The Ramsey Show - App - We’re Having Trouble Keeping a Budget (Hour 3)

Episode Date: December 29, 2023

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host, George Campbell. Ramsey Personality is my co-host today. As we answer your questions about your life and your money, we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

Jennifer is with us in Dallas, Texas. Hi, Jennifer. Welcome to the Ramsey Show. Hi, Dave. Hi, George. Pleasure to speak with both of you. You too. What's up? Hi.

So I have an IRA that was from a past job I rolled over into its own account. So my question is, should I move that money into my 401k where I'm currently investing and putting my 15% or leave it in that separate IRA account? I would just leave it in that IRA account. Okay. Okay. Even though no money is going into it? Correct. But it is sitting there in good mutual funds, correct?

Yes, it is. Okay. If it's in good mutual funds, I would just leave it alone. You've got more control of it there i know we never recommend you move uh old ira money into new our old 401k money into new 401ks instead put it out in an individual retirement account you can pick the same mutual funds if you want or better ones and you've got better access and better control uh and it'll it will grow at exactly the same rate or a better rate than it would if you moved it inside the 401k george is exactly right joel is with us in cleveland ohio hey joel what's up hey what's going on dave so i'm kind of a new uh listener um so

i wanted to give you a call so i'm getting married in three weeks. Congratulations. Thank you very, very much. My fiance and I have been living together for the last year. We've tried different budgets. We've tried different ways, different websites. Nothing seems to quite work. We kind of end up just a race to zero. We've got a combined income of about $100,000. I've got about $5,000 in credit card debt. She's got about $3,000 in credit card debt. We've got $4,000 in savings. I've got about

$20,000 in mutual funds. Okay. Car debt? Any car debt? No, no car debt any car debt no no car debt student loans so she's got about 20,000 students okay all right cool i do not and um well typically there's two things that cause people to not be able to stick to a budget one is uh that they're using a wrong technique which we can help you with two is they're not really committed to the idea in other words if you write it down on paper and have no intention of actually doing what you wrote down then guess what you're not going to do what you wrote down yeah since combining you know combine you know combine like a, I just feel like we've had less control, and I guess it's harder to pay for two than pay for one, and it just seems like a lot quicker to zero than it used to be.

This is extra confusing. I mean, if you've got multiple incomes coming in, you should only have more there versus less, but we recommend a zero-based budget, and I don't know if you've got multiple incomes coming in, you should only have more there versus less. But we recommend a zero-based budget. And I don't know if you've checked out EveryDollar. It doesn't sound like you have. That's our budgeting tool. And I will gift that to you guys as a wedding present, including Ramsey Plus.

You'll have access to all the videos inside of Financial Peace. But once you start your EveryDollar budget, it's super easy. We want to list out all of your income. And then we're going to list out all of your expenses. For that particular month. And when you subtract the expenses from the income, it should equal zero, meaning you have assigned every single dollar a job. We don't want any of your dollars unemployed. And once you do that, and then by the way, you have to stick to it and actually track it and go, how much money do we have for food when we go grocery shopping? Then we're going to stick to that budget, and that's how you money do we have for food when we go grocery shopping? Then we're

going to stick to that budget. And that's how you're going to get that control. But I can write down a workout plan every week, Dave. And if I never work out, I'll never get in shape. So you assign every dollar a mission, every dollar a name. That's why we call the app Every Dollar. Both of you look at that before the month begins it's unique to each month because every month's different okay okay and then once you've assigned every dollar both of you look at it both of you make changes until every dollar has a name no extra slush money laying around every dollar is assigned all the income you have coming in net that month to work with is assigned to something then it's it's it's assigned to something both of you agree with the assignments you agree with the mission

and then you pinky swear and spit shake this becomes a freaking contract that says if we're not going to spend more than x number of dollars on restaurants then by god stay home don't go to the restaurant you're contracting with each other. We're not going to spend more than this on clothes this month. I don't care if the purse is on sale. We agreed that this is what we were going to spend. Don't lie to me. That's what you're saying to each other you're contracting you have

to make it a very serious relational commitment that's why both of you need a vote in the formation of the thing because otherwise you're bossing her around or she's bossing you around it becomes a weapon but instead you're as a couple saying our goals are x and the best way to achieve our goals is this list of expenditures this month and we're not going to do something other than that unless something really nasty bad happens and then we have to come back together and together decide on how we're going to change our budget before we do it you don't come home from target you don't come home from the grocery store you don't come home from happy hour and go well honey look what i did that's not cute that's childish and that's the thing where i'm talking about you committing to sticking to the plan but laying out the technique that the technique is

every dollar has an assignment as george said that's called a zero-based budget the two of you coming together and agreeing that this is what we're going to do that's the technique now typically we always say joel you said you're new to this stuff we always tell folks typically a married couple one of you is more of a nerd that's into the details and one of you is more of a free spirit that's less into the details and isn't going to think this is fun and the nerd thinks doing a budget is like great fun correct okay i'm the nerd more free spirited yeah that would be normal that the nerd calls and asks this question okay how do we do a budget free spirits don't ask this question she's at target right now yes so there we go that's we figured it out yeah she's getting her nails done

right now so uh but you know in my house i'm the nerd my wife's the free spirit and so the same is at your house joel so what we have to do is this nerds need free spirits in their life so they have a life free spirits need nerds in their life so they don't retire and have to eat alpo. Correct. So you need each other. If two people just alike get married, one is unnecessary. So we need each other. You need to be working off each other's strengths. Both of you have a vote.

This is a coming together of a value system. It's not you bossing her around, her bossing you around. You're not the boss of me. Welcome to marriage. Two to three months to get dialed in. So don't give up. If the first one you go, oh, we couldn't do it. Let's give up. We can't do a budget. Stick to it. And Kelly will pick up, we'll gift you guys a year of Ramsey Plus, which includes every dollar, our premium budgeting tool. Let us know how it goes. And go all the way through the financial peace class. It's included in that. We just gave you a great expensive wedding gift. 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. So if you feel like the system is working against you, try a biblically based alternative to health insurance, Christian Healthcare Ministries. CHM is a health cost sharing ministry that's helped hundreds of thousands of families like yours take care of over $11 billion in medical bills since 1981. And CHM has also helped them stay true to their values and avoid miles of red tape. And CHM support goes far beyond meeting financial needs. They'll also help meet spiritual needs. Members become part of a family who will pray with them and for them when they experience a

medical event. So listen, y'all, there's no better way to take care of health care costs. 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. Well, I love tax season, said nobody ever. Questions about taxes, though, they're coming in, and we'll help you with those. Here's a question from one of our listeners. Dave, we normally have someone do our taxes, but our accountant retired.

I think we have a simple return. Should we try to file ourselves with Ramsey Smart Tax? Well, you can use the Ramsey Smart Tax software. It's very easy to use. The more complicated your return, the more likely you would want to use a professional. I personally use a professional, but mine's the size of a freaking phone book when I get it done. So, you know, that's different, obviously. We recommend working with a tax pro if you've had a major life change, like you retired, got an inheritance, adopted a child. If you own a business and file long form on that probably a pro uh you're not

confident you're confident though uh or you want to save time and stress these are reasons that you'd want to do this but if you get if you get into it and it's just like god i hate this okay there you go that tells you right there right so i hate it anyway i hate just signing the thing much less preparing it so that's the whole thing um i see it like buying back your time and mental sanity when you work with a pro now people have simple situations if you've got a 1040 easy you know do a ramsey smart tax you can do that as fast as you can do a 1040 easy don't pay somebody 300 bucks to do that i mean it's just when you can pay 20 bucks on your own i haven't had one of those in my life so i've always been something about dave's life is easy oh well much that well i don't have an

easy button anyway but yeah no i mean i've always been self-employed or had some kind of weird income or something going on where i didn't trust my own level of tax knowledge to do it uh so either way if you want a pro or you want to use the Ramsey Smart Tax software, just go to ramseysolutions.com slash tax. Our question today comes from our brand new sponsor, Neighborly. We are so thrilled these guys are on board with us. It's brought to you by them. They're your hub for home services, stuff like Mr. Rooter, Mr. Electric. You'll see those at Neighborly.

So if you need to make repairs or schedule routine maintenance or find local help for home improvement projects, Neighborly is your source for reliable home service providers in your area. Go to Neighborly.com and start your search. Today's question comes from Claudia in Mississippi. She's asking, under what scenario do you have to pay capital gains tax on real estate? Here's my situation. My grandfather quick claim deeded his house to me. The house is completely paid off. He paid $24,000 for it in 2013, and it's now evaluated at $190,000. I'm wanting to sell in hopes to buy a new property. I've lived with them since 2020, and I took ownership in 2021. Under this scenario,

would I be liable for capital gains? because it's been your name for more than two years it's been your personal residence for more than two years a single person can make a profit of up to a capital gain of up to 250 000 so that'd be 274 000 in your case because his basis was $24,000. A profit of $250,000 was zero income tax on your personal residence. However, this was stupid. You almost stepped in it. You accidentally are okay, not because you had a plan. If the numbers were different, the house value was much higher, this could have been a different scenario. So never deed property to someone prior to your death like Grandpa did. Here's why.

Let's pretend that she didn't accidentally fall under this personal residence exemption for $250,000, which saved her bacon, okay? So let's say that she didn't live in the property that would do away with the personal residence bit. Get it. Okay. So now it's a grandpa lives there, but grandpa wants to make sure granddaughter gets it. And he doesn't want to deal with the wheels and stuff because he, he knows how those lawyers are. Right. And so he, you know, this is a kind of crap people do okay so then he deeds the property to her with a quit claim deed which is a usually a one-page thing and costs six to ten dollars to register at the courthouse it's very easy to do this stupid move now here's what happens

when you give someone property or a capital asset stock stock, if I give George money, if I give him a share of Home Depot stock, if I give him a piece of real estate, his basis when he gets ready to resell it is based on what I paid for it. And so in this case, Grandpa paid $24,000 for it. So her basis is $24,000. If she had not lived in the house for two years it would be called investment property 100% of everything over $24,000 would be taxable major mistake $150,000 worth of taxable income created here instead had he deeded it to her

in his will at his death it went to her you get what's called a stepped up basis her basis becomes the value at the time of his death apparently he's still alive but at the time of his death let's say he passed in this situation her basis would not be 24 000 it'd be 190 000 she turns around sells it for 190 000 zero capital gains so the fact that duber deeds this thing before his death grandpa dad gum you sweet but dumb okay could have cost her taxes on 150 000 or more here it didn't because she happened to live in the property for two years but so don't give people stuff uh let them experience let market value at the time of their death be their new basis it's a lot higher than what you paid for it and control the ownership vehicle not by an early deed but with either a trust or a will or both

when does it make sense to use a quick claim deed what scenarios uh divorces uh even then though you can get into trouble uh because most divorce attorneys make a huge legal error oh i'm calling you boys and girls out uh because here's the thing husband wife get divorced there's a 260 000 mortgage husband doesn't get to keep the house wife's going to get the house because the kids are living in the house and divorce attorneys say well just part of the settlement is you're going to quit claim your half of ownership to her and so he fills out a one-page quit claim as part of the divorce decree boom there we go but guess what husband still has a $260,000 mortgage that's messy in his name on a house he's not a part of five years later he gets remarried wants to have a

life and buy a house can't do it still got a 260 000 mortgage in his ex-wife's name doesn't own the property but still got the mortgage dumb you're getting a divorce and doing a quit claim deed re force a refinance or force the sale of the house one of the two either the wife the x soon to be x or whoever's going to get the house refinances and gets the other person's name off the mortgage or we sell the house and get the name off the mortgage because you're going to get stuck and divorce attorneys do this all the time because it's easy it's easy but it's wrong okay same thing here this is for a different reason though this is a when would you use a quit claim deed uh

i just moved property from one llc to another the other day i used a quit claim deed to do that switch the ownership yeah it's just i already and i own both llcs so it's not it's a non-issue right um when else would you use a quit claim deed see a quit claim deed means you, here's real estate theory for you. You do not, a warranty deed is what usually transfers in most states a house, a piece of property. And that means if I'm transferring property to you, George, I am giving you a warranty on the title, that I have the title. I am the owner of the title and I am willing to warranty that and transfer that to you then if i didn't have if i didn't own the property and i did that then you would have recourse back on me okay but i could give you a quit claim deed to someone else's property because all it says is

i quit claiming whatever ownership i have and if i have no ownership i quit claiming it wow and i gave it gave you nothing when i quit claiming it wow and i gave it gave you nothing when i quit claiming it so i could give i could give you a quit claim deemed to james's house i'm in and it would tip wouldn't do you any good i'm gonna quit claiming all of my ownership which is nothing wow so if you don't have pure ownership and you quit claim deed something it's of no value and uh you can really get into all kinds of crap there so sometimes you'll use it to do some title cleanup if there's something more nuanced than all of that but um i've only heard it mostly in the context of divorces divorce and estates

grandpa doing a dumb thing like this or estate planning attorneys doing a dumb thing without forcing a refinance i mean divorce attorneys not forcing a refinance. And then you get stung and you're stuck with a mortgage on a house you don't own anymore with a woman you aren't married to anymore. There's something about this that's miserable to me. This is The Ramsey personality is my co-host today in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage. Tony and Brandi are with us. Hey guys, how are you? Hey, doing well. Good, how you doing? Better than I deserve. Welcome, so good to have you guys. So how much debt have you two paid off? $34,000. All right. How long did this take?

About five months. Good for you. And your range of income during that time? $150,000. Wow, good. What do y'all do for a living? I'm a UPS driver. And I'm a nurse. I work in outpatient surgery. Cool. What kind of debt was your $34,000? My student loans. Yay! How long? I'm sorry. Let's see here. So where do you guys live we're from wilmington north carolina oh yeah fun okay cool so what starts this journey five months ago what happened well it really started um like three years ago my organization offered smart dollar and i was like i'm the free spirit so i was like well I'll look at it I don't know anything about financial stuff anyways and then I was like I'll tell Tony about it and I got into the first video

where it was saying like sell all your stuff and gazelle intensity and I was like that's not going to work for me but I'll tell Tony anyways and we'll just see so I was like have you ever heard about this guy and he was like oh yeah I know Dave Ramsey yeah yeah yeah and I was like well I mean he has a lot of point, but it sounds like it's more for like the destitute, which we are not. But we went ahead and listed all of our debts out and we paid off a right good bit.

So I think altogether we've paid about $71,000 off in the last three years. But then five months ago, he's the one that really got intense about it. Yeah, no, I mean, i just felt like we were making that type of money and just kind of never never getting ahead you'd have money and then something would come up and and it was gone um and i and i think the biggest thing is we hadn't combined our finances and once we combined our finances it was just a complete game changer um you know we were

on the same page and we we started making moves together, and instead of, you know, saving up four grand and then spending three, you know, we just went through this whole process, and, you know, $34,000 in five months. It was incredible. Boom. Just like that. How long have you been married?

Nine years. Okay. And in nine years, you just combined finances when you started this journey five months ago? Mm-hmm. Yes. Wow. We had two separate checking accounts, two separate savings accounts, and one joint checking

account that we put all of our bills in. And then based on our income, Tony put in a bigger percentage than me because he makes more than me. And then we all just kind of, well, I just like spent all my money because I don't ever save anything hardly until now. And he saved it all. So if something came up and he would have to pay for it he would be resentful because he's like I've saved up all this money and then I would be like you also make more money so it was always a fight

back and forth and since we combined everything we have an account yeah and now we have an income yeah and now we have savings and we do spending yep Yep. Yeah. Okay, so I certainly have a theory about this, but I'm curious. Why do you think the combining accounts caused such an increase in efficiency and lowered the resentment, you said? Well, I mean, I think that it just puts you on the same page. So instead of working in different directions, you're working in one solid direction. I think just everything just seems to to fit that way when you're doing things separately you're you know i'm buying something

she's buying something and you you know you never know what one side's doing and the other side's doing so you're just never on the same page that way um but also i mean i think it just helps your marriage and helps you become a stronger grouping instead of just two individuals running through life together. So, Brandy, you would have been the one most resistant to that because you just kind of had it made. I mean, you just spent it at your old check, right? So, I mean, why give that up, right? I mean, so what would you say the benefits are now that you guys combined them

from your perspective? Well, I think it was it was now both of ours both of our money so I wasn't feeling like I was getting like nickel I used to we used to joke and I would say man you've been nickel and diamond me since we were dating like we always split it it was 50 50 100 50 50 the whole time out of my account and his account and um so then it wasn't like we weren't like oh i paid for this you know you owe me this it was just like okay well we got to pay for this and this is what we're doing and um since i'm a nurse and i'm really love to chart so the every dollar app it was like real

fun to like chart everything and um it was really um i didn't realize how much money like we actually had left over after we budgeted. And you get to do spending because you got to vote, right? Yeah. I mean, you're not like you're living on beans and rice or something. You didn't have to do that. No. Just knock this out.

I mean, you make a lot of money, so you just popped it in the head, right? Just reach over. I like that charting thing with every dollar. Of course, a nurse would mention it. It's like charting. I like that. I've never heard that analogy, but it's perfect. Yeah. Budgeting is like chart like charting. I like that. I've never heard that analogy, but it's perfect. Budgeting is like charting. I like that.

I love this story, though, because we get this all the time. People go, well, Dave, I'm not going to combine finances. This guy got a thousand reasons, trust issues, fear, selfishness, financial infidelity. But when you guys combined this, there was an accountability there. There was a connection that could not be broken, and it obviously caused you guys to win financially. Yeah, absolutely. Man.

Yeah, we actually had planned for us to pay that $34,000 off by this April, but we paid it off in November. So now we're four, five, and six. So we already got our emergency fund, and now we're on to four, five, and six now. So we finished it like seven months early. Look at the spender all up in the knowledge here. I know. I'm very impressed.

She knows exactly where she is. I love this. She's charting the budget. She's got her spending under control. And shout out to your employer for having Smart Dollar as a benefit. Very cool. For those that don't know, that is our financial wellness program that we offer to businesses, organizations,

to help their employees get control of their money. So very cool employee benefit program uh that teaches our class is what it amounts to and so very cool yeah and the husband or the spouse could actually get involved and then it turns oh my gosh then it goes wow we encourage that yeah that's awesome be careful be careful if you get tony involved because it'll get implemented. Well done, you guys. You're fun. It was good to talk to you. You got a real healthy outlook on this whole thing.

You're comfortable in your own skin to talk about it. And that's a positive for everybody listening. And so it sounds like you were doing fine. You could just do better. And now you did better. And now you're free. How does it feel to have zero debt? Did you notice a change? Yeah, no, it's like the tension in your shoulders just drops. You know, you're like, you don't know anybody. Now it's time to go tackle the house and start moving in that direction. And, you know, in our mid 40s, we could have no debt,

period, house, everything. And Brandy, you said that was student loans from you from you yes so how does that feel for that all to be gone did you notice something when it left or you're just kind of a course of business okay check well i mean i was happy i don't i'm not i don't get like super really like worked up about stuff i guess that's a nurse in me too stay calm yeah but i was like man we paid it off that's great you know it was actually from my undergrad my when i got my bachelor's it i paid my job paid for it and now i'm getting my doctorate and we're actually cash flowing that too so we were paying for my doctorate and paying all this all of the debt off and doing all the other stuff so good for you awesome good for you good for you well done you for you. Well done, you guys.

You're a power couple. That's awesome stuff. Now, you bring the kiddo with you to do a debt-free scream? How old is he and what's his name? He's five. This is Reed. Reed. Has Reed been involved in all this?

You know what's going on? Oh, yes. Yeah, he listens to the Ramsey Show quite a lot with us. Oh, I'm sorry, Reed. We should get you some good music to listen to. That's a scarred childhood right there well we got a copy of the baby steps millionaires book for you that's definitely the next chapter in your story as well as a total money makeover book for you to give away to someone and stir up a holy ruckus with that thing somewhere tell them what you did i'm proud of you guys well

done very well done you're a great couple t Tony and Brandy and Reed from North Carolina, $34,000 paid off due mainly to combining their accounts and their goals and their values. Did it in five months, making $150,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free!

Yeah! Look at Reed. He stepped up. He was in it, man. Yeah, go Reed! two one we're dead free he understood the assignment way to go buddy that's awesome oh man it's amazing how people can share a bed share dna share a child but they won't share a child, but they won't share a bank account, Dave. That's just too personal. Wow. I love a story like that. Oh, man. That's awesome. Way to go, Smart Dollar Team. Good work. Yes. This is The Ramsey Show. Psalm 7714, you are the God who performs miracles, you display your power among the peoples, our scripture of the day. John Rockefeller said, good management, consistent, showing average people how to do the work of superior people. Whoa! That's probably true, we probably are all average people that we learn to do superior work.

A little snobbish there, Mr. Rockefeller, but it's okay i'm going with it i like it open phones at 888-825-5225 george camel ramsey personality is my co-host today boise idaho is up next justin's on the line hey justin how are you hey davis it's jesse Oh, I'm sorry, Jesse. What's up? So I'm in a bit of a dilemma. I kind of back and forth all week on what to do. And I'm like, dude, I need some help. I work for a company for, I moved my family over here for two years. I've been here for two years. I moved my family over here to take a job.

Been doing this for 16 years, the same work, the same job. Eight of those 16, I've been running my own crews and stuff. So when I got here, some promises were made, and then I came to find out they were lacking that. Anyway, so that's what's going on. You just just drove by that i have no idea what you just said promises were made and what so there were some promises made if you come to work for us um you know um then we'll give you this and this after a certain amount of time. Well, that was just to lure me in because they were so short on guys,

it seems like, anyway. So you no longer trust the integrity of the people you work for? Exactly. I don't know if I trust them. Well, no, you just said you didn't. I know. Right, exactly. Okay, okay. So I don't know if I trust them. Well, no, you just said you didn't. I know. Right, exactly. Okay, okay. So I don't. I don't trust them. So this winter, sometimes we get laid off due to weather and stuff like that,

so we're laid off for a month or so. And they ended up working a couple guys that were you know new guys that the way it works is that you you work you start from the top and you work your way down to the guys lower on the totem pole right no i don't know what you're talking about well okay so like who do you what are you working down to most people work up the totem pole, not down. Right. No, I'm saying in the wintertime. Oh, in terms of who you're firing.

Well, laying off due to weather. You lay off the expensive guys first. Okay. I got that. Well, guys with lack of experience is usually where they start, the newer guys. Anyway, so I went and... Jesse, what's your question? I want to get down to it.

Okay. I put in the resume. I got an offer from another company. The other company is willing to pay me, for the same work, an hour well i make 30 an hour right now they offer all the same thing uh well 401k is where i get to i get the 401k dude you don't need a 401k when you double your income okay you go get a roth ira screw it you're gonna double your income you go from 30 to 52 that's almost double i'm not staying anywhere for a 401k for doubling your income is the other place

a good place to work yes i went up checked them out drove around with them they they treat you right you know none of those promises that can't be kept they told me this is what's going to happen this is what you're going to get and this is what do you do for a living i um i guess to sum it up if i was a build design engineer roads um you know all the stuff that you would, you know, build roads, basically. Okay. Road subdivisions, parking lots, all the underground stuff that goes into it. Are you a heavy equipment guy?

I just, yes. Okay. All right, cool. And I have, like I said, I have eight years running crews. Yeah. So when I came over here, they were like, well, yeah, you can run a crew here we'll put you out you know but oh hey wait a sec we don't have enough guys so can would you mind working with these guys for a little bit longer well it seemed like it was just to lure me here because they were so short on guys. They were desperate. They needed guys.

The second company or the first company? Who's luring you? So just leave the first company. You've got a great offer. What's stopping you at this point? I would just want, because, I mean, the first company, I mean, they do, like, great 401k matches. Forget the 401k. You hate it, and you don't trust them,

and you're going to get paid almost double. Okay. So leave. What do I do? So if I'm putting in, like, right now I'm putting 10% in my 401k, and they're matching it at 6%, I go to this new company. How much do I put into that? You roll your old 401k with a SmartVestor Pro to a traditional

and you open two Roth IRAs, one for you and one for your wife if you're married. But, dude, regardless, you can just save money in mutual funds if you have to, once you've maxed out your Roth IRAs. But retirement plan is not what the problem here is. Retirement plan is a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10. No integrity is a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10. Doubling your income is a 10 on a scale of one to ten. No integrity is a ten on the scale of one to ten. Doubling your income is a ten on a scale of one to ten. This is what's known as a no-brainer. Take the new job, quit the old job, leave. No-brainer. You'll work out the investment stuff

later, okay? But you don't stay at a company making half the money that you don't trust because they have a 401K. No. Not even close. That's the deal right there. I think I lost brain calories on that one, Dave. That was a lot for me. That was hard for you. I was trying to track, man.

Well, it was circular. We got there. But we got there. Jareek is with us in Texas. Hi, Jareek. How are you? I'm good, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I'm a college student, a freshman by year, sophomore by hour here at West Texas A&M University in Canyon. And I actually took your finance course my senior year

for Money Matters. And I had some questions about saving. You know, I have some money saved up just from work, graduation presents, scholarship refunds, that kind of thing. And, you know, I just don't want to put that kind of thing in the brick-and-mortar bank. You know, it doesn't make nothing. So I've been looking maybe like a high-yield savings kind of thing, something with high liquidity so I can take it out if I have to pay for something. No, you notice what high yield was, right?

You notice what high yield was, right? Did you look at the percentage on the high yield? Yes, sir. It's only 0.5. Yeah, I know. It's not exactly high yield. It's kind of an oxymoron. Compared to the other, sorry.

It's a 0.25 versus a 0.5. I mean, the whole it's a 0.25 versus a 0.5 i mean it's it's the whole thing's irrelevant it's just a parking spot for your money that you're not going to lose it you're not going to invest it because you need it for college you don't need it right now but you're going to need it later so you're just going to park it somewhere if you want to park it in a high yield that's not really high then that's okay if you want to put it in a money market that's okay none of it's going to earn over one right now how much money are we talking some four to six thousand yeah just park it you're going to get pennies on it either just park it i mean you can put in a shoe box it's not much different but i mean just park it because you're going to need it later keep your hands off of it

when you have a semester where where there's a little bit of a gap in there and you got to do some fill-in you're going to need that four to six and it'll help you graduate college completely debt-free as you push your way on through but you just need a parking lot a parking spot for your money and you're not having to pay for it they're going to pay you a tiny bit to park your car there that's all it is just park it in the parking spot and get back to it later and you've done a really good job setting your life up here. Very, very, very well done, Jareek. Very good job.

You've got your whole life to invest, so don't worry about that right now. We want you to get through college debt-free, get your emergency one in place, get a great job, and then we have 20, 30 years to invest. You're going to be just fine. Yeah, you don't need to worry about investing right now. You're the investment. Get through school debt-free. Well done. George Goodhour. Fun times. Thank you investment. Get through school debt-free. Well done.

George Goodhour. Fun times. Thank you. Good job to the Booth people. Well done, Booth people, Booth folk. It's all good in there. And all of you. There were 17 people in there earlier.

So many. I'm naming them all. I can't even call the roll. They're all employed. I don't even know my children's names. Let's put that hour in the books 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, co-host on The Ramsey Show. If you want to do your debt-free scream live on the show, visit ramseysolutions.com slash debt-free scream. We'd love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story. That's ramsaysolutions.com slash debt-free scream.