Financial Irresponsibility Always Has a Cost

24:31Dave Ramsey:Okay, if you want to plug your brain in, Ramsey, we're fans of you. We're not going to put you down. Now, if you start the other crap, I'll knock you in the head just like I will any generation, right? You start telling me how capitalism is the problem. Capitalism is not the problem. You're the problem. So get up off your butt, leave the cave, kill something, drag it home. That's, you know, get a job. There's nothing new about that. That's the same in every generation. So, you know, and Donald Trump's not your enemy and Joe Biden didn't either. Neither one of them are going to fix your life. Look at them.

25:04Dave Ramsey:Come on. You got to do this. So all that stuff. And but I just when we take these calls, I see patterns in these calls coming in like today. And it just gets me. I just want to share with you guys. Observe what we're observing. it's exciting what this nation could look like what this economy could look like based on people like those callers contributing to the economy and becoming a positive thing for their families generational think about where their grandkids will be that guy if he takes his car payments alone he'll have eight million dollars at 65 yes that you put it in the calculator while we were here plugged it in what if he does that talk about yes i mean and then what if the kids that he raises takes that$8 million and turns it into$80 million.

25:51Dave Ramsey:Yes. I mean, this is changing your family tree. This is what it looks like. And this is the power of God's ways of handling money, of grandma's ways of handling money. We call it common sense, but it's so rare, it's like having a superpower. And so we just keep bringing it back to you all the time. And we just got to tell y 'all, we're fans of you if you're 22 or 25. And it's assuming you're one of the good ones, okay? If you're not, then you're not going to like it when you call here because we're going to box your ears like we would anybody else because we love you and we want you to win. And we're going to get you on track.

26:23Dave Ramsey:That's what we do. Sarah is in Albany, New York. Hi, Sarah. What's up in your world? Hi, Dave. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. How can we help? I am calling because my husband and I, about two years ago, bought his grandmother's house when she passed. and we were all fired up about it. It was my husband and I working on it, you know, with our own two hands together fixing it. Problem is she'd lived in that house for about 50 years and not a little work was done to maintain it. And it is way more than we anticipated. And then fast forward to 2025, you know, we had a major structure fire. We're fighting with the insurance company in a different property.

27:09We lost my daughter. We had a major water break in the grandmother's house. Oh, you just drove. You lost your daughter.

27:16Dave Ramsey:Whoa, you drove by the what? A baby? One of your children? No, it was my oldest daughter. She's grown. Oh, how old was she? She was 25. I'm sorry. Oh, my gosh, honey. Oh, wow. Needless to say, all of the excitement and drive and, you know what? Maybe you and I can do this. We can fix this house together. It's out the window. It can be for our kids' use. There's no fun left. All that drive is gone. Yeah. So what is the condition of the property today? So when we purchased it, it was technically legally livable. But, you know, all the windows needed to be changed out, the electrical and oven tubing, the interior was from the 50s.

28:03What is the condition of the property today? So today we replaced all the windows. The electrical is still there. I had replaced a whole bunch of floors and done a whole bunch of painting in there. And then the water break, I mean, I'm talking a swimming pool amount because nobody's living in it right now. So it wasn't caught right away. And that resulted in most of the interior work that we've done. Or actually, I did most of that. What did you pay for the property? we paid 73 75 how much acreage is with it a half an acre it has two parking spaces it technically has a garage but it's sagging off and it's like question if it went on the market as is what do you think it could go for what do you think you could list it for if it went on the market as is we would probably get like 70 for and it wouldn't qualify for traditional financing because yeah but

29:01Dave Ramsey:But that's okay. If you could get$70 for it, you've got$70 in it. Is it paid for? No. Well, you've put lots more in it. Oh, yeah. No. Between what we paid for it, the closing costs, and the money that we've put into it, we're in it for a little over$100 right now. Yeah, but the money, do you have any debt? What debt do you have around it? So there's the loan that we took. for it ended up being like 82 i think for the purchase and the closing cost and then there was yeah and then on top of that we put about 7 000 on a home depot guard which is all into that house and then we put other cash that we had into it as well but the only cash i was talking about debt Okay, so in debt, you have$82 ,000 in seven.

29:54Yes. Okay.

29:55Dave Ramsey:And where are you living? Yeah. So we don't live there. We have our primary home, which we still have a mortgage on as well. What is it worth? This house? Yes, ma 'am. Maybe two? Maybe two? Yeah,$200 ,000, yeah. And what do you owe on it? I mean, it could be more if they fixed it a little bit. What do you owe on it? We owe about$75 ,000 left on it, I want to say. Okay. All right. Well, I mean, you have two options. One is dig deep and find some energy and get this thing fixed up and at least get your money out of it and sell it. I would not keep it. It needs to go away. No, we're not keeping it.

30:39Dave Ramsey:I would fix it up enough that I could get my$90 ,000 out of it and lose some of the cash I put into it and all the effort I put into it. but you're going to have to dig deep to find the energy to fix it up that much. The other option is take a complete whipping and probably sell both houses so that you've got the cash to take the whipping. But I really wouldn't do that. I'd dig deep and finish, get it at least up to 90, where you can at least get the credit card paid off and the mortgage paid off and move on. And whatever cash you put in it, you just lost. And we've all done stupid things and lost money.

31:14Dave Ramsey:Welcome to the club.

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32:09Dave Ramsey:It pairs a high-yield savings account for your emergency fund with a checking account that doesn't drain your balance with fee after fee after fee after fee. Open your Fairwinds Smart Bundle today at fairwinds.org slash Ramsey and get the Ramsey Be Weird debit card. That's fairwinds.org slash Ramsey. Insured by the NCUA.

32:43Dave Ramsey:If you're working the baby steps, the best and fastest way to do it is by using EveryDollar. It's more than just a budgeting app. Now the plan, the Ramsey plan, is built right in. You track your progress. You get personalized recommendations and coaching. Personalized for your particular situation. It'll help you free up more money and work the plan faster. It's like having one of us walking with you every day, showing you the next right step and holding you accountable. Start every dollar for free by downloading it in the App Store or Google Play. Madison is in Pittsburgh. Hi, Madison, how are you?

33:23Dave Ramsey:Let me try again. Hey, Madison, how are you? I'm good. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? um so i was wondering if it would be smart for me to move three hours away from where i live now to move in with my boyfriend so that i can build up a clientele where he's at and build my own salon oh no what's one thing got to do with the other what's moving away got to do with building the salon so the area that i'm in right now there's not as high of a demand because there are so many salons over here and i also don't have the greatest relationship with my family okay so i would rather be around people that want to be around me, such as the family and him.

34:22And he has also said that he would help me build what I am wanting to build if it's over there.

34:34Dave Ramsey:So what kind of a salon are we talking about? Hair? No, nails. I do nails. Okay. I love the idea of you going someplace where you can have the business that you want to have. I love the idea of you exiting what might be a kind of a toxic relational environment with your family. I think that's all great. And if you've identified the right place to do that, I think that's fabulous. What I don't like is you tying up your business, your prosperity with someone that you're not married to, because what happens if this guy turns out to not be the guy that you marry? Well, now you're tied to him economically, which means if this starts going south, but your business is doing well, you might be less likely to end that relationship because you're economically tied up in it.

35:20Dave Ramsey:Yeah, or worse than that, your nail salon takes off really, really slow, and so you become financially dependent on a guy you're not married to, and he's now controlling the whole thing. Yeah, even worse. Really not a good thing for you, my little sister. I want you to be a standalone woman with square shoulders and a strong backbone. So we were planning in about a year, at a year and a half, we are going to get married. Great. How long have you been dating? A little bit over a year and a half. Okay. How old are you two? I'm 19 and he's 20. Okay. And your nail salon clientele is going to be working in a salon with someone else, and they have the rent, and they bring you in, and you work for them, but you build up a client base, or you're wanting to start a salon at 19 years old in a strange location where you know no one from scratch and build a whole business?

36:19Dave Ramsey:Which one are you saying? So I have a job lined up there for whenever I am out of school and I am licensed, which will be around two months from now. And I was going to work there for two to three years and then hopefully save up enough money to open up my salon on my own. Good. Very good. I like that a lot. How can we help you solve the problem to where you can go there, do what you're saying, but do it without living with your boyfriend? So where I'm stuck at is I'm not 100 % confident in myself that I'll be able to run and manage my own salon. No, you're not. You've got a job. Yeah. So go take the job.

37:04Dave Ramsey:What does it pay? um so it's really just going to depend on how many clients i get um i'm pretty sure it's going to be based off of i'm going to pay rent to rent a chair there and then probably pay a little bit in commission so there's no base pay at all um no do you have any money saved do you have any money to your name um i do i work right now i'm a home health care aide for my mom i make 11.50 an hour, and I have about$1 ,000 saved. Okay. So how are you not going to starve to death when you go take this job on straight commission with no base pay? So I was planning on moving over there, and before I get licensed, I'm going to, it really just varies on when I'm going to get licensed.

37:53I was going to start at a different job, And then whenever I have enough saved up besides my emergency fund to be able to...

38:06Dave Ramsey:I think I know why your parents are a problem for you. Because they're telling you that this is dumb and you don't want to hear that. It's not exactly that. I just don't... I've never really had a good relationship with my dad. My mom fully supports me. I just think you need to get yourself in a better spot before you do this. This is a nightmare looking for a place to happen. Okay? Okay. So you don't have any money, and you don't have a job lined up to eat. And so what 100 % this screams is, you're going to be dependent on this guy that you're not married to from the first moment you make this decision.

38:43Dave Ramsey:And you don't do that unless you're married. It's not good for you. It's a dangerous, vulnerable situation for you. He kicks you out. You know what you are? Homeless. Yeah. Uh-uh. I'm not going to let anybody I love do that. Okay. And we love you, and we're going to talk you out of it. And by the way, even if he was the best guy ever, why would you want to put yourself in that position where you're completely dependent on him? That's not a great look for you. Unless you're married. Unless you're married, sure, fine. If you're married and he has an income and he wants to support the family while you get your first and second job going here and all that kind of stuff, that's fine.

39:28But if he's not, then we're just playing house.

39:32Dave Ramsey:This is dangerous for you. And there's no reason for you to put yourself in that position. I just wouldn't do it. I don't if you know you need a you need a different set of income a different set of savings to protect you to allow you to be a standing as a standalone grown woman operating in the operating her own home and then be dating this guy yeah or be married to him yeah I don't think y 'all are wanting to get married right now because you don't think you're ready and I wouldn't disagree with that if I were her I'd probably keep doing what I'm doing and try to get a job at a local salon, save up as much money as I think, you know, I need to be able to make that leap and get my own apartment.

40:12And if you need to just have no contact with your family,

40:14Dave Ramsey:but you live in the area where they live, that's fine. Yeah, sure. It's not a big deal. Just set up a boundary. Just, I'm not going to interact with you people. You're morons. I mean, you can just, just, that's fine. You can do that. But I want you to have, you know, some safety for you because when you have to bet everything on someone else that is not legally bound to you that is a very dangerous scenario for you and we get the call when this 19 year old beautiful Madison is 25 and she's living in her car and she calls us because he kicked her out oh and there's a baby now, but there's no, you know, we can't find baby daddy because he's not actually the husband.

41:02Dave Ramsey:And this is, this is a guaranteed way to end up spending the first, the next decade of your life in poverty. Don't do it. Please, honey, please, please, please don't do this to yourself. Uh, so, okay. I don't,

41:24Dave Ramsey:the uh you have to be able to put when you're making big decisions you have to be able to put all of the key elements of the decision on a piece of paper and look at them and they all have to line up and say this life-changing major decision i'm making you know all of these things say it's a good idea and when we list them down for you madison all of them say it's not a good idea. Well, you have to run it. You have to run it through not just best case scenario, but through worst case scenario. You have to look at the worst case scenario. Absolutely. Well, I mean, best case scenario is you don't have any income.

42:02Dave Ramsey:Yeah. And you're waiting on clients to walk in the door and you're paying chair rent and you're living with him and you don't have any income. So from day one, you are a hundred percent dependent on this guy to eat and to have shelter. That's your best case. Yeah, you're just worth way more than that.

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43:58Dave Ramsey:Welcome back to the Ramsey show in the Fairwinds Credit Union studio. I'm Dave Ramsey, Jade Washaw Ramsey, personality and number one bestselling author is my co-host. Alex is in Portland, Oregon. Hey, Alex, how are you? Hey, doing good, Dave. How are you? Better than I deserve. How can we help? Yeah, I want to know if I can just invest$50 ,000 into my retirement account and then just work on retirement minimally for the next 30 years until I retire. Well, the regulations don't allow you to put it into a 401k or a Roth IRA at that lump sum. So no, you can't do that. But could you invest it? Can you invest it and say, in your own mind, that particular mutual fund is my retirement account?

44:48Dave Ramsey:You could do that, but you can't just randomly add$50 ,000 to a Roth or a 401k. Yeah, that's kind of my goal. As of right now, I have about$20 ,000 invested into various 401ks and Roth IRAs. I'm about to max out my Roth IRA for this year. I'm on baby step number four right now, but I don't have kids. If you're on baby step four, then no, I would not do that. What's the purpose of you wanting to do it that way? You have a mortgage, right? No. Actually, my mom, she's going to help me out with a tiny home, and I've always kind of lived under my means. My real goal is to just kind of travel the world and just really kind of enjoy the next 20 years because I'm probably going to end up taking care of my mom when she gets into her elder years because she's single, so she's going to need help.

45:45So as of right now, like I said, I have about$20 ,000 invested, and my job is going to allow me to get to about$50 ,000 that I can invest this year pretty easily.

45:57Dave Ramsey:and I guess what my question is is can I just invest that all into a mutual fund through a brokerage account and then and then just kind of enjoy the next 20 years of my life you could but it's not enough okay what would 50 ,000 will create five thousand dollars a year income okay it's a great place to park the money while you travel but it's not a it's not a solution to say, and after that, I'm never investing again? I don't mean never investing again. It's just like right now with my job, I make, I work a full commission job, but I am projected to make probably about$180 ,000 this year. How old are you?

46:38Dave Ramsey:I'm 36. Okay. And you're single, obviously. I'm single. Yeah. Completely debt-free. I just paid off my car and I realized that I never want to be in debt. I work in home improvement. Okay.

46:56Okay.

46:58Dave Ramsey:You're mathematically not ready to do what your dream is yet. Okay. You're going to have to work a few more years to do that. And so, I mean, you're making$180 ,000 a year. If you need$30 ,000, if you need$50 ,000 a year to travel, then you need a half a million. Oh, no, no, that's not what I meant. I'm thinking of just bringing my retirement up to$50 ,000. I put the numbers into your website, and I was looking over it. And then quit. Huh? And then quit and then go travel the world. No, I mean, I would work periodically. I just want to, you know, take a month off here, a month off there, come back and work, and then, you know, just kind of have the majority of my money go towards traveling, and then anything that I don't spend go towards retirement.

47:49Right. The majority of the money that you're earning, not that lump sum. That lump sum is just going to go away forever. Correct. That's just going to go into my brokerage account and

47:59Dave Ramsey:max out my 401ks every year. Okay. It's never a bad thing to invest. And so investing is a good idea. It's never a bad thing to have fun. So having fun is a good idea. It's never a bad thing to be generous. As a matter of fact, people that are wealthy and healthy do all three. And so, So, yeah, I think now that I'm understanding your plan a little bit better, I thought you said you were I misunderstood. I thought you were saying I want to put fifty thousand dollars away and never never work again and go travel the world. And I'm like, yeah, you're going to you're going to be skinny. You know, the 180 that you make now, what do you think it'll go down to when you're kind of doing this plan and working periodically?

48:38And what do you anticipate that being? It's performance based. I mean, I was pretty thin last year and it went down to 80 just because business was slow. You know, I guess the market I was in was a lot slower than what I'm in now. What I'm getting at is if it's just you, you're still earning a fine income. I mean,$80 ,000 while traveling. Is there a way where you can still do some investing and that you're not putting it completely on hold?

49:07Dave Ramsey:Yeah. I'm kind of wondering what a good number to shoot for would be after I hit that, after I invest that, the rest of the 50K. I think it's whatever number allows you to continue to do what you're planning to do. But I don't necessarily know that you need to live on 80 ,000 while you're traveling. Maybe it's 60. If you make 80 ,000 and you put 15 % of that away and you have an emergency fund and you spend the rest of it on travel and living, you're going to be okay. Yeah, I've always been minimalist. Yeah, I've always been minimalist. So, I mean, I've spent as little as like$1 ,000 a month before.

49:44That's what I'm saying. I think you can do both. I don't think you have to say, I'm not going to invest anymore. I think that you can continue to do that.

49:51Dave Ramsey:So I want you to work enough that you make at least 80. And I want you to put 15 % away. And I want you to take as much time off as that allows you to take off and travel. And put the 50K with a SmartVestor Pro. Go sit down with one. Go to RamseySolutions.com, click on SmartVestor. You can sit down with a professional investment company. They'll help you, teach you, show you, and understand your plan and what you're trying to do. And now that I understand a little bit more, but if you could do that right there. Yeah, that's perfect. Put 15 % away, travel, live minimalist. Why not? Make a minimum.

50:25Dave Ramsey:Work enough, you make 80. Then you're making more than most people. And you can go travel. Have at it. Have at it. Oh, and by the way, as young as you are, your mom's young. Maybe she ought to actually have a freaking plan so she has some money. Good point. So that she's not a burden in her old age. There's an idea. Man. So I had a really crass friend that was in his 80s, and he was a multimillionaire. And he was kind of a jerk, honestly, but he was a friend. but he used to say this all the time and I don't like it but there's enough truth to it that it needs to be said. He said, you know what an old man is that's broke?

51:12Dave Ramsey:I said, no. In the way. He said, you know what an old man is that's rich? I said, no. He said, grandpa. Oh, well. I don't like that. Listen, he's not wrong. You know, one of my goals is to not be in the way. Yeah, be grandpa. I don't want to be in the way. Man. Listen, he's telling the truth. Well, he's grouchy. In a grouchy kind of way. I think Oscar in the trash can on Sesame Street. This guy's got that down. But still, it's like, I don't like that. Not everybody, no. People aren't that. Yeah, they are. Yeah, I mean, you don't want to be the burden. I don't want to work my whole life and then be a problem.

52:00Yes. You want to be able to be fun.

52:02Dave Ramsey:If I end up working in McDonald's at retirement, it needs to be the one I own in St. Thomas. You know? Come on. Hello. I don't need to be, you know. I'm sorry I'm not mad at you people, but there's no chance I want to be a Walmart greeter as my retirement golden years, okay? No chance. I don't mind saying hi to you in Walmart, but I don't want to be paid to do it. Hello. Okay. Walk on by. So come on.

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53:52Dave Ramsey:Ann is in New York City. Hi, Ann. How are you? Hi, I'm great. How are you guys? Better than we deserve. What's up? I love it. So I had a question about life insurance and estate planning. My husband and I are in our mid-30s and we have a two-year-old baby. I knew that term life insurance was something that we had to get, but I recently got into a car accident. I'm okay. My car's totaled. And that really brought this task of, you know, life insurance much more to the forefront. Good. I'm sorry you went through the car accident, but I'm glad you're awake. Okay, good. Yeah, yeah, thank you. We've been working very diligently in Baby Steps 2, and we're about like three or four months away, all depending on when we get our refund because we're just going to put everything to the final debt.

54:42But so with the term life insurance, should I'm assuming we should be putting that as a line item now. Yes. Probably adjusting. OK, right. That makes the most sense.

54:52Dave Ramsey:Yes. So then my follow up question is when it comes into budgeting for like estate planning, I know we're going to have to hire a lawyer, draw up a will and all of that stuff is going to cost more money. You know what? You might not need to do all that just yet. You could take the wills quiz that we have and you might be able to just do one online quickly with Mama Bear. and not do any lawyers or anything like that. What's your net worth? I think I'm at$10 ,000 now. You don't need a lawyer. Just do a state-specific will. Yeah, you just need to go to. So let me help you. Both things. We can do both things for you.

55:29Dave Ramsey:They're both trusted people that we've done business with for years and years and years and years. So ZanderInsurance.com, Z-A-N-D-E-R, for 30 years. I've told people to go to Zander. They're my insurance agent. Chef Zander is a personal friend of mine. Okay? And they shop among a gazillion companies to get you the best possible deal on a term policy. Okay? Okay. And then go to mamabearlegalforms.com and like 70 bucks, you can have a will done. And it's perfect for you in New York. All wills should be state specific. And so this is software that will print out a will for you that's for New York.

56:11Dave Ramsey:You have to feed into it what you want the will to say, and then it'll print it out, and then you sign it, and it'll tell you what the proper notary or whatever you have to do in New York is. I don't know that, but some states require a notary witness. Some just require a witness. Some don't require anything. So you just got to know your specific state, and they'll tell you every bit of that. And it's like$50 to$70. You'll have the whole set of documents. You'll have a full estate plan. You'll have your life insurance in place, and really your budget won't skip a beat. Okay. I love it. I suppose a follow-up question as well.

56:46So my husband and I, we have combined earnings. We're about$150 a year. But each of us have five businesses that have been doing well, and we love it. So I know that once we get past Baby Steps 3, then I know we're on track to becoming the Baby Steps Millionaires. So when our net worth continues to increase, I'm assuming that the life insurance policy and the state-specific will, that's something that we can upgrade, I suppose, in a few years? Yes. Okay.

57:17Dave Ramsey:If you start to have a multimillion-dollar net worth, you need a lawyer to do your estate plan. Okay? It's worth paying an attorney at that point.

57:30Dave Ramsey:unless there's just something super simple about your will and everything. It's okay. You can still do it. You could have a$10 million net worth and be just fine with a simple will from Mama Bear. Unless you move states. But if you want to spend a little bit of money at that point and have an attorney look at it, that's perfectly fine. Nothing wrong with that. And life insurance, you could just add some more policies if you want. Keep in mind, Ann, that what you want to buy is 15 to 20-year level term insurance, and it should be about 12 times your income on you, about 12 times his income on him.

57:59And that way, if something happens to you in a car accident, God forbid,

58:06Dave Ramsey:he could take that amount of money, the 12 times your income and invest it, and it will produce your income without touching it. And so let's just say you made$100 ,000. and so you took out$1.2 million and he invested$1.2 million. That will create$100 ,000 of income without touching the$1.2 million forever, perpetually. And so that's where we came up with those numbers. And here's the thing. You're in your 30s. If you're not overweight and you don't smoke,$1 million then costs hard. It's the cost of a pizza to get life insurance. And it's just ridiculous that people don't have it. So you need to go get your stinking life.

58:48Dave Ramsey:Do the things she's talking about. And I'm really glad she called. And I'm sorry she had that accident, but I'm really glad it woke everybody up. And we said, hey, we got to deal with all these things because stuff happens in life. Yeah, she's paying attention. And that's the best thing you can do is pay attention to what's going on. Be intentional about making those solutions. And don't wait. Life insurance is not a baby step. And I think that's the thing to remember. I remember having that aha moment even back when Sam and I were paying off our debt. Because the truth is you do wrestle with it in your mind.

59:18You think, oh, gosh, I'm cutting in so many areas. I'm too broke to die. I'm too broke. Yeah. And the last thing you want to do is add something to the budget. Right. And you really do have to because you just don't know what tomorrow holds.

59:32Dave Ramsey:Wow. This is true. Cade is in Dallas. Hey, Cade, what's up? Hey, guys. How's it going? Better than we deserve. How can we help? Perfect. So we're in a pretty good situation, but my wife and I were having a discussion. I would call it a disagreement, but a differing on opinions. Sounds like a disagreement.

59:58I appreciate it. And so we have about five rental properties, not about five rental. We have five rental properties and our main property, as well as a good amount. I say good amount, right? That's subjective. but about$75K in cash in our bank and about$150 ,000 in stocks. And so we're all about paying off debt, but right now we're in a pretty good position. Two houses paid off, three houses with mortgages, and then one house with a pretty big mortgage, which is our primary residence. And your household income is what? I make about$150K.

1:00:39Dave Ramsey:Wife makes about$75K, so$225K. Got you. Very good. Okay. And what's the balance on your home mortgage? $350. Okay. Cool. And how old are you guys? $40 and$35. Cool. You've done really well. Congratulations. It's fun to have these discussions because you got to this point. So if you're asking what I would do, are you? Mm-hmm. Well, I sell the stock and take the$75K. That's$2.25. and I'd put that on that$350 by close of business today. Okay. I'm assuming you have an emergency fund in addition to the$75, right? No, the$75 is just cash in our price. But let's just say we need$25 in there for the emergency fund.

1:01:25Dave Ramsey:Yeah, okay. Then put$200, that leaves$150. And then that brings up the question you were going to ask about whether we sell one of the rentals, right? Right. So then the question becomes, so, you know, back in, I would say about 10, 15 years ago, I got into the real estate craze, listened to all the gurus. And I've heard you say before, you know, rentals come with their fair share of problems. And I have a fair share of dog day stories for you. But nonetheless, came out the other side okay. And all of them are cash flow, you know, quote unquote cash flow. Okay. So the two that are paid for, what are they worth each?

1:02:01Dave Ramsey:200 and about 150. Okay. And the other two, and you have three then that have mortgages. Correct. Those are 50, 100, and 150. Again, these are just ballpark numbers. Just small mortgages. Okay, good. Good. All right. And is there any of who wants to sell some of the houses to get the debt paid off? That would be my wife. She's completely bought into the let's go debt-free. I like her. Okay. Yeah. Okay, so here's the thing. The only question, the only thing we're arguing about is not if we're going to be debt-free, it's just when. Yes, basically, yeah. Yeah, okay. That helps the argument, okay?

1:02:42Dave Ramsey:Because if the argument is I'm going to stay in debt the rest of my life, we've got a different discussion. But if it's like, okay, I've got small balances on these things, I've got this pile of money, so I can throw$200 at the house, let's get the house knocked out, and then we'll whittle away on the mortgages, on the rentals, and you'd map that out and you say with a$225 ,000 income, it's going to take us four years to do all that. Or if we sell one of them, we can do it in two years. Or if we sell two of them, we could do it real fast. That's the argument. So we're arguing about two years or four years or whatever these numbers are.

1:03:13Dave Ramsey:We're really not arguing about the concepts. And so I don't want to give up these houses. I would rather fight with it for four years. she's saying I want to be done today if we gave up two of them we could be done today and that's about the numbers roughly um and that's the only argument is whether we what are we going to do with the next four years and either either answer is in the wise column so we're not gonna we're not gonna call it for you

1:03:48This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Financial stress does not just damage our bank accounts. It can also take a toll on our mental and emotional health and our relationships. Money worries cause anxiety and they are one of the leading sources of conflict for all types of couples. I know this. My wife and I have struggled with money conflicts for years. Listen, therapy can help even with money conversations. therapy is not about financial advice but it can help you build healthier ways of coping give you strategies to communicate about money and give you a plan moving forward i want you to consider talking to my friends at better help better help is an online therapy platform that matches you with a licensed therapist based on your goals and preferences better help therapists work according to a strict code of conduct and they are fully licensed in the united states you can message your therapist and schedule sessions right in the platform and if the first therapist isn't a great fit, you can switch at any time for no additional cost.

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1:05:12Dave Ramsey:We wish we could get to every call and question here on the show, but we can't. You can't get through. There's not that many lines. So if you have a money question and you want an answer for your situation, we've got a tool for you to help you. Head on over to our website and use Ask Ramsey. Ask Ramsey is our free AI tool that's built and trained on Ramsey proven principles. We downloaded several years of answers from this show into the data. All the Financial Peace University lessons, all the articles we've written that are on our website, and the books we've written are all downloaded into that.

1:05:49Dave Ramsey:So AI knows what Ramsey would say, one of us here on the show would say, and it will give you that answer free. And it's not polluted with outside confused information from Reddit or TikTok or other stupid places that people get bad information. Instead, you could just go to RamseySolutions.com and ask Ramsey, and you'll get a Ramsey answer to your question. If you want to know what we think, it's an easy way to do it, and it's completely free. Ian is in Atlanta. Hi, Ian. How are you? Hey, Dave. I'm doing good. I appreciate all your help through the years. My wife and I, you've helped us out a lot getting our finances in order, so I appreciate all that.

1:06:33Dave Ramsey:Thank you. We found out before Christmas my father-in-law had fallen into some scams, thousands of dollars. He actually maxed out all his credit card, and then he wound up mortgaging the house to pay off the credit card debt. We think he may even now have gone so far as to get a reverse mortgage on the house. Tomorrow, he has to go to Small Crimes Court to deal with one last creditor, about$2 ,500. The only income he has, legal, legitimate income, is Social Security. So we're not sure where to help him, where to step in and help him at this point. He hasn't let us not help him, but he hasn't given us a lot of room to help him.

1:07:11But tomorrow he has to go to court, and we're just not sure what to do, what he can expect there, and then what to do after that. Because like I say, it's this one last dead, and all he has is the House and Social Security. We don't want him to wind up homeless.

1:07:23Dave Ramsey:How old is he? He is 80. Okay. How has he been clearing the other debts? You said this is the last one. Yeah, the rest of him, when he mortgaged the house, he paid everything off, but he missed this one card. He actually wrote him a letter and explained the situation to him, and they still moved forward with it. Like I say, he got the letter in the mail that he has to be in court tomorrow for this last$25 ,000. Who's the creditor? Do you know? I do not know. Okay. What are you thinking about? Are you thinking about— I'm sorry, what state is he in? Georgia. Okay. All right. Go ahead. I was going to say, what are you thinking about paying the$2 ,500 for him?

1:08:02Is that what's on your mind? No, we're not. We're not giving him any more money. My wife is, you know, that's her dad. She's helping out some. I'm not entirely sure, you know, what, you know, she's doing. But I know she's not doing a lot because we know how bad it was. We actually wound up, I took his cell phone. I was paying for his cell phone. He was supposed to pay for it. We actually went over to the house ticket from him. So, you know, to try not to keep it from happening again. But, yeah, we're just trying to find out what he can expect tomorrow from the court. Can they get that? All he has is Social Security.

1:08:33What can they get? What can they do?

1:08:35Dave Ramsey:Well, to start with, what will happen tomorrow is uneventful. Have you ever been to traffic court for a ticket? Right, yeah. Like the first time you go to traffic court, you're like, ooh, I'm going to court. And then you go in there, and it's kind of funny. It's kind of not much to it. It's uneventful, anticlimactic. You know what I'm saying? They tell you what you already know. Yeah, that's exactly what's going to happen to him tomorrow. Okay? So these attorneys have entire cases, boxes and boxes and boxes of people that they're suing tomorrow. They roll them all in on two wheelers. No one comes to oppose them.

1:09:12Dave Ramsey:And they get judgment on all of them in about 10 minutes. Okay. They don't go through them one by one by one by one. The only one they will pull out is if someone actually shows up. So if he actually shows up, they'll pull it out and they'll talk about it. But they will do nothing because here's the deal. The guy legally owes$2 ,500 and he has not paid the bill. Right. He will lose the lawsuit. Right. I got scammed is not a defense. Right. Okay. So he loses tomorrow, and they take a judgment lien tomorrow. Now then on to your question, what can they or will they do with a judgment lien? 98 % of the time on$2 ,500, they'll do nothing with it because it's too much trouble.

1:10:03Dave Ramsey:It's not enough to screw with. Okay? Okay. But they take the judgment lien. If they're in a state where they can garnish e, they can clean out bank accounts, and they can garnish e wages. They cannot touch Social Security in any state. Okay. They could take a lien on his house. But were they to do that in the state of Georgia, and they would have to go through, they'd have to spend$1 ,000 to$2 ,000 to do a foreclosure to collect$2 ,000, and they end up owning a house, which, by the way, has a mortgage on it. Right. And they get to keep that mortgage. The bank does. So the chances that a bank takes on$100 ,000 or$50 ,000 or whatever mortgage to try to collect$2 ,500 on a credit card is zero.

1:10:53Dave Ramsey:Never seen it happen in 40 years. Okay. Not going to do it. So they take a lien on the house so that if the house is ever sold, they get paid, and they will do that. Okay. In most states, as soon as the judgment is final, it's an automatic lien on property that you own. I don't know for sure in Georgia if it is. It is in Tennessee. Okay. So as soon as the judgment's final tomorrow and they record it at the courthouse, his title is now clouded. If he tries to borrow money on the house or try to sell the house, they have to get paid because they now have a lien on the house. But they won't execute on the lien and force the sale of the house.

1:11:30Dave Ramsey:It's not practical. Not practical. Right. And if as long as his Social Security comes to an account that is standalone and doesn't have any other money in it, they can't take the money out of that account because it's Social Security money. Right. But if he has if he's got ten thousand dollars laying somewhere, which he doesn't based on the story you told me. But if he had ten thousand dollars, he probably would have paid this bill. Right. But yeah. But, yeah, so basically he is largely what we call judgment proof. There's not a lot they can do with the judgment. Right. Because he's too stinking poor.

1:12:10Yeah, that's true. Yeah, yeah. And we're trying to help him, but it's just, yeah, it's, I mean, he's probably gotten these calls before. You know, it's frustrating to hear about other people falling into these scams. What kind of scam was it? Almost a year. Well, Dave, he was going to marry Jennifer Aniston.

1:12:29Dave Ramsey:Oh, okay. And he was, you know, buying the Apple gift cards and sending$100 and$200 here and there. Not bad work if you're 80. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Romance scam, huh? Wow. Yeah. And it was one of the big ones, too. So, yeah, I mean, you know, we've heard other people fell into it. We just never. I thought, how do you fall into that? And then it hit my father-in-law. Yeah, I'm so sorry. Yeah. Yeah, it's heartbreaking. But it sounds like the money is gone. It doesn't sound like it's recoverable from anything. And so my guess is that tomorrow will probably end the drama on the$2 ,500. Okay. Until you all sell the house after he passes away.

1:13:19Okay. Okay, because he was talking about not even going. What good would it do to go? He's right. He's right. Yeah.

1:13:24Dave Ramsey:You're going to lose. You just walk in there and you're going to lose. There's no – they don't send you to driving school. It's not that part of traffic court. But you're going to lose because there's no defense. There's not a – there's no fraud or something like that committed. It's not identity theft. It's not – he borrowed the money and he signed up for the debt. He didn't pay it. He loses. It's very simple and very cut and dried. And I promise you there'll be a thousand at least in these cardboard boxes sitting there, and they'll all go boom with one drop of the hammer, right? One smack of the gavel, and it's over.

1:14:03Dave Ramsey:And it's like a conveyor belt for lawsuits, a lawsuit factory. And it's boring is what it is, but unless you're the one that's all freaked out because of it. yeah so anyway i i think he's okay i think he's probably in good shape i can't be 100 sure but based on what you told me i don't know of anything that any way they can get to him at this stage because everything's gone basically

1:15:09Dave Ramsey:Rachel is in Baton Rouge. Hi, Rachel. How are you? Hi, Dave. I'm good. How are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? My question is, is it smart to do a balance transfer that is offering a 0 % APR for 20 months to take care of a portion of a personal loan that my husband and I have? A personal loan to who? It's with a SoFi loan that we have. Oh, gross. How much is SoFi screwing you for? We have$15 ,000 left. And what's the interest rate? 12.31%. Aren't they helpful? I know how they paid for that stadium now. Okay. 12%, huh? On$15 ,000. And what's your household income? Before taxes. $112 ,000.

1:16:01Dave Ramsey:Okay, so how fast are you going to pay off the$15 ,000? Well, we would like to pay it off within a year and a half. That's awful. Is there something ahead of it? Is that why it would take so long? Like, do you have other debts you're attacking first? We have, we still have$1 ,000 left to pay off on a furniture that we brought. and then we also have a car loan. We have$18 ,000 left on that. Okay. And then starting back in July. I was going to say the car shouldn't come before the$15 ,000. Okay. Our payment is pretty high. Our payment is$679. Right. So what we have learned is the fastest way to get out of debt and the most sure way to get out of debt when it comes to everything but the house is to list your debts smallest to largest, Just pay minimum payments on everything but the little one and attack the little one with a vengeance.

1:17:00Dave Ramsey:And I mean no eating out. I mean no vacations. I mean nothing. Scorched earth on your lifestyle. And you attack these debts. You make too much money to be this freaking broke. And if I'm you, I'm going to pay all of this off in just over a year. A year? Yes, but you have no life during that year. You understand me. And right now, you're trying to slow walk this and figure out some interest rate that gets you out of debt. There is not an interest rate that gets you out of debt. What gets you out of debt is when you get so pissed off that you've been screwed over by SoFi and the car companies that you attack this stuff with a vengeance.

1:17:47Are you guys doing anything outside of your normal jobs, any side hustles, anything to bring in extra money? No, we aren't. That's the key. I'm telling you, that's the key to knock this out because the longer the horizon on this, the less likely you are to complete it. If you're not attacking this with intensity, it's just going to be, I'm tired of doing this. Oh, we've done it long enough. We paid off the car. That's good enough, right? You've got to be intense, which means the income that's going towards this debt has got to be as high as possible. Yeah.

1:18:20Dave Ramsey:And the outgo is nothing. I mean, I'm not kidding. Do not see the inside of a restaurant unless you're working there as your extra job. Because if you did that, if you committed, if you and your husband both said, man, we're both going to do a side hustle, we're both going to bring in an extra$2 ,000 or$3 ,000 a month. Oh, my goodness. So, Rachel, here's the deal, okay? You can wander into debt, and we've helped more people get out of debt than any other organization in America. We know what we're doing. You can wander into debt, but you cannot wander out. You have to get angry about this situation.

1:19:00Dave Ramsey:So angry that you become sacrificial in your lifestyle because you want rid of this because it's standing between you and prosperity. It's standing between you and becoming a millionaire. It's standing between you and changing your whole family tree. you got screwed by SoFi, but you allowed it. You signed up for it. You got screwed by the car company, but you allowed it. You signed up for it. So no more. Okay. I'm not going to be the person that gets stepped on anymore, and I'm going to punch back so hard that it goes away. When you do all of that, your question that you called in with becomes almost irrelevant.

1:19:42Dave Ramsey:That's right. because 12 % on$7 ,000 is not your problem. That's$700,$800. Yeah. That's$800 for a year. $800 does not fix a$30 ,000 problem. And you have a car debt, a SoFi debt, and a$1 ,000 debt that's$30 ,000. And so you've got, you know, and you don't have an$800 problem. You have a$30 ,000 problem,$2 ,500 a month for one year, and you're done. Now, where are you going to get it? You're going to get it from cutting lifestyle and increasing income and cutting lifestyle and increasing income, and you're going to go so hard that your broke friends think you joined a cult. Now, I don't know if you're ready to do that or not.

1:20:31Dave Ramsey:I can't make that decision for you. If I could, I would, because I know that the 10-year-from-now version of you would love you. You're going to, the time is going to pass anyway, and you're going to go, ah, if only I had listened to that guy on the radio. Oh, and here's the other thing. The faster you get out of debt because of increased income and sacrificed lifestyle, the more likely you do get out of debt. The more you drag it out and slow walk it, the better the chance is that you just stay in debt forever, and it just becomes normal. Well, everybody's gotten screwed by SoFi, so we might as well just be like everybody else.

1:21:09Dave Ramsey:Yeah, that's right. And your brain starts to normalize the stupidity that is America today. Yep. And then we've got Gen Z saying I can't afford to buy a house because Congress screwed them with student loans. Their college screwed them with student loans. ford motor company lexus motor company toyota motor company put them in 1200 car payments sofi put them in 12 personal loans and we're here to help you with your money oh bull crap you're here to help you with my money is what you're here to help we know who you are and you know this is this is it and you know when you look at gen z they got record credit card debt record car loans record student loans and then they say well i can't afford to buy a house well no kidding yeah because you got screwed by everybody in sight and the only thing i would do if i was gen z's i'd get really angry about that and i would clean this mess up and take these villains out of my life and say never again see i was i was 28 when i went broke and american express called my house and asked my wife why she would stay with a man that wouldn't pay his bills And she called me crying at the office and said, I was thinking the same thing.

1:22:27I got so mad that I'm 65 and I'm still mad.

1:22:36Dave Ramsey:If American Express calls my house now, it's a wrong number. Because I'm not going anywhere near anything that freaking company does ever. They screw people for a living. I don't want anything to do with Citibank. What's in your wallet? Money, not your crap. That's what's in my wallet. See, you got to get that thing going like that, that swagger. And that's what happened with Jade and Sam. They said, I'm not living like this. I've had it. I'm done. Yeah, you have to get to the point where instead of blaming people, you're just mad about it, and you're realizing, oh the same people that screwed you aren't going to come save you you know what i'm saying like they're not going to help you so you have to help yourself that's the only way that's the only way you get out of this it's the only way yeah when you get twisted up about it and you say i'm looking around out here and none of these people have my best interest at heart nope and including the balance transfer zero percent credit card well you know you know what that is just one day they're betting you're not going to pay it off in 20 months and you're not going to pay it off in 20 months if you don't change the way you're doing this.

1:23:49Dave Ramsey:Yeah, and they're just going to send you more offers. Well, no, they're going to jack you to 28%. They're going to make SoFi look like a good deal. Yeah. At the end of 20 months, they're going to hand you a, you know, oh, man, it's going to be bad. They're going to hand you a new piece of paper, and you're going to go, I think I got a little throw up in my mouth. Yeah, because I've signed. I did it again. I signed up with one of these companies. Fifth Third's here to help. Give me a break. They're going to screw you. when you walk into the finance company or the finance office of the car dealer it should have a sign over the top of it that says enter here to get screwed because that's what they're going to do they're going to jack you up and it's to their benefit not yours all you get out of it is toxic smell from the plastic that's new in the car and we call it new car smell it's the plastic that's new and it's toxicity.

1:24:45Dave Ramsey:Let me help you with this.

1:25:09Dave Ramsey:Welcome back to the Ramsey Show in the Fairwinds Credit Union studio. I'm Dave Ramsey. Jade Walshaw, Ramsey personality, number one bestselling author, is my co-host today. Cassandra is in New York City. Hi, Cassandra. How are you? Hi, Dave. First, thank you for your incredible gifts and the wisdom you share so generously. Your teachings truly made a difference in my life. Well, thank you. Years ago, I joined Financial Peace University and wiped out$80 ,000 in debt. Look at you. Wow. Proud of you. Way to go, kiddo. Thank you. Thank you. But now I feel torn between responsibility and boundaries.

1:25:55I have family in a third world country and also families here who are struggling financially. I have been helping, but now it feels expected. And they openly talk about what they want me to pay for. I feel guilty saying no, but I also worry because they do need the money. How do I help in a healthy way without being taken advantage of or feeling resentful and or becoming their financial plan, knowing that I'm supposed to give anyway? And lastly, I don't appreciate that the privacy and the mystery of where the money is coming from is not there. And therefore, it doesn't feel like I'm giving money.

1:26:38it's more it feels more like not it doesn't feel like i'm giving money like a gift but more like

1:26:43Dave Ramsey:an application yeah that's true that's what entitlement does yeah that's no fun okay so what amounts of money and how much is stateside and how much is in the developing country Okay, so my family in Haiti, they need everything. Yes. Okay. They need everything. We're talking about... How much money have you been giving the people in Haiti? And who is it? Your mother or your dad or what? So my parents live here in the States, and I help them out as well. They have retired, but they do not have that much money to retire off of. Okay, that's one. Who's in Haiti? My brother and my sister and my siblings.

1:27:35So my brother has five children and a wife, and my sister has two children, and my nephew just had a baby. What kinds of money? In a year's time, how much money are you filtering to these folks? In Haiti. so sometimes i send like um six hundred dollars to one eight hundred dollars to the other um um i send four hundred dollars so it depends because sometimes the kids need to go to school so we pay for i pay for them to go to school and then i pay for food i also pay i've been i'm also working on helping them to come to the states so that involves um applications so if you had to Put a rough estimate.

1:28:19What's a dollar amount that you would say yearly? I'm spending this amount of money on Haiti. I would say about like$10 ,000. $10 ,000?

1:28:29Dave Ramsey:Okay. And how about your mom and dad? Okay. So my mother, she, I've been giving her about$400 to$600 a month. But I've been scaling back off of that because I found out that she hasn't been using it appropriately. What's she using it on? She likes to buy things, and she likes to show off to her friends that she has money. Okay, so can we make the statement about everyone involved? A, we love them, and we want good things for them. True? Yes. Okay. B, no matter how much money we give them, it's not going to be enough.

1:29:19Dave Ramsey:okay i mean you could you could triple what you're giving them and nothing will change in their lives and that's why we are working now on getting them to the states yeah but and that's so that's a good that's a good that's a sustainable investment but just throwing three hundred dollars into a family of eight in haiti doesn't even move the needle. You could throw$3 ,000 in that same hole and it would still go down the hole. So you can't give them enough money to be God. You don't have that much money. And so, you know, all you're doing is getting aggravated and helping a tiny, tiny bit. But the amount of money you're giving into these situations is not changing their lives.

1:30:11Dave Ramsey:It might feed them for a day it might help them with their application to come to the states both of which are good things but you know you so if i'm going to give any more money i'm going to have two different things on it three things on it one is you're going to be responsible with the money that you have mother two um we're going to set a set amount and that's all i'm going to do three i'll help with the applications okay but i'm not gonna 600 800 400 300 and them think oh she's just made of money and i'm feeling used and guilty and they're still and they're still want more there's no end to it And so what we've got to do is put a boundary on it, put an amount on it, and say, I'm going to give you X per month, and I'll help with the application.

1:31:15Dave Ramsey:That's it. Don't ask for any more. So should I do that? Like, so now would I now be on the hook? Because now I said. It's up to you. If you don't want to do it. The amount of money you can give per month can be zero. But you need to set an amount. and that's for your budgeting purposes and you need and and for your sanity yeah because this has this is like a dog chasing its tail it's got no end to it that's what's driving you crazy it is but but it's also expected of me i don't care what's expected you get to set the expectation you get to decide what's expected i'm not expected of anything Bullcrap.

1:31:59You can sit down with them.

1:32:00Dave Ramsey:Let me help you with this. You get nothing. I changed my mind. I'm not giving you any more money. You can do that. That's perfectly okay, and you have no reason to feel guilty for that at all. Okay? You know how much money I'm sending your family? None. You know how guilty I am about it? Not at all. Yeah. I'm not obligated. They're hungry. I'm not obligated. There's a lot of people hungry. I'm not Jesus. I can't feed all of them. Okay? I feed some hungry people as an act of charity, but not as an act of obligation or guilt. And we do feed hungry people through the Ramsey Family Foundation. We do that, okay?

1:32:38Dave Ramsey:But we don't feed everybody on the planet. We don't have the money. And I feel zero guilt about that. Okay? So you've got to put this in your head that you're not Jesus. That job's taken. He already took the job. you can only do a little bit. You do not have the money to be God. You cannot fix their lives. And once you accept that, then you can explain that to them and say, I can't fix your whole life, but I can do this much a month. And that's what I'm willing to do. And if you don't like it, I can send nothing also. That's a possibility if you're a jerk about it. If you don't appreciate it and say thank you, a lot.

1:33:28Dave Ramsey:I can give you nothing. That's a total possibility. But in the meantime, I'm willing to do this. But you're not the Messiah. The job's taken.

1:33:57When I talk to people on The Ramsey Show, 90 % of the problems I hear come down to one thing, not having a plan. They're not living on a budget. They have no idea where their money's going. Money is just happening to them instead of them happening to their money. And guys, that is so normal, but it doesn't have to be normal for you. And that's why I want you to go download our EveryDollar budget app. EveryDollar not only helps you tell your money where to go with a budget, it also builds a plan to free up extra money so you can pay debt off faster and start building wealth. And the best part, your plan is completely personalized to your life.

1:34:35It's the same advice that you would get if you called a show. And it's right in your pocket. So don't keep living normal. Go download the EveryDollar app, answer a few questions, and get your plan today.

1:35:06Dave Ramsey:Today's question of the day is brought to you by Why Refi? If you've fallen behind on your private student loans and have stopped making payments, it can feel like every door is closed. But Y-Refi helps borrowers explore low fixed rate refinancing options that fit your budget. Go to Y-Refi.com slash Ramsey. That's the letter Y-R-E-F-Y dot com slash Ramsey. Might not be in all states. Okay, today's question comes from Parker in Tennessee. He says, my wife and I move every few years for work and we rented homes each time. Our friends recently bought a house for$1.5 million, which I know is out of their price range.

1:35:46So I asked how they did it. They said they did an interest-only mortgage. What are your thoughts on this type of loan? It sounds like it's renting a house, but you get the benefits of ownership. Would buying a house this way be a smart move for somebody that relocates frequently, or should we keep renting? So there's two concepts in there. There's the friends who have the$1.5 million house, which that feels like they're personal residents. They're not relocating as often as you do, but you're saying, is this a good idea for us since we relocate? And I would say no, under any auspices of the idea, this is a horrible idea.

1:36:27And the product is really just what it is. You're only paying interest. So if you're not paying any of the principal, you're never paying down the mortgage. So in essence, you're just renting a house. That's really what you're doing for a period of time. So there's no real advantage that I can think of for you to do this. I mean, after the interest period ends, your payment's going to jump up anyway, because you will start paying principal. And you're just paying more interest over time. It's probably, I got to believe it's one of the most expensive ways that you could buy a house.

1:37:04Dave Ramsey:And actually on the short term, owning a home is more expensive than renting. heat and air goes out sure roof leaks property taxes go up uh-huh homeowners insurance goes up all of those things you still got all those things and if you move and try to sell the house and um you've reduced the principal not at all you're likely going to take a loss oh yeah upside down between how often you move so no you need to stay away from it So anything that sounds too good to be true is, and your friends, Parker, are short-term thinkers. Yeah, I wasn't very smart. They're not thinking long-term. They're people that think, thank God it's Friday, oh God, it's Monday.

1:37:49Dave Ramsey:I want something, I want it now, and I'm going to buy it even though I can't afford it. And by the way, the interesting thing is, the difference in a payment on an interest-only loan and a 30-year, which we don't recommend, not much difference. not a lot of difference no because think about your 30-year mortgage the first payment you pay has almost no principal reduction it's almost all interest so the payment's almost the same it's not 50 difference or something like that it's not a lot different but the concept is way different because it describes someone who's thinking short term and is immature rather than someone that's thinking long term so the other part of this that i can't help but just call out is if you said, hey, they bought this house for 1.5, I know it's out of their price range, so I asked how they did it.

1:38:39That's the wrong question to ask. You don't look at someone who you see.

1:38:42Dave Ramsey:You ask how they did it so you don't do it. Right, not so you go, oh, they're buying things they can't afford, let me figure out how to do it too. How I can buy things I can't afford, yeah. It's not a great method. Really bad, yeah, that was kind of laying there and I missed it on the page, yeah. Mark's in Washington, D.C. Hey, Mark, what's up? Hey, how are you guys doing today? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I've got a little bit of a funner question, I think. You helped me out in the past. About eight years ago, we were drowning in consumer debt, just bought a new house. And since then, we are 100 % debt-free.

1:39:18Dave Ramsey:Good for you. House and everything? Thank you. House and everything. Wow. We got really angry and really focused. Eight years later. Knocked it out. Well, I'm glad I was there eight years ago. That's awesome. That's really cool. Me too, me too. And we're kind of, you know, we've definitely let off the gas some. Still focused, still intentional, but still frugal. And I'd like to take my wife to Italy. And I'm curious as to how much would be a responsible amount to spend on about a 10-day trip to Italy. What's your household income? It's about$200. And what's your net worth now? Right now, it's probably just north of a million.

1:40:07Wow.

1:40:08Dave Ramsey:Okay, good for you. That's a nice eight-year turn. Okay. And how much money do you have saved for the Italy trip?

1:40:18So we're going to go in the fall, so we're going to work towards saving towards it. But I was thinking, like, for the way that we like to travel, which, again, is very frugal,

1:40:27Dave Ramsey:I was thinking for Italy probably between like$8 ,000 to$10 ,000. I would double that. $1 ,000. I mean, you've got to price it out and see. I would double that. No cost. You're a millionaire. You're responsible. You're careful. You make$200 ,000 a year. Of course you're paying cash for this. 100%. No question. And$16 ,000 on a world-class epic adventure is not out of hand for you. Okay. So I'd put 15 on the budget and say, we need to save up 15 between now and the fall and then go do it upright. That's 10 days. That's still not a lot of money. You're still not. You're not staying in the four seasons doing that.

1:41:14Have you priced anything out? Have you looked at it? We've looked at flights. I've looked at a couple like Airbnbs and things like that that some people have sent me. places that like would kind of fit our style.

1:41:29Dave Ramsey:Okay. And, you know, they, I was surprised because they're like, you know, it's kind of like going on a trip in the U.S. Like it's not that bad going over there. And I was kind of surprised by that. Okay. I've heard you've been over there a couple of times. Are there any things over there that like we should definitely see in your opinion? What part of Italy are you going to? my wife wants to go uh sicily to florence which i told her hey i just looked at the map and those are on two yeah that's right listen i love florence in that area florence pisa uh and anything in that area i think you're gonna you can't go wrong great food too yeah tuscany is amazing yeah i mean the food wine scene in tuscany is off the chain of course you've got florence has got the um statue of David.

1:42:18Dave Ramsey:It's got, and you know, an hour and a half away is the Leaning Tower. And so that's all touchable right there. That's all doable. Actually, you can get down to Rome. Rome's full of tourists, everything. Yeah, it's very... From the Colosseum to the Vatican to whatever.

1:42:35Dave Ramsey:And a tourist hack, if you're going to spend a little money if you're going to Rome, if you're going to go into the Vatican and you're going to go into the Sistine Chapel and so forth and you're going to see the museum, hire a private guide and you don't stand in line for two and a half days to get in. It's a mile and a half long and you walk past every bit of it with a private guide and straight in like you're a snotty rich person and just go do it for sure. And it's definitely the way to go. And, you know, that's just a couple of things. But I mean, yeah, Rome's full of things you've read about your whole life and thought about your whole life.

1:43:13Dave Ramsey:And And so it's amazing. You stay there the whole time probably. It just depends on what you want to do and what it is you're after, what type of experiences you're trying to curate in the process. But, yeah, you can drop 15K pretty quick over there and still be called frugal. Absolutely, especially in 10 days. And you did it, Mark. You lived like no one else for eight years. and now you're still young and you can live and give like no one else. And so, yeah, enjoy this. Plan it out. Stay within the plan. And that helps you enjoy it because you're not stressed out about busting the budget or something.

1:43:58Dave Ramsey:But you're not being, quote, unquote, irresponsible. Not even close. Well done, sir.

1:44:10Thank you.

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1:45:46Dave Ramsey:buying or selling your home is a big deal and with all the clickbait headlines and conflicting data out there it's hard to know what's really happening in the housing market well we're here to make the latest trends easy to understand and factual median home prices went up a little last month to$403 ,000. We typically do see that in the spring season because it gets a little busier. Mortgage rates also dipped all the way to 5.43, down from 6.1 that we saw last February. Giving buyers some breathing room, but since rates are unpredictable, the best time to buy is when you're financially ready, not when home prices or rates drop.

1:46:27Dave Ramsey:To learn more about the housing market trends and to get some free tools to help you buy or sell with confidence, go to RamseySolutions.com slash market or click the link in the show notes if you're listening on podcast or on YouTube. Maria is in Houston. Hi, Maria. How are you? Hi. Thanks so much for taking the call. I'm calling about my marriage. My husband and I are not aligned financially. And unfortunately, I knew this before getting married. It's going to be 10 years that we've been married. And I was a single mom when we met my daughter was 12. He helped raise her. She was 19 and got married.

1:47:13But we keep our finances separate. He's a saver. In the past, I've been a spender, and I've worked really hard to get my act together. And he bought the house cash. He bought the house when we were engaged. But he did not put my name on it. Um, and, um, I'm an entrepreneur when I wasn't, whether or not I was earning money, I was responsible for all of the expenses of the house because he bought the house cash. And, um, I'm now in a place that I'm earning money, which feels good. And he's, uh, a lot of times I said, well, you know, now that you sit at the adult table, we can have adult conversations.

1:48:00and as long as I keep my eyes on God and I focus on myself and I'm okay with it, I'm obviously not okay with it. Every time I bring it up, it causes a big issue. And so I just pretend like I'm okay with it. And I know my daughter thinks it's not good for me. and I don't know. I don't know what to do.

1:48:31What made me call you today is that we have a poor bedroom house. We have a roommate because that roommate covers property taxes.

1:48:45Dave Ramsey:You have a roommate living in your home that's paid for? Yes, we do. Why? Yeah, because he covered the property taxes. Well, I mean, why can't you guys cover the property taxes? You all aren't broke. Yeah, exactly. And so when he was... Wait a minute, stop a minute. What does your husband make a year? My husband retired at 43, and he now has a part-time gig that he does just so he has play money. So what does he plan on living on if he retired at 43? Does he have a huge savings? He does. How much does he have in his investments? I don't know because I may not have access. What do you think? I think$5 million.

1:49:37Dave Ramsey:Okay. And what do you make a year?

1:49:43Conservatively$100.

1:49:45Dave Ramsey:Okay. Because it's commission-based. Okay. Well, so here's the thing. We get in relationships what we tolerate. For 10 years, you've tolerated being treated this way. And you're running out of toleration. You're running out of steam. You're not willing to tolerate it anymore, and that's why you called us. and so I do not know in a radio call or a podcast call how to navigate through 10 years of you being treated like you're not an adult and through all the pain that I hear in your voice. I don't think we can navigate through all of that in one phone call, but I will tell you just listening to you, I think your marriage is probably going to end if you guys don't do something to heal it.

1:50:50Dave Ramsey:Because I don't think you're going to stay much longer if you don't do something to heal it. I don't know that you've said that out loud to yourself, and I'm not suggesting that. I'm just observing that I'm talking to a lady who's completely done. Yeah, if you've had to convince yourself that the only way to survive in there is to have a basically keep your mouth shut and have a roommate yeah that's just strange we have five million dollars but we're so cheap we have a roommate to pay our property taxes no thank you not how i want to live so what would i do if i were in your shoes maria i think i would sit down i would get on the phone and call your pastor call your church and get a recommendation of a good faith-based marriage counselor that can sit down with you and coach you and coach him.

1:51:41Dave Ramsey:And then I would sit down with your husband and say, I've made an appointment with a marriage counselor on Tuesday because I want to try to save our marriage because it's almost over. And I want to try to save it. Do you want to come? Have you ever tried that? We have. We've gotten to that point, and we started. We'll do a couple sessions, and then things get better. He's even put my name on some of the – because our finances aren't blended. He's even put my name on some of the accounts. But my name is still not on the house. And I, yeah, so we've done it like three or four times. And one time I actually, actually.

1:52:32Well, I mean, do you want to try again?

1:52:35Dave Ramsey:Or are you done? Yes, I don't, no. I don't want to try again unless I think it's going to work. And so I'm going to demand that this time it works. Have you sat with a counselor just you? yes okay okay i think you guys have got that to do i don't think we can help you on this show hun we're not we're not we're not qualified number one we're just your friend and we're sitting here with you hurting and i'm sorry you're hurting i can't do anything about any of that and i don't have a magic phrase to say that hasn't worked in three rounds of marriage counseling But I will tell you, doing what I do and knowing that the number one cause of divorce is money problems and money fights over money, I will tell you that I'm honestly surprised you've made it as far as you have.

1:53:27Dave Ramsey:Yeah. Statistically. I'm glad you're still married, and I want your marriage to heal. So, but yeah, you guys are, you're going to have to sit down and you guys are going to have to lay out some milestones, some things that we agree that these things are going to happen and these things are never going to happen again. And we've got our little list of five things that we always do and five things that we never do. And, you know, that will include full transparency and understanding where the money is. and I have a vote on the money and you never talk to me like I'm not an adult again and tell me I'll get to sit at the big girl table.

1:54:11Dave Ramsey:That's so freaking demeaning. It's unbelievable. But you know, you know, but, but you put up with it for 10 years. So some of this is on you. So you've got to call this and, um, I recommend you try another round. Uh, but I would put very clear expectations in that round of counseling that these things have to occur or I'm not staying. And if you do stay after that, now it's your fault. I think that's what she's struggling with. Yeah. You keep staying and nothing changes. And now it's your fault. So if you want to make one more pass at it, you can. And I recommend you try it, but with some very clear objectives.

1:54:56Dave Ramsey:I think we kind of went in sideways and said, this just needs to get better as some kind of general statement. Instead of saying, here's specific things that must change, and here's specific things that can never happen anymore. And those are my conditions.

1:55:26Thank you.

1:55:36Dave Ramsey:Hey guys, Dave Ramsey here. Every day on this show we help people work through real money problems and figure out what to do next. Now you can get that same kind of help anytime with Ask Ramsey. Ask your money question and get answers built on Ramsey principles we use on the show. Whether you're making a decision or just want something explained, Ask Ramsey is here to help. It's fast, simple, and free to use. Go to RamseySolutions.com and try Ask Ramsey today. That's RamseySolutions.com.

1:56:25Dave Ramsey:Scripture of the day is Philippians 4.8. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. Charles Schultz says, life is like a 10-speed bike. Most of us have gears we never use. Interesting. This is true. Faith is in Dayton, Ohio. Hi, Faith. How are you? Hi, how are you? Better than I deserve. What's up? So I'm a single mom. I'm 30 years old, and I kind of just started, you know, kind of paying attention to my finances. So I'm a little late to the game.

1:57:11But I'm on baby step number two, and I'm trying to pay off my debt. But at the same time, I want to make sure that I'm saving for my son, for his future. So in my budget, I have been putting a little bit aside, but not much. I've just been putting it into a savings account. And I've heard you talk about like 529 accounts and different ways to save. I just didn't know if that kind of account is useful for someone who can't put like that much into it every month.

1:57:40Dave Ramsey:Probably not, but I wouldn't be putting anything aside for your son right now. You are investing for your son by getting yourself squared away. Because as you get yourself squared away and out of debt and build wealth, it's going to benefit him. Yeah, I'm just, my biggest, I'm feeling so much anxiety because I feel like my student loans are so big. How much do you owe on your student loans? I owe$54 ,000. Yeah, cool. What do you make a year? I make$58 ,000. Doing what? I work for a construction, I'm an admin, like kind of assistant here. Okay. But I just got promoted to salary, so I'm making a little bit more.

1:58:22And you're 30 years old, and your baby's how old? He's four years old. Cool, cool.

1:58:29Dave Ramsey:And where's Daddy? He's, I mean, he's in town and stuff, and he does give me some child support every month. It's like$400. But I do use a lot of that to, like, pay for child care and that kind of thing. Sure, of course. That's what it's for. Sure. And you have 58 ,000 student loans. What other debts do you have? um i have uh 15 000 left on my car and then i just i have a personal loan uh for 5 000 that i used to pay for a little bit for a lawyer and to like clear off a couple credit cards that i had when we were together have you cut up all the cards yeah so the credit cards are gone and i've been door dashing um every other weekend when i don't have my son and i've been putting everything I make onto that personal loan right now.

1:59:23Great.

1:59:23Dave Ramsey:Very good. You're doing the right thing. And anything else you can find in that budget, you throw it on that too and get it cleared off. Then you get the car cleared off, and then we go after the student loans. So you're right with DoorDash and a four-year-old and 30 years old and making 58. With what you owe, it's going to be a little while. You're going to take a while, but it's not going to take 10 years. It's just not going to happen in two years. right but you will be amazed when you knock off the car and the personal loan how much that frees up your budget to attack this student loan and then you've probably got another two or three years at that point yeah when you knock out the car that's going to give you a new lease on life you're going to feel so good having that money back in your pocket every time you get in that car and that's going to almost act like a reset for you mentally when you start attacking the student loans.

2:00:18Dave Ramsey:But let's reset for a second on your four-year-old son, okay? Let me tell you about him. He has a mom who is a warrior princess who knows how to fight and scrape and cause things to happen. That's going to help him more than$10 a month being stuck in a savings account. He's watching you live your life well. And then as he watches you scrap and claw to get out of debt, he's going to learn to stay out of debt when he's older because he'll remember what we went through. My mom was a single mom and it was tough and that doesn't kill the kid. It makes him awesome. So he is really blessed. I don't know why it makes me feel like it makes me feel so guilty that I'm not like, you know, able to save like more for him when he's.

2:01:17Dave Ramsey:Well, the best thing you can do for him is not be a problem later. Yeah, truly. By cleaning this up and becoming a millionaire. And you actually can do that, believe it or not. Let's pretend that it's five hard years from today and pull up the calculator. And so 35 to 65 and we save 15 % of$65 ,000. Okay. Five hard years from today, you're debt free and you have an emergency fund. Okay. Student loans and everything. And that's going to be hard. That's like really watching every penny, door dashing, everything you can do. Hard five years. But you're tough. You can do this. Five years? Yeah. And then at 35 years old, you start investing 15 % of your income because you have no payments.

2:02:15How much 15 %?

2:02:16Dave Ramsey:15 % of$60 ,000 would be$9 ,000 a year. Okay. Okay. And so that's going to, I did a bit, a bit, a bit, a bit, a bit, a 500 plus two, 750 a month. Okay. Okay. And do that from 35 to 65 in a mutual fund. We're going to put it in our calculator right now to see how rich you're going to be. Okay. Okay, Faith. Okay. That's$2.3 million when you're 65. So if you invest 15 % of your income and you make$60 ,000 a year and you never get a raise for 30 years. Highly unlikely. From age 35 to age 65. And you're able to invest that because you cleared off this debt in the coming five years and you spent five more years of hell.

2:03:09Dave Ramsey:The kid is nine years old when you are debt free and begin investing. All right. And then when you are at his wedding, you will be a millionaire. Yes. Okay. Okay. That's where you're headed. That's where you're headed. And that's the best gift you can give him. He's not going to be harmed if you don't put a dime in savings for him today, because by taking care of you, you're setting yourself up to be able to help him in any way you want to later. And by the way, you know, we've been teaching this. I know, Dave, you've been teaching this long enough that we have people who come and their parents did FPU and their parents walked the baby steps.

2:04:01And now the children are standing on stage and the children are part of that legacy. And they never come back and say, oh, it was so hard because my parents walked the baby steps and they paid off debt when I was a kid. My mom never saved anything for me when I was four.

2:04:13Dave Ramsey:They don't say that. They say, I learned how to handle money from a young age. I never got into debt. And then when I married my spouse, we immediately attacked our house and we became millionaires. My mom taught me how to do hard work. My mom taught me what resilience looks like because she lived it. These are the gifts you're giving him. He's going to have a great life because of you. And so quit putting money in savings for him out of some kind of false guilt that you're not taking care of him. My point is you're taking care of him beautifully, but you've got to follow through on all this. It's not going to magically happen.

2:04:51Dave Ramsey:There's no genie in a bottle that does it. It's not going to get easy. It's not going to be where there's no trouble. The transmission is still going to go out and the tire is still going to be low. Somebody's still going to steal something from you. It's not going to happen through your life. You can count on all that still occurring. But the point is you've got to have a target and a plan, and when you're working that, You're going to get to a place that you will have taken care of him better by taking care of you than by putting$10 a month aside out of some kind of misdirected guilt. Like you've done something wrong that you should be ashamed of.

2:05:26Dave Ramsey:You're a single mom with a four-year-old and you're 30. You have nothing to be ashamed of. Now go get you some, girl. This is your time. It's your time. Go make this happen. And we're going to set you up with everything, all right? We're going to put you into Financial Peace University. We're going to put you into our EveryDollar app, and we're going to pay for all of it and give it to you as a gift because we think you're a hero.

2:05:52Dave Ramsey:That puts us our of the Ramsey Show in the books. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.

2:06:09Thank you.