The Ramsey Show - App - You Have To Take Responsibility for Your Debt

Episode Date: April 29, 2022

Ken Coleman & George Kamel discuss: • The best way to tackle your student loans, • Why even wealthy celebrities (like Jessica Simpson) need a budget like the rest of us, • What to do when you're being sued by a credit card company, • How to decide whether or not to move. Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6  

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I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this is The Ramsey Show. It's where America hangs out. Have a conversation about your life, your work, your relationships, your money.

I'm Ken Coleman, joined by my colleague George Campbell, and we're here together for you this hour. It's a free phone call to jump in. It's all about you. We want to help you with Breakthrough 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. How you doing, pal? Just glorious, Ken.

You're glorious? It's 80 degrees and sunny in Nashville. Yeah, I didn't ask you that. I didn't ask you that, but thank you for the weather report. Puts me in a good mood. Oh, does it? You're in a good mood? Okay, great.

How about we help some people? You ready for that? I'm ready. He's glorious, folks. He's ready. And Christian is ready. He's on the line in Raleigh, North Carolina. Christian, how can we help? Hey, how you doing? We are having a blast, and George is glorious.

Yeah, well, I'm 21 years old. I'm about to graduate college on the 7th of May, and I have some debt that I'm trying to figure out the best way to pay it off. Awesome. Well, George can help. Let's do this thing. So how much debt are we talking? I have $27,000 in student loans and about $11,000 on a car payment. Okay. What's the car worth? The car's worth about $32,000. Whoa. What kind of car is it? It's a 2017 GMC Sierra. Wow. 21-year-old driving that. That's a nice car, man. So do you have a job right now?

Yes, sir. I work part-time, and I'm a full-time student, and I save enough to put a hefty down payment on it. But the job I have lined up after college will be about $3,500 a month for my income. Is that take-home pay or is that gross? That's take-home. Okay. What kind of field is this? What job? Computer science. Awesome. Well, that's got a lot of room for growth if you're in that career path. I'd like to hear that. So do you know what your plans are once you graduate? Are you moving? Are you staying put? Are you renting? Staying at home for a few years. So the only expenses I have are the student loans and the car payment. Okay. What do you mean by a few years? What's the timeline for that based on?

I don't really have a plan for that, but I'm planning on staying home for at least two years. Okay. Is that to pay off the debt faster or? Yes, sir. And also my job is only 15 minutes from my house where I'm currently staying, so it's just an easier commute. Okay, so you're going to be bringing home about $42,000 a year, and what I want you to do when you graduate and you step into that job is to continue living like a broke college kid and get this debt out of your life as soon as possible. Do you know what your student loan payments are going to be? The minimum is about $300 a month, but there's also a benefit with my job where they'll pay me $250 additional

to pay off the student loans. Every month? So I would only be paying $50 a month. Yeah, so my plan was with the snowball would be just throw everything I have at the car payment until that's done, and then throw everything at student loans until that's done. Okay. Well, if I'm in your shoes and that's how we answer calls here, I'm selling that car. Okay. I think it's just too much car for you right now. Yeah. And the fact that you can get that much for it and you could almost be out of debt if

you sold that thing, right? You said it would sell for $32,000? Yes, sir. And you have $11,000 on it, which leaves you with just a nice chunk of change there to get rid of those student loans, which you could then do with, what, six months maybe? Yes, sir. What kind of transportation would you need if you sell that car? Oh, that's the only form of vehicle I have, so I would just have to get something else. All right. So you would have how much, George, was left over? So you said you'd sell for $32,000, you owe $11,000. That would leave you with $21,000.

And so I'm going to buy maybe a $5,000, $6,000 beater car for now. This is not forever. No. But for right now, as a 21-year-old, you'll be okay. And you do that, and you'll have $6,000 left over. $21,000, so subtract the $ so subtract the five you pay on the car, that still leaves you about $16,000 to throw at the student loans,

which takes you down to 11 on the student loans. That's great. And if you could throw $1,000 a month, $2,000 a month, you're living at home, right? You have no expenses. Yes, sir. I like this plan

and my plan would be to move out way faster than two years. When those loans are done and you got an emergency fund in place, I'm going to fly the coop and I'm going to get my own place and rent and then begin the work of saving up for a down payment if that's what you want to do. Okay. So, I mean, right now I have an emergency fund of about $2,000 from part-time work. Okay. So do I need to save any more, or should I just throw everything I have at the loans until I get the loans paid off and then start saving?

I would cut that down to $1,000. So I'd take the $1,000. That's going to help get rid of those loans even faster on top of whatever you have after buying a new beater car, and that's going to speed up the process even faster. Once you do that, we're not talking two years until you have a big savings account. We're talking eight months maybe. So put this plan on paper. Start doing the budget.

Yes. Man, you can make that kind of money on that car right now as a guy who's just starting out his career. Trust me, you're going to be driving nicer cars later in life. But right now, if you continue to live like a broke college student, you will be unbelievably wealthy. And by the way, I want to point out a relationship aspect here. 21-year-old, you know, he's graduating. The ladies don't care about the car as much as you think they do.

No. My wife, Stacey, and I are about ready to celebrate 24 years of marriage. And when we started dating, I was driving a Mazda 626 with 200 and who knows how many miles on it, 200,000. And it was such a piece of crap that I would, to make her laugh on dates, I would pull the key out of the ignition while I was driving and show her the keys. Was she impressed? No. Oh. But she laughed. That's good.

And the point is, she didn't care. Yeah. She didn't care about the car. I drove, the car I had in high school, I drove for a decade. Yeah. It wasn't long ago that I finally- And you won big with the ladies, too. Oh, yeah.

You know me, Ken. They don't call me George Lady Killer Camel for nothing. There it is. No, I was invisible to girls in high school. Yeah. It panned out, but- Yeah, it worked out great. So the point is, is on this deal, it's like, when you can sell the car, certainly in times

like this, because this is applicable to a lot of people listening and watching right now. Hot car market. Hot car market. If you can get rid of that debt by selling it, it's a temporary move, but I'm telling you, I'm in the market right now. I've been telling you this for my kid. Yeah. And I'm not going to sink a lot of money into it because he didn't take

me up on the challenge. However much you make I'll match. So now I'm going I'm going to get him something that's serviceable but if he runs it into a tree or a guardrail you know what I mean I'm not going to be like all bent out of shape. Well a lot of parents they go well Junior needs to drive a safe reliable car so they go buy Junior

a $35,000 brand new car financed. Yeah. Let me tell you what's safe and reliable. Something that costs about $4,000 or $5,000. It's an old Toyota, Honda, something like that. You know what I mean? Parts aren't that expensive. You take good care of it.

Who cares what it looks like? It's safe and reliable. The truth is, I think a lot of parents, their reputation's on the line when Junior's driving the beater car around. And they want to look good. Yeah, and let me tell you something. George, you're absolutely right. Parents, stop making your kid's car one of your status symbols. College kids don't need to be driving $30,000, $40,000 cars.

No. That's not our opinion. That's facts. Oh, if they want to go out and make the money, then go for it, Junior. I like that. All right. I'll tell you what else I like. We're just getting started.

More of your calls right around the corner. It's a free call. 888-825-5225. This is the Ramsey Show. Let me tell you a story about two families that are very much alike in a lot of ways. Both families have two working parents and a couple of young kids. Each has debt and a struggle to make ends meet, but they're starting to make headway with their budgets and smarter decisions with money. They have dreams and plans, and the only real difference is that one family has the right amount of term life

insurance and the other doesn't. Big difference. If one of the parents die, and that does happen, their well-being would be destroyed. Paying for the mortgage, utilities, food, and other bills would be impossible, let alone saving for education or retirement. That's why every day I talk relentlessly about getting term life insurance. Just go to zanderinsurance.com or call 800-356-4282 and see how inexpensive it really is. Be the family that takes those deliberate steps to be different and responsible. It really does make you the hero of your story, and we help you win with your money, your work, and your relationships. George Kimmel joining me. I'm Ken Coleman.

Ramsey Personalities, as we take your calls this hour, 888-825-5225. The phone number is 888-825-5225. All right, speaking of money, George, and budgets, and boy, you're the guy. It's very kind. I saw a story on Yahoo about simpson joking that she's on a budget what is this all about i'm just as confused as you can but it's a fun little piece here

jessica simpson jokes that she's on a budget after her credit card got denied at a taco bell you can't make this stuff that's awkward this is there's a lot going on here like are you surprised that she went to taco bell there's there's a lot going on here like are you surprised that she went to taco bell there's there's a lot of things i'm surprised about here yeah she strikes me as a windies fan really yeah i don't know why okay i don't see jessica simpson at taco bell yeah you know like what is she getting there if you go to a taco bell drive-thru it is the most beautiful melting pot of economics i mean there is that right? There's people in sports cars, wealthy folks. Okay, I didn't know this.

Taco Bell does not discriminate. Everyone loves them some late night tacos. And so does Jessica Simpson, so there she is. The article opens, Jessica Simpson has some beef with Taco Bell. The artist, 41, joked about having her credit card declined at the popular fast food chain while focusing her finances on her ever-growing businesses as she appeared this week on The Real. Quote, I have no working credit card, Simpson said. It's okay.

I'll pay in cash. I went to Taco Bell the other day and my card got denied. I'm on a budget, ladies. That's a great quote right there. She added that she's draining my bank account into growing her eponymous billion-dollar fashion brand of which she and her mother, Tina, regained control of in October. The multi-hyphenate even considered borrowing against her home for the big business move. Oh, boy.

Okay, that's confusing. You're on a budget, but you're also going further into debt. Yeah, I don't know if she is on a budget, but I know this, George. We all got to be on a budget when you don't have a reality TV show. There's some confusing things here. She's got the cash to pay for Taco Bell, but the car is getting declined. Yeah, because she's got no credit left because she spent it all on her. She's maxed it out. Her company. She's maxed it out. That's it. Thank you for using it. See, I don't even know the right words to use. We'll get there. But it's an interesting thing when you

look at celebrities and finances because a lot of people go, well, celebrities are making so much money. They have it easy. But a lot of people who make really good money can still be broke. It's fascinating how that works. So I applaud Jessica. If she truly is on a budget, I think it's great.

And Jessica, if you're listening, my wife loved your biography and we encourage you to check out EveryDollar. That's all I'm going to say. If you were to coach Jessica Simpson, because a lot of wealthy people blow their money. They don't do well. Would you have Taco Bell in the budget? I think so.

You would? Yeah. I mean, personally, you know. You allow for fast food as a part of a budget. I've got to watch my physique, Ken, personally, as you do, too. You know, at your age, it matters even more. It matters even more it matters even more wow but no this is good i think you know we talk about how if you're trying to get out of debt

we don't want you to see the inside of a restaurant and so that means you're not eating out you're not what i'm no frivolous why i'm bringing it up and you're saying it's okay well i think once you're out of debt absolutely let's throw you know throw it in the budget now i don't want you eating out every single day mostly because it's bad for your health on top of your budget. But a little Taco Bell will never hurt anyone. And plus, it's the cheapest way to buy gas these days. Taco Bell. Dollar menu.

There you go, Ken. There's my dad joke for the day. Oh, man. There's so many ways I could go with that. It's only $1.19 to get gas at Taco Bell. $1.19. I'll tell you what. I don't know that.19 to get gas at Taco Bell. $1.19. I'll tell you what, I don't know that we can prove that it's good for anybody though. No, but I do want all celebrities and all normal Americans to be on a budget and to stay away from debt. So Jessica, don't borrow

against your home. Don't max out your credit cards. You are running this fashion empire. Use this revenue wisely. We tell people with Entrez Leadership to run their businesses completely debt-free. And people say, you can't do that, Ken. But we meet them every single year at our Entrez Leadership events, and they're amazing business owners, small business owners, who are running their businesses completely debt-free using cash. Love to see it. Very interesting stuff.

There you go. Would have loved to have seen what that order was. I'm just glad Yahoo's still around. It's amazing. When you said that, it was nostalgic to me. Yeah, a lot going on in my head. I've got jingles running through my head. The Yahoo commercials talk about it.

I've got the whole thing. I'm trying to refrain from it. It's Friday. Yeah, because I don't want James rolling his eyes at me. All right, to the phones we go. Stace is joining us from Kansas City, Missouri. Stace, how can we help? Hello.

Hi. Hi. You're on the Ramsey show what's up you made it yay hooray I finally did hey um you guys you do such great work I can't even So I'm in a bit of a mess. Okay. What's the mess? Just tell us. It's hard to admit, okay? It's really hard to admit. No judgment or shame here. I have a credit card, a couple credit cards. And before I married my husband, I racked up some debt and I haven't been able to pay them off. Um, 2019, I had my son and, um, I didn't want to go back to work. So I, i'm raising my kids and stay at home mom and i don't have an income and at least the one card knows this that i mean i don't i'm not working um and i'm being sued by them. What company is this?

Well, I'm going to butcher this, guys. Gramacci and Meyers PC. What's the credit card company? Capital One Cabela's. We just took a call recently, Ken, and it was Capital One. Apparently, they're notorious for suing people.

So, just one more reason to stay away from credit cards, but I'm so sorry. What's in your wallet? Yeah. A letter from a law firm. There we go. There we go. I'm writing slogans while George is helping people. So, Stace, how much credit card debt is this?

It is $2,588.08. Okay, and what's your communication been with them? I called them. I told them I wouldn't have any money until taxes came, and then we just didn't have it. I mean, we were trying to take care of stuff. I paid off my car, you know, so. So how much debt do you have outside of this credit card?

Well, this credit card, which is $2,214.73 is the other one. And then. And you're not making payments on that one either? No, we just don't have it. So when you say we don't have it, you said you don't have an income. Are you talking about your husband? Yeah, none of us do, really. So what's his income? He makes under $50,000 a year.

Okay. Is he willing to work another job? Well, it's a little complicated. I think he is, but he works... Let me rephrase that, Stace. He needs to get another job. You guys don't feel the sense of urgency that I'm feeling for you, which is you're on fire right now.

We have to get these lawsuits out of our life. We have to get control and you've got to pay the credit card. You've got to pay the bill. And so with this lawsuit, I don't know what's going to happen. You might be able to settle, but that would still mean you need an amount in the bank that you are able to pay because they're going to say, well, yeah, you don't have an income, but you all have an income as a family. And so they can garnish his wages. They can do a lot of things. And so you need to get a little fire in your belly to get this thing out of your life. And it's the same plan that everyone else uses. It's the debt snowball. It's getting your baby step one starter emergency fund in place and starting to

attack this. So I'm going to work with them to go, hey, what amount are you willing to settle for? I don't want to take this to the court. What are you willing to do? I don't have much to my name. I can scrounge up a thousand dollars. Will you take that? And if they say yes, you do it. Let's not fight over this. You went into this debt. We got to take some responsibility here. And Stace, I'm going to tell you this right now. Your husband needs to be working every night of the week, and then maybe he watches the kids on the weekends, and you're working. We are together going to go work, and $2,000 to pay this office, not that much money, if you both are working.

This is a great economy to go make some money, and getting more income, and then getting disciplined is how you get out of this mess. No excuses. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back, America. You are listening to The Ramsey Show. I'm Kit Coleman, joined by George Campbell this hour. And in the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt-free stage is Brittany. Brittany, welcome. Hi. How are you? I'm excited to be here. All right. So we're going to do a debt-free

scream. Is that what's going on here? Yes. All right. And where are you from, Brittany? I'm from Smyrna, Georgia. Smyrna, Georgia. I know where Smyrna, Georgia is. All right. Fantastic. All right. Let's get the details. How much debt did you pay off? $32,000. Okay. And how long? Took me about 21 months. 21 months. What was your range of income? Started around 35. And then by the time everything was paid off, about 46. Oh, very nice. What do you do? I'm an implementations manager for a tech company. Nice. That sounds very smart. Yes.

I feel like Brittany has got it together. A lot of syllables in there. Implementation manager. Yeah. I like that. Sharp down. Very nice. So what was the debt?

A car loan, credit cards, and a little bit of medical debt. Oh, really? Okay. Potpourri. Thank you, George. What was the car? I had a Mazda CX-5. Uh-huh. All right. How does that feel to have that one out of the way?

It's huge. It was actually the last kind of thing that I did to pay off my debt. You know, I thought that I was going to be paying it off for another year or two. I didn't really want to let go of that car that I still owed money on. But when I looked at the numbers and I knew the used car market right now is kind of crazy. So when we were just talking about it one day, I finally looked up to see what it would appraise for. And when I saw the numbers and knew that I could get rid of my car, but also get rid of my car payment and also leave with a check to pay off the rest of my debt, it was like a no brainer, easy decision. Nice. I know. I love that. So that was the acceleration at the end. Yes. To

help you finish this out. Yeah. Selling the car. Wow. See, I love that. So that was the acceleration at the end to help you finish this out, was selling the car. Wow. See, I love that. A lot of people aren't willing to do that, and you did it. And, boy, that makes a big difference quickly. So what happened 21 months ago? How did you get into this journey, this debt-free journey? Yeah, so I'm just like you guys always say.

I was a Financial Peace baby. So I grew up in church. I always heard about Dave Ramsey. My parents are here. They did Financial say, I was a financial peace baby. So I grew up in church. I always heard about Dave Ramsey. My parents are here. They did financial peace when I was younger. And it's funny. I always remember the first class that they took. They made us start ordering just water when we went out to eat.

And I really hated that. I know. That's kind of how Dave Ramsey's been in my mind over these years. Terrible parenting. But just growing up, I always knew about it. When I went to college, I graduated and moved home. My parents so graciously let me live at home without any rent or anything, so I didn't have any bills, but also for full-time income that I wasn't used to having.

So really just lived above my means and racked up all the credit card debt that I could. I also decided that it was time for me to get my own car. Instead of having one without a car payment, dead that I could. I also decided that it was time for me to get my own car instead of, you know, having one without a car payment. I thought it was smart to, you know, really be an adult and get my own car payment. So got myself a car payment and then also decided I wanted to move out on my own. So I got my own apartment, of course, had to furnish the apartment, all of that. But just continued to still live above my means and kind of got over my head in credit card bills. And then when my credit card bills. Um, and then

when my credit card started maxing out, I was like, I really got a problem when I sat down and totaled it. And I saw it was almost as much as I made in a year. I really knew that it was time to, to do something. So I actually went to, um, the bank and tried to get a loan like a lot of people do to consolidate. And I, I didn't get accepted for it. And I just broke down crying right there in the teller's cubicle. And I felt really bad, but I was just like, I don't know what to do. I've lost hope. And she gave me all the pamphlets and everything that banks do, credit repair and all that. But she looked at me and she was like, I don't have anything for this, but me and my husband went through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University and it really changed our life, changed our marriage.

And I'm like, yeah, I know about Dave Ramsey. Like, you know, just like not something I wanted to do, but she didn't know, but she was really planting a seed in me. And I didn't realize that until later in life. Actually, a few months later, I met my boyfriend, Whit, and we had the financial conversation about, you know, you can't really hide, you know, the struggle that I was going through. So, we talked about it, and he was like, I don't know if you've ever heard of this guy, Dave Ramsey. I was like, okay, God, I see you, like, you bring a cute boy in my life, and of course, I'm like all in for it now. You know, I've heard it for a million times, is you Dave Ramsey. So, during quarantine, when

things were shut down, we watched all the lessons together. And then back in January, we started an in-person class when things started kind of opening up again. Wow. So you couldn't turn a corner without hearing about this guy, Dave Ramsey. I couldn't. Fine. Fine, God. I'll do it.

Yeah. And it just worked. Yep. You got on the plane. You decided to live on the lesson you make, get a hold of your life. And here you are today on the debt-free stage. Yep. You're a hero. We're so proud of you. Thank you. That is awesome. So what was the hardest part in the journey for you? Um, I think just for me, it was most important to just remember my why, because there was times where I was, you know, I did every side hustle imaginable. I had my normal

nine to five job and then I was out doing DoorDash. I walked a lot of dogs, did a lot of dog sitting. So it was just a lot of time that I didn't get to go spend with my friends or do stuff that I wanted to do. And it was really hard. But in the back of my mind, I knew it was a temporary sacrifice to be able to live, you know, comfortably for the rest of my life. And I just always had to go back to my why when it did get hard, there was a lot of breakdowns and what so graciously reminded me, he's like, just remember, you know, this is only temporary. You're going to, you're going to thank yourself for really pushing through. Um, yeah. Wow. You had some cheerleaders in your corner, which is awesome. I mean, from the banker to your boyfriend, to your parents, were there any detractors?

Uh, no, I don't think so. Okay. I think she was too busy to have any detractors uh no i don't think so okay i think she was too busy to have any detractors i was really busy you weren't really busy you couldn't hear the haters you were busy door dashing right i was like i know some people think i'm crazy especially you know now that i don't have i still don't have a car i got rid of that in january when i never got a new car not yet right now i'm saving up cash for one so how are you getting around just lift and getting rides from people. No kidding. I do a lot of walking because where I live in Smyrna, it's, you know.

Yeah. Good for you. Look at that. That's a new level of sacrifice. That right there bashes the myth that you've got to have a car to function. I know some people do. Her life allows her to do that, but it can be possible. Oh, yeah.

Because you're budgeting for the Lyft and all that stuff. Right. And I'm actually spending less than I did with my car payment and with insurance and with gas you know it came at the perfect time in january when gas prices i like that started skyrocketing so you'll save up real fast now you don't have a payment in the world nope wow so i'm able to save a lot for uh get a car in the next couple months so what are you dreaming about now you're a young lady your life's in front of you, you're debt free. How does it change your perspective about the future? It's just awesome because now I feel like I can actually save for my future and for my family one day and my kids, and I can really give them the life that, you know, they want. So I'm excited to see, do some

traveling. We'll see. Everything's just, it's so much easier now. You know, like I said, I don't have any payments, so I'm able to save, you know, a lot of money and start investing. So I'm excited. You and I were talking about this during the commercial break. She's free. Oh yeah. Not just free from debt. She's free to make a lot of different decisions because she's not shackled by debt. She's got options now. She's not backed into a corner going, well, I got these payments, so what are you going to do? You decided to take control instead of waiting for someone else to fix your life.

Exactly. And that's what this show is all about. I love that. Awesome. Just got to do it. And so what do you tell people, someone your age who's listening right now watching, what is the key to getting out of debt? Just know that there's hope. And I think when you're looking at any sort of goal, always look at what you want your life to look like. And for me, it was just remembering my why, you know, I can't wait to live debt free and be able to give back and build my wealth and, you know, set myself up for retirement one day. Um, but always just looking at what you want in life and then working backwards. And thankfully Dave gives you that plan, the baby steps, um, to kind of get to that goal. So it was easy for me to

follow that plan because I knew at the end it would be so worth it and that the temporary sacrifice is like, it's a lot shorter than you think because I thought I was still going to be paying for three, four years, but really it only took me a little less than two because I got that fire under me. I was just hustling, so.

I love that. Yeah. Wow. Well, Brittany, you inspire us. You're inspiring a lot of young people by telling your story. So we thank you for that. We want to show our appreciation to you by giving you two books. One, Dave's book, Total Money Makeover, for you to give to somebody else and kind of pass that legacy on.

And then the next step for you is Baby Steps Millionaire. You're on your way. You're going to be a millionaire, young lady, and that is very, very exciting. So we're going to give you that book as well. All right. The time has come. Brittany, are you ready? I'm ready. All right. She's going to do her debt, young lady, and that is very, very exciting. So we're going to give you that book as well. All right, the time has come. Brittany, are you ready? I'm ready. All right, she's going to do her debt-free scream. It's Brittany from Smyrna, Georgia.

She paid off $32,000 in 21 months, making $35,000 all the way up to $46,000. Brittany, let's go. Let's hear your debt-free scream. Three, two, one. I'm debt-free! Yeah! There it is. Very nice.

Oh, wow. For our listening audience, I wish you could just see her face and overcome with emotion as she screams, I'm debt-free, and she's crossed the finish line. Proud mom and dad out there. And don't forget, Boyfriend of the Year nominee, Witt, for all the support. Step it up, guys. The Ramsey Show continues from our world headquarters in the Nashville area. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by George Campbell.

We're here for you this hour, 888-825-5225. George, it's hard to believe. We're less than a week away from our next live event in Las Vegas. It is our Building Wealth live event. The event is next Thursday. It's going to be really, really fun in Vegas or surrounding areas. If you don't have your tickets yet, make sure to go and reserve your spot now. Just a couple of clicks of a button will put you on your way to doing better with investments and savings. We're going to really talk about how to build real wealth,

no matter where you are with money today. It is possible. We're going to tackle the latest get-rich-quick trends, dive deep into investing, saving, and planning for retirement. It's not complicated. It's actually simple. We're going to give you a clear path on how to do all that. And we know that you'll win big. Dave Ramsey, Rachel Cruz, George Campbell, Dr. John Deloney, and I are all together at the event on the stage. George is going to wear a mini Elvis costume.

We did get that approved this week. I love that it's a mini one. Well, you're a small guy. Not a full-size one. No, that would look silly. So we get that approved this week. I love that it's a mini one. Well, you're a small guy. Not a full-size one. No, that would look silly. So we're looking forward to that. We're not sure about the peanut butter banana sandwiches. We'll see about that.

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See you there, Vegas. All right, let's go back to the phones. Martin is joining us now in Cleveland, Ohio, home of the Cleveland Browns. Oh, yes. Martin, how can we help? Hey, guys. How are you guys doing?

Good. What's going on? All right. So my wife and I are having a disagreement, kind of. So a short backstory. We went on vacation to North Carolina. She's been there her whole life. And I went there one time with her.

And it's obviously a gorgeous state right next to Tennessee. And, you know we talked about moving there at one point i'm 25 years old she's 21 uh we just got married less than a year ago all right congrats all all of our family is up here in cleveland like we have eight sets of parents everyone no one's in north carolina um so I was thinking we're on track to pay off our debts and, you know, have a down payment here in a couple of years. But I'm thinking, you know, that's when we decide when do we do a down payment on a house near Cleveland, near everyone, or should we move out of state? The question is, like, my argument is we have a big support system here for, you know, when we have a big support system here for when we have a kid, which I feel like that would be very useful, babysitting and whatnot.

But I really want her to be happy, and I really like the state too. I'm a truck driver, so driving not in the winter would be great because Cleveland winters are pretty brutal. Okay, so I hear the formation of a question, but I don't hear a specific question. So before we get to that, did you say you had eight sets of parents? Did I hear that? Yeah, yeah. So because every single one of our parents got divorced and remarried.

So we have eight parents. Oh, okay, gotcha. All right, needed clarity on that. That is a lot of babysitting help. I got to tell you, as a guy with three kids, that's a real bonus. I'm not going to let that one slide by. All right, so what is the real question? Martin, hit us.

I guess the question is, what kind of questions would you ask yourselves? I can't even pick out a drink at the gas station, let alone decide whether or not I should move to a different state. Well, there's your first problem. Paralyzed by indecision. Yeah, so here's the deal. Number one, you need to own the fact that you have a problem making decisions and try to get behind what's really but what's going on there um but let's start with as a guy who's been married almost 24 years let's

start with the all-important question what does your wife want to do does she want to go to north carolina or does she want to stay in cle, Ohio? She thinks she wants to move to North Carolina. Okay. So what I would start with is you guys need to go take a trip to an area that she maybe – maybe there's three areas in North Carolina. I'm making this up. But I would take a nice little weekend, the two of you away, and I would go kind of just hang out, see some neighborhoods, get an idea of what's going on.

And let's get ourselves in that environment and see how she really responds. And then you, Mr. Indecision Guy, you need to be honest about what you're afraid of. Right? It's okay to just say, well, I'm worried about this and I'm nervous about this. George, you tend to be very neurotic. What would you say? That is very true. Thank you for bringing that up, Ken.

I'm working through it. Here's where I go with this. I don't live near my family anymore. I moved when I was 20 from Boston, and now I'm in the South here. My wife's family, they just moved down to Florida. So we're not close to family. We don't have kids yet. So similar to their situation, they're newlyweds. So I'm not going to make a decision based on this alone. This is not a deal breaker for me to be away from family. We see our families two, three, four times a year, and it's not that big of a deal. I wouldn't base it on free babysitting.

Let's stay in Cleveland, Ohio forever because of this. By the way, the downside of all those parents, it makes me think of a movie, Four Christmases. That's a lot going on in holiday time. Great movie, by the way. It's exhausting lot going on in holiday time, you know? Great movie, by the way. It's exhausting. I'm exhausted thinking about how you handle the holidays. Martin, which one excites you more, the idea of moving to North Carolina?

As you guys talk about this, do you start to kind of your eyes light up a little bit? So I'm a very adventurous person. I love the idea of being by the ocean in North Carolina. It's so gorgeous. I guess I'm a truck driver at night. I hate winters in Cleveland. Truck driving is a nightmare. But I'm also a very practical person, and I like to lay out every little number I can

before I make a decision, and there's really no way to do that. Yeah, but see what you just did there, Martin? You see what's going on? George asked you a point-blank question, and your heart let off. Your heart answered it. I want to be near the beach.

I like the warm weather. I drive a truck. I don't want to drive near the beach. I like the warm weather. I drive a truck. I don't want to drive in the winter. You said all this earlier. So your heart is saying, North Carolina, but then you go, then your head starts to go, slow down, Skippy. We have a lot of things that could go wrong,

and your head starts getting involved. You can convince yourself either way. And truthfully, either one, you'd have a fine life. Now the question is, what can you do without regret that's not going to keep you up at night? And the truth is, you can always go back home and visit. The truth is, you can afford a babysitter when you need to find someone to watch the kids. And so if you look at the solutions, you go, okay, well, if that was our deal breaker, I guess it's really not. I got to tell tell you martin this is a good old-fashioned pros

and cons you and your wife separate right uh and and she writes her pros and cons for going uh to north carolina and you do yours then you guys meet in the middle over a nice little candlelight dinner maybe uh compare notes and then go to carolina one time and you know i think it's gonna be obvious i think it's already obvious I'm moving if I'm in their shoes just based on what I know well I don't want to knock anybody Cleveland Ohio here comes the hate mail but if it's between Cleveland Ohio and Charlotte North Carolina area it's not even up for vote for me it's just me all right just me thank you for that Ken yeah say well you gotta we're trying to head trying to spread hate and dissension, as Dave always says. Oh, wow.

You know, you make a very interesting point, though. That's rare. Sorry. Let's talk about the financial questions. Yeah. Because we talked a lot about those are more personal. The emotions and reasoning. We talked a lot about that.

What would you say to a young couple on the financial side of things? What would they need to look at on a move from one region to another? I think there's no urgency to this. They're newlyweds. So I think it's okay to just get to know each other. Let's pay off this debt. Let's get an emergency fund in place. And let's reassess. We're going to be at a very different place emotionally. Once we've been married for a year, two years, the debt's out of our life. We've got an emergency fund. Now we can be clear headed about every single decision. We're not worried about how we're going to pay for the move. We're not as worried about what's going to happen with our jobs over there. We can just do this with

a lot more clarity. And so I'm encouraging them to go, hey, pause. What is the urgency behind this? Do we need to make this decision today? Or can we park it and go, hey, let's focus on this debt and let's circle back to this conversation a year from now and see where we're at. Yeah, I like that because the bottom line is that area or any other area of the country is still going to be there. And so at that point, we can decide. We want to clean up our financial mess because, again, it just gives us more options. It changes where we might be able to live in a certain area. The other thing that I don't think people think through a lot is cost of living.

Oh, yeah. You know, there is a difference. From Cleveland to Charlotte, there could be a jump there. It might be, yeah. I don't know. But through a lot is cost of living. Oh, yeah. You know, there is a difference. From Cleveland to Charlotte, there could be a jump there. It might be, yeah. I don't know. But you've got to look at all of that. And I just, I don't, I can't overestimate the importance of going and visiting, putting yourself in that place. Because the fear that holds a lot of people up the most is the fear of the unknown.

Yeah, and regret. So go figure out what fear of the unknown. Yeah. And regret. So go figure out what you don't know. Go get an answer, and now we can make a decision based on real information, not a vacuum of fear and doubt that's running around in our minds. A lot of wisdom there.

All right. Good hour, George. Hey, this is your show, folks. It is The Ramsey Show. Hey, folks, Ken Coleman here. Did you know The Ramsey Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world? It's your daily dose of advice on life and money. Check out all of our shows from the Ramsey Network wherever you listen to podcasts.