I've Been Financially Supporting My Boyfriend For Years (He Refuses to Get A Job)

29:15Because you said you're behind on rent, but that's really mom's mortgage. Well, no, she's not paying it. It's just not getting paid when I don't send her money. The mortgage is not getting paid at all. Yeah. So you could get foreclosed on. We haven't gotten to that point yet. That's where it's headed. I mean, that's what happens when you stop paying your mortgage. Your fiancé needs to start paying$450. We're splitting this because we're not married. But she needs to be working 40 hours a week. If she's living there, she's paying half the rent until you learn how to do it on your own. Okay. And so we need to come up with$6 ,000 after that to clear this truck.

30:00So you get$1 ,000 in the bank, and then you're going to keep living on rice and beans. you're not doing jack squat when you're not working, and you're going to be working a lot. Can you do overtime? I don't really have that option. No, no. Go get three other jobs then. You get off in the afternoon. You already let me know that. So now you're not getting off of the truck situation. You're moving into the next job. You need money. You need to work really hard so this is painful for you. Do you need a car right now to get from A to B, or can you just drive the truck? Yeah, I have to daily commute to work.

30:35Can the girlfriend, can the fiancee not take you? She's got plenty of time. No, she works 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. I work about 4 a.m. to about 4 p.m. Okay. Well, you're going to have to figure out a transportation situation now, because if you can clear this truck, you can breathe again. Yeah, you're in bicycle territory. And so that$6 ,000 is your focus after this$1 ,000 is saved for your small emergency fund. But that's your key to getting out of this. and so far it's just, well, can't do that because of this, underwater on this, you're going to need to get more money and spend less. And if I looked at your bank statement, I could probably find 48 ways to do it.

31:13So hang on the line. We're going to gift you every dollar, our budgeting app. It's going to be a coach in your pocket like us, but less yelling and more recommendations for how to find that margin. I'm rooting for you, man. We love you. That's why we are yelling. It's out of love. I'm not yelling.

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33:50All right, let's go to John in Pittsburgh. John, how can we help? Gentlemen, how are you today? Doing great. What's going on with you? Good. I'm loving the fact that Ken called you Spicy George, first off. Thank you. I appreciate it. And a word of warning to you, John, he's a little frisky today. I hopped up on caffeine. He walked in before the show started, and I knew he was a man on a mission. So careful with George today. I will have it no other way. Okay. Great. So to get to my question, I'm in the process of selling my house, and I'll be getting roughly$130 ,000,$135 ,000 from that. I just want to see if I'm planning it right.

34:31This will put me in the baby step seven. And my girlfriend and I, we have plans to get married, potentially looking at rings and trying to see what the best option would be with that money. So my plan is, and just looking for some feedback. Thank you. Feedback on you from you guys. I'm looking to have$100 ,000 of that. maybe in a high-yield savings account, maybe investing. That's why I'm asking feedback from you. We're looking to potentially, once we're married and buying a house, in no less than four years when she can retire and we'll end up buying something again once we're married. So I'm thinking of putting$100 in it, high-yield savings, or something else you may recommend for that four to five years.

35:19And then the rest, just a couple, about$5 ,000 in an emergency fund. some money into a ring and maybe a vacation, like a Ramsey Cruze or something. And then another$20 ,000 for a just-in-case car fund. I have a 2010 Toyota Highlander with almost 200 ,000 miles. And loving it, just want to see how far it goes, but want to also be prepared. Okay. Any suggestions you might have on what to do, what not to do, right track, etc.? Yeah. Well, I'm curious. How old are you two? Because you're talking about her retiring. In her job, she can retire at 50. She's 46 and I'm 49. Okay, so her plan to retire at 50 and not work anymore?

36:00Not work at that job, and then that job will afford us the opportunity to be able to move to a different state, and that's our goal. Does she have a pension or something with some guaranteed income? Yeah, she's also going to do some work, but it'll most likely be in a different state, yeah. And you're not getting married? When are you getting married? You're not until she retires? Or I couldn't understand that. No, that would be prior to that. We started conversations about that. We looked at rings a couple weeks ago. So that would happen most likely, I'm sure, prior to all that. And then just one follow-up for me.

36:36You said put$5 ,000 in an emergency fund, but you said that this is going to put you in Baby Step 7. So presumably you have a full emergency fund in Baby Step 3, correct? Yes. I have$15 ,000. I'd like to bump it up to$20 ,000. Okay. So I see what you're doing there. Okay. So$20 ,000 total. So Baby Step 7 would be a paid-for house. So right now you would kind of be going back to this kind of 4, 5, 6 land until we get the house paid off. So that would be your next goal is to kind of earmark as much of this as you can for that future down payment. Now, if it's going to be guaranteed, hey, this is five plus years out, you could invest the money in index funds in a brokerage account.

37:15My gut says you guys will want a place of your own once you're married before that, even before she's retired. That's a possibility. We don't know. It's kind of in that middle zone where it may be too long to rent. but would we recoup the money if we buy something would you recoup the money if you bought something and sold it and then bought another well because remember they're going to move to another state yeah well if you're going to have the house for at least a few years it could be a good buy but it may just be worth renting for the peace of mind knowing this is very temporary yeah and that's that's where we are we're not really sure since it is yeah is that where you're You just sold your house, or you will.

37:58Are you going to live with her in her apartment or house that she's renting? She owns a house as well. I'm living here now. And then she may or may not sell her house here shortly, depending on how it goes. And that's where we're thinking, well, would we go in and buy a house? Obviously, we're not going to do it under both names unless or until we're married. But do we buy another house? I mean, I would just live with her once you guys are married. That's the easier solution. Yeah. Instead of just renting, at least you're building some equity while you two are married, and then you can sell it once you're ready to retire and move elsewhere.

38:34So, yeah, I like the idea of parking in a high-yield savings account because there's a lot of unknowns right now, and we might need this money sooner, and earmark that for your house down payment. If you don't have a good one, Fairwinds is an awesome partner of ours, and they've got a great high-yield savings product. You can jump onto fairwinds.org slash Ramsey to get their smart bundle. That includes that. I like a$20 ,000 emergency fund. I like having this car fund set aside knowing you're going to do this and you're going to pay cash. So let's not make it a surprise when it happens. And then Ring is definitely the next step.

39:05You don't have to go crazy. What are you thinking about spending on Ring? I knew you were going to get nosy about this. Well, people, I just, America wants to know. It's his business. It's his money. Do I tell America how much I'm spending on a Ring? I think it's a fair question. You've told us pretty much everything else. You've told us everything else. I mean, go ahead. What are you thinking? I'm thinking in the$5 ,000 range somewhere. Great. Oh, George is so happy. I don't know. So it could be a little more, could be a little less. What does that get you these days? What does$5 ,000 get you?

39:35A wife, if she says yes. Hopefully something better than from the rare islands of Zirconia, that's for sure. I don't think you know. I don't think you actually know. You don't know, do you? I have a little bit of an idea I have a friend who's a diamond wholesaler Oh, he's going to get a sick deal Dave also says we can always upgrade We've already talked Besides what we're looking at This is serious This is great news because you're saying You have a good idea that the$5 ,000 is going to make her happy It will Well, there you go I like your plan, John I think you're thinking through this wisely There's just a lot of variables right now And so that's my hesitation to put this in the market, not knowing what's going to happen.

40:20I mean, you've seen the headlines just this week and everyone's getting spooked and they're selling off and now it's back up to record highs. And so I think because of that, your heart rate will stay smooth. If you just put it in a high yield savings account for now, you'll get, you know, over 3 % on your hundred grand, which isn't bad. Great unintentional segue, George. Tell me more. Well, we were just talking off the air about the crypto roller coaster. I feel like we need a little update. You have been very public. We as a show have been public about crypto and the risks, and we've seen it go down tremendously over the last 72 hours.

40:56Looks like it may be stabilizing a little bit today, but who knows? What say you, George? This is your chance to crow a little bit. Well, I'm not here to say the I told you so. Well, that's not exciting. I think America would like to hear that. I'm not going to do it, even though I did tell you so. But here's the thing you've got to understand. Bitcoin went over$100 ,000 and everyone's going, see, you Ramsey guys, you missed out. You told people not to. People were reaching out to me on social saying, yeah, Ken Coleman and Dave Ramsey, you guys don't have a clue. Yeah. And then it was at$82 ,000.

41:30And then all of a sudden it was down to$60 ,000 for Bitcoin. Yesterday. And now it's back up to$70 ,000. Yeah. And who knows where it's going to go from here? Nobody knows. All I know is this. The stock market, the S &P 500, is 500 actual companies producing real products and services that have real revenue. And there's shareholders that are trying to increase the value. That's what we're all rooting for. And Bitcoin has no true utility. It's not really based on anything except hype and us saying this is the future so we should all put our money there. And then you get a bunch of bros who get spooked and they start selling it off like hotcakes, tanking the value.

42:06And this is the problem with speculation. You know, you place the bet and it's the roulette table. And so it's the reason I don't own any Bitcoin because I'm already an anxious guy. Don't need to add to it. You don't need any more. I'm good with the S &P 500 average 10 % return over the long haul. I do the get rich slow plan. So what you're telling me is this was not shocking. These were not shocking headlines when we saw crypto on fire. No. I kind of knew eventually this was going to happen. And maybe it's going to go back up and be a million dollars one day. I don't know the future. All I know is I can control what I can control, and that's investing slowly, wisely.

42:42Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but those who gather little by little will increase it. That's what Proverbs says. That's how I live my life. That's what we also call a mic drop.

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44:18Welcome back to the Ramsey Show in the Fairwinds Credit Union Studio. I'm Ken Coleman, joined by George Camel. We're here to help you out. You got money questions. You've got professional money-making questions. Those work questions. We're here to help on those as well. 888-825-5225 is the number. 888-825-5225. All right. Boy, here we go. Am I hooked on phonics? I always enjoy these. Alita, I believe, is who we're going to in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Tell me I'm right, Alita, please. You are right. Thank you, Mr. Coleman and Mr. Campbell. Thank you for taking my call. You bet, but no more Mr. It makes us feel old.

44:57We won't allow it. Yeah, Ken's already old, so he doesn't need a reminder. Well, old compared to you. Compared to most people. That's right. All right, Alita, how can we help? So I've had trouble finding a job in the last 10 years. Ken, I've been looking into your work, and I started your book, The Proximity Principle, and I realize I've been playing the slot machine a lot, But I have a lot of skills in events. And then in 2018, I was certified as a butler, hoping that would make me specialized to get a job. And I just feel like I am running on the wheel to nowhere. What are you doing right now for a living?

45:39So I am a Canadian who is currently in the States. So I have talked to so many different places that place butlers. And a lot of them in the States, at least, are saying, you need your green card so we can help you with the immigration side. Oh, so you don't have your green card. I don't. And even in Canada, they just don't pay as well, and the cost of living is ridiculous. So I'm like, well, let's do the states, and it's a fair opportunity. Okay, so even though you have got the certification as a butler, and that's what you really want to do, to be a butler? Yes. Or a personal assistant, executive assistant up in that field.

46:20Okay, well, those are two different things. And I must tell you, did you ever watch Downton Abbey? Yes. Okay. I love the butler. All right. So when you say butler, that's what I'm thinking. I want to make sure I'm on the same wavelength. Is that what you're talking about? Correct. So very wealthy. Butlers nowadays. Go ahead. butlers nowadays tend to do multiple things so they could be your personal assistant and also take care of things around the house or organize the staff okay okay and the reason i'm asking that is because that tells me there's a wide range of people there are certain people that would pay for a personal assistant but would not pay for a butler correct correct yes okay and you're a comedian which is fascinating to me so i gotta do some some real digging here how much are you making on average uh per month as a comedian a working comedian i'm actually not a comedian i'm a canadian oh good grief i heard comedian too you do it wow i'd love to hear some material okay you're so glad because i thought here come the old man jokes from george but you heard the same yeah i thought it was like you're trying to be a comedian but you're looking for a legit you know butler job right now all right got it all right back to the okay so one of my wife's dear friends one of her closest friends uh is a canadian as well and she's quite funny just in case anybody wants to know but she's a canadian and uh she's had so many issues with work visas so are you telling me that you cannot be a butler or a personal assistant until you get a green card correct now if you get in the right circles they have the money that sometimes they can move that process along.

48:05So I was hoping that might be the case. Okay, but what can you do, given the fact that you do not have your green card? So I'm working to finish off, I have my associate's degree, I was able to take a year off to work here in the state. So that's why I'm in Arkansas. And then this fall, I go back to finish off the bachelor. Right. But what have you been doing for a living? What are you doing now for pay? So I am an office assistant, a, well, I work in a hangar for a company that fixes airplanes and helicopters. And there's no issue with, I guess you're here on a work visa? Correct. Yeah, you can do a work visa and I specialize in business is what I figured I would take to encompass my event.

48:52I love doing events and banquets and then the butler. So I decided to go for a business major. Okay. All right. So a lot going on here. So my advice is somewhat limited if there are limited things that we can do. So it looks like you can do what you're doing now. So A1 is to get the green card. That's the priority while we're doing these other jobs. And it sounds like you've done this, but you're not a typical person who calls me and says, Ken, I'm having a hard time getting a job. You have a limited scope, but the question is, could you be in... Go ahead. Yeah, the question for you is because you say it's not what you know, it's who you know.

49:30100%. You're using those people. 100%. But that's assuming you have the legal ability to work, too. And so there's a different issue here as a prerequisite, which is they can't hire you. And I truly don't think any – even a high net worth household is going to go, you know what? We just like you so much. We're going to go through all of this hassle, pay extra, hope that months and months of immigration lawyers can solve this. I just don't think they're going to deal with that. I agree. They're looking to deal with less things. That's why they're hiring you. Right. And it is a challenge for sure.

50:00And the guy I'm working for currently, he told me, nope, let's go for your green card, which was a 24-month wait. But we're in the month 19, and he hasn't even started. Right. The last guy, he's like, let's do it. Six months later, he's like, I can't do it. Okay, you just gave anecdotal evidence to George's opinion. So George is right. So here's the deal. The question is, you love producing live events. the idea of working on live events. You mentioned that multiple times. It feels like the executive assistant stuff is kind of down the list a little bit, but you're a person who loves tasks. You like ideation, making the idea a reality.

50:38Sound right? Yes or no? Yeah. Okay. So here's the deal. The question is, does the green card prohibit you from doing that type of work? For instance, Ramsey Solutions has, I don't know, five, six, seven event producers that are full-time employees here, right? You know, could you be an executive assistant without a green card? You know, I've told you many times Belay is a company that has sponsored Ramsey live events, Entree Leadership, they're based out of Atlanta, but they're hiring people like you all around the country as virtual executive assistants. You know, who are the, you know, if you were, if I'm sitting with you today in Arkansas, I'm going, tell me the top five event companies or companies that are putting on some type of corporate event or civic events or who's doing what you want to do in your area and that's where we start have you made that list um i i've written down a few of them like some of them are hotels um i did put my name into the white house haven't been called up yet so we're waiting on that one no but that's the but that's the lottery that you mentioned that's exactly what you heard me write about approximately so i'm saying no who are the top five event producers What venues have the most amount of events in Fayetteville, Arkansas?

51:53That's where we start. And then we ask the next question. Who do I know that works at one of those five places? This is like a little Excel spreadsheet. Or you can do it on a piece of paper if you're old school like me. So we start writing it out. We go, oh, I know Lynn who works over there. So I call Lynn up. I go, Lynn, here's my situation. First of all, what's going on over there? What positions do they have? So we get it direct from Lynn. We're not going through a website and filling out an application that might as well be spitting in the wind, riding down in a convertible on the interstate.

52:24It's just nothing's happening. OK, so let's just methodically go through what I write about in the proximity principle. This is not difficult to do, actually. Just got to show up. OK. And the old match game when you played when you were a kid, we're just going to keep this exercise up. And if it's nothing in Fayetteville, we start looking outside of Fayetteville. the other thing you might want to do is let's get serious about maybe maybe a relationship George that's how you get that great card that's one way to do it one way

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54:40All right, let's go to Rachel in New York City. Rachel, how can we help? Hi, Ken and George. Thank you for having me on. My husband and I, we've been talking about having a second child. I want to know how can we balance financial readiness, mental health, and lifestyle priorities when deciding to have another baby? Okay, that's a very interesting list. Did I hear? Run through those again, because I heard commas between all of those. Is that fair? Yes. Okay. So what was the first one? Was it financial readiness? Financial readiness. Mental health. Mental health. And the third is lifestyle priority.

55:21And that's all in context of how to balance those things when deciding to have another child? Yes. Yeah. Okay. You have a child now, so you know a lot of that is out the window. Well, the mental health is not. The financial readiness, I mean, George is not sure you can have mental health. The financial readiness is the one that I can help you control. Your lifestyle, I don't have a life. I go home and I'm in dad mode until, you know, I go to bed. And so that's my question mark is what are your lifestyle priorities? Sure. So, yeah, so we had our first child in 2022. She'll be turning to this May.

56:01I unfortunately did suffer from terrible postpartum depression and only just recently starting to feel like myself again. Oh, yeah, it can take a long, long time. That's tough. Yeah. In terms of finances, end of 2025, my husband and I, we've made$225 ,000 gross. Our average take-home pay is about$10 ,000 a month. With just one child, we are living comfortably. At the end of the month, we're usually left over with a little over$600 in excess that we're currently putting towards retirement. in addition to what we're already contributing. Part of me is nervous to go through postpartum again, but I know I'm just going to miss the financial flexibility that we currently have.

56:46Well, you said you're investing. How much are you currently investing as a percentage of your income? I do think it's a little more than the 15 % that you guys recommend. My husband, he gets about$400 or$500 taken out of his paycheck automatically in a 457. And that's dependent on his income because he has overtime. So his income fluctuates. Do you guys have any debt? No, we're debt-free. That's fantastic. And you've got savings? We got savings, yes. The financial readiness is there. It's there. That's why I was going to dig in. So my concern about the financial readiness is when we have to expand, let's say, our current living situation.

57:35So we live in a two-bedroom right now in New York City. If, of course, if we have a second and the second is the same gender as our first, I don't mind staying in the two-bedroom. But eventually when we have to upgrade to three, that's where I'm a little concerned. and we're lucky that our rent is currently pretty low. What is it? I'm curious in New York City. $1 ,600 for$2 ,500. Wow. Why the, I have two boys and a girl, so why the need, if it's a different sex, to have different rooms? They're still babies for a while. I mean, in the beginning, yes, I agree they could share a room, but eventually when we need to move out.

58:18Yeah, but how many years would that be? It could be three years from now. right see that's why i'm asking you that like what's your and i'm not i'm not trying to talk you out of your decision i'm just saying how many years before you think you would need to have them in separate rooms no um the three-year mark would probably be where i'm thinking great so again cross that bridge when we get there yeah and then what financial gains are you going to make over that time okay my question is more on the health side of things and i just don't know enough So is it – how much of it is chemical? In other words, I just don't know enough, so it may sound silly, but the postpartum, how much of that is chemical in the body versus is it all mental and emotional?

59:08And did you get the tools to recover to where you feel like – do you have a mental health professional who's guiding you through this and giving you advice on this? that that's something I would want to know. Yeah. So I actually didn't get any sort of help when I was going through postpartum depression. Yeah. I was kind of just doing everything on my own. So we'll prioritize that this time, right? Now that you know, you're going to go, we're going to do all the things we can do. And we're going to shift our money towards making sure that we have the help that you need. Yeah. That would be the conversation in our house.

59:46I'm hearing the emotion in you. You worked, you struggled, and you just now came up for air recently, right? I did. Oh, listen, can I just tell you, I think before I would decide to have another child, I would go talk to a mental health professional and your doctor and go, hey, what are the chances that with baby number two that I have a similar experience? I just don't know the answer. I think you need to know the answer. The second thing I would ask is, is it something we can treat with medicine? How much of this is chemical where medicine can deal with that? Or how much of it is, is I need a really good therapist that if I go through this, that I've got a therapist ahead of time giving me some tools and helping me with this.

1:00:32And someone who's going to walk through it with me this time and not go by myself. If I were your brother, I would say, hey, Rachel, do this before you guys make the decision to start trying again. Okay. Because you don't need to do this alone. So you obviously, your heart wants a baby, but you're really sitting here right now. And by the way, I don't blame you. You have real questions about whether or not you could do it again. Yeah? Yeah. Okay, then. So I think George has done a great job of saying financially you guys are fine. But I think the real crux of this question is, hey, you are amazing.

1:01:11You're superwoman that you did this without medical help, right? Yeah. I don't know how I did it. I don't know either. I don't know either because I can't even begin to understand what it does. And there's millions of women that are listening to this right now. They're nodding their head going, I see you, girl. They see you. They've been through it. We have no clue. But I do know this. it's not just for you but you are first and foremost that you take care of yourself because you know how that's affecting your baby how it's affecting your husband and so it's about you first but then it's also about them so in making a decision like this you got to go in fully equipped this time and my hope is that it didn't have it doesn't happen at all but I just don't know what the medical percentages are.

1:02:01And I think you need to know, don't you? Yes. As you talk to us today, you're not fully equipped. No. So you can't make a decision on that. Now, George, you know, he's like, hey, financially, you guys are fine. But the rest of this is really predicated on you and your past experience and what professionals can do to help you. Okay. So, hey, you got some appointments to make, don't you? Yeah. You know what? I think there's some community groups probably in New York of women that are struggling with it now or have gone through it, and you just came out of it. How about getting involved in one of those?

1:02:41Yeah? That was like an idea. Come on. Yeah? Okay. I imagine, I mean, just raising a baby in New York is already tough enough. Oh, sure. And so you guys are doing a great job. You have an amazing income. You've stayed out of debt. You've got low rent, which means you have flexibility in your expenses. You talked about lifestyle priorities. There's, you know, six, seven, eight grand here that we can play with. And, you know, do what you need to do to take care of yourself. But I think there's wiggle room here as well. And I don't think you're going to go, we're so tight every single month. Rachel, I want to hear what George just said.

1:03:14George, you're right. You've got money to spend on a therapist or a doctor to help figure this out. Okay? Mm-hmm. All right? You're amazing. Thank you, guys. You're amazing. But no more. No more white knuckling through this, all right? Okay. All right, Rachel. That's really sweet. What a sweet, sweet lady. This is real, Ken. That's real talk. And, you know, my wife can attest. She'd be amening right now if she was listening to that call. And you've got to take care of your health first. And that's why doing the baby steps, having financial peace, allows you the flexibility to focus on your own health.

1:03:52Yeah. It's hard to do that when you've got payments to make. Could you imagine if Rachel were$300 ,000 in debt? She's got margin to go take care of herself, which is going to allow them to expand their family and be healthy doing it. She can be more present as a mom. This is what financial peace actually looks like.

1:04:23You

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1:05:46Today's question of the day is brought to you by Why Refi? Defaulted private student loans do not fix themselves, but they can be fixed. Why Refi helps you by refinancing defaulted private student loans into a low fixed rate payment that fits your budget. So you can clean up the mess and move forward with the plan. Visit yrefi.com slash Ramsey. That's Y-R-E-F-Y dot com slash Ramsey. It may not be available in all states. Today's question comes from Brody in Washington, D.C. While I would like to pay off my student loans, I'm not sure it makes the most sense financially. They are currently at 2.6 % interest, and even a monkey can make more by investing rather than paying this off.

1:06:28I owe almost$100 ,000 on my medical degree debt. I make more than enough to pay it off, but I think it may not be wise to use my money to pay this off with such a low rate. This is classic. Well, you know what a monkey can't do? Go$100 ,000 into student loan debt. So we can't be comparing ourselves to monkeys. Yeah, like take it easy on the monkeys. All monkeys are debt free. Yeah. We'll start there. To your question, I get it. On paper, anything with a low interest rate, you could make the case, well, I could make more by doing XYZ with it. But you're not thinking about a few things. Number one is risk.

1:07:05We don't know that you will stay employed and have the money to pay this off. We also know that student loans are largely not even bankruptable thanks to student loan lobbyists keeping it that way. And the other thing you got to think about is there's still a payment to be made. This is still looming in your life as long as it's there. It's living rent free in your head. You emailed in to get the question answered. And so the truth is you took this debt out saying I will pay this back. and you can drag it out as long as you want. Truthfully, you can do that and you'll probably still live to tell the tale, but I think you will live a more peaceful life and you will build more wealth if you just went ahead and knocked it out.

1:07:42And not just slowly, I'm talking aggressively because you hopefully are, you know, a doctor or in residency. I don't know where you're at in the journey, but you said you have more than enough to pay it off. So pay it off because on a balance sheet, you don't actually have that money, right? If you have 200 ,000 in debt and you have 100 ,000 in savings, you're still in the negative. And so get rid of the debt. Love it. I love it. I'm not going to add anything to it. That was so airtight. Gregory's up in Lincoln, Nebraska. Gregory, how can we help today? Yes. So I'm currently on baby step two and about to start side gig work.

1:08:20My question is to, should I be insured with my side gig? Tell us about the side gig. so i have multiple trade skills i work in the trades currently i'm a diesel technician like my job and everything but my other skill sets lie in like welding and stuff so i was thinking about starting a mobile welding um side gig and in my area at the ag so i know a lot of farmers that could use repairs and everything yeah i would definitely get insurance general General liability insurance for sure. Okay, general liability. Okay. I mean, because this is a high-risk gig. Okay. A spark could cause a fire after you leave, right?

1:09:09That could be a problem. Property is damaged, especially if you're mobile. You're on other people's property. Okay. And someone could just say, hey, I'm suing this guy because he ruined my driveway while he was welding. And so you definitely need the general liability insurance and maybe professional liability as well. Okay, is that even without, like, do I need to have a business license and everything? I would be, you know, licensed and bonded. I would go full, I mean, if you're going to be doing this, you've got to do it right. Okay. Like, I don't want this to be, like, my main job. That's okay.

1:09:46It doesn't have to be. Okay. But I would not tie all this to your personal life. I would have, you know, set up whatever you need to. I don't know what it is for your situation and your state. I would look into that of what the proper setup is. If it's an LLC, have a business checking account. It'd be wise to do that as you get this set up so that the business, you're at least, you have more protections in place if this is through a legitimate business with legitimate insurance. Okay, cool. I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't skip it to save money. And I don't think it's going to be that expensive either.

1:10:20So I wouldn't worry about that. Yeah, what are you... Yeah, I was just wondering. Go ahead. No, no, you go ahead. So I was just wondering, just because, like, I don't know, my wife was wanting me to maybe, like, start a business, but then I'm like, well, it's a side gig. I wouldn't, like, start a landscaping business if I'm going, like, mowing yards. So I was just, I don't know. Why does your wife want you to start a business? No, it's not necessarily start a business, but if I'm kind of, like, all in doing it. I have a good job with plenty of room for advancement. it's just like instead of like one little side gig doing whatever i can potentially make more so what's the why behind all of this uh getting out of debt okay great now we have a why we have a reason to go do this that's good and then the it becomes the how now and the how is all right i got to set up the llc i'm going to start that you don't need to go crazy but you just need a few protections in place so that this doesn't reach into your personal life yeah okay yeah this is not a lot of money we're talking about it's a little bit of time but again it's more protection so that you can with peace of mind go do the welding you know okay so it doesn't have to be this full-blown i have to commit to you know a p &l statement no you keep it simple and just go you know i'm gonna see if i can get five to ten welding jobs in a month or whatever it is you're trying to do that's the idea but this is this is all about just making sure that if something were to happen that you're protected.

1:11:51Okay. Yeah. Appreciate it. And I love that. By the way, I love the spunk. I love this. More people should be doing this, that you're willing to go out and do this. In fact, real quick before we let you go, how much debt do you guys have? What's the total? Including the house, it's a little over$101 ,000. Take the mortgage out. How much do you have? $17 ,000. A little over$17 ,000. What do you anticipate making as a welder on the side? um i'm just trying to do like another two thousand a month fantastic whatever right now i'm like right now i'm between like harvest and like planting so there's no real general overtime i also don't want to do this forever so that way so if you made an additional two thousand a month welding how much are you guys out of your current income and budget putting towards debt that 17 000 um current well with the minimum payments we're at 780 um a month with all those payments and then i just like we just started like a budget and plan so um cut a bunch of subscriptions and everything so we're currently amping that up right now and so we're looking for excess money stuff like that yeah so the reason i was walking you through this is you know what's the total amount of money now that you guys are in a budget out of your current income that we can put extra so is it five hundred dollars a month extra we can put on the seventeen thousand dollars of debt using the debt snowball and george i mean make it an extra two grand yeah if you just use side hustle money you'd be done in about eight months yeah but if you can use your your personal income as well and create margin there let's make it a kind of an audacious goal to go could we be done in four or five months with our current income plus the side hustle money that will really fuel the fire here, no pun intended, as you begin this mobile welding business.

1:13:44And while we're cheering you on and pumping you up and saying, hey, do this, do this, I'd keep the side hustle going and knock out baby step three. Get that three to six months expenses. Let's go. Fast forward that. And now you get to baby step four, George. And mentally, if he's gazelle with this side hustle, explain what happens to him mentally, emotionally, when he gets baby step two and three done in a short order. Think about that. Then you have all the margin you were throwing at those things and now becomes your money to build wealth, to go on vacation, to upgrade the car, to create a maintenance and repair fund.

1:14:20And who knows, maybe the welding business, you go, I could do this full time. I'm enjoying it. I can be my own boss. I'm good at this. I could scale this thing. And you'll have that kind of flexibility once you're debt free with the emergency fund. All right, let's have some fun with that one, George. All right, let's say he does everything you just described and you realize, wait a second, I think I can make somewhere I'm going to keep our easy round number 50 ,000 again next year, but I hire a couple of buddies, blah, blah, blah, blah, pay them. Where's that extra 50? How does that fit into investing and really start to compound?

1:14:49Well, now it's, all right, investing 15%. I'm going to knock out the mortgage, which you guys don't have a huge mortgage. We can knock that out in a few years. And now we're going, we can amp up. We can max out our retirement accounts, invest beyond that, take trips we never dreamed of, be more generous. And so your life just opens up to a whole new realm of possibilities by following these steps. Gregory, we just looked into your future and George says you're rich. The crystal ball says he's going to be okay.

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1:16:38All right. If you are wondering, where'd all my money go? That's normal. And normal's broke, but this is the year. How about 2026 being the year that you decide to do something different and live differently and see different results? Get a head start by downloading every dollar. It's more than just a budgeting app. It's like having a personalized coach, as George likes to say, in your pocket, right on the phone, like having one of us to answer your question. Of course, you get all the great budgeting applications and all the helps and prompts. And this is crazy. They've proven this. I believe I've seen it.

1:17:16You'll find thousands of dollars on average that you can save in just the first 15 minutes of giving it a run. So don't go another year feeling broke and stressed. Start every dollar for free in the App Store or Google play. All right, let's go to John in Los Angeles. John, how can we help? Hey, gentlemen, thanks for having me on. Sure, what's going on today? So my girlfriend and I were, we own a home and we're pretty much breaking up and I want to know what's the most fair way to split the net amount for the sell the home. Are you both on the title? Yes. What about the mortgage? Yes. All right.

1:18:00What are you going to sell it for? We're going to sell it for about$625 ,000. We owe about$510 ,000 on it. And after closing costs and everything, we're thinking we can walk away with about$95 ,000. All right. And let's talk about who put in what. So who paid the down payment and how much? So we bought the home almost three years ago. The down payment was$40 ,000. Down payment closing cost was$40 ,000. I put in$35 ,000. She put in$5 ,000. Okay. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Throughout the time, too, that we've lived here, we've done renovations, and we do keep our finances separate. But throughout the time that we've owned a home in the last couple years, I've put in about$35 ,000,$36 ,000.

1:18:56On top of your$35 ,000? On top of my$35 ,000, yeah. And I know the answer, but we have to ask, how much has she put into renovations? Nothing. Oh, boy. Okay. Okay. So you're obviously getting the money that you put into it back. She'll get the money she put into it back. And then you guys could split the rest. Well, on paper, George, yes. On paper. So legally, I mean, legally, we own a 50-50, right? And she gives me a hard time. Then I'm not even going to argue it. I'm just going to say, you know what? Forget it. It is what it is, 50-50. but I just want to make sure that I'm not crazy because what I think is fair and that's the key word is that I recoup my money she recoups her money which is$5 ,000 and whatever that difference is we go down 50-50 on that that's what I just said right oh sorry I misunderstood I did quick math probably wrong but I got$70 ,000 coming back to you right and$5 ,000 to her And so if we walk away with 90, we got 15 to split.

1:20:07Hey, and so did I pick up you saying if she gives me a hard time? So you've not talked to her about what we're going to do with the proceeds. We have not, no. Do you think it's going to be a shock to her or where is she at? Where do you think she's at mentally on this? I think from a mental standpoint, she's logical too. And I think deep down she knows that's the first thing to do. But I think from an emotional standpoint, she'll give me a fight over that. And quite honestly, I'm numb. Well, here we go. I got to dig. I can't help myself. I'm like a moth to a flame. Who broke up with who? I'm breaking up with her.

1:20:51Yeah, that's problematic. I still think the numbers are right, but I'm just trying to keep it real. The audience in the lobby is with me. It's going to be a knockout drag down fight on the way out of here. Were you a gentleman about it? Yes. We've gone to couples therapy. We've done, quite honestly, this has been ongoing for like three months or so, where I've been ready. Honestly, I've been ready to walk away for three months, but I've also been trying to work it out, too. Okay. Are we officially done with therapy? The breakup is done. This is all finalized, yes? uh it will be pretty soon what what does the written agreement say if there is one hold on how do you just move on so quickly well clearly it's over it's not he hasn't done it yet is that what i'm hearing correct is she listening to this call i hope not she's about to find out the hard way i hope not no she's not what's going to happen when you say hey it's over is she even going to be willing to sell the house?

1:21:54Because that's another part of this problem. Yeah. If I'm her, I'm going to go, I'm squatting. I'm not going anywhere. Why would you be like that out of just anger? I mean, when you're her, that's what you do. Yeah. I mean, she could, and I don't, I don't foresee that happening. I think in good faith, she's seen that I've been giving it a shot to give you more details of our relationship. Quite honestly, I was ready to propose to her like five months ago, six months ago. But I've seen a lot of changes in the last couple months that made me change my mind to the point that it's like, I don't want to waste her time or my time, and we shouldn't even have bought this house in the first place.

1:22:37Well, that we all agree on. Not married. Wish you could have called us before, but, you know, too little, too late. It's fine. A little too late. But what do you call it? I think, to give you more context, she went to nursing school throughout the time throughout the last year so she's an RN now with no debt and I took over we were pretty much 50 50 on our bills for the most part we never not to the nickel but for the most part right the bigger bills and I sustained our household too throughout that time so I think I think she's logical and I think she's fair so to going back to the point of if she gives me a hard time of not wanting to sell and all that stuff, I really don't see that.

1:23:23I don't think it would be a nasty breakup. But if it comes down to it, honestly, I make decent money. And you want to play that game? Go for it. Let's go. We'll take it to Judge Judy. We'll let her handle it. Wow, this just went from like, you just went from, hey, if she gives me a hard time, I fold 50-50 to now, you're like, let's go. Let's pony up with some lawyers. I don't know where this is going, John. Here's the deal. Appreciate you telling us this. Here's my advice on this one. I absolutely believe that you ought to put out what you think is fair. How you choose to debate that, I'm not going to get in the middle of that.

1:24:02Hope it's not ugly. But I do think you should say, hey, but I wouldn't do it right away because you've been in counseling and you shared with us. I love that you shared it. But for three months, you've been checked out. and she's got to be either blindsided or just knows that this is coming. I don't know which way it's going to go. It doesn't matter to this call other than to say when the breakup is done and you've got to give that a little space, George, is what I'm recommending, and then say we need to sell the house and here's how I think it ought to go. And maybe a good idea for you to get a session with your therapist who's been counseling the two of you and maybe get some advice on how to maybe play this thing out because that person hopefully has been very, very objective in sitting with the two of you and might be able to help.

1:24:52That would be the ultimate ideal way to handle it. George, what do you add? What do you delete? Well, I mean, assuming all of that goes decently well, then it becomes how are we going to split this? And I just want to know, do you have things documented, your contributions, is there a written agreement, all of that? No, no. If she wants to play hardball, legally I don't have a leg to stand on. And if she wants to play hard, we would have to split a 50-50 in that money. But that's a handshake agreement that we would split a 50-50. And what does 50-50 mean based on contributions? Because you never talked about that, and it's not written.

1:25:30Sorry, I guess what I'm saying is, going back to your question of, do I have anything written as far as how much I put down, how much I put into renovations? No, and no, I don't. If she wants to play hardball from the net proceeds from the sale of the home, I don't have a leg to stand on. And my best case scenario is at that point we'll split it 50-50 from the net proceeds. And I'm probably out$20 ,000,$25 ,000. I mean, I would start collecting some receipts of the labor I paid. I mean, you can't just give up now. Yeah, I agree. I wouldn't leave$70 ,000 on the table. And I'd be real nice. I mean, real nice in breaking up with her.

1:26:11Yikes.

1:26:38Welcome back to the Ramsey Show in the Fairwinds Credit Union studio. Alongside George Camel, I'm Ken Coleman. Thrilled to have you with us. 888-825-5225 is the phone number to jump in. Let's go to Zach in Houston, Texas. Zach, what is going on? Hey, guys. My question is, is it financially okay or responsible for my wife and I to get a golf club membership. Well, that's just too simple of a question. How are we to know? So let's start here, George. I know that you're itching to start asking questions here. What do you want to know? I want to know where you're at financially. So do you guys have any debt?

1:27:23Our only debt is our mortgage on our house. Okay. Good sign. Zach, it's looking up so far. We've got one green light. Let's talk about your savings. How much do you have saved? Um, saved like liquid? Yes. Yeah, about five months worth of emergency fund. Okay. Another good sign, Zach. Things are looking really good. Household income? About$215 ,000. Hey! Tell him what he's won, George. I still need to know more. You are such a crotchety old man. Ken is so excited for you to get on the course. Zach, we're three for three, but I'm going to play this out with George. Well, I mean, is this a, you know...

1:28:05No, no, go with your question. Is it$500 a month or is it$200 ,000 for the initiation? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. That's the question. We'll get to that. What else do you need to know? I want to know what your net worth is. Okay. My net worth is about$370 ,000 if you include the equity in the home and retirement accounts. Yes. And how old of a young guy are you? My wife and I are 28. I knew it. Cool. Yeah. You, by the way, good golfer? Yeah, are you good? That's another question. I'm pretty good, yeah. What's your handicap? It's about a 10. Oh, for heaven's sakes. This guy, this guy's chomping at the bed.

1:28:42He's paid his dues. Zach needs this membership. Okay, tell us what it's going to cost. Okay, it has a$1 ,000 initiation fee. Oh, for crying out loud. They don't even make those that cheap anymore. It's fantastic, Zach. The problem is it's like 500 bucks a month. Okay, who cares? Oh, look at this. I mean, as a percentage of your take on pay. I agree. But you're worried about the$500 a month? I'm thrilled over the$1 ,000 initiation. You can't find that. Is this a goat track or a nice place? It's a pretty nice place, but it is semi-private and semi-public. Okay. Wow. Are there any minimums as far as like food and beverage?

1:29:24Is this like a fancy country club vibe?

1:29:29Clubhouse is really nice, but no, there's no minimums. Okay. This is an absolute slam dunk. Yes, you can afford this. The bigger question is, what does she get to do with$500 of fun money a month for her? I guess whatever she wants, but she's been getting into golf, too, so this would cover both of us. Whoa. Thank you. Thank you. Now we're bonding as a couple. This is wonderful. I don't like how you quickly went to, what does she get for five? Why do you got to be so— I'm putting myself in her shoes. Well, that was my next question. She's in favor of this. Is that right, Zach? um well we both grew up really frugal and so the 500 bucks a month is like it's like a pain to spend you know for for your wife as well yes but but is she for this or is she against it for i know the pain's there but assuming you've talked about it before this call yes we did talk about it and she seemed pretty excited about it oh well this is a no-brainer This is just because you guys have never spent this kind of money on something like this before.

1:30:34It's brand new. But I'm telling you, the first month, oh, I don't know, about day two or three, where you guys go out together and the weather's nice, you're in the golf cart, got a little snack, maybe you hit some good shots that day. It's a distant memory. Your brain will adjust to that spend pretty quickly. Right, George? Most 28-year-old dudes are spending double that on a truck payment every month. Yeah. And so I want you to feel better about your decision making$215 ,000 completely debt-free, except for the house. I mean, it's a small percentage of your income, of your world. And as long as you guys are doing everything else right, you're paying down the mortgage, investing for your future, then the$500, you'll start flexing that spending muscle to where it doesn't feel as crazy over time.

1:31:21I got a little something extra here before we let Zach go. Okay. Zach, have you thought about the ROI on this$500 a month? I have not. Can I tell you? I wrote a book called The Proximity Principle, but forget the book and the title, just the word proximity. You being at places where other wealthy couples, wealthy men, business people are frequenting, and it's the country club. You never know where the conversations turn and the$6 ,000 you're going to spend, and you gladly do it. and you say this is about us, this is about recreation, which is good, very well could turn into some huge opportunities in your life.

1:32:00So you and your wife, I'm telling you, need to sit down tonight. Whether you believe me or not, I'm right. You hang out at country clubs. Good things happen. I sadly agree with Ken. Thank you very much. I don't go to country clubs, but if I did, I'd be a wealthier man. Well, I've invited you before. How many times did I invite you to come play golf at Legends and you never showed up? Once, maybe? Maybe once. I think after the first one, he went, this guy doesn't have his – he's not coming. You could have driven the golf cart. Now that I would do. Well, we gave you that option. Let's go to James in Dallas, Texas.

1:32:32James, how can we help? Hey, guys. Thank you for taking my call. Sure. What's going on? I work a sales job, and so my income fluctuates pretty dramatically throughout the year. I end up making good money, but I have to keep money set aside to go through the lean months. So I'm new to Dave Ramsey, so I do have some debt, and I'm trying to figure out, do I need to keep the, you know, which I keep out six months of expenses in an account? Do I need, once I pay off my debt, do I need to get an additional six months or so of, like, emergency fund money? Or would you guys consider that to be the same, and anything above that number, I go and invest in retirement accounts?

1:33:19I like keeping them separate. I like what you're doing now. I kind of call it a peaks and valleys fund because you have that low month. You can float by and take it out of there instead of your emergency fund because we know it's not an emergency. It's not unexpected. And so I would aim to have both. I like what you're doing. Keep your peaks and valleys fund right now. Pay off your debt. Then build an emergency fund outside of that. And as far as that peaks and valleys fund, I would look at 2025 and go, hey, what was my deficit? What was the biggest deficit I had in a single month? and I would keep that plus a little bit of buffer in there.

1:33:51Okay. I don't think you need six months of expenses. That feels over the top. I think you'll see, hey, I didn't have a$0 month, but I did have a few months where I needed to pull three grand out to cover my bills. Yeah. And once you're debt-free, your bills also get lower, so that's nice. You can be a little more lean. And then once I do have my debt paid off and I invest 15 % into retirement accounts, I have a mortgage. Should I throw that money at my mortgage or I've also considered starting a side business but not going into debt with it? Yeah, those are all separate things that are all good to do.

1:34:29So invest 15%. If you have extra money on top of that, throw extra on the principal of your mortgage, and you can start that side business. Just do it with cash. Start slow. And as it grows and you get this kind of bonus money, you can throw that at the mortgage too. Reinvest in the business. Yeah, like it. James, good question. Love that he's doing the discipline thing here. Yeah. As a salesperson with that irregular income, you can win with it. Great call. Great advice. And you got to love it, James, when the ultimate worrier, Mr. Money Anxiety himself, tells you, I'm carefree. This is what you need to do.

1:35:02I'm a new man. Take that to the bank.

1:35:26Welcome 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. EveryDollar builds a personalized plan based on your goals and your real life. And it actually coaches you to stick with it.

1:36:00Plus, the EveryDollar app will help you find extra money hiding in your budget. And trust me, there's always something hiding. The average person finds$3 ,015 in the first 15 minutes. That's basically like giving yourself a raise and a much happier new year. So don't let future you down. Make them proud. Go download the EveryDollarBudget app and start for free right now.

1:36:36Oh, the Live Like No One Else cruise is back, folks. For all of you who are living debt-free, we'd love for you to think about and actually join us in the Western Caribbean. Do you say Caribbean or Caribbean, George? It switches based on my mood, to be honest. By the way, I asked the good folks that are natives of the Caribbean, and they told me. Damn, they said it's Caribbean. So it is Pirates of the Caribbean is accurate. That is correct. That's how you say it. this is the only cruise where you can hang out with us and Dave for seven days in paradise enjoying poolside chats sorry the way this is written as though you're gonna enjoy a poolside chat with Dave that's what if that's what you're looking to do you might be sorely disappointed it's not gonna happen I want to go ahead and put that out there he's not gonna sit by the pool and chat with you he'll be George on the other hand might I'll be tanning for sure George likes to oh man you can find ken on the pickleball court yeah as a matter of fact my favorite thing to do on this boat it's the same boat that we went on last time yeah and uh there's a pickleball court on the top of the ship deloney will be in the workout room rachel will be in the spa and you all know where to find us where are you just guess are you by the pool i'll probably be at the coffee shop trying out different espressos yeah i was gonna say i think the first my favorite memory of the cruise uh was day two i think we were out at sea as i recall and i ran into george uh around the pool and he had he had so much sunscreen on him i thought that he had a mask on it was a natural skin tone you know you're supposed to rub that in oh you just slather it on as though someone basted you with mayonnaise i figure it works better if it's slathered that's what i found to be true on google and just rub it in for the rest of us.

1:38:18It was a little alarming. I thought you were having some kind of reaction. But anyway, that was one of my favorite memories. Hey, you don't want to wait. You ready for this? The ship is already over halfway full. And the Neptune suites have already sold out. So take that for what it's worth. Those are sweet. Lock in your spot with a$600 deposit before it's too late. You can click on the link in the show notes or go to ramsysluis.com slash events. By the way, I will tell you, it was a lot of fun. And I am not a cruise guy, but I had a blast. It's the only way I can take a vacation is wait for the next Ramsey Cruise with an infant and toddler.

1:38:55Hey, I've got to go for work. By the way, you know, you're not bringing the dogs. No dogs allowed? No dogs on the ship. Nobody wants to see your dogs. Oh, forget it then. Specifically your dogs. Ryan is up in Kansas City. Ryan, how can we help? Hey, guys. I'm super excited to talk to you. So my wife and I are having a little bit of a disagreement. I have an opportunity to go for a promotion here in the next couple of months. And I am 37. And so my belief is that I should still be going for promotions and fighting hard to improve my career. My wife really wants me to stay where I am. And the reason is that I've got a pretty large amount of anxiety that I've had to have bouts with previously from my time in the service.

1:39:39And I, in this position, have not had any problems with my anxiety. I have been really great at this job, and it's one of the few things that I feel like I can just do well. Let me jump in really quick. What do you think are the reasons? Is there some evidence that both you and your wife could agree on as to why you've not experienced these anxiety breakouts and some of the symptoms in this particular job? Yeah, so the easy answer to that is that I've got the team here is great, and my manager is super supportive of me. My manager has a very strong opinion on mental health. He prioritizes it. So he also lets me kind of have open-ended goals for me to go after.

1:40:28So I'm a project lead, and so I'm able to pick and choose kind of the projects that I want. And so these have been big opportunities for me, and I've done very well with them. And I think also a little bit of my success has led to my, I guess, my mental health being a lot better. Okay. And have you been doing therapy this whole time as well? No. Have you done therapy before? No. Okay. Here's the deal. I'll let you off the hook. Okay. But listen, I didn't ask you. I don't want this for a second for you to feel like I put you in a corner. Here's why I'm asking, because if you've won and you've had very little anxiety issues in the current role, you just told me why, and you've been able to do that without any kind of help because you've had some obviously trauma serving our country, which, by the way, you're a great American.

1:41:19Thank you for serving our country. But if you've been able to do this by the circumstances and certainly the manager and how the manager has led you, these are some good signs. And the question becomes then, if I'm talking to your wife, if I'm you, she's got a real concern for you, but we've got this evidence. And I would want to know if this promotion that I have before me, are the circumstances in the manager going to be similar? That's question number one. So what's the answer? No, it's going to be a completely different, it's going to be a big change. I would be on a different team, different division, everything.

1:41:57Okay, but I get that. But have you, in the interview process, asked enough questions to be able to figure out if the workflow will be similar?

1:42:10I didn't really, I looked into it outside of the interview process. at the next step up, it's going to be a lot more customer focused. And so I'm going to be customer facing a lot more. So the expectation is it's going to be very different in my, I mean, the workload is going to be a lot heavier. I don't mind that. Okay, but my point is, is you have evidence that should now become a list. and these are the reasons why you think you've not had any anxiety episodes and you've been able to be pretty healthy mentally in this current role it doesn't have to be apples to apples but i but i do think it's worth digging a little deeper on this especially with your wife having a concern i want to bring george in uh because i think he has a unique perspective on this are you listening to this uh your thoughts on this i think there's an assumption that the leap would would lead to anxiety.

1:43:04And the other part to think about is, okay, let's assume there is going to be, and let's plan ahead for that. And let's figure out how to manage that if it does happen. But I wouldn't skip over this promotion just out of kind of comfort. That also scares me. And I think that can lead to a lot of regret on its own end. And there's an assumption too, that the grass is not going to be as green as it is now. And I would be asking questions like Ken said, hey, what's the leadership style over there. What's the team dynamic like? What is going to be the amount of time I'm interfacing with customers?

1:43:37And then we go, okay, now we have a better picture. We have some clarity. Is this worth the leap for the added responsibility and paycheck? Have you talked to your current manager about this promotion? Yeah. So I'm very open with him about everything that I'm looking at. Here's why I asked the question. I would want to sit with him and go, hey, you have been phenomenal and created an environment and certainly a workflow that has helped me. What do you think about me taking this role? Have you done that? Yeah. So, yes, his statement was, was you should, you know, at your age, you should still be going for promotions.

1:44:15You should still be trying to work your way up the ladder. I agree. But he did tell me, he did tell me, he goes, hey, you know, this next step is going to add a lot more stress onto you. And I know that's something you struggled with in your past. Okay. You know, if you stay here for longer, there may be options deep, you know, deeper in the future. But I think we've all heard that before. Yeah. So here's, here's what I'm telling you. I want to bring back around the question I asked you about a therapist. Now is the time for you to actually go get that help. Get the tools in place now. Get the tools.

1:44:47And go, I've, I just kind of walked into a situation where it really helped me, but if I'm walking into a different, I need the ability to be able to deal with the past trauma and how that affects me. I would get into therapy instantly. Can I ask what the jump in pay is? What are you making now? What would you be making? Yeah. So I'm making 107 and my wife also makes around the same. And then the jump in pay would be to 120 to about 125, but I've also got disability coming from the army, which is 24k a year. Wow that gives you some options that really helps you progress with your financial future.

1:45:24You guys got some goals ahead? Well yeah so I've been listening to the show for like two and a half months and I've always believed that that was kind of a bad thing but my wife got a brand new truck we're gonna pay that off and so right now we're looking to pay that off and my goal is to have that paid off within the next year to 18 months. Nice. You got a new why now. I'm taking this promotion so that we can create financial stability for our family. And pay off your truck. But I do think you need to seriously address with her what you're going to do to make sure that you have the tools to be able to handle any stress and anxiety with this new role.

1:46:02I think that's a fair question for her and she's asking because she cares about you.

1:46:24Hey, 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.

1:47:14All right. In the lobby here at our Ramsey headquarters, we've got Randy and Erica on the debt-free stage. Welcome. Thank you. Hello. Where are you guys in from? Boise, Idaho. Boise, Idaho. Okay. Welcome, welcome, welcome. All right. Let's hear the numbers. How much debt did you pay off? $380 ,000 in 13 years. In over 13 years. Okay. And what was the range of income? $100 ,000 to$200 ,000. Okay. What do you guys do for a living? I'm a school principal. Okay. I'm an occupational therapist. Okay. Wow. Fantastic. All right. So what kind of debt are we talking about? Our house. Oh, what are those people over there?

1:47:57I had a sneaking suspicion. I was like, that amount of money over that amount of time feels like they were knocking out that mortgage. That's right. That's right. That's incredible. What's the house worth? David would want us to call you weird people. I won't do that. I'll leave that to Dave. I feel like we had to do it. I only say that because I know he's thinking it somewhere. Yes. We're the weirdest people around right now. That's a fact. All right. What is the house worth? $900 ,000 approximately. Oh, my goodness. And what do you guys got in your nest egg? Another$700 ,000. Oh, my goodness.

1:48:24We are looking at Baby Steps Millionaires. That's not even including pensions and cars and who knows what else. That's right. That's incredible. Cash, I want to point out, this is a man who's in education. So, I mean, it can be done, can it not? Definitely. And you did it. All right. We, that's right. You did it together. Yep. So what took place? What was the impetus 13 years ago to say we're going to pay our house off? It was the feeling of panic, I guess would be best to describe what happened. And we needed to buy five plane tickets for a funeral for my father. And at that moment, we had to put it on credit.

1:49:01We just didn't have anything in savings. We never planned anything ahead. We were not prepared for anything. Car broke down, whatever. We would just have to put it on credit. And, you know, it was a major kick in the stomach knowing we knew this day would come. And we just weren't ready. And it was pretty horrible to have to worry about money at that time instead of being with our family. So I think from that moment on is when we seriously said we have got to do something. And we got back from that trip and a friend had done financial peace or knew about Dave Ramsey. And we had no idea who he was.

1:49:43And she talked us into doing the financial peace class. So that's kind of when the whole thing started. So did you get the idea from the friend together or did one of you get it and had to bring it home to the other? No. It was a parent at my school. Okay. And became fast friends and we took the class with them. And then Erica went on to teach a few classes. As soon as it was over, I taught a class at his school. He worked at a Catholic school. So we taught the class there. and we were just like oh we just have to it just helped our fire you know just kind of doing that yeah it's hard to not stay accountable when you're teaching the stuff telling everyone else to do it yeah right like we got to be doing it first yeah and it was incredible it was tough like in the beginning when this the lesson where you have to cut up your credit cards he was like nope not doing that this guy's gone too far this dave guy oh i love that so you're in the class together and that lesson pops up and you're like, whoa, this is a bridge too far.

1:50:43It was a gut check. And years ago, Dave said it's usually one credit card that you have a hard time cutting up. And for me, it was. It was my first credit card. My dad provided it for me. Sure. And I don't know why it had strings attached. Sentimental. Yeah. Yeah. But cut up the American Express and we were go. Right. But every every class I remember, it was like, OK, we need to do that. Like we had done nothing. I mean, every class we learned something and then went home and did it. And from that moment forward, it just kind of, you know, it's went from there. So how do you stay motivated? 13 years.

1:51:24You know, I'm sure there was some fits and starts and some great seasons and some seasons where you're like, we're not making much progress here. What was it like? And one of those the season that we really turned it on was covid. And obviously, as educators, we still showed up. We were lucky. We were lucky we still had our jobs. I was a school occupational therapist, so I worked in the schools. He was working in the schools. And when others were struggling with no income, we still had ours. And we weren't spending money on anything. And at the same time, he was able to get extra jobs teaching online, teaching night school, doing...

1:52:01Yeah, summer school. Deficient in credits. It's took a few jobs. One was a lift operator at our local ski mountain. The worst job I've ever had. Really? Why is that? I don't know much about that. It's you're cold and you're seeing people having a blast skiing and powder and you're saying, here's your chair. Yeah. Okay. I was picturing you like maybe on some type of a, you know, lever or joystick. And if somebody was particularly smug, you just put it stop and they fall off. I didn't know if that ever happened. okay good good good yeah yeah and uh um lumberyard it's some a lot of jobs and erica also for you yeah i worked probably for 10 years uh every weekend doing um therapy in rehab settings like in adult rehab so i worked in the schools and then when i had summers and christmas off i would pick up work doing extra at adult rehab so that i could make extra income so yeah you know i just thought of something I wanted to ask you both, but certainly Randy, you know, here you are in a esteemed position, you know, in what you do.

1:53:06And here you are operating a lift, working in a lumberyard. And I think there are people that are listening and watching you both right now. And George, you mentioned this earlier in the show, you talk about pride and we all have pride, but pride can really, you know, rear its ugly head when you need to swallow your pride and do what it takes. What would you say to people? Cause you, I'm sure you dealt with that. What would you say to people that are feeling that because right now they're out driving, delivering something or doing something they feel a little shame over? Right. Um, there's not, no feeling like being debt free.

1:53:40And, uh, we had our last mortgage payment in September and it was, we were giddy and our kids have been so supportive, but you're right. It was a lot of pride swallowing. Erica was always there to say, you know, let's stay focused. I can distinctly remember a day. It was about 105 working out in the lumber yard and flies are everywhere. And I'm thinking, what am I doing? I'm, you know, 52 years old and I'm picking this up. Just to add, sorry, I don't mean to step on you. When you get your paycheck, though, and you can use that to pay for all the extra principal or all the utilities instead of something else, it kind of helps to take away that it was brutal getting up at 5.30 in the morning to go to work for six hours, but when I got my paycheck, I felt like I did something and it made a difference.

1:54:36You got a little dopamine hit. It was. And you go, all right, that was worth it. I get some instant gratification here after all my hard work. I just love that Randy is either sweating or freezing with all the side hustles. I know. Did you not pick something a little more temperate? We've got to get this guy an indoor side hustle where the air is regulated. Ken and I are indoor cats, so we're impressed. We really are. We don't do well outside of this air-controlled studio. All right, real quick, tell people what the key to getting out of debt is. Go ahead, Erin. You have to get to that moment where you are just, like Dave says, sick and tired.

1:55:06And when you get there, there's nothing that's going to stop you. You're going to just do it. If you're ready, you're going to do it, and you're going to be gazelle intense, and it's going to sustain you. You're going to make it there. Love that. Who are some of your biggest supporters on this journey? Definitely our kids. I got to throw in there. Our kids were, they didn't really tune in. They're 24, 22, 20. And it didn't hit them until they were going to college, which we cash flowed completely. And where they had Roths set up, they were working, they were putting money in. And then they realize, hey, we're close to being debt free.

1:55:47And they were talking about going to school and with a fellow friend who's$100 ,000 in student debt. And that's when it really clicked for them. So they've been our big outholders. How blessed and privileged they are. And you guys change your family trade. Love it. I think they realize how lucky they are. All right. I hope so. So this is the moment. You guys have worked so hard. This is the emotional finish line, right? As you get ready for the scream. Here we go. This is fun. We got Randy and Erica from Boise, Idaho. They paid off$380 ,000 in 13 years, making$100 ,000 all the way up to$200 ,000.

1:56:22Randy, Erica, take it away. Let's hear your debt-free scream. Three, two, one. We're debt-free! There we go. They did it, George. So fun, isn't it? I keep thinking of Thomas Jefferson. I'm a great believer in luck. The harder I work, the more luck I have. There it is. I like that. Even if it's in the lumber yard. Or on that ski lift. Raising your butt off. Hard work creates luck. And they've created that for themselves.

1:57:32Hey, George Camel here. go to ramsaysolutions.com slash real estate. That's ramsaysolutions.com slash real estate.

1:57:55Our scripture of the day comes from Romans 13 verse 8. Oh, no one anything except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. I love you, George. Thank you. I appreciate that. I love you too, Ken. There you go. No debts owed, just love. That's it. It's all we got between us. I'll put that on a shirt or stitch it on a pillow. And our quote of the day from Mark Twain. Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first. That's a sick burn from Twain. You have to love him because he was the original snark commentator. If Twitter was around, he would be the number one tweeter out there.

1:58:34Bonus points. Little known fact. Some people will care. What is his real life name? Oh, I know this in the back of the recesses of my mind. Is it Charles? I think somebody in the booth. Does somebody in the booth know? I'll give them credit. All right, hit us. No, nobody has. It's Samuel Clemens. Samuel Clemens. Are those keeping score at home? hey you know i like to bless america every once in a while with a little known fact he can drop at a cocktail party maybe or not a trivia night or trivia night yeah that could come in handy at your local applebee's what was mark twain's real name i see that showing up and now on my trivia team i'm just saying trust me you do strong in the area of political and uh history and sports and not bad in entertainment uh where i where i'm a real liability of science and math who does trivia around math that's the worst trivia night ever i don't know i don't go to these things okay uh brooks is up in chicago brooks how can we help hi how's it going thank you for taking my call you bet what's going on with you so um i'll just cut right to the chase short story at age 34, I was diagnosed with stage four positive lung cancer.

1:59:46Oh my. And I'm 37 now. Um, I have four children. Um, I've been on disability the last year and a half. I did, I did start working in October, um, just two or three days a week, but, um, back down to one, one day a week now. But my question is, um, I, I have a smart investor pro friend that, um, handles my finances. And we were able to do a viatical settlement on a$500 ,000 life insurance policy. My cancer is terminal, by the way. So that's why we decided to do it. And we settled with$209 ,000. As of today, right now, it's at$228 ,000 in a brokerage account. And I also have a traditional IRA at 73 ,000.

2:00:40Over the last 10 years, we've had some debt here and there, but as of today, we are debt-free except for our mortgage. So my question is, what do I do with my situation? I can give you my distance, like how much I make a month or whatever you guys need. How much is on the house mortgage? 284 ,000. It's valued at 599 as of spring of 2025. Wow. Man, this is a heavy one. I know you've been sitting with it. What does your family think about all this? Have you talked to your wife? Because there's some big financial decisions to make here too. Yeah, my wife is, she's on board with whatever we decide to do together.

2:01:31We have been in it from day one. We've been together for 20 years, married for 14. It's a high school sweetheart. So whatever decision we do make, we make together. So what is the sort of fork in the road as far as financial decisions for you? I guess knowing I have a 10-year-old, 8-year-old, 6 - and 3-year-old, what to do with the brokerage account. do I let it grow until I have enough to pay the house off and then do it? Or do I let that continue to grow? Not knowing exactly. I mean, I know none of us know exactly how many days we have, but knowing that I could have, you know, three, five years, you know, or less or more.

2:02:14And what happens with the brokerage account if you would pass? My wife, it's, it's, it's in the joint brokerage account. Okay. So it would go straight to her and then she can use that to pay off the mortgage. So that's one option versus taking what's in there now, throwing it at the mortgage, and then using your future income to knock out the mortgage over a period of time. Yes, correct. Man, I would personally, if I was in your shoes, I would just hang on to that brokerage account for now. You don't have enough to knock out the mortgage, and so you're still going to have that payment every month.

2:02:48And so I'm totally good with you just waiting. If you have enough to knock out the mortgage and it would just give you guys peace, then I would do that at that point. Okay. What did your SmartVestor Pro say? I'm curious. I've asked him once before we got the money. I haven't followed up with him yet because we were just kind of letting this grow. But he said to hold on to the money as well and let it grow. Cool. Yeah, I like that plan. there's just a lot of variables coming up and who knows how they'll use that money and you know what income stream they will have after that have you guys thought about that portion will any of her disability or your disability go to her she should be able to draw off my um disability yes if i pass if i understand the the laws and everything right um and then the kids also it's about it they get about a thousand dollars a month.

2:03:45Okay. That's great. I would make sure to do your due diligence on how the future income is going to happen. That's more important than just solving the mortgage problem. You want to make sure that they can cover all their expenses with or without the mortgage. But man, these are, you don't want to be making these kinds of decisions with your diagnosis. So I'm so sorry to hear, and I'm wishing you the best, the longest life you can have and the best time you can have with your family. Yeah. Brooks, we're so very sorry. You're just so strong. It's unbelievable that we're even having this conversation with you.

2:04:19You sound like you just got a great frame of mind, given this unimaginable situation you're dealing with. So yeah, this is a lot of communication over these things. Seek the counsel of many. Make decisions as best you can without any time of fear, but to say, all right, we're going to make the best decision we can make for the future and let the chips fall where they may. So sorry you're dealing with this. Thank you for sharing a bit of your story with us, Brooks. Yeah. So unbelievable there. Let's go to Chris now in Atlanta, Georgia. Chris, how can we help? Hey, how's it going? Thanks for taking my call.

2:04:57Sure. What's up? um so i am about twenty thousand dollars in the hole on my current vehicle um and i'm getting ready to sell my house um i just moved to georgia from michigan i'm closing on monday i'm gonna net about sixty six thousand dollars okay and so So I'm just wondering, should I just bite the bullet and get rid of this truck? What's the truck worth? It's worth about$35 ,000. I just recently got it appraised, and I owe$53 ,000. Okay. And what's your income? Right now, about$60 ,000. Oof. Yeah, this truck has to go, man. If you were making$200 ,000 and you love the truck, I would say, hey, just pay it off with the net proceeds of the house and be done.

2:05:58But this truck is just too much of your world. Yeah, I was making closer to six figures when I originally bought it, but that changed. What's the payment on it and the insurance? It is$900 a month for the payment and another$230 for the insurance. So here's the good news. You are going to take a hit, and if you can sell it private party, get as much as you can for it, it'll be less of a hit. But that$66 ,000 net is going to turn into$46 ,000 net, and you'll clear the loan and the insurance, which frees you up$1 ,100 a month for the rest of your life. And then with the other money, you're probably going to need something to drive, so let's get a$10 ,000 car,$15 ,000 car in cash, and then whatever money's left becomes our emergency fund.

2:06:49well i'm hoping to buy another house down here in georgia not anytime soon with what money because once you cover the deficit get an emergency fund and buy a different car that money is has been earmarked so if you do it this way now we'll have a clean slate financial foundation we'll never need to go into debt again then we can begin saving up a down payment. But making 60 grand, it's going to take a while to buy a house where you're going, and that's okay. Move slow. The reason we're here today is because we moved fast and made a lot of assumptions. Let's create some financial peace. You can do it, Chris.

2:07:26Hang in there. Freedom is on the other side of all this. Thanks for the call. Remember, folks, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.

2:07:44informatics