The Ramsey Show - App - When It Comes to Building Wealth, Be the Tortoise, Not the Hare (Hour 2)

Episode Date: May 12, 2023

Dr. John Delony & George Kamel answer your questions and discuss: "We're out of work and our creditors won't work with us" "What's the best way to build a new home?" "Should I put 40k into my house?" "Can I turn $100k into $1m?" "Should I rent my house out or sell it?" 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

Девочка-пай Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the pods moving in storage studio, it's the Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. I'm John Deloney, joined here by George Camel. We are taking your calls on just about anything. Money, your retirement, your mental health, your marriage, parenting, whatever you got going on. The nonsense going on in schools.

Whatever is on your heart and mind, give us a shout. 888-825-5225. It's 888-825-5-2-2-5. And George and I, George, we were just talking off air. I know this is going to date the show, but listen. It's Friday. You got two days till Mother's Day.

Two days. If you're listening to this live, I hope your heart just stopped. Get on the phone. Make it happen. And if you're listening to this while you're mowing the lawn on Saturday, you've got less than 24 phone. Make it happen. And if you're listening to this while you're mowing the lawn on Saturday, you've got less than 24 hours. Make it happen. Don't phone it in. Please, guys. Don't phone it in. Do something special. It's Mother's Day.

For crying out loud. Alright, let's go out to Catherine in Santa Fe, New Mexico. One of my favorite places in the world. What's up, Catherine? Hi, John and George. Thank you for taking my call. One question. My husband and I have been out of work since September last year, and it's getting a little tight right now. And so we called our creditors to be proactive and ask them, can we be on a program paying less over a period of time? We've had two that will not work with us. What can we do? I'm so confused. You're telling me for nine months, there was zero jobs that would hire you guys? In the single hottest job market in the history of the United States? I just don't buy it, Catherine. I really

want to believe you. How? What happened? Hey, I called for advice not to be given a value. Well, the advice is go to work and you're telling me you can't work. I had a car accident two years ago. I had a car accident two years ago. I'm not able to, and that's as far as I'll go there. And my husband's in the tech industry, and there's millions of people that have been laid off in all of those industries. He's looking for work outside of his industry,

but I'm just asking you, what would be possible? Are there any rules or laws or considerations for a company that you owe money to, credit card, so on, that will not allow you to make arrangements? No. I mean, they make arrangements when they think they're not going to get paid and they start to grasp what they've got. They'll take what they can get. But they'll also sue you. Because we have every intention to pay right along. Of course.

But they're going to be thinking. So here's the deal. They're going to be thinking the exact same thing that George and I just thought. And so I know there's going to be extenuating circumstances there's going to be hey what about this what about this but their first question is going to be our first question which is hey george and i both have families if we get laid off in our sector and there's no job i'm going to start mowing lawns and i'm going to start driving for uber and i'm going to start driving for amazon i know you can't do that

because you've got some some some outside of the bell curve challenges. But what I'm saying is, man, they're just going to say, hey, you signed up to borrow money from us and you said you'd pay us back in these times and we're waiting for you to pay us back. So I don't know of any legal requirements for any creditors to work with you outside of these special mandates like

the government made during COVID. Like they can't evict you or they can't do X, Y, and Z. I don't know of anything like that. I mean, there's some things they can't do legally, like call you outside of certain hours, harass you, things like that, but they're legally allowed to collect the money and they can sue you for that money. And so you can tell them, I'd be proactive with them and say, listen, we have no income right now. We'd love to pay you something. We can't do that right now.

How bad is the debt situation? Well, we owe about $60,000 in debt with various companies, including your car payment and so on. And we're not one to just buy, buy, buy. We only have one car at this point. After the accident, we did not replace my car. And so, um, they paid off the loan. They did not, it did not cover our down that we paid on the car. Um, but it did cover, it did cover the loan. Uh, so, so, so that was good. And we're renting and, uh, um, we're, we started something on the side here trying to be

proactive, but my husband, you know, I had a really great job, um, in his sector and I think age is part of it. He's 65 and plays a role and there's all these, um, he interviews really well. He gets right to the top and we think the bean counter says, Oh, there's a lot of people out there to choose from. So, um. So we are being proactive and we have put things in place to create something on our own. I was just wondering if there's something you could say to a creditor, you know, hey, and we keep saying we fully intend to pay, we just would like to pay a little less for, you know, like four or five months or something. That's what we're asking. Yeah. If you've called and made that call and asked them to work,

because I mean, what you're doing is you're appealing to grace. Will you please help us out? And they said, they've said, no, we won't help you out. And every one of them is going to say,

well, just don't pay the others. You pay us. And then the next one's going to say, well, I don't care about your car payment and your whatever payment you pay me because I loaned you money. And so, yeah, it's just going to go around.

It's going to go around and around like that. How short are you? Do you have any income coming in whatsoever? Social security. Okay. How much is that a month? So we're a couple thousand dollars short a month. How much is that social security every month?

So how are you covering the difference 4,500 4,500 okay and your expenses are more than that um our house which is rental is 2,500 a month oof is there anywhere cheaper you can move in the area like away like not in the Santa Fe area. Well, we... Let me rephrase that. You can't afford to live in Santa Fe. Yeah, it's so expensive.

It is eating up too much of the little income you guys have right now. And it's going to be super hard to pay off debt when, you know, 60, 70% of your income is going towards housing. Here's my big fear, Catherine, is that they're going to come take your one car away. They're going to repo it. We're not late on anything yet.

Do you have other debts outside of the collections? We're not in trouble yet. We're just trying to make arrangements. And we know, you know, because at this point we were really hoping with all these interviews that we got so far with each one that we would have a job at any time. And that's been since September. So it's become evident we have to do something now. Can he go drive for Uber Eats, DoorDash, deliver for Amazon, do anything? He's applied, actually, for all those types of places.

He's applied as a customer service person at a Best Buy and et cetera, et cetera. But the fact that for nine months no one has hired him, I just can't believe that in this job market, even for the side gig economy. Well, there's so many people that are out of work. We thought it wouldn't be an issue. And so when he said, when my husband said, well, I'm going to go outside of my industry. I'm going to have to go outside of my industry. And he's been applying steady for multiple jobs a day, anything that comes up.

And he's gotten interviews. I mean, he even applied for a manager at Billard. You know, anything at all that he could do that would just sustain us for this period of time. Well, it sounds like he's noble. He's going down swinging. I think, as George said, the harder conversation is, because it may be that Santa Fe, that work is really tight right now,

but it's bananas in other markets. It may be time to have a really hard conversation about we can't afford to live here right now, and there is no work. 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 healthcare costs. CHM programs start as low as $98 a month. So learn more today and join at chministries.org slash budget at chministries.org slash budget. What is up? This is the Ramsey Show, 888-825-5225. I'm John Deloney, joined by George Campbell.

We're taking your calls on life and money, relationships, mental health, whatever you got going on. Listen, if you're planning a move sometime soon, that's fantastic. I'm excited for you, but I got to be honest as well. In most places around the country, you'll still be facing high home prices and interest rates aren't just running back to their record lows, but that doesn't make home ownership impossible. If you want to buy or sell, you've got to make sure you're financially ready and you have to have a trusted and experienced real estate agent to walk you through it. Not a family friend who just got their license last month and not Bill's brother's

Dan's sister's grandma who he knows at church who just don't do it. Don't do it. Don't get with somebody. The real estate is just a part-time hobby that you don't know. You need a pro who's a true expert in their local market and knows how to negotiate a strong deal. You can find high caliber Ramsey trusted agents like that through our endorsed local provider program. And since we vet agents from around the country, you'll have the best support, whether you're moving from Florida to Alaska or buying your first home somewhere in between. Go to ramsesolutions.com slash agent to find a Ramsey trusted real estate agent today. That's ramseysolutions.com slash agent. And our question of the day is brought to you by

Neighborly, your hub for home services. Here in Tennessee, we have mosquitoes the size of George Camel, but Neighborly's trusted service brands like Mosquito Joe help make sure anyone, even in the South, can enjoy their backyard all summer. Go to Neighborly.com to find providers near you. I've been told I'm just as annoying as mosquitoes, so that's a good analogy. You took that one. I'm just saying

they're as big as you, but I think you're much, much more lovely. Thank you. I'd love to spend a campfire with you way more than George-sized mosquitoes. I appreciate that. Well, today's question comes from Sandra in New Mexico. She asks, we've sold our home of 20 years at a great profit. We currently have $150,000 in the bank.

Should we take out a construction loan to build our home and then put down a great down payment or use our savings, then do a construction loan for the balance? We want to make the smartest decision. We already own the land and have no other debt. Great question. So construction loans are short-term loans that you would use to build the home. They have higher interest rates. And so that's not a fun part. And so if I'm in your shoes, I would take the construction loan now for the shorter term while the house is being built and then convert it to the conventional 15-year fixed with that great down payment. So you take out a construction

loan to make sure the GC and the construction company gets paid. And then once you have all shaken hands, this is the home and you move into it, you then roll that into, or do you convert? What's the conversion process? Do you know? It would just convert to a conventional loan. Okay. Yeah. And I would stick with the 15-year fixed. So that's the big question here. There's so many details we don't know to give you great advice, but make sure that once all this is said and done, that down payment will get you to the spot where you can do a 15-year fixed rate mortgage where their payment is no more than a quarter of your

take-home pay. That will help you dictate if now is the time to begin this process. And that, I'll tell you this, I had some weird, not quite this many different variables, but when I bought my home, this is my first time buying land and all that. When I called Churchill and they walked me through, it was refinancing it. They started the conversation with, we are not going to take your money if it's not great for you, right? And I knew right then I'm good, right?

So we sat down and worked through all the details. What about this? How about this? Is this the best way to do it? So calling our buddies over at Churchill, getting down with an EL, sitting down with an ELP, they're going to give you the real data. And the best part is they're not going to take advantage of you. Right. They're going to do the best thing for you. So there's, like you said, there's so many nuances here. So many variables that we don't know the answer to how big of a house are they trying to build? How long, like all that kind of stuff. So sit down with a Churchill mortgage person

or sit down with an ELP and walk through all the numbers. Yeah, I think that's fantastic. Alright, let's run out to North Bay, Ontario, Canada and talk to Jake. Jake. Jake. What's up, Jake? Hey, how's it going, guys? We're partying, man. What are you up to? Good, good.

I'll keep it short and sweet here. First-time homebuyer. Seller wanted $120K. Gave him a final offer of $86,500. He took it. I'm looking to put $40K into my starter home, wondering if it's a good idea. Whoa. They have homes that cheap in Canada?

They do. I live on the north point of Lake Superior in a pretty remote area, but they do. You can find them if you work hard enough. Okay. So you landed the deal at 86.5. Do you have the cash for that or are you taking out a mortgage? I actually, I'm sitting in the house right now as we're talking. I took out a mortgage for it. Okay. So what's on the mortgage? So it's 4% fixed for five years over 25 years. It's 86, five. I got a pre, uh, pre-purchase improvement plan from the lender. So my mortgage is for 105,000. When I put 22 K worth of renovations into my home, they'll cut me a check for 22 grand.

Whoa, that's complicated. Okay. so you did an adjustable rate mortgage? That's a good question. All I know is it's right now. The way you explained that, you said for a certain number of years, you said 20 over 5? Yeah, so 4.8 for five years? Oh, Jake, don't do that. You got an ARM, man. Don't do that.

Okay, well. The ARM, it's mortgage for, you just got screwed. We got you. Okay, go ahead. It means the interest rate's going to jack up. Okay. So if I'm in your shoes, when you could and when it makes sense financially and you can ROI on it, refinance to a conventional loan.

Okay. But aside from that, you're saying you want to put another 40 out of your own money into this house? I do. On top of the extra 22? That is correct. Okay. What's your income? Myself and my girlfriend clear 125 grand a year. Oh boy. Is she on this mortgage? No, she's just a girlfriend, not a wife. So this is all my responsibility. Is she, is she, she's not on the deed either paying into it though? Nope. She, she refuses to not, she does give me money. Uh, she doesn't have to, I never asked for it, but right now it's just my house. I know, but just know this one day, she's going to go, Hey, I've been paying into this thing for half of this thing.

And if y'all break up, that's going to be a mess, man. Well, we have been together for almost four years now, and the plan is marriage down the line. I know, I know, I know. And I'm not throwing shade at your relationship. Just know that George and I only have jobs because people end up in situations that nobody planned for. So our world, most of our lives is we're

together forever and then that's our that's that's what we deal with all day every day okay so not throwing shade at you guys y'all may be great um i'm nervous about you basically doubling what you have into a house from what you bought it for. Okay. Meaning you would be, you bought it for 86, which means, let's just pretend, that's about what you would sell it for, and you want to put another 60 into it. I do.

It is the only house on this block that hasn't sold for under 200, if that means anything to you. What was wrong with it? Basically, a guy in town bought too many houses thinking he was going to rent them out. Renters went in, barely got any money out of them, wrecked the house a little bit, and I came to him with an offer and he took it. How sure are you that $60,000 is going to get this thing in tip-top shape and make it a $200,000

house? I'd say about 95%. Okay. And you're going to cashflow this extra 40? That is correct. And so this, we're talking over a long period of time. What's your income? I make 95, I clear 95 a year. Okay. Do you have any other debt? I have a truck. I owe 30 on it and that's it. Okay. And do you have an emergency fund? I do. About 20 Gs in the bank. Awesome.

Okay. So my A1 before you start renovating this house is let's get rid of that truck payment. Okay. Because right now that is an ankle biter that's stealing from your ability to cash flow these renovations. Let me tell you, like, mathematically, I mean, George and I can't argue with you if you think it's going to sell for this, or I think it's worth that or whatever. I think you're probably overestimating how much it would sell for, but we don't have to debate that. I'm going to tell you what I would do in your situation. I would take that 40K, I'd pay my car off. I'd have 10K. I would start paying that mortgage off as fast as humanly possible.

And I would zero that thing out in 24 to 36 months. And then I would save up that other 60 grand and put whatever you want into the house and use this over the long term, man. Yeah, make it livable for now until you're completely debt free. Then we can go hog wild and have some fun with the renovations. That's what I would do in my own home. That's the best advice I can give you right now. We'll be right back. Triple A, 825-5225.

This is the Ramsey Show. Let's go out to Dallas, Texas and talk to Nathan. What's up, brother Nathan? How we doing? Good. How are y'all? Outstanding, man. What's up?

Yeah, I just have a question. My company is offering to match 3% of my salary and put it into a simple IRA, and I didn't know if I should do all 15% into there or 12 into a Roth and do the 3% for the simple. Okay. So the simple is a traditional? It's not Roth? Yes. Okay. So in that case, I would take the 3% match and then move to the Roth IRA and then fully fund that. And if you still don't hit 15%, you can go back to the simple IRA. Okay. Okay. So I'll give you the investing strategy that's easy to remember. Match beats Roth beats traditional.

So match always comes first because it's a 100% return. Then Roth, because we want to see that money grow tax-free because we already paid taxes on it. Then traditional would be the third option once you run out of Roth options. Okay. So just go ahead and put all 15% of my salary into the simple. Well, you said the simple is not Roth. Yes. Correct? Yes.

It's not. It's not Roth. Yes. Correct? Yes. It's not. It's not Roth. Okay. So just do up to the match and then open a Roth IRA if you're eligible for that and max that out. That's exactly what I was asking.

Okay. Yeah. All right. Way to go, man. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Absolutely. You got it, man.

Let's go out to Washington, D.C. and talk to John. What's up, John? How we doing, man? How's it going, man? I'm pretty good. Pretty good. Excellent. What's up? to Washington, D.C. and talk to John. What's up, John? How we doing, man? How's it going, man? Pretty good, pretty good. Excellent. What's up?

I had a question. So I'm 19. What would you do if you had $100K and you wanted to invest that and turn that into a million? By when? 25. You want to make $900,000 in six years on an investment? Well, I'm... It's just a question.

I'm not angry. I'm just truly wondering. So what's the actual goal there of, like, I want to have a million bucks by 26? So right now, I work for a company where I sell roofs through insurance companies, and I make pretty decently. I was wondering how can I start at my own type of situation

where then I can invest in other things and gain passive income from those with assets. Oh, okay. You've been on the TikTok, haven't you? Not really. I try to avoid social media. Ah, good for you, man. You've been on the TikTok, haven't you? Not really. I try to avoid social media. Ah, good for you, man. Good for you. So, well, I heard the word passive income and assets, and I went, okay, here we go.

This guy's been listening to somebody. So this idea of passive income is actually a myth. It's so much harder than it looks, and almost nobody can actually achieve it. And so do you actually have $100,000? I have about $30,000 right now. Okay. And is that all the money to your name? Liquid, yeah.

Do you have any debt? No. You are crushing it, my man. 19 years old with $30,000, no debt. This is a great starting point. So I'm going to call, how much of that would would you call a six month emergency fund? All of it, all of it's in the last six months. But I mean the 30K, would you say 20K is a fully funded emergency fund for you? What do you mean fully funded emergency fund?

Three to six months of expenses. If you added what, what one month of expenses are times six. Um, that would probably be like two, 3K. I don't really spend much. Okay. So let's call it 20K is your fully funded emergency fund. You've got 10K to play around with. And then do you have any investing options through your employer currently? No.

No, I don't. Okay. So you're on your own for investing. Yeah. So the first place I would go is open a Roth IRA, and I would fully fund that. That's going to be about $6,500. Okay.

So you could do that, and the end goal is start investing 15% of your income because we still have other things we've got to do with our life. We've got to go on vacation. We've got to upgrade the car. You want to be a homeowner one day? Yeah, of course. No, I'm looking at that next year. So then we got to save up a down payment. So we can't do everything all at once. And so I love 15% as a starting point because it allows us to focus on other goals, like saving up that down payment. So I love the goal

of like, I want to be a millionaire one day, but the idea that I'm going to turn a hundred thousand into a million six years from now, that tells me you're more likely to lose it than you are to gain anything yeah because most of the strategies involved to turn money that quickly involve a lot of risk that i'm not comfortable with or drugs you could go to vegas today just put it on black and hope for the best right Right. Hey, so we did the largest study of millionaires ever done in North America. And the result of that is Dave Ramsey's bestselling book, Baby Steps Millionaires. Hang on the line here. I'm going to send you a free copy of the book.

And I want you to work through it. And also, I'm going to send you his bestselling book that sold millions and millions of copies called the total money makeover. And I want you to read them back to back. And here's the thing. What you're going to find in these books is they're very, very simple and they are also not gimmicky. And you're going to go,

are you kidding me? It sounds like I'm talking to like my great grandma and you are because nothing in this book is is not common sense and what george and i have a ringside seat um every day of our life is people who try to outsmart math and they try to outsmart common sense and they end up broke and broke and broke or they got four rental properties that they have on adjustable rate mortgages and they're like i'm cash flowing baby and they are one frog's hair from losing everything okay so here's our goal i want you to be a multi multi-millionaire because i want you to have a great business

and be a great leader and be obnoxiously generous in your local community. That's the guy that I want to see before me. I need a good roofer in my community like you, but I want you to get there smart and I want you to get there slow and I want you to build wisdom and strength along the way. So hang on the line here and we'll get you squared up, brother. We'll get you taken care of. Let's go out to Joanna in Atlanta. What's up, Joanna? How we doing? Hi, how are you guys doing, John and George? Awesome. Hey, we are up against the clock. So hop right into your question. Okay. So I am relocating for a job and I decided to sell my house, but talking to people, they are urging me that I should rent. My question is, am I crazy for wanting to sell my house to get my debt paid

off? Where are you moving? I'm moving to Dallas, Texas. And what are they telling you to do? These people. Oh, like people around me, they're saying that I should rent out my house. So they want you to have two mortgages? Well, I'll be renting when I go to Texas. Okay. How much debt do you have? So all together with my house. Just consumer debt outside of the mortgage? About $88,000 between student loan and my car. Okay, and selling this house will allow you to be completely debt-free with money left over? Yes.

What profit do you think you'd get from selling the house? So it's in the process now with taxes and fees out of the way. It'll be close to about $95,000, $90,000 to $95,000. Awesome. And how much money do you have in the bank? About $3,000. Okay. So this would clear your debt and give you a few thousand bucks left over?

Yes. That's amazing. I would do this tomorrow. Okay. Yeah, I don't know why these people get a vote in your life. And the reason they're telling you it's crazy is because they're looking at all these TikToks and Instagrams going, Oh my gosh, passive income from rentals is awesome. You know what they're not thinking about?

Joanna trying to be a long-distance landlord from Dallas to Atlanta. And now the HVAC broke and she doesn't have the money to cover it, and now she's freaking out about how she's going to deal with this. You've got to call some sketchy somebody and be like, hey, you take care of it? They're like, yeah, and they just sent somebody over there

who duct-taped it. The question you need to ask yourself is, you're in Atlanta right now. Would you buy a rando rental property in South Carolina? No. No. And so if you put yourself in Dallas and think, would I just buy a random house in Atlanta and try to manage it long distance? You would never do that. Listen, in a few months, you're going to be in Dallas, Texas, and you're not going to owe anyone anything. You're going to build up that emergency fund, save up for the

down payment. You're going to move slow and do fund, save up for the down payment, you're going to move slow and do it with a whole lot of peace and a whole lot of wisdom, and you're going to ignore all those other voices. You're free, Joanna. You're free. Congratulations. Congratulations. This is The Ramsey Show. What's going on? This is The Ramsey Show. 888-825-5225 i know you're driving there and you

have a question about your marriage you have a question about your mental health you get a question about your money getting out of debt make the call 888-825-52. Let's go out to Eliza in Raleigh, North Carolina. What's up, Eliza? Hi. Thanks for taking my call. Of course. Thanks for calling. What's happening?

So I got married in January. Gross. Do you like him? I do like him. All right. We're in. So my husband and I are going through Financial Peace University right now. And we're about halfway through.

He's not sold on the $1,000 emergency fund. He thinks we need a $3,000 emergency fund. And like, I don't see that big of a difference between the two. Um, and so I'm like, is this something that I should fight him on? Is my question. How much money do you guys have right now? Well, we have lots of money from our wedding. So we just, um, put a bunch of it towards our, um, well, my student loans. Um, but in the bank, we, we had the $3,000 emergency fund plus like, I don't know, like maybe $2,000 for expenses right now. Okay. So you have about 5,000 bucks to your name.

How much debt do you have? Um, well, we, we did just pay off a bunch. So now it's, um, about $190,000. Most of it is student loans. What's the other types? And then it's his truck loan, which he's working on selling his truck right now. Cool. So that'll clear some debt.

Eliza, you married well. Good job. What's the household income? Thank you. We are right now about $120,000. Okay, so let's play this out. You have a $3,000 emergency fund because he wants it. The HVAC goes out. It's $6,000.

What happens now? It's not enough, right? Right. And so the point of the $1,000 emergency fund was never to cover the emergencies because $1,500 is not enough. $2,000, $3,000 is not enough. We know that. The point of it is to light a fire under you to get out of debt faster because you are

not safe with $190,000 worth of debt. Whether you have $1,000 in the bank or $3,000 or $10,000, there is no safety until we get to debt freedom. When somebody says, hey, it freaks me out to only have $1,000, we say, good. Or I won't be able to sleep if all I have is $1,000 in the bank. Good. Because you are running for your life. Because one sideways thing and you're going to lose everything. That's the point. The point is, you know, that's what gazelle intensity is. There's a lion chasing you trying to kill you.

That's a debt. So the sentiment, we totally get it. And, Eliza, I mean, I'm with your husband. I mean, the thought of only having $1,000, that feels insane to me. I totally get it. Totally get it. He's not crazy. It's just like George says, to light a fire.

It'll make you do things like sell a truck, even though you love that truck so much, right? He does love that truck. So what caused him to go sell a truck, even though you love that truck so much, right? He does love that truck. So what caused him to go sell the truck? Well, we talked about it a few times, and then eventually it was his idea. So that's where you have to work it, I guess. So that's where you need to get to. You said it like a great wife. Let's get the $1,000 emergency fund to be his idea.

And then he'll be like, oh my gosh, Eliza, this is genius. I talked to him a few times times and suddenly it was his idea. Well done, Eliza. That's outstanding. Yeah. You guys said you're going through Financial Peace University? Yeah, we're about halfway through right now. Nice. And it's not quite clicking with him yet. He's hung up on the thousand bucks. i i mean i haven't like really brought it up more than a couple times i kind of have let it go but i think that's a good point that you made that it's it's supposed to be scary it is how soon if y'all mapped out like if you really just get b-a-n-a-n-a-s about this how how how long is it gonna take you to pay it off yeah i think um what we're calculated at like

three or four years right now but i um am hopefully very soon getting a big increase um i'm leaving a residency and starting a real job um as a veterinarian so i was gonna say what what yeah you you ran up some bills so this is going to be the real deal, Holyfield. You're going to make some good money, huh? Right. Yes. Excellent. So think about this. This is what we say. If you have an emergency that's over $1,000, here's what you do. You pause the baby steps, you continue making minimum payments, and you cashflow the expense. Making $120,000, could you cashflow a $2,000 emergency in a given month? Absolutely. Yeah.

And that lets me sleep at night. I go, oh, okay. I guess we're fine after all. Now, if there was a $40,000 emergency, we wouldn't be able to cover that anyways. So make sure you have good insurance in place across the board, homeowners, auto, health, all those things to avoid the big ones. But for the ankle biters, realistically, when people follow our plan, they go, oh, yeah, it was those little $200 emergencies that were getting us.

So, Eliza, are you going to open up a shingle, or are you going to go work with a group? So I'll be working for like a company. I'm a poultry veterinarian, actually. Oh. I literally had an issue with it. John's been looking for one. Yes, I had an issue with one of my chickens. I didn't know you y'all exist. Poultry vets. Yes. That's incredible. Yeah. So I want to be, um, a commercial poultry vet. So basically I'd be the one making sure that the,

the chicken or the Turkey that you're eating has a good life and then is safe for you to eat. God bless, Eliza. You just restored my faith in humanity, and it was growing very thin. Way to go, Eliza. So, hey, here's the thing, though. Can I – will you make me a promise? Yes.

You're going to get this salary, and it's going to double if not more and your colleagues who have similar jobs are going to be driving way nicer cars than you and they are going to say what are you doing if you can hold the line and continue to run through the baby steps continue to get out of debt when when you get this increase, the return on those few years that you were just had to hang your head and your colleagues were like, what are you doing? And your clients were like, that looks like an 04 Camry. And you're like, that's what I'm talking about, right? If you can hold the line there, you are setting you and your husband up for a completely transformed family tree. But I

want you to know it's going to be hard. You're going to be driving and it's going to be hot and you're going to be going to some turkey farm and you're going to be in a bad mood and your air conditioner is going to break and you're just going to be like, I make too much money to be... Hang in there. Do you promise?

I promise. We did it. That's a win, John. That's a huge, huge win. So this is interesting. You guys did this awesome labor crisis event, and one of the speakers on there was Michael Easter of the comfort crisis. And I just keep thinking with a $1,000 emergency fund, everyone wants to be comfortable.

I'd just be more comfortable if I had $3,000. Yet I'm okay having $100,000 in debt with 1500 payments coming out my ears but ah John the emergency just we're so scared of being uncomfortable when it comes to doing the hard things and the right things it uncomfortable doing the the right thing right and I think it all started from a good place we all learned we got more technology and we were able to be a little more comfortable and a little more comfortable and i love leather seats and cars and i really love air conditioning but all of a sudden when we begin to solve for comfort anything uncomfortable became bad and something we had to fix not something that was good that we had to head into right because it makes us stronger on

the back end it solves generational issues if we do a couple of years of discomfort, right? Michael Easter's book, The Comfort Crisis, it's a masterpiece. Everybody should have it in their library. I read it and I gave it to my 12-year-old son the next day and I was like, this is your next book. He's like, oh, come on, dad. Nope, you will read this book. Actually, he was 11. I need to read it. It's been on the list because here's the thing. I've got the copy of my, you can borrow mine. My wife and I did a getaway. We had heated tile floors in the bathroom of this getaway, John. And I went back home and stepped on my cold tile floor. And I was like, oh, it's so uncomfortable. And I went, oh my gosh, I'm the worst person. I'm going to give you that book

before the day is over, George, before the day is over. Hey, that's another hour in the books. I want to thank the gang in the booth and George and his heated tile floors. Listen, America, build a non-anxious life. Pay off your debts. Get connected. Give recklessly and seek peace. We'll be back soon. Do you love a good day, Brandt?

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