The Ramsey Show - It’s Time to Stop Surviving and Start Taking Control

Episode Date: April 10, 2025

📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a Free Personalized Plan 📱 Watch the full episode for free in the Ramsey Network app. Rachel Cruze & Ken Coleman answer your questions and discuss: "How do I pay off $65k in credit card debt?" "How do I plan surprises for my wife?" "How do I stop living paycheck-to-paycheck?" "Was it a mistake to quit my job?" "The tariffs are hurting my business," "My wife hasn't filed her taxes in 3 years," Support Our Sponsors: 🛒 Stop paying more and start shopping smarter at Aldi 🌱 Get 10% off your first month of BetterHelp 📱Go to Boost Mobile to switch today! 🏥 Learn more about Christian Healthcare Ministries 🏡 Get started today with Churchill Mortgage 🔒 Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe 🏦 Go to FAIRWINDS Credit Union for an exclusive account bundle! 🥗 Save 15% on your first Field of Greens order with code RAMSEY ⛨ Find top Health Insurance Plans at Health Trust Financial 💸 To find out more about student loan refinancing, check out Laurel Road 💻 Visit NetSuite today to learn more 🗂️ Use promo code RAMSEY for 18% off at The Nokbox 🎥 Get your tickets for The Chosen Season 5! 💵 Learn more about Timothy Plan 🏛 Get started with YRefy or call 844-2-RAMSEY 🔐 Visit Zander Insurance for your free instant quote today! Next Steps ✅ Help us make the show better by taking this short survey! 📞 Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET or click here! 💵 Sign up for a free training with our EveryDollar team! 🎟️ See Dave Ramsey and Dr. John Delony LIVE in a city near you 🛒 Preorder Build a Business You Love Now at Ramsey Solutions 🤓 File your taxes with 100% accurate software that’s 20% of the price. Listen to more from Ramsey Network 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 🍸 Smart Money Happy Hour 💡 The Rachel Cruze Show 💰 George Kamel 🪑 Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman 📈 EntreLeadership Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey guys, Dave Ramsey here. Me and Dr. John Deloney are coming to a city near you on the Money and Relationships Tour. It's happening soon, so don't wait. Get your tickets at ramsysolutions.com slash tour. Hey guys, Dave Ramsey here. Me and Dr. John Deloney are coming to a city near you on the Money and Relationships Tour. It's happening soon, so don't wait. Get your tickets at ramsesolutions.com slash tour this is the Ramsey show where America hangs out to have a conversation about your money, your profession and your relationships. Phone number is 888-825-5225.

My co-host, my dear friend Rachel Cruz is alongside. She'll lead out on how to save, how to spend that money, and I'm going to help you on how to make more money. It's a great combo. We'd love to hear from you. Antonio starts us off in Jacksonville. Antonio, how can we help today? Hey, good afternoon.

Thanks for taking my call. You bet. What's going on? Yes, I'm just calling. My name's Antonio Owens. I'm actually from Jacksonville, Florida. I'm 25 years old, and I have a lot of debt. I'm a big fan of the show.

I'm a big fan of the show. I'm a big fan of the show. I'm a big fan of the show. I'm a big fan of the show. I'm from Jacksonville, Florida. I'm 25 years old and I have a lot of debt and I'm basically trying to figure out what the best way to tackle that and overcome it. You know, from credit cards, cars, and I'm in a situation where I was thinking about purchasing a house, but I don't think that is the best financial decision. So I just want to see if you guys can help me out with that. We agree. Let's get you out of debt first. So walk, Rachel, through your debt. Go smallest to largest for us. Okay. Yes. So going small to largest. So I have six credit cards totaling to about $65,000 in total credit card debt.

What's the smallest minimum monthly payment? Roughly about $51 a month. Then the next credit card is about $123 a month. The next three are all about $10,000 a piece and they're about $200 a month. That you owe on them? The last three. I owe, yes. The last three, so I owe $5,000 on the first one. I owe $7,000 on the second one. The next three after that, I owe $10,000 a piece, so a total of $30,000. And then the last one, I actually owe $25,000 on.

And the last one I actually owe $25,000 on. Okay, what were these for Antonio? What were you racking up the step for? So basically, so my job professional, I'm actually a finance manager, ironically, at an RV dealership. So, you know, when COVID happened, you know, making crazy good money. So, you know, even sometimes upwards of $30,000 a month.

So I had just got into the you know credit building credit and I've just seen as okay if I don't mind spending $10,000 because I could just pay that back and I did that for a couple months and then you know the times have changed, paid changed a little bit, pay still good but it just got to the point where the interest was just so high to the point where anything over the minimum payment was just ridiculous. I mean the minimum payment right now is anywhere from you know. But you're spending money on on lifestyle is what these credit cards are. Initially and they have been maxed out for about three years. I've just paid the bare minimum

and I'll be quite frank you know I'll pay the bare minimum. And I'll be quite frank, you know, I'll pay the bare minimum and that little bit that I pay I might spend it again, not because I need it, but it's just like, I just don't see the light at the end of the tunnel to get these things that fall. Yeah, for sure. Okay, so that's the credit cards.

How much do you own your car? I have three cars. I owe $35,000 on my truck. I own $31,000 on my EV, my Mustang Mach-E. And I own $16,000 on my girlfriend's SUV. Okay, hold on. Wow, Antonio, you've been- Do you finance a car for your girlfriend?

Yeah, yeah. I purchased one for her yesterday., so you see how I did. Wow, I feel like you watched the Wolf of Wall Street and just decided to try to do your own version here. This is crazy. That story, believe it or not, kind of what my life was and kind of what I was aimed to be. That's why I chose it.

That's why I chose the metaphor. Okay, what else, what else, Antony? What other debt do you have? So I also have a boat. And I've paid that pretty low. So I only owe about $8,000 on the boat. And I do have an RV, a fifth floor that I owe about $26,000. Of course, that makes total sense because you got such a good deal on it.

How much money are you making right now? What's your what's your bring home every month? So I gross anywhere from 15 to 17 thousand a month. My bring home is anywhere from nine to ten thousand give or take. I mean you are really with all these payments. How are you making it, Antonio? It's, I mean, it's unfortunate. You know, it's just one of those things that I thought, okay, I'm making money, making money. I can spend more money. I mean, and then also, you know,

I do have four children and I do pay rent, which is roughly about 23.50. Then you got utilities, water, camera. You didn't answer her question. We're trying to help you. And this is the part where we're now gonna try to help you dig out. And you can do this,

but how are you making it month to month? Do you have any leftover at all? Oh, no, I'm actually- And you're going into credit card debt still. So honestly, I'm actually and you're going into credit card debt still Yeah, so honestly I have anywhere from five hundred to $1,000 left over at the end of every month and that's if I'm lucky. Yeah. All right So can we just do real quick? I want to know if we have any equity in any of these vehicles. Yeah Wait, wait that $35,000 track. Do you have any equity? No, I'm actually that's the main one that I'm flipped upside down on. Okay. You sold it today.? Do you have any equity? No, I'm actually, that's the main one

that I'm flipped upside down on. Okay, you sold it today, what would you sell it for? What could you sell it for? Maybe 21 or 22,000. Okay, are you just guessing or did you Kelly Blue book this? No, I've Kelly Blue book it. Okay, okay.

What about the Mustang? The Mustang, I probably am upside down about a thousand or two on it. I could probably sell it for 29,000. Okay. And then girlfriend's car, are you the only one on the loan or do you guys, did you co-sign for her or what was the situation there? No, I'm the only one on every loan I mentioned. Okay.

And what could you sell her car for? That one I probably could sell, I could probably make it $3,000 on that one. I could possibly sell that one for about 819 grand. All right, perfect, okay. So the cars are the easy, oh yeah, the boat. The boat, what do you owe on the boat? He owes eight, what could you sell for?

Sorry, what's it worth? I'm so confused right now. So the boat is worth about 15,000. Sell that today. Yay, perfect. Sell the boat today. Sell the boat today. Yes.

Yes, because then you'll have $7,000. Hey, Anthony, here's gonna be your issue, Anthony. Your ego's about to like really be hit hard. Like this is all, this is, this is, this is ego. Three cars, boat, RV, credit card debt, living like you're just the fill in the blank. And you're not. So there's a reality here, Anthony,

that the humility pill that you're gonna have to swallow to truly change this around is gonna be really big. And that's the part about personal finance that's so difficult is like the math stuff. We can walk through that, but there is a character part of you, Anthony, that's gonna deeply, deeply have to change. Like you caring about what people think

has been very high in your life. And this is about to do the complete opposite. Like you are gonna be, I mean, you're not gonna be the man anymore. I mean, like, do you know what I'm saying? But there's an ego level, and I'm saying that kindly, because we all have a level of an ego, but man, it's gonna be tough.

So here's the deal, is the RV, can you sell more, make more on that than the 26 you own? The RV, I can break even. Okay, listen, listen, listen. You gotta sell the RV, you sell the boat, you sell the girlfriend's car too. Because I don't care how lovely she is, she gets her own car.

That's not your problem. Yeah, and Antonio, take your payment for the RV, the boat, her car, and the Mustang. All those payments, that's thousands of dollars, now that you can sell the truck, start paying off these credit cards, smallest to largest. But man, it's going to be a, it's about to be a 180 in your life, Antonio, but it has to be in order for something to change.

And I feel the stress on you. So man, you got to make some big changes. 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 Health Care Ministries. CHM is a health cost-sharing ministry that's helped hundreds of thousands of families like yours

take care of over $11 billion in medical bills since 1981. And CHM has also helped them stay true to their values and avoid miles of red tape. And CHM support goes far beyond meeting financial needs. They'll also help meet spiritual needs. Members become part of a family who will pray with them and for them when they experience a medical event. So listen, y'all, there's no better way to take care of health care costs. CHM programs start as low as $98 a month. So learn more today and join at chministries.org slash budgets

at chministries.org slash budgets. Tampa, Florida is where we're gonna go next. Joshua is there. Joshua, how can we help? Hey, good afternoon. Thanks for taking my call. Sure, what's up? Well, I'm planning on proposing to my girlfriend in a couple months nice and

We're both that free. Okay, and I'm starting to think about our future right in terms of finances We both agree we need to be on one checking account and we're gonna do everything together I'm gonna try to do everything the right way And right now the type of boyfriend that I am, I like to do a little surprises here and there, maybe surprise her, you know, one day with, uh, flowers or decorate the house and make her feel special. However, how can I still keep those surprises if we're

both on the same checking account. Got you. And having that question, why are you spending a thousand dollars on it? I got you, I got you man. First of all, thank you Joshua for representing that romance, he's not dead. You're a good man. Silvery is still there.

This is a good man Rachel that we're talking to. So here's how I do it, and I'm sure Rachel's got an opinion, because I actually was sitting exactly where I am right now when your hubs, Winston, pulled off an amazing surprise for you in the form of a phone call. You remember that? It went viral and all that. Surprises are great, they're always a great fun,

and I'm sure that he has surprised you before. So here's how we do it. So when I know that I'm planning to do that and it's a large expenditure So I've planned for it, right and then I will tell her hey listen I'm working on a little something down the line and I'll let you know when I need you to just you know, look the other way and I give her about a 24 to 48 hour notice so that she's not gonna go in the account to do any kind of maintenance

Or whatever and it's pretty simple and so, you's not gonna go in the account to do any kind of maintenance or whatever. And it's pretty simple. And so, you know, then she does the old, oh, you know, you shouldn't do that, you know, that kind of deal. Of course she loves it. And so when it's a large expenditure, that's how I handle it.

If it's smaller, same kind of deal. I might just say, hey, I'm pulling it from here or whatever. And, you know, you know, but you can do that and it's just communication. Would you communication. What would you add to that? Yeah, no, that's good. I think we do that now more so. It's just the like, hey, just don't look for a few days. And if you know a big anniversary is coming or a birthday, it's assumed that yes, a gift is going to be bought. So back in the day, we would get Visa gift cards from like Target or something. So you're like, oh yeah, I'm buying, you know, we're spending, you know, whatever, 100, 200,

whatever the price is. And you don't know where it's being spent, but you know, yes, a certain amount of money is being spent. And then, which I know not everyone has this, Joshua, but twice, two big purchases. I did concert tickets one time and then he bought me a ring. But we had, I had my mom buy the concert tickets and I was like,

I'll just pay you back. So he doesn't see, see I've never done it. That's a great play. And then yes, the ring, which, which, uh, the friend was very generous of buying. And then Winston just Venmoed him after. So like, you know what I mean? Like there's just kind of ways I feel like around it. Josh, I'll give you one more. Um, the other thing is, is you pull the surprise off in a way that you tell her, hey, surprise,

we're about ready to go do this. And so she's surprised that you're doing it. In other words, I'm not gonna say the brand, but I did that once with Stacey. We went shopping on purpose. She didn't know, and we walked by one of her favorite stores, very expensive bags, and I said,

hey, let's go in here for a second. And she's like, oh no, I said, let's just do it. So we go in and I had already planned, and then I said, by the way, pick out something. And that was the- So she's part of it. And that was part of it. There's no moving funds. So I think we gave you several options there that I that was a new one.

Yeah. The one where you have the friend by it. You got to have a good friend, though. But you know, but they know you got the cash. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I swear. Yeah. But then would it still be considered? I mean, this is I'm still relatively new to having one checking account, but would it still be considered, I mean, I'm still relatively new to having one checking account, but would it still be considered a gift from me if we're still both depositing,

like our direct deposits into the same account? Sure. Of course it is. That's what I'm sure I'm trying to understand. If it's our money, it doesn't mean that you have to like divide it up into, well, this is how much I make so I can only buy you a gift out of what I make. Yeah, no, it's a whole household idea.

By the way, no wife is gonna be upset about that. Do you know what I mean? So you're gonna be great. Yeah, so it is a little bit of an emotional disconnect that once the money hits the account, then it doesn't matter whose check it was or who brought it in, it's like, here's how much money we have

as a household to spend. And I know, like, we were so young when we got married, so that was kind of an easy, I don't know, we both like, it was a gradual, easy mindset. And I think it's harder when you get married later and you're so used to functioning, like with your paycheck, like I understand that's more of a, that's a harder kind of emotional break of like,

oh yeah, okay, it doesn't really matter. But it's this like deep oneness of just saying, yeah, regardless of who brings in the money, like this is our household account. And out of this is how we spend our money. And that's gifts, that's bills, that's everything. But we just see it as one. And what that does, Joshua, too,

is that emotional perspective trickles down to other areas of your marriage. And that's one reason we're so big on combining accounts, is not just from the tactical side, even though it makes running a household so easy when you're functioning out of one account. And people that split bills and he pays the electric, she pays, I mean, like all of that, I'm like,

oh my gosh, yeah, it takes all of that work out. But then it does something when you are like, okay, we truly are, like, what's the saying? Money, put your money where your mouth is, or is that it? Like it's that. I guess that's what you're saying. I don't know what that saying is.

I'm trying to dance right now, I don't know. Whatever that saying is. But it's just like, yeah, like if we say we are one together, like let's actually live out like we are, and even with our money. Oh yeah, absolutely. And here's just like, yeah, if we say we are one together, let's actually live out like we are, and even with our money. Oh yeah, absolutely. And here's the thing, if you're a young couple right now, and you're listening to this,

it's a lot easier to do this when you don't have, I mean, excuse me, you don't have to be so surprised and all this, but it's easier to kind of say when you're first starting out, you don't have a bunch of money, to kind of go, this is what we're gonna do for each other for gifts this year. We're gonna spend X amount, and I'm making this up,

but we're only gonna spend 150 for birthdays or whatever. You predetermine that, and therefore the surprise is within what am I doing with the 150. So maybe that'll help you, Joshua, as you start out, as you start getting more income and a lot more discretionary income, then I think you take the advice that we just gave you. But the little surprises would be

if you have a category for fun money or whatever. I think back in the old days it was called a blow envelope. You blow the money. Well, that's where, instead of spending it on you, playing golf or whatever it is you do, you surprise her with a little something one month and you get the win there. So that's how you do it.

And I think his biggest question, I think it was an interesting question is, what is the dynamic and the psychology between taking two accounts, in other words, incomes and putting them together? I thought that was an interesting question. I think a lot of people, I'm glad he brought it up. I think a lot of people think through that.

Yeah, for sure. Cause it is different, especially if you're used to earning your money and functioning out of that paycheck. It is like kind of this level of like being exposed and like, okay, here we all are together, like working on this together. So, but yeah, it's well worth it, Joshua.

Follow up question for you, cause you wrote a book called Know Yourself Know Your Money, it's a best seller. For couples, if you had young couples sitting with you and you were doing a quick little, all right, here's one takeaway on entering into marriage and bringing those money styles into the dynamic you've just laid out.

What is a way to make sure that that transition of coming together maybe is a little smoother than if you just try to figure it out? What would you say to that? You know, and I think this is probably in a lot of marriage, the first year or two, is I wish I had gone back and told myself, and like told, like I wish we had this mindset more that, you don't have to change each other into each other.

Like I think there's this mindset, especially with money, that if you're a natural saver, that like your spouse needs to love saving as much as you, or if you love doing the budget, and you check it all the time, like they should be doing that too, or vice versa. Like he should relax, he should have more fun. I don't know, there's a level of,

don't push each other to change who you are. Like, you were attracted to your spouse for a reason, right? And it's like, usually opposites attract, so there's something about them that you love. That's why you got married. And so it's not that the personality has to be consistent, but the value system on which you live your life and your marriage and your family and where you're wanting to go long-term, that needs to be consistent, but the value system on which you live your life and your marriage and your family and where you're wanting to go long term, that needs to be

consistent. But the way you go about that, and I think it takes a level of humility to even say, maybe I could learn something from my spouse. Where I have a deficit, they may be better at and vice versa. So there's like, don't create an enemy between each other. Embrace the differences. They're there for a reason. And celebrate those. And then also have the humility to think,

maybe I need a little bit of that that he has, or that I could use more of that that she has, you know? Can I tell you something? Yeah, what do you think? That was a relationship goal. That's Oprah level stuff you just dropped. I could see Oprah on the couch across from you going. That's a lot of therapy.

That's a lot of... I don't care how you got it, you just dropped. I could see Oprah on the couch across from you going. That's a lot of therapy. That's a lot of... I don't care how you got it, you just gave it grid listening to the show on a battery-powered radio. All of your data collected by every company you've ever done business with lives online. Your bank, your doctor's office, retailers, the apps on your phone, the gas station where you have loyalty rewards, they all store your info online, making them ripe for a cyber attack or data breach. That's why I've been telling people for almost 25 years. They need an ID theft protection plan and the only one I've ever recommended is from Zander Insurance. They monitor your personal and financial info, even your home title and take over the work if you become a victim. It's the most thorough and affordable plan out there.

I even have it for my family and our entire team. Visit zander.com or call 800-356-4282. If you're a business owner, pay attention, or if you know somebody, maybe a family member, a friend, a spouse, that's running a business, you know that it is absolutely hard. In some days the challenges are going to pile up, a lot of fear, a lot of doubt. That imposter syndrome can really, really be overwhelming. That's why you need Dave's new book.

It's called Build a Business You Love, and he's unpacking his story, the plan, all the way from the card table, and he and Sharon's living room to now what is a $250 million business. It's a proven system. Think of it as the baby steps for running a business. You can pre-order it now for $29.99 and you're going to get over $350 in free bonus items like the hiring playbook, the e-book, and they've got an enhanced audio book where it's not just Dave Reedy and I guess they've done all kinds of cool stuff.

I don't know if you're going to hear birds chirping. I don't know if you're gonna hear birds chirping. I don't know, I haven't heard it myself, but it is an enhanced audio book. Make of that what you will. You can pre-order today at the 29.99 and get all the free goodies by going to ramsysolutions.com slash store, ramsysolutions.com slash store

if you're watching on YouTube or listening to a podcast. The link is in the show notes. To Salt Lake City we go. Ryan is there. Ryan, how can we help today? Hi. I'm just struggling to get on top of my debt. It feels like every time I get, you know, or I see a light at the end of the tunnel,

I'm just, you know, there's something else that piles on top of it. Now I'd just like some advice on how I can, you know, continue to see the light at the end of tunnel and just continue to work. I'm trying it on top of my debt. Hmm. Okay. So how much debt do you have, Ryan? So I've got about $20,000 in debt. Okay. What's that in? So I would say about 15 to 16, thousand of that is in credit cards. Okay. And then the other, you know, five to six would probably be just stuck in medical right now. Medical, okay. And how much

are you making a year? I'm making about fifty five thousand for my base salary. Okay. And then I get paid commission. That would take me to about sixty five to seventy thousand. Okay. And then I get paid commission. Um, that would take me to about 65 to 70,000. Okay. So after taxes, how much do you bring in a month? Um, I'm bringing in about 4,300 a month right now. 4,300. Okay. Um, how much margin do you have out of that 4,300 take home? How much margin do you have at the end of a month? If you haven't had a disaster or something like that, you've stuck to the budget, paid everything, what's that look like? I really throw everything that I can at my debt.

So between my rent and my groceries and paying child support and everything that I've got, and I'm really sitting at a hundred bucks at the end of month. Okay. Okay. And are you on a tight budget, Ryan? Like do you have things written down before the month begins and you stick to it and you're like very, very, very,

very diligent with your expenses? Yeah. I'm just sitting down and going through all of the minimal, basically have everything. I'm following the baby stuff about, you know, having, I've got about two grand in savings right now. Okay. And I'm just throwing everything possible that I can at one debt. And just the thing that's hard for me is between my, I would say one of my biggest expenses right now is my attorney fees. Just because I'm still actively going through

a divorce custody of my son and everything. Yeah, just throwing money that way. How much money are you spending a month on that? What'd you say? I mean, last month I just spent, or I just paid him 1200 bucks. Okay. That's a huge difference.

Yeah, for sure. Is there, do you see an end at all to that? Like do you have any estimation on when that will be wrapped up? I'm hoping this year. I mean My ex she and I were never married. Okay, so it's just been you know, luckily I haven't had to deal with the divorce side of it. Yes, the battling. Oh, I got you Okay, that's the custody side. Okay, the four. Yeah. Okay, I got you. I've been battling. Okay Okay, yeah, okay, and how well is it a son is that what you said? Correct. How old is he? To so this has been going on for two years

Yeah, okay, but you're thinking there is a possibility of it of all this to be wrapped up at the end of this calendar year Is what you're thinking? Correct. Yeah, I'm sure just have one more hearing left. Okay. Okay. Well, that's good. I mean, in a sense, I mean, from the emotional toll that that takes plus freeing up some of that income, because I think Ryan, for you right now, because it's not a crazy amount of debt. I mean, you know, 20,000, we've had a lot worse even on today's show. There's been some more bigger numbers. So it's so doable, but I think it's an income issue

at this point, because I'm like, you know, after $5,300, 1,200 of that going to attorney fees, you know, I know it's not every month necessarily like that, but I mean, that's a realistic idea of like, oh yeah, like there's a big chunk leaving. It's almost like you have to replace that in order to gain any level of like, oh yeah, like there's a big chunk leaving. It's almost like you have to replace that in order to gain any level of traction. Cause a hundred dollars extra,

it's not really gonna move the needle much, especially with these, with this credit card, $15,000 in credit card debt and your interest rate is what? Probably 20, 22? Well, they're actually relatively low because I've had these credit cards for a while now. So I was able to stay on top of them

Okay, I was doing really really well about you know, just paying them off. I mean only putting you know Like putting gas and groceries on the credit cards and then just paying them off I mean I said you said that you've been throwing everything you can at the debt so far how much just give us maybe a three-month average To the best of your memory or if you know it clearly, what is the amount you've been putting above all of your bills towards the extra? What is that extra amount you've been putting towards debt every month? Mm-hmm. So I've got an American Express card that I just do the minimum payment, which right now is about $250. I've got a Capital One that's about the same $250. My visa is pretty low,

but my visa, other than my attorney fees, is the lowest amount. So I'm throwing probably $500 towards that. In addition, that's my question. I'm not talking your minimums. I'm saying, I thought you had said that you're throwing. I'm trying to get an idea here,. I'm not talking your minimums. I'm saying, are you... Oh, okay. I thought you had said that you're throwing... I'm trying to get an idea here, because I'm going somewhere with this. How much extra, beyond your minimums, are you putting towards debt every month? Probably 300 right now, as much as I can. And how often in the last five, six months have you gotten a big attorney bill?

It's almost been every single month at this point. And what would you say the average has been? Has it been in that $1,200 range? A thousand to $1,200, yeah. Yeah, okay. So good news, bad news. Bad news is you're still in this fight, and I don't know if that's going to continue, but that is a massive chunk that if you didn't have that legal situation now I'm gonna add that I'm gonna say let's be modest and say a thousand dollars plus the 300 in addition you've been putting already that's $1,300 a month to Rachel's point I'm trying to encourage you here and then give you something tactical we can pay 20,000 pay the five to six off really quick in medical and the 20,000

in credit card or Susie 16,000 in credit card, or excuse me, $16,000 in credit card, we can pay that off really quick. So you asked the question, how do I see the light at the end of the tunnel? And I think you've got to just hang in there to go once we get past the custody fight, the light is shining bright because you're going to be able to put $1,300 a month towards, let's call it $21,000 change in debt, correct? Mm-hmm, correct. That's going to go pretty quick. Now, what do we do in the interim?

My question is, what can you do professionally? What skill set and experience do you have that could potentially make you an additional thousand to $2,000 a month? You may not be able to do it, but I want you to at least ask the question and go, where could I do this? Can I make an additional $1,000 to $2,000 a month so that we can make some progress while we're in this fight? That would be my goal, Rachel, if I were him.

Yeah, I mean, if you just looked at this of like, everything's on fire, I'm just, I am doing anything and everything. It doesn't matter, hour of the day. And it's just kind of this like scorched earth feeling. And what's crazy Ryan is if you even just threw, you know, $2,000, you're done with this in November. You know what I mean?

December, January-ish. But I'm like, it can happen so fast. The snowball effect can take, so it can start going in that momentum so fast, but it's the income side that's gonna do it. And so that's kind of the lever you have to pull. And you're exhausted. I'm like, you're fighting custody, you're working full time,

but I would up this 70,000 a year. I agree. With some extra stuff that you can do again, even an extra thousand dollars a month, bringing something in, 1200, 1300, anything extra, Ryan, that's gonna be your saving grace in this. Cause it does get down to a math problem. And the income, I don't see many expenses that you can cut

from what you've told me. So I think it is, it is just earning that extra income and it's for a short period of time, but then it's all done and cut up the credit cards, Ryan, like today, like get them out after we're done with this and be done with it. Because the temptation is to go back to those and you're going to go deeper in the hole. So just cut those out of your life completely.

Hey, what's up guys? It's Jade Warshaw. And look, if there's anybody who knows student loan debt is a problem, it's me, my husband and I had $280,000 of it, but we were able to dig ourselves out and you can too. If your student loan payment and interest rate are burying you, refinancing could be the solution. Now, I recommend contacting my friends at Laurel Road today. Through their online application,

you can get an initial rate quote in less than five minutes. And if you have a more complex situation, you can schedule 30 minutes to talk to an actual human being. Thank goodness. Laurel Road makes it simple. There are no fees involved, and you could save thousands over the life of your loan. Remember, you should only refinance

if it makes sense in your situation. So if you're looking for a low rate or a shorter term so that you can pay off these student loans fast, talk to my friends at Laurel Road about their competitive interest rates and how you could actually get a lower rate by signing up for auto pay. Listen, nobody's coming to save you from student loan debt. If you want them gone, you can't mess around. Go to laurelroad.com slash Ramsey to find out more about student loan refinancing. Again, that's laurelroad.com slash Ramsey. Laurel Road is a brand of Key Bank National Association. All credit products

are subject to credit approval. All right. I want to say a very special happy birthday to one of our audience members that's watching live here in the studio. We just met her, her husband Eddie and Millie is 28 today if I remember. I think she said 28. Is that right Millie? 28. So the audience is clapping for her. They're in Nashville. They came here. This was her big birthday thing. So we get anniversaries. We get a lot of so celebratory. Millie, thank you for sharing your special day with us. We're so happy to meet you. So hope you enjoy the rest of the show. I'll try to be on my best behavior now. All right, let's go to Sean in Miami, Florida. Sean,

how can we help? Hi, how are you doing? I recently quit my job making 80,000 a year to start my own business. And I'm just wondering, having a little self doubt, wondering if it was a mistake or not. Uh oh. What is making you wonder if this is a mistake? Tell me what's really going on here.

Hello. I am a single income family of four. I have two kids. And I'm the sole provider. My wife hasn't worked since she got pregnant with our first child 15 years ago. So this is kind of everything on my shoulders type of deal. How long have you been self-employed? This would be my first time.

I have worked in my career. No, no, I'm literally saying, I know you quit your $80,000 a year job. How long ago was that? How long have you been on your own without someone else paying you? Oh, a week, a week. Okay, okay.

Well, all right, that helps. That gives you some perspective. Do you have any clients lined up? Do you have any kind of a pipeline? Or is this, I mean give me some status. Okay, tell me what we're doing. For years I've been saving towards this goal. I have about 80k saved up in an investment account and about 40k saved up in a savings account. Okay, is that investment account, it's non-retirement, correct? Yeah, it's just like through the bank, private investment. Perfect.

Okay, I'm already, I gotta tell you, I'm already indigestion is gone for you, all right? The way you started this call, I was looking for a roll of Tums, and that might be a two Tums call, I was starting to feel it, but you got your $80,000. I'm proud of you for this.

You've got the $80,000 that you walked away from in an investment account. You got an additional $40,000. Do you have any debt? No, I've paid off all three of my cars. We do not own a house. I've rented the same house for 12 years and my rent has not moved. So I'm in a very good... Fantastic. Fantastic. All right. Now tell me about the revenue. I understand we've got

80 put away, which is great. That gives you a 12 month... I also have three months of my bills paid ahead of time. Before I quit, I went ahead and paid three months of rent, three months of my bills paid ahead of time before I quit. I went ahead and paid three months of rent, three months of insurance. Sean, what are you doing? What's the job that you're doing now? Yeah, what's the company? Yeah, what are you doing now? So I'm a diesel technician by trade. I work on heavy duty trucks and fleet services. Do you have clients signed up that have already said, Eddie, excuse me, Sean, we're staying with you. I have regular customers who have dealt with me for years on the weekends and side work like that.

Are they your current clients? I just started my LLC Monday, so technically no one signed up for it yet. I have just created it. Does anybody know, I understand the technical side, but do these people know that you've left company XYZ that was employing you and now you're going out on your own? Do they know this? Yes, yes. I've done a few side jobs for these employees. Have you gotten any kind of verbal commitment to say, hey, we want to stay with you, Sean? Yeah. Okay then. So best gut here. Let's be modest. And I think

you're the perfect guy. By the way, I want to congratulate you. If someone called me up and said, what should I do to transition from day job to working for myself? I kid you not, Sean. I would say exactly what you said. You went above and beyond what I would have said. You've prepaid your bills. I mean, this is really, really responsible. So I want to applaud you because I am trying to get your pulse to drop. Now the focus is, how quickly are we getting paid to start working on diesel engines? And I think you're in the right trade, by the way. I think you should do fine.

But modestly, what do you expect over the next 90 days, let's take the next three months, what do you expect to be able to make doing the diesel mechanical? Well, immediately I'm going to have to put up about 15 to 20 grand because I'm going to need a truck and some of the larger shop equipment that I was using. I have all of my personal tools, but you will need larger tools that the shop was providing before. All right. So we're going to take that out of the 40 grand we set aside.

So now we got 20 grand set aside. So you think that... Okay. But you didn't answer my question. And I love that you told me that, but my question is what do you anticipate making over the next three months? Revenue. Well, I was planning on hopefully being able to pull down at least three to four grand a month. Great.

So all that said, I don't think you've made a huge mistake. If you believe that you've got a pipeline that's out there as you begin to get out there and hit the payback. And you're in the same industry, which is such a great, right? You're going from one thing to the other, but it's the same kind of, like, it's the same contacts and everything. It's not like you're doing this and

if you've got no income. You're going no income computer sales or something you know yeah so let me go forward Sean and maybe give you a litmus test okay for yourself if you go three to four months without any income and you're not getting any clients saying hey I want you and you have to start eating into that 80,000 I think then you start to go, what is not, what's not working and why is it not working? As of right now, I'm not able to say that you've made a mistake.

I don't think you have. You strike me as such a responsible guy. The great thing in my position is with all my certifications and qualifications, I could walk across the street right now and any other company would hire me. That's what Rachel was saying. That's great, yeah.

And Rachel was pointing that out, she's right. I always have that as a fallback. Yes. And you're in high demand, are you not? I have two grandfathers who have opposing views on this situation, both are company owners. One says business loan, gamble with someone else's money, and the other person says to use my 40,000 in savings.

We agree with him. You already told you what I said to do. You go get the truck, and I was gonna challenge you on that, by the way. If you can rent the equipment in the first 90 days, I'd rent it if it's cheaper. Now, if it's cheaper to buy, then buy it, because you've got the 40,000 set aside

and you only need what you're anticipating is 20,000 in expenditure. So, but if it was me, I would rent if it was a decent savings, you know? It's kind of like, all right, I'm out on my own now. Instead of buying all this equipment, maybe I rent it. If again, it's cheaper. Yeah, and I would caution you so much, Sean,

of opening that debt door. Because once you do that, especially with small businesses, because what Ken said was right, is once you kind of have a litmus test of a timeline, and if you're three, four months in, and something's not working, when you open the door of debt, we've seen this so much that people just,

well, I'll just make it one more month, or two more months, and you end up in such a hole, and then it doesn't work, let's say it doesn't, now you have all this business debt and no business. It's like going to college and getting a student loan and not even getting the degree, right? So like it's, it is not even worth entertaining that idea. Move at the speed of cash.

And I'm telling you the stress load when you don't have a bank asking for their payment, I mean, it changes your decision making too, Sean. You are in such a peaceful place right now and you're making such sound, smart decisions. Stay there. It's worked, right? It's working.

So don't change that. Yeah, absolutely. Sean, again, I applaud you. Well done, I know. If you wanna be extra conservative and your wife is willing, I don't think she needs to. But if you wanna be extra conservative and your wife is willing to work for three to six months

just to offset some stuff, then that'd be an idea as well. But she doesn't have to. I'm not recommending that. Yeah, and maybe that's an option like if you're kind of getting there four months in and you think it, you both see the light, but it's like, hey, but two or three months of something would feel better.

Maybe she does do that, right? I mean, like, you know, there's some- Just to avoid touching the 80, I guess is, and I'm only saying that as a super conservative, I'm not recommending that she go back to work. I'm just trying to show you every option because what Rachel just said is gold. The idea of not having debt is all about peace. And there's nothing worse than going after the dream. And Sean, is this a dream for you?

Yes. There is nothing worse than going after a dream. And Sean, is this a dream for you? Yes. There is nothing worse than going after a dream. And it becomes a nightmare. And I think you set this up to where you're not going to have any nightmares. And it's in such demand. You're in such a great industry. So I think you're going to do great, Sean.

You have zero risk right now. But if you take out debt, you bring risk in. But right now, zero risk. And man, what a great way to achieve the American dream. Rachel, do you ever get these sketchy text messages that are like, hey, you need to update your address and verify so we can get you the package you didn't order? Yes, I have, George. Sketchy and never trust them. And that's why we recommend Delete Me. They help with that.

Yeah, they do. Delete Me actually goes in and removes your information from data broker websites, and it is an incredible service that everyone needs. And there's a lot of shady companies out there that solely exist to sell your personal data to bad guys. And that means your info, like your email address, your home address, your kids' names, your name, everything is just out there for scammers and spammers to find. That's right. And then once they remove your information, then they're going to send you a detailed report telling you where they found your information, when they removed it, how many hours they've saved you.

I mean, it is incredible. So detailed and it's beautiful. I love these reports so far. Get this. They've reviewed twenty seven thousand listings on my behalf, removed me from two hundred and forty data broker sites and saved me 77 hours of time. It's incredible. Absolutely amazing. And Winston and I now get fewer texts, weird emails, spam calls, all of it.

I love it. So you gotta be sure to check them out. Ramsey fans get 20% off their annual plans. Just go to joindeleteme.com slash Ramsey. That comes out to less than nine bucks a month. Super affordable. It's amazing. So again, that's joindeleteme.com slash Ramsey. Make sure to check than nine bucks a month. Super affordable. It's amazing.

So again, that's joindeleteme.com slash Ramsey. Make sure to check it out, you guys. This is the Ramsey Show where we help you win with your money, win in your profession and win with your relationships alongside the fabulous, very springy today, Rachel Cruz. I'm Ken Coleman just trying to keep up. 888-825-5225 is the phone number. Charlotte, North Carolina, I believe it's known as the Queen City, Rachel.

I like to give her useless facts and sometimes you at home appreciate them. Or maybe you don't at all. David is there, David, how can we help? Rachel and Ken, so excited to talk with you. Yeah, it is the Queen City and... You're right, Ken. I'm doing my part. You just made his day, David. Thank you, David. Thank you, David. Awesome. Well, yeah, I've been on the Ramsey plane now 20 years. I found you guys back in 05, got out of debt in less

than 18 months as you teach and have lived below my means on the personal and business side ever since. Today's question is in regards to the tariffs. I own a business and in December I made our largest ever investment in equipment and I paid in full when I ordered back in December. Took four months to make and it's ready to ship now but it's coming from China. And so two days ago I was told if I want to import it it's going to cost 80% of what I paid just for the product but now with today's news what 145% so I'm just trying to figure out. Yeah, and who knows what Trump's gonna do? He might just get excited and go, 300%. I mean, we're in a full-scale trade war right now.

And this is real stuff right here. This is where this kind of stuff, you heard me yammer about it in private. Oh yeah. Now it's real. Ken, are you with Go Ken? I'm pretty fired up actually. I'm pretty pissed off. Go Ken, go.

Because I'm gonna say this real quick and then we're gonna get into the numbers. Tariffs are taxes. And we have never in the history of this great country taxed our way into prosperity and it's the Davids of the world that are going to get hit hard on this. So let's talk real situation. What's your question based on where you stand right now and I'll start working through this with you.

So I know that since I already paid back in December, that's a sunk cost, as you always say. I mean, do I pay the 80% or even now 145% or 300%? Whatever it is. Or do I wait to see if it comes down? But as you say, you know, shoot, it could go up, right? So the question I have for you is if let's just assume let's play this out as though you got scammed and you paid for this and you're never gonna get the equipment where does that put you in your actual business how does that affect your business your ability to provide to your customer what you need to provide.

I mean, because I followed your plan and paid in cash, then, you know, it's a hard lesson, but we're going to make it right. So not getting that equipment. You need the equipment. That's what I'm trying to get at. I mean, will it interrupt? No, I mean, I can rent and I mean, I got got a couple jobs up in May that next month that I needed for but I've already just planned to rent now anyway.

They delayed the shipment. Had we received it when we were supposed to, this wouldn't even be an issue. All right, and just for real numbers, what is the actual, since you've already paid cash, what is the actual dollar amount that you're going to owe as of today? If you were to call them and go ship it, what's the actual cost, not the percentage of the tariff, but the actual cost to you? Yeah, as of two days ago, it was $53,000. And just so the American people that are listening in here can hear this, what would it have been under the previous tariff? I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Maybe 25,000? No, not if it's not if

it's 125. So it's a sizable chunk to you. So if it were me, I'd wait to see what happens. Mm-hmm. Because of what you said, I would delay shipment. Absolutely, I would delay it. Yeah, is there any harm, David, if you said, hey, I'm going to just wait six months and any job I have between now and then, I'm just going to rent? No. They'll just hold it.

It's not going to get any worse. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I know what Trump's going to do or Xi Jinping is going to do. I don't know. But I don't think it's going to sit here and tell you that I know what Trump's going to do or Xi Jinping is going to do. I don't know. But I don't think it's going to get demonstrably worse. I mean, we're talking cartoonish levels right now. 125% tariff?

Let's just be honest. Trump is negotiating and who knows if it's going to work. But this is absurd. So I would sit on the sideline because you can't. I think that's absolutely the play. Yeah. I wish and I wish I could say more. How much does it cost David to rent what you're going to do? How much will that be out of pocket? Yeah, so that's not too much. It depends on the size. Like a couple of grand or like 10? Yeah, so for the first event it's going to cost maybe

about four grand. The second event it's going to cost maybe about four grand. The second event it's going to cost maybe about eight or nine grand. Okay, because there is a point of diminishing return that right you end up renting so much that you could have just had it and owned it. At which point you go, all right, I'm going to eat the 53. So there's almost like a timeline David of, you know. Well, but if your renting is based on the job, do you price in the renting to the job? Oh yeah, I mean, yeah, yeah, I'm working it out. Your renting is based on the job. Do you price in the renting to the job?

Oh yeah, I mean, yeah, yeah, I'm working it out. So then my point is, is then as long as you can do that, to Rachel's point, I would never, I would not pay this tax. But you understand something, David. You gotta take what I'm saying with about a bag of salt, because I hate taxes. Like, the only thing I hate more than taxes is Satan. I mean, that's the honest-to-God truth.

So, taxes come from hell, and so they're related. That's my take on it. And so I would sit tight, and I'm really sorry this is happening. I'm really sorry, but I'm glad you called. And I'm also glad, by the way... I'm glad I found you all years ago, because I I mean I'm in a position to where I can wait. This is why cash is king for small businesses because you cannot control what a president does or what a premier of another country does.

You're stuck in the crossfire here. But Ken you were just on. I was just on Fox Business about this. As Right. Ken, you were just on. I was just on Fox Business about this. As I was gonna say, you were just on. And I said this was what I was worried about. And this is, and for our audience, I wanna be very clear. This is not a political statement. Right.

This is not a Republican statement. This is not a Democrats statement. Because even within the Republican Party, this issue's divided. Very divided. Because you got Reagan people. I mean, it's very, even within it, people have different opinions.

But what I'm going to say is that I personally, I'm speaking personally, not on behalf of the Ramsey Show, but I'm speaking from an economic standpoint. As a conservative, I am not for taxes, ever. It's the last resort. Do I think taxes are necessary to fund a government? Yes, of course. But what I said in New York on that show, and I'll say it right now,

this is why I'm not in favor of a trade war. When you go to war with commerce, Rachel, the very act of war means one side has to lose. And I know we got very opinionated people saying, China's done this for a long, I'm not disagreeing with any of that. What I'm saying is, forget the reason why Trump's doing it. I'm not debating it. I'm saying theing with any of that. What I'm saying is forget the reason why Trump's doing it. I'm not debating it.

I'm saying the outcome is pain and hopefully gets better. You hope that this goes away and that Trump gets to zero zero. Everybody wants that, by the way. I don't care what side of the aisle you're on. But I am concerned about the impact on small business. And so what I would say is, I said all that to say this, if you're a small business owner, like a David, now is a great reminder that you cannot control geopolitics.

What you can control is socking money away and don't get in debt. Because David is actually able to weather what could be a really ugly storm because of that. That's my whole point. So I hope all of you didn't get your feathers ruffled. The point I'm making is you gotta be able to withstand economic ups and downs

that sometimes are policy driven. So hopefully this all gets settled pretty soon, but make no mistake folks, the deal with China, it affects more small businesses than any other country. So hopefully it works out. Crossing my fingers. We've all got people we love and things we've worked hard for that we want to protect. So to keep them safe, I've recommended SimpliSafe Home Security for over 10 years now, because they're the best.

You see, traditional security systems only start working after somebody's already broken in, which is too late. But SimpliSafe's active guard outdoor protection can help prevent break-ins before they happen. And SimpliSafe agents can see and speak to potential intruders to help stop trouble before it makes it to your door. SimpliSafe is 24-7 protection for your home, inside and out. And even though SimpliSafe is the best, it's affordable. Monitoring starts at around a dollar a day. Your first month is free, and they offer a 60-day money back guarantee. Plus, there are no long-term contracts or cancellation fees.

And right now, you get 50% off a SimpliSafe system with professional monitoring. So head to SimpliSafeDirect.com to save 50%. That's SimpliSafeDirect.com. There's no safe like SimpliSafe. Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? You can take control of your money and your relationships. And it starts with just one night. Join me and Dr. John Delaney, live in a city near you, on the Money and Relationships Tour. We're covering the real life stuff that matters, so you can break the cycles that have left you stuck. It's coming up fast so get your tickets for Louisville, Durham, Atlanta, Phoenix, Fort Worth or Kansas City at ramsysolutions.com slash tour today. Well you know some days we have a fabulous audience. Most days for the show we have a

fabulous audience who comes to the lobby here at Ramsey Solutions and we can see these fine people looking through the glass. We go out and say hi and all that kind of stuff and today it happens to be a birthday day we've had a lot of birthdays and so we had young Millie who was 28 and now we just met the fabulous Carol who just turned 80 a couple days ago and she's got the team out there and notice the glasses. She's got a sash, what do you call that? A sash? She's got a tiara and she's got these fabulous glasses, James.

She's hating this right now. By the way, Carol looked as though she was in shock, James. She's very embarrassed by all the attention. And so one of the party that she's with loaned me their glasses. So I wanted to say a special happy birthday to you, Carol. You look fabulous. You don't look a day over 50.

And we're very blessed that you're here. And they're about to hit the town. They're gonna go to, you should meet them on Broadway. I actually, I'm gonna ask James if I can take the rest of the show off. And I'm just gonna head to nature. You look like you're ready to play Benny and the Jets or something or no.

Yeah. Benny and the Jets. So there you. Yeah. Bitty and the Jets. So there you go. Little Elton. There you go, how about that? Very fun stuff. So great. So happy birthday again.

So fun. So fun when people spend their special day with us. I know, we get anniversaries, we get honeymoons sometimes. Yeah, we do. That's always the craziest one. It's always great. I'm like, I can't believe you're here on your honeymoon.

So fun. What are y'all doing here? The Ramsey Show question of the day is brought to you by YRefi. YRefi offers a different approach to paying off your defaulted private student loans with a low fixed rate for less stress. Go to yrefy.com slash Ramsey.

That's the letter Y, R-E-F-Y dot com slash Ramsey. It may not be available in all states. All right, today's question comes from Aiden in New Mexico. My wife is a contract business consultant and is also self-employed as an artist. When it comes to paperwork, she's very disorganized. It has gotten to the point where I have taken my tax documents

to a tax preparer twice because I didn't want the IRS auditing me. I beg her every year to get her stuff together and to file on time, but it never happens, which leads to arguments. How do I get her to understand the seriousness of this situation? Oof.

That's tough. Well, it's taxes. I'm like, it's, oh, back to taxes. Yeah. But you've got to do it. Yeah, and that's what I was gonna say. It's unbelievable. So this is a relationship issue.

As much as you hate it. But in this situation, it's not you coming to the table with a, hey, let me tell you about these baby steps, let me tell you about this Ramsey plan. I'd like to get us on a budget. Like this is the federal government. This is the law. This isn't, yeah, there's a wiggle room here.

So it seems like it needs to be a reality check. This isn't trying to get her on board. Right. This is like, we will go to jail. This is the law. And I don't think I look good in orange, sweetheart. You know, or whatever you gotta say here. This comes back to a relationship thing,

but I hate to make it so simplistic. I want you to weigh in, but I think it is, hey, this is super serious. This isn't my opinion. We have to do this. Let's make this a lot less difficult by let's get all our stuff together and be on the same page. Yeah, and I think self-awareness is huge

because she's an artist and I'm not pointing fingers, but I do think there is a- I think that's a fair point. When you are an artist, there is a little bit more of a free spirit within you, right? It's a great way of saying that. Numbers is usually not your strength. And vice versa, people that are great with numbers

are terrible usually at being creative. So it's a, again, it is how you were wired and gifted. And then I think it is a self-aware adult to say, hey, I have things and weaknesses in my life. And in my personality, I'm gonna be an adult and I have to obey the law, but also what systems can I put in place to help me in those weaknesses?

Cause I'm not naturally good at all of this, right? She's very disorganized is what he said. So that would be more of the conversation of, hey, what can we do to help you? It's not a point the finger at you constantly. It is, hey, yeah, this is the law. So it has to be done. So what systems can we put in place together?

And as the husband, I'm here to help you. And he's like on his own. We're like, I'm just taking my tax documents and blah over here, which I get, because he doesn't want to go to jail either. He's kind of hedging his bets. Yeah, seriously. But I think it is, hey, how can I help us help you put some systems into place?

But there is a point that she has to be an adult, right? You can carve a situation in a conversation a certain way to a point. But there's also a point, Kim, with all of this, especially the law, but then other things of like, my wife just continues to spend more. There's just a point that like you, you're not able to change that person

and they have to be the adults. And it's sad when they're not. But we see that a lot around here. It's a really tough situation. Thanks for sharing the question with us Knoxville, Tennessee the home of Rachel's alma mater Sam is there Sam. How can we help? Yes, I have a question for you regarded to my truck

have a 2001 truck and it just rolled out of warranty. I intend to keep the truck for a longer period of time, or at least I hope so. Um, and was offered an extended warranty by the dealership. And so what I did is added up all of the cost of repairs that wouldn't have been covered or were covered by warranty that no longer would. And it came out to about 8,800 bucks in the four years that I've owned the truck.

So it hasn't been necessarily super reliable, very expensive to repair. And as I intend on keeping the truck or want to keep the truck, I kind of want to explore my options. Should I buy this warranty? For $5,600? Should I risk it, continue driving the truck for another 100,000 miles without warranty or should I go out and get a new truck with a fresh warranty? What's your opinion and kind of just want to gauge a direction to go in? What's been the repairs? I mean about 2,000 a a year is what ends up being. What has it been? Yeah, it's really little stuff to be honest with you. It's the motor in the tailgate. It's got one

of these automatic tailgates. It was the air conditioning control module in the dash. It was a sensor in the, I guess the parking sensor system. Yeah. What I'm concerned about. Go ahead. Go ahead. Well, I was going to say, I mean, you know, as you kind of look through this from a math perspective, it's less than like 200 bucks a month is what it ends up being, which just

feels expensive. Like if the stuff isn't being fixed, like that's one issue. But I'm not a big fan of extended warranties because I'm like, it's the things should work. And if not, I would rather it be in my court. Again, unless there's some crazy recall right now, Sam, and they're like, you know, giving you some discounts on the extended warranty or whatever it may be. But I, we usually factor in cars. We have a sinking fund that we've set up that if anything goes wrong with the cars, we use

that sinking fund. So again, for yours, it's coming out to be around $200 a month. So I would probably just set some money aside and then hopefully most of this gets fixed because I mean, the fact that you're keep going in and in for repairs is that's frustrating. Yeah, no, you're right. And for me, it's not really a money issue. You know, the trucks paid off, right, the 200 bucks a month is really negligible based on our income. It's more kind of a, I guess, a psychological

field. Do I keep throwing money at a truck? No, that's a different question. That's where I came down? Yeah, that's a different question. So that's where I came down. I agree with everything Rachel said. I'm gonna come down on this one and go, I'm the kind of guy, this is the way I'm wired, where I'm not gonna keep dealing with this truck. I'm gonna go, this thing's a lemon, or it's an issue with the manufacturer

and they just don't do a good job making the parts and I'm just tired of this mess. For me, because in your situation, I would be in the same boat. Any mechanical work I gotta do, I'm not stressed out about it. I got the money set aside, whatever, whatever, whatever. But it's like, it's time. Time is money. You remember that old phrase? Kind of true. It's a 2001, Sam? Is that what you said? Yeah, it's a 2001 with 80,000 miles on it. And it's a hybrid. And I don't know if you kind of

look into some of these hybrid issues, but if the hybrid motors or the 2021 or no 2001. I don't know. They're making hybrids in oh one. No, it's a 2021. Oh, Yeah, you kept saying oh one. I was like man. They were ahead of their game with I couldn't spell hybrid Okay, so 2021 that makes way more sense. I was like I get rid of it I'd sell it I'd sell it okay, and that's somebody else's problem And I'd go get myself a truck that had a much higher rating that I'm not in the shop all the time Yeah, and again, it's just the Nick. These are like little paper cuts. It feels like what a nuisance man

I'd be like why would I buy your warranty? How about you make a better truck? That's what I'd have said to the dealer, but I can be sassy that way. But I feel like that's true. I got an idea. Why don't you make a better truck? I don't need all this warranty because all the stuff seems like it's a little piddly stuff. So you got the cash, I'd get rid of the nuisance. Let it be somebody else's problem. So you got the cash, I'd get rid of the nuisance, let it be somebody else's problem. All right, Dave, you have some strong opinions. Possibly, yeah. I think so.

Okay, because you really prefer credit unions over big banks. So why is that? Well, credit unions, for one thing, are non-profit, which means that the members, the customers, own the credit union. So any profits that the credit union makes goes back into customer pricing. So you get better interest rate on savings, cheaper checking, and so on, that kind of thing. What's more important than that though is the fact that the customer is the owner changes the spirit on the credit union. So I find very few credit unions that aren't very customer-centric.

Yes. Well, and I think we have found one that is incredible, and that's Fairwinds. They are an incredible credit union that is really out with the heart to help the customer. You know, that's why we're partnering with them, because they've got a scope to be able to handle the Ramsey audience, and they're the right kind of people with the right kind of values. And they've done a really, really good job with customer service and the deals that they're offering,

the Ramsey Tribe is incredible. Yeah, absolutely. And you're right, their customer service is unbelievable. Winston and I just signed up and we got an account. And I'm not kidding, it took less than five minutes. It was so user friendly. The step-by-step approach was unbelievable. And then the next day my phone rings

and it says Fairwinds on my phone. So I answered it and talked to someone there and they said, yeah, they give calls to every new customer. And so again, they just really care about your experience and I so, so appreciate that. So again, you guys, I know it can be a pain to switch banks or to open up new accounts, but Fairwinds again, they make it so easy. Plus anything that you can do at a traditional branch you can do with them at fairwinds.org or on their app and you'll have free access to over

33,000 ATMs. Hey, you guys know how much I hate banks in general and so for me to do this is a big deal. Talk to our friends at Fairwinds and check out the combined checking and savings bundle that they created just for the Ramsey tribe. You guys, it's incredible. Yeah, you guys, it's so easy to join Fairwinds no matter where you live. So go to fairwinds.org slash Ramsey to learn more. That's F-A-I-R-W-I-N-D-S.org slash Ramsey. All right, business owners, last call. The pre-sale for the brand new book, Build a Business You Love, ends April 15.

Pre-order now and get over $350 worth of free bonus items to help you hire smarter, lead stronger, and grow faster. This is not theory. It's the system I use to grow my company from nothing and the same framework we've coached thousands of business owners through. You can only get the bonuses at ramsysolutions.com slash store so don't wait. Pre-order now. Alright folks, when we talk about money and relationships, it just brings up all kinds of emotions for people because that's where so many relationships can go bad.

I mean, we take calls all the time on the show where it poses as a money question, but it's really now become a relationship issue. Money fights are the leading cause of divorce, kids go into debt for a job, we're isolated, don't feel like we can live the life we want to live because we're so strapped. But it's possible to break that cycle in your money and in your relationships. That's why Dave Ramsey and Dr. John Delaney are headed out on the Money and Relationships Tour. They're going to be handling all of those issues and taking some really fun questions, things from the audience that they vote on.

It's going to be a very different format, and they're coming to a city near you. Louisville, April 21, Durham, April 23, Atlanta, April 25, Phoenix, May 5, Fort Worth, May 7, and Kansas City on May 9. You can get your tickets to join them live at ramsysolutions.com slash tour. That's ramsysolutions.com slash tour. If you're listening via podcast or watching on YouTube, click the link in the show notes to get your money and relationship tour event ticket with Dave Ramsey and Dr. John Delaney. Back to the phones we go Bozeman Montana is where Bear waits for us. I gotta tell you Bear, I wish my name was Bear. Bear Coleman, I think I'd be a much bigger deal. I'm doing well, how are you? Oh, still upright and breathing, so I'm quite happy. Say that again?

I'm still upright and breathing, so I'm quite happy. I love you, Bear. I hope that doesn't make you uncomfortable. Is that your given name or a nickname? I used your guys' anonymous feature. Oh, so you named yourself. Is that the best? I just thought of something and like, who do I know who doesn't know my nicknames?

And I've held it most of my life from family. So I love that you know, we appreciate that. Sometimes we'll give an anonymous name. If it's a personal question, we love that so that you can say, come on out. Bear from Bozeman. You know, that's a, Ken and I will come back at the end of the segment and tell you what our anonymous name would be. But let's get to you. I'm going to pick a name, my anonymous name. That's going to be great. We'll reveal that at

the end here. This is going to be great. But Bear, first and foremost, how can we help you? Well, I have some questions about job offers and I don't want to sink myself Well, I have some questions about job offers and I don't want to sink myself um, because I've, how'd you say, I'm trying to get ahead and I've been wise with my money, I believe. And, um, I would like to get farther ahead given that I am currently single and own own property and looking at buying more property but where there's a brand new job offer that came

up and I don't want to jump and then make purchase and then all of a sudden I'm finding that I'm in trouble. Why would you be in trouble? What could go wrong by taking this new job? If the job goes wrong. Okay. If the job goes wrong. Is there in your mind, is there a high percentage chance, medium percentage chance,

or low percentage chance that the job could go wrong? Probably low. What's the job? Hello? I think the bear has stepped in a trap. That's unfortunate. We're going to put him on hold. If we can get bear back, I think he stepped in a phone trap. He's gone. He was there and now he's not. That's really unfortunate. Let's go to Tyler in Des Moines, Iowa. Tyler, how can we help? Hey, Ken.

Hey, Rachel. Thanks for taking my call. You bet. What's up? So, I'm 26 and my fiance and I are getting married in a month or so, and we have a lot that we purchased with cash and we're waiting to build. And we're just kind of wondering, is it better to build or wait,

or like build this summer or buy a house in cash since we're so young? Okay, so you have a lot and then you have cash, extra cash, and you're saying, should we take this cash and build on the lot or go buy a home? Yep. Okay. Is, is the cash that you guys have saved enough to buy a home that's reasonable for you guys? So like I can give you some numbers just so like, um,

so we have like 30,000 in single stocks. I know you guys don't like single stocks, but that's okay. You got 30,000. The last four at 75. So we could sell that maybe, um, money market is 120,000, uh, checking. is 120,000 checking. We have about 12,000 on and our cars are worth... Okay, well tell me this, so that's about, I mean, but not including the lot, you got 150, but that, I would want you to have an emergency fund out of that, so we're down to maybe a hundred. Do you, and if you sold the lot, could you buy a home for 175 in your area that you guys would be happy with? Um, it probably no less than two 50.

Okay. So like, um, so we're currently living in a trailer and I can sell that for another 30. Okay. Um, yep. All right. So what I would probably do, honestly Tyler, is rent. I'm not a big fan of motor homes because it is something that goes down in value so quickly. So there's a part of me that would just sell that and then you guys go rent somewhere for a year or two, stock up some cash, kind of see where you're at.

And I wouldn't make big moves on selling the lot and all of this because you guys could get a few years down the road and want to build. And I would't make big moves on selling the lot and all of this because you guys could get a few years down the road and wanna build depending on the situation. Is the lot somewhere you would wanna live? Yeah, it's about five minutes from where I live now. Yeah, but you guys like the area and all of that then?

Where the lot is, okay. Would you guys wanna build on it eventually? Is that like a dream you have? Uh, yeah. Like we were planning in July, but with tariffs and everything, we're not sure because we were trying to keep our mortgage payment at 2,500 because we're seeing like nine to 10,000 like coming to our checking every month. Okay, good. So that kind of keeps you in that good. We're trying to keep about that 25.

For sure, for sure. Okay, yeah. Well, I would either just stay put where you guys are for a year or sell the trailer and go rent somewhere for a year or two. I don't think there's any big rush. And I think to your point with everything

that's kind of going nuts right now, just kind of letting all that settle and then look up and say, okay, either we're gonna just buy a home and live in it for five, six years, you know, get our family established and then build our dream home on this lot years down the road. Or if you guys have the cash available and you want to do the home buying or the home build process, then you could do that. But I don't think I would sell this lot right now. No, I wouldn't do that. I would, I would be renting until I knew what my next,

probably five year plan would be housing wise. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So that was, and I think too, renting, especially your first year of marriage and stuff, it's just, it's just easy having people kind of take care of what needs to be taken care of. And you're not having to deal with home ownership

and all of that. So that's probably what I would do, Tyler. Okay, thank you, I appreciate it. Yep, absolutely, thanks for the call. Yeah, thank you so much. Do we have time? Do we think we have Bear? We're gonna go back to Bear,

we'll see if we can do this really quick. Let's see, where is Bear? There he is, line four. Bear, we got you back, we only got about a minute. Here's where we left off. What would have to happen for your new job offer to truly go bad? What would you have to do or what would have to be a circumstance that would cause that job to just kind of go away? How do you say? I do very skilled and specialized utility work and I'm sitting pretty alright

right now with about $70,000 a year. Could you pop back into that work if it didn't work out, this new job? I could. And how much more will the new job pay? I've got just a little bit of time so I'm asking quick questions. How much more would this new job pay you than you're making now? About seven dollars more an hour, probably 15,000 more a year. So it's low risk. Do you want to do it or do you not want to do it? What's your heart want to do? Um, gotta give me an answer. for the higher, go for the higher paid, but I would.

I'm for it. I think it's low risk. I'd like to see you try it bear. We know we can fall back on a very well paying job with a highly sought after skill. I like it. No risk there. Little risk. So go for it.

You're single. If you integrate home for a little bit, that's okay. And then if you hate it. That's exactly right. All right, real quick, what's your anonymous name? I got mine. Oh, I'm going Lillian. I went with the nature theme.

I thought about animals, Kamado, koala, kangaroo. None of that worked. Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? You can take control of your money and your relationships and it starts with just one night. Join me and Dr. John DeLoney live in a city near you on the Money and Relationships Tour. We're covering the real life stuff that matters so you can break the cycles that have left you stuck. It's coming up fast, so get your tickets for Louisville,

Durham, Atlanta, Phoenix, Fort Worth, or Kansas City at ramsysolutions.com slash tour today. Lillian, huh? That's the anonymous name? Yeah, I'm going flower. Where does that come from? Well, it's my grandmother's name. Oh.

And I went nature. Okay. With a bear, animal. You think Lillian is nature? Lillian, a's my grandmother's name. Oh. And I went nature. Okay. With that bear, animal. You think Lilian is nature? Lilian, a lily. Oh, I see. But it's an extra little. Just a little extra there.

Little something. Okay. Let's go to Deborah in Santa Barbara. Deborah, how can we help today? Hi guys, I need some advice. I'm in trouble. Oh, no. Deborah.

You sound like you're in the corner. You remember like when we were kids, your parents sent you to the corner? Sound like you might be in the corner, Deborah. Let's go. No shame in your game. What's going on? Yeah, definitely on the cusp. Uh-oh. Okay.

I have two houses. Okay, one I was renting out. The renter went away, totally trashed the place, left the place broken, haven't fixed it, had a lousy, lousy, horrible, horrible 2024 year. And it's left me with $70,000 worth of credit card debt. Because of the house or because of other things? The house, trying to get people to help get it repaired that kind of thing. It's still sitting not repaired. It's been eight months so I've lost that

income and then my income went down from five days a week to three days a week so that also hit me plus I had like knee surgery. I have kids living with me. I have grandchildren living with me and honestly honestly, the money I have now, I can't make the bills every month. And so I've been putting my utilities on the credit card and that kind of thing. And this is over a year and it's all added up and here I am.

All right. Let's talk about this house, Debra. The rent, how much do you owe on it? On the rental, I owe zero owe zero oh it's paid for it's paid for I inherited from my father oh wow okay I figured when I'm 65 I'd move there and retire and there you go have no mortgage meanwhile my other little home which is condo I owe about a hundred and fourteen thousand dollars on okay and that's the one I'm currently living in okay how Meanwhile, my other little home, which is condo, I owe about $114,000 on. Okay.

And that's the one I'm currently living in. Okay, how much is the house that your dad left you? How much is that worth? Oh, probably about $650,000. Okay, how much is the condo worth? Probably about $400,000. Okay, and where do you wanna be long-term, the condo or the home?

Well, in the home, the condo or the home? Well in the home Because condos upstairs. Okay, I think okay, you know, yeah for sure I like where I live. But like I said, I've got I've got grown children living with me and we're talking 30 Why are they living with you? 30s. Why are they living with you? Because they got no place else to live. One injured is back. He's got like a 10 vertebrae fusion. He's looking to get on SSI. He hasn't worked in a couple of years. And then the other one, he's got three kids, 12 year old, a 10 year old and a seven year old. And believe me, we don't have room. You know, I've got people sleeping on the couch you know but I've been paying all the bills and I've asked for help they don't help

one of them can't he just doesn't even have a job anymore the one that does work construction he does have income but he doesn't contribute and he doesn't want to help do the repairs that was part of the thing is he was supposed to repair the one house, the rental house, and he's been, I guess he's been baloney, giving me a bunch of baloney for months on end here. These are sons? These are my sons, my blood sons. Yeah, it's heartbreaking.

I mean, it's a mess. The boundaries here are completely intertwined and it's not. I mean, it's a mess. The boundaries here are completely intertwined and it's not working for you, Debra. And so you're not able to help people when you're drowning and you're drowning, you're putting your utilities on credit cards. You can't afford this life anymore. So they need to leave.

I mean, like there has to be a conversation of I can't support you, nor should I, they are grown adults. And you need to give them a runway Deborah, 30, 60 days. And because you can't afford it. Like you guys, you can't afford this situation. And so, um, so what I would do, do you want to be in the, would you want to be in the house? I mean, I would sell the condo,

go move in the debt free house, you know, you have 200. 100%. And then you have $275,000, pay off the credit cards, you have 200 grand, and now you get to live your life. Like this is an immediate turnaround, Deborah, and it makes the most sense. Yeah, and that would be the rest of my income for the rest of my life.

I am 62 right now. What do you have in retirement? About $6,000. Okay, so yeah, so you're going to have to up your income. You are going to have to work longer, but you'll have that $200,000 and that's not going to be enough probably for retirement long term, so you are going to have to be working some more. But this will fix a lot of this mess right now. Yeah. That's what I'm trying to figure out. Yeah, so that's-

Because I'm literally having to borrow money even to pay the minimums right now. Yeah. And that's from other people. Yep, yep. Well, there's nothing to figure out. I mean, I want you to understand that you have one clear option here, and it's the option we just gave you. And this is going to get you out of this desperate situation, this wacky situation, quite frankly, it's not desperate, it's just wacky. And set you up for the future. Now, you're right,

but you at least got a $200,000 head start and you're gonna have to work and you're gonna sock away as much money as possible. We'd love to see you get a Smart Vestor Pro if you do not have one. And let's map out what do we need to do over the next five to seven to eight to maybe ten years to make sure that you have more margin as you age but at least you got to paid for a home that is also a tremendous asset for you as well. Yeah, no it's a blessing

and I know it is but you know and what about my grandkids though? What about them? I don't want to make my grandkids homeless. That's not your problem. I know that sounds heartless, it shouldn't, but I feel like it does, but that's not your problem. Those are grown men, they need to step up and take care of business. No, I agree on that, and I don't feel like I'm doing them

any favors because I take care of too much, and I've tried to back off of that too because I agree on that. And I don't feel like I'm doing them any favors because I take care of too much. And I've tried to back off of that too because I do do that. Well, but that's the answer to your question. They don't care. But you just answered your own question, by the way, more effectively than I did. Your little speech you just gave is the speech you need to remind yourself when you say, what about my grandkids? I don't want to be this big, mean grandmother that kicks them out on the street.

That's not what you're doing, number one. But number two, you need to remind yourself of that speech you just gave. It was a great speech. I'm trying. And the dad of the three kids has a job, correct? Well, he does construction. So he works here and there. That kind of thing.

So, Deborah, you've said it. I mean, so. So, okay. Yeah, he can work whenever he wants. And, yeah, he can work whenever he wants. And this isn't, I'm being a little harsh on you, Debra, because you've allowed it, right? He's living the best life. Everything's paid for.

He works when he can. He doesn't pay bills, he does nothing. This guy's literally the character in Wedding Crashers. Ma, me loaf! I mean, he yells and you come running, you know? Might as well give him a little silver bell on, on, on the big things. And the thing is he actually made more than I did last year and he still can't help me

with the utilities or nothing like that. And I'm begging him. I'm begging him. You know what? He's a, yeah. Well, well that, that's where that's a boundary. Deborah, you have to set for yourself. You've asked, you can't control what he's doing,

and so now you have to control what Debra can control. And you have to set yourself up in the next, what Ken just said, the next eight years, to allow you to win. Because at the end of the day, they're not helping you, right, it's not like you're falling back on them, so. He can't help you with utilities? You can't help him anymore, period.

He's a grown man. I'm telling you, I wish I could have a chat with this guy. I really do. This is embarrassing. He ought to be embarrassed how he's treating his mother. Now I understand I'm talking about your baby. I get that. But you called and you're looking for advice and your heart is literally getting you in trouble. I know it. I know it. And like I said, I

depended on him to help me like, you know, with the repairs on the rental house. So Deborah, so tonight, Deborah, you need to sit them down and you need to let them know, hey, in the next 60 days I'm putting the condo up for sale. I can't afford this anymore. And I'm going to have to make some hard calls because I have nothing in retirement. And I'm gonna have to do what's best for me in this situation.

And so that is selling the condo, moving to the home, doing some repairs in between. It's not going to probably be perfect when you move in, but at least you don't have a mortgage payment or a rent payment. So gosh, Deborah, I'm sorry, but that's what I would do. Cut up the credit cards. Don't keep going down that mess. That's getting you more and more.

And when you don't have the temptation of the credit card, then your feet are to the fire and that's really going to force you to make some hard decisions, which is good. You need some of that. You ought not to treat your mama that way. Thanks for watching!