The Ramsey Show - Know Where Every Dollar Is Going Before the Month Begins

Episode Date: April 24, 2024

💵 Sign-up for EveryDollar today - The simplest way to budget for your life! Rachel Cruze & George Kamel answer your questions and discuss: "Should I pay off my rental property?" "Should we back out of our new home build?" "Should I quit my side hustles?" "We disagree with how our church uses money," "Where should I buy rental property?" "How can I start being financially responsible?" Support Our Sponsors: Christian Healthcare Ministries BetterHelp Zander Insurance Next Steps 📞 Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 Weekdays from 2-5pm ET or click here! 🏦 Take Your 3-Minute Money Assessment - Get a personalized money plan! 🍎 Enter the Teacher Appreciation Giveaway 🎟️ It's game on! Get your ticket for Total Money Makeover Weekend.  🏠 Find a Ramsey Trusted Real Estate Agent Listen to more from Ramsey Network 🎙️ The Ramsey Show   🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 🍸 Smart Money Happy Hour 💡 The Rachel Cruze Show 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 💰 George Kamel 💼 The Ken Coleman Show 📈 EntreLeadership Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy

🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's The Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create amazing relationships. I am Rachel Cruz hosting this hour with my good friend and co-host of Smart Money Happy Hour, George Camel. And we will be taking your questions. who's hosting this hour with my good friend and co-host of Smart Money Happy Hour, George Camel. And we will be taking your questions. So give us a call at 888-825-5225. We're talking about your life, your money, your relationships, your career, anything and everything here to help you out. So first up, we have Ian out of Portland, Oregon. Hey, Ian, welcome to the show. Hi. Good afternoon. This is Ian. Thanks for taking my call. Absolutely. How can we help? I'm in a bit of a juncture in my life where I'm purchasing my third house, which will be my primary house since I'm moving. I have two existing mortgages, and I was wondering what to do with them. The two options have come up in my mind is,

one, I can have the paid both these mortgages off because I have enough savings to pay them off, and subsequently have renters pay my primary slash third mortgage. That way I lose, you know, I kind of get rid of two mortgages and I just have one primary mortgage. That's sort of the foreseeable advantage I have. The option B is I leave the two long-term renters in my two existing mortgages, properties, and then I pay myself for the third mortgage. And three mortgages is what the caveat here is that I have to handle versus one mortgage in option A. I need some help with deciphering

which would be a better option for me. Okay. Well, if I'm in your shoes, I would want my primary mortgage paid off, but I also don't like the risk of having two mortgages sitting out there with renters. And so if I'm in your shoes and you can pay off both mortgages today, I'd rather you leave with one mortgage than multiple. So what is the balances of the two existing mortgages? Yeah, the first balance is about $25,000. The other one is $150,000, so $175,000 total.

And how much do you have in savings? I've got about half a million. Wonderful. Okay, great. And how much are those properties worth? The first property is probably worth about $210,000 with a $2,500 mortgage. The other one is worth $350,000. I'm sorry, the other one is about $800,000 with the $145,000 mortgage.

Okay, that's great. And then your primary, how much do you owe on it? Good question. This is what I'm in the process of buying in my primary. Oh, you haven't bought it yet? My budget is about $800,000. Okay. Okay, I gotcha.

Are you single? No, married. Okay. But primary owner, primary, yeah, breadwinner. Okay. How quickly could you pay off all of this? Let's say you depleted your cash down to just an emergency fund. You knocked out the two existing mortgages.

How much could you put down on the next mortgage on the next property? That's a great question. And that's where I'm running into some trouble is because I'm deciding whether I should pay this $170,000 off and pay off these two mortgages or use that for my down payment. Right. Do you enjoy being a landlord? Do you enjoy the real estate part of life? Good question. I, yeah, it's been uneventful for the last, you know, five, 10 years that I've been doing so. I mean, they're great. I mean, you're so close to the end

of having two paid for properties, which, and then they're going to be, you know, cash flowing. And we always say on the show, obviously it's not when we say passive income, it's not really passive income because there's, you have work, you have to do upkeep, right? You're flipping renters, maybe once a year. So I mean, there is work in there. But I do like the idea of Yeah, your diversification of having some rental properties, and you're so close to having them paid off, which I think is exceptional. So and it frees up those payments, what would those payments add up to just the principal and interest on both of those properties if you freed them up? Good question. If I feed them up and I'm getting rental income from both those properties, I could probably get $1,500 from one and maybe $3,000 from

another, so $4,500. That's great. And if you then threw all of that onto your new mortgage that you'd be taking on for your primary and knock that out within a few years, I think that's a great plan. There's not really a baby step for this because of the way you did it. You know, we would say, hey, get your primary paid off, then pay cash for any investment properties. So we're sort of reverse engineering a lot of this. And the ultimate goal is to get you debt free as quickly as possible. Okay.

How much do you make a year, Ian? About $300,000. Okay. And the two other properties are near you, driving distance-wise? It's not cross-country or anything? Okay. Yeah, three hours maximum. Yeah, and I think that's great, Ian.

And then if you get two years down the road and you hate your primary mortgage so much because you're like, oh, my gosh, I just want to pay it off, then sell one of the rentals and pay it off. Yeah. Or you can just, you know, leave it in that baby step six. So, you know, another caveat with this foreseeing is that if I, you know, use my savings to pay off the first two rentals, pay off the first two mortgages, am going to now um have very little money for down payment for my third mortgage slash primary mortgage and given the interest rate right now for mortgages uh i feel like i might not have much sort of leverage to kind of decrease the interest rate you know um because my down payment right so that's the downside is that an acceptable risk yes so you could look at it then in that case as you're running out all your numbers

that you sell one of these properties and take all the money from there and throw it at your primary and just have one rental. Because either way, you're going to have a mortgage on this new property because you don't have enough to do cash. But if you're paying it off aggressively... So I can have money, they can eat it too.

Exactly, yeah. And the interest on this, if you do it our way and you can eat it too exactly yeah and the interest on this if you do it our way and you pay this thing off within a few years the interest is not going to be the deal breaker here we're not telling you to keep this primary mortgage for 30 years you're going to knock it out probably knowing your income and what you have probably four years five years yeah my plan was to take a 15-year mortgage and then, yeah, depending. Let's say you took a half a million mortgage and you can throw $100,000 at it a year, making $300,000. It's gone in five years. Right.

And so that's the kind of math I'd be running. And obviously talk to your spouse about this and get the game plan. But if you're that close to freeing up the rental mortgage properties, I like that plan. And so there's kind of debt snowballing in the sense of you're freeing up a payment faster is the goal here. Awesome. Hey, thanks for that clarity. Yeah, way to go. Absolutely.

Thanks, Ian. Thanks for the call. Yeah, and I always feel like, yeah, because it's always, you know, it's kind of one of those things, especially if you want to get into the rental game, that if you already have them and you already have equity built in and you have as much margin as he does, he's so close to paying them off and he has the cash to pay them off, right?

So if there's a part of you that's like, my gosh, instead of selling them and then having to go back. You're about to get a $5,000 raise if you pay these things off tomorrow. That's right, yeah. And the power of being able to throw that at the primary mortgage.

But again, all you listening and watching, I think that's the motivation, right? We're trying to get debt-free as quickly as possible while also looking and saying, okay, how can we diversify our wealth-building strategy here by not just, you know, retirements, but also with him getting in the real estate game, which I think is great, but doing it with cash, which is key. Yes. And you could tell there's some calm in his voice. He's not freaked out. He's not desperate. He's making this decision out of a place of strength. That's right. Exactly. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, when you go against what society thinks is, quote,

normal, like avoiding debt, for example, it might seem weird at first, and that is totally okay. We want you to be weird if that means doing things intentionally, including how you spend your health care dollars. And one way to be intentional is with Christian health care ministries. CHM isn't health insurance. They're a health cost-sharing ministry that's helped hundreds of thousands of families like yours take care of health care costs without sacrificing their freedom. Find out more and join at chministries.org slash budget. That's chministries.org slash budget. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Rachel Cruz hosting today with George Camel. And George, I'm hitting the road this week. I'm going back out. I know from my new kids book. I'm glad for where I am. I'll be in Atlanta,

you guys, on Friday from one to two o'clock at the Barnes and Noble in, I think it's called Mansell Crossing. How did you know that? I just. Alpharetta. Are you from Georgia? No, I've just, I've, we've been pitching this all week. Go see Rachel. Go see Rachel. Will you memorize it? So I've memorized your tour stops. That's amazing.

Okay, so I'll be there Friday. And remember, you have a manicure tomorrow at 3. That would be next level. He's like my assistant. Knows my schedule. I'd be great. But yeah, if you're in Atlanta, come say hi from 1 to 2 on Friday. We'll be there.

All right, next up we have Haley in Ontario, Canada. Hey, on Friday. We'll be there. All right. Next up, we have Haley in Ontario, Canada. Hey, Haley, welcome to the show. Hi, thank you for having me. Yes, absolutely. How can we help? So my spouse and I, back in July of 2021, we purchased an investment property and we put a hundred thousand dollar deposit down and that was when the covid interest rates had gone right down and in canada they're right back up i don't know how it is in the states but um we're looking at our closing date coming up in two months and we don't know if we can afford this was the financing already approved? No. So we did sit down with our bank and essentially, I think if we sold our current home, we would be able to get the mortgage. But my predicament

is that even if we do get approved for a mortgage, we're looking at a $5,000 plus mortgage per month. And we've been looking at different avenues, potentially renting, but in that area, the likelihood of someone renting over $3,500 is very slim. And so we would still be having money coming out of our pocket. And now the reason we're thinking about doing a mutual release at this point

is because we put that $100,000 down, but we did really well with our first home through COVID. We bought it really low. And then when we sold, we had actually gotten a lot of equity and paid off that line of credit that we used to put the deposit down on that home. And I just don't know if it's worth it to jeopardize and try and push this mortgage through. Also, my spouse is military, so he's currently posted to where we are, and I don't even know how the moving procurement would work. So have you guys been building for that long?

Yeah, the builder was very delayed. Through COVID, they stopped a lot of the building, and it's been ongoing for a long time. Okay. Was it a custom build, or was it one that was within a development and you pick a floor plan kind of thing? It was in a development. Okay. What does the contract say? Because you signed the purchase agreement.

Have you talked to the builder about what it would look like to back out? So we did ask them about a mutual release. Essentially, if we did back out out we would be forfeiting our hundred thousand dollar deposit yeah so that would be sort of the stupid tax i guess yeah how much would the full mortgage be if you did if you did go forward i'm just curious how much the house is um we originally purchased for about 1.1 and with a hundred thousand dollars it would be about a million dollar mortgage okay so you're going to put nothing down? Well, if we were looking at the option of renting,

if we sold our current house, we have enough equity that we could probably get the mortgage down to about $700,000. Why wouldn't you sell your current house? My husband's military and he's posted here. So it would be so many loopholes and jump throughs. Like he might not even be able to move. So we might have to, then why are you getting this new house?

Um, cause we didn't realize that he would be posted out at that time. We were posted to that base. And so this was back in 21. This is about three years later now. So, and also too, we thought with the interest rates, honestly, we also too we thought with the interest rates honestly

we weren't thinking ahead with the interest rates at that point it was affordable right right uh hayley how are you guys financially overall do you have savings do you guys have debt um our debt is paid like we don't really have any debt um we have some equity in our home um my husband's like military serving right now. He makes about 80K a year. I've retired from the military. I got injured. I'm getting an income replacement benefit of about 50K a year. So total income is about 130,000. Okay. Do you guys have money saved? Other than whatever we have in equity, no. Okay. I was trying to figure out how big this, this one, $100,000. I don't see a world where you guys could have afforded a million dollar home,

regardless of what interest rates were doing. I think you guys weren't thinking through this and got a little starry-eyed at what a new build would be and life happened. I agree. And you cannot keep both. There's no world where you keep both of these properties. Absolutely. So if you're going to make this move and not lose your $100,000,

you need to sell the property, save up as much as you can until this build is done, and minimize the mortgage as much as possible. And you might not even be able to stay in it that long. Because it sounds like it's unsustainable. You guys barely make $5,000 a month. Yeah, it's not sustainable. Yeah, I don't think you guys can do it. I don't think you can do it.

What's your mortgage now? My mortgage, well, they just increased it because we had a variable rate. It's about $3,000. You're barely covering the mortgage now. What's the take-home pay? I'm sorry? What's your take-home pay every month between you and your husband? Oh, gosh.

I don't even know. Like, my husband does the finances, so... My guess is about $6,000, and half of it is taken up by your mortgage. Yeah. Yeah, it would probably be around there. And I'm more on the side of mutually releasing. It doesn't immediately affect us with regard to losing $100,000.

It sucks. But I just wanted, I guess, your advice and kind of clarification on that before I move ahead. I mean, it is a lot of money and it is a big deal. Yeah. I mean, almost, I would...

I don't think you have an option. I think you have to release it and lose $100,000. Yeah, I mean, I think that's a better option than going into a million-dollar house that you guys can't afford the mortgage, that the mortgage payment is basically what you're bringing in every month.

I mean, that's... You'd foreclose on it within months. Yeah, that's not ideal. I know, and we have children. I don't want to jeopardize that. Yeah. His parents have offered, they have multiple properties,

offered to sell one of their properties. But at the same time, we don't want to be indebted to them. That's right. No, no, no. I would keep this clean. I think this is a decision. Was the $100,000, was it cash, Haley? Or did you guys take out a loan for that?

So we did it originally on our first residence that we had purchased. It was our first home. And we had purchased it was our first home and we had purchased it for about 500 000 and then when we sold we sold for nine but we had taken out a home equity line of credit but that is paid off there there's no debt owing towards that okay so the hundred thousand dollars it's just it'll just be gone it's not debt that you have to repay no so my husband just told me he said our our income is $89.07 per month. Okay. That's better. Yes.

For your $3,000 mortgage. So that's net. So that's a third of your take-home pay, which is a lot, but it's not going to crush you financially. So I would just stay put where you are and mutually release this, lose the $100K, and learn from it. Yeah. It's a tough learning lesson, but I definitely need you to hear that, so I appreciate your help. Yeah, absolutely. Sorry. Sorry going through it.

That's not a fun thing to deal with. And for anyone watching out there who's military or they move around a lot, this is why we tell people it's okay to rent. It's okay to stay put. Don't feel like you have to go get a house because people are telling you, you've got to get a house, you've got to get a house. And obviously their situation is different, but it's one of the risks you take. For sure.

With new builds, with mortgages, you don't know where you're going to end up and what life is going to be like. And that's one reason, you know, our house purchasing formula at Ramsey is pretty conservative and people, they don't like it very often. But this is one of the reasons why too too, is like we just know life happens. And if so much of your income is being taken up by your mortgage or what you think life will be like when you're doing a build that's two, three, four years long. Like, I mean, you just have to be realistic about it. And so and also, too, I think when you have information and you have facts, you're able to make wiser decisions. And so that's one thing, too. And this isn't to harp on Haley by any means. and you have facts you're able to make wiser decisions and so that's one thing too and this isn't to you know harp on hayley by any means but you know she was like i'm not sure my husband

takes care of the finances which just happens a lot too in families but if you're married you guys you're you together need to be making these decisions meaning both of you need to know the facts both of you because you both bring a perspective to the table right hayley could have if she you know maybe she knew what was going, right? Haley could have, if she, you know, maybe had more information. You know, she could have said something that maybe would have directed a different decision. I mean, I don't know. But that's why it's important that that's the beautiful thing about being married is that you have two people in these big decision-making processes. But you both have to have the facts and understand what's going on.

And then sometimes you make a decision and you pay the stupid tax, which is what we say. But we'd rather do that, honestly, than go into a million-dollar home that the mortgage is eating up close to 75% of their income. So I'm glad you guys called, Haley. Good luck. And again, I'm so sorry. So sorry this is the situation. This is The Ramsey Show. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp.

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Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. So, George, some fun things that we do here at Ramsey is we put on some pretty incredible events. That's true. I've been to other events. Ours stand out among the rest. Ours are pretty great. And actually, there's a group of them right now in Dallas for the Entree Leadership Summit. That's right. Thousands of business owners and

leaders out there learning from the best. In real time right now, they're there in Dallas. But what we're going to talk about is the Total Money Makeover Weekend. So this is May 10th and 11th. And this is a place, this is an event to help you create healthy money habits when it comes to your finances and the idea that your habits are so key because it's just your knee-jerk reaction on how you handle money and how do you start implementing those. So we're going to cover everything, though, from how to get out of debt, how to create a budget with every dollar, how to communicate with your spouse more effectively, how to ease your anxiety around money.

How to invest. How to build wealth. I mean, we're covering all the bases. So again, this is the ultimate motivator. And it's going to be really fun. And George and I, we're actually going to do a live taping of Smart Money Happy Hour. I think it's the third time we'll be doing this. You just read my mind.

That's exactly what I was about to say. I think it's the third time. And it's always so fun. They say that's the charm. Third time's the charm. It's going to be the best Smart Money Happy Hour. We have a good time with the live crowds that's right so uh all the ramsey personalities will be there that weekend dave ramsey myself dr john deloney george camel jade warshaw and ken coleman so get your tickets right now at ramsey solutions.com slash events our platinum plus tickets are already sold out but you can

still get vip and general admission so again may 10th and 11th, the Total Money Makeover Live. This is not just for like, if you're new to the Ramsey plan, if you've been doing it for a while, some people need the motivation because they have been doing it for a long time and they kind of fall off the wagon, got a little lazy, a little sloppy. Some people, it's, hey, I have a friend that I'd love to come or a spouse that needs to get on board. This is the perfect event for them too. And so whether you're ish off the wagon, you're new to the plan, this is a great way to just kind of get dunked. That's right.

And it's right here on our campus and right outside of Nashville. So, yep, come hang out. All right, up next we have Nicole in Indianapolis. Hey, Nicole, welcome to the show. Hi, guys. I'm so excited to talk to you today. Oh, so glad you called in. How can we help? So my husband and I are on baby step two and we were kind of just wondering, um, what you

guys suggested as far as my, um, job situation. About three years ago, I landed my dream job. I am a provider in a private practice and so I've been working there and I've been very happy. The problem is if I were to go to like a more like a hospital or something of that nature even work in urgent care clinic I could work half the time and make the same amount of money and would be able to pick up more shifts. Wow. So you'd essentially double your income. Basically. But it's hard because this is what I thought I wanted to do since I was a little girl. This is the place that I thought I wanted to work. And that's where I've said I was always going to work. And then I landed it.

And now I'm sitting here with a little bit of resentment because I'm like, I can't be home with my son. If I did move, I could, you know, pick up extra shifts if we needed it, have a little more flexibility. So I just don't know. I'm kind of in this weird place where I had this dream. I achieved it. And now I have a kid, and so it looks a little different. And I just kind of wanted to hear your thoughts. We do have, together, we have $85,000 in student loan debt. Okay, but you guys are working. How much are you making now?

Total together, we're making $195,000. how much is yours out of that so i make about 95 okay and you could be making 95 working half the amount of time that you're working with more flexibility yeah it would yeah it would be two 12-hour shifts i work um i work four days a week now and one of those is a 12-hour shift okay wow i mean do you think you would enjoy it? Like, is there a part of you that you would, that is still, you know, you're working with people and helping them in that way? Or do you think, are you like, oh my God, I'm gonna be miserable if I take this? Um, I mean, I think that it's definitely going to be harder work for sure. Um, you know, but we're still kind of essentially doing the same thing.

I do enjoy sick volume, which is what I would be doing. Yeah. I mean, honestly, Nicole, I would take it. I understand the idea of a dream. Um, I mean, if it was your dream job that you're in now and what you're going to be doing is so vastly different than your dream job, you're doing something completely, you know, that is not anywhere near what you were doing. Then I would say, okay, let's hold on, let's back up because we want to make sure Nicole's enjoying her work. But it's in the same realm. Do you know what I

mean? Like, you'll still be able to be with people. And and I think the flexibility aspect is huge. And especially if you're a mom with a little one, and that, you know, that part of your heart is being tugged in that way, too. And you're making the same amount of money with the upside of even, you know, maybe once a month taking on, you know, two shifts or something. There's a lot of upside in my opinion. And I think too, we hold onto a dream sometimes and you get to the reality of it and you're like, well, I may have to make a different decision. I don't want you to be miserable in your new job, but sometimes, I don't know. I feel like some people, they go into a job and they're like, oh my gosh, my dream job is to be in marketing or whatever it is. And then they get there and they're like, okay, then maybe this isn't exactly maybe what I thought.

Yeah, it's okay for that to shift and change as you got married and had kids. And it's okay for your dream job is one part of your dream life. And I think your dream life now looks different because that looks like being home more with your kid and having a little more flexibility. So I think you kind of have to grieve and celebrate the fact that you accomplished your dream. You did it. And now life has changed and you have a different dream. And guess what? You'll probably have a different dream five years from now.

So this decision is not fatal. There's maybe another job down the line. And so life is never linear as we want it to be. It's got some twists and turns, and this is a twist. And I think it's a blessing in, you know, 90% of the way. And 10%, you're going to miss this, and you'll have to move on from it in a way. But I think it's the right move for your family right now. Okay.

Yeah, and there's not a lot of upward trajectory at the job either. We haven't got raises in a few years. So, you know, there's ups and downs. Yeah, for sure. And who knows, maybe one day you stay home for a season. And so I don't want to base everything off of this one decision, but I think for the next step, as we're looking at it on paper and what you've told us yeah it's the right next step for you to take this position it's still in the the type of work that you love you have to work half as much for the same amount of money I don't know in my head it that's hard to pass up yep it sounds right that sounds like a dream and it's changed you Nicole and that may be some of your fear it's just when you just do something different where you thought I'd be in this forever it is scary scary to take that step, but it's a really solid, secure step.

So I don't want you to question that. Thanks for the call. Up next, we have Shane in Indianapolis. Hey, Shane, welcome to the show. Hi, how are you? Doing well. How can we help? Okay, so I want a car.

I can't afford it. It's fine. I don't have any debt. I have some money in the bank. I have a car. I can't afford it. It's fine. I don't have any debt. I have some money in the bank. I have three kids. This might be a fast phone call. So I've had issues buying things that I want. When I need something, I can pull the trigger.

When I want something, I hold off. So I'm looking at buying a more interactive, like, manual car for myself. I've been working for 20 years. I've got three kids. I really take care of them. They live at home with me. The cars I'm looking at are between $40,000 and $80,000. I don't know whether information

you guys need. What's your household income? My income is over $120,000 a year. What cars do you have now, and what are they worth? I have an old Suburban, probably only worth $3,500, and a couple work vans. I own a small company with a few employees. But your personal car, is that Suburban?

Yeah, yeah, and it gets the kids around all their sports and everything. I've been working for a long time, kind of want something for myself. So our kind of rule of thumb, Shane, is anything with wheels and motors, we don't want to be more than half of your annual income. And so... So that's about $60,000 is the top if you add everything up. Yep. So I would look at, yeah, but if you have the cash, you have, you know,

$50,000 if you wanted to do this. All right. Yeah, like I said, it might be a quick phone call. Yeah, but do you have the cash in? You have 50 grand today to spend on it? And you're okay losing that money? Because it's a toy. It's going to go down in value, and you've got to be okay with that.

Yeah, you see, that's my personal problem. So I just didn't know if you guys would tell me, no, that's stupid. No, I mean, if you have the cash and you have an emergency fund and no debts at that point, I mean, I think that's when you get to— Yeah, if you're still investing. I think you get to enjoy it. Living out the baby steps, you can get that car. Yeah, maybe go on the cheaper end of it, the $40,000 mark, and have it.

And then maybe you upgrade in three to four years to something nicer. But yeah, if you have the cash, we're all for it. You have our permission. Yep. Great job, Shane. Congratulations. Have fun. This is The Ramsey Show.

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They keep the whole thing simple. Zander Insurance to find the best rates on term life insurance from the top-rated companies. They keep the whole thing simple. You can apply online or over the phone, and they even have low-cost plans that don't require an exam. Go to zander.com or call 800-356-4282. Even if you don't have a cash value policy, if you're one of the 70% of people who have no life insurance or not enough, it's even more important to get this done. 800-356-4282 or Zander.com. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. One of the best ways to spread the word we have found is not just in marketing, George. It is word of mouth. It's you guys sharing the show on your social media,

sending clips to your friends and your family, and just really getting the word out that way. So we really, really do appreciate it. So make sure you do that. Leave a review, subscribe to our channels, podcasts, YouTube, and yeah, we really appreciate it. The show, it's grown so much, which we're so thankful for, and it's a lot because of you guys.

And we want to help give content into the world that is positive and instructional and inspirational. So that is what this show is all about. And it's your show. So give us a call at 888-825-5225. Up next, we have Elise in Little Rock. Hey, Elise, welcome to the show. Hello. five up next we have elise in little rock hey elise welcome to the show hello um we bought a property um three years ago and the property owners committed fraud they withheld the fact that the well runs dry about half of the year oh gosh feels like a problem it will cost 24 000 to cost $24,000 to drill a new well or $30,000 to bring in city water. My husband wants to spend

our emergency fund on the well, but I don't think it's an emergency because we've lived with it for three years. We spend about $80 a month on laundry and we're debt-free besides the mortgage. My husband works full-time and makes $60,000 a year. The other option is we could buy an old well-drilling rig for $4,800, but we don't know if there's any major issues with it. And then we could buy a brand-new well-dr drilling rig for $22,000. We have $11,000 in our emergency fund, but once it's fully funded, it will be $18,000. So you don't have the money to cover this anyways, even with the emergency fund, if you did the $24,000 or option that's right and nothing in the was there a lawsuit because of the fraud anything legally that they had to pay you guys because they didn't disclose

it we are still in the process but we um do not believe that we will probably win the case. We don't believe we will get the money to cover it. Why? Because we believe that she doesn't have the money to pay us back for it. Okay. Okay, so how long, Elise, would it take you guys to save up the extra $13,000 to make this a possibility for a $24,000 fix? We have saved about $11,000 in the last four or five months. Okay. So it'll take us another six months probably. Okay, to do that.

And you don't want to do that? That's not because you're good with how you guys are functioning now. Because, I mean, I guess if the well runs dry, do you guys have water? I mean, like what does life look like on the. Is this a little house on the prairie? How does this work? Well, I do laundry at the laundromat. I can only do one load of dishes a day.

At least it kind of sounds miserable. Is it? It is. It's very miserable. Okay. Yeah. I would yeah i would probably say i would categorize this as an emergency yeah this is kind of a necessity you know your four walls food shelter it's pretty close well i'm worried that if we um spend our emergency fund on this another emergency will pop up and then we have no money well that i mean that's always a risk most emergencies for the most part you're able to get by with a couple of thousand dollars so maybe you guys save 28 000 have 4 000 left over just for a little bit of cushion and that'll be a few extra months right so maybe you you give yourself a deadline and say okay but in eight months we're gonna we're gonna fix this well issue do it and and still have some some

cash left over and then keep saving because sometimes when stuff comes up i mean just like this this is a great example you know yes we would consider this emergency or people have you know a tire you know goes flat or you can fix that for more than less than less than four thousand dollars but yeah but like a roof or heating and air things that are like really really really expensive usually you can buy some time and be able to save month to month that's what i'm wondering is there a temporary fix let's say you bought the used rig do you guys know how to do this yourselves or will you still pay someone to actually do the work we could do it ourselves wow if you feel capable are you are you got like do you know how

to like is that something that's like oh yeah that's a totally possibility and your husband's like yep for sure that just seems complicated yes my yes we could for sure do it and we have a friend that has actually built a well drilling system in the past okay then i feel like you go this route for now yeah why wouldn't you do that route? It just makes me nervous to buy something that we're not positive would work. And why wouldn't it work? Just because it's a used old

I mean, it's a 1980 truck that has an old well drilling rig that hasn't worked. Can you test it somehow? Yes. Or have someone inspect it? Are there other ones out there that you guys can rent for a month? We cannot. I've looked everywhere. There's no well drilling rigs for rent. You'd have to buy either a new or you'd have to find a used one somewhere. And most of them aren't big enough because we are drilling through rock and

most of them most of the ones that you would buy for 20 000 would drill through sand or gravel not solid rock okay i feel like george and i are probably not the beyond our pay grade but if i was in your shoes and I felt comfortable and capable, I would inspect it, make sure it's mechanically sound and buy the used one because that's what you can afford right now. And later on, if that buys you time even to save up 24 grand to do officially or get the city water, I would do that down the line. But for now, I'm willing to drop five grand to see if we can fix this problem and remedy it, even for a year or two. And it's only $2,400, right?

You said $4,800 for the used one? There's a used one for $4,800. Talk them down to $4,000. Negotiate them down and see if you can get this thing going. Because there's not a lot of buyers because apparently there's not a lot of ones out there. And maybe you can sell it once you're done with it and make some money back out of it, right? Yeah, we've also thought about using it around here locally because there's only

one well drilling company. Hey, you got a new business on your hands. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, well, I hope that helps, Elise. So yeah, maybe do that. If you feel capable, I don't know why I didn't have that as an option. It's impressive. Elise and her husband.

Well, my first thought was if I would just go drill it myself. I mean, George with his tools. I'm sure there's a YouTube video out there. With his tools, George could figure it out. Honestly, I think your husband Winston could figure it out. How to drill a well. I'd call Winston. Yeah, you two together.

I just feel like it would work. That would be a TV show. I know. So great. Okay, up next we have Andy in Miami. work. That would be a TV show. So great. Okay. Up next, we have Andy in Miami. Hey, Andy, welcome to the show. Hi, Rachel. Hi, George. Huge fan here. Thanks. How can we help? So I currently work for a bank and you guys may not like it, but I underwrite commercial real estate loans. We'll still be friends. We can still be friends, Andy.

Thank you. Thank you. At least not personal loans or residential mortgages. There you go. See. So work from home setup, base salary is around $113,000 plus some other little perks, $20,000 bonus. They'll give me $2,000 towards my 401K, just because every year, and about 1,000 towards my HSA. Fully remote. Love my bosses. They love me. About four years in.

And then I got a message from a recruiter on LinkedIn about a trade finance type job. Sounded interesting, but very, very far away. Ge uh geographically about an hour to 80 minutes each way per day miami road rage capital of the world so i was like all right i'll tell this guy i'm open he's going to say 120 i'm going to say thanks bye he says 150 to 180 plus 20 bonus um so my interest was peaked there and i'm just kind of weighing the pros and cons of... Where are you guys financially? Do you guys have a lot of debt? We are recently on Baby Step 3.

I just finished FPU at church, co-leading it two weeks ago. And you've got a spouse? Have a spouse, two kids. This is a move. May not be done with the children. Yeah. Mother-in-law, who's been a huge help, is about two miles away. Oh, man, that's tough.

That's a big life change. Yeah. Unless you plan on moving, I wouldn't do the hour commute. It's not worth the money. That's two hours in the car. I try to make more doing what you're doing now and stay put. Have the peace. You've set your life up to have peace. I don't know if I would do it for the money. That would be tough.

Thanks for the call, Andy. Thanks to you, America, for listening. Thanks to everyone in the booth. My co-host, George Campbell. This is The Ramsey Show. Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's The Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create amazing relationships. I'm Rachel Cruz, hosting today with my co-host of Smart Money Happy Hour and bestselling author, George Camel. And we are here to answer your questions. So give us a call at 888-825-5225. All right, let's hit the phones. We have Tinascia from Nashville. Hey, welcome to the show.

Hello. Hello, how are y'all doing? We're doing great. How can we help? Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Good. Well, my name is Tinascia Scales.

I'm from Nashville. I'm a registered nurse. I recently moved back in with my parents and moving out of my townhome because I've been renting for six years. I have a one-year-old daughter, single mom, and I took a travel contract here in Jackson, Tennessee to save up more and to just get my debt paid off. Because, like, as of now, I'm in student loan debt and also credit card. Okay. My goal is to save up for a house. And I was just wondering, what is the best option for single moms who are willing to become, like, financial free or debt free. How much debt do you have?

Having one stream of income. So how much debt do you have total? My student loan, 71. Total is 95. So the rest is in credit cards? I did the math on it real good. Like car note, student loans, and credit cards, I want to say like $10,000. And the rest is on the car. So you got about $14,000 on the car loan, $10,000 on credit cards, $71,000 on student loans?

Yes. Okay. And what's your income? Yes, sir. My income is $75 an hour. $75 75 an hour and is that temporary i bring yeah i bring home like um i'm contract so i'm internal i'm not on like a travel nurse assignment so i'm internal so it's longevity okay good so are you making like $150,000 a year? Is this full-time? Is this 40 hours a week at $75 an hour?

It's part-time, but we've been pulling full-time hours because they've been so short of staff. Okay, so we'll call it around six figures. We can work. Yes, sir. Okay. Well, here's the key. I want you to become a homeowner again, but I don't want the home to own you. And so regardless whether you're a single mom or not, obviously you've got a lot more on your plate with a one-year-old and child care and all of that. But as far as the plan, it doesn't change. We want you to become completely debt-free, then get a fully funded emergency fund, then start saving up for your next house.

Yeah, if you got on a really, really tight budget considering you're now living with your parents, are you paying rent or are they letting you live there for free? Let me live there for free. I'm so burnt out on renting. Yeah, no, no, you're great. You're great. I've been renting for seven years. Yeah, I'm just trying to figure out for you the amount of money you bring home per

month since you don't have a big expense like rent, which is great. Could you throw $50,000 at your debt a year? Yeah, that's right. How much could you put towards your debt? Because if you're making $100,000, I mean, you could, you know, without a housing expense, there's a good chance you could throw exactly what George just said, 50,000 a year and be

completely debt free in two years and then keep at that, right? Keep at that same motivation to get an emergency fund and some savings and then save up for a down payment for maybe a condo or a townhome. You don't need anything, you know, crazy big. It's just, you know, you, you and your daughter. And that's what it would look like. But I think it, I think you're still probably four to five years out on that plan. But, but yeah, take this time. Like you said, you're burnt out. That's okay. Take some breathing room, you know, but take advantage of this financially. Don't let this, don't let this time where you don't have a big expense like rent

go past you. I mean, really focusing on where every single dollar of your income is going. So if you stay on the line, Christian and Taylor, they're going to pick up and we want to give you every dollar premium. This is our budgeting app that will connect to your bank account. And in the app, you're going to be able to not only learn how to actually sit there and do a zero-based budget because it teaches you really well how to do that. But the point there is to be really, really intentional with every single dollar because even when you're exhausted, sometimes in that exhaustion state emotionally, you can kind of be like, oh, I don't want to do any type of work. I don't want to be intentional

on anything because I'm just so tired. And then you look up and it's been four months. You're like, oh my gosh, I could have put money away and I just haven't been planning. So I think the key here is to stay motivated with the amount of money you're making because you're making great money, which is awesome. Yeah, and that debt snowball, when you make that every dollar budget, you're gonna list out all of your debt payments

and all the minimums, and it's gonna show you exactly how to lay them out. So list them out individually, attack the smallest one with a vengeance, put minimums on the rest, and you'll start to see that progress. Yep, that's right. So thanks so much for the call.

I hope that's helpful, and you're doing a great job. I mean, you're making great money. That's the key, a big shovel. Yes, that you're able to attack this. All right, up next we have Monica in Philadelphia. Hey, Monica, welcome to the show. Hello, thank you for having me. So I'm a single mom in Philadelphia. I'm

currently debt free. I'm on baby step number six. Amazing. My dilemma is I have some money saved up and I don't know if so. I have more. I have 100K saved up. I owe approximately at the moment $65,000 on my home, but I also want to move. So I don't want to reside in Philly anymore. So I want to move out of Philadelphia. However, on top of that, my mother inherited a house that she can't afford to pay inheritance tax on, I don't know if I should use my savings to cover the costs for the inheritance tax, knowing that the property would then later on go to me if I did that. I don't know if that would be a smart way to kind of park my money. Yeah, I hesitate to do do that I just know how much

change happens and by the time this house gets past you you may not even want it anymore right there may be a situation where um you may not even want to live in it and of course you could sell it and obviously get the proceeds from that which is um which is great but there's a part of me that I would use your money for your life and I think that you're so close to paying off your house, which is incredible. And, you know, just the idea that, you know, you could sell your primary home. I mean, how much equity would you have in your primary home right now

if you sold it? I would think maybe $100,000 maybe. Okay, so it's worth about $165,000, the house? Yeah, that's what I believe it's worth. And what's the inheritance tax? How much and when is it due? Well, and that's the thing. I don't actually know what that tax bill is like

because my mother can't afford it and she hasn't really done anything with it. She had told us she would leave it to, initially to my siblings and I, but no one can honestly take on the tax bill except myself. So I'm the only one that can entertain it in a sense. Well, I'm worried your mom can't afford this house long-term and it may not be the right spot for her.

Well, right now she has resided in that home for, like she was a caregiver for my uncle that then passed away and left the house. So to my understanding, she would be able to live out the house. OK. Yep. Sorry, Monica. We have a hard out right now. We have to go. I'm sorry. But yeah, I would keep your money and your savings for you. I wouldn't go and try to deal with this house and multiple siblings and all of it. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. So, George,

you're going to be busy here. Yeah. Tell me about it. In the next little bit, you're doing a two night virtual event with Dave Ramsey, May 21st and 22nd. And you guys are going to be doing a deep dive in investing. The event is called Dave Ramsey's Investing Essentials, and it's all online. So you can be home and you can watch it and learn all about investing because you guys have really been asking, hey, we want a deeper dive, very specific. People have very specific questions when it comes to investing, and you guys are going to address that, everything from the market to real estate, and talk about the subject because it's one that people, they want to know about. Yeah, we're going to cover the foundation, the basics, of course,

but we're also going to get into the kind of 201 and 301 content, stuff we've never actually taught before. I mean, Dave's investing strategy when it comes to real estate, his personal playbook, how he's built his wealth. What I've done is sort of the everyman to go from being broke to millionaire in 10 years. And it's a lot simpler than you think, but there's also some nuanced pieces that we're going to dive into that are really interesting. So this is a very different event. It's virtual. It's online. Dave and I will be live. It's not pre-recorded, but the good news is you can watch it after. Oh, you can. I was getting some questions

about that. Hey, what if I can't make it for those two hours? You're going to have access for, I think, about a week. And I think VIP, you have access for two weeks. So you'll be able to watch it a few days later if you can't make that specific time on May 21st and 22nd in the evenings. But this is about four hours of content. Tickets are $249.

So when you think about what you would pay to get investing advice to work with a coach, that's a great deal for the value you're getting and how it could set you up for your future for sure so go to ramsey solutions.com slash events and get your tickets for dave ramsey's investing essentials event all online with our very own george camel in the mix which always will make it more fun always more that's my job is to pull that out of day pull the fun out of dave as he's getting to the weeds if he gets cranky you just say dave come on this is fun i know how to push his button i was like i drive a tesla dave and he's like you know unbelievable unbelievable you kids these days it's fun i used to drive uphill both ways in my gasoline car my My diesel.

That's what he'd say. Yeah. He loves a diesel. The louder, the better for that generation. I think he's scared of cars that don't make noise. They sneak up on you. Where'd you come from? Didn't hear you coming. All right.

Let's go to the phones. We have Cassie in Atlanta. Hey, Cassie. Welcome to the show. Hey, thank you so much for taking my call. Absolutely. How can we help? So I have a few collections that, um, one of them's equaling about $3,000 and I'm trying to get paid off. Um, it's been on my credit for about a year now. Um, I have a car that I'm struggling a little bit to get paid off, but the biggest thing that's

affecting some of my stuff is I have a car loan that was with my ex-husband. I was a cosigner on it, but it's about $45,000. And I really don't know how or what I need to do to try to help my situation and get that off. Is he paying on it or is this in collections? He is paying on it. So he's paying the full amount every day, but you need to get off of it. So you would need to refinance that loan and get your name off. I actually don't have any contact with him, though. Well, you need to contact the lender and he needs to be able to sign off on it.

I mean, you guys co-signed on this and the only way out is for you to... Do you have an attorney that could contact the attorney that he worked with during the divorce or anything is there a way to have like a third party go at this too um when we did the divorce we didn't have any um attorneys involved we did it all ourselves um but that was my next step is if i didn't have have any way of trying to figure out how to get out of it i was gonna look at getting an attorney yeah i mean i probably would I mean for I mean you would be liable for some reason and the fact that you don't even know um you can't get in touch with him means who knows what he's doing and right I mean like you he could turn up tomorrow and not pay starting tomorrow right

and then you would be liable for that $45,000 so yeah I would I would look into that um yeah I would talk to an attorney and again if you know maybe where the, if you have the documentation still of where the loan is being held and to contact them and they may be able to get in touch with him too. But you'll need to apply for something called a co-signer release. And the problem with co-signing is that there's a reason that you were required to be on that

because they didn't trust him to pay. So if he's got a good track record, they may do this co-sign or release, but you need to contact them and see if they're willing to do that. Otherwise, you need to refinance the loan. Okay. And so the debt that's in collections, Cassie, is it just the $3,000? Yeah, so the in collections is $3,000. And I was making payments on it before

um but then i stopped because listening to dave talk back and forth about not giving them any of my bank information i closed that bank account um but i have been trying to listen and see of ways to get things settled um but the collections is kind of new still so i wasn't sure if i was able to settle, if it needs to be on my credit for a certain amount of time. They probably won't negotiate or settle much if it's a pretty fresh debt in collections, but you can always try and say, listen, I simply don't have the money, if you truly don't, and say, I'm willing to give you a thousand if you're willing to settle this and call it paid in full and get that all in writing,

and again, don't give them access to your bank account. You can write them a money order, a cashier's check, something like that. Okay. But they may not be willing to. And if you have the money, just go ahead and get it out of your life. Yeah. Do you have any savings, Cassie? Yeah. I do have my $1,000 emergency savings. Okay. Okay. That's great. So you have the $3,000 in collections and then what else besides the car with your ex-husband? With him having that car, I had to get my own car. Okay. I am pretty upside down with it.

So I bought the car February of last year at a buy here, pay here, and bought the car for $15,000, not thinking anything of it. I did the Kelley Blue Book to see what the value of my car was, and it's only worth $5,000, and I still owe $12,000. Oh, man. What's the interest rate on this? 18%. Oh, man. Okay.

I hate those places so much. I know. How much money do you make, Cassie? About $53,000 a year. Okay. Okay, well. If you can get out of this cosign loan, knock out the collections, and just leave you with that $12,000 car loan, we can knock this out within the year.

You can be in a very different place even six months from now. And do you have the ability to get a side hustle, like at night, maybe like three nights a week? I work pretty late some nights during the week, but I have been looking to try to find someone on the weekend for sure. Okay. Yeah, I would do that, honestly, because even with $53,000, I would want to up that while you're doing this. I think that'll just give you some power. And it's really encouraging. I was in, where were we?

I think it was Dallas last week and had an Uber to the airport. We started talking to him, and he does it on the side. He's like, yeah, I work, I can't remember how many days, but brings in a thousand bucks a month extra he's like and it wasn't doing it for fun yeah and it wasn't this you know crazy amount of hours i wish i could remember now but i think it was like maybe three or four days he's like can i just drive and make a thousand bucks i'm like well that's awesome a week so all that to say or a month so yeah i mean there's there's some things out there that you really could do to bring in some cash. Because I think that's going to help you in all of this, too, since all this is a little bit new.

As you start to navigate it, just to give you some fuel and to see that momentum really start. Cassie, have you taken Financial Peace University? I have not. Okay, so if you stay on the line, Christian and Taylor, they're going to pick up. And we're going to give you, yeah, FPU. So you can do all this online and it's our nine lesson course and it really will give you the basis,

what you hear on this show, but in more of a learning format. And with that will be EveryDollar Premium, which is our budgeting app. And that way you can connect that app to your bank account and you can really know exactly where EveryDollar is going. You can track your spending in it. There's a paycheck planning tool within it and it really will help you kind of get this foundation under you as you start this process. Because I really think,

yeah, I mean, even though that debt is in collections, to George's point, it's a little bit new, so they may not negotiate. And if they don't, though, it's a good win for you to be like, yeah, I paid off that three grand and I'm going to I'm going to keep moving forward. Yeah. And if you can do it a lump sum, they'll usually, you know, take it down a notch. But make sure you get it in writing. Yes. These people can be scummy. That's right. Yeah. Sometimes when you get stressed out and kind of weighed down with the emotion, it helps to look at the math and go, OK, if I can find two grand a month in this budget, I can be debt free in six months.

Yes. Sometimes that basic math actually gives you hope when you see a way out instead of going, oh, this is going to be years of paying it off. Not if you do it our way. That's right. Yep. You're able to look out and see. Dr. John Delaney always says that facts are your friends and they are when you're able to see a plan. It does give you that power and that control, which is so key when it comes to your money. So thanks, Cassie, for the call. We are cheering you on. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back, America. We are taking your calls at 888-825-5225. And today's question comes from Spencer in Utah. Here we go. Spencer asks, my social security number was compromised when I was 18. It was caught pretty quickly and I haven't had any problems since that one incident. I'm 25 now and I'm wondering if it would be smart to get identity theft protection.

I don't know what all that covers, but I'd like to know what I can do to protect myself both now and in the future. That's a good one. Yeah. And that's a scary thing. I've had identity theft happen when I was 23. You've heard the story many times, Rachel. It's a good one, though. It's a juicy one. You should tell America. What happened to you, George? Essentially, I got a call from a debt collector and they're like, hey, you owe us $1,700 on this AT&T account, $1,700 on a Verizon account. I was like, why would I have two cell phone accounts? What monster? I'm 23.

I don't have any of these accounts. And it turns out someone used my social security number, an old address in Nashville, my name, all of that, and opened up these accounts. Never paid a dime on them, racked up bills. I don't even know how you rack up $1,700. How do you do it? So anyways, it was a nightmare.

Luckily, I had Zander ID theft protection through Ramsey at the time. Dave covers it for all Ramsey team members, anyways that was a it was a nightmare luckily i had xander id theft protection through ramsay at the time dave covers it for all ramsay team members and they helped me kind of restore my life back to its former glory but it was so much time and paperwork to just deal with and weren't they like two old women that you found out i did some sleuthing because it turns out the police are not going to dedicate their life to this mission but i did so i found out they were went all the way george i still got my eye on them i'm always watching figuring it out but all that to say there's some things you can do that are important and number one is freeze

all of your credit with your credit bureau so this i'm not talking about debt and credit cards i'm talking about the credit report with the bureaus, Experian, et cetera. And so I went on there, froze all of my accounts so that no one can open up new accounts. That's right. Yep. So that's an important piece to do. And then having Zander ID theft protection, it's a great product. We sort of look at it almost as a type of insurance because of how it protects your information. And so they'll notify me and they'll send me an email if any of my information was compromised. They have restoration services to get all of your stuff back and making making sure that you're protected so that's an inexpensive way to protect yourself um to start but at 25 if as long as you're not going into

debt you don't need to open up new accounts you're going to be fine to just freeze your accounts and you know good password protection all of that don't leave your debit card info on a bunch of sites just be kind of cautious of where your information is. Yeah, but ID theft, it's so, the insurance side of it, it's so inexpensive that it's one of those just to get. You guys can go to zanderinsurance.com because it, again, it's not that expensive. And they just take the time, the amount of time that it takes to unravel all of this if your identity is stolen it's exhausting and they do so much of that for you so uh it's definitely definitely worth it so make sure to check some

of the things they cover uh home title monitoring up to two million dollars for stolen funds and expenses personal and financial monitoring vpn encryption antivirus 24 7 customer and recovery services so there's a lot that is included and it's very inexpensive. We're talking like seven bucks. I mean, you can get family plans for 12 bucks. So these are cheap things you can do to help protect yourself and sleep better at night. But it's a huge worry is that we get into a more intrusive data-driven world. There's only going to be more of this happening. That's right. All right. Let's go to Emily in Greenville. Hey, Emily, welcome to the show. Hey, thank you. How are you? We're doing great. How are you? Doing great. Thanks. How can we help? So we own about three acres of land

and we have some debt from mainly from our business that we own and I was wondering if it would be a good idea to sell we were someone is looking at our property about half of it an acre and a half for a hundred and fifty thousand and I was wondering if it would be could be better off keeping the land and paying on the debt or it's selling it you, would be a better option. How much do you guys owe on your business debt? So it's, well, business debt, total combined is almost right at 150. Business debt would be, let's see, you know, about, about 80, 90.

Okay. And what's the other debt? So 20,000 is the land that we have. Okay. We owe 20,000. And then the other is student loans and credit card debt. Okay. And it all, so that's about 50. That includes all of that. I think it's one, let me add it up.

So it's 40 plus 40. So that's 80 plus 20 is 110 that's 80, plus 20 is 110. So 140 is what we owe total. So selling this one and a half acres would clear all of your debt and give you partially an emergency fund. Yes, yes. How much do you guys make a year? So our gross is a lot more than what we actually pocket.

What do you guys bring home a year? We bring home about 90. Okay. What were you going to use this land for if you didn't sell it? So we don't actually use it for anything. We live on some of it, and then we have the other half. We don't really do anything with it. We did want to eventually build because right now we actually just have a modular home that we live in

that was actually given to us for free, but we had to remodel it. So we don't have a loan on that really so much. But you could build on the remaining land that you would keep and still be happy and fine? Yes, we would probably just move this modular home or sell it, move it out, and then build our house. Well, if this is a going rate for acreage in your area, I would personally sell it because of your financial situation. Have you guys run comps and stuff, Emily? This isn't something that someone's just offered you. What is it worth? Do you know? So I don't know. I don't have an actual appraisal on it yet. I do know my husband's grandmother is a real estate agent and she has sold like an acre just right around the corner for like 80,000.

So this is, and for us, it's like, we do love our property. So we're like not like. Well, here's what I don't want to happen is I don't want you guys making what could be a long-term, you know, idea with this acreage for you guys and long-term wanting to build on it, and this is a dream, and then you guys shortcut it, don't get what you want long-term in order to pay off this debt.

So the question is, yeah, there is some assets, and we do say, yeah, when you're getting out of debt, what can you sell and all of it. But I would look for you guys and say, okay, what has gotten us in this position first obviously some unwise business ideas because you're 80 000 in the hole there student loans credit cards i mean you guys have been um and i say this kindly emily has a friend a little sloppy in this area right i'm like you're just normal but you've just you just keep kind of racking it up and so what I don't want to happen is that this one move erases everything,

but you guys haven't really felt the sacrifice and the real change that will keep you out of debt long term as well. You're sort of leapfrogging and getting a shortcut, which is totally fine. But what Rachel's saying is your behavior has to change so you don't end up back where you are definitely and the equipment the business debt is on equipment actually too so okay i don't know if that is relevant or not but um and we do have well we kind of do separate but i mean your name's on it so it is personal in a sense that they would come for you but also separating business and personal too i think can help in some of this equation too.

If you just look at the payments on everything you're paying right now on your debt, freeing all of that up by selling this land and what that could do for you guys in the future and getting to other financial goals, I think if you want land down the line, you can do that. But I would let go of this right now to get you in a much better financial shape versus you could sacrifice for the next three years and pay down 50k a year but i think when you have this land and someone's willing to give you the money for right now i would do it so obviously after doing your homework get the appraisal yeah and it's still an acre and a half i mean that's pretty good yeah exactly and it's like we don't really use the other side of our property. Yeah.

And if it's a dream to live on more land and all of that, that's just going to be a dream, you know, maybe for the next decade that you guys look into. It may not be something that you can do right now. Exactly. And, like, this land, I don't think we plan on staying. This is our, like, forever place, you know. So we're going to move on eventually from it. Well, I think you sell it. Yeah.

It doesn't sound super sentimental. It doesn't sound like you'd miss it all that much, but man, that 150 grand would literally change your life. Yep. That's amazing. And when you have the ability to have an asset like that, that you can just sell and keep moving, that's incredible. But Emily, you guys, you and your husband, I would encourage you guys to sit down and be like, we will never be in this position again. Cut up the credit cards,

like, like make a pact though. No more more business debt we're paying cash for everything that's right move at the speed of cash even when it comes to your business and i mean there's there's power in that emily so you guys really buckle down and do this but what a beautiful gift in a sense that this is such a head start for you guys so good luck we are cheering you on this is the ramsey show welcome back to the ramsey show i am rachel cruz hosting with my good friends and co-host of smart money happy hour george camel and we've we've had some fun fun episodes come out we just met a fan out there who really loved the last episode when i dogged you and i tricked you by mentioning blinker fluid. I said, Rachel, could you even do would you even know how to replace blinker fluid? I'm like, no, I bet Winston does, but I don't.

And I got her so good. It took her about three minutes to figure out what happened. I came right around. So, yeah, we we sip on a cocktail. We talk about current events and money and it's it's more of a you know it's a fun show so it's a great show for those friends who are like they don't want they're not going to listen to ramsay show it's a little you know yeah deep in the ramsay well but this is a good sort of just dipping your toes yeah and even some of you that love the ramsay well you probably will have a good chuckle that's what we have we laugh a lot on that show it's really and we have some talented team members that help us pull it off. That's right.

Yes. And I wanted to let you guys know that I'm going to be in Atlanta this Friday from 1 to 2 at the Barnes & Noble at? Mansell Crossing. So make sure to come, and I'll be there with my new kids book. I'm glad for where I am. And I, hold on, let me grab it, George. Yeah, this is fun. You actually had the illustrator.

There it is. Lauren was at the signing. Yes, the illustrator came to L.A. Yeah, this is fun. You actually had the illustrator. There it is. Lauren was at the signing. Yes, the illustrator came to LA for the signing. And the signing in LA was really exciting. So yeah, make sure to pick up your copy. And again, if you're in Atlanta, come say hi from 1 to 2. We're going to do a little story time, bring the kids. There are about 75 kids that came to the Dallas one.

Wow, were they rowdy or were they well-behaved? They were so great. I love kids. They're funny. Kids are just, they're hysterical. And a wide range of ages. We hang out and chat. What's the target demo for a kid's book these days?

Is it like a two to six? Yeah, from this one, I would say for sure. I'd say, yeah, two to five. Once they hit six, seven, eight, they can actually read it. I get some Instagram stories of some older ones, elementary school kids, actually reading it to the other siblings, which is so sweet. That's really cute. And to be fair, I loved it. And I read it to my daughter, Mia, but it's truly just for me. It is. I'm glad for her. I'm all about gratitude. So make sure

to check it out. All right. Up next, we have Lynn in Houston, Texas. Hey, Lynn, welcome to the show. Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my call. Absolutely. How can we help? So my question is, when do I know that it's time to walk away from my hustle job? Obviously, the answer is when I'm done paying debt, but I'm not done paying debt. So that's why I'm calling you guys. I still owe, my husband and I still owe $40,000 and we are just trying to kill this debt. So I am a stay-at-home mom. I homeschool my kids.

So I can't just-at-home mom. I homeschool my kids, so I can't just work a nine-to-five. What I usually do is I have these multiple streams of small incomes, so I just hustle and just try to get as much as I can, throw it at the desk. So this month I made $2,000, and $500 of that is from a martial arts school that I teach and I manage the school. I don't own it, but I manage it. And I really, really love my job. I love teaching kids and I love even just the administrative work of it. So the part of it that I don't love, and that's why I'm bringing up the question, is my boss, even though we get along really well, he is a hot mess when it comes to finances and that is starting to trickle down to his

employees. So, um, he owes me about $3,000 in back pay and whenever he, oh boy, well, and he's, he's also been writing me like weekly checks, which is trying to cover some of the back pay, but at the rate he's going, it's going to take him two and a half years to catch up. Um, is the business struggling or what's the, or what's behind him not being able to pay you? So he runs two businesses. Not very well. Right. I create the budget every month for the martial arts school.

Our budget on paper shows that we should pay all of our bills. I don't write the check to pay the bills, though. So by the time it comes time to actually pay the bills, they don't get paid. And I thought that this was just something that I was dealing with, but I've heard from his other employees, even his other business,

that they're dealing with the same issues that I'm dealing with. Well, it's eventually going to close. I mean, eventually enough people are going to say, well, enough people eventually going to close. I mean, eventually enough people are going to say, well, enough people that work, they're going to say, I'm not getting paid. I can't pay rent. I can't, I can't work at a place that I don't know if I'm going to get paid. It's not, you know, right. We've already seen some of that. We've seen some of that. And I am in a position where, you know, my husband pays all the bills this is just my hustle money right like this is just the money you guys have forty thousand

dollars in debt like you're not rolling in it no um so so I I would quit but the concern is like man five hundred dollars you know if I make two thousand this month five hundred that's a pre how much time are you how do you know you're going to even make that next month? He may not even pay you. Well, yeah, that's true. He pays me. He just pays me, like, very late. And it's always like, hey, can I deposit this check today? And it's like, just wait a minute.

Let me pull up my account, see if there's any money in there. It's like he is all over the place. And I can't fix that. I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't do it. I think you can. I think you can make 500 bucks elsewhere and actually get paid on time. Yes. I think you can love the place,

love the people, and it'd be really sad. But for you guys, you're just not in a position financially to have such a gamble with your time and your money, you know? And that's not you being selfish.

It's the fact that he's not, he's, I mean, to a degree, I mean, it's not that he's being immoral, like on purpose, but when you don't pay your people, I mean, he's not that he's being immoral, like on purpose, but when you don't pay your

people, I mean, he owes you $3,000, you know? So like, it's just, I don't know. I guess my other, I guess my other concern too, is that if I walk away, am I also walking away from that money that I worked really hard to earn? Because I can't say for sure that, oh yeah, he'll get that money to me if I'm not there every week asking him, like, where's my paycheck? So I might be walking away from $3,000, which for me and my work and my ability to work, $3,000 is a lot of money. Totally, yeah. You can eat it in writing an agreement that he's going to pay you this money,

regardless of if you're employed or not. It's still owed to you. Okay. So I would fight for it. Yeah. Even if it hurts the relationship, it doesn't sound like he was a lifelong friend. Because at some point, if my friend was this incompetent, I would have to stop being friends with him.

George. I'm sorry. George, you can like the person. That's why I just said you can leave and like the guy. He just sucks at running a business. Yeah, and I brought up like, hey, man, you know, you want to put your money on paper? You want to try to figure this out?

And he just kind of smiles like, no, that's OK. Because I think at one point he was he has a lot of fun, expensive toys. And I think at one point he was making a lot of money. He was very lucrative pre-COVID. Yeah. And I think it doesn't just kind of destroyed everything. And he's still kind of living in that world. But that's the income not matching.

And so it's trying to be like, hey, guy, you can't live like that anymore. Yeah. And he's much older than me, too. So it's almost like I'm trying to talk to my father about. Yeah, it just kind of feels toxic. I just don't. Yeah, I just I don't know. I probably I would be out. I would be out. But I would put in writing to George's point that you're owed that money. I mean, you did the work. So he does owe you that. So I would bring that up. That's not being unkind or mean or unreasonable. That's that's fighting for what you've worked for. And and again, like you said, I mean, unless like he just doesn't pay and you want to get a lawyer involved and all that, which you probably don't want to do, because that's going gamble that you may not see the money that you're working for tomorrow. And so the unstable environment is, I don't think it's worth it for your time and your stress load. I mean, that's a lot even from the administration side to deal with. And if people start coming to you because they're not getting paid, sometimes in that position, George, people can take a

ownership that's not even theirs to be like, I just feel like it's my responsibility now to like hold this place together that, you know, you end up being the glue and it's unfair at that point too, that that's, it's not your business and you're not running it like that. No. So I would look at how much time you were putting into this. You said you were making 500 a month. Let's say it was 25 hours a month. Well, that's 20 hours, $20 an hour you were making. So if you can try to replace that and go elsewhere and make 20 bucks an hour doing literally anything else, you can easily replace that income. Yeah, for sure. And I bet she's putting more work in than she's actually worth into this job, considering how

much she's doing. Yes. Yeah. If you're great at that admin function, you know, things like virtual assistants. I mean, there's admin work that can be done even virtually from home that you get paid on, right? Maybe you just do a couple hours a week. It doesn't have to be a ton, but you can find some things to get some money in. And again, it's a long road. You know, we always say with debt, you can wander your way in, but you can't wander your way out. So there is a one foot in front of the other day after day grind that's real.

And it's for a season. Maybe you don't do everything forever, but who knows? Maybe eventually you go, here's what I really love to do. We're out of debt now and I can choose. I have more flexibility. Yeah. That's a big part of it. For sure. And with side hustles too, you know, finding what you're naturally good at, I think is the key because you're naturally going to be able to do it more with ease than trying to like learn something new, right? That's true. We actually have a new side hustle quiz that's free. GeorgeCamel.com slash side hustle.

We built a tool to help people find the side hustles that are right for them. Brilliant, George. I just remembered that. So Lynn, go check that out. Well done. Well, thanks Lynn for the call. Thank you, America, for listening. Thanks to everyone in the booth.

My great co-host, George Camel. We'll be back. Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's The Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create amazing relationships. I am Rachel Cruz, hosting this hour with my good friend and bestselling author, George Camel, also my co-host of Smart Money Happy Hour, our other show. And we are here to take your calls. America at 888-825-5225. This can be about your money, your life, your career, your relationships.

But we are here for you. So give us a call. Up first, we have Joy in Washington, D.C. Hey, Joy. Welcome to the show. Hey, how are y'all doing? We're doing great. Thanks for calling in. How can we help? Of course, D.C. Hey, Joy. Welcome to the show. Hey. How are y'all doing? We're doing great. Thanks for calling in. How can we help? Of course. Yeah. So I wanted to ask a question about tithing, if I can give a little context

first. So my husband and I moved to D.C. from Washington State about a year ago. When I was living in Washington State, I was volunteering at a pregnancy center, and I got to see how they used their money, and it was really great. So we decided when we moved to DC, we didn't have a church. So we're like, oh, we'll give, we'll give our tithe money to the pregnancy center I was volunteering at. Fast forward, we currently found a church. We love the community. The people are great. And my husband and I have had the conversation of, do we want to move our tithe over from the pregnancy center to the church we're at? But the problem that we're having just justifying that is we kind of look around the church that

we're at, and as great as the people are, it's hard because the kind of way that they're using the money, we don't necessarily agree with. For example, they're about to go on a missions trip to a first world nation in Europe, heavily Christian already. And, you know, that's a good example of like, it's hard to say, sorry, pregnancy center, we have to give our tithes to this and just a couple of different other kind of scenarios. We just don't feel like they're necessarily using the money as we feel. And since we are managers of God's money, it's kind of hard to justify that. So we'd love to hear kind of what you would do in our situation, how we can either change our mindset or what we, you know, just kind of some wisdom

and that would be great. Yeah. I mean, for me, especially when it comes to something like the tie, I never want to be legalistic about it because I feel like that just like rips the whole spirit of why you're doing it in the first place. But the, you know But the main reason for it, especially when you look in the Old Testament, was for the local storehouse. And it said to give your first fruits. And the reason for that was to make sure that basically the priest at the time was able to sustain and be able to continue the local church, what was the local church in the Old Testament, right? What would have been. And so I think that's the purpose of our tithe is to keep the local church in a state financially where they're able to sustain and continue to grow and do what they need to do. Now, will you agree with every single decision? No, because I don't think any church is

perfect. No church has your specific passion, right? I mean, you talk to somebody that has a passion for Eastern Europe and people meeting Jesus there, you know, they may be all about this mission trip that you see as a first world country, but someone else may say is on their heart, right? Or, you know, the church may buy a new drum set or something. I don't know. And you're like, that's stupid. I hate drums.

That's fine, right? Always the drum set, guys. Yeah, yeah. I mean, like every little decision. Now, if they're doing something immoral or illegal obviously there's red flags there or i mean for some people even going into debt some people take on a ton of debt and they're like i hate that my tie that's freaking going to like bank of america right to pay the interest like you know so i so there are times that people don't feel aligned but and i don't want to um i don't want to push away your reasoning, but I would say I would look at the

overall heart of, number one, why the tithe is there, and number two, to have a little bit of grace that, yeah, every little decision you may not fully agree on, but the purpose of it is to make sure that the local church stays afloat, right, to a degree financially and takes care of the staff and that it's being used in that that way um but obviously you guys do have a heart for this pregnancy center so my gold joy honestly would be able to do both i do i mean in our home and george can you can say what you guys do i mean we we do we take 10 off the top we don't even look at it i mean that in taxes it's just like we don't even even bring that money home because it's just something for me where I'm like, I just wanna be able to have my local church.

And that's where I believe scripturally is where my money is. But then we do give on top of our tithe to the things that we are passionate about. And so whether it's local ministries or different organizations, that is something we do as well. We're that part of our heart that we do feel,

we long for that. Those in certain communities or whatever that may look like, that's where it's given. So I don't know. So I don't want to be legalistic about a joy, but I would push you to just say, hey, you know. I would also ask more questions and find out, okay, because sometimes the tithe goes to operational stuff for the church

and then outside of that, they raise money for missions. So I would inquire with whoever runs the finances at the church and say, hey, I love being here. I would love to just know kind of how the finances work. Is there transparency with the budget? Some churches are very transparent with here's how much tithe money we brought in, here's where it's going, and that seems to be a growing trend because people like Joy want to know. I want to know where this money is going and if it's being used wisely.

And not to be like a picky church member here, but Winston and I, for a season, for about two years at our church, there was a certain part of the church that was growing that we loved. And we even emailed and just said, hey, we would love our tithe. Use it as you need, right? We kind of gave that disclaimer. But we would love that money to see that money in this part because we're so excited for that. So maybe that's even what you do, Joy, is like, hey, you know, the way my husband and I are feeling, we want to be able to give to the local church, but are you, you know, could we give to certain areas? Yeah, I mean, yeah, you could even ask that. Right. Yeah. We don't want to be of the mind of like, oh, you're not doing what we want, so we're not going to give you our money. Obviously, that in and of itself is not the right heart.

But I like the idea of being able to just have that conversation with them. Maybe not ask, you know, so super legalistically, but, you know, ask for like a breakdown, maybe a little bit and just kind of see what their heart is long term. That's a really great idea. Yeah. And a lot of churches and nonprofits, for that matter, if you are a 501c3 legally you do have to disclose a level of the budgets um that i mean on most places you can go to their website and see so i think uh churches would fall under that for me to know because yeah golly if you got in there and you're like holy crap they're taking all the money home or something and it's not being used for other things that's more my you know that would be a worry if you're mismanaging it versus just i don't

love this mission trip they're going on, those are two different things. But I think you're of the right, you know, spirit about it. Just wanting to ask more questions and wanting to make the best use of your tithe money. Awesome. Great. I appreciate your time. Absolutely.

Thanks, Joy. That reminds me, Rachel, I did a mission trip in college. So it wasn't through a church, but it was a Christian college. And they did a mission trip, sort of like living on mission panama city and we went to europe oh did you truthfully these are southern kids who have like never been outside alabama like we're gonna all traverse to europe on a mission trip we're all just like experiencing the culture and we're trying to have these conversations with people and you know not not ram this down their throat but have an intentional conversation with random people in the hostels and wherever we were.

Right, right. So we got back from the mission trip that, you know, people from my home church funded in Boston. They're like, how many souls did you save? Oh my gosh. And we're like, I feel like I had some, we planted some seeds. We had some good conversations, you know, the Lord will bless. So there was a little bit of that.

The people who donated wanted to know like, okay, what impact did it have? Yeah, or I just send George to freaking France to just hang out. And I'm like, I had a good baguette outside the Eiffel Tower. I don't know. The croissants are fantastic. We'll never know this side of heaven, the impact we had on that trip, Rachel. There's people for eternity, George, because you sacrificially took your time. That's what I do.

And other people's money. The kind of person I am. You know, you take a 20-year-old to Europe. You can't expect much to happen. I know. God bless. It was a sweet trip and I learned a lot. About culture.

This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I am Rachel Cruz hosting this hour with George Camel. We are taking your calls at 888-825-5225. Up next, we have Griff in Cedar Falls. Hey, Griff. Welcome to the show. Hi.

Thanks for taking my call. Absolutely. Thanks for calling in. How can we help? Yeah, so just a little bit of a backstory. My wife actually got a great job promotion in a different city around two hours away. So we were in the process of purchasing a home closer to her work. And during that time, we actually found out that Nelnet, they transferred her student loans, which she currently owes around $50,000, to MOLA. And we found out during the application process that she was getting charged twice for that amount. So we're just kind of wondering about how to go about the process of fixing that with Nelnet,

which no longer even services student loans. And so you guys were able to find out that you guys were paying double, basically. Yeah, so... Was that on the principal, or was it going toward the student loan? You were just making double payments toward it. So we actually weren't making student loan payments as part of like the save program. Um, so they transferred it from Nelnet to MOLA. Uh, so we started just, you know, kind of knocking that down during the process while not having any payments due. But during the application process for the new mortgage, we actually found out that, according to the credit reports, that she owes $50,000 with MOLA, which they were just transferred to, and Nelnet, who no longer services student loans.

So she, yeah, so according to our credit report, we're showing that we owe $100,000. Ah, got it. Okay. Well, I would contact the new student loan company and see what they can do, but also contact the credit bureaus and have them dispute that information on the report and say, hey, this is incorrect. You'll need proof from the student loan servicer that it is doubled and incorrect. But that should be a pretty quick fix, and they have to change it for free. Okay. Yeah, just doing a little bit of research, and it seems like it's affected a lot of people. But just previously being in the mortgage industry, I know, you know, probably

some people are getting declined based off of like those double pain. Incorrect information. Yeah. Well, we tell people pull your credit report. Now, we don't care about credit scores, but pulling your credit report once a year is a good idea just to make sure that there's no, you know, fraud and mistakes, all of that. So pulling it once a year, make sure you do it for free.

I believe the website's annualcreditreport.com. You can go on there and pull from all three for free. And so I think it's a good idea to do. And then contact all three bureaus and contact the student loan service provider and say, hey, we need to fix this ASAP. And they should be on it. So it shouldn't be that big of a deal. Just the hassle of, you know.

Yeah, it's just sloppy administration on their side. They just didn't. Surprise, surprise. Unbelievable. All right, up next, we have Peter in St. Paul. Hey, Peter, welcome to the show. Peter, are you there? We lost him before we ever had him.

All right, Peter. We'll see if we can get you back. I'll put you on hold, Peter. So let's go on to Will in Scottsdale. Hey, Will, welcome to the show. Hey, what's going on? I'm a huge fan of the Ramsey show. You guys helped me get out of debt several years ago. So thank you.

Oh, awesome. Love to hear it. For sure. How can we help? Yeah. I have an interesting question. So I may have, it's, so basically I'm debt free. I'm 27. I'm single, not married, no kids. And I'm looking at doing one or two things and I wanted your guys' advice. So one of the things I was looking to do is I'm originally from Chicago and I live in Arizona. So I like to go back and forth because I work remote and I was gonna buy a condo in Chicago

and have my sister live in it as a renter, kind of almost as like an investment property. And I'm debating if I should do that or just save up for a primary resident here in Arizona. And I'm just kind of confused on what to do. Are you renting right now for your primary residence? Yes, I am. Yeah, I would save up for sure and buy a house for you first before you think about rental

properties. That's kind of the step after your home is even paid off. So when you look to invest in rental real estate or real estate in general, whether you're going to do flips or long-term rentals, that will be with cash later on after your primary mortgage is even paid off. So I would focus on saving up a good down payment for something there in Scottsdale. How much do you make a year? $190,000. Good for you. What kind of houses do you think, are you looking at condos or townhomes or single family that you would want to buy for yourself?

A house. One of the things that I'm kind of going through right now is to get a 20% in the Phoenix market, it's pretty difficult with how competitive it is out here and how expensive homes are, and especially with interest rates. So I have people telling me, wait, keep waiting, keep saving up, but I'm not really sure what to do because it seems like the prices just keep going up. Yeah. Well, we tell first-time home buyers, you can go down to even 5%. I mean,

20% to avoid PMI is ideal, but even if you want to go ahead and get in at 5% down, you could do that. So that's an option. And yeah, I mean, as we're seeing, the prices are not going down. I mean, if anything, in an area like you guys, I mean, it is competitive. And I don't think it's going to skyrocket prices like they did in 21 and 22. It was just crazy. They have slowed down in that sense, but they have continued to go up. So if you have a good down payment, I would go ahead and get in because to your point,

you could just keep getting out price of it. So we tell people, wait until you're financially ready, but don't wait for the right time in the market. It's kind of like timing the stock market. We don't want to ever do that because you'll end up regretting it usually. Yeah. Do you have any money saved, Will, now? $50,000 and then about $75,000 in my 401. Good for you. Man, you're killing it. A 27?

Well done. No debt. So how much can you save in a given year making $190? How much of that could you sock away and add to like a high yield savings account on top of the $50,000 for a down payment? That's what I'm doing right now. So I'm just keep stocking away, keep stocking away. So I mean, my goal would be to get to $100,000. Yeah. So we'll see if I can make that happen. But yeah, that'd be my goal. Yeah. How much would you have to save to get into the market for where you are and what kind of home you're wanting? Do you know? Have you read numbers? Yeah, I've read some numbers.

I mean, in like the Scottsdale Phoenix market, you know, for 20%, I would probably need well over $100,000 for, you know, $400,000 or $500,000 home. Yeah. I'm thinking about it correctly. But I could also go a little further out in the city and probably get something for around $400, but it would still be a decent-sized down payment. Sure, yeah. You could also look at a condo or townhome that was still appreciated in that market, because that was, you know, Whitney and I, when we first got our home when we got married, it was a townhome and appreciated, you know, well over 50% in just a few years. And so it was a great purchase and a

great part of town. So there's nothing wrong with doing that, especially as a single guy, you don't know what the future holds and where you'll move to. Yeah, I think that's one of the things too, is just wondering, like, should I just keep renting until I meet someone and then get married? No, I mean, yeah, where you are financially, I mean, unless there's somebody that you're dating now, they're like, oh, yeah, she lives in, her family's in Connecticut, and we may want to move to Connecticut, right? But, I mean, I probably wouldn't wait. I would go ahead and get in and, yeah, start that process.

Because even if you move four or five years from now, it's okay. People move all the time. Yeah, for sure. So that's not a huge deal down the line. But well done, Will. That's incredible. I mean, where you're at financially is applauded here. And with rental properties, Rachel, we say we don't want you to be a long

distance landlord. And so that's one of the tough parts of managing a property that's multiple states away is a difficult thing to do. Of course, you can pay a property manager, but you still have to deal with it. You're not absolved of all responsibility. You still got to make sure that you're on top of them and that they're hiring the right people and doing good work and charging the right price. So it can be a hassle. And when you involve family in it, it can get awkward. That's what I was going to say too. I was like, Ann, I don't want to be the Grinch here. I'm my brother's landlord. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of family drama that we get on this show of, well, so-and-so, she said she would pay and she hasn't paid. So I'm letting it go a few months.

She is my sister. And then you're stuck with a mortgage because you went into the rental property genre with debt. And you don't want to charge market rent to family. And now you're losing money on this investment. It just, it gets dicey. Yeah, even though the heart's good, the motivation, but I would let your sister find her own place.

And yeah, and you do what's best for you, Will, which is to find a primary residence. If you'll be in Scottsdale for the foreseeable future, you're in a really good place financially to really start saving and looking for a down payment soon. So thanks for the call. So, you know, I've written two kids books and kids and babies, they're just on our heart. And look who has appeared for the first time ever on The Ramsey Show. Mia Camel is here. Is she not adorable, George?

I can't believe it's my baby, to be honest. I mean, she is the cutest thing in the entire world. Well, she loves your kids book and i was like i can i know i know the author mia i told her i was like we can read this mia we can we can hang out and talk i mean she has does she have a 529 set up george she does that was the first thing i did truthfully i was so excited i was like no gifts please just fund the 529 thank you okay and how and how old is she? Tell everyone. She's now eight months tomorrow. Eight months tomorrow.

Which, by the way, happy early birthday. Oh, to me. To you. Yes. Thank you. It's your birthday tomorrow. It is. It is my birthday tomorrow. Yes.

But, okay. And how has she been as a baby, George? She's been great. Fatherhood is wonderful. Whitney, if everyone knows my Ramsey story, I met her here at Ramsey. She worked here for nine years. And as of last week, she now stays at home with little Mia. So she has officially retired and it's been a huge blessing.

And truthfully, the principles at Ramsey is what allowed us to be able to do this. It wasn't a financial decision. It was just an emotional one. That's right. Yeah. And she loves this place so much. In the place, yeah, to be able to do it. And one day, Mia will take my spot on the Ramsey show. She loves this place so much. In the place, yeah, to be able to do it and do what you guys want. And one day, Mia will take my spot on the Ranger Show.

She's made for the camera. We already know that. Her and Charles could really take over an hour. That's succession, Dave, if you're listening. Probably trump a lot of the content. I know. Well, it's such a beautiful picture of what, yes, all of this, of getting out of debt and saving and everything we talk about on the show.

It is ultimately to bring you peace and to bring you options and look at her. Hey, I'm starting to think about legacy and getting more emotional. I'm like crying at bank commercials. I mean, what is wrong with me? What is happening? So it's so sweet.

So great, Mia. We're so glad you're here. She'll be taking your calls this segment. That's right. So give Mia a call at 888- Let's see if she can dole out any advice. 825-5225. All right.

We're going to head to the phone. So we got Eric in Louisville up next. Hey, Eric, welcome to the show. Hello, I've been watching the Dave Ramsey show for a few months now, and I'm a really big fan of you guys. Oh, awesome. Well, thanks for calling in. How can we help? So just a little bit about me. Back in 2019, I joined the service. I was part of the Marine Corps for five years. I recently got out back in January of this year, and now I am part of the Kentucky National Guard.

Okay. But during my time in the Corps, I fell into a very dark depression and situation and be more responsible with my money and hopefully make my dream come true. Yeah, for sure. So what kind of what kind of decisions did you make that put you in a financial hole? Was it gambling or what kind of things? No, it was just spending money that I don't have pretty much a credit card and a personal loan. OK, so how much debt do you have? $26,000. And I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but to someone that only makes about $44,000 a year, it is a big deal. Yeah, for sure. No, it can feel overwhelming. I mean, regardless of the dollar amount, it carries a lot of weight for sure. Are these across multiple cards, multiple personal loans? How many individual debts are there? So originally I was in $40,000 worth of debt, but I got a bonus

and I used that entire bonus to pay off four out of the six. Good for you, Eric. Well, that was a good, yeah, that's a great decision. But now that I'm kind of on my own now with money and not really receiving any bonuses anytime soon, it's, um, it's just, I just want to get my finances back on track. Like, um, I have an apartment or I just got my apartment, um, May 6th. Um, I don't really have any student loan or house payments or anything like that. But, I mean, the only payment I have is just a car payment and cell phone and insurance. That's all I really have. Oh, so you have a car payment as well?

Yes, I do. What's left on the car loan? It's $10,000, and my monthly payment is $268 a month. And that's on top of the $26,000? It is, yes. Okay. $17,000 and my monthly payment is $268 a month. And that's on top of the $26,000? It is, yes. Okay. So we got $36,000 total in consumer debt, making $44,000. Okay.

And we're going to help you with a budget because the key here is to look at the reality of here's how much I'm taking home and here's how much I have in expenses. How much do I have left to throw at the debt? Because the key to all of this, as you know, is paying off extra on the principal on all of these debts and using the debt snowball method. If I may ask, what is the debt snowball method? Yeah, well, this is where you lay out all of your debts, smallest to largest. That's why I ask how many individual debts. It's hard when you stare at it as a mountain, when you try to attack highest interest first, because it sounds mathematically smart. What we found is that paying off the smallest debt first by the balance is what causes people to actually get out of debt. Because there's a psychological win.

You feel motivated. You free up a payment faster. So with the debt snowball, you list out all of your debts, smallest to largest, make minimum payments on all of them except for the smallest balance. Yeah, so let's do one real quick with you, Eric. So give us your smallest debt whether it's a credit card or a personal loan what's the smallest amount total so the so the personal loan is nine thousand seven hundred and eighty seven dollars and ninety four cents okay what's your next smallest debt um well uh honestly so my next most that would be my car which would be 10 which would be 10,027

and 88 cents okay and then the next one then a another credit card which is um 1300 and after that um it's just a very big one which is my 15 000 credit card 15 000 credit card wait did you say a 1300 yes i did um i was i was looking at my um i was looking at my expenses yeah no you're fine yeah so your smallest yeah your smallest is at 1300 so that's the first debt that you're going to pay off so your goal is to your we want you to get a thousand dollar emergency fund first and foremost so do you have any money saved? No, ma'am, I do not. Well, just $100 really.

Perfect. No, you're great. So that's where you're going to start, Eric. You're going to start on the very first step of the baby steps, and maybe step one is a $1,000 emergency fund. So I want you to be driving Uber. I want you to do Instacart. I want you to work at Target.

Like, I don't care what you do, but i want you to do instacart i want you to work at target like i don't care what you do but i want you working extra because i think your biggest benefit eric to this formula is going to be upping your income which is going to mean a lot of work um are you single i am yeah okay so that's great i mean in a sense it's sometimes easier just to be like this is my life and i can work that's when you have 10 o'clock every night you're young able-bodied you can make that kind of sacrifice right now so you're gonna do what you can to get a thousand dollars and even if that's looking around and selling stuff like if you have stuff sell it do whatever you can to get a thousand dollars and I want you to do this in 30 days like I want this to be a really fast goal for you do what you can cut eating out I want you on a budget do what you

can to get that thousand dollars and then after you have that you're going to put that in a savings account or a high yield savings account but just put that money away that thousand dollars and then the next goal is to pay off that credit card of 1300 and then once that's paid off then you're going to move on to the personal loan of the 9700 once that's paid off then you're gonna pay off the car loan and then last will be that big credit card debt of 15 000 and and eric and i would're going to pay off the car loan. And then last will be that big credit card debt of $15,000. And Eric, and I would encourage you to cut up the credit cards. I mean, like I would go scorched earth on all of this. And if you already have.

Awesome. Good for you. Well, and I think you're at a great place, Eric. I know you, I feel like you may feel so defeated. But what we have found, and we call it people's I've had it moments where people call in and they talk about their debt-free journey and they say it started somewhere. And it usually starts in a point of crisis or a point of pain, which sucks. I wish pain wasn't a great teacher, but sometimes it is where you think, okay, I'm done. I'm so done. And Eric, this is your moment.

This is the moment that you said from today on, from April 24th, 2024, I started changing the way I viewed money. And I really believe if you can up your income and even make, you know, $1,000, $2,000 extra a month, even if it's just through side hustles, I mean, you can get this, you can get this knocked out. And I'm going to gift you one year of every dollar premium to help you with this. And it's going to connect to your bank. It's going to be tracking your transactions. This will be sort of your accountability partner as you knock out this debt. And we are rooting for you, man. You are not alone. A lot of people listening are relating to your story. And we believe you'll be on this debt-free stage sharing that and inspiring others. For sure. Yeah. And we'll throw in George's book too, Breaking Free from Broke,

because he does talk about a lot of the money traps that we can fall in. And I think it'd be really helpful for you, Eric, too. So we'll give you that book as well. So thanks for the call, Eric. We are rooting for you. This is The Ramsey Show. Our scripture of the day comes from Matthew 10, 16. Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. Be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves. Jean Sebelius said, pay no attention to what the critic says or what the critics say. A statue has never been erected in honor of a critic. There you go.

That's good. Don't pay attention to the critics, George. I never do, except every time in the comment section. But that's for my own entertainment. It fuels me. That's so sad. That's good, though. It's good.

They're not too mean to us. And on YouTube, I feel like your YouTube people are very kind. I've been told I have a punchable face, which I don't know what that means. Does that mean they think they could take me in a fight? Because they could. It just looks like someone just wants to punch your face. I don't know. It's so sad.

I know. I always just think like they need a hug. You know, they're just hurt. They hurt people. Well, usually those people that are after people, you're like, man, I don't know how much time you have on your hands to actually like type things out.

You know what I mean? People in comment sections generally aren't doing great. know what i mean that are being mean that are being mean sure yeah i don't know it's funny all the people i follow on instagram some of these women that you know they do clothes like that's how i shop now it's like i follow certain people that i like love their yeah i love their clothes and that's how i'll find something uh but people are so yeah and even in their comments they, they're like, they get so mad. I'm like, I have never once stopped on someone's post or seen a video on YouTube that I'm like,

yeah, I'm going to put this out there. I don't know. I tried to do some videos on money hacks. So I put a video out like, here's how to save money at Target in the comment section, Rachel. It was just like, boycott Target. I can't believe he's a sellout.

He's getting paid by Target. I'm like, I'm not getting paid for any of this.'ll be happy to though i just figured people shop here let me help them save money so you can't win on the internet you just can't win but you know we're here to help you win america never stop helping you win when it comes to your money all right next up we got michael in des moines hey michael welcome to the Hey, thank you very much for having me, you two. I think only you could go from Matthew 10 to punching somebody in the face really, really quick. That's how we do on the show. Just read some scripture and punch someone in the face.

Thank you for having me. Yeah, thanks, Michael, for calling. How can we help? So I am through baby steps one through four, and I'm doing something I probably shouldn't do, and I want to buy a truck. George loves trucks, Michael. You're the right man. You know what? I love paid-for trucks.

Well, I do, too, and hopefully I can get that done here sooner than later. But I'm looking at purchasing a truck. I've got quite a few different investments. So I've got a mortgage right now of 290,000. Um, but in the, one of the two properties, I, I am currently living in one of them and I have three other roommates who are helping pay that off. And then in the other house, I have, um, two tenants that are living in there. Um, so combined, um, I'm getting about, uh, $3,300 between the two. Um, but with, with that, I, I've got no other credit card debt, got no other student loan debt, got no other debt. Like I said, I'm to a baby step number five

and I'm looking at about a 44,000 to $44,000 truck. What do you make a year? Currently $60,000, and that's before commission. And then with rentals, it's about $35,000. On top of the $60,000? Yes, sir. Okay. So you're making about $100,000, let's say?

$90,000 to $100,000 around there, yeah. Okay. Well, this is a lot of truck. Do you have a car right now you're driving? I do. It's a fully paid Ford 2013 Ford Fusion. Oh, you would sell that and get the truck? I would sell it, yeah, for about $6,000.

Okay. All right. Well, and this is a used truck you're buying? I would like it to be used just because I know the whole off the lot minus, you know, 25%. Yeah, the depreciation. Well, and what's your net worth? Net worth right now is about $380,000. Okay.

Well, if you're buying this thing used and the total of all of your wheels and motors, everything with wheels and motors, no more than half of your annual income, which is about 95, that would put your purchase price at about that 40, 45 range. So I think you're right on target. As long as you're paying cash for this thing, it doesn't violate any of the Ramsey parameters. You're not hurting your financial future other than, of course, driving a depreciating asset, which is fine. We all do. They all depreciate. And so you're doing this the right way. I would still try to find a good deal, try to get the most out of your current vehicle as you sell it, you know, private party versus having a dealer say, I'll give you three grand for it. So I don't see anything wrong with it, Rachel. Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think if it's cash, if it's used,

and it's in that reasonable price range, yeah, I think you're fine. I think you're great. So I don't have too much cash put aside. I've got about $20,000. Okay. Would that be something to consider when putting that down payment in?

Well, that's where you lost me. No, no down payment, Michael. We said pay cash. So if you don't have the cash, you don't do this. Yep. Okay. And I would also make sure you don't touch your emergency fund. This is not an emergency.

So have three to six months saved up. You also need some savings for those rental properties. And so I would have a separate savings account for those. And then when you have the $40,000 in cash saved up, you can go make that purchase. This is a total just want purchase, right? Your Ford Fusion is fine, right? It's getting you what a car does to and from where you're supposed to go. You just want to have something different, which is fine.

But at that point, that's when you say, okay, I need to slow down, do this the right way financially. So you're not kicking yourself down the lawn, you know, down the road where you're like, oh my gosh, I have car payments now. And all of it, you've gone backwards financially. We don't want that for a truck, for a truck, right? So interest on a depreciating asset is about the most backwards math you can do. Yeah. So don't do that. So it'll take you a little bit of time, Michael. So'll probably slow down your purchase timeline um to do it the right way but we're not mad at well george might be mad at trucks but we're not mad at trucks just when they cut me off and you know they're like lifted 19 off the ground under light if michael got in a lifted truck

george would say no no i just guarantee almost every truck on the road that's lifted with an underlight LED kit has a $1,000 payment on it. They're not paying cash, Rachel. That's my real gear grinder. That's your knee-jerk reaction. So, yeah. Michael's not the problem. No, no, no. But, yeah, save up, Michael.

Save up and pay cash for it, and we'll give you the green light if you do it that way. All right. Let's take our last call of the day, George. Let's go to Danny in Princeton, New Jersey. Hey, Danny, welcome to the show. Oh, thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. Absolutely.

How can we help? All right, let me not try to talk too fast. So I'm 41 years old. I'm kind of in the best predicament I've been in my life. So I'm 41, no debt. I followed a Dave Ramsey. I got $200,000 saved. I'm currently renting.

And basically, I live in a very expensive area, this whole Princeton area. I pay very low rent. I'm only like $1,400 a month. Basically, I'm trying to figure out my 200 K to me is almost useless. Where I live. I'm trying to figure out, did I just keep continuing to save for a house, which at this point, I'm not even sure it would be an investment because I feel like in six years I may or may not be moving because my son will be 18 years old. Or take the $200K and put the whole thing and start investing in stocks,

mutual funds, index, split it in half. Like I'm in a good predicament, but where I live doesn't mean much. It doesn't make sense to buy. Yeah, because everything around here is about $500K, and it would literally be 60% to 70% of my take-home. What is your income? Anywhere between $110,000 and $165,000, depending on how much per diem work I take. Okay.

So the goal, Danny, when it comes to owning a home is not only diversifying what you have, so you're going to be investing in retirement and also have some money in real estate, but the goal is to eventually pay off your house. And so that way you have no payments at all, right? No rent payment, no mortgage payment, and you own a home with equity. So that's the ultimate goal to get there. So that's why we say don't just rent forever. Amen. But yeah, and you're in a time frame that's really close. I mean, if I always say that five-year time frame is where you want to be. Underneath that, just put in a high yield savings. If it's five years or further, you could invest it. Yep. That's right. So, I mean, if you're going to be moving in five years, you may not want to buy, but there is a part of me that's like, man, do you go ahead and get in?

Yeah. Put 200 down, get a 500,000. Or even if it's a condo, Danny, it doesn't have to be a single-family home. That could help as well. So thanks for the call. Thanks to everyone in the booth. Thank you, America and George Camel. Good times. Good times.

And remember to take control of your money and create a life you love. Hey, folks, Dave Ramsey here. You know, budgeting doesn't have to be boring. You just need a budgeting app that's made with you in mind, and that's EveryDollar. The EveryDollar app has helped millions of people work the baby steps and take the stress out of planning and managing their money. Start budgeting with EveryDollar for free right now. Just go to RamseySolutions.com slash EveryDollar and download the app today.

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