessica? Hi. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. So my significant other and I are planning to get married, and he currently pays child support and alimony from his previous marriage. I know once we're married, the money and debt

becomes ours, but I'm not sure how to handle those payments specifically the alimony. So my question is, should that come out of our joint budget? should that say his individual responsibility? Yeah. What's the parameter? How much and for how long? 300,000 until paid off. Wow. It's a lot of money. There's part of this where, you know, I'm always going to be for combining finances and taking on whatever the other person has in the form of debt and everything else. in many ways, this kind of is that, right? Because you're getting into this situation together. I'm thinking through this.

And yeah, I think it would be ours, the child's work. Otherwise, I feel like there would be separation there. Here's how I'm viewing it, and you can tell me what you think, Jessica. I'm almost viewing it as the deduction before his take-home pay. So like you pay for health care, out of your paycheck, your 401K. So if you just sort of took that out and then had his new take-home pay, which is the lower amount post alimony, that becomes our money. I think that helps me frame it up differently. Mentally, I like that. It is coming from his income, but there's still this pool

that's our money, but we're just not going to see that money because it's not your money. It has an allocation legally of where it needs to go right now. And it's not forever. And so this will change and it'll feel like you get a raise, I guess, when that day comes when that 300 grand is paid off. But either way, it's going to affect your world because it's $300,000 that would have been part of you all's budget. That's not part of you all's budget. Is it a set monthly amount? No, not set. Is it variable because his income is variable? Or how is that? What's the agreement there? Yeah. Variable income, quarterly bonuses. Yes. So he just pays it when he can. And I know we recently moved in together and I do allot him a specific amount to help cover the mortgage, even though we're not

married. And I know he did raise his alimony at the same time. So I know he's trying to get that paid off as soon as he can. So when will you guys be married? No set date yet, because I am trying to logistically figure this out. Okay. Okay. So this is kind of what's holding, is this what's holding you back then? Yes. I could see that. I could see that. Yeah. What will you guys be making once you're married? And then what will your debt load be? Outside of this alimony. So I don't know his exact take home. I know what he brings in after taxes and stuff,

but I would probably say, oh gosh, almost $400, $350 to $400, I believe. That's awesome. A year. And any debt to speak of? Outside of the mortgage and the alimony? So his mortgage, full loan, car loan. And then, unfortunately, I've been through the baby steps, but I had to buy a car.

So just a small amount for me, but I'm actively going back around. So his mortgage is the plan that, what's the plan with the mortgage? Will you guys move into that house? Will he sell it and you guys move somewhere else? Because I'm almost wondering if he can take when that day comes, if he can sell off an asset in order to get this done. Yes, I know he mentions that. That is his plan.

I currently did move in with him. and our plan is to sell the house he's currently in that we live in, finish paying what he owes to her, and then us purchase a new home together. Well, that feels like a solution there. Yeah, I was kind of looking at it. Like, if this was just a giant consumer debt, we'd go, all right, we'll just tackle it with whatever your income is,

because the sooner that's gone, the sooner you free up that money. So I think that's a good plan, and I think it will unify you guys as a couple as well to just go, all right, this isn't how we, either of us pictured it, but we have a 300,000 debt we need to pay off on top of our car loan and credit cards, and I hope it gives you some onus to get rid of your own debts faster

because the sooner you're on the other side of all of this, the more wealth you're going to build together and the more options you're going to have. Yes. Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. That's a tough question. It is. It's a lot intertwined in there. I kind of feel like they did complicate it a little bit

by moving by her already moving into there. She's paying towards the mortgage, which is more complication. So I don't love that part. It's only going to add insult to injury. Because she could have sat back in her own apartment and said, hey, like, you've got this $300,000 debt. Why don't you sell off something and clean it up? But now, since they're both in that house, yeah, anyway.

Thanks for the question. Mary Kate is in Phoenix up next. What's going on, Mary Kate? Hey, how's it going, guys? Thanks for taking my call. Absolutely. What's your question? So this is an interesting one. I just started listening to the show a couple weeks ago, so I literally just started going through my debt, starting to pay off my debt. I paid off my car,

which was the first kind of lowest debt that I had, gotten to a car accident last night and totaled my car. Oh, my goodness. So, yeah, that was a... Are you okay? Kind of a bit of a surprise. Oh, totally fine. Yeah. Thankfully, wasn't the asphalt driver, but, you know, bummed, but I just paid off my car. and they just got totaled. So curious to hear what you guys think about this.

I kind of know where I'm guessing I know where you're going to lean, but don't have the money to pay for a car out, you know, outright right now. So I was potentially thinking of taking on debt to buy a car and then wait for the payoff for my insurance company, which is probably going to be between $30,000 to $40,000, and then just chuck that at the debt, make sure I don't go, like don't finance a car for more than that. that amount. Well, how long until they write you a $35,000 check? Yeah, that's what I don't know.

And will they provide a rental car in the meantime? That's my question. Yeah, I think they will. I can also pay for that out of pocket and then get reimbursed for that. It's probably going to take about a week until I could get a rental car, but I kind of need one right now. Why would it take a week to get the rental car? From what I understand, I've never been in an accident before. It's this all very new to me. But from what I understand, the insurance company needs to wait for liability to be confirmed from the police report and things of that nature. Well, could you rent one on your own dollar for that week or whatever and then switch to theirs? That's probably what I would do. I would not go into debt on a car and, you know, have, have the, be at the mercy of the insurance on a car

payment that's got interest that's accruing and everything like that. Sure. Okay. So you've already file the claim that night? Yep. Okay, has the adjuster inspected? Yes, I did last night. They're inspecting it today or tomorrow. They towed it to like a like the car body shop

and they should be expecting it today or tomorrow. Okay, because I'm thinking most people will get that insurance check in about seven days. So I don't think it's going to be a super long time. I would just get whatever rental you can right now and I would also check with them before you do any of this. Say, hey, I need a car right now. What are my best options?

and make sure that you know exactly what their amount is they'll reimburse how soon all of that get all the facts but i would not go jump into you know go to the dealership and say hey i need a brand new car that's what most people do and they total their car they go woohoo i won the lottery time to go get a $50,000 car loan it's been more than the payout and they say well i had to i had to get a new car totaled mine what are you going to do and that's how we have uh you know a middle class america that's broken so i hope that's not you you've done so well that i'm like why I go backwards into debt even for a moment when you can avoid all of it. Okay.

Okay. So wait to have that payout in hand before I do anything, basically. Yes. And, you know, get yourself as nice of a rental you can with the reimbursement they'll give you. I'm sorry that happened. Thank you. And quick question on the payout. That's not like a taxable event or anything, as long as I use it for the purchase of a new vehicle.

Is that right? Yes. Because you weren't like making money here. This was not a money-making scheme where you sold the car from what you. more than it's worth. You know, insurance is valuing that car at what it was valued when you wrecked it. So nothing to worry about there. If I get a $40,000 payout and I go buy a car for $20,000, you can do that. And if you have debt, I love that plan for you. Because if you had sold that car for 40 and used 20 of it to buy a car, that's your American

right. And I would honestly do that if I were you. If you've got other financial goals, other debts to pay off, it's only going to, you know, make your life simpler. And a 20,000 car will get you're real far these days. No matter what you want to do with your money, you need a budget. Start budgeting for free today with the Every Dollar app, the easiest way to budget. Track your expenses and reach your goals faster. Go to Everydollar.com. today.

Welcome back to the Ramsey Show in the Fairwinds Credit Union Studio. I'm George Campbell, joined by bestselling author Jade Warshaw. Open phones at AAA 825, 5-225. Claude is in Orlando, Florida up next. What's going on? on, Claude. Hey, how y'all doing? Great. How can we help today? Okay, just a long story short, I haven't paid my R.S. in several years. Basically, I got out of high school 0708, kind of fell into a good job working for foreclosure companies and started buying up foreclosures and

kind of amassed about, got about 26, seven doors rental. But it's all paid for, but I'm at the point I just bought a house through private financing. But I would like to secure permanent financing, but I haven't done my federal taxes in several years. And they're going to want to see tax returns for you to get that financing. Yes, sir. And this is the only reason you've decided. I guess you should probably deal with that. Why haven't you filed?

I'm just kind of ignorant. Yes. No, you're not. Ignorant people don't own 27 rentals. Thank you. Thank you. You're very successful. So what has caused you to just ignore the taxes completely? Because you filed taxes up until what year? I think the last time was 16. I did it. Okay, so we're coming up on 10 years. And nobody's knocked down your door yet. You haven't got anything in the mail? No, sir. I haven't, I don't really on paper, I guess, show making a bunch. Most of that income's in cash. And you've spent it? Do you have the money to pay all these back taxes, penalties, fees? I don't have any idea what it would be. Well, how much have you made in the last 10 years?

I mean, anywhere from 10,000 a month to 15,000 a month, just depending on me. I got a lot of irons in the fire. So you're talking about making 150 to 200 grand every year for the last decade? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's slowly escalated year to year. All right, I'm going to call it half a million. Just ballpark numbers. How would you come up with half a million dollars to pay the IRS?

That's a good question. I mean, I figured up the other day before I came on here, I got about conservatively $4 million in real estate. So it sounds like, if I were in your shoes, here's what I would do personally. Number one, I would get with an enrolled agent or CPA yesterday and start tracking down exactly what I need to do to get current, get on a payment plan, and get this mess cleaned up. And then, whatever that bill total is, if it's $500,000, I'm not even going to get on a payment plan. I'm going to liquidate enough properties that I knock this out. I mean, should I be even reporting the cash?

You should report every dime you make. Give to Cesar's, what is Cesar's? So I know you want to avoid that I don't know if you're going to take my advice But I don't want to I don't want the next phone call from Claude to be from a jail cell Yeah That'd be ugly Yeah

You gotta do this with integrity my guy Like the last people you want on your back is the IRS They can destroy your life I know that's right And so I would not ignore this any longer It's been almost a decade What are you going to do next? I guess I need to go to a

CPA. That's right. And you're going to need to get with the IRS and get and figure out exactly what you owe. And they can help with that. But do not avoid, I know you deal with a lot of cash. I would get things on the books. I would have everything, every I dotted, every T crossed. Okay. And that might mean you need to hire someone to do the books. If you don't like doing it, you don't want to do it, I would hire someone who can do it. The good news is you have the assets to clean this up very quickly. Yeah. How much debt do you have otherwise? I mean, I've borrowed $165,000 on that house from that private investor, but I mean, I've got, I've been offered $275 for it like it is.

But besides that, I don't owe a dime. All the 26 properties are free and clear. Yeah. So could you sell one or two of those to knock out this IRS debt, worst case? I mean, I've been doing, letting a few go, but the degg of property taxes. and other unforeseen things are eating me up. It just doesn't make sense. Why are you so tight on cash?

I mean, just... If you're all paid for, they should be cash flowing beautifully. Are you just spending every single dime you get? No, not... Well, I'm... Okay, so I bought all these houses kind of cheap several years

ago over the last several years, and then I was just shoving people in them, doing the minimum. And so now I'm kind of paying the pauper on that. So when they're coming open, I'm spending a fair amount of money. On repairs and maintenance and all that because you neglected to do it. That's right. Man, that's part of the business.

You know what? If this is too much for you to handle, I would liquidate a bunch of properties and just keep what you can actually manage and manage well. Well, I mean, it's my sole, it's my main income. Yeah, but if you liquidated the properties, you'd have something called money. And right now it sounds like you're tight on cash flow for some reason because you're just bleeding out with 27 properties. to manage, it's more expensive. Yeah, I mean, if I got a few thousand bucks left over at the end of the month, I'm doing good.

I mean, I'm not. I'm just confused for a guy who doesn't pay taxes and makes $15,000 a month, you shouldn't be this broke. Well, I'm at about 10 right now. I mean, if I got everything full, I'm at 15. Out of 27 properties, you're only making $10,000 a month? Yeah, what kind of properties are these? Well, I've got, well, it's definitely low, low income stuff.

I mean, I bought some of these things in 0-9s, but when I started buying, I mean, I bought these things for $5,000. So you're making like a few hundred bucks off each one. A few hundred dollars. I mean, the bottom of the rent in my area is like $600, $600 to $600 to $1,000 to $1,300. You have 27 properties, and you make $10,000 off of those. That's $370 each on average. Yeah, and I've got like $5 empty right now. You got some vacancies, too.

What would it look like if you sold a couple of these low-income properties and got some nicer properties where you can garner a higher, you know, a higher rent and still pay for them fully in cash? And then instead of having 26, maybe you have 10, right? Or maybe you have eight. They're higher-quality, higher-quality tenants, pay more. That's kind of what I've been doing. I just sold one last week for $55,000 that I bought for $10,000, but I paid $40,000 in property taxes. what about the capital gains on those that's what I'm out I don't know oh my goodness so on top of your income you could have a huge capital gains bill from all these investment properties that

appreciated since 2009 when you bought them for you know pennies on the dollar right but I've never depreciated any of them either wow I think you need help I think you need somebody to help you with the the financial like the books on this and help you to understand what it is that you're doing. Yeah, well, I also had a secretary that was embezzling money, too. Oh, no. Goodness gracious. Wow.

I think the word for you in the new year, because I'm already talking about the new year, is simplification. You need to simplify your life. You've got a lot going on. Yeah. But right now, you've just been ignoring it, and it's just compounded and compounded, and so now it feels so overwhelming. So I would jump on to ramsysolutions.com, get in touch with a tax pro today.

and they're going to have their hands full with you. You might be their full-time client for the next few months as they uncover and turn over every stone that you have left to rot. So goodness gracious, Claude, I'm sorry you're dealing with this, but, man, neglecting the problem's not going to make it go away, especially when it's the IRS. Wow. Good luck.

It's that time a year. It's that time of year. In a few weeks, we're going to be doing a special giving edition of the Ramsey show. And we want to hear stories from you. but how you have given generously this season. Maybe you've tipped a waiter, a waitress, a hundred bucks, or bought Thanksgiving dinner for a family who couldn't afford one. Maybe you've blessed someone a need by giving them a car, doing something outrageous. Maybe you've been on the receiving end, and you had your life changed or affected by someone who gave generously to you. We want to hear those

stories. Dave Ramsey and I will be doing that giving show, and it's going to be a lot of fun. So go to ramsysolutions.com slash ask ASK and put giving in the subject line. We do this every year, It's one of our most popular shows, very heartwarming, coming up December 18th. So start sending in your stories of giving today, and let's celebrate living like no one else so you can give like no one else. Sydney is in Columbus, Ohio up next. What's happening, Sydney? Hi, guys. My husband and I are trying to figure out how to financially approach our home. We were given lead orders by our state health department. We're mandated to hire a lead abatement specialist to do some actually relatively minor work around our home.

And the bill is going to be about $30,000. Oof. Wow. Yeah. We have five young kids, seven and under. We definitely don't have $30,000. laying around. And the state's giving us a year to come up with the money, get it done, or whenever they deem

necessary, they could force us to leave our home that we own. So we could get a home equity loan. That's a kind of hefty payment, but I'm not sure we really have any other options. What do you guys earn? My husband, pre-tax, was $58,000 last year. And are you working outside the home? No, I stay at home with the kids. How many kids and how old are they?

We have five kids, seven, five, three, two, and six months old. Oh, my goodness. Now, are you needing to do a full abatement? Have you checked on that? I mean we have the orders that the state gave us there's you know a whole list of things that you know they give you what you need to fix and the control options to fix it that sort of thing okay and have you got multiple quotes yes they're all between 29 and 33,000 so I kind of run this backwards I mean if you said 30 that's right in the middle of the road so I'm thinking

okay I have a year to do that I have 12 months to do this that's about $2,500 a month, what can we do to bring that money in so that we can have this process started in time? So as it sits, after your bills are paid, how much margin do you have to go towards your debt or whatever your financial goals are right now? Maybe a couple hundred dollars a month. Like a couple hundred like two or a couple hundred like five? Maybe two. okay it's not a whole lot what does your husband do for work uh he's a mechanic for a neighboring

county for the highway engineering department and if you what's your house worth if you were to sell it we have up up to well close to two hundred thousand dollars in equity and that's with the mold to buy it yeah is that with the lead what is what would it be worth with this lead issue going on I mean, it's actually about $30,000 less. Okay. But the problem is getting someone that would be willing to buy it because the lead orders aren't with our name, they're with the address. So whoever would buy it would have to, they'd be in the same position that we are.

Right, but you would hire a contractor and do the work. Right, but that would be an incentive that you would have in the sale. Like that would come from you. That's what I would think. You'd lower the cost by that amount. knowing they're going to have to deal with it. Uh-huh. That's why we said less $30,000 in the equity.

Well, we did talk to a realtor. And she, when we bought the house in 2021, we got a 4% interest rate. And given the equity that we have, it's not likely that we're going to find anything even remotely affordable with how interest rates are now. Understood. But there's also, you would have. here's, I want to re-reset where we're at. The problem is you need $30,000.

And there's going to be limited options to get it. And I'm taking debt off the table. Since you called in, I have to take debt off the table. I don't want you to go into debt. I don't want to make this worse on you. So that means that we have to consider the options. And I'm not saying that that's the option you have to choose. But the options we have in front of us right now are,

what can we do that's going to find us $23 extra dollars per month? Is it something that you pick up in the night? Is it something that your husband does on the side? Is there overtime? That's one option. Another option is, okay, we could sell this house and then take the money, parking in a high yield, maybe rent for a while or move into something smaller while we save up to buy something again. This is a bad break, no matter how you slice it. I mean, I have to say that this is emotional. We're talking about your home. We're talking about your family. There's no side of this that is. good or convenient or like it all sucks right so i'm just trying to give you options that won't put you later in a suckier position because that's what'll happen if we add debt to this one when was the house built uh 1895 you're serious yes oh my goodness it's an old farmhouse okay i just did it On a quick search, have you heard of the Ohio lead abatement tax credit program? Yeah, our county didn't apply. That's a large part of our frustration is that all of those, all the grants that are available

for let abatement are county by county. And our county just actually today confirmed they didn't apply because they didn't think it was worth it. And now we're just out of luck. And now it's too late. Wow. Yeah. And they won't apply later either.

we've gone that route to. We've contacted lawyers. We've contacted realtors. We've contacted state health department, local health department, county commissioner's office. Wow. Senator's office, state rep's office. So you've done your homework on that end. Trying to get some form of assistance. Yeah. Is there a world where... The counties around us want to help us, but they're not allowed to give us any grant dollars. Yeah. Is there a world where you could work at night or your husband could take on a side job or do some extra mechanic work on the side to come up with this

money? I mean, that's pretty hit or miss. My husband's on call 24-7 for the county. So he has to, if he got a second job, it would have to be under the understanding that he has to leave with some flexibility. So it's kind of tough. And we live pretty rurally as well. Yeah. And what do you guys have in checking and savings right now? We have little less than 300. or $3,000 in savings that was supposed to inflate our basement for the winter because it's pretty cold. And is it safe to live in this house? Let's say you do stay for the year while you come up with the money.

It's safe to live there? Yes. Hmm. Is there any way that you can file for some sort of extension or anything like that? I'm sure you've checked into that. Yeah. The extension, it's every 90 days up to a year. So essentially our first deadline comes January 1st, but they'll give us the extensions up through September.

After that, we're really at the mercy of them. They can decide to make us leave whenever they want, and ultimately, if we can't afford the work, they can boulders our house that we own. That is so insane. Wow, I'm sorry. This is terrible. This is like just rocking a hard place, a thousand percent. If I were you, I would look into what it would be to actually say,

I don't think, you know, interest rates are now around five and a half percent. And so if you have four to five and a half, I don't know that it'll be a huge jump and it might get you out of the situation. That's one option to look at if you can't increase the income. Because the problem is, whatever the thing is, a $10,000 emergency, a $30,000. You guys are so tight right now. And for the foreseeable future, there's no end in sight. So this is just a hard way to live as you are finding out that home ownership is not cheap. And so I would try to find any alternative living. situation and or move out if you can't come up with this money the next year. I don't know that begging and pleading with the state is going to get you very far at this point. So sorry you guys are dealing with this. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. Big news from our friend Jade Warshaw. Her new book, What No One Tells You About Money, is on pre-order right now. For $24.99, you get over $100 and free bonus items, including the enhanced audio book read by Jade herself,

early access to the e-book, and instant access to an exclusive video, your financial checkup with Jade. Plus, she's doing a book club with a live Q&A. Who doesn't love a book club? It's for three weeks. You can get access to all of that when you pre-order today. Ramsey Solutions.com slash store. We'll click the link in the description if you're on YouTube or podcast. Very exciting.

All right. Tim is in Houston up next. What's going on, Tim? Hi, guys. Just kind of a real quick question. So we've got a destination wedding coming up in about six months. and best price is about $2,500 to go there, hotel, rent a car, pet sitting, food, and that sort of thing.

However, right now, it's not like we're totally broke, which we're not, but the problem is that I really don't think that this is a good thing for us to do at that time and I know that the people that invited their lifelong friends, love them to death, I know that they would be devastated. Tell us more about your financial situation and why you think it's not a good time to spend this money. Okay. It kind of goes back about, oh, I guess about six years ago. I've been involved in aviation for a number of years,

and I saw a new technology pop up. I took it to my company vice president, and I said, hey, look, I'll get my commercial drone license, we'll do this, that, and the other. And I ended up spending probably out of my own pocket because I wanted to also do this as a profession. about $100,000, and I went into debt about $40,000 on unsecured loans. And then the shutdown hit us, and I was out of work.

I had to do engineering consulting on the side. Fortunately, God saw my dilemma and said, look, I'm going to put you here as an engineering manager. And my wife who came alongside, she said, we're going to buckle down. I'm going to get home to Ramsey's consulting group. And so we brought a consultant on. And about six months ago, we paid off all of our vehicles. We have two vehicles. That's gone. All of our credit card debt has been wiped out. Great. We owe about a little under $90,000 on our home.

It's probably worth $450. Okay. And have you saved up any money yet? That's the big thing. So me personally, I've had some health things hit me. I had an accident. I had three surgeries, prostate cancer, blood off. Oh, gosh. I'm sorry.

I was almost blind in one eye and couldn't see out of the other ones. I had that cataract surgery. Wow. Have you managed to stay debt-free through all of that? Well, my wife really likes to travel. So she's also booked some vacations, and we would get ahead and then back. So where are you now? How much debt do you currently have, and what do you guys currently make?

So this is going to sound crazy. But I bring home, I bring home a little over 11,000 a month, which is a pretty good chunk of change. Yeah, well, tell us how much debt you have. Well, right now, we just paid off our last vacation. We've had some things here. Tim, bringing the total to. One word answer. How much debt do you have outside the mortgage?

$90,000 on our home. That's it. That's it? No consumer debt. No consumer debt. Okay. Okay. You were making it seem like, Tim, that you guys

bury in some secret. Yeah, like you bought a theme park and you did all sorts of things. Can we agree we're not going to go into any more consumer debt for any reason? Well, let me just say that we just took on a $13,000 repair to our house. But I thought you said the only debt was $90,000. You didn't took on. So, yes, we did. take that on as a heat lock it's going to be about eight it's going to be about 800 bucks a month out of our

pocket Tim you just told us you had no debt well I'm sitting here looking at my notes so 13 K 13,000 in debt anything else no cars no nothing that's it okay and no money saved and very little saved no we do how much how much saved retirements we do have retirement out there that we we can't touch. Yeah, how much cash? That's about 100,000. Okay. We're trying to answer your question about this destination wedding.

So you have 13,000 left in consumer debt. You have nothing in savings? We've got about 5 grand. Five grand in savings. So you could use four of that to attack the 13, bringing it down to 9. Then how quickly making 11K? Your wife isn't bringing in income right now? there's some there's some things when she's been doing consulting work and it's not a lot

I mean so let's pretend it's your 11k how much do you guys need to cover all the bills per month right now I mean I think I think we're in pretty good shape I told my wife no more vacations yeah well the thing is you guys aren't making a budget this money is slipping through your fingers and you will go into debt willy-nilly on a whim because life is just happening to you and so this is the part we need to get ahead of because truthfully there is a world where you can knock out the rest of your 9K in debt

if you do it our way, you can build up an emergency fund and you could probably go in this wedding go to the wedding. But I don't think you guys have it in you to follow a plan at this point unless you get on the same page and have a come to Jesus meeting tonight and go, we make $11,000.

Why are we going to debt for anything? I know, that's what I said. It's crazy sound and it is. But it's you guys. It's you guys choosing, and there's some behavior that has to start happening in order for you guys to write this ship. And that choice is yours. You know the plan. You know what the steps are. You've done it before. There's something there that's a blocker for both of you going forward with this. Could you scrape together $4,500 a month, Tim? $4,500 a month out of your income to throw at the debt? Oh, we'll get this, this repair. We'll get it knocked out pretty quick. I'm asking you, can you do $4,500 a month? I don't know why we couldn't. You tell me, because so far we haven't been able to take $4,500.

It's because you haven't seen it on a budget. It's because you haven't seen it on a budget. If in two months, you would knock out this debt, if you take $4,000 from your savings, throw it at the debt, you have nine left, $4,500 a month, you're done in two months, and then $4,500. a month after that, you'll have an emergency fund within three or four months and then one more paycheck and you can fund this whole destination wedding. So I think the problem could be solved. I don't think you guys should go in the destination wedding. I think your life is too chaotic right now. And I think your friends would understand after 19 surgeries and a lot going on. You take them out to a really nice dinner when they're back. Say, hey, we want to treat you to

a real fancy dinner. We're unable to make it for reasons. Health reasons, financial reasons, whatever. And where is the destination? Just curious. it's in Colorado okay yeah I think they'll be strong well you know I know that there's there's a lot more to that whole scenario than I don't know what my wife's daughters the brides made listen here's the thing you could go out and I don't know that you can with what you've been through but maybe your wife could go out you've got six months before this thing happens you could door dash and say I'm going to door dash until I earn the $2,500 to take this trip, then we'll go. It'll be debt-free. It won't be part of our usual

income. Sure, you could do that. If these are family friends, you know, I get it. I'm not going to try to make you miss out on a huge moment if these are really special people in your lives. I'm not going to say that. But you have to go out and get the money, and I don't know that you guys will do that. That's my only caveat here. If you do this, somebody needs to go out and earn it. So the key is, if you guys can get completely debt-free with an emergency fund and save up with that destination wedding before it happens, then you have the green light to go on my part. But at this point, the way you've been talking around things with lack of clarity, lack of a game plan for you and your wife, it just tells me this is going to take longer until we figure

this out. So I hope you guys can get on it. I hope you can make it to the wedding. You have the income to do it. Our scripture of the day, Matthew 7, 2. In the same way you judge others, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Mark Twain said, good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment. That'll preach. That'll preach.

That'll preach. the bad judgment leads to the experience, which hopefully, if you learn from it, leads to good judgment. Yeah, yeah. You've got to learn from it. All right. David is in Tampa up next. What's going on, David?

Hey, George. Hey, Jade. Thanks for everything you all do. Absolutely. What's your question? So just a little background. I've been a long-time listener. Follow general principles, but I've been very Dave-ish recently.

So just trying to dive in and make some moves just after revaluing some goals. So I'm currently in school. I work full-time as well, so I've just been cash-flowing school. I currently pay $1,000 a month towards the program, and then at the end I could just pay off the balance in full. So I've just been stacking cash instead of working to pay off. I also have debt that I'll talk about on a second, but I have about $35,000 in savings,

and then the rest of the schooling program is about $30,000. also I'm in two hundred thousand dollars a student loan debt so I'm just trying to kickstart my journey right here and wanted to want to see if you all recommend I'd just pay off the rest of my school balance and then that frees up my thousand dollars a month to just contribute to paying my student loan or should I divvy it up pay some of my school and pay some of the student loan wow what are you going to school for nurse practitioner okay so the 200k was your undergrad 200 k i'm also a chiropractor actually so undergrad plus chiropractic school wow okay is that a combination

what are you going to be doing at the end of this yeah so i'm looking to just expand my scope of practice as a chiropractor i currently can't prescribe medication or do injections um so i'm just looking to be able to provide more services for my patient so that's my game plan and what do you make in per month per month about 8,000 okay so you can stack cash pretty fast. My goal would be to avoid going into any more debt, and if that means pausing the student loan debt while I cash flow the rest of school, I would do that. It sounds like you're already doing that, though, right? Yeah, I've got, I could pay off my schooling program today. So I want to see if I'll recommend that, or should I, I think I would. You're already,

you're already cash flowing like the current year, and then you've got, did you say, I didn't hear if you said it was 30K for the rest or 20K? 30K for the rest of the program. Okay. About 35. And that, yeah, so you keep 5,000 saved. And then you could, I mean, essentially, you could drop that down to 1,000 on the 200,000. And with your $8,000 a month, how much of that would you be putting on the, the 200,000 chiropractor deal?

About 4,000 a month. Listen, get into it. Yeah. I love that. That's about 50 grand a year. So worst case, you're done in 40,000. years. Now, hopefully your income is going to drastically go up, right? Right. That's the plan.

And what is that going to take? What do you mean? I'm sorry. How do you get to 10, 12, 15 grand a month income from where you're at right now? Well, I could open it up my own practice. That's definitely a long-term goal. I just want to approach that correctly without going into any debt. Yeah, that sounds super expensive. Usually when people say that, it's like, well, I took on a million dollars of debt to start my own practice. What's the other way to do?

I mean, just continue working where I'm at, maybe work more hours with additional responsibilities as a nurse practitioner role as well. So are you going to get paid more once you're done with the NP program? I'm confused why that's helping you right now as you're working for someone else. Well, the nurse practitioner program is more long-term for one of them on my own, but the current practice I work at is

multidisciplinary. So they have nurse practitioners that provide other services as well. So I can get a increase in salary where I'm having. That's what I was aiming at. Can we get an instant pay increase when you're done with this program? Right. Because they'll be able to provide more services. Yeah. The goal would be to knock it out even faster than four years. And if you stay focused, keep living like you are now, keep living on lesson you make, you'll get there. But I like the plan of, you know, when is that 30K do that's left for school? Is that a per semester payment you need to make? Oh, no. That's not due until January 2027. Okay, great. Because I'm like, if it's not due yet, I would wait until it is due.

Okay. So you recommend I just hold on to that for now? You keep it in a high-ield savings account, and then when the payment comes due, you'll know you have the money? As long as you won't go spend it elsewhere. But you recommend I don't just pay it all off today? Well, I mean, when you say it's due, is it just the payment is due? It's not a debt currently. no it's not dead it's just a payment plan and then at the end at the end of the program then you just pay off the rest in full so i'm just paying a thousand a month is there any can you earner any incentive to pay it early if you said hey i'm going to pay this all cash up front

would they give you five or ten percent off for example i'd ask i've not asked that but i can definitely ask that's worth looking into i'm looking for any way to make this cheaper and make this go faster but you're on the right track man you're doing a lot of things right i'm proud of you usually you get these calls from you know the chiropractors and the nps i mean he's got a lot of debt but he does he's doing he's making the right moves to get rid of this fast and i think he'll get there quickly joe is in l.a. up next what's going on joe i think she taking my call um i got a question i have currently uh me and my wife we work teedot we work uh we both have two incomes um i have uh about a hundred grand in uh high yield savings account right now

And my question is, should I use that towards, I have a high mortgage. It's $4,500 a month, 7% interest rate. Should I use that to pay down my mortgage and maybe get a better interest rate? Or should I keep that in the high-yield savings account? What do you guys recommend? Well, I have two questions before we decide. First off, I want to know how much you bring in every month with all those four incomes combined. you said you and your wife both have two jobs. It's one and one, one job and one job.

Oh, I thought you said you and your wife both had two. Okay, well, what's the income total? It sounds, yeah. Ten grand for both of us. Okay, that's why you're hurting. Yeah. It's half your take-home pay. Do you have any other debts? Yeah, we do have 15 grand in debt, but that's, we're not getting hit with any interest or anything. That's kind of a percent interest rate. It's a consumer debt, but it's on credit cards for 18 months financing credit cards. And what are the payments? That's, it's still a payment. Yeah, it's still payment.

Payments are about $500 a month. Yeah, man, the mortgage in these credit cards are eating your lunch. Yeah, you got a can of bear spray right now, and there's a bear coming at you. I'd use the spray in the can, and that's your $100K. So I would pay off your $15,000 today. That leaves you with $85. Then you have the mortgage. That's all that's left.

right? Yeah, the mortgage, which is 518,000. So paying it down isn't just going to lower the payment. You're going to have to refinance or recast it in order to get a different payment. Are you talking about refinancing? I'm talking about refinancing because currently when we got the property it was 7%. Now it's like at 6.2. I'm hoping it could get like out of 5 later on. So I was kind of waiting to see if the interest rates go down. I've been watching them for the past couple years um but um yeah you do the break even on that because the refinance is going to cost you and so you find out how quickly you'll actually recoup that that money and how quickly you can get this manageable but i like the plan of taking 15 paying off the debt and leave enough for your emergency

fund but anything above that chunk it at the mortgage and refinance and it's going to lower your payment to make it more manageable i love for you to get this payment closer to three grand yeah because right now you know, half of it's, half of your take-home pay is going just toward this mortgage. Is there a world where you guys increase your income? Yeah, actually my wife's working on her PE, her PE, professional engineering license. How long will that? What's the timeline? Hopefully the next couple months.

Oh. She's studying right now, so she's just got to take the state test. Okay. Awesome. Yeah, and then me, I'm trying to go back to school so I can get my, degree too so we're trying we're trying to increase our income but um as far as um yeah the rate you so i should just wait until uh i would contact our friends at churchill mortgage yeah contact our friends at churchill they can run the numbers with you and show you hey does this make sense right now

or not uh but i think if you paid down the loan by another 50 grand and refinance i think you could see the numbers start to make sense so give them a call and see what they have to say but i would knock out this debt today at least and use anything above the emergency fund to start tackling that mortgage that puts this hour of the rameses show in the books remember there's ultimately only one way to financial peace and that's to walk daily with the prince of peace price jesus no matter what you want to do with your money you need a budget start budgeting for free today with the every dollar app the easiest way to budget Track your expenses and reach your goals faster.

Go to every dollar.com today.