The Ramsey Show - App - What to Do With "Bonus" Money (Hour 1)

Episode Date: January 10, 2019

The show about you

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Dave 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. Thank you for joining us, America. This is a show that is all about you. The phone number is 888-825-5225. This is a busy and exciting week this week as Chris Hogan is on book tour for the Everyday Millionaires book. 200-plus folks showed up for a huge book signing last night in Chicago, tonight he will be and I will be broadcasting

an Everyday Millionaire's Town Hall over YouTube, over Facebook, and, of course, over about 63 Sinclair television stations as well. We're working with our local Fox affiliate here and tying into their network as well. So very fun stuff as we talk about what the truth is about millionaires. And, of course, that will be tonight, and we want you to check in with that. If you're in the Nashville area and you come to that event, we will be, of course, Chris will be, of course, signing his book, Everyday Millionaires, How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth and How You Can Too. He's been going and going and going. millionaires how ordinary people built extraordinary wealth and how you can too

uh he's been going and going and going then tonight we will leave and uh after that event fly to dallas and i'll be doing he'll be doing a book signing in dallas tomorrow night at lincoln park barnes and noble you need to come out to the book signing dallas because we'll be giving away one thousand dollars no purchase necessary must be present to win brought to you by the smart investor pros so be sure you check all of that out of course we have a sold out over six thousand tickets sold out for the smart conference on saturday we'll be doing that and then i'll be heading back home, and Chris Hogan will continue on over to Houston and the Texas leg of the book tour. Lots of things going on here. At the bottom of the hour this hour, Rachel Cruz will join us and answer your questions.

So if you've got a question for Rachel, as you hear me finish with callers, that'll be your cue to jump in, and Kelly will get you on and get you on hold for the bottom of the hour when Rachel joins us. Open phones here at 888-825-5225. Dominic starts this hour in Atlanta. Hey, Dominic, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hello, Dave. Nice to meet you. Thanks for taking my call. Certainly. How can I help?

Well, I'm looking to get my mother in the right direction for her retirement savings. Okay. Has she got some savings? She has only about a few thousand. Okay. So you're looking to get her started saving towards retirement? Yes. And how old is she?

She's about 53, about to be 54 in May. Okay, good. She's got some time then. And is she in debt? Yes. So her debt, she has about $12K in debt, $3K from credit cards, and about $9K from a debt consolidation. But she just paid off her car note, so that's $450 in the right account. Great, yeah.

Well, we want you to get out of debt because that gives you the power of your entire check to build wealth with instead of giving it to someone else. So baby step two is pay off all of your debt except your home. And baby step three is build your emergency fund of three to six months of expenses and then tear into your investing. And, you know, she's got some catching up to do. So that's great news. She's still got time, though, and she's already heading that way because she's paying off the car here. That's cool. So she's interested in doing all of this, I assume?

Yes, and I'm also looking for ways that I can possibly help as her son. Okay. I think you can help by cheering her on more than anything else unless you have become a multimillionaire already, have you? No, I haven't, but I guess I'm in the right direction after watching your show of getting myself weird and getting out of debt. Yeah, you get out of debt and you build wealth is the best thing you could do to help her. And 20 years from now, she's 73, she will have saved a nest egg, you will have saved the nest egg, and between the two of you, we'll probably figure out a way for her to eat.

Yes, sir. And that's the way to do it. But there's not anything you do today while you're in debt to cause her retirement to happen. And what we do right now is we coach her and cheer her on and say, Hey, Mom, we're going to get you out of debt. We're going to get your emergency fund in place, and then we're going to follow those baby steps of Dave's, and we're going to start your retirement saving 15% of your income.

Does she own a home? No, she rents from an apartment in Washington, D.C. Okay, cool. All right, well, let's get to walking down those steps, and that'll get you there. So, hey, man, thanks for the call. Ethan is with us in Washington. Hi, Ethan, welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi, thank you for having me.

Certainly. How can I help? Well, my wife is a stay-at-home mom, and we have the opportunity to become surrogate parents. I mean, do surrogacy for other parents. Sorry about that. And we are going to be getting a significant amount of money, and I would just like some advice on what to do with that money that we're getting for doing surrogacy.

Okay. So we actually had started the journey, and we received our first payment. I'll give you the rundown. We're going to be getting $10,000 a month until the babies are born. My wife is carrying twins for another couple. Wow. Yeah, and it's a significant amount of money, a lot more than usual. They had a hard time finding a surrogacy mother.

And so if we do... So what is your household income? Before this came along, what was your household income? $60,000 a year. And so she's going to make $90,000 in the next nine months. Correct. If everything goes to plan and we deliver twins, if something happens and we can only deliver one, then we still get $75,000. Okay. Wow.

Okay. Well, what I'm going to do is just apply that to wherever you are on your baby steps. You've just got an unusual and lucrative part-time job, you know? Full-time job, temporary full-time job. I don't know how to describe that. But anyway, something like that. It's like a bonus check or something coming in, I guess. So, all right.

So, yeah, it's great. Wow, what a blessing all the way around. And so, yeah, where are you guys? Have you got debt you need to pay off with this? We have already paid off our credit card of $3,700, and then we have about $25,000 left. That's from a car payment. And then I owe a little bit of back pay to the Army

because there was a technicality, and I owe them back from when I recently got out last year. Our first goal is clean all that up. Our second goal is to build your emergency fund, maybe step three of three to six months of expenses. Then we start, you know, you should be at that point start putting 15% of your household income away for retirement, but that wouldn't include this money. So I would go ahead and do you have children of your own?

Yes, we have a two-year-old turning three in March. And our goal was to put $10,000 away into an account to build interest until she's 18. Yeah, I would put that after you were out of debt and have your emergency fund in place. That's what we call baby step five. And, you know, then if you've got any money left beyond that coming in, then we're going to start chunking it on the house. So Baby Steps are laid out, and you just walk down them with this money. It just allows you to, you know, to make huge progress,

to get amazing traction mathematically. So, wow, very cool. Thanks for calling. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Are high health care costs getting you down? Are you confused trying to navigate your options? Do you wish you could find an affordable biblical solution to your healthcare costs? Based on New Testament principles, Christian Healthcare Ministries, or CHM, helps Christian families, churches, and ministries join together as the body of Christ to share their major healthcare costs. Christian Healthcare Ministries is the original health cost-sharing ministry.

A Better Business Bureau-accredited organization, CHM members share to pay each other's medical bills. It's not insurance. It's Christians financially and spiritually supporting each other. It's what Christian Healthcare Ministries has done for over 35 years. And our members have shared over $2.5 billion in medical bills. To learn more, visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. chministries.org. In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions, Brad and Nicole are with us. Hey, guys, how are you?

Pretty good. How are you? I'm great. Better than I deserve. Where do you guys live? We live in Norwalk, Ohio. Okay, very nice. And you're all the way down here to Nashville to do your debt-free screen. Yes, sir. Love it. How much have you guys paid off?

$90,000. Wow. How long did this take? Two and a half years. Okay, very good. And your range of income during that time? We had about $80,000. We started off at $90,000. We actually dropped down to $80,000. Okay. Cool. What do you all do for a living? I'm a heavy equipment operator. And I work in Medicare insurance with senior citizens, and I'm a certified financial coach. Oh, wow. Very cool.

Very good. So what kind of debt was your $90,000? It was a little bit of everything. I had a truck, and she had a car, and a lot of credit cards. We had two babies in the NICU, so we had a lot of medical bills from that. I had a student loan, a lot of everything. Yeah. You were just normal.

Yeah. Life was happening, and it all ended up on a card and on debt. It did. It did. Wow. Good for you. So what happened two and a half years ago? Well, the medical bills were really hitting us hard.

And we were doing pretty well income-wise, but we were not managing it well at all. We weren't working as a team. And I came to Brad, and I was like, the church is offering this class, and I really want to take it. And he was like, you're going to pay money to take a class? I did. Absolutely. He was dragging his feet. And he was like, you're going to pay money to take a class. I did. Absolutely. He was dragging his feet.

And the first night of the financial peace class, he pulls up to the door, and he wouldn't get out of the car. He dropped me off. My buddy was in town. I was going to go to Home Depot with him that night. And when I dropped her off at the door, I pulled around. I was getting ready to pull and then i don't something told me i think it was the holy spirit told me to just go in so i just went in with her yeah oh wow yeah it was that close yeah it was that close and as i closed the car door before he came in i really thought this was the end of our relationship whoa because i was carrying that stress of paying the bills and making sure ends were meet and things like that.

Wow. Well, that was God telling you to go back. She closed the door in so many ways. That's not good. So he walks back into the class and you're sitting there already. What did you think? Well, I just felt this sense of, okay, maybe we can do this. We're in this together. And he'll say all the time that first night he heard, you know,

what God had to say about managing his money. And we really wanted to learn what God had to say about managing our whole entire lives, our relationships, our children, being good stewards of all of that. So ever since then it was teamwork. But we didn't start out that way. Yeah. And now we actually just started our third fpu class at our church wow wow so you're leading classes oh yeah we lead now oh wow yep let's come all the way full circle

all the way from going to home depot to leading the class yeah there we go man that's pretty cool well well done you guys proud of you so you pay off $90,000 in debt. You don't have any payments but the house. How does that feel? It's great. The sense of peace. It really is a sense of peace. And just every day waking up and knowing we're prepared if an emergency happens again because it happened to us once. So we have a sense of peace.

Yeah. Wow. Very cool. Good for you guys. Thank you. So what do you tell people the key to getting out of debt is? It's definitely the budget. It's teamwork and going to work, really.

Yeah. Working hard. We made a lot of sacrifices. We weren't afraid to sell things. We weren't afraid to look crazy. What was the thing you sold that was the biggest thing and the hardest thing? Oh, well. It was definitely my truck. Oh, you sold your truck?

Yeah. Whoa! Yeah. That was my baby. Wow. I knew he was on board when he sold the truck. Yeah, thanks. Yeah, he came to me and I'm like, okay, we're doing this.

We're a team. Wow, this is game on, yeah. And we drove. We were driving some beaters. We had this rusty van. I think people were embarrassed when we pulled in the parking lot. You had to wear the raincoat if you sat in the passenger seat because it would leak when it rained. Yeah, it just, it burned out of gas at half a tank.

But we had our kids and we were in it and we were fine. I had to look at the weather forecast. If it was going to be over 82 degrees in the summertime, I couldn't drive it because the air conditioner went out on us. Oh my gosh. And I crammed the three kids in the back of our little Ford Focus. And we just did it. But it didn't even matter. It was now on the other side of it.

The sacrifices, the short-term sacrifices for long-term results. Yeah. Living like no one else so later you can live and give like no one else. Who were your biggest cheerleaders outside of the two of you? It was definitely our friends. Yeah. We had some friends that once they seen us the two of you? It was definitely our friends. Yeah. We had some friends that once they seen us starting out on the journey, they started it too. So it was a good accountability there.

Yeah, definitely some friends and people at church really praying for us. Yeah. Very cool. So it was your church that was teaching the financial peace class. Yeah. So it was real comfortable for you to be able to go at your own place. Right. Yeah.

That makes sense. Very good. Great. And you brought the kiddos to do the debt-free scream with you? Yes, we did. What are their names and ages? Oakland and Barrett, they're both five-year-old. Yep, they're five-year-old twins.

And then our baby Houston is with us. He's one. Oh, okay. Very fun. Yeah. Good deal. Come here, guys. So have they been practicing their debt-free screams?

Yes. Yes. They have been. I love it. Very good. All right. Brad and Nicole. We got a copy of Chris Hogan's book, The Everyday Millionaire's Book, for you, because that's

the next chapter in your story, to be everyday millionaires. Oh, great, great. You're on your way. Brad and Nicole, Oakland, Barrett, and Houston, $90,000 paid off in two and a half years. Sold the truck, making 90 to,000 to $80,000. Count it down. Let's hear a debt-free scream. Three, two, one.

We're debt-free! Love it! Well done, well done, well done. Absolutely fabulous. Congratulations, you guys. We're so proud of you. All right, open phones this hour at 888-825-5225. Rachel Cruz joins us at the bottom of the hour here in about five minutes.

You got a question for her? Jump in, and Kelly will put you on hold, so you'll be in queue to be able to talk to Rachel when she joins us in a minute. 888-825-5225. Ashton is in Washington, D.C. Hey, Ashton, how are you? I'm a mess, but I'm okay. How are you, Dave?

Better than I deserve. What's up? So I think I'm just kind of panicking because I'm pretty young. But I am $80,000 in debt, and I have to move out of my in-laws' house by the end of the month. About $60,000 of that is in cars. And then we're making a household income on my base salary, $60,000. Wow. Okay.

So you went into the land of stupid on cars big time, didn't you? Extremely. Yeah. So how far upside down are you on the two cars? On my wife's car, we're about $25,000 upside down. And on my truck, we're about $10,000 upside down. $25,000? So we had the car for about three years. I'm sorry?

And the interest rate's over 22%. We've had the car for about three years and the interest rate's over 22%. Yeah, but that... Okay, but I mean, you must have traded some negative equity into that car. Yes, sir. So my wife, we weren't married at the time, but it was actually under my in-laws, but my wife was driving an old Impala that blew up. They owed about $10,000 on it, so they rolled over about $7,000 negative equity into the vehicle. Whose name is this car in? Her father's. Okay. So her father has a car debt. Yes, but we have to make the payments.

Okay. But her father had a bad car deal, and now you're supposed to take care of the bad car deal? Yes, sir. That doesn't make sense. His Impala was a screwed-up deal, and so you guys are supposed to pay the amount that he's upside down well it was it was my wife's car it's under his name but it's her vehicle she was under 18 so she couldn't get a loan so he went and got the loan for her yeah hmm i don't like these people um well you're gonna have to sell the car and you're gonna have both of them and you're gonna have to go get loans to cover the difference is your credit okay

um it's about a 650 oh god all right you need to start looking for loans because both of these cars have to be gone they're're both ridiculous. And hold on. We're going to put you guys in Financial Peace University. And you need to start talking to your father-in-law. He needs to eat some of this car because it's his fault. He put his teenage daughter into a well, and now he wants her husband to get her out. That's not a good plan. One question I get asked all the time is, do I need life insurance? Listen, the whole point of life insurance is to replace your income for someone who counts on you.

So if you have a spouse or you have kids, yes, you need term life insurance. It's the only way to protect them until you're out of debt and have built up your wealth. You're only digging a deeper hole if you waste money on cash value plans since it robs you of the ability to make real progress. And that's why I send you to Zander Insurance, and I have for 20 years. That's where I get all my insurance, and they only offer the plans I recommend. It is not expensive. It's not complicated. And Zander will be there as your guide every step of the way. Visit Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. You need to get this taken care of. I can give you the advice and I can tell you where to go, but it's really up to you to take that important step to get your family protected. That's Zander.com or 800-356-4282.

Busy times around here at Ramsey Solutions. Joining me this half hour, Rachel Cruz, number one best-selling author of the book Love Your Life, Not Theirs, and Smart Money, Smart Kids. She also has her own hugely popular, crazy popular YouTube show called The Rachel Cruz Show. It's a full video series that comes out about once every two weeks. Not about. It just does once every two weeks, right? That's it. That's the schedule.

Welcome. You got it right. Thank you. Thanks for having me back. Absolutely. Phone number here if you want to talk to Rachel, 888-825-5225. And so this week we launched a new episode.

We did. And you're on it. And I'm part of it. Yours truly. I'm a guest. Came to the Rachel Cruze show. I'm like always in your world here, which I'm thankful to be always. But you came to my world.

It's my world and you're in it. Sorry, no. Yeah, it was great. So, you know, the team and I, as we were looking at the new year and the content of this episode, we're like, okay, it's going to be the first show of 2019. Like, what do we want to do? And we were like, let's just go to the basics. Like, let's go back through the baby steps. What is the proven plan that millions of Americans have gone through and have had so much success of paying off debt, saving up, funding retirement? I mean, all of it. Let's go through it and bring on the experts. So you came on to talk about Baby Step 2 and Baby Step 7.

And Chris Hogan came on to talk about Baby Steps 4, 5, and 6 with me. So it was really fun, and it's been great. It came out on Monday, and it's like one of the highest views so far out of the gate. So people are loving it. Going back to the basics, but it's the stuff that works. So if someone's not used to watching shows on youtube how do they do this yes you can go to youtube or facebook and just type in the rachel cruz show and it'll come up and so we have the full episode which is usually around 30 minutes and then throughout the week we'll break down that

episode into short clips if you just wanted to re-watch one part you could do that and you could subscribe on youtube as well so everything comes right to your inbox, which is really important, just to keep the consistency there and less work on your end, that it just comes right to you. And, yeah, and it's fun. We try to mix the idea that money can be stressful and hard, but putting a lot of hope and a lot of fun and a lot of laughter into it. We have fun. We have fun on the show. Absolutely. Very cool. on the show. Absolutely.

Very cool. Good stuff. Good stuff. And, of course, tonight after the town hall that Chris Hogan and I are doing, all of us are heading to Dallas for the Smart Conference this weekend, including you. And you'll be speaking on Saturday to that sold-out crowd. What are you going to be talking about there? I'll be talking about how to love your life and not theirs.

So it's the Money Talks, 7 Money Habits for Living the Life You Want. So I'll be breaking all that down. And it's fun. We've done Dallas a few times now, but it's a great city. It is a great city. It's a great Ramsey city for sure. Yeah. And then when you get back, you've got money and marriage events with Les Parrott.

We're going to do a big one. The people are coming in from all over the country for this is going to be fun. Kind of a destination thing on Valentine's Day, a marriage and money date night in Nashville. That's right. Which is the destination city these days in America. I mean, hot city here. Really fun. Yeah.

And that's February the 14th. And then Kansas City's April the 1st. Des Moines, Iowa, April 15th, and Dallas, Texas, May 16th. Now, I've not actually attended one of these, but the word is that you and Les are both like stand-up comedians. This is a funny, it's a money and marriage event is a funny event. I hope so. I hope people think we're funny. I don't know. Yeah.

Well, when you talk about stories of money and marriage, usually there's a lot of humor involved. But it is. It's two great subjects. And Les Perra is a master when it comes to marriage. I mean, he's been doing this for decades, traveled the world, written countless books on the topic of marriage. So he is like the cornerstone of all this advice. So he speaks first in the event. And then I come out after the break and talk about how you can use those communication tips that he has given you at the beginning of the event and how

to have that with your spouse when it comes to money. Because for some people, a lot of people, money is just this stress point of how do we communicate? How do we get on the same page? How do I get my spouse on board? Or maybe you're on board together, but you're like, oh, we just feel like we're missing each other still. So breaking down these conversations to have with money. And so, yeah, we get to do that. There we go.

And you're going to pick up and do a couple of the smart money events this year. And a couple of them that, let's see here. February 6th, I think, in Raleigh. Yeah, you're going to Raleigh, North Carolina, and you're going to go to Cincinnati, Ohio. Yes. All in February. February 5th, February 21st. That's right. Basically straddling across that Money in Marriage event, which is on the 14th here in Nashville.

So it's going to be a busy February. And the Money in Marriage event on Valentine's Night is live-streamed as well, so you can check that out. Okay. All kinds of stuff going on. Good stuff. Open phones at 888-825-5225. Caitlin's got a question from Montana.

Hi, Caitlin. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hi. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's up? It's a pleasure speaking with you. I was just calling to get some advice

on budgeting. We have a different type of income. We get paid every three to four months. My spouse, he's a fisherman. So just depending on when the season ends and then the time that he's actually home. So usually we have to stretch our budget for a three to four month time span. We started using the EveryDollar app, and that's been really helpful. I guess my question is, so we have our $1,000 emergency fund, and what I came across is I guess we're not really sure how much to put into our debt snowball in fear that we might not have money to buy groceries or something like that. Well, I mean, do you just take your big check and divide it by four so you can cover four months?

Is that what you do? Well, yeah. Yeah, we have to do that basically. Do you have money in each of those four months left that you can put towards the debt snowball? Yeah. Okay. I guess so we have 100. We started with $138,000 in debt, and we're currently at $126,000, and we started in November.

Good. So we tackled it pretty hard. Okay. But I don't want you to use up your food money. So what I'm saying is wouldn't you just take the big check? Let's say you got a $20,000 check and you divide it by four. That's $5,000 a month. And you run your budget on $5,000 a month then.

And then the next month you got another $5,000. So we know you're not going to run out of food. Yeah, I guess that makes a lot more sense. I guess what we were trying to do, we were trying to take the $27,000 to $37,000 check that we get and go from there. So we weren't really thinking about, I guess, dividing it. How long before you get another check and divide it by that number of months? Okay. And set your monthly budget up that way

and then systematically reduce your debt. And then with all irregular incomes, no matter whether you're being paid like you are every three months or if your income is different month to month it is always important like you pointed out with food like that your basics are covered right your four walls is what we call them food shelter utilities transportation and clothing that those are all there and taken care of first and foremost so that that way if you get to a month that you know you're not going to, that you have money for food because that's been the priority. And so like Winston, my husband and I, we have an irregular income. Every month it's a little bit different.

And so we have to prioritize our budget to say, okay, if this is the amount of money, this is what has to be taken care of first and foremost. And if we have some extra, this is where we'll put it. And so for you guys, it'll be towards the jet. Yeah. And if you get towards the end, let's say you had a four-month stretch stretch and you're about to get that you're about to use going in that last month and you got some extra wiggle room that's when you could really hit it extra hard if you wanted to but um i want to make sure you keep that uh that you you know just divide it by the number of months

till you get another check it's a different kind of irregular income that you've got and uh it just sets it up to where you you've know you've got food each month because you just say well we're not touching that other amount of money because that's april may and june you know and i gotta cover it i gotta have five thousand for each of those months or whatever the amount is in your case it sounds like it's more like six or seven thousand a month um but whatever it is you just divide it whatever the check you've got laying there divide it by the number of months you've got to cover until you get another check. And then set your thing up that way.

When you get into that last month, you may be able to hammer it super hard. Rachel Cruz joins me this hour for your questions. The phone number is 888-825-5225. You jump in and we'll talk about your life and your money. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. Thank you. Rachel Cruz, the Moen bestselling author, joins me this half hour answering your questions about life and money. The Rachel Cruz Show, a video series on YouTube that is vastly popular. A new version came out this week, and I actually got to be a guest on it as we talk about baby steps and getting you out of debt. And, yeah, you'll enjoy that if you jump in there.

Hogan's on there, too, And so it's a good push. So come out there and join us at the Rachel Cruz Show at Facebook and at YouTube. And, of course, you can subscribe on YouTube, and it will send you an email to tell you when the new videos come out from time to time. And you guys started playing around with an idea and it's actually going to be more than an idea it's going to happen we're about to do a podcast happening yes the rachel cruz show podcast i'm so glad we said that together rachel cruz show real podcast i know so 15 million people so you better be ready it's coming it's coming i know i'm so excited about this.

So I know a lot of my audience specifically, like a lot of the women out there, they love podcasts, like they're podcast listeners. And so I knew, okay, we have to do something when it comes to the audio version of the Rachel Cruze show. And so long story short, we put resources in it, and I thought it was going to come out in October, if I'm going to be honest with you And then some stuff happened We're going to have to push it to the new year

And I was like, I'm dying So the fact that it's actually happening this month In like two weeks, I'm so excited The 21st It'll be launching So you can actually go right now on iTunes And subscribe to it And yeah, I'm really pumped about it

So it'll be some segments from the Rachel Cruze show, the video version. So we'll pull some of that audio over, but there's going to be commentary and new teaching in the podcast with me. So kind of do some behind the scenes stuff. Yeah. And we recorded one yesterday. Actually, it was just so fun because I'm listening back through these interviews I've already recorded on video and we'll get through the interview.

And then I'm like, okay, stop right there. Pause. And I just like interrupt the interview and be like, guys, did you hear that? Like this couple, they did it. So just getting to have some commentary in my mind that I don't always get to do on the video show, I get to do on the podcast. So it's a little bit more raw and real, but still great content. Very cool.

Good stuff. Coming to the Rachel Cruz show video series on YouTube and now in a podcast form starting on the 21st. And I'll say this. I'll tease this. The idea has not been

completely confirmed yet but besides the Rachel Cruz show from the audio like I just explained on the off weeks there might be something else fun that I'll be doing as a

podcast as well in that same channel. So you never know. Never know what's going to happen. We're just going to turn you into a broadcaster. I just, I can't believe, I know, I've always loved video. That's why we did the Rachel Cruze show. That was always my dream

was to have my own show. And audio stuff is always intimidating me. Like, coming on the radio show, even with you, I'm like, okay, I gotta like, I feel like I don't have a great radio voice. I feel like I have to be on. And so podcasting always was like, oh. But now that I'm in it, I'm like, I'm pumped. I'm have a great radio voice. I feel like I kind of have to be on. And so podcasting always was like, oh. But now that I'm in it, I'm pumped.

I'm really excited about this podcast, you guys. It's really going to be great. It's something different I've never done before, but it's like a whole new element. And so hopefully you'll get some really great content. Obviously, that's the reason why we do any of this stuff is to help you out there. So, yeah, it'll be fun. Absolutely. Stephanie is in Detroit. Stephanie, your question for Rachel. Hi, Rachel. So, yeah, it'll be fun. Absolutely. Stephanie is in Detroit.

Stephanie, your question for Rachel. Hi, Rachel. Hi, Dave. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. I have a question. I am right now $41,000 in credit card debt, and I was weighing out my different options.

I know one of the options is consolidating the credit card debt for, like, a debt relief program. What is your expert opinion on that? No. No. That's a black and white answer for you. And the reason is because what you're doing when you're consolidating your debt, not only are you going to be paying fees and be paying someone to rearrange your debt,

but debt's still going to be there. So you're going to have to pay it off no matter what. And so there's this psychological thing in people that they think, well, if I consolidate and I get a little better interest rate and I kind of move some things around, I've done something really productive and that's really going to help me.

Where in the end, what's going to help you is you sitting down, listing those debts out small to largest and you knocking it out. You don't need anyone to do it. You can do this. And so regardless of interest rates and all that, math isn't the problem here. It's the behavior.

And so getting those quick wins by doing the debt snowball, that's going to be your best bet. Don't pay someone to rearrange the debt is basically what ends up happening. Exactly. You can't borrow your way out of debt. Matt is in St. Paul, Minnesota. Hey, Matt, your question for Rachel. Hey, there. How are you guys today? today better than i deserve how can we help you oh yes so me and my wife we've been

um we're currently on bs1 and um in the past uh probably about five months we've been sort of getting better at our our budgeting and um with my overtime that I got previous, I just put it towards her credit cards. So I got a few of those paid off. And a few days ago, I was going through just our bank statements, and I saw that one of our couple credit cards that I know that we paid off, there was a payment going to and I asked her about it and she almost just started tearing up and saying it's her fault it's you know I'm sorry

she said I'm sorry I have a credit card debt and I pretty much just hugged her and I told her that we'd get through it and she caught him up but she said her reason of using them was when we were moving we needed like extra supplies and she felt like that's, like, her security blanket. So I'm trying to figure out ways on how to move her in the other direction. Sounds like you're making good progress. Yeah. Yeah, I would say so. The only thing I'm hearing, Matt, and how you're talking is saying things like

her credit cards or I was seeing her statements. And so one step for you to take. Yeah, I'm sorry. I misunderstood. She was saying, she was telling me, I'm sorry, it's my credit card debt. And I pretty much just told her that when we got married, we were one. So now it's our credit card debt. Yeah, that's awesome. Well, that's what I was going to say is encourage you guys on an emotional level to have that unity. So there's not that separation. How long have you guys been married? We just celebrated three years last November. and for you guys to emotionally commit, okay, we're in this together. And for her, yeah. I mean, the number one fear for women when it comes to money is the lack of security. So for that being her safety net, that's a real thing. And as a husband, I want you to recognize that.

What steps can he take that give her some security from your perspective? Well, I would say the $1,000 emergency funds, and where you may disagree with me, so we can have some fun with this, is depending on how much debt you guys have, how long it's going to take you off for her, and depending on how old your kids are, if you're going to have a child soon, depending on stages of life, I think women need more money to feel a little bit more secure. So maybe that $1,000, you bump it up to $1,500. Maybe you put a little bit more in the emergency fund for her to have that. And then as you guys are looking to pay off your debt, how much debt do you have?

Around $54,000. Okay. What's your take-home pay? Our take-home pay every two weeks is around $2,400. Okay. Okay. So what I would say is to map that out and show her visually, hey, here's the plan of getting out of debt. And we're going to be able to be out

of debt in whatever that is for you guys, 12 months, 18 months and show her the end. Cause I think seeing the end of the lie and knowing that that fully funded emergency fund is coming sooner is going to give her that safety. So it's just, I think one other thing you can do is she's not involved enough in the budget.

Her vote has not been solid in the budget. Her vote has not been solid in the budget, and the budget has not been solid where every dollar had an assignment and you were both in complete agreement. And if it's wrong, we can come back and change it kind of a thing. And so what happened was she got hit with the unexpected expense, and instead of running back to the budget where she felt like she had a vote and the two of you could change it to cover those expenses, she hid it on a credit card. And so if she feels more secure in her ability to, you two working together on this budget

and even changing it if something unexpected comes up, you can go back and change the budget. But if she had felt open to do that, she wouldn't have slipped around and done the credit card. And that tells me that her vote right now in her mind is not counting. And it also tells me you guys aren't doing the budget completely. You're kind of making a swath at it instead of every dollar has a name. So get that app out. Because even in the budget, there's going to be a miscellaneous category that is those catch-alls. So that's a little bit of the safety net month to month.

That gives you security if you see how everything is going to be covered. And if something pops up, I can come in and have another discussion. That's a level of security. That's right. That'll help her feel secure. So, Rachel, thanks for dropping by. Rachel Cruz Show, another video series dropped on YouTube this week. The podcast coming on the 21st.

And she'll be speaking all over the place in February. So check it all out at DaveRamsey.com and RachelCruz.com. Thanks for coming by. Yeah, thanks for having me on. Hey guys, this is Blake Thompson, Senior Executive Producer

of The Dave Ramsey Show. Did you know over 15 million people listen to The Dave Ramsey Show every week? And a lot of those people listen to one of over 600 radio stations across the country. To find a station near you, head to DaveRamsey.com slash show.