The Ramsey Show - App - You Can't Do The Same Things And Expect Different Results (Hour 3)

Episode Date: February 20, 2024

Девочка-пай Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's The Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create amazing relationships. I'm George Campbell, joined by Rachel Cruz this hour. We are both co-hosts of Smart Money Happy Hour as well. So it's a real treat to be on the big show, as we call it here on The Ramsey Show. 888-825-5225. Michael kicks us off in Montgomery, Alabama. What's going on, Michael? Yes, hello.

I am 22 years old, and I am currently just about a week ago got accepted to Auburn University, and I'm going to get my history education degree, my social science degree, to be specific. Cool. And I completed two years at a community college because it was better financially that way. Smart man. So great. Cool. Yep. Smart man. So great. What will you be doing um 9th through 12th would be my ideal for teaching a history teacher yes cool okay what's your question today my question stands is I don't know when I become expected to take out some sort of student loans. That's the only way I would be able to pay back that student debt and also try to like make something

in the future as a family that came from like no money I don't have that experience of with anybody to talk to about how to do that Michael have you applied for any scholarships um I have applied for some scholarships, yes. I currently have a 3.4 GPA. So I actually got an email from my advisors to apply for scholarships. Okay. What's this going to cost, this last bit of schooling? I don't have an exact number. I have their calculator pulled up that tells me an amount, and it is estimating somewhere around 35 right now. For the remainder to graduate?

Yeah. Yes, for the total degree. I mean, Auburn isn't exactly the cheapest school around. No. So I'm just looking at all of the options to help you go to school debt-free. And here's the reason. You asked us, how do I create wealth? One of the keys to create wealth is to get out of debt and stay out of debt. And right now we're going backwards. We're taking a step back, and you're hoping to take a few steps forward once you're working. And I hope you make 60 out of college teaching.

I was going to say, is that a realistic? I don't know what a high school history teacher makes in your area, but I would do some homework on that. Because 40 to 60, that's a big swing, Michael. That's $20,000 difference. So I would know the ROI on that. And what I would do, Michael, if I were you, even though it's so exciting,

and I think you've been so smart, Michael, up until this point. I mean, you did the community college route, got your prereqs done. I mean, that's so wise. And then that's what we always say. And then you can transfer to a larger state school if that's where you want to actually graduate from. But I would do is I would still shop around. I mean, I would apply for other schools in Alabama. The issue with wanting to look at different schools is my dad isn't in the best of health and Auburn's like 15 minutes from my house. So that was the reason

is I can still take care of him and be able to go to school at the same time. I know it's not the cheapest school. There's other schools out there that will be able to- Are you the caregiver? Are you his caregiver? Yes.

You are, you are, okay, okay. So I wouldn't be able to go farther away. Have you looked at an online option anywhere to get this degree? I've looked at Troy's online program, and they're really expensive as well. I haven't went really too far into it. Okay. I would price out some colleges, public colleges. I would not go private, for online

degrees and see what you can do because you, I mean, you being your dad's caregiver, that's a big piece of this puzzle, right? Where's your mom in this situation? They're divorced. Okay. And what kind of health, what kind of situation is he in

health-wise? It's just me and him and it's a two-bedroom oh i'm sorry uh what what is his health condition that you have to be um his caregiver i thought you said health oh yeah sorry no you're fine um uh he had a work accident in the 90s that left him like with a broken neck and stuff and he has like severe issues recovering from that okay is he on disability yes okay okay yeah so him being on disability has been major for me as far as community college because I haven't had to pay a dime for my community college yet well and, and Michael, honestly, your situation, I mean, I would look in because there's grants, there's scholarships.

I mean, there's plans that you can actually go into because of your current situation. And I would because, I mean, you're a caregiver at 22 years old. And so, yeah, what I would do is either do online or find a way where you can do school at Auburn and work at the same time. To cash flow. And cash flow it. And even if that means you have to maybe pause a semester, and I know you just got in and it's so exciting,

but maybe you say, hey, I'm going to start back in January and I'm going to take the next nine months and work and save up some money and apply for scholarships and really get this handle, Michael, because if you are able to figure out a way to cashflow this money through working, through school choice, and through scholarships and grants,

and then you graduate and you automatically are making $40,000 to 50,000 up to 60 is what you said, but I mean, you're gonna be able to do so much with that income to be able to save quickly for a house. You're going to be able to invest. You're going to be able to really jumpstart this wealth building process is why you called is how do I create this wealth?

And like George said earlier, it's not going deeper in the hole. So I know this is it's not the standard approach people take when it comes to college, but we've seen so much disaster when it comes to the student loan whole thing in this country. And it's just it's just um it's just held people back and if you can make smart decisions now michael which you have up until this point i mean i just want to applaud you've done such a great job um if you can keep at that it's going to be hard work but when you can graduate on a foundation a solid financial foundation versus a financial hole you're going to be able to just to run so much faster as a young, you know, in your early 20s. While I was in community college and in high

school, I was a radio station intern. And I'm hoping that I could get, use those like two, three years of experience as an intern to push and maybe get some sort of job that would pay a decent amount while I'm going to school and all that, because there's a bunch of radio stations there. For sure. No, that's a great idea, Michael. And I know some of our guys in the booth, they all worked in the radio industry, and I think your early hours, Ben, late hours pay more, possibly?

Yeah. So, I don't know. So, get creative with it, too, if you can, Michael, to really grind it. This is the time to grind it out. And I would do it. But you're smart and we are cheering you on. And as a guy who graduated from a school in Alabama with $36,000 in student loan debt, Michael, I'm telling you, I see your future.

It's too bright. Don't do what I did. I have a lot of regret and it slowed me down by years to where I could be with my wealth. So best of luck, my friend. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm George Campbell, joined by Rachel Cruz. If you're looking for something fun to do this year, join us for our brand new event called Total Money Makeover Weekend right here in Nashville, Tennessee, up the hill from our headquarters at the new Ramsey Event Center.

It's May 10th and 11th, and this is going to be an incredible weekend. We're going to give you a crash course on everything we teach about money. You're going to hear from every single Ramsey personality, Dave Ramsey, Jade Warshaw, Ken Coleman, Dr. John Deloney, Rachel Cruz, myself. And this is going to be something different. It's going to be very interactive. There's a lot of Q&As. We're switching up the event content. And so no matter what baby step you're on, this is going to be an event that will light a fire under you. Whether you're in baby step one or seven, you're going to walk away with some hope and it'll be a good time. So early bird tickets start at just 99 bucks, but it's a limited time only. So if you want the best deal

on tickets, this is it. We only can fit 2,400 up in that event center. So don't miss out. Start putting this in the budget. Get the transportation locked in, the flights, the hotels, and make it a fun weekend here in Nashville, May 10th and 11th. Get your tickets now at ramseysolutions.com slash events. And Smart Money Happy Hour Live, Rachel, on Friday night.

I know. As part of Total Money Makeover on friday night i know as part of total money makeover weekend so if you ever want to witness the whole weekend so your words not mine don't miss it it's gonna be great it'll be a great time and uh that's part of the event so you're not paying extra to be part of the live studio audience and this event you guys you you i feel like people don't always realize the power of being in a room with 2,000 like-minded people. And Nashville is obviously a great destination city to come to. But being part of something like this for a weekend, it refuels you. I don't want to say it's life-changing, but it can be the start of life change.

You can look back and say, that was the moment. That was the event we said. We hear that from so many people. And even people out here, you know, when we meet people in the lobby as we're doing this show. Well, I went to this live event in Minneapolis. Or I was at that live event that you guys did in Cincinnati. Or I was here. It is the thing that kind of just jumpstarts you.

And it's a full experience. And it's great just to dive in. And we're going to do all new money content. But wherever you are on the baby steps, come hang out. And then also, John Deloney and I are doing a money and marriage weekend in October. Oh, that's right.

Yeah. And those tickets are at Ramsey solutions.com as well. So that was a really fun packed weekend. So come hang out with us. You know, we're lots of opportunities having some open weekends for you guys. Come party. Some of y'all need to plan a trip.

Some of y'all in baby step seven, you still got that tight grip on all your money. You're used to debt payoff. Enjoy it. Make a trip out of it. Come see us. All right. Sarah is in Toledo, Ohio. Up next, Sarah, welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hi. Thanks for taking my call. I'm so excited. Sure. How can we help? So I'm getting married in June, and my fiance and I are starting to look at how to set up a budget together and just kind of set ourselves up for success in that way once we're married. And we're just wondering how it works since my income is so hit and miss. So, I'm a full-time wedding photographer, and I've been full-time for almost two years now.

I pay myself anywhere from $1K a month to $10K a month after my business expenses. My total income last year through my business was $40K, but my fiance makes a steady $65K a year. So how can we set up a budget since my income varies so much? All right. So let's pretend that this is post-wedding day. You guys have combined finances. You have one bank account and we're working on our first budget together. Yep. All right. So what you're going to do with a regular income, this is important for anyone who has a regular income, commission jobs, sales jobs, you name it, seasonal jobs. What you're going to do is basically create a prioritized spending plan. So just like everyone else, you're going to list your income for that month, what you think it'll be. And if it changes, that's great. And

most people have kind of a baseline, like you, your worst month is going to be 1K. So list that plus your husband's income. And then below that, you'll have all of your expenses and you're going to start with the priority. So this for you guys would be food, utilities, shelter, transportation, giving, insurance. And then if there's more money left over in your every dollar budget, you can start to go into the luxuries, the subscriptions, maybe this travel savings fund, the sinking funds, all that good stuff. And so that's how it works with a regular income. And there might be some months where it's tight. You might have some amazing months where you create kind of a peaks and valleys fund where you go, all right, I had 10K this month. We're going to put this money aside to cover when I have a 1K month. Right. And so that will also help you when it

comes to a regular income. Yeah. As a photographer, Sarah, do you know, how do you do your payment? Do they do a deposit when they hire you and then after the wedding, they get the rest of the amount or how does that work? So it's also difficult because a lot of clients prefer to do things differently. So some clients, you know, their parents are paying for it or whatever, and they just want to pay for it right up front when they book me. I do require a 25% deposit from everyone. But then after that, it's up to them on how they want to pay it as long as it's due. You know, everything's paid off a month before the wedding. Well, the good thing, you know know and unless it's like a spontaneous wedding

but the you know there is a there is a benefit that you have a date out set out there so you can look out and say okay in October here's two weddings have they put down the 25 percent or have they already paid me you know you're you're able to kind of forecast it a little bit which is great that's that's a that's an awesome thing to your advantage. And if anything, then, you know, spontaneously someone hires you and puts down a 25% deposit you weren't expecting that month. And you're like, oh, well, there you go. But being able to forecast out a lot with your calendar,

I think is going to be helpful too. But I think that Peaks and Valleys fund that George mentioned is huge. Like if you can have just kind of a side account and say, yeah, here's our standard operating budgets. If we have a huge month, we're gonna put some aside, maybe enjoy some of it, right? You wanna enjoy some of that. But on those super low months,

you can pull a couple of grand from it and not feel bad about it because that's what it's there for, to sustain those things that you really do need throughout that month. And Sarah, one of the best things to do is to learn to live on that spouse's salary with a stable income. If you can do that, then anything you bring in is gravy. If we can plan on living off of that $65K a year, then anything that I'm bringing in can go into what?

I mean, because since I'm self-employed, I don't have like retirement or anything like that. Well, you still have options. You can open a SEP IRA. There's a solo 401k. So don't think a Roth IRA, anyone with earned income can do that. So you still have lots of options and you have to set aside money for taxes. And so quarterly estimated taxes need to go into a separate account. I am putting 30% every month into a separate savings account.

Good. So do you guys have any debt? We do. I have 6K in student loans that I'm paying off, and then I have a car and he has a truck, and he also just bought a home. Okay. So let's focus on the consumer debt,

and you focus on yours until you're married, he focuses on his, and let's try to make as much progress before the wedding day because that's going to help you guys out. But if you're asking what to do with the extra money, you would apply it to whatever baby step you're on. So right now you guys are probably in baby step two. You have a thousand dollars in the bank, but we're working on this consumer debt. And then it'll be the emergency fund once you're out of debt. And then it'll be we got to invest 15 percent of our income and the rest can go to, you know,

increase giving. And once you, you know, paying off the house early that you guys will have together. And so they'll always be a home for that money. But you've got to be making that every dollar budget and assigning a dollar to a job. Otherwise, it will float away into new equipment. As you know, that's part of the joy of being in your field is there's always a new toy to get yes unfortunately yeah so we're going to gift you every dollar premium as a little wedding gift sarah and uh you you and your spouse future spouse can work on that together and uh it's fun that you've been a part of so many wedding celebrations as the photographer now you get to have your own

who's going to do your photography? It is. We're actually eloping and getting married in California. Wow. I love it. So you've seen so many weddings, you're like, we don't need that. Who needs to spend 50 grand on a party? That's great, Sarah. That's so exciting.

Well, congratulations. That's awesome. We're excited for you. And what a great place to start out. I mean, they're making great money. Yeah. And to be able to knock out this debt to start out. I mean, they're making great money. Yeah. And to be able to knock out this debt and start it, I mean, it's great. So great. So hang on the line, Sarah.

We're going to send you every dollar premium. That's going to allow you to set up that money. And what's really cool is with the premium version, there's a feature called Paycheck Planning, and it'll forecast exactly when and if you might run out of money. So this is a great thing for those with a regular income to help you figure out, oh, I got to move that bill around. I got to change the due date there because I'm going to have a high chance of overspending this month.

So check out all the features in EveryDollarPremium. It connects to your bank account. There's a financial roadmap tool. So many great things to use there. And that is our wedding gift to you, even if you don't invite us, which there won't be a wedding. There are loping in California. What if George and I, I know, what if we showed up at the loping ceremony? Just me and you, Rachel.

Someone asked me to do their wedding. I'm very excited for that. I've got to get one of those online courses now. Pastor George. This is The Ramsey Show. I'm George Campbell. She's Rachel Cruz. This is The Ramsey Show.

Open phones at 888-825-5225. We got a lot more shows where that came from on The Ramsey Network. All The Ramsey personalities pretty much have shows, including The Rachel Cruz Show on YouTube, Smart Money Happy Hour, which Rachel and I co-host, and my own YouTube channel that's been a lot of fun. We bring some snark and entertainment and memes with financial advice. And the Millionaires in Cars series, George.

You were a great guest for that series. Oh, thank you. Thank you. You've had some fun guests. Go watch that. We tool around in cars and get coffee and talk about building wealth. And Dave did better than you as far as views, but you were, I think, the second. Oh, I'm not shocked.

I'm second? Number two? I think so. Nice. Oh, I'm not shocked. I'm second? Number two? I think so. Nice. I'll take the silver medal. She's competitive. I knew that would get to her. It's fine.

It's Dave. We expect it. Well, we went to the barn with Dave, so we had a whole experience. Oh. It was a special time. That's good. That's good. Some bonding.

And he made me coffee with the coffee machine, which was a struggle, turns out. Almost didn't get there. So go tune in for that. Search George Camel with a K on YouTube and search Rachel Cruz on YouTube and tune into those shows. Leah is in Chattanooga, Tennessee. What's going on, Leah? Hey, I hope y'all are doing well.

It's kind of weird talking to y'all after listening to y'all all the time. We're glad you're here we're honored um so i have hopefully a quick question um but then kind of looking we're on baby step two so trying to pay off the um my husband and i both only have student loans uh he has about 38,000 and mine's about 16,000. And so we have actually been over the past few years, really focusing on mine and knocking it down because prior to me going to school, my parents kind of told me that they would pay for my undergrad degree or my undergrad loans upon graduation. And as long as I paid for, you know, my grad school and everything else that I did extra. So we've paid off completely my grad school

loans, but the 16,000 is only my undergraduate loans. And so I guess my main question is even since my parents are paying for it, does that still go within our debt snowball? Or should we focus on my husband's and then our original plan is focused on my husband's loans. And then if we were done with his, if mine were still lingering, then we were just going to knock them out. But are your parents just making the minimum payment on yours? What's the agreement for your parents to pay this off? Yeah, so they're just making the minimum payment on yours? What's, what's the agreement for your parents to pay this off? Yeah. So they're just making the minimum payment. So throughout the years I have actually put additional to the undergrad loans with, um, I've gotten a couple, um, like loan repayments through work and, um, like with the COVID stipends and all the extra, um, like tax

refunds, we have been like putting to my undergrad loans as well. But right now, it's just a minimum that they are making. Are these loans solely in your name? Yes. Okay. Well, this is your debt, and it sounds like they're not able to just knock it out based on the fact they're making minimum payments. Not all at once. Well, I mean, based on the fact they're making minimum payments

well i mean based on the fact they're making minimums that's going to take years and years for them to pay this off yeah i think what i would do and i maybe who knows who knows how this is gonna go see what rachel has to say i i mean there's a part of me that would say you know if they've said that they'll pay it and that was y'all's agreements, I would be OK paying off the husbands thirty eight thousand. Because how much do you guys make a year? Probably about one ten and it'll go up. My husband will be graduating probably in December or not. Probably he will be graduating in December with his graduate degree.

So it'll go up next year. But I mean, for the rest of this year, it'll be about $110,000, $150,000. Okay. Because a part of me would go ahead and just tackle the $38,000 while your parents keep the minimum payment going with the other one, because that's not cash out of your pocket. You could take what, you know, that would be putting towards the $38,000. And then, like you said, when you get back around, see what it's down to and then at that point i'd probably just knock it out um but i would let them because i mean that they said that they would pay it so there's a part of me that would go ahead and just let them keep their word but i don't want that debt in my name forever ever and amen and that's what's going to end up happening with your

parents but for the time being go ahead and let them pay the minimum payment while you guys attack that 38 000 and then when you look at it, yeah, to be able to say, okay, at this point, we want to just pay it off because we don't want this debt around. That's what I would do, George. Would you pay off the $16,000 first? I like the plan.

Well, I just keep thinking if there's high interest on this and depending on the repayment plan, the balance could go up over time. So I just, I don't know the whole situation. And that's for you to do some homework on, but I just, I don't know the whole situation. And, you know, that's for you to do some homework on, but I just hate this stuff lingering and it isn't your name legally, regardless of what they said. And so that's where I always go back to it. This is your debt. And I hope they, I mean, it doesn't sound like they've ever missed a payment or that

they plan to, but you just never know. There's still risk here with it being in your name. Yeah. And if something goes sideways with all of this and they say i can't pay it then i would pause the 38 000 payment on payments on that and then go to the 16 and pay it off aggressively and part of me i don't know if this would ever work but i'm wondering do you use the debt snowball method you pay off all the debt and essentially they pay you that 16 grand over however long it takes them you know which is still weird i know i just think this the whole there's a relational piece of this that I don't like. I just want this gone as soon as possible. So would you pay off the $16,000 first?

Would you go ahead and just knock it out? Well, are these all separate debts? Are these all listed, you know, these are multiple student loans making these all up? Yes. So mine is probably, I think it's around maybe eight kind of smaller ones. So they're like the ones on mine are, are some of them are actually really small. So like we could knock out probably a few of them, um, like this month or two or the next couple of months easily. Um,

and, but then my husband's, um, he mainly has one that's really, that's like half of his loans. And then the rest are, are broken, maybe about six or seven more. Yeah. I mean, I'm still good with Rachel's plan. I think it's wise to do that, but I would also be in conversation with them about what are we doing to really knock this out versus just maintain the balance. Yeah. The hard thing is with it, though, you know, you can't control what they do. So hear me say, though, Leah, that, again, I would be okay with knocking out the $38,000 because, again, there's multiple little loans.

You guys can still get that effect of the debt snowball when you separate those all out, knock his out, and then go back and knock out the $16,000, though. I don't want that $16,000 hanging around forever. Neither way, making $110,000 plus, you're going to knock your husband's loans out real fast. So make a plan for that. Thank you. I really appreciate it.

Yeah, absolutely. Maybe the next six to eight months, we're knocking his out, and then we're focused on yours and helping mom and dad get rid of this and say, thanks, mom and dad, for the help. But it's not worth letting these linger. Anytime there's debt and relationships, it just gives me a little bit of heartburn. I know, I know. And that's what's difficult is, again, so many parents, it's in such goodwill to say, yeah, we'll pay for the school, but obviously she takes the loan out in her name.

That's the weird part. It's like, well, we'll pay for it after the fact, after the loan's in your name collecting interest. Right, right. Versus they just don't have the money to cover it, so it's a sort of promise down the road that's right exactly exactly so then it just kind of sits there and lingers and there's a part of you that's like okay well they you know they're keeping their word now so not that you're taking advantage of your parents but you're taking advantage of the situation that they promised you right um so it's not money coming out of your pocket you know they're paying for it but again

what ends up happening is this is it and then life happens something happens to the parent situation they're not able to pay and then you know thankfully she's in a great lee is in a great position because she's aware of all of this and knows she wants to get out but for a lot of people george you know they they feel like they got screwed where they're like oh my gosh i have this sixteen thousand dollar loan i wasn't expecting but my dad they can't retire and they're having you know what i mean like life just ends up happening that's why you never want to mix money debt all of it with family it's just and we've seen the opposite side where the parent took out the parent plus loan for the kid and the debt is in the parent's name the kid's not paying yes and now the parent can't retire because they've

got six figures of debt that they took on on behalf of their kids. That's right. And it just hurts the relationship and it creates tension that doesn't need to exist. And so I know well-meaning parents are out there, but this is not worth it. You got to let your kid make the choices they're going to make and you got to do what's best for you. Yep. But intermingling this always causes pain in the end. Makes it difficult.

Student loans, man. I think they're going to be around for a while, Rachel. Not going anywhere, George. Just going up. And we aren't either. We'll be back. That's right. More of your calls.

That was really smooth. That was a Ken Coleman transition if I've ever seen one. There you go. Just learning from the best. Wow. Driving from the passenger seat. I like that. More of your calls coming up.

888-825-5225. We'll be back. Our scripture of the day, Jeremiah 119. They will fight against you, but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you, declares the Lord. Mark Twain once said, keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you too can become great. That's good.

That's nice, Mark. Thank you. George, you can do anything you want. Dream big. Well, I thought it was going to be a joke about small people, and I was going to be offended. No, George. I'm here to lift you up. i'm here to i'm here to let

you emotionally mature maturity wise small that's yes thank you for always lifting me up rachel you're so welcome that's what friends are for oh boy open phones 888-825-5225 james joins us up up next in atlanta georgia what's going on james hey guys i just want to say thanks so much for your time. First of all, I'm just grateful for y'all. We're on baby step, somewhere between five and six, saving a little bit, but probably not enough for college. But we feel like a little bit of an impasse now

because we're a double-income family, but feeling Lord, call my wife to stay at home with our two young boys. We're two under two. So my question is, what should we do with our house to enable her to be able to do that? Because we did not plan for that when we bought our home. So what's your income now, and what would it drop to if your wife was not working outside the home? Yeah, it's about $144,000 take-home, and that's after 401K and all that, too.

And it'll drop to about 61 take home. Okay. And based on all that math, how much of your mortgage would that take up every month? Yeah, the mortgage as it stands with HOA and property tax is 36, which is 36 a month, which is 25% of our current. But obviously, it would blow past that with the new income, that single income. So we're looking, we would have to be around 1860 to be 25% monthly. And it sounds like she's bringing the majority of the income for the household right now, right? Yeah, she is, George. I'm in ministry, so she's a blessing to us.

Man, that's tough. So are you wondering, do we move in order to make this work? Well, it feels we came here for a new role just to help serve the community, and we're in a high, we think, an area that I appreciate really fast, which is great in the long term, but now we feel this is the priority above anything financial, is getting her at home. So we feel like we have to sell to get to that monthly 25% rule and to enable us to afford her being able to do that. So we feel like we have to sell, but our impasse is what do we do?

Do we go to renting? We have a big stock portfolio that's been a blessing to us from our parents. I'm like, do we use that to do some kind of move? How much money is in there? It's about $300,000. Wow. What's left on your mortgage? About $470,000. Okay. I mean, I would definitely, if you could knock out the mortgage by liquidating the stock portfolio, that would definitely allow you to stay at the home that you're currently in and allow her to stay at home. Right. But there's a gap right now. Yeah, it's 170s left.

What's the timeline here? Could she, for example, could you guys, could she work for another year or two or is this like hey this needs to happen now yeah it doesn't we're open our oldest is turning two in a couple weeks and we have a six month old so we just feel so burdened to make it happen as soon as possible but we're trying to do that wisely and be patient and you know doing it the right way so we're open on that we don't necessarily have a firm time. And I will say November is our two-year mark for capital gain. So that's not that big of a deal to us, but it matters a little bit. I'm trying to think through the options. I'm wondering if there's a situation where if you applied the $300,000 to the current mortgage and did a mortgage recast,

which would cost you a few hundred bucks, it would then lower your monthly payment to where it would be, you know, you'd be on $170,000 mortgage. Yeah, we thought about that. We thought about throwing it all at the mortgage without a recast, which doesn't move the monthly, but takes away more interest, you know, with principal. Yeah, the interest is a problem right now. How much do you love the house, James? We, I mean, it's a blessing, don't get me wrong, but it's a three by three.

So we're on top of each other. We would love more space to have a room to host family. So we would sell if we could. And we think we could probably make 120 if we sold to get back what we put into it, which means if we put that on top of the 300 from stock, we're working with something significant. Yeah. Then where would you go? Yeah, we don't know.

We don't, we don't know somewhere in the area, hopefully. Um, and to throw a wrench at all, there's actually a house that's far away from where we currently are, but near our family that we could probably live rent free. But the problem is there's no ministry jobs out there that I can find.

So we're just, uh, trying to weigh what's best. And do you have any other debt? No, you're on baby steps five and six, you said. I'm sorry. Yeah, no other debt. Well, we know the options are we can't stay in this house if she decides to stay home. Unless you look into that mortgage recast situation and you can bring down that monthly payment to be closer to 25%. And that's not a hard and fast rule, but it sounds like you're going to be 60% of your take-home pay going toward the mortgage

if you do this move. And that is not sustainable. Yeah. So your options are to go rent somewhere if you sell. Well, and James, and I think that there's, you know, a reality too. And I think what you do in ministry is amazing. And we love people that serve our country,

that serve people in their communities and all of it. But that is a choice that you're in this line of work and it yields $60,000. So there's a lifestyle choice there, right? That you guys as a family together say, hey, we value this work and feel called to it it's a higher calling for you and that's going to have to then reflect your lifestyle as well so there is a part of me that would say you know i probably just hates liquidating three hundred thousand

dollars of stock just for a mortgage like you know what i mean like they're and there probably is going to be some tax burden with yeah there's just something about it that I would almost just, I mean, I don't know, James, there's a part of me that's like, you know, you got two little kids, you're in ministry and your wife wants to stay home. And it's like, all right, these are not wrong decisions, but our lifestyle has to reflect that. And so it may mean a smaller house and, you know, you're going to get some great equity in this.

I mean, I know the interest rates and all of that are crazy and all that, but I mean, I would just look at a smaller place that you guys can afford on your salary. And then in four or five, six years, when the kids go to school, if she's like, yeah, I kind of want to get back into the workforce, then then we can make different decisions then. But I just know as a mom, when you feel that that pool to stay home, and you have the ability to like you guys do by making a couple of choices, it's worth it to me. I mean, I think I mean, a house is a house, you know what I mean? But having peace and joy and your family and making these decisions of what you guys want your family to look like,

that feels more important to me than a house. So I would be looking at a, and it's going to be a smaller house. It's not going to be bigger. You may not get the room to host families and all of that, but that's okay. You make 6060,000 in ministry, and that's great, and we're going to have a life that reflects that. Does that make sense? Yeah, absolutely. I love that. So with making that move, because we're definitely on the same page.

We're not expecting the moon here. We'll do whatever it takes because we think that's, like you said, the highest calling. Looking at the suggested 15-year fixed on a mortgage to get within the 1860 a month, it's like we could afford a really, really bad home. That's not sustainable. So how would you guys recommend structuring

another mortgage with rates what they are and trying to get within that 25% rule? I guess if I threw enough of the cash down, it would kind of get under that. Is that what you'd recommend? Yeah, I mean, I would take the 120 and then maybe take, you know, maybe 100 or so from the stock.

I mean, I don't know. You'll have to run the numbers, but that's 220,000 to put down on a house. And that should get you guys a really, really great head start. Would you say? Yeah, I would think so. Yeah, so that's what I would do.

And yeah, I mean, that's the move i probably would make i wish there was a magic way to give you everything you want but i know i just don't know if i would liquidate three hundred thousand dollars of stock for a mortgage just to keep the house just to keep a house while you still will have a hundred and seventy thousand dollars left on a mortgage yeah to keep up for it. You know what I mean? And that's where the recast could help because that will bring the payment down to. That's right. Would you do that?

If they really want to have the cake and eat it too and stay in the home and have her stay at home, that would be what I would do. I don't know what the stock portfolio is for, but I feel like it's for a time such as this. Yeah. To give them the life they want. So look at the recast, James. And if it's not a great option for you guys, then you probably will have to sell. Yeah.

And I don't want to over-spiritualize it, but I feel like when the Lord calls you to something, usually there's some intense sacrifice involved. And so that's part of the deal. Thank you for that. That puts this hour of The Ramsey Show in the books. My thanks to my co-host, Rachel Cruz, all the folks in the booth, including Ken Coleman, who is just trying to entertain us right now in the booth. Appreciate that, Ken.

And you, America, we'll be back before you know it. Until next time.