The Ramsey Show - Managing Money Well Matters At Every Income Level

Episode Date: February 27, 2026

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Brought to you by the Every Dollar app. Start budgeting for free today. Normal is broke and common sense is weird. So we're here to help you transform your life. From the Ramsey Network in the Fairwinds Credit Union Studio, this is the Ramsey show. The phone number to jump in, AAA 825-5-225, AAA 825-5-225. Alongside the lovely Rachel Cruz, I'm Ken Coleman. We're excited to be here to help you today.

we started off with Lucas in Austin, Texas. Lucas, how can we help? Hey, I am calling in because I was looking for a way to, like, manage my finances better. And I'm 28 years old. I'm single. I have some credit card debt as well as, like, some student loan debt. Okay, so just an overall direction is what you're looking for from us. Yeah, pretty much.

Yeah. Okay, yeah. So how much debt does all that total? So it's probably closer to about 30,000. 30,000? Okay. How much of that is credit card and how much is that student loan? So it's 14,500 in credit card and student loan is about 20,000.

20, okay, cool. And how much do you make a year? I make about $32,000 a year or like $16 an hour. Okay. What do you do? I work in, like, mobile device repair and sales. Okay. For like a cell phone company type thing in a store?

Yeah, yeah, basically. Perfect. Okay, great. Well, yeah, I'd love for Ken to jump in on just the career side because I think you still have so much ahead of you. Where do you want to be? Well, right now I'm kind of an in an in-between spot because, you know, I like what I do and I like working with physical technology and things like that,

but then trying to transition to something a little bit more, you know, viable for the future is what I'm looking into. Probably trying to get into more like beta processing and things like that. Okay. So have you done enough research to know what that could look like as far as position A, position B, position C? Not yet. still kind of in the phase of trying to figure out, like, which direction to go with it.

I mean, I've been looking into more like data science and things like that. So that's kind of where I'm at in trying to transition my career path over there. Okay. Well, real quick, and then we'll get back to Rachel here and kind of walk you through what you need to do. But you do need to increase your income. And I'm saying that separate of us trying to figure out which long-term direction that you're going to go. So while you are in the process of discovery, and I'm going to help you with that in just a moment, you still need to be making more money. Because right now at 28 and single with the debt you have, the one thing you have is time and you need to make time.

So whether that's some freelancing in the same space that you're in or doing some freelance and technology. And again, we're not talking about a career choice. We're saying, I need a second job and I need to make an additional $2,000 to $3,000 a month. That would be the goal that I would give you. So what you would do is say, what can I do now that will allow me to make an additional two to three grand a month? Because you're at $32,000 a year, I believe is what you said. And so you need to increase that.

And that will allow you to get through the steps that Rachel's going to walk you through. But here's what I give you, quick advice. I love that you have an idea of the direction you want to go. What I would do is is use this idea that I've introduced before called the proximity principle. And it's simply this. I want to get around people that are in the space or space. that I am considering. And that's lunch, that's coffees, that's, hey, will you connect me to somebody over here

that you know, and you want to do a good old-fashioned term paper? And you're going to sit with this person and ask enough questions that you could do a term paper on their job. We're talking high school term paper. Nothing complex. And what you're doing there is, is you're getting clarity on the role itself, what it takes to win in the role, what it takes to get qualified the role, how I get placed, how I move up.

And in doing all of that, your head and heart are going to get connected. The heads of the information, the heart will be the emotion to say, I'm excited about that. I'm going to do one thing. I'm going to give you at the end of the call. I'm going to give you my book. Find the work you're wired to do. It has to get clear assessment in it. It's going to take about 20 minutes.

It's going to really help you. So that's my gift to you, okay? Okay. I appreciate that. Yeah, but listen, more money. Now, Rachel, he starts making more money. What does that look like to pay off his debt? Yeah, because those are your two big,

parts of the equation, Lucas, is the income side and the expenses side. But you're probably only bringing home, what, three grand a month, ish? Would you say? It's more, yeah, it's closer to about two. Yeah. About $2,000 a month. Yeah. So how are you paying?

Are you living at home? So I live with two roommates. I only pay about $600 a month and I rent two rooms and a house. Perfect. Good for you. That's great. Because the living expenses is, usually one of your highest line items in the budget. And so for a lot of people, they're paying,

you know, a thousand, you know, even $2,000 for mortgages. I mean, it's just like it just can get so high. So that $600 is, it honestly, I mean, that's a great place to be. Because honestly, Lucas, when you leave your job at 5 o'clock, I would go work somewhere from 6 to 9. And I would do that four times a week. And I would do one weekend. And seriously, if you can get $2,000 to $3,000, you could have this all cleaned up in 10 months, which is wild to think you could have all your debt paid off. But you have to have a goal from an income perspective. And that's going to be your biggest back. Because I don't think there's many expenses you probably can cut. That's going to make that big of a difference. You know what I mean? So there is something so encouraging about this that

that you do have the time. And it's just going to be hard. It's just 10 months of just grinding it out. But a lot of people do that, Lucas, sometimes for two, three years. to get on the other side of it. But I think that you, yeah, there's a lot of upside. It's just going to be the work is the equation, that part of the equation that's going to be really big. And like Ken said, it may not be career stuff, right? I mean, you may be waiting tables, bartending,

like whatever it looks like to go and earn some extra money. And then I think for you, Lucas, just from a long-term perspective, be looking at what you want to do long-term and start actually kind of building out a career that you love and you're passionate and you're good at. So you're making more like 60, 70, 80,000 a year, down the road. So that would be my two big goals for you.

But if you hold in the line, we'll get you Ken's book, and then we'll also get you every dollar. This is our budgeting app. But it also will look at your entire financial picture and help walk you through how to do, how to basically do the baby steps. So you can enter in your information in that app and it really walks you through.

But when you're looking at your debt to attack it, the debt snowball is what we recommend. And so taking those credit cards is how many credit cards is that $14,000? So it's between two credit cards. One credit card is basically, I applied for it when I was younger and they gave me a 14,000 credit limit. And I was like, I don't need that much, but I ended up living off of it because I was making like $10 to $12 an hour at one job. Yep.

And I had to have some sort of extra income because at the time I was paying for an apartment that was $1,400. So I just kept putting rent on that card and eventually I just maxed it out. It wrecked it. And then the other card, yeah. And then the other card was like $500. And yeah, that's kind of where that's at. Okay, so I would have a goal to get $1,000. Do you have anything saved at all?

Any cash? Not really. Okay, yeah. So, yeah, so your first goal to get $1,000. We're at the end of February right now. Make it a goal by March 15th to get $1,000. Whatever that looks like. You got to sell stuff.

You got to work extra. And then from there, you're going to start saying, okay, this $500 credit card, we're not. to pay that off. And have an aggressive goal. At the end of March, mid-April, that credit card's gone. And then you're going to start attacking that 14, or the other credit card with the rents, and then start attacking the student loans. So you do it by smallest to largest. But yeah, hang on the line. Christian will pick up and we'll get you all that stuff, Lucas. But excited for you and this new journey you're on. I love entrepreneurs. Don't forget, guys, I started my company on a card table

myself. So I know what it's like to have people counting on you, your team, your family, not to mention your customers. And when you're the one signing the paychecks, you can't afford to fly blind. But I'll be honest, early on, one thing that nearly sunk us was wasting time with spreadsheets that didn't add up because business units didn't talk to each other. I finally told my team, just fix it. And they did. We got NetSuite. That was years ago. And we've never looked back. See, NetSuite isn't just for tech giants. It's built for growing businesses like yours. Over 43,000 businesses already run on NetSuite, including a lot that started just like you. And now with built-in AI, NetSuite is helping them even more.

It's one system connected to every part of your business for real-time insights, not guesswork. NetSuite AI flags inventory issues, cash flow risks, even supplier delays before they become problems. So you can trust the data, stop wasting time, and make the right decisions, take a free product tour today at netsuite.com slash Ramsey. That's netsuite.com slash Ramsey. Alyssa is joining us now in Atlanta. Alisa, how can we help? Hi, good afternoon. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. My question to you is should I take, should I move out of my house, which is owned by my mom and her partner? They are not married. They have two mortgages, which is the apartment I live in, which I pay in full for. Every month is $2,600. They have a home that they live in. Their mortgage is $4,300. They moved out of my apartment eight months ago to move into their home, and now she wants to leave him. And we're trying to figure out what the best move is.

She wants to leave him. Is that what you said? She wants to leave him. Him. Okay. She wants to either move into my apartment or really she wants me to move into her house. The one that they're paying for together have him move into the apartment. So no one gets, you know, quote unquote burned.

But, you know, that's going to be a big change in my life. And I'm going to take a lot more expenses. Let's just pause. Okay. And I appreciate. We're honored that you call it. for our opinion and believe me, we have opinions and we'll give them to you. But before we get there, let's just go where you are. Where are you at? What was your knee-jerk reaction? What is your

feeling right now? What decision do you think is right for you? Tell us. So my ideal situation would be to, I told them when they moved, I'm like, if I'm going to be paying everything, I'm paying the property tax, basically my own landlord. Um, Why not just give me the gift of the home of the apartment, which they didn't do? My immediate reaction would be have my mom move in, though it would be, you know, a big change because I rent a business out of my house. So it's going to be a little bit tighter. But my mom is very, like, pushing me to move into the house because she feels like we would be able to get into another house. Pause. Pause. Pause.

real quick. I'm sorry. And this is because I'm not really clear and I don't want to confuse you or the audience. So you're saying apartment and house. You're currently living in a place and you said your first reaction was for a mom to move in with you where you are now, correct? Yes, because they just moved out of the apartment which they own that I'm living in to move into their house. So they took on a $400,000. It's not your problem, though. I don't even care about that. And the musical houses is confusing. So you think the best move is for your mom to move in with you, but it comes with some headaches.

That's what I heard. Correct. All right. So if you think that's best, we start there. And I can tell you, Rachel and I just said, her house is not your problem. And mom is trying to manipulate you, my viewpoint, to move in to help her with a mortgage that she can't handle. There's no boundaries. Oh, so she's leaning on you almost like a second.

She wants to break up. Or a boyfriend, him move into your place. This is wacky. Yeah, Alyssa, is your name on any of these properties from like a legal perspective of owning? My name is not on any property. Okay. And then they're going to break up. So, Alyssa, I mean, this sounds extreme.

I almost, which would probably piss your mom off, but I almost would just move out, get out of the middle of this triangle and just go rent an apartment. Be a complete bystandard in this. And then be able to help and coach your mom of, hey, yeah, these problems. Because I bet both of their names are on, right, on the apartment and the home, which is going to be a mess for your mom because they're going to have to possibly refinance to get one name off the loan. I mean, it's just going to be, it's going to be a disaster. And so if I were you, I see disaster playing out with unhealthy mom with no boundaries. And this would be a, this would be a harsh move. But it would to say like, hey, I have to step away.

And then from your point of strength, being. then to come in and help where you can and where it's appropriate, but not out of this desperation of your mom because she can't get her act together. Are you lost? That sounds mean, but no. May I add one more thing? Sure. Absolutely.

I don't think they've been together for over a decade. So with that said, I don't think that one of them are going to go through the headache of taking each other's name off. Like they trust each other enough, although they shouldn't, they trust each other enough and they know that they're both stable enough to keep everybody's name. How does that change? Okay, great. How does it change what we're telling you that you should do?

No, that doesn't change. I just, my goal this year was, I mentioned the refinance. I have $30,000. Yeah. So I'm not paying that much. I pay about $2,600 a month in total with everything. And my goal this year is, I'm like in the baby steps. And my goal this year is to pay off my third.

$30,000 in debt, which is more than possible. Yeah. So I just don't know. I mean, it's just going to be more difficult, but I guess. Why? Why is it going to be, what's going to make it more difficult? If you move? If I move.

Why? Yes. Give me some evidence. You may be right. I think you can find it. What? In my area, it's probably going to be more expensive. I am going to need a two-bedroom at least in order to continue running my side business.

What is your side business? I am a waxer. A waxer. Oh. Yes. Sorry. Got that one a little late. Okay, great.

But I mean, why? Appreciate the service. But that's great. But I mean, all you need, I mean, okay, two bedroom, that's fine. But you could get a roommate, split a three bedroom. You know what I mean? You could, I would challenge you to find some small studio. I would just look into it.

Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Because the reason to do all of this is not really a financial move. It's more of a, of a, of a, of a, play because... Yeah, you got to get out of this mess. There's just a relational entanglement.

Now, how's more I'm going to handle us? Or you either have to just have a strong boundary with your mom at some point in your life, right? I mean, it sounds like she's... You're just like the third wheel, and you're the safety net for her when things go south. And that's just not a... That's not a blossoming relationship.

You know what I mean from a daughter to a mother? So I'm just... Yes. Yeah. I would add... I've gotten used to living by myself, so I don't really want to stay with her. Yes, and you don't have to. By the way, that's going to create a problem.

And mom's going to try to manipulate you. I have a good feeling that if you tell mom or you do what we're suggesting, that mom's going to throw the darts at you. Am I right or wrong? That's right. Okay. So are you prepared? You don't have to be on this call.

But, I mean, how prepared do you think you are to be able to stand up to that? I think I'm prepared. Okay, I hear the emotion. I test you guys' judgment. Yeah, what emotion? What are you feeling? Fear, sadness? What's going on?

Sadness to leave her on her own, but I mean, I've told her a million times, you know, my bowl is to be off my debt this year, and I've been doing a great job at that, and this is just kind of going to, it's kind of something in the middle of that I'm going to take on a lot more expenses, a lot more stress. I'm going to be farther from work, the job that actually pays me good and that I'm on track to make $100,000 a year for. Wow. So it's just, it's a lot. I know. Well, first of all, you're a good daughter.

And there might be some thoughts that enter your head that I'm not a good daughter. Maybe your mom, I'm not saying that she will, but she might throw some statements at you that make you feel that way. And I want you to, before you leave us, to know that you're a good daughter and you are making really good decisions for you and your future. And you can't, Rachel, how many times will we take calls with children and adult parents where you really aren't going to be able to fix moms stuff? And that's what Deloney says all the time is, you know, when you put the boundary up, if the other person on the other end throws a fit and decides to, you know, from an extreme standpoint in the relationship or stopped, that's, that was their call. You didn't ask for

that. You're not wanting to break a level of relationship with your mom. You're just trying to set up your own life. Alyssa, how old are you? I'm 23. Oh, you okay. You are young. You are young. Yeah, this is a great move. Oh, Alyssa, listen. This is going to be a pattern that you set for the rest of your life, you know? I know you're sad right now, but I would rather you experience the sadness of this necessary ending than deal with madness. For years. This is. setting up for that. And I don't mean just the angry feeling. I mean like some insanity of this revolving relationship between your mom and this guy. And it's so commingled that I think the further you get away from this and set up financial and emotional boundaries, who I think you're going to be

great. I'm going to recommend a book by our dear friend, Dr. Henry Cloud. It's called boundaries. Read it and then follow that up with necessary endings. That's your one-two punch. If debt collectors won't stop calling and you feel like you're drowning, you don't need another company selling debt relief dreams. You need real world help, and that's why I recommend Guardian Litigation Group. Guardian's not a call center. They're actual attorneys who can step into the courtroom and fight back when creditors try to sue you. Now look, debt settlement isn't pretty. I'd still rather have you get out of debt the old-fashioned.

way. But if you're facing bankruptcy and need a way to stop the bleeding, Guardian gives you a path forward and they don't charge a dime up front. Guardian's attorneys have helped over 55,000 people across the country settle more than $600 million in debt. They'll help you stop living in fear every time the phone rings and take back control of your life. Go to guardianlit.com slash Ramsey. That's Guardian, l-it.com slash Ramsey. Attorney advertising, results may vary and no specific outcome is guaranteed. All right, let's go to Tiffany next in Phoenix, Arizona. Tiffany, how can we help you today? Hi, hi, my name is Tiffany. I own two properties that are, like none of them are income producing.

One, I have perpetual problems with that cost me at least $1,000 in repairs. and the other one has been vacant for over six months. And I just lost my job, and I can't keep up for containment, and I don't know what to do. Okay, tell us about the properties. Property one, let's call that one broken, the broken property. What is it? What kind of property is it, and what do you think it's worth, and what do you owe on it? Give us some numbers.

It's a duplex. It's worth probably around 320, and I owe about 260 on it. Okay, and then let's call the second property, the vacant property. Give me the numbers on that one. I'm at the triplex, and I owe like 406, and they say it's worth $500, but I don't think it's worth that much. Who's they? A real estate agent told me that it was worth $300,000, but I don't think that's true either. Well, you just told us $400,000, and then you changed it.

I'm sorry, no, I'm sorry. I wrote 500,000. You said that they said it's worth 500 and you owe 400, 0, 406. Did I get that right? That's correct. Okay. Okay. So why did you throw 300 out?

There's a big gap there. The real estate agent that I spoke to said, I need to, he told me because it wasn't selling to drop it down to 300,000, but it's not worth that. It's worth more than that. Okay. Well, then you need to interview several real estate. agents. Go ahead. That's the third real estate agent that I have tried to get to sell the property.

Have you tried any of the Ramsey, well, they're not Ramsey Realty. Our real estate agents that are connected to us and our, Ramsey Trusted program. Thank you. Ramsey Trusted program. Have you tried any of those? No. Okay. Go to our website and the Ramsey trusted and talk to some real estate agents. You don't have to take those three opinions. And at this point, you've got some urgency. So let's find somebody that really knows the market and that is really aggressive.

The challenge that you've got is the duplex and the triplex. I mean, those are not, you know, your most favorable properties. And I'm guessing that you're probably in an area where real estate is slowed down. Is that true or false? Well, the real estate ages I talk to say that it's good until they put on the market. So I presume it's pretty far as though. I know. But see, here's another thing.

You've got to go get your own. data, right? This is not hard to find. You've got to get your own research in this thing, and by the way, this is readily available. Like, you know your zip code, you can go pull this information from realtor.com, other reputable sources,

and let's just get a knowledgeable, some comps on these triplex and duplex. But you definitely need to get rid of these. But what my hope is you don't... Go ahead. The comp, I have done that.

The comps I had for the vacant home was three, was 480. And then for the broken home, the comp was at 320. Okay. I mean, I checked on PropStream. I've done the research. Great, great, great job. And how long have they been on the market for?

Well, they, so the vacant home, I pulled it from the market. It was on the market for about about a month, about two months. But I pulled it just to see if I can get a renter because I can't keep up with these payments. And then the duplex. Okay, let's look at your income really quick. On the market. Okay. So let's let's.

I lost my job. I know. So what was your income prior to losing your job? About $90,000. What were you doing? I work in marketing. Okay. So what happened?

Layed off, fired. What happened? No, I got fired for burnout and stressed out. And what was causing you stress? My mortgages. Right. Okay. I think this is a both...

I've had evictions. I had three evictions last year. I still have one. As being a landlord. You... Like you having to do it as a landlord? Yes. Yeah.

Yeah. Totally. That's cost me. I've had to do turnovers. So how much is each payment per month? My complex is $2,600. and the triplex is 3,400. Okay.

So, yeah, that's $6,000 just in those payments. How far behind are you? I'm not behind. You're not behind. Okay, that's good. So, Tiffany, right now, average days on market, and this is across the U.S., not in the Phoenix area specifically,

is about 78 days, okay? And we're about to go into a season of real estate, right? Everything kind of starts opening up after the winter, and your May, your April, all of these months really start generating people that are looking to buy. Now, this looks like, I mean, I'm assuming you wouldn't be able to sell like the duplex and the triplex as separate units. It has to be all probably within one unit.

So are you looking for like an investor? Would an investor be the type of buyer? Because it wouldn't be a single family. Like, it's not a single family home, right? No, yeah, that's correct. It's not. Okay, so that is going to make it more difficult because it's more of a niche, you know, buyer that you're looking for. But average day, so I would give yourself 90 days to 120. Like, it may have to go through the summer, but the problem is, is if you start getting behind, then, yeah, I mean, a short sale may have to come into play if you can't get these off.

Well, that's why we need to look at the money right now. So the income. So are you on a severance right now? How long have you been out of work? I just found out this week. I have a month severance. You have a month severance. Okay. And if, let me, let me go back. And this is somewhat of an unfair question, but I think it's important.

If, if we had 30 days ago sold those tripe, those two, let's call these properties, okay, if we had sold those properties, do you think you would have gotten fired? Probably. You do think you still would be fired. This has been going on for the, you just has been going on for about two years. Okay. And so the stress and not. I want you to be really honest, because, again, we're protecting you here, but we need to be gut-level honest. Is that the single source of you just simply, you couldn't get the job done?

You were almost a zombie because you were so stressed out. Is that what I'm understanding? Yes. Okay, so I want to go back then. Had we not had the stress of these properties, do you think you would have been in a state that would have led to you getting fired? Yes or no? Right. Repeat that again.

Okay. If these properties didn't exist in your portfolio and you, you'd have you. You didn't have any of the stress. Do you think you would have gotten fired? Let's go all the way back for two years this has been going on. Would you've gotten fired? No. Okay.

My point is you aren't broken, but you are burdened, and that's what's going on. So we've got to remove these two burdens. And let me tell you what I do. We have short time here, but I'm going to tell you two things I think you've got to do. Number one, I think you need to go get a really aggressive real estate agent and keep finding, but I would not rely on them. I would, is there anybody that, are there other duplexes and triplexes around these properties? They're not single standouts, right? No, that's correct.

There are other ones in the... I would be knocking on doors and finding who owns them and say, I'm willing to make a deal. Yes. And the deal is up to a point that you don't have to pay anything, but you can get out of these things. I don't even care if you profit one dollar, but as long as you don't owe anything on these things anymore, and we remove these from your life. It's like taking a giant millstone that's been hanging around your neck and you've been out there, tread and water, and that is going to lift from you me.

That would be step one. So I would take it on myself to go cut a deal. Hey, I got these properties. I screwed up. I'm stressed out. This is the bottom dollar that I'll take, but I'll take it today. And I would go try to do the deal on your own while trying to get an agent. Now, we've got to move to income.

You are going to get free of these things. So you have to sum it up every ounce of. energy and strength that you have and you have got to get back on the horse. You've got to maybe go back to your current employer and say, I'm going to fix this. I would take that stab. Give me one more shot. Maybe you don't have it. And I understand that may be unrealistic, but I'd put everything on the table. And you've got to get out there if you're working from home, whatever it is, but 90,000 is not going to be replaced by some odd jobs. You're going to have to go back and get into marketing and get in as quick as you can. Or you're looking at,

at four to five jobs. That's your reality right now because you got one month before your world gets really, really bad. So I hate that you're in this, but here's the good news. I believe in you. You can't get out of this, but this is going to have to be like

like everything you got to not get broken by this. Statistics show that half of Americans don't have enough life insurance or they don't have any at all. I don't understand this, John. Why don't people want to take care of their family? They think they're going to

die or something? Well, I used to be one of those guys. I didn't even think about it. And one of my buddies said, hey, the only reason to not have life insurance is if you hate your wife and kids. And I immediately went and got term life insurance. That's a gut punch. And oh, you're telling me, and for decades, Dave, I've sat across people who've lost a spouse. They've lost somebody important to them. Me too. They don't know what to do next. Me too. I mean, you're going to have a crisis here. and you know you got two options while you're sitting and talking to a young widow she's concerned about how she's going to invest all this money properly and not mess this up or she's concerned how she's going to eat tomorrow that's exactly these are the two options and take care of your dadgum

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don't get tuned down. It's normal, but normal is broke. Our every dollar budget app is going to help you find extra money every month and it's going to build you a personalized plan to beat the debt so you can build wealth. In just 15 minutes, you're going to find thousands in margin that's hidden from you. So, go start every dollar and you can do it for free in the app store or Google Play. All right, Eric is up in Dayton, Ohio. Eric, how can we help? Hey, guys. How are you guys today? Great. How are you, sir?

Good, good. Hey, I'm looking for some advice on how to convince my wife, but it's a smart idea to sell one vehicle that we have paid off that's worth about $32,000 to pay off the other that we have and not have any car payment. And your wife is not on board with this? She's not. You're trying to sell her car? It is her car. My car is paid for it. Oh, okay.

Yeah. That's a hard appeal. battle, Eric. It's paid for. Yours is a truck, and what does she drive? Yes. She drives a Durango. And you want to sell her...

I thought you said you wanted to sell your truck. Yes, I want to sell my truck and pay off her Durango. Oh. And that's why I'm confused as to why she's not for this. Oh, I thought you're trying to sell her car. Well, she thinks basically the difference of what my truck is worth compared to us paying her car off is about $8,800 to $10,000. So she's afraid what I would like to do is take that $10,000 and go buy, pay cash for a

used car. She is just afraid of what comes with the maintenance and upkeep of buying a vehicle. Got it. Okay, now I'm up to date. Okay, so this is all about vision casting Eric, right? You got to cast vision. And you've got to do it in a way where she goes, aha. Because she's got some fear, okay?

And who among us, Eric, are really clear thinking when we're afraid? Yes, you would agree? Yes. Okay, so nothing wrong with your wife. She's got some fear and it's clouding her ability to see your plan. So you have to come at it that way, all right? So this is the way I would come about it. What is the payment on her Durango every month?

Well, we're paying just shy of double payments on her Durango now. So she, her insight is, well, why do we need to make this drastic decision? If we can just pay it off. Maybe she's right, but you've got to answer my question. I'm going to walk you through it. Maybe she's right. So what are you guys paying? I know it's a double payment.

What are you guys paying every month on the Durango? It's 550. Okay, $550 a month. That's what the payment is. All right. And if we continue to do the 550, double payment, when would the Durango be paid off? In about two, just over two years. Oh. Okay. That's more information. The way I would come about it is, what are you thinking? Because you made a funny, scrunchy face. And I really want to go to you. I want to go to you immediately.

No. No. It's not off the top of my head. It's just that is, that's so long. That's too long. Yes. Be keeping. All right. I just wanted to make sure. Cast the vision. So here's what I would do. I would say, babe, we're paying 550 bucks a month. And at that rate, it's going to take us two years to pay this off. Okay. All right. So you do the math. on that and just play it out. Show her the numbers. So that's 24 months at 550 a month. Multiply that. A thousand because he said double payments, they'll haven't paid off in two years. No, the, yes. I thought the double, okay, hold on. The double payment I thought was 550. No, no, no, no, that's the single payment. No, no, that's the single payment. Well, I asked for it. I think you asked for it. He didn't

give it to me. I said, what's the double payment? You said $5. Eric, I'm following you. But he didn't give me the numbers. So it's a thousand actually. Yeah, they're putting away about $1,100. We're actually paying $975 a month. But in all fairness, I did ask for that number. I said, what are you paying? It's okay. Eric, I was on.

I can't ask how much is the payment. I said, and you gave the payment number. You said, double. And I said, what's the double payment? Here's the deal. Anyway, a thousand bucks. It's a thousand bucks. For two years.

For two years. You got to shore those numbers versus your plan. Which I did. Well, I actually made a spreadsheet. Oh, look at you, Eric. I made a spreadsheet. So my anticipation was to have it, we would pay this car off right now. Okay, so let's just get to her fear.

Her fear is. But I'm going to address it. Here's the deal. I'm trying so hard to get here. You got to show her that the thousand bucks a month that we're paying is easily going to cover any kind of mechanical issues that she's worried about. Oh, I know. I'm not a village idiot after all. I got you, Ken.

I feel like I'm talking about teenagers between you two. Oh, Ken. I mean, the vision casting is you're afraid that we're going to have mechanical problems. So then you tell her, I'm going to buy for $10,000, a Toyota or a Honda or something, or X amount of miles, and I can do research and show her that the average mechanical cost in a car like this is whatever. Yes. And between our emergency fund and the savings of almost $1,000 a month, we would be able to cover the mechanical. and now we're out of debt.

Eric, that's what you have to do. Have you shown her any used cars for $10,000? I haven't really. Okay. I've seen a couple that are vocally, like, $8,800. Okay. That's like a toy or a chamery. Yeah.

So I think that's always a shocking thing for people. People hear used car. And if I'm her and she's just like, that just means it's a beater. It's going to be crappy. We're going to have to deal with maintenance all the time. You know what I mean? Like that's kind of the stereotype. But when you actually go and look at used cars, they're fine.

Really? I mean, there's some that are rough that you're like, okay, that's probably not going to be great. But you go get a mechanic to look at it. You make sure there's no big issues going on. And I'm telling you, yes. And I think for her, that's where the Ken's vision casting can come in. Is her actually go car shopping and see what you're talking about? Oh, look at this.

Ken's pulling it up now. That's what I do. That's what I do, folks. Look at you, Ken. Look at GMC Acadia for- A 2016 GMC Acadia for 8,900, only 120,000 miles. GMCs aren't expensive to fix. They got all the parts.

Let me give you a... There's a... Oh, my gosh. Here about a 2015 Subaru. These things run forever. And let's do one more just for fun. Oh, here we go. Let's go the 2016 Honda Civic, 182,000 miles.

Yes, but that car's barely getting started. It looks great. The paint's nice. they're asking $8,900 for it. You walk in there with $7,500 in $100 bills and you walk out of that. That's just a quick, quick search. So again, I know it took us a while to get there. She needs to be a long with the ride, though.

It was painful, but we've got to show her, no more spreadsheets. Just here's the deal. We just free up $1,000 a month in our budget. We can easily cover, and this is for a short term. And we save up, Rachel, for the next $20,000 cash car. I even tried to show her that taking this a payment of $557 plus what we're paying and putting it to the house after this car is paid for

we would pay we would then pay our house off within the next five years after that. Oh my gosh. And she didn't go for that? So is really her fear, Eric, is her real fear just a used car? Is that what she is scared of for real? just keeping up the maintenance. She doesn't think we're, she asked me,

she said, do you really think we're in that bad of shape? We're not at all in not bad of shape. No, but it's just the level of intensity you want out. Yeah. That's how I would go about it though, Eric, of what it's doing to you. It's stressing you out. You hate this. And so to her, she may not feel the pain as much.

She's like, is it really that big of a deal? Oh, my gosh, Eric, you're being so dramatic. All of us. You need to, yeah, you need to verbalize. exactly what you're feeling and what you're thinking. And, and it's almost this like, hey, this would be a gift to me and my sanity and my peace. Like, you know what I mean? It's more of that for you because she's not rattled by this, which is fair. She can pay you. She does none of our finances. Okay. So then that's part of the problem. Crazy question. Actually, Eric,

this is for you and Rachel. Okay. Eric, apparently it's you and I against Canada. Well, it sounded like it earlier until America realized where I was going. Right, serious question. In this case, is it okay for your marriage to just do it? I don't think you're going and buying anything. You're selling your car. I think you go, we're at an impasse, but babe, I'm going to do it anyway. What say you?

Does that bother you? Yeah, that's a terrible idea, and I would not do that. She would kill me. She'd freak out. Okay. Then don't do it. That's why I am. She's got to come to the table.

You guys need to be doing a budget together every month. Like, y'all are, you're running on two separate tracks. and you're by yourself in this. You're isolated and stressed. And that's the core issue here for you. And that's what she needs to hear. Last thing. Is that her husband is not at peace.

Take her to see you a $10,000 car. Take her to see it. Test driving. Take her along. I think that's your shot. You've worked too hard to get control of your money just to let strangers control your data. Think about it. Just about every time you sign up for a newsletter,

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life, the more time you have for what actually matters. Because when you protect your privacy, you protect your peace and your freedom. So go to join deleteme.com slash Ramsey to get 20% off their annual plans and take back control. That's join delete me.com slash Ramsey. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show and the Fair Winds Credit Union Studio. I'm Ken Coleman alongside Rachel Cruz. excited to be with you all. AAA 8255-225 is the number. Nate is up in Colorado. Nate. How can we help? Hey, guys. I'm just calling because I'm not really sure how to move forward.

Had a very serious health situation and depleted all of our savings. And I'm not sure how to move. I've got four kids and a wife. I'm not sure how to move forward. Oh, my gosh. What happened? Getting out of debt and everything. Long story short, I was in the Army for a long time.

Okay. And doctors are trying to. to help me recover from long-term injuries and too many doctors got involved and I ended up on 19 different medications for multiple years. Oh my gosh. And it was just killing my liver. I had the heart attacks and it was really bad and technically I'm not going to be here. We were literally planning my funeral.

Oh my gosh. And now I'm here and I don't know what to do. Yeah. Well, when we say here, where does that put you physically? Are you able to work? Are you on disability? You know, we got to walk through kind of your realities. Let's start with those two questions.

So I worked through the, you know, I was supposed to be in the hospital, but I worked through it all. Wow. Through God's help. I was able to maintain myself enough to work. Do you still have that income? Yes, sir. I still work. I make just over $100,000 a year.

Okay, great. And you foresee, God willing, health allowing, continuing to make that money, correct? Yes, sir. The damage is permanent. There's no fixing it. Okay. You can prevent further damage, but what's done is done, basically.

Do you have any other income that's coming in from your military service or anything like that? That's part of the income. Yes, it's part of the total income I gave you. Okay, gotcha. Okay, is there one last question here, and we'll start walking through the debt? Do you have opportunities where you are or potentially in the same industry to get a raise to where that number goes above $100,000? I believe so.

I mean, technically, yes. You know, that depends a lot on the company you work for. I understand. But the reason I'm asking, that needs to be a part of this strategy. In other words, you don't have to answer that question on the call, but your homework assignment is, what can I do to increase my income? That needs to be. I'm going to school currently, full-time and working full-time.

For what? To try to finish my degree so that I can get out of trucking and do accounting. Okay. Okay, so you want to move into accounting. How much school left do you have? I will graduate next May, not this May, but next year. It's 2027 May. All right.

How much is that costing you? It's free from the VA. In fact, I actually get paid to go to school. Perfect. Oh, wow. Okay, great. All right, I want to bring Rachel in here, and let's talk about the real debt. Yeah, so how much debt do you guys have?

So my wife is two months away from being debt-free. we have two credit cards left. That total, one credit card is $9,487. Okay. And the other credit card is $4,619. Okay. And actually, tomorrow morning, that credit card will be, the smaller one, will be paid off. The $4,000?

And then, yes, ma'am. Oh, my gosh, amazing. And then April 1st, I'm sorry, between April 1st and May 1st, we will finish off the 9,000. Okay. Amazing. Now, why did you say my wife is almost debt-free? What do you mean by that? Well, when I got sick, I was actually running my own trucking company. Okay. I'm sorry. No, you're fine. I was doing really well. Yeah. And to keep our family afloat, I just kind of went into survival mode and I just said, okay, well, if I die, I don't want my wife's credit to get destroyed.

So I just focused on making sure the rent was paid and her bills got paid. But my credit, obviously, I couldn't make anything. I mean, we were barely living. Okay, I hear you. And so I was able to salvage hers, but my credit is just destroyed. Okay. That's okay. Yeah, I'm not worried about that right now.

So are the two credit cards? Are those under her name or yours? Yes, ma'am. They're under her name. hers. Okay. So is that all the debt that's in her name? Yes, ma'am. Okay, wonderful. And then what debt do you have? It's not an overwhelming amount. It's just a lot of small credit cards that have been in default for like two years. That's great. Are they in collections?

Yes, yes, ma'am. I'm sure they are. I just, nobody's contacted me about it. That was weird. Okay, so what I'm not like getting phone calls. It's just. Yeah. Okay. So in a way, it's kind of a thing because when they hit collections, you can negotiate and, you know, get out of them. So, so total, you said it's a bunch of little ones. So probably a total of what, five grand, 10 grand? Or what are we talking? It's just under 14,000. Right now it's just at $13,913. Okay. And they're all defaulted and probably all in collections, all 14,000. Yes, ma'am. Every single one. Okay. Okay. So, so here's what I would do. I would pull your credit report and see the last company that held that debt and try to contact them and try to get any real time of what who owns these debts because they're probably even sold off.

So it's kind of like a, it's going to be a part-time job for you to kind of like go through the spider web of it all. But where you can get that. And then in the meantime, after you guys pay off her, I'm going to say her, I'm going to say both of you because we'll talk in those terms. Once the $9,000 credit card is paid off in April, then I would save because you guys are amazing at what you're doing. the fact you guys are snowballing this so fast.

I would save, you know, five, six thousand as quickly as possible and then contact the collections and see what you can negotiate. Because I bet they'll take half or even less than half of that $15,000. Okay, so I want you guys to do that. So once that's taken care of,

is there any more debt? No, ma'am. No, okay. Yeah, Nick, can I just tell you? It was just terrifying, trying to think. Oh, I can't imagine. Trying to stay alive. And by the way,

I'm having a hard time. Yeah, I'm having a hard time finding life insurance. Yeah, you might. I've got like $100,000 policy. Yeah. We just had a baby girl that was not planned. Yeah. It's just, I'm just, uh. You're a good man. Hey, you're a good man.

I really are to take care of my family. Yes, you're doing, listen. You're doing a great job, Nate. You're doing so well. The fact that you guys are going to pay this debt off in the next two months. And Rachel just gave you a step-by-step plan. Don't stress about that collection stuff. That is secondary.

You're going to be okay. You just keep showing up for your family the way you have. You're a good man who's been through so much. By the way, you served our country and you sacrificed so much. You're a great American, too, and we appreciate you. You're going to be fine. You're doing a great job. you guys, the next step is get that emergency fund in place, right?

And then begin the investing. And I believe it's all going to work out. You're just one day at a time. Hold on the line, Nate. We're going to pick up during the break because I do want to mention something about when you mentioned life insurance. I do want to talk to you about that. We can talk off air.

So hang on. But hang on. But yeah, do an incredible, Nate. Running a business is hard work. You're the CEO, the accountant, and the sales team. You don't have time to moonlight as your own benefits department. that's where Health Trust Financial helps. In fact, health insurance is one of the biggest and most confusing line items in your budget.

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health insurance. Go to HealthTrustfinancial.com today. That's health trustfinancial.com. Brian is up in Denver, Colorado. Brian, how can we help? Hey, nice to be with you both. Thank you. What's going on? So my grandfather passed away.

Oh, I'm so sorry about that. Yeah, hey, 96 years old. He crushed. Oh, wow. That's a great life. Yeah, yeah. He did a lot in his life. And I inherited some stuff from him that I wanted to talk to you about,

including a giant Alaskan San. salmon that he caught in 1986 that somehow got left in the will for me. So I'm trying to figure out what to do with that. Like on a wall? Like on the wall? Can I just tell you? It's still in the freezer from the Asian? So he, it came with a plaque and he named the salmon big hog. And now I have my grandfather's big hog. And I don't know what to do with it. But I'm not why I'm calling this right now. I'm so excited. Let's go ahead and get this one out of the way. This is the least important of the question. But what do you do with it? You're hanging in a place of honor. This is your grandfather's prize fish. He went so far as to name it. I would think patio,

covered patio, would be a great spot. If you've got a man, kind of a man's room in the house, great spot. I mean, it's a story to tell. And it honors your grandfather every time he tell the story. And I would come up with a good story. If you don't have a— I would embellish a little bit to make it even better. Listen, I would step the tape measure and found a perfectly suitable place in the living room, but my wife, not the living room. For reasons, I'll never understand hated the idea. Good. Good for your wife. I've been married long enough. I have. I get it. Notice,

I didn't mention the living room. That wasn't on my, I know better than that. But whatever your man land is in your house, that's where it goes. Great story. And as Rachel said, create a good fish story. Yeah. Like he almost lost his arm or something like, like, let's

get some drama in it, and then he was okay. And he got the fish, reeled it in, took him an hour and a half. I don't know. Something special. Sounds a great. But anyway. This is the type of advice people need to call into their AMCy show for. I agree.

We can do more than just money. By the way, I got more where that came from. We changed lives in so many ways. All right. So now to the serious stuff. How can we help you? Yes. So I found out through his passing, and I'll say this once, very grateful, very

blessed to be in the situation, that through the course of three different kind of life events in the future, I'll be inheriting. a total essentially of 3.5 million from him. Wow. Yes. How many grandkids are there? There's four of us, and it's interesting that you ask that question because one of them is through a $10 million generation skipping trust that some of his commercial real estate assets is in totaling about $10 million. Generation skipping suit?

Your parents didn't get. Correct. So my parents now get all of the income for as long as they're alive from those properties. Okay. But they're passed along to us ownership-wise in the trust once his children have passed along. So that's way down the line. Wow. Okay. Oh, my gosh. Yes. The other element is that he's leaving me $100,000 now.

I will receive at some point within two years of his passing, which will be two maize from now. So I don't know when that would be coming. It could come today. It could come in a year in four months. And then the other element of it is that when my grandmother passes his wife, I'll be receiving a $1 million municipal bond that pays out a lousy 2%. But I'll be getting that when my grandmother dies that they worked out through their state, that she gets once he passed, and then I'll get that once she passed.

She's 90, and I hope she lives 30 more years. but that's the third element of it. So the reason I'm calling you is I didn't anticipate any of this. And since 2020, I've been building up my own brokerage account with stocks and ETFs. And that account now has 155,000 in it. And my plan was to never touch it ever. Just keep it growing. However, now that I kind of have these other things coming in the future,

the question for you is, is it okay? or is it still stupid to be able to pull out money from that brokerage account to pay for some home improvement projects that straddle the line between want and need? If we have a second kid down the line in a couple years, we could really use another bedroom. And so for me, and we're doing home construction work here coming up soon. So it would be ideal to get it all done in one slew while it's happening, as opposed to having to move out a couple times. So is it okay for me to pull 40, 50 out of that now, pay another 10K in capital gains taxes next year, given I know what's coming to me? Or is that still? Yeah, no, I think that's fine.

I would say you could do, you could pull 40 or 50 out of 150 in a brokerage account anyways, regardless of the inheritance. I mean, that's cash for you all to use now or later or like you said, never touch it. I mean, yeah, you get to make that decision. And the whole idea of just never touching that account was something that you, that was a role you put on that money. No one, you know, forced that. So I would say I would, I would be a little bit more flexible with it. And I'm assuming you guys don't have any debt and have an emergency fund in place and everything, correct? Yeah, about $40,000 emergency fund.

The only debt is our mortgage for a thousand months, $500,000 left on the way. What kind of retirement savings do you have at this point? I know you're a young man, but I'm just curious what your 15% is looking like in babysat for. Yeah, it's, it's, it's, I don't know, normal. I'm 36 years old. I worked professionally for the first half of my professional life, not making much money, so there wasn't much there. Sure.

But over the past five years, I've had a pretty good job and have been contributing 4% to it for the last five years. Okay. That's great. Yeah. So I would, are you just doing 4%. Is that the match? Yes.

Okay. Yeah. So I would be investing 15%. So I would be upping your retirement. I would totally use some of this money in this account. And then that will be replenished with the 100 grand cash that's coming to you in the next year. Now the rest, the bond, I'd understand that. But the other big chunk, the 2.5, that is in real estate, correct?

That's not. Yeah. So that's the current valuation of what is commercial real estate properties in Los Angeles. Perfect. Okay. Wonderful. So yeah, that's exactly what I would do, Brian. I know that's what a beautiful legacy that your grandfather just loved that guy. Built up, passed down generationally and still has grandkids intact, right? Like, Brian, like, you know, you've stayed out of debt and built up

your own emergency fund, your own broker. It's like you're doing it. And then that's the beautiful thing is that what money magnifies and when money magnifies great habits and stewarding money well, that's a wonderful thing. This money's not going to ruin you. It's actually going to continue. You're going to pass that down generationally through your kids and so on. So, wow, that's amazing. Absolutely amazing. So, yeah, I would use part of the 150 to cash flow some home renovations. And it's okay if it's a wants. That's totally fine. You guys have the cash for it. You're in a position to do it. And then when that $1 million bond comes when your grandmother does pass, yes, I would probably, yeah, cash that out and invest. that and that $1 million sitting in a brokerage account long term. It's going to be a beautiful thing, too, that's in the future, which is awesome. That's huge, and that's going to fast forward your retirement savings, and obviously you continue to be as smart as you've been. Yeah, don't slow down your stuff. You guys are in great shape, but act like none of it's coming is the idea here. And then you've got a big decision to make. We've got to find out where we're going to put

that salmon. I think America wants to know, by the way, how big of a fish is it? Did you measure it? Yeah, well, the weight, thank you. First of all, thank you for all that. I appreciate it. The weight of Big Hog is listed on the plaque. I don't know much about salmon. I asked my friend, who's a big salmon fisherman, he told me if it's 25 pounds, that's a huge salmon. The weight of the salmon says 73 pounds. It's huge. Oh, and what's the size? Do you, what is it end to end? Do you have any idea? Oh, gosh, I haven't measured it. What would you guess? Big enough to struggle to get through the door frame. I can tell you that. Oh, so basically a yardstick, at least a yardstick wide, if you know what a yardstick is. Okay.

Yes. Holy smokes. Well, kids more excited about that fish. Well, you know, listen, I've heard people talk about millions all the time. When was the last time you heard anybody talk about a 70-pound-plus salmon? That's pretty special. Yeah, not like a tuna. A salmon.

A salmon. And they're not saltwater, right? Salmon or freshwater. So that's in a river somewhere in Alaska. That could feed me. Where did he catch it? Tell us real quick, where did he catch it? Yep, Alaska.

There it is. Unbelievable. You know, and what's funny is there was a giant bear that had been stalking that thing. Big hog. Brian's grandfather got it. He's no longer there. Where is he? Grandpa got him.

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exact one I sleep on every night. That's casper.com slash Ramsey, code Ramsey. Exclusions apply. Oh, I'm sorry. Couldn't hear myself in my ears, everybody. I'm not having a, you know, attack of some kind. The court got pulled out. I was like, yeah, hey, I can't hear myself. The wire shorting out. That's what's happening. So that's, let me see if I can manually adjust that. Okay, there we go, folks. All right. It's live, folks. You got to keep pressing through. Joseph is up in Columbus, Georgia, and I can hear myself. And hopefully I can hear you, Joseph. How's it going? All is well here in Columbus. just had a couple of questions for you. Okay, go for it. Thanks for taking my call.

Sure. Yes, I am married. 67. My wife is 68, and we both are retired, and we both enjoy traveling. Her a lot more than me. But we got a question about getting a credit card for using those lounges, the Sky Lounge and all those things. the Centurion Lounge.

Yeah. Yeah, I got a question about getting a credit card for those purposes. You don't want to sit among the people. You want that private experience, huh? Well, at first my wife wanted it. But then when I experienced it, I thought I was pretty good as well. And so, yeah, I don't carry any credit card debt. But I wondered, I know I did the day of Rams program back in 2011.

And she did it a year before me. and we both have been debt-free since that time. And just wanted to get your opinion on what do you think that's a wise idea to try to get a credit card for that purpose. Yeah, so the way I would look at it is, you know, choosing to do that. On one hand, you know, some people, it's like, it's just not a big deal. You pay it off every month. You get the privilege of being in the airport lounges and whatever. And then on the other end of the spectrum, it is kind of,

saying, hey, I'm going to shift my philosophy around how I do money. And I'm going to choose now to spend on a card that I'm going to have to pay off every month. And what we have found data-wise is that you do end up spending more when you spend with a credit card. And so there is something to be said of, hey, I'm going to shift my financial philosophy for an hour once a month in a lounge. And so to me, not worth it. They're nice. I've been in them before with friends. And yeah, they're fine.

But they're also just fine. You know, I could sit at an airport restaurant and get a glass of wine and a dinner and call it a day. Well, you know, you are a woman of the people. You like to be out there among the folks. No, but I, yeah. So to me, Joseph, it is shifting into an industry that I just have a lot of disgust for. I just don't like the credit card industry. I don't like playing their game.

I don't like the fact that a lot of miles and cashback and everything, the way they make their money is off of people who can't pay their bills and end up having to pay interest and all of it. I just don't like the game, and so I choose not to play it. Honest question, Joseph, because it's been a while since I've done any of the lounges, right? I don't even... But isn't that a function of how many miles, air miles you have? You don't have to have the credit card to have access to those,

Do you or do you? Some of them you do. Some of them, if it's named by the credit card. Like the capital one. I've seen those. But if it's like a Delta lounge. That's what I'm saying. That you can accumulate if you're flying Delta and you're near, obviously, the world

headquarters. So I would, you don't have to have a credit card to experience that, certainly if you're flying Delta. I would look into it. But that's just a function of you're stacking up miles and then you get privileges. Okay. All right. Yeah.

Well, that sounds good. I appreciate your insight on that. Yes. Yes, thanks for calling. Have fun traveling. Oh, I love that. Sarah's up in Las Vegas. Sarah, how can we help?

Yeah, my question is, my husband has a potential job promotion opportunity within the next few months. Along with that is a requirement that we have a five-year-old or newer four-door vehicle that we have to supply, which we don't have right now. and the only way for us to get that would be to use our almost fully funded emergency fund. So the question is, do we forego the promotion completely because we can't do that? We can't provide the vehicle. Or do we use our emergency fund and get the vehicle if we get the promotion? How much more will the promotion be? Well, it's base plus commission.

So I don't really know. Okay. His boss is hopeful and optimistic that it could be up as much as double. Explain to me why the four-door vehicle that's required for this. Oh, because the job would be an outside salesperson, and he would likely need to use the vehicle to transport things to job sites or whatever. It's just a requirement for the company. Okay, got it.

And do you guys have a current car you could sell and put some cash towards it? we do but it's not it's it's it's already a really old beat up car it wouldn't be a significant contribution but we could yeah because if it has to be a five year or newer if you went on the five year how much money are we talking are you seeing that you're like okay this is how much we'd have to spend on this car um the research that he's done so far he's found things in the 13 to 15 range but it would be nice to go up as much as 20 but that's that's that's more than half of our fund. I just want to look at this from every angle possible here.

So when would he have to take this job or when would he start? In other words, actually the better question is when would you have to have the car if he takes this? That we, I mean, that's not a hard and fast deadline. We don't really know. The job could start as much as soon as two months from now. the vehicle requirement could maybe be fudged through the end of the year, but we don't know.

Okay, well, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. So when can we know that answer? I don't know. A lot of I don't, I appreciate the I don't know, but I'll tell you what I would be doing if I was in your shoes. I would be getting the answer to that question. They've offered in the job. I have asked that question, but I haven't received the answer myself.

Well, who'd you ask it of? My husband, when he was telling me. about this in the first place. Hubs needs to get these answers. Here's why. It already sounds as though we have a gap here to where, I love how you used to fudge, right? But if they're going to give you a little bit of leeway,

you can't be the only people that have ever been in the situation before. That's where they don't give you any allowance or anything. Let's just assume it's into the year. Okay? Could you guys, I got to believe, you guys could scrape together $13 to $15,000 between down into the year. Yeah, $1,000 a month. Yes or no?

No. We, well, actually, maybe. What if you sold some stuff? Rachel and I came over and we're around your house looking around. What could we yard sale and could we, could we sell enough stuff to make $2,500? Even if the car's $3,000, you know, that's $3,000 out of the 13, you know, the other car, right? That's my point. What, here's the exercise, okay?

You and your husband need to sit down the night and go, what do we need to do to come up with $13,000 to $15,000? And the other thing is he needs to start giving you some answers on how much time he has. Because if he can double his income and it requires us to sacrifice and scrape and sell and go do extra jobs between now and that, I would absolutely do it. Yeah, but I wouldn't consider this an emergency, Sarah, because you guys have, yeah. So I would have a really hard. And I don't either. That's why I'm in this. I would have a hard time.

Because now if it was in the next 30 days and it's guaranteed, I'd probably be. pull some money out to get this done. But you guys have to the end of the year. So you have plenty of leeway and runway to be able to save and pay for this car. Now, if you've got to take a thousand bucks out of the emergency fund to round it out, that's fine. To double my income? Sure. Yep, exactly. I think there's some flexibility within the spirit of it. Push hard to say I don't want to touch that emergency funds. And what you guys could do. Do you guys have debt at all, Sarah? Just their mortgage. Okay, good for you guys. That's awesome. Yeah. So, I mean, I would see this as a, yeah, as a season of sacrifice.

I think it'll be a fun adventure to go, how can we... We need a thousand dollars a month. How do we do that? How do we generate that? I actually think that's fun. I think it's worth doing. I would talk to Hubs about that tonight. And I think of the counteroffer, by the way, Rachel, go, hey, listen, I want this and I could do this.

You got to give me just a little bit of leeway. Here's my plan. Here's what I'm doing. And I think if they want him, sounds like they do, they can play ball with you. But it sounds like a good deal. I would buy a $13,000 car to double-man. To double man come?

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and it has the built-in support in case you need a little bit of help. Filing early means getting the best deals and you get that tax stress off your shoulder. So go now to ramsaysolutions.com slash smart tax. Ramsey Solutions.com slash smart tax. Brandon is up in Salt Lake City. Brandon, how can we help? Hi. Well, I just want to start by saying thank you for taking my call.

You guys put out such amazing content and this one lets you know it's appreciated. Thank you. Yeah, so I have a pretty complex question, but I'll keep it simple, and then you guys can ask questions, I think, and I'll fill in whatever you need. But ultimately, my question is, you know, I and my wife are both positions and were pretty financially sound. And my father is not. He has a pretty well-paying job, but still is paycheck-to-paycheck, and actually got into some trouble this last year and had to borrow money from me. he's actually collecting social security now he's in his 70s and he has no ability to retire whatsoever and so has quite a lot of debt and i'm imagining inheriting these troubles very soon and i'm just

kind of curious how you guys would recommend i'll go about well let's address what you mean by inheriting his troubles what are you going to know i think you know ultimately i think whether health is going to catch up to him or he's kind of made some morally ambiguous decisions and I'm worried that something like the you know the folks with trade eggs are going to come home to roost or whatever his debt his debt is his debt so so whatever he's done there from a debt standpoint that's not coming to you now yeah in terms of like just taking care of him though and like that I understand sure I understand that yeah are you married Brandon yeah yeah yeah okay I'm both physicians we both we

make a decent amount of money okay yeah how much do you guys make a year so I'm in my final year of training now. Next year together, about 500,000 a years. Oh, wow. That's great. Oh, this is always a hard one because, you know, on one end of the spectrum, it's, you know, some people put up pretty tough boundaries and they're just like, I'm sorry, you know, your decisions are your decisions. And I'm not going to, you know, have to be responsible for those. And then on the other end, it's like, we're not going to let our parents, you know, be homeless. You know what I mean? Like, like, there is a, there is a balance in all of this. So what I would probably do is you and your wife need to sit down and run worst case scenario.

And I would, and then I would kind of play out, hey, what would this look like? How far would we go? And then also put up some boundaries where that I don't like that he's borrowing money from you. I think that either needs to be a gift because it's probably never going to be repaid, right? Oh, yeah, yeah. And that's, that it was a gift. Okay, okay, okay. So gotcha, gotcha.

now that can be a leaky faucet for a long time unless you unless you put up a boundary of dad we're not going to give you any more money or dad I will help pay your mortgage for six months and that's it or whatever it looks like but those are those are boundaries I think in a plan that you and your wife kind of come together and decide hey you know are we what are we willing to take on

because you're right I'm like if he has no retirement and if something happens to him health-wise, he's not going to be able to work, so he's going to have no income coming in. What's his social security payment every month? Oh, man, I don't know. I don't know what that is. I'd find out. The reason is too.

I think it's a dicey situation. He's also a very private person, and for me to, like, become investment finances, and I understand that can be like a stipulation if you need help in the future that I have to be able to be invited into his financial life. But I think to do that right now, I think he would blow up. Great. So here's the deal. You know what happened?

To get you guys like a, I'll go for it. No, I'm just, I'm digging and you just answered your own question. He's super private. He'd blow up or get angry if you, if you weighed in. So you know what you and your wife do? Exactly what Rachel said, and that's it. Don't do anything else. Say if there's no one else to take care of him, we will.

And in that moment, you can do the best. you can to guess what his social security is. But you go, okay, he's going to get that until he dies. Yeah. And that would be the only income he has. We can't assume that he has long-term care insurance. We can't assume that he has no investment. We know he has no investment. So to Rachel's point, you plan for what you would do. You guys are doctors. So you also know the data if he had to go into assisted living. You know, what is the average amount of time someone lives in that setting? I mean, you can do some homework and go, okay, well, absolute worst-case scenario. this is what dad's situation is going to be.

And, you know, if no one else can help pick up the bill, then that's something we got to plan for. And I think you can, it's almost like a, it's almost like planning for your kids' college here. You may have to, you know, invest some money. Where's your mom, Brandon? Like, no, they're not together. Oh, they're, okay, they're divorced.

Okay. Do you have other siblings? No, yeah, yeah. Yes, I do. But my other siblings are not capable of assisting financially. Okay. unfortunately. Yeah.

Yeah. What kind of debt do you guys have? Me and my wife. Yeah. So we don't own our home, but are planning buying a home next year, but we're currently, we have student loan debt, but our savings and retirement are greater than our any debt we have. We have no credit card debt.

We have no car payment. Walk us through that. What's your medical, I mean, not medical, medical school. Student loan, thank you. Student loan debt. What is that? There you go. Yeah.

So 300,000, 300,000 for the both of us. Okay. And then what do you have in savings? So we have about 120 in savings. Okay. And about 250 in 401Ks. Great. So yeah, I wouldn't touch the 401K, but obviously doing the Ramsey plan is to pay off that student loan debt. So half of it is in savings. And then what you guys, you'll make 500,000 so you could pay it off in six months. So making sure that you get all that taken care of, of course.

Before you try to take care of that. Yep. Yeah. So making sure that you guys are in a good spot, which I think you will be pretty quickly if you do that stuff and rebuild your emergency fund. But yeah, this is always... Can I ask how when he, like, if, you know, like the debtors come to collect and he can no longer afford his apartment, if I end up paying for an apartment for him, does that, does his debts in the apartment that he lives or the car he drives, that all goes away, but whatever I provide for him is not a part of that equation?

If it's in his name, then it has nothing to do with you. Deets, leases, all of it. Yeah, but you could furnish an apartment under your name. I'm assuming, however the apartment complex does that. So, yeah, so like that, but it's not really an asset because he'd be renting, but they couldn't come after him in any way with that because it would be under your name. That's right. Okay.

Yeah, I guess that was kind of my fear that. Yeah. His debts would make, we'd make it prohibitively difficult. for me to take care of him. That's right. I hear what you're saying, yeah. It's kind of independent. Does he own a home?

No, no, no, no. He, um, and just to get like a scope into this, and he actually, uh, tried to go back to school in the 70s and took out student loans to do that and then ended up not going to school and just using that money to buy a car. Stop it. Oh my God. How much debt do you think he has? Oh, man.

If he told me $500,000, I wouldn't be surprised. If he told me $10,000, I would be surprised. to have. Jeez. Yeah, well, it... Sorry, you're carrying this burden. It's terrible, Brandon. Yeah.

Yeah. But I would tell you this, I want, and I say that, but I want to quickly say, make sure you understand what you're supposed to carry and what you're not. Mm-hmm. Okay. You're the only sibling that's going to be able to take care of him. That's a burden. But you do not have to worry about his debt.

You don't have to worry about his mistakes. You understand what I'm saying? Like, once, you know, all that stuff will be written on. he didn't have a, you know, a pot to pee in as the old phrase. And so none of that's going to come back on you. That'll get wiped out. So you only have to carry the burden of taking care of dad when he can no longer take care of himself. And that's the medically.

And so you can plan for it, but clean up your house first because you don't want that to be a stressor. It's already going to be a potentially resentful burden. And I want you and your wife on the same page too. I don't want that to be an issue. Yeah, yeah. We're both very family-centric. And she's like, hey, whatever we need to do. You know, I trust you.

And we're definitely together. Yeah. So if it does come to the points, and you probably know this, that of you having to help financially, always give in terms of an actual item, meaning like don't give them cash, right? If you end up paying the rent, you pay the rent and the utilities, get a gift card to the grocery store. And it's like you get 100 bucks or whatever it is, as much as not, not hands. over cash because he obviously doesn't know how to how to handle that. So, Brandon, you're a good

son and a good, and a good husband. So yeah, we're with you guys. Welcome back to the Ramsey show in the Fairwinds Credit Union Studio. Alongside Rachel Cruz, I'm Ken Coleman, excited that you are with us, AAA 825-5-225 is the phone number. Eileen is up next. Eileen, how can we help? Hi, I'm calling about a trust that my husband's family has. And when we always thought when he passed, or if he passed before me, that I would be the one that would inherit his chair. And we have found out that it would go past me into my daughter. And we're just wondering if it would be ethical for us to ask her to split the inheritance if by any, if he predeceases me.

So it hasn't, just to make sure, it hasn't happened yet, he has not passed. No, he is still here, and we were just, we're in our cities now. We're trying to figure out what to do. But his wishes are for it to go to the grandkids. Well, it was set up, you know, 80 years ago. The people that are the primaries of the trust are the grandchildren. and my husband would be a great grandchild, and it goes through the family name. Oh, so it's beyond even your husband's parents, a generation above them.

Yes, it's generations, yes. So he can't change it, correct? He cannot change it. It would just be, it is. Has it always skipped a generation? Is that part of it? It doesn't skip. It just follows the family name.

So he gets a trust check, as does everybody else in that, that. generation of the family every quarter. But it's, and the, um, the generation that currently is on those trusts when they pass, it ends and the money would be distributed. Right. But then the money is distributed to skipping a generation, skipping a generation. No, only those with the name. With the name, exactly. It wouldn't skip. If my husband's alive, he would receive it. If he, if he, if he pre-deceased them that what about your daughter if she were to get married? it would still be she would still be the family name she's the got it okay I'm tracking now

it's the it's the lineage it's following the name through okay got it yeah yeah no I I got to tell you when you first said it I was first going to go well I feel like you got to talk to talk to the old guy about it and let him weigh on it but it's not his call right yeah so it's already been set in motion yeah they're trying to keep it in the blood line yeah and I don't want to speak completely on behalf of my colleague here But we both had a kind of gross face when we heard you say, is it okay to talk to my daughter and say, hey, I know this is supposed to come to you by the bylaws and in stone. But how would you feel about cutting us in?

I personally would feel gross about doing that. That's my take. Okay. Yeah, I would say, Elaine, that you and your husband need to set you guys up, that if something happens to him, that he has life insurance and that you're taking care of and that you don't need this trust because you guys are in a good spot, you know? Yeah, yeah, we never had it. And it wasn't until we were in our 60s because we always assumed and had never checked how this passed. Oh. Yeah, that's how we. So you guys didn't do life insurance. Is that what you're saying? Because you knew this money was coming. Yeah. So I wouldn't, that would not be how I would, I would function more independently of that. How are you set up for the future? What's your current retirement situation?

You know, we probably have 3.350 maybe put aside between 401k's and savings, et cetera, and another maybe the... Did this whole trust issue? Like, do you think it demotivated, Joel? No. We were in a bad position for many, many years. Okay. Yeah, yeah. So I would say... We do. We do. We sell the mortgage, but we probably have, you know, how much is left on it? $39,000, I think. Okay. That's great. How much do you guys make a year? Only about, I would say about $89,000 combined.

And what will the house be worth? If we sold it today, over $400. Okay. All right, so that's getting us near, let's call it $700,000. Okay. Any other savings or anything beyond the house equity and the retirement fund? Anything else? I don't think so.

I don't think I'm missing anything. Okay. And how old's your daughter right now? 24. Okay. And how long do you guys feel like you're going to work? You know, probably, well, the work we're doing now, we probably like to stop by 65, 67, happen and find something else.

We both have more physical jobs. Okay. Yeah. And the reason I'm saying that is because based on history, Rachel knows this, that, you know, that three, how much did you say you had in retirement, 350? Combined, maybe three, yeah, two, so over the next. Probably 350. All right. So that should double over the next seven years, okay?

Okay. And then if you look at your home, so you start adding the numbers up, okay? And so now you're looking at, what do we got, 400 on the hundred? house so what, 1.1 million in seven years. I don't know what your Social Security situation will be, but you start stacking all that up. And, you know, whatever you guys can do over the next seven to 10 years to invest a lot of money, that's going to help you be far more comfortable in your 70s and 80s. And when you think about it, Elaine, and again, all the, your call's hypothetical, right? Your husband has not passed. Yeah, nothing has happened. Totally. Yep. So again,

hypothetically, you know, if the grandparents are still living for another, I don't know, 10 years, 15 years, you know, and then your husband passed, if he passed away, then technically you would have probably at that point a half a million, $600,000 home that you can sell and, you know, downsize, put that cash with the investments, and you'll have well over $1.5-ish million. You know, you'll be fine without this. inheritance is what I'm saying. So, okay. Yeah, I probably wouldn't worry about it.

And I do feel, I do feel weird saying, yes, ask your 24-year-old daughter for her inheritance. I don't know. We didn't even want her to know that that's the possible amount because we don't want it to take her in any way. That's fair. Take her drive. Remind me, what was the amount that you, is probably around $2 million, but at 24, that could be, you know, you could blow through. that if that were something that happened.

Sure, sure. That's hypothetical as well. Right. They would have to pass and your husband would have to pass. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I appreciate the question. That's where we stand on that. But I think more importantly, your focus needs to be, hey, we can actually finish well.

But we should probably get some intensity and see what we can do from an earning standpoint, certainly tighten things wherever we can tighten to invest as much as we can at the stage. And over the next 14, 15 years, that's going to turn into a sizable chunk for you guys that should allow you some dignity and some comfortability. That would be my main focus if I were you. Sounds good. Yeah, thank you so much. Yeah, it's a good question.

Yeah, thanks for the call. That's a hard thing. I hear that with wealthy families passing on Generation 1st that it stays within the family. And I get that in one sense because it is like, what if dad remarries some crazy woman and she, you know, he passes and she takes all the money. It's like kind of a drama moment of a movie. Feels like I've seen that a few times. But you also want there to be like a little bit of an addendum of like, okay, if you've been married more than 30 years, the wife can get the money to. I don't know.

Do you know what that looks like? That's very interesting. I mean, you give her an out after 30 years? She cashes out? Well, that Elaine would get the money. Like if her husband had passed, like in the will or in the trust. If she passed. I thought she meant like, you know, I've done my time.

I'm out. I'm checking out. It's been a good run, but I'd like to be on my own. and travel. I thought that's what you were talking about. No, I get that. I like that. If you've been working the plan, paying off debt saving, and changing your family tree, I'm proud of you. And if you're in Baby Step 4 or beyond, it's time to celebrate. The Live Like No One Else Cruise is back March 14 through 21, 2027. Join the Ramsey personalities and me as we sail to Half Moon Key, Cosamel, Jamaica, and Grand Cayman on the ultimate debt-free

vacation. Cabins will sell out just like last time. Lock in yours with a $600 deposit at ramsysolutions.com slash events. Hey, if you are buying or selling a home, you know this is a big transaction and you don't want to get caught up in the hype, all the clickbait out there, and make you not make the right decision. So we want to make sure that you understand what's going on with the latest trends. Give you idea. Median home prices dipped a little below $400,000 last month. Very typical for this time of year. Mortgage rates also dipped to 5.44% in January.

That's down from 6.27. So it's giving buyers some breathing room. To learn more about the housing market trends and get free tools to help you buy or sell with confidence, go to ramsysolutions.com slash market. That's ramsysolutions.com slash market. Elise is up next in Virginia. Elise, how can we help?

Hi, Ken and Rachel. you so much for taking my call. Can you hear me okay? Loud and clear. Perfect. In December, my husband's Roth 403B was incorrectly transferred into a traditional IRA account and has since made $1,000. Is there any way to transfer the money to the correct Roth IRA account without paying taxes on the whole account all over again? Who did this? Who made the faulty transaction? So we opened up an account with a financial institution and selected rollover, but it did not say traditional or raw,

and then indicated to the first financial institution that it needs to be a raw rollover, but the number listed was a traditional account. and instead of like not going through they cashed the check and then we're doing our taxes for this year found that it was not raw it was traditional

okay has he fixed has he gone in and fixed future contributions or have you guys not even funded for 2026 we just stopped funding the account as a whole until we can figure out what we're supposed to do. Yes. Okay. Well, there is something called recharacterizing the contribution.

And so you may be able to do that without penalty or tax before tax deadline, which is in April. It's coming up. Do you guys have a tax pro that you're working with? We do, but I'm not sure how much I love our current tax person because they're saying there's no way to do it. and the one financial institution is potentially recommending an excess removal of funds, but I'm not sure if that would trigger taxes on the cost basis of the account. Yeah, I would get a, because there is a, there's a small lane at which you can do this because it is from a time period perspective so quick. And it's only, you know, I mean, the amount, I guess it doesn't really matter.

It's more the time frame that you're looking at it. So I would probably go get a second opinion. If you go to ramsysolutions.com, you can check out one of our tax pros that's in our trusted program. And I would get on the phone with one of them and ask. But also, if that can't happen, if you guys can't be in that lane and you do have to pay taxes, is it just $1,000? No, the cost basis is $82,000 and then $1,000 of growth. So I don't mind paying taxes on the $1,000 of growth. Yes. But it'd be like a $20,000 tax bill. Yeah, totally. Yes. I would contact a Ramsey trusted tax pro. And again, go to ramsdilitions.com. But yeah, to recharacterize the contribution

is a way you would do that if you can. But I'll be honest. I'm not 100% sure. Me either. And again, I appreciate your spirit of saying, well, I don't like our tax person because they said we can't do it. But let's get a second opinion and a third opinion. And if all the opinions line up, you don't have to like it, but it is what it is. It's unfortunate. Hopefully you guys can undo that and not take too much of a hit. But, you know, unfortunately, you may just be stopped. What's that? If we do have to, like, we can always leave it in the traditional account, but we're 34 and 35. So by the time we retire, it'd be like one point there. Totally. Yeah. So, yeah, if you can't, yeah, if you have to end up paying taxes on it, I eventually would. You can roll over

some per year so you're not hit with an entire tax bill of 20 grand, but I would eventually convert all of that 82, yes, to a Roth eventually. So again, you can break it up year by year if you need to for the tax perspective, but I'm with you. Yes, if you're in your early 30s, I would get it to a Roth, but that's so frustrating. I'm hoping there's a way out for you guys if you get a good tax pro in your corner. And silly question here, do we know whose fault it was, and I hate using the word fault, but was it you guys click it on the wrong button, or was it a mishap, a mistake made by the institution? So our accountant says that it's the financial institution's error,

and it's their responsibility to fix it. Okay. Well, then that institution says it's on our tax person to file the correct paperwork that indicate X amount was a cost basis. Okay. And your tax pro is not willing to do this. this? Either yes or they're saying it can't be done because they switched it to where you can't

recharacterize the entire account. But I do think you can recharacterize maybe a contribution like Rachel's talking about. Gotcha. Well, here's my point. I don't know about that. Might be worth looking to a lawyer, you know, who specializes in this area. Because someone. Because the tax bill is a tax bill.

Yeah. And if it's on the financial institution, I would want to get two or three opinions that are legitimate that would say, yeah, it's on the financial institution. At which point now you have. You know what I mean? That's where I would be going right now. I would exhaust that and, you know, not have to take this on yourself. Oh, it's so frustrating. I'm so sorry.

So sorry, Elise. I'd fight, though. That human error in all of it ends up costing you money. Bruce is up next in Charlotte, North Carolina. Bruce, how can we help? Hello, Rachel and Ken. Thank you for having me. Sure.

I'm a 62-year-old disabled Air Force veteran and a retired social worker. Today, I just bought my 62-year-old fiancé an engagement ring. Hey, congratulations, Bruce. Thank you. She doesn't know it yet. I'm going to ask her later this year to marry me. Okay. My question is, I earn about 52,000.

grand a year and she earns about 150 a grand a year. We both are homeowners separately. And so I would like to come under one roof eventually. I live very inexpensively. She has much more of a much larger house, costs a whole lot more and her interest rate is a whole lot higher than mine. I live on that income. I live about $17 or $1,800 a month with everything. I have no debt besides my house. She has no car payment herself, but probably 20 grand in credit card debt. So with that, I would like to know whose house do we sell first? How do we make this? You know, how do we come together on the one roof?

I don't want to live in her house permanently, and I don't mind if she lives with mine until we sell. Why don't you want to live in hers? I'm just curious. Her house is very much hers. She loves having me there, but my preference would be for us to sell both properties and buy something together. Yes, ma'am, I would like that. I do a what-if conversation between now and the end of the year before I pop the question. What does she want to do?

Have you guys talked that far? We have talked that far. She really, really, really loves my house. In fact, she does not want me to sell it because I live on a man-made lake and it's very pristine and beautiful and peace. and all of that, but it is small. It's three bedrooms and two baths, but it's small. Does she want to live in that house? She would love to live in this house, but then when we talk about it,

she wants to make it larger and do things that I'm just don't see the need to be a boogie girl, Bruce. I'm telling you. You got a spender, and I appreciate that. That's me, me, at 62. I'm really like, listen. Yeah, so what I would do is, yeah, I would come together and have this conversation. and just say, hey, there's probably going to be a middle ground.

And I think finding a new home for both of you could be great, selling both. We don't really talk about pre-ups a lot, but that would be something as you're older and if you guys both have grown children, be thinking about your assets in that way. Yeah, so some things to think about for sure, Bruce. But congratulations, we are, yeah, we're excited for you. But combine the money as much as you can when you guys get married and become one. All right, let's cut to the chase. it's easy to get discouraged about crazy house prices and interest rates.

But when you have the right real estate agent to help you buy and sell the right way, you'll have confidence to make smart decisions. Ramsey trusted agents aren't just experts who guide you through buying or selling. They're people you can trust to have your back from the first call to closing day. Find a Ramsey trusted agent near you at Ramsey Solutions.com slash agent. That's Ramsey Solutions.com slash agent. The Ramsey Show question of the day is brought to you by Y-R-R-R-R-E-FI-FI. When your private student loans are in default, your progress stalls out.

Y-R-R-R-E-F-Y-F-Y-D-F-Y defaulted private student loans and a low fixed-rate payment that fits your budget so that you can stop spinning your wheels. Visit Y-ReFi.com slash Ramsey. That's the letter Y-R-E-F-Y.com slash Ramsey. It may not be available in all states. All right. All right. Today's question comes from Marissa in Louisiana. My husband and I disagree on what non-essentials to eliminate, on what non-essentials to eliminate while

paying off debt. I think cutting subscriptions like Netflix, along with purchasing sodas, eating out, coffee shops, stops, pet treats, et cetera, will make a big difference in paying off the amount of debt that we have. My husband thinks those are small in comparison to the debt that we have, and we should not cut those things out because we make us happy. What is your perspective on this dilemma? Oh, man.

Well, there's just an overarching philosophy that is just true mathematically that the more you sacrifice and the more you don't spend on things and the more you put it towards debts, the faster you're going to get out of debt. So what does that look like in a process? You know, Jade Warshaw, her and Sam paid off, you know, gosh, half a million dollars and it took seven years. So Jade would say there were certain seasons of that seven years of like, hey, we, need a little bit of a breather here or there. But they were pretty gung-hole the whole time. But there were things that they did to survive for seven years, right?

So if it's a long-term play, like a major marathon, and I'm talking three, four, five, six years, there may be the little things here and there that costs, you know, nine bucks, but it just gives a little joy through it. That's great. But if you can do this in nine months, I'm like, cut everything and get it done. Does that make sense? There's a little bit of the longevity approach. I agree.

I think everything on this list I'd cut except for the pet treats, and I'll tell you why. I've got two doodles. I love my doodles. You and George and your dogs. But listen, everything. Okay, Netflix, sure. Sotas. I would pay for a soda.

No, pay for a soda. It's not healthy for you. Too much sugar. Eating out, absolutely. We know what Dave says. You don't see the inside of a restaurant unless you're a waiter, you know, that whole deal. Okay, here we go. Coffee shop, overpriced coffee, make your own.

But the pet treats. Let me tell you why you keep the pet treats. My gosh, your dog will be fine. No, they won't. Because my doodles every morning, I get up before everybody else, these dogs, I let them out, I let them back in and I'm getting my coffee ready. I got a whole process. They would drive me to the brink of insanity if I didn't give them their treat in the morning.

Joe knows. Everyone's nodding in the booth. No, give that dog a little peanut butter on a little cracker and call it a day. Call it a day. Now all of a sudden your missus cut the budget. on the dog treats. Call it a day. Peanut butter on a cracker?

Sure, that's a treat. That dog doesn't know it's a dog. That's true. My doodles totally think they're human. Completely. And by the way, doodles do think they're human. They act like it. They act like humans and I love them for it.

I love my doggies. All I'm saying is everything else, I would put the doggy treat in the grocery budget. And don't go crazy with them. Yeah. No, I hear you. Don't compare me to George. I hear you.

That's a bridge too far. Logan is up next in Dallas, Texas. Oh, what did I do? Oh, no. You hung up on Logan. I hit the wrong button. You got so flustered. Hold on.

I'm so flustered. About the doggy treats. I'm up in arms. I got it. Unbelievable. All right. There's Logan right there. Logan, I'm sorry.

I pressed the wrong button. How can we help? No, all good. I think I may be the first person in Ramsey history that you hung up on. Yeah, most of the time it's people hanging up on y'all. That's true. You know, I've never hung up on anybody. Dave hung up on someone on Monday.

Next to me. Yeah. He was feisty and he hung up on somebody. And I got to tell you, I enjoyed it. It was fun to witness. But I won't do that to you. Logan, we will not hang up on you. Yeah, I'll be on my best behavior.

I promise. We'll see about that. What's going on? I am calling with a question. My wife and I had our first child in October. Congrats. And thank you. And I thought we were being very responsible and started saving when we figured out

we were pregnant up to our out-of-pocket maximum with insurance. Well, we have now gotten to where we have met that out-of-pocket maximum, but still are receiving hospital bills. And these hospital bills are to about the tune of $1,400. So I'm a little bit conflicted with how to handle that. I have the money to pay it, but I don't necessarily. feel like I should and I'm looking for some guidance. All right. You are right. If you are saying, if what you're saying is true, yeah, I'd be

the worst nightmare of my insurance company until they got so sick of hearing my name because if the policy is the policy and you've hit your out of pocket, then hold your ground. And look, I'm not shocked. The billing within the medical world, everything, it's horrible. So honestly, it's probably an administrative error, to be honest. They probably didn't even hit something in a computer they should have. Wait a second. He's got a lot. a retort. Oh, what is it? So we have been down, if you were at all on this. I talked to, my wife's talked to the insurance company. I don't even want to know how many times. I've been on the phone with them a couple. She has a lot more patients than I do. But all of that to say, they are claiming

that the reason for the overreach is that this hospital, which is in their network, exceeded the amount for a private room that they allocate on the policy. However, this hospital that again is in their network does not have any other option. It's not like we opted for some sort of an upgrade to get the fancy room. It's just the rooms there that cost that much. See, that's between the hospital and the insurance company, and I would just absolutely fight to the end on that. This is kind of crap that the American people are having to deal with.

I'm so sorry that you're having to deal with them. I guess the question is who do I, who do I know? need to fight. Point me in the right direction. Both of them. Insurance company is at the hospital? Both of them. I'd go to the hospital and I'd say, you aren't going to get paid on this from me. So this is where you guys go to the insurance company and fight it out with them. Yes. So I did that and they could not help me over the phone. I could not get a hold of somebody who had the authorization to settle the amount. I was told to send an email to some very generic billing email address. So I you know, got on chat, GPT and got some help with a professional wording that was maybe a little

kinder than what I would have written. I'd show up. I'd show up. Okay. Show up. Show up and just, okay. Just go, hey, here's the deal. I got an outstanding situation.

You guys want to get paid on this $1,400 bill. Let me tell you where I'm at. And you've told me to do all this. And I've done it, by the way. I can show you my record of sending the email. Go in there and make the case and go, hey, I'm not mad. I'm not going to, you know, threat. anything. I'm here because I need you guys to get together. And insurance and I would, you know,

I just wouldn't pay them a nickel is my point. Yeah, I would not pay them in. It's frustrating because, I mean, there's a lot of people. I have friends now and I don't necessarily agree with this, but they just don't pay it because supposedly it doesn't count against you financially or credit scores and all that. But that doesn't necessarily sit well with me. Like, I don't want to just not, you want to resolve eventually. Yeah, I'm not saying, when I say don't pay it, I don't mean just, you know, put your head in the sand, but I'm saying I would fight and put it on them and say, guys, I'm not going to pay something. And here's why. You all need to figure this out.

My policy says this. I've done everything that I can do. And you two need to get together. Hospital, you sent the bill. Insurance won't pay it. That's y'all's problem. How long, Logan, have you guys been dealing with this? So our daughter was born in October.

So since October the 8th. Well, I say that. Well, when did the bills start coming in? Two months to even get the bills out. Yeah. So, I mean, those started showing up probably late December, early January. Okay. Yeah.

I'm going to double down on what I said. Now, let me tell you why. Because if you go talk to somebody and you're nice and you are a nice guy and you just go, hey, I'm here, I'll wait. I got two hours today. I got an hour next Thursday. I'll be here. Count on it.

And here's what I want to do. I want to show everything because you all, it's your bill. You have to explain to my. to my insurance company that we didn't get an upgrade. We didn't get the corner suite with the couch pullout. This was the room you gave us. And I think if you're kind and civil and you just show and say, this is your problem, I don't know this.

And so they've got to figure this out. This stuff happens all the time. You know what happens? I believe deep down, Rachel, this is a conspiracy theory probably. Love it. I believe they just love to not deal with it, knowing that people eventually give in. And they'll just pay it. And I think of you just say, I'm not giving.

giving in. It's the fight. And you hear this all the time with medical stuff. It is. The billing, all of it, it is a, it's exhausting. But for that and for your ground, if you want to stand on there, do it. Hey guys, George Camel here. Do you ever feel like insurance companies only care about your money and not what you actually need? Well, there's a better way. When you go to Ramsey's Insurance Resource Hub, you'll start feeling confident that you're getting the right coverage that's truly best for you. You'll find helpful info on everything from life insurance, health insurance, identity theft protection, and more. And when you're ready to get the coverage you need,

you can connect with a Ramsey trusted insurance pro who will only get you what you need at the best price. Go to ramsysolutions.com slash insurance. Ramsey Solutions.com slash insurance. Our scripture of the day comes from Philippians 3, verses 13 and 14. One thing I do for getting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,

I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Our quote today is from C.S. Lewis, getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward. Oh, love the... That's really good. It is. Now, quick question before we move on. Did, are monkey bars still on children's playgrounds? They are. They're there. Okay. I'm happy about that. Me too. My wife and I were talking recently, we were looking through some old photos. And I'll never forget the first time our oldest, who's now 20. We did monkey bars. And I got in

trouble because I let him fall. Oh gosh, Ken. Sometimes they're super high. It wasn't. How old? Okay. And they were wood chips below so it wasn't concrete. And I, and when I say fall, he wasn't like panicking or freaking out. He was just letting go. And I was right there. Yeah. And I kind of guided him as he felt because I wanted him to go, it's okay. Yeah. And it was not okay. Oh, no. Stacey was nearby. Stacey was not happy. She said, Ken, what are you doing? She had a word. What are you doing, Ken? Uh-huh. He could have broken his leg, his arm. All for a little monkey bar. All for a lesson.

On the wood chips? A lot of wood chips. A splinter, yes. Might be able to bounce. I learned my lesson there, so dads. You remember that 20 years later. Get that hands up. And let them fall.

A little bit. But catch them. Right before. And then they're going to learn some trust in you. I was trying to do a deeper life lesson. Did not go the way I've learned. Not for the three-year-old, Ken. There it is.

Be careful to monkey bars. Amir is joining us now in Philadelphia. How can we help? Good afternoon. How are you? I'm doing well. How are you? I'm good. Thanks for asking. I wish a lot better, but I'm doing good. Thank you. Okay. How can we help?

I'm about 50 to 55,000 in credit card debt with another 20 on top because of my car. And I just needed some advice on how to get out. Okay. Oh, man. What's the credit card debt? what caused you to go into $50,000 a credit card debt? Well, I was divorced about three or four years ago now. Okay. And I was just distraught after that.

I wasn't paying attention when my money was going. Okay. So it was just kind of lifestyle spending, grief spending, just in an unhealthy place in life, and money was a little bit of an outlet to medicate feel better. Absolutely. I don't drink or something. smoke, but again, just not being as responsible as I should have been.

No, that's fine, yeah. What kind of income do you make? I make about 60 to 65K. What do you do? A truck driver, semi- Okay. And any opportunity for overtime right now, or are you capped? Absolutely.

How much? It's kind of hit and miss. There's no... Okay. Well, I mean, to give you a direct answer, maybe once a week, once or twice a week. All right, let's go once or twice a week. We're just kind of ideating for a second, okay? Once twice a week, over a four-week month, how much extra income would that bring to you?

Over a month, it would bring me maybe two to four hundred extra dollars. Only two to four or hundred. Okay. Is this open road or is it local driving? Local. Okay. So how many hours a week are you putting in driving right now? Right now, anywhere from 40 to 50. Okay. And do you have the capability? I don't know what's going on in your relationship life, but do you have the capability of driving an additional 20 hours if you picked up a second truck driving job that had a good hourly rate?

I'm thinking 20 plus an hour? That's the thing. I have a daughter. and we do have a child custody arrangement. Okay. How often do you have her? Is it every other week or is it certain days of the week? Yeah, certain days, three days out of the week and then every other weekend. Okay.

You get where I'm going. One of the things you have to do here is get more income. And that's going to allow us to pay off $75,000 worth of debt. Tell me about the car really quick. How much do you owe, well, you owe $20? on the car, what is it worth? Yeah, it's about 20. I'm not sure what it's worth.

It's in kind of good shape with 90,000 miles on it. Do you think you could get 20 out of it or more? No, I think I'd be lucky to get 16, 17. What's the car payment every month? 600. Do you have good credit? Absolutely not. Okay, because what I was thinking there, Rachel, is doing go to a credit union and try

to get out of that car. Yeah, so I would. Kelly Blue Book this car, okay? And let's just say it's 17,000. Amir, what I would say is my first goal would be to get a $1,000 emergency funds. And then I think what I would do is start to save and stockpile and see if you can make, you know, $1,500 extra a month. Okay? And within six months, you'll have six grants.

You can throw three of that, $3,000 of that at this car. And so when you sell it, you can, you know, you'll be clean of it. and then you'll have another 3,000 to go buy a really crappy car when that sells. And then that gets you 20. So now you're down to 50,000 of credit card debt. And then you can start really attacking that credit card debt. And again, with what you're making, and if you can work extra, you know, it may take you about two years to climb out of this credit card debt, but you can do it. It's just...

However long it takes, I just need to be pointed in the right direction. And I'm pretty dedicated. Like once I get the ball rolling, I just need to be told that I can do it. You can. Listen, let's get real numbers here, okay? If you did $3,000 a month, now this is going to be extra income, and life is not going to be fun, okay? You're going to be working like crazy. But if you can do $3,000 a month, okay, that's going to get you out of this debt in a year and a half. You've got to have a $3,000 extra on top of what I'm on.

Or, or, I mean, well, if you play, Rachel, plan here like she's talking about we get rid of this car then you've got the 55 of credit card debt i'm talking about that number and if you freeze up your car payment too mary that's 700 bucks right there so out of that 3,700 of that for kin's math is part of that right so really you're trying to find two extra thousand dollars or a thousand dollars right so anything extra with that car payment that you're not paying that car payment anymore because you've sold the car that's going to really free up a lot and you really will start moving and what's crazy too is Because, you know, we talk to so many people, when you're on a journey that's, you know, that two to three years, even four years, you know, you may get a raise in the meantime.

You know, stuff happens in that length of time. And any extra money that you have, you throw at this credit card debt. And how many credit cards equal to $50,000? Five. Five. Are any of them in collections? I think one is. One is?

Okay. Because if any are falling to collections, there's a good chance you can negotiate that day. down as well. So if that's even a $5,000 out of the 50 or whatever it is, 10,000, you could probably negotiate that for half or even less than half. But yeah, but where I would start, Amira, is I would get a thousand dollar emergency funds. Do you have $1,000 right now? Yes. You do? How much do you have saved? I'm going to say about maybe 24 right now, $2,400.

$2,400? Okay, amazing. Not a lot. No, that's great. No, that's awesome. So, yep, I would keep $1,000 as an emergency fund. I would have that other $1,400 as my get money saved to buy a new car and to pay the difference of this car that you're in. Get that rolling, right? Get the car situation done and give yourself five months to do that. Say, you know, by July or whatever it is, right, I have a time frame and say, by July, my car is going to be sold. I'm going to have enough money saved up to do the difference. buy a crappy car in the meantime and then start in August I got a two-year journey to pay off this credit card dead and cut up the credit cards don't go near them and really start you know moving forward but if you stay on the line of mirror we're going to give you the total money makeover book that'll walk you through the baby steps and every dollar will give you a year subscription that's our budgeting app that also you can plug in all of your numbers too and that and that can help you through the process but we are here for you call us back if you need

us, but that's where I would start. And you're doing great. I mean, genuinely, the first step is the belief that you can do it and that you can start something new and change your habits, which making this call is that first step. Thank you for the call. Listen, remember this, everybody. There's ultimately only one way to financial peace,

and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.