The Ramsey Show - My Girlfriend’s Pregnant and I’m Scared

Episode Date: January 29, 2026

💵 Your Money Questions Answered by Ask Ramsey! 🚢 ⁠Book your cabin: Save $300 this week only! ⁠ George Kamel and Jade Warshaw answer your questions and discuss: “I just learned my girlfriend is pregnant. How do I financially prepare for this?” “How do I convince my mom to not buy a life insurance policy for $500,000 a year?” “How do I help my dad pay off $90,000 of credit card debt?” “I’m receiving a $200,000 trust from my grandparents, what should we do with this?” “How can I navigate losing access to my husband’s accounts to pay bills?” “I’m 48, what do I need to do to retire as a millionaire?” “How much should I help my young married son and his wife?” “How do I budget when my income is inconsistent?” “I’m $70,000 underwater on my mortgage. How should I navigate this?” “I’m living paycheck-to-paycheck and can’t seem to get ahead” Next Steps: ✔️⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Help us make the show better. Please take this short survey.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 📞 Have a question for the show? Call 888-825-5225 weekdays from 2–5 p.m. ET or⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠send us an email⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. 🚢 ⁠⁠Book your cabin: Save $300 this week only! ⁠ 💵 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 💻 ⁠⁠File your taxes with 100% accurate software that’s less than half of the price Connect With Our Sponsors: Get 10% off your first month of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BetterHelp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Boost Mobile⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to switch today! Go to⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Casper Sleep⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and use promo code RAMSEY to learn more If you want your car to keep going and going, trust ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Christian Brothers Automotive⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Find a local shop and get an exclusive Ramsey discount of 10% off Learn more about⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Christian Healthcare Ministries⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get started today with⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Churchill Mortgage⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get 20% off when you join ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠DeleteMe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Go to⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FAIRWINDS Credit Union⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for an exclusive account bundle! Debt collectors hassling you? Take back control of your life at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Guardian Litigation Group⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Find top health insurance plans at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Health Trust Financial⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Use code RAMSEY to save 20% at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Mama Bear Legal Forms⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Visit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ NetSuite⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ today to learn more Get started with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YRefy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or call 844-2-RAMSEY Visit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Zander Insurance⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for your free instant quote today! Explore more from Ramsey Network: 💸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Ramsey Show Highlights⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🧠 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Dr. John Delony Show⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🍸 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Smart Money Happy Hour⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 💡 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Rachel Cruze Show⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 💰 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠George Kamel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🪑 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 📈 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠EntreLeadership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. I'm George Camel, joined by bestselling author Jade Warshaw. We're taking your calls at AAA 825-5-225. Don't be scared. Pick up the phone, type in those numbers, and join the conversation. Thomas kicks us off. In Oregon, what's up, Thomas? Are you with us?

Yes, I'm here. Can you hear me? Yes. Hi, my situation is rather complex. I'm a 24-year-old from Oregon who's doing college, have two years left for a business administration degree. My girlfriend is five weeks pregnant. I found out about it three days ago.

and to be honest, we're both rather scared. I have no outstanding debts. I don't know if she has any outstanding debts, but they don't believe so. However, she is not in the best financial situation just overall because of living expenses and other things. Wow. Well, that's scary, dude. You have a right to be rightfully spooked by all this. I'm going to go ahead and assume that you are the father.

Yes, I'm the father. How long have you been together? We've been together around a year. We don't live together, unfortunately, so this is even more scary because we need to find a way to move together if we decide to have the child. Okay. Let's roll back once, one moment before we even think about that part. Was this somebody that you plan to be with, or is this something that's like, oh, dang. Now I definitely feel like I am stuck.

This is someone that I was considering marrying. Her and I both get along amazingly. We have never had a fight in the entire time we've ever been together. I mean, it's been 12 months, man. It's not like 30 years. Everything. Okay. So it was somebody that you were thinking about a future with?

She is. She's the one that I was thinking about having a future with. Okay. That is good. because that way all of, what I would hate is for you to just be thinking, oh, I got this girl pregnant, now I'm stuck and now I have to move in, now I have to get married and be forced into something that you never saw a future with that person, but it's good that you did see a future with her because now she's having your baby.

Okay, so you've got two years left of college. What about her? She is currently out of, she's not in college or nor is employed. And that's, I think, the biggest scary thing for me is she's going to have to find a job. I have to grow up really fast now. And I've never worked a full-time job because I've just been so focused on school all my life. You're 24? Really scary. Yes, 24. Did you take some gap years?

There was one gap year, but it was a lot of jumping around, unsure of what career I wanted to go into because of the fact that our world is changing so fast. Okay, so why business administration? I chose business because my psychology was that it would be like just so generalized and so useful wherever I go that I could use it. And I chose it because of that reason. Okay, so what's on the other side of this? Let's say you do finish the degree.

What kind of job are you looking for? That's kind of a more difficult thing. I personally am really interested in architecture. and I was also interested in psychology. However, I've had family members push back against that and say, no, you should be doing this or you should be doing that, which is also why I've been so unsure. Well, here's the truth.

You might need to put a pause on education and just get to work, doing anything. Yes. And the truth is you can probably make as much now as you would with a business administration degree on the other side. The degree could help you long term, but in the short term, now we just got to stack cash. get ready for this new life of being a dad. And, you know, does she have insurance? Is she covered through her parents? I believe so, yes. That would be one piece of homework to figure out, is the medical side. And then child care side, she's unemployed. She's going to need to get to

work until she can no longer work and baby's about to be here to try to at least, you know, mitigate some of the financial damage here. And then is it, is she going to just stay home with the baby? And then are you going to be near her? How close are you guys right now as far as distance? I'm around three hours. Three hours. Oh, gosh. Okay. So now I understand a little bit more of what you were speaking about. Is there, since she's kind of unattached in the way of school or work, is she able to come closer to where you are? Would she be willing to do that? She's been currently working towards that.

She has been trying to find a way to move out where she currently lives. Where does she live? Is she with family? She's living in a home with other roommates is what she's living in. How is she affording it? I think it's very personal, but I think it's like something regarding she is a case manager and that kind of thing. Okay, so she's just getting government assistance? Yes, I think so.

She's getting quite a bit of assistance. Okay, okay. How old is she? She's 21. Does she have family nearby that you guys could move closer to to have some help, and would they be willing to help? Have you had that conversation? Her family is not very in her life.

My family, unfortunately, is six hours south of me. Got it. Okay, so thing number one on the list, I think, is you guys need to get together and you need to create a plan for you guys living near each other, especially if you think the plan might be to get married. So that's thing one. Thing two is verifying the whole insurance business because if she's estranged from her parents, maybe she's not. And if she's getting government assistance, there's a lot there. And then the third thing I would do is once you figure out the living situation, I would start, I would find a local church. and I would start premarital counseling just to see if you guys are a fit.

Like if you could do a marriage together. Yeah, if you could. Compossible. Yes, I understand. Yeah, I would have a hard time saying, get married immediately because I just, I'm not hearing in your voice and even in your vicinity that that was the plan per se. This, I don't know if I'm right or wrong on that, but I don't want to just say to you, go get married.

Does that make sense? Yeah. Given what you've told us. And then what is your financial picture? Do you have any savings right now? Do you have any debt? I have a large college fund that was set up by my family. I come from a rather privileged background.

I believe my college fund is technically it's owned by me. It's around like $50,000 to $70,000, maybe up to $90, at the most. Okay. What about other cash? Other cash, not a lot, unfortunately. Okay. Well, you've got a nine-month runway here. And so I would heavily consider pausing school, moving closer together,

and you getting to work full-time plus a side job, her taking on a full-time job until baby's close to being here. And then you just save up cash. And then we'll figure out the debt later. But right now you're in stork mode, stocking up cash and figuring out the life plan. Then we'll figure out the financial plan. And don't do anything really crazy. the doctor says a lot of times people don't even tell people that they're pregnant until like what

around the 12 week mark. So keep this close to your belt for now. 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 family, man. Term life insurance can replace income, pay off dads, cover funeral expenses, so your family can actually have the opportunity to just be sad, to just miss you. That's exactly what it's supposed to be. It's saying, I love you to your family, term life insurance.

Jeff Zander and the team of Zander Insurance makes it easy and affordable. I've used them personally for 25 years. They're the only people I trust. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282. Sarah is in Washington up next. Sarah, welcome to The Ramsey Show. Hi, thanks for taking my call. Absolutely. How can we help? And then a bit of an unusual position where my parents did well in life, and now at the end of their lives,

my mom is facing some decisions with life insurance for an estate strategy plan. Okay. Her team wants her to buy $500,000 a year in life insurance, and I'm trying to convince her that there are better products available. Who encouraged this? She has a financial planning team. Okay. How big is her estate? What is their net worth?

Probably about $60 million. Okay. Now, there are at this level, there are, you know, there's life insurance strategies that a lot of advice. visors use to protect the estate. So I don't want to just go in going, this is a rip off. They're trying to screw her over. That may not be the case here. When we talk about life insurance, we're talking about, you know, whole life policies for the average everyday American when they're getting ripped off at $600 a month. So when you have a $60 million estate, there are situations where paying a half a million a year to protect, you know, for $20 million savings could be worth it.

So have you got any intel from the advisor? Yeah, she's got a couple of policies. She has a $1.5 million whole life policy that's $100k a year and then $2 $10 million policies that are each $100K a year and they want her to buy an additional policy for an additional $300K a year.

Goodness gracious. It just seems... It feels like now, they're just grabbing commissions left and right. And so that's where I go. This is not as black and white as it may seem, but if you are getting red flags, I would have the conversation with them. Are they willing to hear you out? Yes. But when they, for example, I'd like her to get rid of the whole life policy. Their argument is that in seven years it pays for itself. So why would she not keep paying for a few more years until it's paying for herself, paying for its life? I don't have a very good argument to that, other than the paid-up additions essentially get reinvested, and then the investment inside the whole life policy pays the premiums. Yikes. Well, that plan can implode pretty quickly with how high these premiums are and how awful the returns are.

And so if I'm in your shoes, I would contact a third-party advisor on your own and get their take. And then at least you have some to go, hey, I talk to an advisor, here's what they said about this, will you hear them out? And maybe they go, yep, I understand what they're doing, all good, or they go, no, here's what I think is happening, and here's the tweaks to make. Okay. I've gone that route and that has given me some ammo to push back on her team. In a lot of ways, it feels like they're operating on her fear that she's not going to take good care of her errors, which clearly she's going to, beyond anybody. wildest imaginations. It seems more like a...

Oh, go ahead. I was going to say, I would just look into, I'd be really interested in finding out what type of whole life policies those were. There are some instances where if it's like a variable life, it could be something that is available to her. I don't know if this many policies would be it, but that's what I'd be looking into if I were you. They can be utilized by ultra wealthy people, folks who have no debt and have

really, really high net worths, especially if they've just maxed out all of their other opportunities. So I would really go into this with a spirit of curiosity versus these people are trying to screw my mom. You might be right, but it also could just be something that's gone outside of your purview of knowledge. Yeah, definitely is well outside of my knowledge. And I just feel like it's a one of the things I love about the Ramsey program is that the goal is to live like no and all. Now they're facing that.

Hopefully, Dave develops another segment where people can talk about these kinds of issues because we're hoping that lots and lots of people get to this place, right? I know that's not the reality, and it seems like a really weird problem to have. But I want to look out for my mom. Absolutely. And she's trying to steward this wealth as best as she can and using pros and experts to do it. But there are some people out there who can take advantage of people like this, who have giant estates.

They're happily going to write giant checks, which gives them big commissions. And so that's where I want to know, are these bad apples or are they just doing something that is just an extremely expensive way to transfer the inheritance? And that's the big question mark. Because estate tax could be 40%. And so I understand that you don't want to pay 40% of 60 million when you pass away. I don't want to give the government any more than I already have. Yeah, no, definitely. And so there are things like an irrevocable life insurance trust or obviously.

violets, they're called, where, you know, the trust owns the life insurance policy so the death benefit is not counted as part of your estate. So that's probably what they're trying to do, is that when she passes, there's millions and millions protected from the government, which means less taxes to pay. So I would, yeah, absolutely. And you can contact a SmartVestor Pro on our website, just jump on a Ramsey Solutions.com and say, hey, I need a consultation. My mom's working with this advisor. Here's the kinds of things they've been telling her, can you help me understand this more, number one, and then help me understand,

is there a better way to do this, and are they taking her to the cleaners or not? And our SmartVist or pros, they're going to have the heart of a teacher, explain it to you, and no BS. They're going to just tell it to you like it is. Thanks for the call. Malcolm is up next in North Carolina. Malcolm, what's going on? Hey, how's it going?

Good. How are you? I was calling in. I'm doing great. I was calling in about a question that I had regarding my, income drastically decreasing. I recently joined the military, which has required my wife almost to have to be a stay-home mom. She can only really do our job that she was doing before. So our income went from around, I would say, $180,000-ish down to $31,000. Oh, gosh. And yeah.

Why did you make that choice? Why did you guys make that series of choices? I wanted to go into the military. My wife was always been very supportive of me and I recently sold a business so I kind of was a little lost so I didn't have anything to do kind of so I kind of always had to join the military so I took a leap and my wife joined it we didn't necessarily think that well through it I don't think but I'm in it now what was the what's the endpoint was there like a point where you said hey our income's going to go down for a small period of time and then XYZ is going to happen like what What's the end point?

Once I've finished my training, which is going to take about two years, I'll receive my re-enlistment bonus, which was my in my enlistment bonus, which was about $45,000-ish thousand. My income should jump to around $100,000 in the military. And then I also, if I choose reenlistment, I believe our re-enlistment category is around $90,000. So we didn't mention it. I just didn't realize how long the training would last before I started making a better income. and because we don't really, we've been very fortunate financially, so we didn't necessarily,

I didn't really think about like our lifestyle changing significantly. And yeah. Are you going to be on base? Are you going to have base housing? Yeah. So we're going to be on base housing. She will be moving with me within the next month. Okay.

So that helps. You're not going to have that expense. I mean, the way that you live on $31,000 is that you live on $31,000. $1,000, so you've got to get your head around what that means. And that's going to be a humongous huge. Whatever your life was before is no longer. This new chapter is going to look like your broke college students. That's the interesting thing that we're having right now, because we do have a decent amount in investments and savings, especially after selling business. Okay, good. My wife is kind of wanting to live the same lifestyle. Recently, the reason this

So pittled through your savings? That's not an option. Basically. Well, here's the thing. Here's what I want to tell you before we go to break. Number one, if you have money in retirement, do not touch it. Do not move it. That money is locked in.

And if you have savings right now, how much savings do you have real quick? So we do the regular three to six months. So currently we don't have that much. Then that's what that's there for. That's only there for emergencies. That is not there to skim off of every single month to have the lifestyle you want. So you guys made a very clear choice. Sounds like you didn't think through it very well, but like you said, you're here now.

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Christian is up next in Fort Lauderdale. What's going on, Christian? Hi, George, hi, Jay. Thank you for taking my call. Absolutely. What's your question today? So my dad was recently, I had a surgery that went bad. He had three strokes during surgery.

Oh, my goodness. I have power of attorney over him, and I'm trying to sort out his finances. I just pulled the credit score, and I discovered that he's $90,000 in credit card debt and obviously not working. He's now just on workman's comp insurance. So he has limited income that he'll never be able to pay back to $90,000 in credit card debt. And I was calling to get some advice. Man. I'm so sorry.

That sounds horrible. What's his prognosis? So he had three strokes. He was blind about a week ago after the strokes, but he's currently able to see and talk but not walk. It looks like he'll be in rehab for about two months, minimum. And then we'll see. We've gotten much better in the past week, so we're hopeful. But for now, he's going to be in the hospital for quite some time.

Wow. How old is he? 65. Okay. Does he have any other debts outside of the credit cards? Well, I found about $86,000 in credit card debt and a $5,000 medical debt in collections, along with a mortgage. Okay. And is anyone living in that house right now?

No. It's an empty condo. Okay, is it paid? I mean, who's paying the mortgage right now? So this just happened in the past week. I just took over his finances, so I will be paying the mortgage out of the money that he's making from workman's comp insurance. Okay. That's enough to cover it. Yeah, it's enough to cover the mortgage, and he's also laid on A-2A fees, so they're in the process of suing him. But I was able to make a payment plan with them that they have agreed to. Okay. And you're paying that payment plan out of your money?

Currently, I have not made a single payment yet, but I'm intending on paying it out of his money. Okay. Does he have money? Savings, retirement? No, he might have a 401K, but he has no money. His account is currently overdrawn by $50, but he has $5,000 a month coming in from workman's comp insurance. Wow. So what is he owe on the contract? What's it worth? It's worth about 200 and he was 204. Oh, boy.

Yeah. And what's the plan? What do you foresee the place? Is it just him? Is he married? Not married. Okay. Single.

He has a girlfriend overseas that he sends money to. Oh, boy. Are you sure this is a real person, Christian? I've heard this story before. Oh, well, unfortunately. or fortunately, yes, she actually is real. What's the plan when your dad gets out of rehabilitation? Do you foresee him going back to this, let me put it like this,

do you foresee him living alone or do you foresee a situation where you all have to take care of him out of your place? No, I foresee him living alone. The workman's comp insurance will stop, of course, once he's out of the hospital. And my hope was that he would get some form of settlement from workman's comp. Right, right.

injured on the job, which led to this. And surely he won't be able to go back. I mean, I'm just assuming, you tell me, based on what you said, I can't see this guy going back to work in a couple weeks. I don't think so. Okay. I don't think he'll ever work again. Okay, right. So then there would be some sort of payout?

Yeah, I would assume so. And then he'll start collecting Social Security at that time, I would believe. Okay. Do you think, do you know, do you have any idea what his social security would be at this point if he started to draw it now? I don't know. I don't know. Okay, that'd be some homework that I'd look into, if I were you, to know, is he going to go from $5,000 to $2,500? What's he going to go down to? And then figuring out, is he going to have the ability to stay in this condo situation and really think through what that means for him? What's your financial situation?

I'm single. I make great money. I run a company. I mean, I'm not a millionaire, but I make enough money to live on my own and my family. And there's no world where he would move in with you or you would become his caretaker? I sure hope not. Okay. So you would, you know, it would be Medicare and try to get him care otherwise. Yes. All right. So your homework is to figure out his full expenses and then figure out, does he have enough money monthly to pay for that sustainably?

And if not, we need to make some really hard choices here and go, hey, you need to sell the condo. maybe at a loss because otherwise it's going to get foreclosed on. Yeah. And is he still sending money overseas as we speak? No, I've cut all expenses off 100%. He has enough money to make the payments that I've arranged for the HOA and pay the mortgage in the electric bill. Okay.

And my intention is to stop paying all the credit cards, except for American Express and the small local bank, because I think they'll be the first ones to come after him. Listen, they could try to sue him, but he has nothing. And it's unsecured debt. And so if he died with this, they just write it off. They're not coming after you. Nothing's going to happen.

Yeah. Literally, I mean, exactly what George said. They can't come after you. And honestly, even for him, he has nothing to give. The only thing would have been that condo, but he's getting ready to sell it. And there's no money that can come from it. So in that way, he's sort of. And they can't take his retirement.

So I think at this point, it's just trying to minimize the future damage and make sure the four walls are. covered for him, and the debt is a far, far away thing that we need to worry about. You wouldn't file bankruptcy. You would just stop paying everything and then let them come after him? I would get current on everything you can. We don't want it in collections if we can avoid it. But the credit cards, you might make minimum payments to keep him off your back if he can afford it out of his checks, but there's no way he's going to pay off 90K at this stage of life. Right. All the credit cards are current, the mortgage and the HOA are behind.

And that's what we need to flip it. We need the mortgage in HOA to be current, and the credit card companies can kick rocks and pound sand. Okay. So that's your focus for him, is making sure that we're current, we're not behind, we're keeping up with the four walls, and let's see what income we can get from where and how long this workman's comp's going to last and then what the next steps are. But it's going to be a day-by-day thing, man. This is a really difficult thing that you've been thrown into, and you're a good man and a good son for handling it. and should I try to settle these debts with the credit card companies in a year when I inevitably come after him? Well, if you stop paying now, the longer you wait, the more they're willing to settle.

And so one year may not be long enough for them to go, yeah, we'll take 20 grand instead of 90. Eventually they will, though. But the truth is he has zero money to give them, so just let it play out. Okay. It's going to be the same. If you were to file bankruptcy, his credit's going to be completely decimated. It already is, I'm sure. and his days of, you know, getting a great income and buying a property or it doesn't seem like that's going to be happening.

So for him, like George said, four walls, whatever transportation he might need is really going to be what he has. Okay. Unfortunately. This is just decades of compounded terrible financial decisions. And then you have the health situation. on top of all of that, which puts all of this just straight to a halt. And so there's nothing that you can do to undo the decades of bad decisions. All you can do is help him take the right next step and make sure that he's got food,

shelter, utilities, and transportation. Yeah, what's his rent and HOA and everything like that cost every month? The mortgage is 1250. The HOA is supposed to be 450, but I've arranged to pay $700 because he's so far behind on that. And then he's also about a year behind on alimony. My mom, which is, you know, it is what it is. He doesn't have the money. Is there a...

Is there a living situation in his area that's less than $1,700 a month that you could get him into? No, no chance. In South Florida, I don't think it would be possible. Yeah, you're right. Where are you? Are you in South Florida as well? I'm in Fort Laudel. He's on the West Coast of Florida. Okay. I'm just wondering, I mean, at this point, does he need to...

stay there? Can he move somewhere that is more affordable? I think he's best to stay there. He does have family there and I'm only three hours. One more question I had if I have time. Five seconds. Oh, okay. Well, I wanted to know if I start working on these credit cards, if I'm going to be liable for the debt. No. None of this is in your name. So it's not going to pass to you to deal with. So don't, if they try to scare you into it, say you got to pay, they're lying. That's not how the law works. If the debt's in his name, he's got to pay. If you co-signed or you're, you know, you're on that account, then they can come after you. But otherwise, you're safe, man. Best of luck. After the holidays, a lot of people start feeling budget pressure. And it's a wake-up call

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and you want an expert in your corner fighting for you to find the best deal for the right price. And the Ramsey Trusted program is the only way to find a top agent you can trust who will help make your home a blessing, not a burden. It's easy. You can compare agent profiles, interview them, and choose the right one to work with. You can find a local Ramsey Trusted Real Estate Pro for free at Ramsey Solutions.com slash agent or click the link in the description if you're on YouTube or podcast. Kayla is in Texas up next. Kayla, welcome to the show. Hi, how are you guys today? We're doing great.

What's your question today? I'm just looking for some guidance on how to, what the smartest way is, to utilize the remaining money that my husband and I will have after paying off our debt and putting money into emergency funds. We're about to receive $200,000 from a trust from my grandparents. We owe about $30,000 on the car, So we were going to pay that off and then put about $30,000 into an emergency fund.

So we'll have about $140,000 leftover. So we were wondering, should we put that all towards the house? Should we invest some of that? A quick little add-on is we don't know that we want to stay in this house long term. So we're just trying to get the best way to move forward with that leftover money. Yeah. Well, you're speaking very wisely and you're filtering this. through the baby steps, which is let's knock out the debt first. Let's make sure we have savings,

and then we can explore the options from there. Are you guys currently investing? Yes. Went to our retirement, so my husband is he puts about 7% in my, and then his employer matches at 3.5%. I'm currently not, but my employer does contribute 11% for me. So you guys would be in babysat 4, 5, 6. You already have a home, you have a mortgage, what's left on that? 320. 320. All right. So is the trust available now?

No. So I do like the final paperwork. The rest of the beneficiary, they're signing and they want all that paperwork is finished. Then the money will be distributed. So that is expected in the next probably month to six weeks. Okay. And it is a lump sum. There's no restrictions, taxes, timelines.

Like $200,000 will show up in your account. Yeah, $200,000. My uncle paid. all of the taxes that were owed on it from like the capital gains and the interest you know tax of the interest that was all paid already so that the 200,000 that I'll be getting is what is mine. Wow. So tell us about a little bit about the home. You said that you're in this house but you might not stay. Tell us about what your plans are regarding possibly moving and when that would be. My husband, my husband's currently looking at other opportunities.

in other states that we can move closer to where my father is. Uh-huh. And then to, like, the neighborhood is kind of going in a direction that we're not truly happy with. Okay. What's the timeline for this? Anywhere from, I would say, one to three years. I mean, it depends on my husband, we're to get a job in, you know, six months or, you know,

a year, we would move. There's also some kind of changes going on. on to maybe turn the neighborhood back around. But I don't know how long that would take to see. Okay. If it starts moving in the opposite direction. I'm also wondering, would you be trying to keep the same level of house? Would you be trying to move up in house if you were to move?

Probably the same level. I'm happy with this house. You know, you've got something four. when we purchased it. So, you know, we're happy with it. What's your household income? About $150,000. So we bring home about $86,000, $8,700 after taxes and deductions I take with health care.

Fantastic. Real quick, you said you bought the house for $3.40 and now you owe $3.20. Yes. And you're worried about the neighborhood going down? I mean, if I were in your shoes, if you really are talking about a year horizon, I'd probably be inclined to just keep it in a high yield savings account until you want it for a couple of reasons. Number one, if you piled it all into the house and just for some reason, the house took a long time to sell or it for some reason went down in value that might make you feel some type of way. Number two, moving is expensive and it's just nice to have cash on hand to make a move. If I were in your shoe specifically, if you were on a year horizon, I'd keep it in a high yield and wait for the right opportunity. And then when you move, place this house on the market and you've got your down payment, that's readily available for you. Yeah, that's the nice part.

If it's a short time horizon, that 140 becomes your down payment without needing to sell the house first. And so that puts you in a better position as a buyer. But if you're talking three years, put it into the house. The money's not disappearing. It's just a forced savings plan, and it stops you from using that money for other things that might not be as wise. And, you know, you want to be a good steward of this money, and you guys becoming debt-free, mortgage and everything is a great goal to have. And so, 140K chunked at that 320, man, the interest savings alone, if you calculate now how much more is going to principal versus interest, it would blow your mind. Yeah, we did that.

It was, I think, upwards to, like, the 16-year mark. So we have no issue with putting it towards the house. We just weren't sure with us potentially moving. Like should we hold off just for a little bit? And then see, you know, if we haven't moved by the end of the year, then just dump it all in. Yeah, I like that plan. Into the house. And you can enjoy some of it, too.

There's nothing wrong going, hey, you're debt-free with an emergency fund. Maybe use some of it for enjoyment. And you go on a fun trip. I like to hear you say that because I'm definitely a favor. Yeah, I think because you're paying off the debt, you're stocking up the emergency fund, it would be good to do something fun with some of this money as well. Not a huge amount, but you can take a $5,000 awesome trip and still have $135 left, and you can give some of that and then you can save some of that.

And that includes paying down the house. That kind of fits in that category. And so I like this plan overall. I would just kind of keep it loose and put it in a high-yield savings account when you have it and just park it at, you know, three and a half percent right now. We're not trying to make a bunch of money off of this. We're just sort of buying ourselves some time to make the next decision. Awesome.

So would you guys think about it all? Like investing any of it into a mutual fund or? I probably wouldn't because you are putting plenty of your paychecks aside. And remember, real estate is an investment too. So don't narrow your mind to think that just because it's not in the stock market, it's not being invested. If you guys had the house paid off, I'd say absolutely. That's kind of a baby step seven. item is to then invest outside of retirement. And so you guys will get there, no doubt. You'll just

use your future income to get there. And this trust is going to help you get rid of that house payment even faster. Then you can invest that amount. So, way to go. What a blessing. Awesome grandparents. Yeah, that's awesome. It is. It's fantastic. And I have one more question if I could. Sure. We got a minute left. Okay. So the emergency fund, does that count towards like that like maintenance of the house, if something were to happen to it, or is that just simply, you know, if one of us were to lose their job, they were recovered until the other person, you know, gets another job? If it's an emergency that, it can go towards household items that are emergencies. So if it's something that's urgent, if it's unexpected, and if it's necessary, that's what an emergency is. So for instance, there's a storm and you didn't know it, it blew a tree onto your roof. Now you need roof damp and, like, roof repair. That would be an emergency. Dishwasher randomly goes out. But if it's just maintenance, just set up a sinking fund outside of that and just set it aside. I wouldn't put it with the emergency fund. It gets too

convoluted. And so you can just set aside, you know, $100 a month, $200 a month, whatever, you know, some people's homes need a lot more work and more maintenance. So buying new furniture, not an emergency. Yeah, I would just put it in every dollar. You can, here's what I do. I have a line item and you can mark it as a fund. And that way, I can save $100 a month. And at the end of the year, I have $1,200 bucks earmarked for the maintenance and repairs on the house or the car or whatever it may be. And that helps me not get spooked when I'm like, oh my gosh, what are we going to do? It's $1,000.

You go, no, we have it. I treat the emergency fund like I treat the HSA. I never touch it. You just don't want to touch it unless you really have to. I just don't touch it, man. I will cash flow whatever I can to not touch these monies. Well, it's amazing. Once you're not broke anymore, you kind of stop having emergencies.

That's true. It just becomes inconveniences that you can cash flow instead of, oh my gosh, what are we going to going to do. Yes. So it's expensive to be broke. That's for sure. This is the Ramsey show. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. As we head into the new year, I want you to take an inventory of all the stuff you're carrying. All those things you think you have to do, all the past hurts and pains, along with your past guilt and shame. When the world feels heavy, it's important to look in the mirror and consider setting down that old weight and not carrying it forward into 2026. Therapy can help you identify the heavy stuff, set it down, and move forward with clarity

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h-elp.com slash Ramsey. Welcome back to the Ramsey show in the Fairwinds Credit Union Studio. I'm George Camel, joined by Jade Warshaw. And we're taking your calls at AAA 825-5-2-2-25. Emily is up next in Nebraska. What's going on, Emily? Hi. Thanks for taking my call. So I am a stay-at-home mom, and I'm trying to get out of an abusive marriage, an emotionally abusive marriage.

My husband's basically abandoned us. I've got four small children. They're five years old and under, and I'm trying to figure out how to create some more. margin, hire a lawyer, and I'm just trying to figure out what's the next best move to file bankruptcy or take out a second mortgage on the house or something else. And I've got all my financial information written down if you want that. Is there any support near you, family, friends, church? My family all lives about three hours away, and they're doing what they can to help

me. I live in kind of an unique area where there's not like, I can't just sell the house and go rent. There's nothing for rent near me and jobs are few and far between. Is your house in your name? Yes, it's solely in my name. I bought it before we were married. Okay. How long have you been married? Since 2018. Okay. And what's your household income? Right now, I am a disabled veteran and I'm receiving disability benefits of about $2,600 a month. Okay. And then is his income covering any expenses for you guys or is he kind of cut off access? He's, I think he's rerouting his paycheck someplace else. He's an over-the-road truck driver. He's an owner-operator. I've done his taxes forever. He'll gross about $225,000 from last

year and I was only able to move over 29,000 to help pay household bills. Out of the last 13 months, I've paid for the entirety of the bills six months out of the year. Wow. Okay. So he just kind of up and left? Is that? He, well, being over the road, he's gone a lot, but he's not called me since September. He's showed up at the house unannounced a couple of times for a few days at a time.

And it's just been weird. Like just a crash? Yeah, like over Thanksgiving and Christmas. Otherwise, he usually parks at a friend's house a couple of hours away. Oh, gosh. I'm sorry that you're going through this. So, tell us more about, so you've been covering the bills just out of your money. Correct.

And is there any margin? Sorry, say it again. Oh, I received a lump sum back payment from the VA a year ago. How much was that? $42,000. Okay. And what did you, has that allowed you to be current? What did that allow you to do? I was able to, I put six months worth of bills and savings. You know, I had a question of six months.

Okay. Emergency fund, uh-huh. And then I paid off some debt. And I started a business in May, and that's actually been helping a lot. Okay. So how much debt do you have left? I owe $34,000 on the house with about $1,000. 58,000 in equity. I've got 41,000 in student loans, 22,000 in credit cards, and I owe 6,000 on my vehicle. Okay. And how much isn't that emergency fund? I've got enough to fund February. How much is that? I'd have to look. I think it's down to 4,000 right now. So you've burned through the emergency fund? So you've got 4,000 left to your name, essentially? Yes, sir. Okay.

$58,000 of equity, $41,000. Okay. And tell me again, did I hear you say, I wrote down a lot of numbers. Did I hear you say your income at this point? Is it $2,600 a month? Is that what I heard you say? $2,600 a month. And then my business, I just started it in May.

So the numbers have been different about every month. But right now I'm grossing about $1,600. Good. And nothing about $1,200. And I'm hoping that it just continues to grow, especially as we get into the summer. Okay. So fair enough, like around $3,600 is what maybe you could count on per month. Do you have your own bank account that is not at the same bank your husband has?

I do, yes. Okay, good. Is that what you've been routing all of your money? That's correct. Good. What do you pay? What's the mortgage every month? What do you pay? $933. Good, good. Okay. So tell us right now what's on fire besides your marriage. Financially, what's the thing that you're like, help me understand this, Jaden and George? I don't know how to pay bills after February

and I need to hire an attorney. Okay. So I think that you can pay the bills after February. Tell us how much the deficit is. When you take your $3,600, you pay the $900 in the mortgage, you pay your debts, you pay for food and transportation. Is there anything left? I've got life insurance payments and then

oh geez what else oh electricity and propane and normal stuff so it's usually about my budget's about 4,500 to 5,000 okay okay and that's in every dollar um i'm using you need a budget at the moment okay i want you to pop into every dollar because every dollar is going to help you find margin anywhere possible you'll be able to tell it about your specific situation and it's going to work over time to find you money anywhere. So right now you're a thousand dollar deficit every single month. So that's why this is dwindling. So quickly I can see. But there's also a path to get your income up, right? With the business? Yes. It's been very slow. I mean, it keeps changing, but I see it being capped at some point with the market becoming saturated. Okay. So what I don't think you should do,

and I don't think that you need to sell your house right away. I think you're actually, you're paying a little less than $900 a month. I think I heard you say you're in a good equity position with it. You don't owe a ton on it. I don't think you're going to find anywhere cheaper to live for a family of five. Do you agree or disagree? I completely agree.

Okay. What I would do is change the locks. Once you file for divorce, I would change the locks so that he's not just coming up in there willy-nilly. Right. Okay. And then is there anybody in your... community who can set you up with a good attorney or who could recommend a good attorney?

I've been shopping for three months now, and we live so rural. I've been told that I live too far away. What's that mean? The attorneys don't want to drive to the courthouse in my location if they had to. Got it. Okay. Understood. And are all the debts in your name solely, or is anything joint, or is anything in his name solely? The ones that I named are either in my name or our joint. He's got his own mess. He's been opening up credit cards for the last two years, and he's got...

Have you frozen your credit yet? Because my fear is he's opening debts in your name. I have frozen it, and I check on it. Okay. Well, here's the truth. The faster we get through this process of divorce, the faster we can hope for some alimony and child support, which means you can breathe again, and that'll get you to fight another day,

and hopefully clean up some of these debts. Okay. Yeah, I wouldn't try to pay anything off just yet. I wouldn't try to sell your house or anything like that just yet because once this goes to court, who knows how this is going to get split, including the house, unfortunately. I'm not sure what the laws are in your area. He's been living there since 2018,

so I'm not sure if any of that will be up for grabs. But, yeah, change the locks, freeze the credit, and file for divorce and figure out how to pay for it because you've got to divorce this guy. Great. I can't imagine. I'm so sorry you're going through this, Emily. This fact that this guy is not even covering the expenses for his own children and just abandon the family just breaks my heart. And I know you'll get through it.

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Hi there. How are you? Doing great. What's your question today? So I am trying to figure out how much I need for retirement. I see where I'm trending right now in terms of my retirement progress, but I feel like it's falling short of what I'll probably need. Okay. So I'm struggling to figure out like what I should aim for. I know I watched the segment where someone is at $3.5 million. I don't know if that's accurate or where it should be and what I would need to adjust to get there. Okay. Well, usually when we think about retiring, I'll tell you what's in my head. I'm thinking about my entire nest egg, and I'm thinking, based on my annualized rate of return, which is about 10%, can I live off of 10% of my income, and can it feel like the lifestyle I have now or better? Does that make sense?

Yes. What do you currently have invested? So I have, let me see, in terms of my 401K, I have about 146,000. Okay. And then I have a brokerage account with like a couple of EFTs, which is about $7,000. I have a separate Roth IRA, which I just opened up that has $1,000. And then the other money that I have is just emergency. Okay. Do you have any debt?

I have student loan debt, so I have a student loan debt. It's in forbearance, but every other month I make a $1,000 payment towards that. Okay. What's left on the balance? $130,000. And what's your income? It's $210. Good income. Is that just to you? Yes. All right. So how much are you currently investing?

So currently I invests via my paycheck, and so about 600 goes into my 401k every paycheck, and then my employer matches that. What's the match? 7%. Good. Okay. So if you follow through... And then separately, I have $300 that I was putting into, I was putting into like Kwapital, which is like a money-saving app. I was spending like $300 every paycheck.

But I just recently moved that. into the the the the the the FT to start putting that into there okay and why are you investing outside of the retirement right now into those ETFs I imagine is what you're saying you know I don't know okay just to feel like you're doing something that's very honest and so and then also the other thing too is that does it make sense to mess out the 401k I think I've done it in the past and the thing that I'm kind of most worried about is you know what are the the the taxes going to look right and so if I can find some other place to do it where the taxes might not be as much and just just try. So can we let let George and I tell you what we would do.

And as we're telling you that, you tell us your objection so we can help you get past it. Would that be all right? So I'm looking at what you're doing and I hear what you're saying. It sounds like you're just doing everything you can to feel like you're doing something. But I would argue that you're doing too much and because of it you're not making the progress that you want to make. The way I would do it, Sarah, is I would focus on clearing out these student loans first so you can have the fullness of your income and so that these things don't follow you into retirement. Because what a pain in the butt to still be paying off student loans when you're retiring, right? You're not even working anymore.

You're not even using the education anymore at that point. So I would really focus on that. And that's going to require a mental shift. That's why I asked, go ahead and tell us what your what you're, reservations are, but let me play out the plan first. So you pay off the student loans. Then instead of thinking about it as I'm going to max out my 401k or I'm going to max out my Roth IRA, we just say, hey, let's just invest 15% of our income. Because if you did that, you'd be putting $2,625 into retirement every single month. That's a lot of money. And if you did that, let's just pretend,

I know that you've got the student loans to pay off, but just let's say you did that for 20 years. at the rate that you have now, I mean, you're going to be over $3 million at that point. Okay. So if we can kind of reverse engineer that to make that happen, it's going to start with, yeah, we've got to have the student loans paid off. We've got to have some form of cushion between you and life,

some sort of emergency fund. That way we can invest and not worrying about having to pull it out for emergencies again, right? And now we've created kind of the sustainability. I mean, think about it. making $210,000 a year with just you, how quickly could you pay off the student loans? I do have a toddler. I'm sorry, I meant that I was unmarried, but I do have a toddler.

You do have a toddler. It is solely my income. Well, great. You and your toddler, $210,000 a year, how quickly if you really got intense, because I think mentally you are intense about being prepared for the future, how quickly could you pay off that debt? I feel like I could probably pay it off in a few years. I think so. two years. So here's the math on. 130 grand, 24 months. You're talking $5,400 a month. Not a thousand every other month. We're going hard in the paint at this debt. And here's what that does. 24 months from now you're 50 years old, right? Yeah. And you've paused investing for those two years, all investing, which scares you. But here's the truth. Now you have freed up so much of your income and focus and energy. Now from 50 to 65, let's say. You invest that 26, 25. That's 15% of your income every month. Like, You're going to have $1.8 million sitting in there in that one account. Okay.

And that's at 65. If you want to keep working, you know, you ride this out until 67, you've got $2.2 million. And like Jade said, you continue this down the path. You'll have more and more. And so retirement is not an age. It's a financial number. And so we don't just get to retire because, well, we're 65. It's time.

A lot of people get there and go, I don't have enough to cover the expenses. And getting into retirement debt-free is your best bet at reducing. the amount you need in retirement? The only other thing, too, is that I've also been looking to purchase the home because I've been renting. And so trying to factor, you know, I don't want to delay purchasing a home because I'm finally in, I think, a good financial position to do that. But I don't know how that factors into, you know, kind of increasing what I'd be contributing

to the student loans at this time. Well, I do love the idea of having that line item on your budget set once you're in retirement. I would hate for you to be renting then. So at that point, the order of steps would be still focusing on getting the debt cleared out first. Because again, we don't want debt, especially that sort of debt following us into retirement. Then next, yeah, you still need some sort of emergency funds, some sort of cash position to keep you between, you know, a barrier between you and life. Then from there, yeah, now you could start to do both at the same time. You could start investing 15% and start putting aside for a down payment.

And I would really, at your age, I would fight in the budget to do both simultaneously rather than put off investing any more years in order to save up for the down payment faster. I would try to do them at the same time. So you're investing 15% into retirement and then any money above that goes into a savings account for that down payment. Even though that might make it go a little slower than you want, you're going to want the years, you're going to want that time of compound interest growing for you in your retirement accounts. Okay. I think it sounds solid. You've got a lot of great goals. We just got to get focused one thing at a time and you'll clean this mess up fast. And if you keep making $210,000, I have no fear that your life is going to look very different a decade from now.

Yeah. Is your income going up anytime soon? I hope so. Good. I would plan for it to go up, right? Why would it go down at this point? You're kind of at going into your highest earning potential years. So a lot of people in their 50s earn their highest amount.

So really, really good. I'm proud of you, Sarah. Yeah, and I think that's been on tech. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. So it's time to ratchet up those student loan payments because here's the truth. 130 grand, you know, six or seven percent interest, you're probably, if the balance is moving upward, even as you're making a $1,000 payment every other month, you

might be accruing over a thousand in interest every other month. Absolutely. So you really got to get ahead of it, and that means throwing huge chunks of money. And we get those calls where people go, hey, I owed 80 and now I owe 100 because it was in forbearance. And I didn't understand what it meant. I just thought they were helping me out. Now I have an even bigger mountain to climb.

Yeah. For some reason, student loans rest differently in people's minds. If you had $120,000 of debt and it was credit cards, cars, all these other things, you'd think, oh, my gosh, I have to get a hold of this. But for some reason, when it's just one block of student loans, people tend to push it aside and forget it about it. Well, society told us it's an investment in your future. And yet you can't bankrupt on the thing. It will just stick around until you decide to get rid of it.

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 faster. Take a free product tour today at netsuite.com slash Ramsey. That's netsuite.com slash Ramsey. Today's question comes from Shannon and Florida. That's the Ramsey Show question of the day. Brought to you by Y-R-R-R-E-Fi. If your private student loans are in default, it's time for a plan. Y-R-R-E-F-E-F-Lones into a low-fixed-rate payment

so you can get back on the baby steps and start making progress. Go to Y-R-R-E-F-Y to learn more. That's the letter Y-R-E-F-Y.com slash Ramsey may not be available in all states. Okay, dokey. Today's question comes from Shannon in Florida. She says, what's your opinion on how much to help kids financially after they get married? My son and his fiance are getting married this summer. They're in their early 20s and have a young daughter.

They are both in college pursuing degrees. Our plan is for them to live in our basement for free until they graduate and start working full time. I plan on continuing to pay for my son's college and provide help to his wife as well after they get married. I'm getting mixed opinions about whether I'm happy. helping or hurting them by supporting them after they're married, even if he's married. He's still my son. And I think it's my responsibility to help both of them get through college debt-free if I'm able to. Friends and families say they need to be independent once they're married, even if that means going into debt to finish college and pay rent so they can live independently.

What are your thoughts? So it sounds like they started a little earlier than most as far as having children and because of that it's kind of set a course of events into into action a little earlier than maybe planned. So I'm with you, Shannon, on the education part. I think that if it was your plan to pay for college, especially for your son, and he's still willing to go, I think it's great if you're still willing to pay for college. Now, did I read you say that you're paying for hers too? I think you're just supporting her. I'm fine with you paying for college. I think that's great.

Now, the living in the basement until they graduate and start working full time, if you tell me they're 20 or 21 and they have no money and they have a kid, I think that is okay. There has to be clear guardrails and time frames on this. It can't just be, oh, live in the basement and I'm supporting you financially until you're ready and the part of you being ready is just kind of like this vague, ambiguous. They're probably not leaving at that point if mom's still folding my laundry and covering

all of the bills. So there is, that word independent is the key here. What does that mean? If they are codependent and now you're enabling the codependence, that's on you. And so we need to make sure that number one, we're not artificially propping up their life. If this was a marathon,

you don't want to be carrying them over the finish line. Now, if they're running and they're doing a great job and they've trained, it's okay to give them a little boost. And that's what you want to do here as a parent. It's okay to help them financially after they get married. I think that's awesome. If you want to pay for the wedding and you want to help them with a down payment and gift them some money for that, that's great. But only if they're already employed and working hard and able to take care of the bills on their own. Yeah, I think they should be paying you. I think you need to sit down and have

something very clear here as far as what are they going to pay you in rent? Because if they're just living for free, that's not going to help them when it does come. time for them to go into the world and try to get and try to lease a place. They're going to need show some form of history of paying rent. And so that's good. Even if it's 500 bucks, come up with something so they have some skin in the game. Also set very clearly, how long is this agreement going to last? If he's out of college in, you know, two years, is that the cutoff point? Is it two years and six months? Like, be very specific. What are the parameters while they're there? Must both of them have at least part-time jobs, must they be paying a certain amount of rent, right? Make that

so, so clear so that there's no question. And when the time comes for them to, you know, leave the nest, they're not thinking that you're kicking them out. They're going, oh, yeah, this is exactly what we decided. So whatever you set, make sure you're talking about it early and often, and make sure that you don't get caught up in this as the rescuer and their drama triangle. If you've never Googled a drama triangle, you should. The triangulation. Yes. All right.

Good question, Shannon. Frank is in Boise up next on the line. What's going on, Frank? Hi. I have a question asking you. I've been talking to a financial advisor here at Boisee. Recommended from you guys. And I had 3-401Ks.

because the contractor I work under, they keep changing companies, so it changes to a new 401K, and they're pretty small. So I think the three big total around $73,000. Okay. I want to know what to do. Should I roll them into the new 401K by this April this month, or should I roll them into a personal IRA, which the financial advisor recommends at?

And I brought them up, you know, about the large cap, mid-cat, small-cap, and their international companies that they ranzee recommends but i'm 57 years old and they said they need to make a portfolio for me just for me because of my age that they would do it differently or something like that yeah i'm guessing they're saying hey you need to start including some bonds and sort of tone down the the aggressive investing as you get closer to retirement which is normal in the financial planning world uh you'll hear that a lot that is okay to do that. I don't need to be in large-cap, mid-cast, small-cap, or international companies exactly like that. We still advise it. Dave Ramsey is a big fan of just keeping it 100%

equities and letting it ride because over the long haul, I mean, you could live to be 97. And so you're talking, you're still, I got 40 years of that money sitting there. And so they're just going to be a little bit of a drag when it comes to the bonds starting to enter the picture with much lower returns, but also less volatility. And so it's a really personal, decision for you and you're you know you can talk with your advisor on what they recommend for your situation we don't have all the facts on what your expenses are and what the nest egg's going to be so they may have the reasons there but either way you want to do a direct rollover to the new 401k or to the IRA and so you never should touch the money and you want to keep it in kind so if

it's traditional 401k you want to move it to a traditional 401k or traditional IRA instead of Roth because that'll trigger a whole, you know, host of penalties and taxes there. So that's what I would do. There's nothing, if you have a strong 401K, you can just roll it all into there. My guess is the advisor is saying, hey, if you roll into the IRA, he can help manage it. They don't have access to help manage your 401K. And so he's basically saying, hey, you're on your own in that regard. Do you feel like you need help?

He said there's more, there's more of mutual funds. an IRA than versus a 401K. True. Yeah. You might have 20 options with your work 401K and IRA. The world is your oyster. You have access to everything. So there are some, there are some pros and cons there. And so you do your own due diligence there. You're still steering the ship when it comes to investing. And you do whatever you think is best for your situation. But there's really, there's nothing wrong with doing either. And so don't overthink it. Gotcha. Okay, then he says a 1.5% of advisory fee.

and I guess that off of $73,000, that's about $95 a month. Is that correct? Yes. I'm doing something wrong. That's normal in the financial planning world. There's something called AUM assets under management, and that's basically how they make their living, is managing these portfolios, and one to one and a half percent is normal in that world. And so you're talking $73,000 if it just sits there, and you've got, you know, you're right, $1,095 a year divided by $12.

And so, you know, that's the price. you pay for making sure that someone is managing it for you and you have access to them, advice all year long, all of that. And so you really want to make sure your advisor is looking at a holistic picture, not just a fund picker. And so I would be utilizing them for way more than just helping you do this roll over. Okay, I got you. So which thing you recommend it. I mean, if this guy, he's telling me, I do this, do this, and if I were in your shoes and I looked at my current 401K that's being offered and I really liked the funds and they were growing at a rate of return. That's what, you know, what it should be.

You might say, okay, I'll just roll them over to the new company 401K. But if you're looking at the options and you're going, hey, like, based on what I'm seeing, this isn't really not performing well. I need access to the full market. Then that totally makes sense to roll them over and let somebody help you pick some better funds. And sometimes the 401K has fees as well. So you want to look at that and see what that's costing you inside of the account. So, a lot of homework and research to do, and it never hurts to have the pro look it over. But again, you're in the driver seat. And so if you're like, hey, no, I don't want to give it all to the IRA and have you manage it,

that's your decision to make. But I'm proud of you for taking that step. Just don't let the money sit there. You want to move it and have it working for you invested and not just sitting. You asked and we listen, guys, the Live Like No One Else Cruise is back by popular demand. This is your moment to celebrate your debt freedom with Dave, all of us, Ramsey personalities in the Western Caribbean. You can share your story with Dave, swap jokes with me, sing karaoke with Jade.

I hope that's happening. Although I wouldn't want to sing next to you, because that's a lot of pressure. I know, but I always put on like my fake voice, the love boat. There we go. I don't do my real voice. You make others look good. Yeah. That's impressive.

So here's who this cruise is for. It's not for everyone. If you're on baby step four or higher, meaning you have paid off your consumer debt, you've got the emergency fund. it's time to celebrate. You probably haven't marked the moment. And a cruise is a really awesome way to do that. It's the Ramsey audience plus our team.

It was incredible last time we did it. So join us March 14th through the 21st, 2027. So we're looking at almost a year out. Very exciting. You can save up to $300 this week only when you book by February 1st. Cabins are limited. So you can lock in your spot with a $600 deposit. That's all that is due now to just lock in your spot.

And then you can budget for the rest. and join us for the crews. You can click the link in the show notes to learn more or go to ramsysolutions.com slash events. Tom is in L.A. up next. What's going on, Tom? Hey, how are you guys doing? Great.

What's your question? Yeah, I was just calling in. I'm a PhD student over here and my wife recently lost her job back in like July. And I'm just wondering and we're looking to get some advice on how best to get through this stage of my career and my situation, whether that is pushing harder

and just getting out as quickly as possible, yeah, or trying to work extra jobs. So let's put some advice on that. What money is coming in with you doing your PhD? So with being on UCLA, we have like a full stipend. It's about three grand. So in L.A. it covers about housing costs and a little bit of food. But beyond that, before I had worked a full-time job as an engineer and it saved up enough money where I haven't had to cover anything. So I have like this little mess egg that's just dwindling down.

How much? There's about 24,000. Okay. And you've been basically using that to float the gap for the last six months. What did your wife do? So she was a like IT trainer over at UCLA. Okay. And so it's been since July. Has she gotten any bites? What's, what's up with that, do you think? So she's gotten a few bites. In the tech center, it's just been really quiet for the past few months. And then she recently started working with some family members on starting up moving a business.

That's they started over Mexico over here. And so she's not paid for that. Not paid yet. And so they're just starting it. And so I'm just starting. I'm hoping that... Will she be paid when this is moved, or how does this work? Because we're not doing volunteer work right now. Yeah. I think once it gets moved, it would be paid. I'm just not sure about...

I've been trying to get like a good timeline, but it's very ethereal at this point in time. Has she looked at just other fields in the IT world that she would be qualified for? Yeah, so she's been planning around. I think that she's just very much... kind of also chasing a bit of a dream of this job and this kind of like entrepreneurial spirit. And I want to appreciate that and also love that because also I'm kind of doing that.

And I'm like, that's where I feel. Yeah, there's going to be seasons where it's Tom's turn and he's chasing this PhD. Now I'm hoping this PhD is going to turn into a big pay raise on the other side. What's the goal with the PhD? So I'm sitting bioengineering. So the goal is to hopefully, yes, have a big pay raise. and be working for one of the big biotech firms, like Neurlink stuff, things along those lines. So we're talking on high six-figure salary once we're done with this. So when is the PhD done? And how soon would you be working after that?

Yeah. So that's one of the decisions is I can hopefully be done by early fall next year if I really push hard. But the other idea is if I need a float is if I take some much of time and work like as a tutor and take an x-ray. year but float expenses. So fall of 27 or Tudor and then it's fall of 28 2008. 2008. Oh boy. So, okay. Yeah. Let's go back to the wife then because you were kind of on this path. I think you have to see it through at this point. I think for your wife, she's got to, it's one thing if you want to do a business venture, but you need to have a solid business plan, something that she can look at. and then be able to say to you, here's what's going to happen, and we should be profitable by this date. And when we're profitable, this is the salary I should be able to draw so that you guys can make a plan and kind of have a go, no go of, hey, we thought that we were going to be profitable by this date.

We're not. So now, therefore, we're not going to continue on with this. And if she can't provide that, then that means there is no meat on these bones. It's just an experiment. And you guys are not in a time of life just yet where she can totally experiment. because you're going to look up and this 24,000 is going to be gone. What's your burn rate every month? Burn rate is about 2,000 a month.

Oh, yeah. You're going to look up and be like, in two years this money is going to be gone, which two years is not bad. I mean, that's you being, you'll be graduated by then. Do you guys have debt? So we do have some debt, just one car loan and then her student loans, which are about together is about 20,000. Okay, that's total with the car loan?

I think what's left on the car loan, it might be closer to 25 or 30, but definitely below 30 or above. Do you guys have kids? No kids. Okay. So what has she been doing for six months? Because I'd rather her do something,

even if it's not in the IT field, just to provide some income and some purpose and meaning every day to go out there and do something because it's easy to fall into, a low-grade depression just sitting around going, I was laid off, I can't find a job, and you start to question your identity and self-worth. Yeah, just to earn the burn rate.

Like she could experiment, but she got to at least bring in the couple thousand. And she's too qualified and talented just to be sitting on the sidelines for seven months now. Yeah, that's what I try to, I've been trying to be encouraging as much as possible. I think it's just very disheartening for her, the current situation of applying and getting rejected.

and just feeling that she isn't as talented as I know she is. That's your job. You are her biggest cheerleader and you are also her accountability partner going, hey, you apply for that job. You get that coffee meeting with that person who works in IT. And so you can help her and support her during this time, but it's time to have the honest conversation of, hey, we are broke.

Like, we won't be in the future. But right now, we're in a season where we both need side jobs at night, delivering Uber Eats and DoorDash. That's the reality because we can't burn through the savings and then be going into debt every month living in L.A. It's an expensive life, as you know. Yeah. A piece of homework you guys can do tonight that will feel proactive is if you can both sit down tonight and make a list of everyone you know that might know someone in her space that could be hiring, right? That could put in a word for her. We'll make sure that she has Ken Coleman's career materials so that she can really focus in and figure out how to do that the right.

way, but just reaching out to your network, because chances are there's somebody that's in your network that holds the key to her next job. Okay. Yeah. Love you. Very good. Thank you. Yeah.

Try to make a list of 10 names. She has to create some inertia here because, you know, an object of rest stays at rest. And so it's hard to even have the self-confidence to have the meeting or do the interview when you feel like, oh my gosh, here we go again. It's like dating. You're like, well, I've had 19 bad dates. Yeah. What's the point?

Love isn't real. It's easy to fall into that. that hole if you're not careful. But, you know, this, again, this is a season. You guys will have an amazing trajectory in the future. And right now you're going to look back at this time ago, remember when we both had to do DoorDash on the side just to make ends meet? That was crazy. Yes. This is a very short period of time that most of us go through where it's just, you're just broke. You're broke because you're young at that point. Not so much because you've made a bunch of mistakes. You're just young and getting started. But you stack on high cost of living on top of that.

I mean, it's impressive. They've even made it work. on what they're bringing in every month, even with the savings and the stipend. True, true, true. That's still a tough life. So the reality is we got to live like we're broke college students, which means we can't eat out. We're getting the discount groceries and stretching it and meal prepping. It is just rice, chicken, broccoli, stack them.

Go. That's what we're eating every single day for a year. You'll survive. No one's died from doing that, as far as I know. It ain't pretty. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show in the Fairwinds Credit Union Studio. I'm George Camel here with Jade Warshaw. Taking your calls at AAA 825-2-2-25.

Riker is up next in Utah. Reiker, what's going on? Hi, how are you too? Great. How can Jade and I help? So I'm wondering on how to build a budget with such an inconsistent income that me and my future wife are going to have once we combine finance. What do you do that so inconsistent?

My fiancé is a hairstylist, and so it just depends on what clients she can get for her income. And then my family owns a fencing business and a ranching business. And during the summer, I can make upwards to $10,000 a month, but during the winter, during ranching, I'm making zero. Okay. And what about her? What's her swing of income? Good to bad. Right now, right now. She just started three months ago, and she's making about from 1,500 a month to about 2,300 a month. Okay. Okay. So maybe say 18 is right there in the middle. Okay. So the way I would do this, when are you guys getting married, by the way? When does this actually start?

June 20th. Okay, good. So what I would do, by then, by June, you're going to kind of see what her averages are. Hopefully they continue to go up. But you really want to plan your budget based on your worst month. That's what I would do is I would say, okay, first off, how much does it take for us to even? Like, what's our bare bones budget? What does it take for us to operate keeping the lights on, keeping food on the table, four walls, keeping our insurance, whatever that is?

and then on our worst month, how far away from that amount are we? So you're kind of filling in the unknowns there. And then from there, I would kind of stock up and say, okay, let's pretend we find out it takes $3,000 for our household to run and we bring in on our worst month $3,200. Well, that's great. That means there's a little bit of margin there. But it also means that you might want to keep an account, take that $200 and over time, stock up an extra month's worth of savings that's kind of there.

To float you in the rough months. We call it kind of a peaks in valleys fund. So when you have a really great month, that's the peak. Well, we don't need all of that to cover the expenses. So let's move it over to a savings account so that when you have that zero dollar month, you can get by and not feel like, oh my gosh, what are we doing? And it's not your emergency fund. So don't get it confused.

It's completely separate from an emergency fund. The real question is, what are you doing all winter long? So I do ranch with my dad all winter. I work probably six hours a day all winter. But I don't get paid. So I don't get paid for the work. I own cows in our herd and I sell bowls and I sell beef. But instead of me getting paid hourly, I work off like feed and hay.

so I don't have to pay my dad back for hay, and I just get the money from the animals instead of having to pay him back for all the feeding and all the hay. So what are the zero some months? I don't do farm math, so I need to help me understand this. Which months do you, on paper, earn zero, and which months on paper do you earn the $10,000? So I can, so in about from April to no,

November, I can earn $10,000. And then we sell bowls in April, and that's when I can make money off the ranch. But in between, so like mid-December to when we start fencing in April, I'm not making any money, but I'm getting ranch money during the summer when I'm working full-time as well. So really, if you spread it out over 12 months, you're making $6,000 and a half thousand dollars a month. Yeah. So that's not bad. It's almost like a teacher. You just have to account for the summer months.

Yeah. And for you, it's the winter. And for you, it's the winter. Yeah. Can you go do something part-time or even full-time from January through April that actually pays? I could. We live in a really remote part of Utah. There's only 400 people in my town.

And the nearest town, like, we have to drive an hour to go get gross. groceries. Not a lot of side hustles out there. Well, do any other places around you need help? I'm guessing those other people are a lot of farming. Is it kind of a farming town? Yeah. So I could go and pick up a ranch hand job somewhere, just right here locally. Yeah, it seems like. Help a little bit in the winter months. It seems like in a town, I think you just have to put your thinking cap on and think outside the box because it feels like in a town that small, there's got to be. needs that people have because it's pretty remote you can't get to the things

you want. So I just spend some time brainstorming what is it that during the summer months, or I'm sorry, during the winter months, I would need help with that it would be nice to have that service and maybe it's a service that you can provide for the folks who live around you during those months. Make sense?

Yeah. Is your fiance in the same town? Yeah, we live together. Okay. Well, she's got enough hair appointments with a town of 400 to make this work. So she drives an hour to go to work. Goodness gracious. Wow.

Every day? An hour each way? Yeah. Oh, gosh. Yeah, an hour each way and she's working Monday through Saturday. Dude, she just set the bar, Riker. Sounds like you're driving an hour into town for your side hustle. Yep.

You hop in with her and you go do something nearby. You drop her off and you go DoorDash. How you have quality time. So that's the key. If you want stable income to make this less stressful, go create some stable income during those months. Otherwise, you do the peaks and valleys side where you go, hey, I made $10,000, we only need five. I'm going to sock away five over here, knowing why I need to float some expenses in the down months. You're doing good.

I mean, you're making $80,000 a year, which is pretty sweet. Yeah. Yeah. For small town rural living. I hope you have low expenses. Yeah, we're only, we have to spend about $2,500 a month. That's not bad. So when I'm only 18 and when I'm 18, and when I'm 18.

able to. I'm hoping to get my seed yell, and during the winter, I was going to snowplow drive. Hey, there we go. I love it. There you go. That's a great idea. Can you start a Christmas tree farm, too? I've seen that in every Hallmark movie ever. We probably could, to be honest with you. I like this. I'd get creative. You guys are young. You can sort of take those risks right now, quote-unquote, obviously doing this all with cash. Are you guys completely dead free, both of you? Yeah, we're completely debt-free. We own both of our vehicles, and we're paying $1,000 a month and rent. Way to go.

Literally. And then just food is the only other. This bodes well. Because that really, if you have inconsistent income, you really got to be debt free and have that emergency fund because life is already a little bit stressful when you don't know what's going to come in. And so I'm proud of you for being a really hard worker at 18. I think this bodes well for your future together.

And I wish you guys the best. Yeah. Knowing what I know about your income if I were you, every time I got 10,000, I'd keep 6,000 and put the rest away. And that's kind of your. winter month store until you can get something off the ground and roll in and just tell yourself that you make $6,000 a month instead of 10. I learned a lot on that call. This was like Settlers of Catan. He was like, I'll trade you hay for a brick, Dad. I'm like, all right, hey, whatever kind of arrangement you guys have, you figure it out. Whoever got the longest road wins. That game hurts my brain. But hey, I'm not a farmer for obvious reasons. I wouldn't survive one hour out there. They'd find my body.

You're three feet from the house. Oh, boy. I needed my gluten-free snacks. If you've been paying off debt working the plan and have reached baby step four or beyond, you've done the hardest part. Now it's time to celebrate. The Live Like No One Else Cruise is back. March 14 through 21, 2027. Join all the Ramsey personalities and me as we sail to Half Moon Key, Cozumel, Jamaica, and Grand Cayman.

Cabins sold out last time and they will. again. Lock in yours with a $600 deposit at ramsysolutions.com slash events. That's ramsysolutions.com slash events. We're headed to Orlando up next. John joins us there. John, welcome to the show. Hi. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. What's going on with you? Yeah. So I currently, yeah, as I said, I live in Orlando and I have a pretty good job, but I have a potential career change and unique job. opportunity that would take me out of state, but it would actually be a pay decrease. And another big problem is that I'm severely underwater on my mortgage. Oh, boy. Oh. You're not behind on payments. No, no, no. Okay, so how are you underwater? Like upside down? Upside down, yes, sorry.

You owe more than the house is worth. Yeah, quite a bit. How did we get here? Yeah, houses. Yeah, so I bought this house about two years ago, and the market was very, really high. And I move to the whole home buying thing, so I'll probably overpaid for it. Yeah. And then, yeah, houses in my area, they're really not selling well. The prices have gone way down since I've bought. So you're underwater on paper right now, as if you sold today, you would take a big loss

and you need to come up with a difference. Yes, and that's the problem with this out-of-state job, yeah. How do you have any money? Like, do you personally have any money saved? Yes, I have quite a bit of savings, but I just don't want to dig into it for this. How much do you have? Yeah, so I have stocks that I get from my company. I have about 110,000.

Okay. And then just, and then like liquid cash, I have maybe like 12,000. Okay. Okay. So the good news is if you did choose to get out of this. Because it's 70,000 underwater. Is that correct? That's what I'm expecting at about 70,000.

Okay. The good news is if you had to bring the cash to the table to get out of this house, you could. However, my question is, why are you moving out of state for a pay decrease? Tell us more about the opportunity. That doesn't sound like an opportunity just yet. Yeah, yeah. So give more background. I'm a software developer currently, and I do really like my job.

and the pay is good. So this job would actually be a completely different career change, and it would actually be in federal law enforcement. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. So something I've been thinking about doing since I was a kid, and I finally got the opportunity to do it. The process takes a really long time,

and very few people make it through the process. So I wasn't really thinking about this the whole time. I was just kind of going through the process. What's the differences in pay? What do you make now, and what would you? you make? Yeah, so my total, so basically right now is around 160,000. Okay. My total pay after stocks and everything ends up being about 210,000, maybe a little bit more. Wow. Because I get 50,000 in stocks. Yeah. And then this new job would start out around like high 80,000, but it does go up

after each year. But yeah, it would definitely, even long term, like the highest paid people in the new role would make slightly less than I make currently.

Yeah. Like slightly less than the 160 or slightly less than the 210? Slightly less than the 210. I think the top people, like once you make the GS-13 or whatever, I think it ends up being around 190,000. Okay.

And you're single? Yes, I am. I have. have a long-term girlfriend, but not married. What's the, you said the percentage was low to even get into this? What's the percentage, like, what's the chances that you'll move and actually get into the program or get to take the next steps? Yeah, so right now, so they're wanting to get me set up for training right now.

So around 1% of people who apply actually get elected for, like, training. but I've actually made it all the way through to that stage. Okay, so you made it under the fence. So what has to happen next? What's the timeline? So I haven't fully labeled. So, yeah, training would be about three or four months from now. They have to get me selected for a training class.

Would you have to quit your job to do the training? I would, yes. Okay. Okay. And then the training, oh, go. Well, I'm just thinking through this. So it sounds like this is something you really want to do. Right? You've kind of decided you are doing it. I haven't made up my mind. It would be different if I wasn't happy in my current role, but I do really like my current job. But at the same time, yes, this is something I've wanted to do for a long time.

Well, the truth is you can always go back to software developing if this doesn't work out or if it's, you know, I had fun, but I'm ready to go back. It'll always be there. I'm not mad at the pay cut if it's what you really want to do. You're going to have to just suck it up and go, these stocks are gone. I'm going to use this to get out of this underwater mortgage. You might owe some taxes, and then you're going to move, and that's going to cost money. And so just no, it's not a financially optimal move, but we know life is bigger than just spreadsheets. Sure.

Do you have any debt? Yeah. No, no other than the mortgage. Okay. I mean, I think unless you have another reason that you haven't told us about, if the reason for you strictly is a financial one, but I kind of like my job, I think we've given you an out for both of those. It's just do you want to go forward or not?

That's true. In the grand scheme of life, the underwater mortgage is like, okay, that was kind of a stupid tax, you know, something you couldn't super control. Now, you could have put more down and had more equity and got out of it unscathed. but here we are, and you're a smart guy, you make great money, you will recover. Okay, thank you. So financially, it's not the end of the world. It's just if it's more about my decision on what career I want to do.

Yeah, I mean, I could ask you this question. I mean, there's a chance that if you stuck in this house for a couple more years, maybe you'd see it go right side up, but will this federal law enforcement opportunity be available to you in two to three years? We don't know. Do you know? We don't know, yeah. So there is an age limit. I'm 32 right now and you have to enter training before you turn 37.

So the window's kind of closing, but it's not a meet closed. I mean, you got five years. So if you said to yourself, I know I can wait three years and I want to do that, you could wait three years and see if you can get right side up on this. If you know for sure that that opportunity would be available to you and you would. wouldn't be the 1% that doesn't make it to training, right? And would you just rent in this new area if you got the job? Yeah, that would probably be the plan starting out at the new job is to rent for a while. Training itself takes about six months, and then your housing is taken care of during that time,

but then I would probably rent. Is the training paid? Yes, it is. Okay. And then the last question, I mean, it's not part of the financial discussion, but the relationship. Is it going to survive long distance? Probably not. That's another, yeah, that's another big factor in my decision. Okay. So you're, and you're okay with that, it seems? Yes. Okay. I think that's, yeah, it's just something I'll need to decide. So I'm looking at all the factors. So the financial factor and then also the right.

relationship factor and both of those I think are going to influence my decision. Yeah. Okay. I mean, if she's the one that changes the scenario, but if you're like, hey, it's been fun, but this career means more to me right now than the relationship, that's the choice you're making and you just got to make peace with that. Yeah, that makes sense. Man, a lot of big decisions, John, but I'm excited for you.

It does feel like one of those once in a lifetime opportunities. Now, if he was in crippling debt, didn't have the stocks, he was going to have to do a short sale, and wreck his financial life, this would have been a different conversation. That's true. I just want to make that clear that he's in a decent spot, all things considered, outside of being underwater on the mortgage, and that allows him to have this flexibility. And he's single, so no, you know, spouses or children are affected by this move. That's a crazy change, though, from software developer to federal law enforcement.

I kind of know. I mean, if it's, you got to be at eight, there's age and only this many people get in. Is this like SEAL Team 6? I don't know, man. He's going to be knocking on some doors. I didn't want to ask because I felt like he wouldn't tell me. Whatever it is. None of my business.

I want to know more. It's like a series. It's like Jack Ryan. He is Jack Ryan. He's not telling us. Welcome to 2026. Last year is officially in the rear view and you're fired up to finally make some changes with your money. New year, new goals.

We love it. But let's be honest. Old you said the exact same thing last January and the January before that. And before you know it, those. money goals fizzle out faster than the fleeting flavor of LaCroix. So here's the truth. New Year motivation only gets you so far. You need an actual plan. And the good news is you don't have to figure it out on your own. Every dollar builds a personalized plan based on your goals and your real life. And it actually coaches you to stick with it. Plus, the every dollar app will help you find

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budgeting features to help you tell your money where to go. So don't go another year feeling broken stressed. Start every dollar for free in the app store or Google Play. Mike and Kim are up next in Kansas. What's going on? Hey, sir. How are you? We're doing great. This is a fun segment. You guys are not just random folks. You are baby steps millionaires. Is that correct? Yes, sir. We really are. And yeah, it's really, it's really exciting, actually. that both of us come from very humble beginnings. And when we found your plan many years ago, I'll let the wife explain that. That kind of put us on this path.

And, yeah, we can't thank you enough. It's just great. That's great. Well, hey, I did Didley Squad over here while you guys did all the hard work, but we're honored to be a part of the story. And for the listeners, we like to do these segments to say, hey, it's possible for you. These are real people, normal people,

who just worked their tails off over a period of time and invested consistently. And we want to hear how you did it. So let's break this down. What is your net worth as a family? Well, we're north of 3.5. And to break that down, we got 2.7 and 401K's IRAs. We got about 100 liquid in brokerage accounts, savings account, and our home that we purchased last year with cash is valued at $700,000.

Good job. Amazing. How old are you guys? I am 57 and Mama is pretty close to that. Fantastic. Is Mama on the line? I think I hear her back there. Hi, Kate.

I'm here. Yes. Hi. Fantastic. Okay. What was your worst year of income and best year of income in your working careers? Okay. 1987, my first year in the military, I made $8,694.

Wow. And best year so far? This year will probably north of 300. Oh. That's with six retirement checks coming in. on top of my wages. Way to go. That's a glow-up if I've ever heard of one.

Wow. Yeah. Okay. So what are your careers? So we are both retired military. And then we both went on to work for the military as civilians. My wife is retired for good now. She's retired twice. And I'm working on my second retirement.

I could retire any day. I have the time. I'm enjoying my job. So in the next three to five years, I'm going to walk. Maybe you'll hit a world record. You'll have three retirements. Just keep it going. It's like that movie where the cop has one more mission in him. He's like, come on, get out of retirement. Liam Neeson? Yes. Well, thank you for your service. Yes, incredible. What were your degrees in if you got them?

So I got a two-year in general studies, and then I'll let Mama take over. And I have a four-year degree in criminal justice. Fantastic. And do you remember your GPAs during that time? I think mine was 3.6. Yeah, and mine was about the same. She was being humble. She was about a 3.8. I can tell she's the smarts here and you're the bronze.

That's awesome. I'm the Sherpa. I'm the Sherpa of the relationship. So how did you do this? What was, I mean, was this always on the radar we want to save for retirement or did you go through some valleys to finally make it to this being the goal? Tell us a little bit about the journey financially. So, yeah, like I said earlier, we both come from very humble beginnings. And we knew that we had great families and great values, but we wanted to change the money part.

So we searched and searched and like trying to find a path. Like, how do we get there? How do we get there? And then from there, I deployed in 2008 for 15 months. And while I was gone, I'm going to let Mama take the conversation over those. So we were stationed in Germany and he deployed to Iraq for 15 months. So it was just myself and my daughter. And a friend of mine told me about Dave Ramsey.

and she gave me the book to read it. And when he would call on Sunday, I would ask him, what are you watching on TV? Are you listening to any money people? And he was listening to another pretty well-known financial voice at that time. And I told him about Dave Ramsey and how the podcasts were free. It was just so easy to listen and get engaged. And I'd mail him a book.

And sure enough, as soon as he heard Dave Ramsey, We both just fell in with both feet and dove into the program. It was exciting. It was new. It was invigorating. It was, you know, a way of money management that we were not familiar with. And it all made perfect sense. And, you know, with team effort and just intentional about where every penny went,

we were able to become debt-free and, you know, then start obviously saving money. So because of a good friend and because we both wanted a change for our future, Dave Ramsey really turned the switch for us. Wow. That's awesome. So this was like 17-ish years ago. You guys kind of got focused and went, all right, let's get out of debt. Let's start investing. We did. We went all in. I buy your books by the bundle and I pass them out. When I got here, I passed them out to my team that I work with. That's awesome. And I said, hey, hey, guys, just read this book. All I ask is you read it and pay it forward when you're able to one day. We've been to the seminars down in L.A. We were signed up for the cruise.

We were signed up for the previous cruise. The first one. Yes, but COVID put a damper on that. Yes, it would have been great. It was great when we did it again last year. Yes, most recently we co-taught, prior to leave in Germany, we got back from Germany last year. We co-taught a financial peace class with our chaplain.

That's great. And that was great. That's fantastic. Did you guys inherit any of this $3.5 million? Not a penny, sir. No, sir. Fantastic. And then I got to know, what kind of cars are real-life millionaires driving?

Can you tell us the year-make and model of your vehicles? I am. The car I drive to work every day is a 2009 Honda Accord. That is so perfect. That's so spot on. Wow, wow, wow. Okay, and how about Mama? Mama's got a Honda pilot in there.

That's a 22 that we bought cash. There we go. We were there. Good man. The wife always drives a nicer car. That is the rule. That's the rule. Yes, sir. So, yeah, and yeah, we've only bought three cars. We've been married 31 years this August. We've only bought three brand new cars over those 30 years. Wow. So we just... Pop is due for an upgrade, isn't he?

Well, to be transparent, I got an upgrade last summer. We bought a, I got a GMC Sierra with the, Denali package, but it sits in the garage because I baby it, and I've never had a vehicle like that. Okay, okay. Makes sense. It's like too nice for you to drive. It's too nice. It's just a trophy at this point. It just sits on the shelf.

Exactly. That's hilarious. I get to the gas station and then I detail it in the back in the garage. So do your neighbors or friends and family know your status and net worth and wealth? Because it doesn't seem like you flaunt it. If I drove by your house, I would make those guys are probably worth $3.5 million. Nope. They don't know.

And I was telling my wife, I was telling Kim, I was like, this is funny because we don't have to worry about our family listening to this podcast because they don't follow you guys like we do. That's amazing and sad at the same time. I hope they do one day. And they go, hey, that's Mike and Kim. They didn't change their names. I recognize those voices.

Wow. Well, there's nothing to be ashamed of. That's the good news. If they're like, whoa, I didn't know, hey, we'll show you the way. There was no magic tricks here. You guys worked really hard. You served your country well. You invested for the future.

You know, was this just in, you know, 15 years of solid investing? Yes, sir. So in 2002, the Army came out with the TSP, and you're well familiar with that. Oh, yeah. So I watched that for about a year. And then I went all in January of 2003. And then I kept that while I was in Act of Duty. When I retired, I rolled it into my civilian TSP.

And now it's just one big one now that's growing. And my wife, she did. And this is what I tell people, like, it's never too late. My wife worked 11 years civil service. The last 10 was consecutive. She dumped. She maxed it out every year with catch-up funds as well. And then she retired after 10 years.

And now her TSP has grown to over a million dollars in 10 years of investing. It's crazy what some intentionality does and the alignment. That's the really inspiring part about you guys. I can tell you're in sync. I mean, you're passing the ball to Kim. She's passing it back to you, Allie, You guys, that speaks to a great marriage, which then turns into. a strong financial future. So thank you for inspiring us and everybody listening. And it's still possible.

57 years old, 56 years old, worth $3.5 million, zero dollars in inheritance. He's driving an 09 accord. She's got the 22 pilot, as it should be. I want to be that one day. Okay, picture this. You sit down to do your taxes, but instead of stressing out, you're actually ahead of the game and filing with an affordable software that makes your computer shoot confetti. when you're done. Okay, not that last part. But Ramsey Smart Tax does make filing easy and doesn't make your bank account cry. Ramsey Smart Tax is a 100% accurate software that's honest about its pricing and is backed by a company who's been in the business for over 50 years. So go to RamseySolutions.com slash smarttax to take advantage of early bird pricing and stress-free filing. That's Ramseysysolutions.com

slash smart tax. Our scripture of the day, John 1633, I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world. James Clearer said, when you can't win by being better, you can win by being different. That's how I've got to where I am today, Jade. I knew you were going to make that about you somehow. Not the sharpest in the room, but I'm unique. You are unique. You're one of a kind. There's only one George Camel.

There you go. All right. Mindy is in College Station, Texas up next. What's going on, Mindy? Great. How can Jade and I help today? So I have been debt-free. I have no student loans. I am a senior in college and looking into moving out within the next year, buying a house. And I have no credit score.

And one of my professors kind of got into my head. I'm wondering how to best build a credit school without going into debt. Great question. And by the way, I'm so proud of you. You know how weird it is that you are debt-free graduating college with no credit score? Absolutely. It's a good thing. Way to go. So what's your current? What's your current living situation? Are you at your parents? Are you in the dorm? Where are you right now?

Yes, I'm living with my parents at home. Okay. Are you paying them any type of rent or just totally? No, I lucked out. I am living rent-free, able to work only four hours a week at a practically minimum wage job while going through college. Okay. And what will your job be when you graduate? I'm looking into government agricultural work. Okay. And what will that pay? Somewhere around $70,000. Okay, cool. So you're not technically ready to buy a house. You're just thinking about what you will need to be ready to buy a house.

And is that the big reason for wanting a credit score, wanting to build it? Correct. So I'm in a deed of trust. state, which means that no court if I default on a mortgage, and some of the mortgage companies are a bit more harsh. So I am wanting to have a good credit score when I graduate from college. Got it. But you're not going to be buying a house out of college? No, not directly. So you'll be renting for a while? Absolutely. Okay. And you can rent easily without a credit score. If you were employed, pass a background check and you have enough money to cover a potentially higher security deposit, which you'll get back when you move out, they will rent to you.

And so don't believe people who are like, well, you're going to need a credit score to rent an apartment still. I've rented many an apartment without a credit score. They just want to know, can you pay? Are you a criminal? And if not, they go, well, since we don't have the credit score, you'll pay a higher deposit. That way there's a little more skin in the game on your part. So don't worry about that.

So then let's talk about the idea. We know you won't need it to rent. let's talk about shifting you from the whole mindset of, well, I might need a credit score for something, Jaden George. And we're going to just suggest that you don't need to build a credit score for any reason. Because right now, I mean, think about it. You have no debt. There must be a reason that you decided to go through your life with no debt. And the only way to build a credit score would be you having to get into debt.

Okay. And when you do get to that point of buying a house, which, you know, in getting a mortgage, there's a process that I've been through called manual underwriting. You may have heard about it. And here's what, I'll tell you the exact things that are required because I did in-depth research for my book, which I'll send you, Mindy. There's a whole chapter on credit scores and how to live without one where it's super nerdy.

And here's the exact step. So here's what you will need to get a credit, to get a mortgage without a credit score. You'll need verification of income for the past 12 to 24 months, so your tax returns, which you'll have been employed at that point for a few years, right? Correct. You'll have rental payment history, 12 months of documented on-time payments. You'll have that. You need 12-month history of your savings and bank statements, which you'll have that.

And then one or more regular monthly expenses as an alternative trade line. So think utilities, cell phone bills, anything that you've had to pay monthly, that will count as well. And for anybody listening who's thinking of the same thing, if you are self-employed, you'll probably have to show your tax return. turn history for the previous year. Yeah. There's a little more risk there with self-employed folks to make sure their income will stay that way. So that's Mindy, that's all you need and you can reach out to our friends at Churchill Mortgage as you get closer and they can help you in

your area go, here's exactly what you need. And the truth is, here's what they do. They do manual underwriting, which means no computer runs it. There's no credit score. There's no automated underwriting. And so a real person looks at all this information to grant you the loan and essentially give you a quote-unquote good credit score. Okay. So that's what happened to me.

As long as you do a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage with at least 10% down, that's the other thing, is you've got to do it the Ramsey way, not going, well, I'm going to put 3% down on a, you know, USDA loan on a 30-year. You're going to have a harder time doing that. But if you're a strong borrower, meaning 15-year and 10% down, they go, all right, or 20% even better. And so that's what I would be focusing on is just stacking cash since you're doing so good instead of worrying about, I need to open a credit card. start building my score and keep up with it. 100% do not. I would spend your energy elsewhere. Sounds good.

Thank you so much. Yeah, thanks for the call. And hang on the line. Kelly's going to pick up. We'll get you a copy of my book, Breaking Free from Broke, which breaks all of that down for you. Hunter is in Arkansas up next.

Hunter, what's going on? Hey, man. How are you doing? We're doing great. We're running a little short on time, so get right to the question. Let's see if we can help you. Yeah, man.

So basically, somehow all up, I'm just trying to do better at trying not to live, paycheck to paycheck, you know. I was going to see maybe if you guys have to tips on that. Yeah, the first thing, you know, paycheck to paycheck is usually a symptom of a bigger problem. You're just feeling the effects of something bigger. It's usually a spending problem or an income problem.

So tell us a little bit about your income. Right. So this past year, I just cleared over $117,000. And my total bills for each month is roughly around $3,000 a month. Okay. And so, yeah, I roughly make after taxes $1,400 a week. Okay. So that gives me a little bit of, once I whatever things to my bills account,

I roughly have $5.50 to $600 a week after that to spend freely. So you're bringing home $72,000 or so, and your expenses are $36,000 a year. So you should have half your income sitting somewhere, but you're saying it's disappearing and you're not able to cover all the bills? Well, no, it's not necessarily that I'm not covering the bills. I got, the bills are taken care of. Like, I got a whole other account where it automatically direct deposit to my bills account.

So those are all on auto pay. It's just more so the free spending money as well as trying to cut into me trying to save some of that as well. Do you have any debt? Yes, so I got a truck payment, a side-aside payment, student loans, and rent. Student loans? How much are the student loans? The balance is right out 11,000 And the payment is $121 a month

Okay, and what do you owe on the truck And what do you owe on the side by side? The truck I owe 49,000 And the south side I owe $23,000 Goodness gracious There's your problem right there, my guy Ding ding, ding, we found a winner Yeah

Did you got $73,000 in toys going down in value And you make a little over $100,000 It's just simply way too much Which means I think one or both of these things should be sold to free up a whole lot of income. What's the payment on the side by side and the truck? The truck is 1,130, and the south side is 575. And what's your rent every month?

We split it, so it's 475, so my part is 475. Goodness, your truck payment is like triple your rent. Right. Do you see the problem here? You're going, hey, I'm living a paycheck to paycheck. It's like, doctor, what's going on? I don't know why I'm in pain. And we're like, dude, you got a knife in your back.

That's what's going on. It's the truck on the side by side. It's that. And, I mean, for a guy who's making, you know, I don't know, what did you tell me, $1,400 a week, you're spending on something. Do you have a girlfriend? Yeah, I do. Yes, ma'am.

All right. Do you have a budget? No. It's in my head. It's a mental budget. Yeah, I think that's your big problem. I mean, don't get me wrong. This truck and this side by side are a problem.

You need to sell one of them probably instantly and then do the work to pay off the other. But you got to get on a budget, first and foremost. I think if you get on an every dollar budget, you're going to see where all this money is slipping through the cracks. My guess is it's on social life. I think you're at that it's like you get off work, go get a drink with your boys, take your girl out, going out on the weekends, all of those things. A little door dash here. Uber eats there. Kelly's going to pick up and make sure you get set up with every dollar so you can get back on track.

We're rooting for you, man. This is a solvable problem. All right, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.