The Ramsey Show - App - We Bought Too Much House… What Do We Do Now? (Hour 1)

Episode Date: August 8, 2022

Dr. John Delony & George Kamel discuss: Selling a car to pay off debt, Owing the IRS $100k, What to do when you bought too much house, Dealing with a car scam, Feeling like you'll never be able to afford a house.   Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6   Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions in Nashville, Tennessee, this is The Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life, your work, and your money, pretty much everything. I'm John Deloney, joined here by my best friend, George Campbell, and we are taking your calls on money and life. Give us a buzz at 888-825-5225. It's a toll-free call, 888-825-5225. Let's go to Scranton, Pennsylvania, and talk to Tanya.

What's up, Tanya? Hi, John. I'm such a big fan. It's nice to talk to you. I'm a fan of yours. It's nice to talk to you. I'm a fan of yours. It's nice to talk to you. What's up? So my husband and I have been doing the baby steps since the very beginning of 2020. We finished FPU right before COVID started. And we are at the end of baby step two. But we have some questions about just the end of it here. And we have two

cars. That's going to be the last of our debt after the end of this month when we pay off our student loans. And we were thinking about selling one of the cars, but we weren't sure if that was the best idea. Are you starting to get itchy? Like you're so close, can we speed this thing up? Yes. What are the car loans? They're both actually almost equal in amount. They're both like $12,900. The car we're thinking about selling has a significantly higher interest rate,

and my husband and I work at the same facility and we go in on the same day. So the only time we really use both cars is when we have to be in different places at the same time. Okay. What are the cars worth? Have you looked into that? This car, we would definitely be um upside down by maybe two to three thousand dollars and you're sure about that we don't want to sell just uh yeah based on kelly blue book and i was doing some research the last couple of days um specifically just like different dealerships and websites to kind of see what it would go for. Okay. And what's your income household? It's around 105.

Okay. Well, I mean, there's no reason you have to sell these cars. If you can pay these things off in next year, which I think you guys can do, there's no reason you have to sell them. But if you're telling me it's just sitting there collecting rust while you guys commute to work together and you want to speed up the process, then I think it's a wise move. But if you are underwater, you're going to have to come up with that cash. So how quickly can you save up the difference? Probably a month. Okay.

So one month from now, we sell the car, we clean that, and we have one car left and we're debt-free within six months after that? We should hopefully be debt-free by December. Okay. If you sell the car. If you sell it. Yeah, it would probably cut it in half as to where we would need to be. Great.

And if you guys needed to buy another car, you could save up five, six grand and get something to get you around for now. We could definitely save that. We don't have that right now. Sure. That's looking long term. If you go, man, this is a terrible idea because we went to work at different times this day and it was a nightmare.

But I think it's wise to sell that car, but you're going to have to look at what you could actually get for it. So I'm going to do some heavy research and see what top dollar I can get. Maybe that's Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, Autotrader, Carvana, Vroom. Check them all and see who will give you the most for this car. All right, let's go to Annie in Tampa, Florida. What's up, Annie? Hi, just found out late last week that my husband owes over $100,000 to the IRS and to the Department of Revenue. And I have no idea what to do. Ouch. How did you find out?

Well, the tax, it's always been filed married, but separately. And we've only been married a little bit over five years. And so there was some not doing the taxes, not filing, not filing. Finally, they got filed and the total just was presented to us late last week. Does that include any late fees, penalties? Yeah, it's a whole smorgasbord of a lot of things. So what made you guys ignore it for a few years? It was sort of one of those things where I would just kind of keep asking, can we please get this done, please get this done, please get this done.

You'd ask your husband? Like, hey, have you filed taxes yet? Mine are all filed separately and all taken care of. But he never filed for how many years? Uh, for a total of, um, six years. Yeah. So it's been my experience in this, in these moments, Annie, over the years that there's two things going on.

Number one, you are pissed off. It's one of the foundations of doing business is paying taxes and taking care of your business. And my guess is he doesn't take care of his business in other areas. Is that fair? I have to say that I've really processed through a lot of this and done a lot of praying with it. So I'm really, I'm past that. Praise God. And I'm at a place where I'm very grateful that they finally did get filed and processed. And now we just, I'm talking to so many, so many so-called experts who are telling us to do all kinds of different things. Did you reach out to the experts? I'm sorry?

Did you reach out to these experts? It was really both of us. Right now, I just finished school, and so I am currently not working. I'm studying for a big exam. And so he's working two jobs. He is an exceptionally hard worker. What does he make? What's the household income currently?

Right now, it's about $52,000, maybe $53,000 with some overtime. He's a W-2 employee at this point. And that's with both jobs? No, no, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. A lot has changed. With the side jobs, probably an extra. At this time, there's no extra side jobs right now. Okay. And let's assume you pass your exam. What are you going to be bringing home? Somewhere around 60, 60 to 65. Okay, so we'll be at six figures pretty soon. Yes.

Because we need to increase the shovel ASAP, and this IRS debt is going to go to the top of your debt snowball, and it's going to be the one thing you focus on probably for the next few years. Okay. And we're not going to get no schemes, no, hey, if you just do this or they're not even allowed to do that, there's going to be people on YouTube. Don't listen to any expert that tries to sell you a shortcut here. None.

There is no shortcut here. The only way to get rid of it is to get rid of it and that means paying it off incrementally. So you guys need to get in touch with the IRS and get on a clear communication, get on a payment plan where they know exactly what you guys are doing, how much you're paying every single month, so that we get a game plan. And if you don't already have a tax pro in your corner, you got to connect with one. You can do that at ramsaysolutions.com. They can also help you navigate this, and they may have some better strategies to attack this. Okay. One quick question for you. Right up against the clock. Go real quick.

Yeah. We're hearing from a lot of people that we should go into hardship, but then, you know, then you're penalized if you go. Stop listening to a lot of people. Don't go to hardship. You're not in a hardship. You just didn't do your, you didn't pay taxes for five years. You're not in a hardship. You got the money and you're about to, you've got jobs, you've got work. Don't in a hardship. You got the money, and you're about to – you've got jobs. You've got work. Don't go into hardship.

Get with a tax pro and get this thing paid off, and it's going to really be tough. No shortcuts, no games. Never be silent again, Annie. You were silent for too long, and something in the back of your head knew it. Never again. Call us toll free 888-825-5225 This is the Ramsey Show I'm John Deloney

Joined by my best friend George Camel And we are taking your calls On life, money, work Whatever's going on Let's go out to OKC. Let's go to Oklahoma City and talk to Isaac. What's up, Isaac?

How we doing? Hey, John. Hey, George. I'm doing good. How are you guys? Outstanding, brother. What's up? Okay, so I bought my first house.

I moved from California to Oklahoma. I'm feeling like I bought a little more than I can chew, so I need some help on understanding that. And then am I doing the right stuff with my finances, like budget and whatnot? More than you can chew, like too many rooms to vacuum or more than you can chew, you bought way too much house. It's too expensive. Too much money. Okay. What's your take home pay? Yeah. Monthly, it's about $2,186.

I make about $40,000 a year. Okay, and what is this mortgage payment with the property, insurance, taxes, interest, all that? So it's $1,100. Oh, my God. Whoa! Yeah. Over 50% of your take-home pay is going so that you can live in this box. Yeah.

Ouch. How many bedrooms is it? Is it just you? No, so I'm married. I'm 25, married, and I got three boys. Okay. Is your wife working outside the home, or is she home with the kids? We've literally been talking about just got off the phone with her.

They're opening up a store here so she's home right now but we're thinking about her getting a part-time job or doing some door dash during the day yeah i think that it's the only option right now if you want to stay in this house how soon can you get your income up what do you do for a living uh so i do insurance uh so i do like account managing so I make Is it commission or salary? Salary based. But is there a commission on top of that? Very small yeah

so if I do like personal insurance so if I sell a policy I get 10% of the 12% that the agency gets. Is this what you were put on earth to do? Or is this just a job you stumbled into when you had your first kid and then you've kind of been doing this?

I've just been working. I started working at 15 at Raley's and then just kept going and work is work. Do you have a degree? Nothing. No college. High school diploma. Is this a 30-year mortgage? Yeah.

Oh. Okay. So here's the deal. You've heard both of me and George go, we've exhaled a few times with you. Um, we're going to get all that out of our system and now it's going to be in solution mode. Are you ready for that? Okay. Let's do it. Okay. You're, so you're all in. I'm all in. Okay. How much does this house cost, by the way? $195. Okay.

How much did you put down? About percentage-wise? Yeah. I think 3% to 5%. Okay. And how long ago did you buy it? January. Okay. So it's been about eight months now.

Oh boy. I mean, are you guys able to breathe? Can you put food on the table? Well, we've been making it thus far. We've got a pretty tight budget. I just calculated our last month's budget and we were about $1,000 over.

What does rent cost in your area? I'm i'm guessing you need at least a three bedroom yeah so it's about similar to the mortgage um so depending on where i mean i live in a decent neighborhood not you know the nicest parts obviously um and so it's about the same it's not much cheaper or more expensive how old are these boys i got a seven-year-old a two-year-old and a one-month-old okay so even if but if you sold this thing you would you'd have still very little money you don't have much equity in this thing at all. No. I think there's like 10 grand equity or something like that. So it doesn't solve many problems to sell it and go rent somewhere for the same amount.

No. So the only other option I'm seeing is we have to double your income like tomorrow. And that might mean a new career field doing something different sales working for another agency that's commission-based and you go crush it you kill it and drag it home so you can put food on the table and afford your mortgage okay or it may also mean and this is going to be tough um i was hoping you're going to tell me your boys were nine and seven and six so they could go to school and your wife gets a full-time job. But you've got two under three, right? You got two and younger. So you're going to be out another 600 bucks. She's going to have to go get a job

regardless, okay? Well, George, stop me if I get out of my head here. So I'm trying to put myself in his situation. And if I'm honest with you, man, I can hear it on you. Like you found yourself. Now I'm stressed. Exactly. I need you to let the shame part of this go. Okay? You were doing what you were told to do,

which is to get in line for all these different products and things and just go figure it out and we'll just get a mortgage and we'll just get a house and let's leave California. All those things, you just did what you were told and here's where you find yourself, okay? You're not a crappy dad and you're not a screw up and you're not a loser. Is that cool? Hard to believe, but I'll go with it. I know. I can hear it on you, but if you continue to drag that around with you, it will hold you back from getting a promotion. It's going to hold you back from going back to school. It's going to hold you back from going back to school. It's going to hold you back from all the stuff.

And most importantly, it's going to hold you back from being connected with your wife. And you're going to need her arm and arm on this one as you all move forward. Is that cool? Yeah. Okay. So we're done with the head down. We're going to pick our head up and say, cool. We found ourselves in a big, big hole.

And we're moving forward. And by the way, I'm going to teach these three boys what being a father and a husband actually looks like. And you're, they're going to get a ringside seat to ownership and responsibility and working your butt off and achieving a goal. Is that fair? Yeah. Okay. So the two, two options you've got are to sell this thing and hopefully cross all of your fingers and, and, and toes that you get out bare even, right? And then you go rent a house. And it's not going to change your financial position month to month,

but it's going to get that rock necklace off your neck underwater, right? So that's number one. Or you decide we're going to buckle down and we're going to keep this house and you're going to have to go make $25,000 more before the end of this month, whether that's your driving, you're getting up in the morning, you're mowing lawns on the weekends, whatever it looks like. And it's going to rip your soul out because you're going to want to spend all the waking moments you have with those three little boys and you're not going to be able to. Okay. But you're going to go get it done. The math is $25,000 more. Hey, I just made that number up.

I'm just telling you, you're going to have to go 50% up, double your income. You need a lot more money every month, and your wife's going to have to get a job too. Do you guys have any debt? Okay. Other than the house? Just the house. Just the house. Do you have any money in savings?

I got about $2,500, I think. Okay. $2,500, I think. Okay. $2,500. Kind of a starter emergency fund. We're going to have to beef that up if we're going to continue to be homeowners because just one HVAC going out is going to tank you guys and cause you to go further into debt. George and Isaac, if I'm you, Isaac, I'm going to sell this house.

Yeah. I'm going to sell the house. I'm going to rent something. I might even get radical and get a two-bedroom apartment, and me and my wife are going to agree to lock arms in this for six to nine months. That means we're going to have evenings. One of us is going to have to take them to the park while the other one's working or whatever. We're going to have to get them out of the house, obviously, or they're going to burn it to the ground.

But we're going to go all in and get a huge emergency fund. We're going to get a nice down payment, and then we're going to be able to exhale. And it's going to take about a year of just grinding it out, and then you're going to flip the script here, and you're going to be in a good position. One of the most beautiful parts about renting is that you are transferring risk back to the landlord.

So if something goes wrong, it's not on you. And that's part of the stress you're feeling is if one thing goes wrong in this plan, we're screwed. So I want to help you guys out. I bought a home warranty and it sucked. Oh, dude, covers nothing. So, Isaac, I'm going to gift you Financial Peace University. I want you and your wife to watch every single one of those nine lessons in there.

Along with that, I'm going to give you our premium version of our budgeting tool, EveryDollar. I want you and your wife to sit down together, write down your income, all of your expenses, map it out, see where we can shave so that we can get by for now as we increase income. So hang on the line. Austin's going to pick up. We're going to gift you both of those things. Please use them. We're cheering for you, man. Call us back.

We're going to help along the way. Hey, I'm going to throw this on too. I'm going to give you Ken Coleman's Paycheck to Purpose because you're going to get a new job. You're probably going to go to community college or go to night school, and you're going to get a degree, and you're going to get a job. And I'm also going to send you my book, Own Your Past, Change Your Future. You're going to set this shame down, and you're going to get to making things happen. What aren't we sending him?

You. That's fair. You stay with me, George. I'll stay here, John, for safety. Every time you hear someone do their debt-free scream on the show, it's because at some point they said, Enough! I'm not living like this anymore. I've had it. When you get mad like that and do what they did, your life will change too. And right now, inflation and your stupid credit cards are killing you.

I'll say that again. Your stupid credit cards and inflation. I had a buddy the other day say, I'd go into debt for some of my kids. This is killing you. You've started to believe that you're not in control of your money, and that's wrong. You have to decide to control what you can control,

and that's you. Your thoughts and your actions. You have the power to change your future, and Financial Peace University will show you how. This course will teach you the proven step-by-step plan that's helped nearly 10 million people beat debt, master budgeting, and build wealth. Notice I didn't say, hey, just go to TikTok and get some investing advice or go to the Instagrams. Man. But John, I'm going to start a laundromat to get to become wealthy and get out

of debt. Knock your lights out. We need some good laundromats out in the world, but that's not the way out. Follow a course that has worked for millions and millions and millions of people. You can do it. Stop letting debt and money stress control your life. Say enough and take back control. Go to ramsaysolutions.com slash control. Go to ramsaysolutions.com slash enough. That's ramsaysolutions.com slash enough to start Financial Peace University. All right, let's go out to D-Town, Dallas, Texas and talk to Melissa. What's up, Melissa? Hi, thank you so much for taking my call today. You got it. What's up? Um, I have an issue with a, um, a used car

that I just purchased, um, less than 30 days ago. And I believe I've been scammed by the dealership. Um, you know, as far as the condition of the car, uh, when I purchased it, um it due to a multi-point inspection that they gave me that is inaccurate in relation to what I found out that's actually happening to the car. And so I'm wondering if I can return it or if I, you know, should request to get help with the repairs or if I should just kind of, you know, accept, I don't know, I hate to say responsibility, but accept what has happened and then just kind of do what I can to get things fixed on it. So what does the car need repaired? Um, so it needs, um, two front axles in the front. Um, it has a transmission leak. There was some type of ring or seal that needs to correct that. It needs rotors and brake pads.

And none of this was in the inspection report? No. Was this a reputable dealer? It was just on the side of the road? Where'd you get this car? No, this was a reputable bigger dealership. Okay. Have you contacted them? I have. And they told me that, of course, they said it's as is, no warranty, but there was no sticker on the car. Usually, I didn't even realize that until recently when I bought it. There was no sticker or anything, and there was no paperwork that says that. But also they said, well, we'll just take care of the diagnostic on the car,

but we're not doing anything else beyond that. Here's what I would do. I would take it first. I would go get it a second inspection, even if I got to pay for it. Okay. I would go get another mechanic that you trust to take their step-by-step inspection and go through it and have them sign off on each one of these

things. Okay. A certified mechanic. You're frustrated right now and you your part pissed off at them and your part kicking yourself. And it's good to get a professional expert on all these little points. Okay. Because it may narrow down to actually, you don't need this. You don't need this.

You need two things. Or they may look at you and say, I'm so sorry. You got taken advantage of. Okay. So Melissa, I answer these questions, you know, how I would respond if I was in your shoes. And what I would do is go to the dealership in person and ask for the sales manager. Not the salesperson, the sales manager, because they can actually do something about it. And be kind and appeal at a human level and say, hey, I'm looking for a fair solution to this problem.

Here's what happened. This is my starting point. Have you tried that? I would say this. I have been talking directly to the sales manager, I think maybe three times so far. And he's the one who's saying we're not going to do anything. Then we're going up. We're going to find the VP of the dealership. We're going to go to the next level up. But I want you to take that other inspection with you, okay? It's not just feelings and opinions. It's data. That's exactly right. Which John loves.

Facts over feelings. Exactly. And if you go to the VP, if you go to the higher level of management, and they still do nothing, that's when we go, all right, I didn't want to play hardball, but we're doing it. You're going to contact the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. You can contact the FTC, the Federal Trade Commission, the Attorney General. You can turn to social media. And that is going to light a fire under their butts to do something about this problem. I guarantee it.

Okay. If they winked over a crummy car, right, they pulled one over on you, there is like a lesson learned, right? I'm going to always, anytime I get a car, I'm going to take it to a certified mechanic that's not a part of the dealership. These are things you learn as you go. Dave calls them stupid tax, right? It just is what it is.

I'm concerned that you were lied to. You were handed a piece of paper that said this thing has been certified. And if it has, then there's a mechanic in that facility that has a certification number that signed off on this thing. And if it's traced back to that particular mechanic, then they're going to lose their certification license, okay? Okay. And so I want to get a third party to look at it and then what george said and by the way

go in there with kindness and directness and data um if you go in yelling and screaming and kicking like i would go i feel like doing right now on your behalf um people are going to send send me away is that fair yeah yeah totally because yeah i think they somehow i feel like they knew or they didn't really look at this car you know and they just put it on the lot and i don't think that's right they may have for them to tell me okay yeah no if they handed you a piece of paper that said hey it's been certified it's all good we've passed our inspection then then that's dishonest business, right? They lied to you and they took advantage of you. And hopefully we can get this worked out. If they can't, and ultimately you exhaust these calls like that George gave you and there's nothing to come of it,

exhale. It sucks. It is what it is. And then we're going to get this thing paid off. We're going to get it repaired or we're going to get sold, whatever, and then we're just going to have to learn for next time. Carrying around the anger and the frustration and the rage does not solve any of these problems moving forward. It's become frustrating. George, these things make me so mad. I know. One of my biggest pet peeves is consumer issues like this

where it just makes your blood boil. And I'm not a fan of the, like, the customer is always right. They're not. Sometimes you got to fire your customers because they're crazy. But there is a level that I want to help people stand up for themselves and realize that they have options. A lot of people just go, well, either I eat it or I have to go in there kicking and screaming. There's a different option. You can go in with kindness. You can do a step-by-step approach and then ramp it up over time and go, all right, I'm going to have to go to social media. I'm going to have to report it to the FTC. I'm going to have to get an attorney because y'all clearly weren't honest with me.

But oftentimes I've found that just taking that first step, being a real person with the sales manager, being a little bit of a squeaky wheel with the VP going, listen, man, you guys, I've had a great experience other than this. And I would hate for that to tarnish that, and me for having to talk to my friends and tell them to stay away from this dealership because of how they treated their customers. And for me to have to go to the FT, I don't want to go down this path.

Let's just make it right. I'm not asking for a lot. I'm not asking for a free car. I'm just asking for you to make these repairs, and I'll be on my way. And I bought a car several months ago and from a dealer here in town. And it was such a negative, dishonest experience that at the very end with the last little gotcha, I had my kids with me. We're, we're coming back. I mean, it was a whole thing, but I looked at the salesman and said, I hope this feels good. Congratulations. Um, you got me, you got me. And, um, I, not a single person, and I'm not going to be ugly.

I'm not going to be rude. I'm going to take my kids. I'm going to take this thing, this car, and we're going to go. We will never do business here again. And if anyone says, hey, I'm going to, I'm going to let them know. Let them know. With kindness and respect. And it wasn't worth the lack of attention.

But you're too classy to name drop them on air, and I respect that. Nope, not going to do that. This is the Ramsey Show, 888-825-5225. Blinds.com's 100% satisfaction guarantee means even if you mismeasure or pick the wrong color, they'll remake your blinds for free. You get free samples, free shipping, and with the new promos they run every month, you'll save even more. Use promo code RAMSEY to get the best deal. Today's question comes from Ashley in Virginia. She says, I'm 27 years old and wondering how people my age can ever be able to buy a home or save for a wedding. My fiance and I will make a combined income of about $150,000,

but these things still seem like something that will never be attainable for people our age. A lot of negativity here from Ashley. Woe is me. You make $150,000. People would, I mean, they would give anything to make $150,000 a year. So here's my thing, John. There's something behind this.

Yes. Number one, there could be a pile of debt to where they're going, well, how am I going to save for a house? I mean, I've got $2,500 in payments every month going out to lenders because of my student loan and my car payment. And the other piece of this that I'm seeing is she's probably looking at really nice houses in her parents' neighborhood. And she's looking at weddings that, you know, on Instagram that are probably six-figure weddings. And she's going, how am I going to save up for these things? And the truth is you don you don't you go we're going to do a 10 grand wedding and call it great and we're going to diy the

little decor pieces that everyone takes home and then throws away that you hope they keep forever be honest john you've done it and then we're going to go what's an actual reasonable condo in our area that we might be able to save up for for the next three or four years or a a one bedroom apartment or a two bedroom apartment, right? Yes, they're overpriced right now. They're expensive. No question about it. But man, let's say in 10 years, we want to be at a certain place or in 15 years. And by the way, this is the way it's been done for generation after generation after generation. There was a tiny little sliver window where it was like bonanza but the idea that i'm just going to walk out with my fancy job and buy the house that my parents live in and play golf at the same if you're don't do that but to do all these night get the boat that my dad has

and get the this in my car is it just not how it works that's not how they did it it's not how their parents did it before them and people need just need to slow down, slow down. And I think you touched on a good point. The debt is crushing people, right? The debt is absolutely crushing people. And the rates for rents have gone through the roof. So let's say this. I have seen some budgets that are just hard.

People make good money, like this magical six-figure number, and they're still looking at things and at their student loan debt, at this, at this, and they realize, man, I can barely make it. I'm making a good salary. I thought if I made this salary, things were going to be quote-unquote okay. What do you tell them, man? Well, number one, I look at their financial picture. I don't want to be insensitive is what I'm saying.

Yeah. I mean, you've got to look and say, well, are you doing a budget? Do you have debt? What if we got you out of debt? What could that do to your monthly income? What do you get to keep it? And so making $150,000, let's say they take home $100,000. That's very conservative.

But you take $100,000 with no payments, and we can save up pretty easily $50,000 a year, even with all of our expenses. But when you make $150,000, and it's, you're trying to invest, you're trying to pay off debt, you're trying to do this over here, you're going on vacations, you're eating out, and then you wonder how people save. And so that is the problem I'm having with this is there's not enough of a financial picture to really look at it and go, here's the issue. But based on how it's phrased, it's very pessimistic. My parents bought their house for 11 raspberries and a sheep, and it's like, I'll never be able to afford this $500,000 house. And the truth is you can start at $150,000 house

and stair-step your way up over a long period of time. That's what you're saying. That's what our parents did. My parents live in the same house. They still do for over 30 years. And so there's a lot of sacrifices that need to be made. And you and I drive old used beat up car. I mean, the illusion, Dave takes care of us very, very well, but we drive old beat up cars because they're depreciating assets, and I've got different financial goals. You've got different financial goals.

Our priorities are, you know, like a lot of people, they want to have the nice car, the nice house, go on amazing vacations vacations and xyz i want those things too much right i had some buddies come up from way back in the day some of my former students that have just gone on to do some amazing things they came to visit me on friday they're up here and then we all walked out after we spent some time upstairs on the terrace then when i hopped in the car one of them said i think you're driving and i was like yes because i choose to right and it's not because I'm any better than anybody else right I sure made that mistake when I was 27 good grief oh yeah but you got no one to impress and that is like a superpower in today's society that's exactly right wow um and so my heart breaks for Ashley because you gotta you gotta shift your

picture right and if you start out at 150k at 27 years old a you're winning and b please set off on a track of optimism and we're going to solve some of these hard problems even if that means we're not gonna be in virginia very long or even if that means we're going to live in this neighborhood versus this neighborhood or whatever and i'm not george i do think there's a there's a good push back to if you just quit drinking a latte and and avocado toast, you'd be rich. That's nonsense, right? And yet it can help. But this year, Ashley, set about saying, look how blessed we are. Look how we're doing great. Let's put these things in order and get going and have a smaller wedding, buy a smaller house, and let's let this stuff grow over time. Yeah, I think there's

a lot of contentment that could be had here, some delayed gratification and just setting realistic goals and saying, all right, I'm 27 by 30. We're going to be in that house. And here's what it's going to take to get there. Are we willing to be all in on this goal? And that to me,

that's some amazing growth can happen there, especially as a couple, her fiance, she's not married to, so they'll be making combined 150s. They haven't even experienced what that dual income is going to be like yet. So stay patient, Ashley. All right, let's go to Max in Philly. What's up, Max? Hey guys, thank you so much for the time. Appreciate it, big fan. You got it. What's up? So I have a side hustle that I've really kind of taken in the next level over the past year and a half. that I've really kind of taken

on the next level over the past year and a half. And I don't know how much of that is COVID and people are allowed back outside at bars and stuff like that, but I'm a part-time musician. I play piano and sing. And I got a text from my wife coming home from a gig this weekend that really kind of scared me a little bit in terms of balancing things out. She, you know, she's pregnant.

We're about to have a baby in December and basically said that, you know, the amount of time that I'm away is really kind of starting to affect her. And I don't think she's wrong because over the last two years, I've basically taken every single gig that's been thrown my way, regardless of how much it pays or anything like that. So I've been, I've been away a lot. So I'm kind of wondering if I can afford to kind of not do the smaller gigs or have like a baseline price of how much I'll go and do this for.

And she's not asking me to stop. Okay, so Max, this does not have anything to do with your job. This has to do with your pregnant wife who loves you and misses you, and she's looking into the future and saying, is this going to be my life? Am I going to be a single mom? Right. This isn't about you being a musician or you making money or side hustle.

It's none of that stuff. Is this the rest of my life? And the greatest gift you could give her is to sit down and you take her to dinner or take her to breakfast or whatever that looks like and say, I've been running as hard as I could. Yes, I love this. Yes, I've got these latent dreams of being a famous musician, but I've been making good money. And here we are. I want to take the work off the table. Let's talk about the life we want to take the work off the table.

Let's talk about the life we want to build together, and then we're going to backfill this stuff there. Are you in a lot of debt right now? Well, yeah. So that's the thing. This is a side hustle. It's not my full-time job. So I make $65,000. I know, but are you in a lot of debt right now?

Yeah, I have a huge amount of student loans. Okay. For the whole house? Yes. Okay. So it may be sitting down with her and saying, we have to get this stuff cleaned up, and the quicker we do this,

then the more time I'm going to be able to be at home with you and with the kid and all that. But it's about this indefinite versus we have a plan that we are following together. You see the difference? One of them is just, oh, this is going to be the rest of my life. And the other is, nope,

we got seven more months on this thing and then we're going to be solid. How much money do you guys have, Max, in savings? I have about, I mean, I have about five grand sitting in my account right now. I'm not sure how much she has. Let's pause the debt payoff and store up some money until mom and baby are back home safe, and then we can go attack it.

But I think you guys need that security right now. Let's have a conversation about our life, and let's get on a plan together. In fact, hang on the line. We'll give you Financial Peace University as our gift for having your first baby. We're excited for you, man. This is The Ramsey Show. We'll be back. Hey, it's John Deloney, co-host of The Ramsey Show. Did you know over 18 million people listen to The Ramsey Show every week? A lot of those people listen on one of our 600-plus radio stations across the country. To find a station near you, go to RamseySolutions.com slash show.