The Ramsey Show - App - We Can’t Seem to Make Ends Meet (Hour 3)

Episode Date: May 23, 2023

Dave Ramsey & Rachel Cruze answer your questions and discuss:  "Should we sell our house to make ends meet?" Whether or not an adult child should pay for their own insurance, "How much should I save before getting my Ph.D.?" "We were given land as a gift, what do we do with it?" "Does paying off a house prevent financial aid for college?" Accounting for property tax increases in your budget. Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET Join a Personality-led FPU class. Click here! Enter The Ramsey Cash Giveaway for a chance at $3,000! https://bit.ly/TRSgvwy Shop our bestsellers during the $10 Sale! https://bit.ly/TRS10Sale Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3cEP4n6 Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6 Interested in advertising on The Ramsey Show? https://ter.li/s64ye3 Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

Live Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Pods Moving and Storage Studios, it's The Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality, number one best-selling author, co-host of the Smart Money Happy Hour podcast on the Ramsey Networks, and my daughter is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

Esther is with us in Dallas. Hi, Esther. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Thank you so much for taking my call. Sure. What's up? I am calling because my husband and I have a few questions, and we don't know which way to head. We started Financial Peace University at the beginning of last year, and everything was going great, and we paid about $50,000 in debt so far. Way to go.

Thank you. Because of some of the things that were happening with our school district and whatnot, I was a teacher. I decided to quit my job and homeschool my kiddos starting last summer. And obviously, that put a little bit of a dent in our debt snowball. However, my husband had received an increase, which was making up for my loss of pay. And everything kind of went okay. We were able to make ends meet.

Well, recently, my husband's company, they cut pay from everybody in their company. And that's going to be about over 20% loss of income for us going into next month. So it's putting us in a difficult position. It would make things a little hard. But what did your husband used to make? He was making, his take-home pay was right under $100,000.

They gave him a $20,000 pay cut. 20%. That 20% of $100,000 is $20,000. Right, yes. And what does he do? He does drafting, architectural

type drafting. Okay. Well, the economy in Dallas is booming. Why is this architectural firm cutting pay for people? That's our question as well. They didn't say why? No, no.

And it might be temporarily. Again, it's not a Texas-based company, so we don't know if that has something to do with it. Look for a job. Yeah. Why are you staying in a place that cuts your pay 20% in a booming economy? That's what we're looking at. Yeah.

Like today. However it might. Today. Yeah. This is not a theory. I mean, he just got disrespected. Yes. They were waving a flag in front of him to leave.

And it's everybody in the company. I know. It's not just him, but yeah. They fully anticipate several people leaving as a result of this, cutting their payroll costs down. This is anticipated. This is a strategic move on their part. They're telegraphing this to you saying, leave, and I would oblige.

Go get a job making 120 if i'm here and i bet he can do it by friday if you get on it yes i think you can okay um yes so we have those on our to-do list for it this week however my question to you was um before we started fpu we did everything stupid that we could do with our money. We were comfortable and we had the lifestyle supposedly to match it, which was just in our minds, not reality. However, since we started our debt snowball, like I said, things were rolling along. However, right now we are getting a little bit frustrated that we are kind of like stuck on the same place for a long time. Well, you quit your job and your husband got a 20% pay cut.

Of course things are tight. Yes, they are. And my question to you was, should we even consider selling our house? No, you need to get your incomes back up. What's your house payment? About $2,00 a month it's it's very good compared to what's going on right now yeah so you may be tutoring and subbing while he gets his income up to 120 and then the house is not a problem anymore the house only became a problem when your incomes went away yeah am. Am I right?

The house is not even our biggest issue. It's paying everything else down. Well, you've already gotten rid of $50,000 worth of debt back when both of you had your incomes. Yes. So you can sub, right? How much do you have left, Esther, in debt? A lot. How much?

$80,000? About $200,000. No, about $200,000. About $200,000. No, about $200,000. On what? Student loans. We have a personal loan. We had a HELOC, a car loan. Yeah.

Okay. How much are student loans? Mine is about $30,000, and my husband is about $20,000, right under $20,000. Okay husband is about 20,000, right under 20. Okay. So 50 in student loans. And so how big is the HELOC? About 80. Okay.

And that is, um, in addition to your $2,400 payment? Yes. Okay. You may have a house you can't afford then. Yeah. Mm-hmm. yes okay you may have a house you can't afford then yeah because when you put the payment to those payments all together on your home you've now got house payments that are really getting very high even with your old incomes yeah it's about 2800 which is still less than what we would be paying in this market in texas but yeah what do you uh well no that's not true i mean it's more than what we have. No, that's not true.

I mean, it's less than you pay for that house in Texas, but there are cheaper houses in Dallas. Right. So how much do you owe on your cars? Between the two of them, we're at $41,000. Okay, give me a breakdown on that. Which cars, how much my car is about 31 600 and my husband it would be the difference i'm sorry i don't have it in front of me that's okay

that's okay yeah so here you know the way i look at all this stuff is what i would do if i woke up in your shoes okay number one the 20 pay cut activates me looking for a job immediately. And it activates you doing something for income. You've got a teaching certificate. You can sub. You can do some while you homeschool. You can still pull this off. Well, it's summer right now, technically.

So whether it's tutoring. Tutoring. Absolutely. Great, great money tutoring. Really great money tutoring. And I'd pick up a bunch of that and get his income back up, get yours up temporarily. I'd sell the $31,000 car in about 20 seconds. I wouldn't keep it.

Before I sold my house, I would be cleaning off a whole bunch of this other stuff. And I would be willing to lean into this because selling a house is expensive it's expensive to move it's expensive emotionally uh it's expensive everything and if you can if the house can be solved if you can work your way through this and get rid of these debts and get your incomes up temporarily for a period of time to plow on through this then you're there but if you decide to quit your job you may have decided to sell your house you for sure decided to sell your car you maybe didn't mean to but those decisions all came together because of the math they they were they were knitted together you couldn't get rid of them they're tied to each

other so that's the deal i'd sell your car and I'd get better jobs immediately. And really, by Friday, you can do that. And all of a sudden, the situation starts to move around. Give yourself a little breathing room and then you can decide later on the house. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, you guys. Health insurance costs are only moving one way, and that way isn't down. And if higher costs aren't enough, the wait times to see your doctor are longer, and it's harder than ever to get anything approved through the bureaucracy.

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CHM programs start as low as $98 a month. So learn more today and join at chministries.org slash budget. That's chministries.org slash budget. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey Personality, number one bestselling author, is my co-host today. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Our question of the day comes from Neighborly. The Ramsey Show question of the day sponsored by Neighborly, your hub for home services. Take your home's efficiency and style to the next level with convenient solutions from Shelf Genie, Window Genie, Glass Doctor, and Dryer Vent Wizard.

Visit Neighborly.com to schedule home service professionals near you. All right, today's question comes from Michael in Illinois. My question is about continuing to pay for our 19-year-old son's insurance deductible. He lives at home and pays $400 rent each month. He is not in school. He works full-time and plays video games. His hourly wage is $25 an hour. He's on our health insurance plan

which doesn't cost any extra. My wife thinks we should pay his deductible. I feel like it's time that he takes on the responsibility of being an adult. How should I handle

the situation? His wife thinks we should pay the deductible. He said,ible. Yeah. Well, he works full time. I just think that's funny. And he plays video games. Why's that funny?

I don't know. Because I'm like, it would be. Sounds like a teenager. Well, you could be like, well, he works full time and watches Netflix at night. I don't know. Like, it's just like a thing you do. I don't know why video games is like the thing that he tells us about because it pisses his father off I think so maybe that's what it is exactly why he plays Netflix he looks at his phone he mentions it

because he's useless yeah uh nobody he works no I know his dad just doesn't like it I know I mean I don't know Michael I I mean he's paying rent I think he should move out um yeah but if it but i but i mean what it was with the whole obama care situation that it bumped up to 25 right that you can be on your parents health insurance okay you can you could disagree with me that doesn't bother me a part of me is like yeah if you until he moves out he's on his own he goes and gets a job that has benefits maybe that's what he needs to be doing um but if he's 19 i own he goes and gets a job that has benefits maybe that's what he needs to be doing um but if he's 19 i mean he may have just graduated high school and he's figuring it out i don't know i don't think the deductible is the issue your problem michael yeah i think your problem michael

is you think this kid needs to move on yes and instead of saying that you want him to pay the deductible right so the deductible. Right. So the deductible is the symptom. The question is the symptom of the whole situation. So here's what I think will solve your angst, Michael, on the video games and the deductible both, okay, is if you put a schedule on when he's leaving. And so I would sit down with him and say, I'm your dad, I love you, and I'm here to help you, and I'm not here to support you for the rest of your life,

and so you're doing a good job earning some money. I don't really need a renter, so I don't need your rent money. What is best for you, as my son, is for you to stand on your own two feet and have the dignity of operating your own household. And I want us to work up a plan that moves you towards that. So this indefinite sitting here playing video games while you could be out doing some extra work

to get on with your life, or taking a class of some kind a trade school certificate whatever it is um instead of getting a degree in mario kart you know or something so um yeah i mean i'm it's not being productive this is me and this is me as your dad loving you well saying we're going to develop a plan for you to be on your own and if you want to live on 25 an hour and um work only 40 hours and not uh engage your brain and grow your mind and grow yourself be in a self-growth mode um you're gonna struggle my son so i want you to think about that i want you to think about what you're engaging in. And so when is it that you're planning to exit? When do you think is a good plan to exit?

And it doesn't have to be in two weeks. It doesn't even have to be in two months. I don't care if it's six months. But if you say a date certain, okay, that, you know, after Christmas, you know, you're going to have found a place and be in it. Or whatever the number is that we all come up with. And then I'll help you get there. I'll help you with your budget. I'll show you how you can get extra work doing other stuff.

And, you know, if you want to consider what your career field is going to be. And for the time being, I mean, if he does this job and then a side hustle at night and he doesn't have benefits, would you be mad if he stays on his parents insurance? No. Yeah. I don't care if he stays on the insurance the insurance is not the problem yeah the problem is this sense that he's uh lazy he's a quasi child yeah in a young man's body yeah that's what's bothering his dad and his dad just didn't know how to say it but that that and it's not good for the young man right right it's good for him to have a plan. And I'll just tell you, moms and dads,

if your 19-year-old doesn't want to go to college, I understand that, and I'm okay with that. But no post-school, post-high school learning is a plan to really struggle through your whole life. So everyone should study something um i read three non-fiction books in the past 30 days and i'm 62 so i mean really everyone should study something all the time and if i can do it he can do it you should always be learning something knowing something doing something you didn't know before so that you have a better life.

And so I don't care if he wants to become a welder, if he wants to become a diesel mechanic, I don't care if he wants to go to code school. But have a path. Have something you're working towards. Do something you're learning and doing beyond, I'm going to make basically the minimal entry rates and try to survive on that. It's going to be tough.

He's going to have a tough life. So I want to help him with that. I want to help him extend his career direction. And I want to help him get on his own. Because when he feels the pressure of actually doing his own thing out there in the real world, it'll change his emotional maturity. You know, I heard something the other day that in France, one of the parenting philosophies that they have,

apparently, I don't know if this is true, but I thought it was good, is frustration. They want their kids to feel frustrated. So there's not kids menus when you go over to France. I mean, they really do make the child adapt into adult. Yeah, because they're like, and you're going to feel frustrated about that, but you need to, because when you feel frustrated, you're uncomfortable. You have to make decisions. You have to understand problems. Right. Where in America, we're more just like, we want to make you comfortable. And we don't, if you feel frustrated,

we'll fix it for you. Right. It's that helicopter type parenting. Yeah. We want to create an environment where you have no stress. Yeah. So even at 19, it's like, yeah, have a little frustration in there and have to kind of figure it out a little stress in there yeah and again this is not an act of uh being mean or something like that or being angry but i can tell you this michael as a dad all right of grown people um the frustration you have is not with video games. You would not mind him playing video games at all if he was studying and working towards a goal in his career, if he was standing on his own, and he was making more money, and he was working overtime, and he was paying his own bills. That's what made me laugh. Yeah.

The video. But that's where the the frustrate yes comes out there yeah the video games is you're you're not frustrated with video games you're frustrated with all these other things right and you're because he could be doing those things while he's doing the video game so that's what's bothering you yeah and it's also an indication of emotional immaturity at this stage of the game so um that that that that comes up in this discussion yes not everybody plays video games emotionally immature it's not what i'm saying but that that comes up in this discussion

is an indication he's afraid his son is not yes maturing yes and uh that he's still thinking like a 16 year old right right and that that doesn't work when you're 19 and it sure as crud doesn't work when you're 29 so that's a good that's a good question um yeah this uh failure to launch thing it's very real yep it's very real and moms and dads the numbers are astronomical the number of millennials and the number of gen z's that moms and dads are paying their bills is crazy the The average is $1,425 a month that you guys are paying for your, and I love this phrase, your grown kids.

What is a grown kid? I don't understand what that is. But yeah, it's an oxymoron, I think. But yeah, for your children who have grown up, but they didn't. And so you're paying their bills. You're paying for their house payment. You're paying for this. You're paying for their house payment you're paying for this you're paying for that you are not

helping them you are not helping them you are not giving them the dignity the freedom of agency their feedback loops are not closing you're not creating emotionally mature people Wow and the devastating effects on this nation are amazing that go with that. This is The Ramsey Show. Thank you for joining us, America. This is The Ramsey Show. We go all out for our listeners. We're going to give away some money.

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couple of days left on this if you want to get in our books are all on sale for ten dollars each all of our number one bestsellers all of rachel's number one bestsellers all of my number one bestsellers deloney's coleman's they're all on sale ten dollars each and i got to tell you with inflation our costs on these books have gone up dramatically what it costs us to produce a book and i'm not completely a hundred percent sure this is the last ten dollar sale but it might very well be because i'm pretty sure i'm going to go up on those prices i don't think we're going to do any more ten dollar sales because the stinking cost has just gone through the roof on these things. So if you want these books at $10, this is the time to get it done as fast as you possibly can.

Go to RamseySolutions.com. You want to load up on books at $10. Might be advisable. Gabriel is with us in Washington, D.C. Hey, Gabriel. how are you? Good. How are you doing? It's Gabrielle. I messed up. I'm sorry. How can I help? Hi. So I recently just got a job making $100,000, and I'm trying to make a plan to go back to my

Ph.D. program after working and saving for a little bit of time. My programs are fully funded, but you only get about $28,000 a year, and I don't have any other debt right now. So I was just wondering how long would you work for and how much would you try to save up in order to accommodate that kind of salary reduction in the future? I'm confused. You're going to go get a PhD. You make over $100,000 a year. You're going to go get a PhD. You make over $100,000 a year. You're going to go get a PhD. What do you mean by fully funded?

In the sciences, you get paid a salary to go do research. So you'd work for the school while you're getting your PhD? Exactly. Oh, you would quit this job? You would quit this job and go work? Yes. And you would make how much while you're working for the school? $33,000.

So you would take a $75,000 pay cut? Yes, and it's because I want to do this kind of research, and in order to get further in my career, this is kind of the next step after I work for a couple of years. And how long does that take? It'll take four years. And how long does that take? It'll take four years. Okay, so this is a $250,000 expense. Because you're going to lose $75,000 a year for four years.

Yes. I'm sorry, it's a $300,000 expense. And the end goal though, Gabrielle, is that you'll have your PhD, and what will you be doing after this four years? Government research, working in labs, and going towards managerial roles in labs. Making what kind of money doing that? You can make up to $200,000 in my field specifically doing those kinds of things. Okay. And so you're willing to invest $300,000 of lost income into this process? Mm-hmm.

Okay. Do you have a family? Are you married, kids? Nope. Okay. Okay. So what expense do you have? Can you live on the 33 while you're doing it?

Yes. Okay. So what do you need to save for then they're going to pay for the phd right they will but i want to make sure that i have a good nest since i'm pretty young and i don't want to lose these kind of best years to invest my money for retirement and because during that time it's a little bit harder to make that kind to make a big change to your retirement and account while you're only safe while you're only bringing in that much money. Oh, yeah, you won't have any money.

You'll be barely making it. You're going back to college. Yeah, for four years. You're going to college. During college, you're not going to be doing a bunch of big investing. How old are you? 23. Good for you.

Well, you're very smart. So I think this is the time to do it. I'm like, if this is the, if this is the track you want, if you obviously know what you want. Um, yeah, I mean, I would,

what, when are you thinking realistically that you're going to go next August, like a year from now, within the next one to two years. Okay. Yeah. That's great. Oh,

you know, um, I would practice living on 33,000 and banking the rest of it while you wait. That sounds good. And I would go sooner rather than later. As soon as you can get into a program. That sounds good. Yeah, and because you want this behind you as soon as possible

so that the $200,000 income is in front of you as soon as possible. Yeah, and I wouldn't be too worried about the investing side, Gabrielle. I mean, obviously, compound interest is awesome, but you're so young that I'm like, and you're going to be making great money when you come out of this program. So even if you started investing at 28 years old, you're going to be okay. And let me make sure I'm very clear because I want to make, this is a type of a fellowship in a sense that you're an employee of the school, and so you are having no cost, so there's no student loans involved in this process.

Exactly. Okay. That's what I thought I understood, but I wanted to make sure what I was agreeing to. That's great. Well, congratulations, Gabrielle. Way to go. Really, a lot of people call into this show for master's or Ph.D. or law degree. I mean, they come in, and usually the answer is like, or they think the answer is like,

well, the only way I can do it is student loans. So the fact that even you're finding a program like this and you're obviously extremely intelligent to work in the fields you work in and it's great. I think that's really exciting. And at 23, it's very impressive. Very well done. Very well done. Do it, do it, do it, do it.

Have fun. Yeah, that's going to be great. but i would go as soon as i could yeah um there's you know piling up money in an investment account somewhere to get ready to do this that you don't have to have to do this is not a necessity uh so i i would start as quickly as you can get as soon as quickly as you can get this lined up with someone again you've got to live on what they pay you when you're doing it. To the extent you can't do that, you do have to have some money piled up to subsidize your years. But if you can live on the 33, they're paying 33,

and everything else is covered, ding, ding. Get after it. I love it. I love it. Well done. Graham is in Boston. Hi, Graham. Welcome to the Ramsey

Show. Hello, Dave, Rachel. How do you feel? I'm calling because I'm getting married in October, and my in-laws, they're gifting us some property, and they're okay with us selling it, but they want us to develop it first, and we don't even have the money for our own house down payment. We're working on that right now, but how do we approach this and do it in a way that's respectful towards them? Well, it's a gift with strings attached because they're, why do they want you to develop it? They're fine with us selling it, but I guess they want us to, I don't know, put into the community or something or just try to get more out of the,

just get more in the final sale yeah well you're brand new newlyweds how old are y'all um we're 30 okay do you have a bunch of money certainly not okay so you don't need to be developing real estate yes we know that and we're trying to we want to sell it but they're that's just what they're saying so yeah i would just say i would just tell them i don't want it i don't want it you can keep it if it comes with me having to develop it and i don't have the money to develop it i don't want it it's a burden it's not a gift these people are weird that's a burden. It's not a gift. These people are weird.

That's a control freak move, man. Well, they're probably thinking. I know they're trying to be nice, but they're completely interfering. Yes. You can't give someone a gift with that many strings attached. That's right. That's controlling. Totally, totally.

It's not a gift. It's not a blessing, Graham. I mean, because you can't do anything with it. You've got to sit there and pay taxes on it. Right? Yes, sir. It's not a gift. It's not a blessing, Graham. I mean, because you can't do anything with it. You've got to sit there and pay taxes on it. Right? Yes, sir. Yeah. Do you want it, Graham?

I mean, we'd like to sell it for the down payment. We're starting to have to get into a house faster. Yeah. And again, we're trying to tell them, look, we don't have the money to do this. And I mean, we'd like the down payment money. If you require that we develop it before we sell it, we're going to have to turn the gift down because we're not able to develop it. And thank you.

We appreciate it. It's very kind of you to offer this, but it doesn't fit with our plan. So if you require that we develop it before we sell it then thank you but you we won't we can't accept it because we can't do that and so it doesn't fit with our plan but thank you that's very kind it's a nice offer and just walk away it was an offer not a gift that's a great this is the ramsey show Our Scripture of the Day, Deuteronomy 31.6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them.

For the Lord your God goes with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not stop thinking of life as an adventure, Eleanor Roosevelt said. You have no security unless you can live bravely, excitingly, imaginatively. Unless you can choose a challenge instead of competence. Wow, pretty cool. Good stuff. Open phones here at 888-825-5225. Rachel Cruz, Ramsey personality, is my co-host.

Steve is in New York City. Hi, Steve. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Yes, good afternoon, sir. Good afternoon, Rachel. Long-time listener, Dave. I was hoping to call you and ask for a debt-free screen, but I kind of put a pause on it.

I came into some money due to the final estate for my mom. So I was hoping to just take the money, pay off the mortgage. But now I have children that are going to begin college next year. And everyone's telling me to kind of put the brakes on. Kind of just trying to decide where to use this money where it doesn't hurt me that I have a paid-off home. And that's why you and Rachel were the first ones to come to mind to kind of maybe help me through the situation. Doesn't hurt you if you had a paid-off home. Are you talking about benefits for college aid or something?

Well, I don't know if having a paid-off home is going to, in terms of what you can get in financial aid, if they look at it as a positive for you, but, oh, you don't need as much aid because you have a paid-off home. Well, they don't give aid. There is no college aid programs except for people who are poor, and you're not poor there's pell grants you're talking about like scholarships and stuff i'm sorry there are not need-based

scholarships for people who have the the income that you have and the assets that you have so the the need-based scholarships are based on people that don't have any money. And you guys have... Well, I'm just saying like financial aid when you go to these universities, you know, they work with you, but they look at all your financials, you have to fill out the FAFSA form. I know, I know. And none of them give financial aid based on what's called need-based financial aid to people who have substantial assets like you do and a good-paying job like you do.

So there's not – Pell Grants show up for somebody who's at the poverty level is what I'm saying. And the financial aid at individual schools are it's all need-based and you're not going to qualify for any of it anyway okay and you don't want to you don't want to put yourself in a position to qualify for that if you don't have to i mean like if you got a single mom that's making 20 grand and her kid's going to school she can get financial aid okay that kid can get financial aid but that's not you steve and always steve too that scholarships and grants i mean they're not all needs it's not all need-based either you can get you can get scholarship and they're not all academic and they're not all there's scholarships and grants for a little bit of everything uh i mean there's

scholarships maybe that's what i'm getting to be maybe what I meant, like in terms of scholarships also. You're having a paid-off house. If you've got $2 million, if your net worth is $2 million and everything's paid for and you have a big old pile of cash in your bank, it doesn't keep her from getting a scholarship that she got based on her. Playing the trumpet or whatever. Yeah, based on the fact that she wrote uh uh you know uh you know wrote an essay and she's a good citizen okay because that that you can get a scholarship for that but they're

not they don't look and go oh you have to be financially pitiful to get these scholarships that's that's not what the case is so no do the right thing for your finances now the right thing might be to not pay off your house and you may because you may need some money to thing for your finances now the right thing might be to not pay off your house and you may because you may need some money to pay for your kids college right that might be the right thing but but paying off your daughter uh 17 okay she's getting ready to go have you picked out of school and she picked out of school y'all picked out of school no no she'll she'll start next august of 24 okay but you're so you're shopping for schools and you're looking for yeah and so the thing i want you guys to do is to start studying scholarships and there's lots and lots and lots of scholarships that are not

academic they're not need-based and they're not athletics so you don't have to get an athletic scholarship. You don't have to be a 4.2 valedictorian, and you don't have to be a single mom making $20,000. You don't have to be any of those things. There's lots and lots of scholarships out there that are just $5,000, $2,000, $1,500 scholarships. And if your daughter applies for a whole bunch of those, and then you guys decide to pick and choose a school that you can afford where she doesn't have student loans with the money that you've got from other savings and from this inheritance, then you're going to be in, you know, really, that's the way to get at this.

So here's what we're going to do. I'm going to send you a copy of our book debt-free degree which will help you guys walk through this and because most of avoiding student loans is is picking a school that's affordable school choices school choice that's the number one math problem in going to school debt-free and then number two and three are work while you're in school and apply for like a hundred scholarships like a bazillion scholarships and work it that way that's what i would do so yeah but paying off your house um does not keep you from getting those types of scholarships if the if you have the money to do that and to get your kid through school. So good question. Jessie is in Cummings, Georgia.

Hi, Jessie. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hello. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. I'll try to make it quick. So how do you stay on budget when your home school property taxes keep increasing? I already do a dollar for dollar.

We have no debt except for our house and a little bit of car debt that I plan to have paid off in the next three months. We go dollar for dollar on our budget. After taxes and insurance and all the other costs, we have $115,000 in our base take-home pay. And our school budget keeps doubling every year, and I'm not exaggerating. Four years ago, it was $300 million, and now it's $600 million, and all that comes onto the property owners for our school portion of property tax. So how do you work with your current budget that you have when they don't hold their own budget, but you love your school system and, you know, can't help that your house is now double what they say it is,

but you're not moving. You include your increased cost for taxes in your monthly budget, and if you don't want to do that, you move. Do you ever at some point hold them like figure out how to hold the like i guess this system accountable for what they keep doing to the people that they supposedly serve i guess that's the problem that i'm having i think that would just be called getting politically involved in uh removing some of these school board members that keep passing these onerous budgets. But that doesn't affect, that's not a budgeting technique.

That's just a, I'm pissed off you people keep spending my money. Yes. Yeah, it's more at the political level then. Yeah, it's a political fight because you've got school board members that don't have an off button. I had a pug dog that didn't have an off button. It kept getting fat it would eat everything in sight sounds like these people are kind of the same yeah it seems like they don't know how to use you yeah they don't know is not one of their words and so it's a word they need to learn and uh politicians everywhere that's you know universal as long as man has been alive that when you can spend other people's money it's uh it's always easy to do now if it's universal as long as man has been alive that when you can spend other people's money

it's always easy to do. Now if it's helping teachers be paid more, I am for that. Knowing what they're spending on. I don't think the teacher's pay got doubled. No, that's what I'm saying. When it went from $300 million to $600 million I doubt they doubled their teacher's pay.

Which is sad. I doubt it. That's just somebody doing some kind of other stuff there that's going on. And I doubt they doubled their teacher's pay. Yep. Which is sad. I doubt it. I doubt it. I doubt it. I doubt it. That's just somebody doing some kind of other stuff there that's going on. And also, you pay for it. I mean, we're in a nice county and our kids go to public school and it's an amazing school, but you pay for it. You pay for it. You pay for it.

You pay for it. You pay for it. You pay for it. You pay for it. You pay for it. You pay for it. You pay for it. But that's what we're choosing.

This is not free. Yeah. Yeah. Look what the government gave me for free. Nope. Never happened. That puts us out of the Ramsey Show in the books. We'll be back with you before you know it.

In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. Hey, it's Rachel Cruz. If you like what you heard in this episode and want to know more about getting started on the Ramsey baby steps, go to ramseysolutions.com and click the Get Started button. We'll help you figure out the best next step for you

based on your specific situation. That's ramseysolutions.com and click Get Started.