Shortcuts Today Lead to Setbacks Tomorrow

21:01Me too. And they don't know what to do next. Me too. I mean, you're going to have a crisis here. And you got two options while you're sitting and talking to a young widow. She's concerned about how she's going to invest all this money properly and not mess this up, or she's concerned how she's going to eat tomorrow. That's exactly right. These are the two options. And take care of your dadgum family, man. Term life insurance can replace income, pay off debts, cover funeral expenses, so your family can actually have the opportunity to just be sad, to just miss you. That's exactly what it's supposed to be.

21:30It's saying I love you to your family. Term life insurance. Jeff Zander and the team at Zander Insurance makes it easy and affordable. I've used them personally for 25 years. They're the only people I trust. Go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282.

22:02Rachel Cruze:buying or selling your home it's a big deal and with all the clickbait headlines and conflicting data out there it's really hard to know what's actually reality when it comes to the housing market and so we're here to make the latest trends easy to understand so the median home prices have stayed steady in the last month around$441 ,000. And the number of homes for sale hit 1 million for the second month in a row. So buyers now have more options, more negotiating power, while sellers are facing more and more competition. So we're seeing it kind of that be the market, which is great. Again, if you're trying to get in, there's a lot of people out there that are trying to be first time homebuyers, you have some leverage you guys to go in and negotiate.

22:44Rachel Cruze:So the average 15 year fixed rate has held steady at 5.95 % since last month. And again, if you're debt free, you have fully funded emergency funds and at least 5 % for a down payment, go ahead and get into the market. Owning a home and home ownership should be part of your financial plan. So if you do want to see more about these market trends and get some free tools, if you're wanting to buy or sell your home, go to Ramsey solutions.com slash market. or if you are listening on podcast or YouTube, we'll put the link down below or in the show notes so you can check it out. But this is, yeah, home ownership is something that a lot of people want in and it's obviously very expensive.

23:23Rachel Cruze:It's just gone up. But when you see this as a buyer, like there's some good things there, right? I think average days on the market right now, I think is like 59 days. It's almost getting to two months. And so some things are just stabilizing. We keep seeing. And so again, it's kind of becoming a buyer's market. So get in there and - That's good. I'll say, you know, whenever I post about housing, Rachel, on Instagram or social, it's the one thing that if I post, I get usually folks are on my side. If I post that, it's like, Jade, you're out of touch. You don't know what you're talking about. I just feel like we can we need to reframe.

24:00Like, I just want to take a moment and say, like, when we're saying you can get in the market, if we're saying, hey, 25 % of your take home, like, we're not saying this to keep you out of buying a house. And we're not saying it to discourage you. We're simply saying, hey, if you get in a house, we want to make sure that it's something that you're going to be able to afford long term, that it's something that's going to be a blessing to you. Because how many times, Rachel, do people call in? They've gotten into something that they can't afford it. Oh, 100%.

24:28Rachel Cruze:Go ahead. Well, the problem, too, is you sit down with a mortgage lender and the number they show you of what they, quote unquote, will give you to borrow. You're like, wow. They'll give you 50%. That's amazing. And then you go and go on Zillow and start shopping with that number. And you're like, oh, my gosh, we're out. Yes, our formulas, they are more conservative, which means your home's going to look a little bit older and probably more conservative than what the bank would do. But again, we want you to have margin and peace in your life. And when you get that, when your rent or mortgage starts crossing that 40 percent into 50 percent and then we get this all the time.

25:03Rachel Cruze:The health scare happens. Yes. Someone wants to stay home with the kids and go down to one income. I'm like, it locks you into a lifestyle where there's no flexibility. So again, expectations are going to look different than they would have been in 2019. Yeah, it might be a townhouse. Yes. I mean, yes. Or you're going to drive 15, 20 minutes further out. Or it's going to be a house that doesn't have the brand new nice kitchen or it's on a new build or whatever it is. It may look different, but I would rather it look different than my expectations and have peace. And you're in the market. then get something that I can't, I have no wiggle room in my lifestyle.

25:37Rachel Cruze:And I'm locked into this idea of like, this is what we make. And this is what we can afford. And yeah, so right. And what's on social media is not reality, by the way. Yeah. Amen. Reminding. Amen. Hallelujah. Lord have mercy on our souls. All right, let's go to Lori in Alberta, Canada, up there in the north. Hey, Lori, welcome to the show. Hi, ladies. Thank you so much for taking my call. Absolutely. How can we help today? Sure. My question would be, should I opt to rent a basement suite or should I purchase a mobile home in a trailer park? Basement suite? Can I say? Oh, when you said trailer park, what, was it out in the woods?

26:18No. So I'm currently, I have a job opportunity that would require me to move to a location I used to live in. And so it would be in the city. It's a small city, but the trailer park is right smack in the middle of it. So it would be close to amenities and everything and quite close to my job. So it would be very convenient. But at this point, a mobile home and a trailer park is kind of all I can afford. I kind of aimed at my highest purchase price being$130K based on my budget. How safe is that, though? That feels unsafe to me. Am I wrong? I might be. I don't know. um i mean you'd be surprised sometimes it can be safe and especially if it's in the middle of the city um i'm not as concerned uh for my safety um so and yeah from an investment person yeah from

27:13Rachel Cruze:an investment standpoint laurie i i would not i would definitely rent basement rental yes yeah buying that usually it's going to go down in value you're buying an asset that's not appreciating it's depreciating. And so being able to take your time, get into the market a little bit, but I would rent until now for sure. Do you think you'll be in that city long term? That's the idea. And I'm looking for a bit of permanence and renting has always really scared me, even though it does provide a consistent rent payment. I'm not under any illusion that the mobile home would appreciate in value. It would really just be a place for me to just kind of lay low and hunker down until I can purchase something that would be more beneficial investment wise.

28:01Rachel Cruze:So again, it's really just that permanence and also flexibility. Sure. So I would, yeah, the permanence thing can come. I would say, give yourself some time, be patient with that. and then also renting is not bad and I feel like renting gets such a negative connotation but to me with having a plan not not saying I'm going to be a renter for the rest of my life but I'm going to rent for a season until x y and z you can fill in the blanks there it's a it's a it's a sign of patience for me like when people say we're renting I'm like yeah there's something about it not being permanent that's great so you can actually save up and get what you want that is sure and there's still the cost of maintaining the mobile home, right?

28:42That is more keeping with buying a home, because what happens if something happens with the, I don't know, whatever the plumbing setup is, what happens if something, you're on the hook to have to repair those things, whereas if you're renting, that's something that's going to fall on your landlord to take care of. So there's part of that too, where I feel like you're going to end up saving money long-term, not just on repairs, but also the depreciation that's not going to fall on you. Okay. Yeah. And then those have been things I've kind of thought about and whatnot,

29:12Rachel Cruze:but I thought I'd get your guys' perspective on that. Yeah, absolutely. Well, thanks for the call, Lori. And, yep, again, for sure I would rent. That's what I would do. You know, there's camper and, like, mobile home folks. Like, people call in, and a lot of times that's what they want to do. And I get it, but I don't get it. Like, it's just going down in value. That's all I can say. For sure. And having something that is stable. It may not feel permanent, but at least you know that you take a bunch of money that you're going to end up losing, right? That you're actually kind of staying more in the positive financially is the goal.

29:48Rachel Cruze:And, you know, it's a new job, which is great. And I know you said you used to live in that town, so you're familiar with it. But for a lot of people that are moving, the transit world, Jade, I feel like people are moving constantly for jobs. and they're, you know, going across country and all of it. So you guys, if you are someone that is moving to a new area, rent, even if you can't afford a home, like I would say rent for a year. And if you think you know the area of the city you want to live in, just rent for a year and make sure, okay, this is what we like. We like the areas, we like the school, we like the community.

30:22Rachel Cruze:Because some people, they kind of just pick a city and they pick a place and they're like, here, we can afford this, let's just do this. but give yourself patience. And again, that's what renting does, especially if you're in a season of transition or there's something new happening, just have the patience and rent for nine months to a year. And then you can look at buying. You get to see what that side of town is like all throughout the year, right? You might learn something that you're like, oh crap, this is like right where the airplanes fly over. Or you might learn, you know what I mean? You might learn those, those sorts of things.

30:54So that's very, very valuable.

30:55Rachel Cruze:And it is hard, Lori. I think, you know having the patience and what we're talking about at the beginning of the segment even with the housing market it is hard in today's world like it takes a lot of maturity to delay gratification even with a big purchase like a home and I'm telling you guys the more you can practice that and just have that patience have that longer timeline you're going to get what you want and in a really peaceful way that's not locking you into something that where you have no options if you want to change something about your life. So that's our goal. I rented for 10 years before I bought.

31:29Rachel Cruze:Lookie there. Worth it. And you're, and you're alive. Look at you. I'm living. I'm alive and well.

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32:59One of the best things that you can do to help us, and let's just say help the world,

33:04Rachel Cruze:is to make sure to like, subscribe, and share the show with your friends and your family because the truth is, this is why we get up every day to do and talk about your life and your money. And we wanna help people. And the more the word gets out, hopefully the more people get encouragement in their own lives and some direction. And one of the areas of their life that a lot of people need direction is when it comes to their purpose, when it comes to their career, their jobs. And one of the best people on the planet, We actually gave his book away in the first segment. Oh, thank you. My kids need new shoes.

33:38Yes. Oh, that's right. I missed that part. It's the promo indirect money.

33:43Rachel Cruze:We gave it. Yes. It's Ken Coleman. And he was walking by the studio literally just now. I was. And we were like, Ken, come in for a segment because we saw on the board, the next call has to do with jobs and all the things. I'm glad I brushed my teeth today. Listen, you got the outsider's vibe going on. You got the greaser. I know. this is as casual as you'll ever see me on the show because i was not planning on james calling me in from the bullpen but look at that tan glowing come on ken i am i'm getting a lot of vitamin d these days it's what we need this summer all right well let's see by the way real quick this is america's greatest combo right here i mean female power is just exploding off of you i said this to you all when i walked in yeah i said if i was a fan of the show this duo would be my favorite wow that means this is i'm i gotta tell you i i am woman hear me roar i feel that no no we are woman i know but that's the phrase i am woman hear me see this is what these are the two women that correct me almost as much as me as my wife that's right this is what i'm used to actually we all had dinner together last friday night uh with the spouses and stacy yeah we we felt definitely if you want to see my dinner outfit go to my instagram page at ken coleman Listen, after this segment, if the guys in the booth want to win, yeah, throw it on there.

35:01If they can get his golfing outfit. It's next level.

35:04Rachel Cruze:Which actually appeared in Happy Gilmore 2. Didn't know that. It's in the movie. All right. All right. Let's go to Tyler in Houston, Texas. Hey, Tyler. Welcome to the show. Hey, guys. Thank you so much for taking my call. Absolutely. How can we help? Yeah. So I recently just got married and moved into a new home with my wife. And I got a job offer recently as well that would be a 35 % pay bump. And yeah, so it's exciting. However, my wife does not want me to take it. So I think that we don't have any debt right now for context. And I do enjoy what I do right now. This other opportunity I think I would enjoy as well.

35:58But I don't know. Why doesn't your wife want you to take it? It's a pretty far commute. How far? About an hour. Each way? Yeah. So an hour in the morning to get there, an hour coming back home. Wow. That's rough. Do you guys have littles? Yeah. Little kids running around the house? No kids? No. No kids. So first of all, personally, I would never sign up for a two hour commute. That gets old really fast, no matter how great the job is and how great the money is. That gets old fast. It's a quality of life issue. But what is her, just to dig a little bit more, what is her specific reason as to why she doesn't want you to take it?

36:46Understanding the commute. What is she? Is she worried about less time with you? Yeah. I think that, yeah, yeah. I think that, I mean, we've done distance our whole relationship. So just now getting married, I think that my, oh, very like less than a month. Oh, how sweet. Yeah. You know, she might change her answer a couple of years from now. Who knows? Okay, a serious question. Does this job, we know that it's a 35 % pay bump, but does it also move you significantly up the career ladder that you want to climb? um so that's tough right because i'm i'm in consulting right now and what i would be going into is an internal role um and it's a manager position and so it does move me up but i think that i can also make the case to stay at my current job because it's like i i am getting a lot more experience probably okay great so let me ask another one if that makes sense it makes total sense if if the money was the same would you even be considering this this opportunity no okay so the current job has actually got you more positioned long term ladies i think this is an easy one for me wifey's not happy about it okay this will be fun let's do it let's do a game on account you knew it on account of three what is our answer yes or no take the new job so take it or pass say leave it oh pass pass take it or take it or pass all right count us down okay ready

38:25Rachel Cruze:one two three pass yeah this is rare by the way tyler we're all in agreement i'm only disappointed that jade didn't harmonize there but if i if i could just give you the specifics as to why number one new wife she's not thrilled about it that's that's one good reason two uh it's two hours of commute every day that's going to suck the soul right out of you into the vents in your car and three it doesn't actually get you ahead if we look 10 15 years down the road that's why we're all so yeah it's the money it's the 35 bump that feels real good but he has no debt you have to consider it yeah yeah oh that's a good point jade he doesn't really need it yeah he has no debt there's nothing on fire here just curious uh do you expect to get a bump in in the days ahead months ahead, year ahead where you currently are if you stay on this track?

39:16Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just got a promotion and I think that generally it's looked like my peers have been getting pretty decent raises year over year.

39:28Rachel Cruze:Tyler, how old are you? I was still 24. Alright, question for the ladies. Tyler, listen up here. This is huge. It's a great ego boost, by the way. It feels great. There's something about someone's going to pay me this much more. I'm amazing. I'm great. Yeah. You got to roll it around. So Tyler, pay close attention here. I'm going to get some expertise from two married women here. He's 24. They've been married a month. How does he reveal this decision to his wife? We know what she wants. Any kind of brownie points he can get out of this deal? Brownie points. Manipulate the situation. Not manipulate.

40:00Rachel Cruze:Make him look better. No. No. He's just going to tell her. Why so cynical? I don't know. Come on. Come on. Brownie points. Give this guy some tips on how to share this information. His wife's going to be thrilled. Okay. I'll go first. Thank you, Jade. I love if I've talked to Sam Warshaw about something and I know that he has really thought about it. He's really thought it through. It wasn't just alright, we'll just do what you want to do. I love knowing that. So I think if you just share with her, hey honey, I thought about what you said and I even went to the extent of calling some professionals and I called in this show.

40:34Let's just say Marvin Gaye. Whoa! Wow! Let's get it on. Oh, boy, it's hot in here all of a sudden. I'm just saying, that's romance right there. It is. Thank you for understanding what I'm saying. And you know what?

40:48Rachel Cruze:And I'll say that, Tyler. I think Jade is exactly right. Because it's not this like, it's not this, okay, if you don't want me to, I won't. There's something attractive about saying, hey, I've put my own thoughts to this. I've kind of calculated, what do I want? And then as I match it against what my wife says, and scripture is very clear about having a wife that is wise and listening to her there's a reason that it talks about that that's right because all these guys are like oh she she doesn't really understand i'm gonna just do my thing not good that's not good but that beautiful balance of having a spouse that you love and respect oh go ahead tyler i like this speak up young what is it what is it if i could just if i could just add one thing uh she is going to be in school for the next two years and so for a dental hygienist and we're not having to take debt for that.

41:39But I will say that she's not going to be bringing in an income. And if kids are in the future, like in two years, like just thinking about the next baby step. Tyler, you're having second thoughts after all this wisdom we just dropped on you. I just want to cover my base. No, I appreciate that. No, I love it, but we covered it, man.

42:01Rachel Cruze:And we say to have babies, even if you, if you have debt and you're working your way out, Tyler. So even if you were at a different level financially, we'd still say to have kids. I'd like to point out with Jade's Marvin Gaye recommendation, babies may be coming a little sooner than we thought. They might. Listen, get ready. Jade, wow. Wow. Now see. You're welcome, Tyler. See, you actually thought that was manipulative, but you both gave great advice to that young married man. Thank you, ladies. Speaking of Marvin Gaye, we've got the outfit ready. Oh, where's the outfit? Oh, here's the outfit.

42:27Speaking of smooth Marvin Gaye, there we go. Look at old Kenneth. I'm going to tell you, folks. On the pup-pup course. I'm as fresh as a new pair of sheets. Looking great. Fresh as the other side of the pillow. Yes.

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44:23Rachel Cruze:live from Ramsey Solutions it's the Ramsey show where we help people build wealth do work that they love and create amazing relationships I am Rachel Cruz hosting this hour with the amazing Jade Warshaw. And we are here to answer your questions about life and money, relationships, career, anything and everything. So give us a call. We're going to start off with Jacob in Indianapolis. Hey, Jacob, welcome to the show. Hey, how are you guys doing? We're doing great. How can we help? So I have a quick question about money and when to get started with the snowball effect. So my girlfriend and I are expecting our first child, but we got the news that she is going to have Down syndrome and they're preparing us for many major surgeries right out of the gate.

45:16We are currently, I have about 20 ,000 in debt and my girlfriend has about 170 ,000 between student loans, cars, and just like a thousand on a credit card. okay um i don't i was a gazelle intense for a while trying to get everything of mine paid down and i feel like the surgeries is kind of put a major halt on that yeah and it should that's this is something that's coming up that is really really important and we would say even if this weren't the case that you should put a pause on the baby steps just because there is a new life coming into the world and you don't know what the cost of that is going to be.

46:02So you have good instincts to put paying off debt on hold. My question to you, Jacob, would be, do you know what your out-of-pocket max is for the insurance, for her insurance? No, we kind of just recently found out about the surgeries and we're trying to figure out if it would be better to kind of do a shotgun wedding. When are you guys going to get married? We were, the baby wasn't planned, so we were planning on doing it sometime next year. Things have changed. And I'm going to say this too, Jacob.

46:41Rachel Cruze:Things have changed with this diagnosis. I mean, having a baby is one thing, and then having a child with special needs, which I have multiple friends, honestly, that have Down Syndrome children, and they're the most precious wonderful kids and babies and in the entire world but like you said it does come with a financial major responsibility so getting um I think a level of stability for you and your girlfriend together as a team is going to be huge and and marriage does that like when you guys say yeah we have created this life together and we are there's a level of stability in that Jacob that I would do.

47:22Rachel Cruze:And then once you guys get married, then you're able to combine finances and tackle all of what's ahead together in such a united front that I think is going to help from like an, from an energy, emotional perspective. So, so yes, I would do a shotgun wedding. And your insurance is better than hers. Is that what I heard you say? Yeah. Yeah. I'm with the union and she's kind of doing dental, like she's dental hygienist and And most dentists don't provide insurance. How old are you guys? I'm 25. Okay, so she's not on her parents. Is she still on her parents' insurance? She is, but we were talking with her dad about all of this, and he was kind of leaning us towards getting online.

48:11Okay, got it. And so your homework, one of your biggest pieces of homework coming off this call is, Yeah, you got to find out once you move her onto yours, what the max is for her and what the max is for the two of you, because that's going to inform what you need to have saved because you're going to hit that with these surgeries. So whether it's eight or 10 or I don't know, 12 ,000, you're going to need to figure out what that is and get that saved up. So if you were to put your money into an every dollar budget, what's your margin every month that you could put towards savings? I'm doing a lot of side things right now, so it varies.

48:53But just off of my paycheck from my hourly job, it's probably about$700. Okay. So$700 a month. And how many months pregnant is she? um she is

49:14five okay okay so you've got i mean you've got half the pregnancy just about to to try to stack this up as much as possible and now is a good time yeah if you can pick up extra work because i really would love it's just going to be a level of peace for you to go into all of this knowing hey the money's there all we have to do is just emotionally be there for each other from a

49:36Rachel Cruze:bandwidth perspective, Jacob, right now is the time to work 80 hours a week. Because by the time she comes into the world, you guys are gonna be hands on deck for a while. I mean, it's you're gonna you're gonna be distracted. And rightfully so I mean, you is your child. And so anyone would be like that. And you're gonna want to spend more hours with the baby. I mean, like, there's, there's just, it's going to change your life completely. And the and right now your life from a schedule perspective hasn't changed. So I would up it, I would do what I can right now. And, and then you guys take care of that baby.

50:12And then, you know, once you kind of get some

50:15Rachel Cruze:grounding and some footing and some real answers and some reality, there may be some medical bills and then you guys are going to have to tackle all of your debt together after, um, you know, you guys feel settled, which for you and in this situation, it may be a little longer than just, we usually just say, you know, when mom and baby come home and everyone's good, you know, You throw everything at the dead snowball and you keep moving. But for you guys, it's probably going to be stretched out a little bit longer. And that's okay. Like, don't feel bad about that is what I'm saying. Because this is such a precious life and it's such a sensitive situation that you give yourself the grace to be fully present and there and do what you guys have to do.

50:53Rachel Cruze:But again, like Jade was saying, the more you can have going into this financially, the more peace you guys are going to have. and when that baby comes let me just say you know ask for what you need because your friends and everybody's going to come out of the woodwork and they're going to say things like let me know if there's anything i can do if you need me and they kind of like throw the ball out there and you it's out of you yeah you slam it and say you know i could really use somebody to we could really use some meals in the fridge freezer we could really use someone to help i don't know your wife's name but help my wife clean the house don't be afraid to ask because when people say that they truly do want to ask they just don't always know what to offer so just tell them what you need okay um and one other thing since I kind of have like the lesser amount I have roughly like 19 to 20 000 do you think it would be wrong of me to kind of talk with her and be like hey let's knock all of mine out once we get past these stages oh and then yeah if you guys are married at that point then I would combine everything and do the debt snowball.

51:58Rachel Cruze:And I would pay off her$1 ,000 credit card first. You guys line up all of your debts together and pay them off regardless of whose it is, smallest to largest. So hers, she might have some student loans in there. I don't know, but you guys list it out, smallest to largest. So I would, if she has a couple of ankle biter debts, like a$1 ,000 credit card here, $2 ,000 loan to her mom or whatever, I would knock those out first and then get to your 20. But I would do the debt snowball once you guys and combine everything once you're married. And again, once you guys get some grounding and some realistic kind of reality of the baseline once your daughter comes.

52:36Rachel Cruze:But gosh, Jacob, our hearts are with you, but also I know she's going to be such a gift. And I commend you guys for going forward with this because I know for a lot of people, they don't. And there's just something in me as a mom. I just, I admire that for you guys. Amen. So you guys are going to love that little girl really well. She has some great parents.

53:11Rachel Cruze:Switching banks can be a hassle, and I totally get that. But when Winston and I opened up our Fairwinds account, we were shocked by how quick and easy it was. It just took a few minutes online. We didn't have to block off an entire afternoon or track down paperwork. And the next day, we got a personal call from a Fairwind specialist just checking in. I couldn't believe it when I answered my phone and I was talking to them. I was like, y 'all are the nicest people. Now, if you're working hard to save money, get out of debt and build a future, you should have a bank that supports that, not fights it.

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54:23Rachel Cruze:Fairwinds is federally insured by the NCUA.

54:39Rachel Cruze:Up next, we have Hannah in Phoenix. Hi, Hannah. Welcome to the show. Hi, how are you guys? We're doing great. How can we help today? So my husband and I became officially 100 % debt-free a month ago. Nice. Congratulations. Yes. Thank you so much. And during this process, we have been working really hard to, you know, save, to buy a house. And about a month ago, our lender gave us a call and said that he was going to be able to give us a down payment assistance. And so to go ahead and use our savings to, you know, get rid of the last of my husband's didn't loan debt. And so we went ahead and did that.

55:22And then he gave us a call earlier this week and said that he will be able to give us a better interest rate if we can come up with the down payment on our own. And so we could do that, but it would be living like really, really tight. Well, and also depending on how much they're willing to give us for concessions as well would affect it. But so, you know, if they do decide to only give us 2 % concessions, then we would be about$2 ,000 short, plus the house doesn't have a washer and dryer. So, like, we need extra money for that, plus, like, you know, utility deposits and that kind of thing. So I was wondering, do you think it would be better for me to take out a small student loan and put it in a separate account to use just in case I'm a full-time engineering student?

56:06or just kind of try to put on our credit cards or what do you think we should kind of do for just like that$2 ,000 buffer, you know, temporarily.

56:15Rachel Cruze:Anna, can I be honest? It makes me nervous that you're going in and buying a house and$2 ,000 is going to make or break the situation. That's not good. Does that feel tight to you? Yeah. I'm sorry, what? Doesn't that kind of feel tight to you? It does feel tight to me, but it, I mean, we had... Do you not have an emergency fund? Do you guys have an emergency fund? yes we have seven thousand dollars right now and then by the end of the month we'll be closer to twelve thousand dollars in savings um why don't you use that then use that money

56:49what's your income that's gonna all go towards the down payment um my husband brings home about fifteen to two thousand uh dollars a week so fifteen hundred to two thousand okay so you've got okay so you got six thousand bucks and you're uh i think that your emergency fund is not even at the three-month level which means even with do you see what i'm saying i have to agree with rachel i think that you're not ready to do this just yet i think you could be ready in like six or eight more months but i don't think you're ready yet and i think that like if you can't afford a washer and

57:26Rachel Cruze:dryer hannah i mean the i mean genuine i'm being genuine of like oh my gosh what are you gonna do if the heating and air goes out what do you i mean like what do you like that's that's a small expense with a home like so we always say to have at least three to six months of expenses saved in the bank with at least a five percent down payment with no debt so are you guys completely debt-free completely debt-free and we would i'm sorry you said that about a month ago i'm sorry yeah you said that a month ago. Yeah. Sorry, my daughter. No, you're fine. We would have had more of an emergency fund, but we literally just paid off my husband's entire student loan debt.

58:01That's right.

58:01Rachel Cruze:Which is amazing. So good. Okay. Why don't y 'all tap the brakes for six months? What's making you like rush into this? Because I feel like, you know, paying$2 ,000 a month on rent is the greater evil than living tight and paying$2 ,000 mortgage and investing in ourselves. I see that. But let's paint the picture for you because this is so true. First off, the first giveaway here is you're already thinking about debt and credit. You just paid off a buttload of money and you're already thinking about going back to debt and credit cards just for this$2 ,000 thing. That's a mentality piece that lets me know, ooh, we're not in a good headspace.

58:42Then two, Rachel is exactly right. If you buy a$400 ,000 house and then turn around and can't pay a$4 ,000 bill for heating and air, or if something happens, because something is going to happen, it will happen. That is just the nature of home ownership. It's not to be scary. It's just part of it. Then how much more will you then say, okay, we used debt before, I guess we'll have to use it again. This is a slippery slope and it's not anything against you, specifically, Hannah. This is just how life goes when you're not prepared. And I would just hate that for you. You've worked so hard to get out of debt.

59:20Yeah, I guess the way that I'm looking at it though is that this is just like a temporary type of stuff. It's not. Not if what I said takes place. Now you're in debt again. I'm gonna be real with you. Here's what it is. You really like the house that's on the hook. You love it. That's what it is. I mean, it's a it's a fixer upper that's going to be sweat. I know, but you still love it. You still love it. Otherwise, you wouldn't be putting an offer on it. So that's really that's the hard part of this conversation is what you're really going to have to decide between is do you trust that there could be another house on the market?

59:53And if it's a fixer upper, then there will be. Yeah, that you can love and be ready to buy because I'm telling you there will be. The hard part is. Yes. Not making that offer. Yeah.

1:00:02Rachel Cruze:And Hannah, I think to what we fight for on this show, Dr. John Zalone said it, and I think it's so true. We are fighting for peace. We are trying to create peace in our life. And even if you're renting and throwing two thousand dollars away while you guys save up a bigger emergency fund, you have little kids. You know, we heard them in the background are so sweet. You got kids. There could be, you know, doctor's visits that come up, health issues, a job like life just happens. It just does. And to create peace, you think in this moment that this house is, oh gosh, you're like, if we can just get into this, it's going to be just a better situation.

1:00:35Rachel Cruze:But financially, it's not right now for you guys. And if anything, it's going to turn into a curse and it's actually going to create so, it can create, could create so much stress and anxiety. You're giving the risk or the gamble that that could be the reality. And then you look up and you're like, we are deeper in debt because of a washer and dryer. We had to take out a student loan to get$3 ,000 here. We had this happen and this happened. I mean, slowly you could look up and you're 10,$15 ,000 in debt again. And then you guys are at this point where you're like, oh my gosh, like what have we done?

1:01:05Rachel Cruze:You've gone backwards. And then the house is a fixer upper. You're going to get in there. You're going to find mold behind this wall. The plumbing here isn't going to work. It always costs more and takes longer with the renovations. I mean, it just turns into, I mean, you're setting yourself up for a very stressful situation, Hannah. That's what we see. And I know it sounds like we're being Debbie Downer and we may be because we just get we hear reality on the on on this show all the time so if we're fighting for peace it may not be exciting and flashy and fun and what we want what we're desiring in the moment but if we can say no to ourselves to be smart and create some delayed gratification and wait till the even the spring january february and have you know you guys could have gosh you got seven i mean you guys could have twenty thousand dollars in an emergency fund have a full down payment that you are so confident that you are great you know giving away and then something happens you're like great we have actual margin in our budget and we got a twenty thousand dollar emergency fund a thirty thousand dollars do you know i'm saying like that's peaceful to me you're just set in so it's just like there's just a lot there's a lot that could go wrong so um i know it's probably what don't i know that's not what you want to hear but that's how i feel so if you can't afford a washer or dryer i'm going to say you can't afford a house right now yeah um but uh one other thing i wanted to like point out is would there would you be giving me different advice if you know we hadn't paid off you know that seven thousand dollar student loan and we had that you know as a buffer no okay oh oh if you had if you had seven thousand dollars if we hadn't because we still have debt you'd still have debt so we still would give you the same say hey pay off the debt save up three to six months yeah the advice would not change it'd be the exact same formula and and i just now that we've uncovered a little bit here and i just got to ask so you guys are also doing no more than 25 of your take home right i just want to be sure um towards the mortgage no no no when you when after you put the down payment down the amount that you'd pay on your mortgage, it's only 25%, right?

1:03:13Of your, if your take home after tax. Um, I believe so. I think that the lender said that depending if, you know, we spent, uh, uh, depending on concessions and that kind of thing is going to be between 25 and 30%. Okay. So that I also wanted to bring that up. That is out of, I don't want to say it's the most important number to know, but that is of huge importance to know going forward when you do get a house, that's what you want to know. You want to make sure you're no more than 25 % because again, kids, life, happening, you need that margin. Yeah, absolutely.

1:03:46Rachel Cruze:Gosh, Hannah. I feel bad. I'm sorry, but I'm not sorry because it's the right move. I don't know if she's going to take our advice, but we wish you well, Hannah. We wish you well.

1:04:08Thank you.

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1:05:28Rachel Cruze:The Ramsey Show Question of the Day is brought to you by Why Refi. Feeling stuck with defaulted private student loan payments? Well, Why Refi can reduce your payments and help you regain control of your finances. Take the first step toward getting unstuck. Visit whyrefi.com slash Ramsey. That's the letter Y, R-E-F-Y dot com slash Ramsey may not be available in all states. All right. Today's question comes from Ty in Texas. He says, my girlfriend and I have been discussing marriage and engagement rings. Love it. We're both 24 years old. I make$70 ,000 a year and have a small amount of student loan debt that we can knock out easily after the wedding.

1:06:08What do you recommend spending on an engagement ring? Am I being cheap for wanting to purchase a lab grown diamond? I'm fine with spending a bit more on a natural stone, but don't want my girlfriend to think I'm cheap. Okay. Well, there's two parts to this question. Part of it is preference, right? I don't, I mean, if she doesn't, some people don't care about diamonds per se. They care about the look of the ring. So she cares more about the look of the ring and she's willing to do a lab grown diamond to get that look.

1:06:39Rachel Cruze:A lot of people are doing that these days. Yeah. And they look beautiful. I'll be honest. You can't really tell. No. I don't think anyone's asking. If I see someone's engagement ring, I'm always like, oh, beautiful. You're kind of looking at the size, right? You're either like, dang, that's a big, I don't know. And if somebody says, is that lab grown? Yeah, no one asks that. I'm cutting you off. I know. You're cut off. I know. Okay. But if she wants a natural. So I wouldn't guess on the engagement ring with what she wants. Ask. If you guys are, yeah, ask her. And just know that if it's a real one, it's probably going to be smaller.

1:07:10Rachel Cruze:or you're, you know, get more bang for your buck if you go lab grown. So just, I would, I would ask that. But how much, uh, yeah, we usually say a month's salary. So whatever you make in one month, that would be the amount that we would spend. Can I say that that's the minimum? Yes. Yes, you can, Jade. I think like the diamond, the diamond like world or the ring world, the engagement world, I think they say three months. Yeah. Yeah, they do. They do. They do. That's what they say is average. I tend to love that. But at the same time, like you said, you've got debt. I'm being silly. There are more things to consider.

1:07:46You do have some debt to pay off. You guys do have a wedding possibly to fund. I don't know who's paying for the wedding. So do think about those things. And if you got a little extra cash, throw it on there.

1:07:56Rachel Cruze:Bump it up. Are you against upgrading rings later in life? You know what? It's funny that you say that. First off, I forgot to wear my wedding ring today, which is bananas. In one of our breaks, she was like, I forgot my wedding ring. Yeah, it's crazy. And so I put my aura ring on it. But, you know, I had the thought when I first got engaged, it was like, oh, you can always upgrade your ring. But I don't know about you. I, I, you grow a connection to it. And I'm like, I love my ring. It's got its inclusions. And it's, you know, it's not perfect. But I love it. I could never imagine not wearing that ring at this point.

1:08:29Yeah, that's fair. Like the actual diamond. Yes.

1:08:33Rachel Cruze:Yes. I don't know. Totally. Totally. I know. I've heard people do creative things. They're like, we'll take the diamond and make a necklace or like do other things like with it. That's a good idea. But that's an option too, Ty. So. Yeah, that is. That's a great option. That's fun though. That's a fun season of life. The whole engagement ring shop and all of it. Oh my gosh. So good. All right. Let's go to Sam in Ohio. Hey, Sam. Welcome to the show. Hello. Hello. How can we help today? I had a question. I'm falling out of philosophical alignment with my better half on finances and those. Okay. Wondering how to line that back up.

1:09:14Rachel Cruze:Oh, what's the, where are you guys not aligned? Which part? Well, we were self-employed. We had a company for a long time. and then um 2021 we had uh some tragedy hit and so we shut one leg of the company down and i continued to be self-employed i'm trying to shorten this up i continued to be self-employed and she i brought her back to ohio uh from another state to to be closer to her kids so we should we shut a whole thing down and she ended up taking a job at a plant and you know um throughout we 25 year company you know throughout the years we always practiced delayed gratification and what not now we're at a point where she's you know after my stepson was murdered after that happened she kind of checked out I mean you look and you talk to her and she's like okay the same person but she She doesn't care about money or anything anymore.

1:10:27And now I've changed some things. We ended up winding that business down, got a different one going, and I've created a lifetime residual income. And I have homes in three states, Washington, Ohio, and Florida. So you're doing well financially, but you're saying she's checked out mentally and she's doing behaviors with money that aren't... Yeah, but she's checked out financially as well. She doesn't care about money. She wants to keep working at this job.

1:11:02Rachel Cruze:Okay. And she just gives all her money away to her kids, which is another basket of problems. Okay. Is she seeing anybody? Is she getting help? I mean, what you described is... Traumatic. Yeah. On the highest level. Yeah, well, it is. And we recently, you know, right after that, we went through a period where we had to take care of my parents and then both of them passed away. And so like the last three, four, four or five years have been a whirlwind. So, yes, we split apart, got back together. We are in counseling, but I kind of feel like she's just kind of telling the counselor what he needs to hear kind of thing.

1:11:46And I want her to get on the right page.

1:11:50Rachel Cruze:What are you wanting from her, Sam, from a financial perspective that you guys are not aligned on? Is it giving money to the kids? Is it the fact that she doesn't initiate conversations with money? She doesn't care? Well, you know, I mean, at this point, I don't want her necessarily to be working anymore. Does she want to work? Well, yes and no. Yes and no, but I'd say, yeah, she wants to keep the thing because she keeps funding her kids. Well, what's wrong with her working? You tell us what's... Well, what's wrong with it, and this is the only thing, is, you know, I'm at the point where we're at the point now where we were working for before, where it's time to stop working.

1:12:44and then every two or three months we were going to be in a in a in a different different home different climate i mean my kids are on the other side of the country and my grandkids so sam real

1:12:54Rachel Cruze:quick we're kind of running out of time i want to make sure we can help you with how what you called in with so um what's your what's your net worth do you guys have a lot of debt do you have a lot of surplus like where are you at net worth wise uh net worth uh in in equity a little over 14 million. Okay. So you're saying she doesn't need to work. She can stop. You think probably it's better for her mentally to stop. I don't know. Yeah. Her motivation for working you don't like because it's just her giving money to her kids and enabling her kids is what you think. Right. Well, that's part of it.

1:13:32But the other part is the time in life where we were going to be doing something different you know traveling okay i gotcha i gotcha you know yeah so yeah it's

1:13:41Rachel Cruze:painting what john deloney would say you're like putting pictures to words that you guys you had a picture of what this time of life was going to look like and here she is working a nine to five and giving the paycheck to the kids you're like no no you're supposed to be unplugged we've worked really hard and done really well financially and we should be traveling and all of that so i mean from what um i just wonder within her because you said she's she's changed some she's there but she's not fully there you've said that a couple times on the call which makes sense since the tragedy um so i just wonder for her where the healing is for her um because there's a there's some level of security and safety that that this way of functioning is giving her yeah Or it's an outlet of some kind.

1:14:29Rachel Cruze:And as a husband, you're seeing it and saying like, there's other ways to deal with this in a healthier way that also could add to our quality of life as a couple. And so, I mean, honestly, Sam, I think that this would be a conversation about what's going on within you and what you're desiring and wanting. And then, you know, helping, encouraging her to continue to get some healing. And it may be more than just couples therapy. Like her stuff may be really deep because of the tragedy that happened, which makes total sense. The more healing she has, the healthier those outcomes are going to be.

1:15:26Rachel Cruze:Well, if you're tired of living paycheck to paycheck and you feel like you just can't get ahead, make sure to check out one of our free every dollar trainings. So we do these trainings every single week throughout this month. And they're all hosted by one of the Ramsey personalities. I've done a couple, Jade. I know you've done some. I'll be there Monday. Yes. So we are so enjoying these, you guys. And there's like hundreds of you guys, sometimes over a thousand. But they're completely free. and we're able to show you how to stick to a budget and even find$9 ,000 of margin within your money. And that's great margin to help you get out of debt.

1:16:03Rachel Cruze:That's a lot of money. Do it all. So if you have any questions that you want answered, you can even sign up and ask that question live in the Q &A because we do a live one as well. So you can go to RamseySolutions.com slash webinar and sign up and we will be doing those every week in the coming month. Oh, yeah. Love it. All right. First up, we have David in Spokane, Washington. Hi, David. Welcome to the show. Hey, guys. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. How can we help? Yeah. So I'm currently on baby step one. And I'm curious to know if I should be making an exception to the$1 ,000 in savings and increasing that to, for myself, around$7 ,000.

1:16:53That's a big increase. Why would you do that? Well, my transmission is going on my car. I know it's, I guess, a pending expense that I'm anticipating in the next few months. Okay. So let me clarify something, and I think it'll help you, and I think it'll help listeners. So one of the things about an emergency fund that qualify whether or not you use it is if something is necessary, if something is time sensitive, like it must be done right now. And if it's unexpected, I feel like that's when you go and you dip into the emergency fund. Yep. Now, if we know something is coming and we know that it's, you know, we're going to have to get the AC fixed, we're going to have to get the oil changed, we're going to have to.

1:17:42Those are things that we would say maybe do a sinking fund for and so that you can prepare for it as you know it's coming versus always having to go into the emergency fund. And I know that's not what you're trying to do, but I just want to clarify that before we give you our advice going forward. Sure. So is that like separate? I'd like to contribute quite a bit out of my paychecks each month to save up because right now I have$1 ,700 saved. So I guess that's more than the$1 ,000 anyways. So are you suggesting making payments to that sinking fund as if I was making payments to an emergency fund?

1:18:29Yeah, what I'm saying is kind of keep it separate in your mind. Like my thousand dollars is over here. That's my emergency fund. I'm not touching that. I do have something that's coming up that I know has to be done. And I'm going to kind of start putting a little money aside for that as I'm working the baby steps. Sure. OK. How much is it going to cost? Is the transmission$7 ,000? Is that what it is? Well, it's$6 ,000. I was thinking to have an overhead of$1 ,000 to keep into the, I guess.

1:18:58Rachel Cruze:How much is the car worth? Well, the car's worth, I bought it a year ago for$10 ,000. Oh. And, well, actually, no, let me think about this. $12 ,000. And I owe$6 ,000 on it still. Oh, man. That's the problem is that, I don't know, would you suggest maybe even just fixing it and selling it and getting rid of this debt and buying like a beater? Is it still drivable? Like has it already happened or you're like, this is going to happen soon? I know it's going to happen soon. Yeah, it's just been showing signs. Then I might get out of it while you still can before it needs the repair because you can sell it at this point.

1:19:42It's not undrivable. drivable and then take that money with your 6 ,000 or with your, whatever you have saved. Yeah. I kind of have a guilty conscience telling it to someone, you know?

1:19:55Rachel Cruze:Yeah. Have you taken it to a mechanic and they're telling, I don't, I'll be honest, David, I don't know much about cars. So how do you know it's going out? Like, have you, have you had it in the shop? I work on cars. Okay. Okay. I work on cars. I see. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Cause I don't want you to be dishonest. No, you don't want to do that. I get it. I just, if you're like, it's showing signs and I'm like, anybody who drives it is going to know what they're getting into if it's showing signs. But yeah, I have a hard time with, I mean, you could. How much debt do you have, David? Total. So that's the thing is I have student loan debt on top of that.

1:20:34I have 29 ,052 in federal loans and then 4 ,472 in private loans. Okay.

1:20:44Rachel Cruze:And how much do you make a year? Well, I just got a second job. Okay. On top of my full-time job. So, yeah, what are you making a month after tax? Like, what are you bringing home a month? I should be bringing home$4 ,700. Okay. Without the second job, right now what I'm at is$4 ,100. Mm-hmm. Okay. And you said you work on cars. Would you be doing the work on the transmission? you're doing the work? No, I do that as a hobby. I'm not, that's not my full-time employment. Got you. No, I understand it's not your full-time employment, but I'm just saying, is this something you would do? Uh, no. Okay.

1:21:27That's, yeah, the transmission's a little bit too hard for me. Yeah. Um, yeah, this is a tough one. Uh, I think if you think that,

1:21:37Rachel Cruze:Go ahead. Well, if you fix this for$6 ,000, do you think it's going to last you for another five, six, seven years? Like, would it be a great car for a while? It's just got this issue? It's a Toyota. I mean, everything else seems to be in working order, and I don't have a reason to think it won't work. Yeah, I mean, here's the thing. The magic of the debt snowball is that you create this momentum. It's kind of like this scorched earth. You see progress that's happening and people end up getting out of debt faster than they thought they would. The human behavior changes. I mean, there's just so much psychology and all of this that happens.

1:22:16Rachel Cruze:And that's the beauty of it. And so to be able to start that as soon as possible is huge. But we also say, if you know something big is coming up in your life, whether it's a job change, a move, a baby, like there's something that's gonna create a big expense, we do encourage people on baby step two to pause save up to be able to cash flow those situations yeah so I almost David would and again you know cars and your car better than I do so you make the decision of do I fix this sell it and take a smaller loan and or be you know free and clear of the six grand which if you can that's amazing right I mean like there's something about that that you're$6 ,000 less in debt, or for you, if you fix it, it's going to be a great car.

1:23:04Rachel Cruze:It should last me a lot longer than the$6 ,000 is almost an investment to fix it. But then you still got$6 ,000 left to pay off of the loan. So I think it's kind of like one way or the other. I mean, yeah, but the reality is, you're going to need a car. And, and if you see this coming, you know there may be this instance of like get the thousand dollars have a side transmission you know fund that you're putting some money in but if you can throw extra at the debt um i would do that as well i would kind of keep that debt i would start that debt snowball start putting some extra just so you see some progress with the debt while simultaneously saving on the side and knowing that you're gonna have to fix this car i kind of like the idea you know what how it is with beaters It's like once you get to know them, it's like this one's mine.

1:23:53I know. I know what's going to happen here. I almost like the idea of you sticking with the one you know, then trading it for another one that's going to have its own new set of issues, if that makes sense. Yeah. I mean, I think you're just going to have to spend$6 ,000 to do this over time.

1:24:08Rachel Cruze:And save up and pay for it. And the good news is that I can ride my bike to work. Oh, yeah. 100%. And so like everything I need is right here. That's great. You got the spirit. You got the spirit, David. I've only put 60 miles on it in the last two months. Oh, wow. So I've just been walking and riding my bike, so it worked. What a guy. Well, there you go. That's some low maintenance, David. We appreciate that these days. I love that, because if I told somebody to ride their bike, people would come for me in the comments. I'd say, Jay, you're crazy. You're crazy. Man, I rode my bike just the other day.

1:24:43Rachel Cruze:That's awesome. Okay, David. Well, I hope that helps. And yeah, great job on starting this process. I'm proud of you for getting a program and a plan in place with your money. That's what we like to see. This is The Ramsey Show.

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1:25:49That's RamseySolutions.com slash real estate.

1:26:05Rachel Cruze:live from Ramsey Solutions it's the Ramsey show where we help people build wealth do work that we love and create amazing relationships I am Rachel Cruz hosting this hour with the incredible Jade Warshaw and we are answering your questions about life money, relationships, career, anything and everything. You name it. That's it. Give us a call at 888-825-5225, and we are here to help you. Up first, we have Gus in Spanish Fork, Utah. Hi, Gus. Welcome to the show. Hey, thanks, Rachel. Absolutely. How can we help today? So I just have an interesting question, I guess. I am on baby step two right now, paying off all my debt.

1:26:54And for my job, I travel and I do events around the state. And a lot of times I, well, every time I guess, I book my own travel, being hotels, gas, and food. And sometimes that costs like, well, close to$1 ,000. And I'm just curious what y 'all would recommend doing. Obviously, I know you don't like credit cards. That's what I've been using for this purpose. But I just kind of want to know how I can do this without using a credit card or my emergency fund. Do you have cash or is it beyond the amount of cash within your monthly cash flow? It is usually beyond that. Just depending on the month, I'll have anywhere from one event.

1:27:42Sometimes we'll do five or six events.

1:27:44Rachel Cruze:What kind of events are these? Are you being hired for these events or are these your job and then you get paid? Like how, what is it exactly? So they're home shows. I work for a utility company and I offer, well, I help homeowners get rebates and stuff. So I go and I talk to homeowners at events, like set up a booth, kind of like a trade show type situation. So it's not your business. You work for the company. Correct. Yeah. And they're not paying for your travel? That's what I'm saying. They reimburse me for it, but I pay for it up front because I'm booking my own hotels and everything. Oh, gosh.

1:28:24So, yeah, I would – that arrangement needs to change because what happens if you've racked up a certain amount and, A, if they contend the charges? Or, B, what happens if you lose that job or you decide to move on and they decide they don't want to pay? So I would be sitting down with whoever your leader is and very respectfully saying, hey, here's what's happening. I don't use credit cards and I don't have debt. And so what you're asking me to spend goes beyond my margin every month and I don't have a way to pay for it. Can you upfront the money for me and give me petty cash or give me, I don't know, maybe they have a company debit card and I can use that.

1:29:06And then I submit all the receipts along with, you know, the bank statements or whatever it is.

1:29:13Rachel Cruze:That's normal, by the way. Yeah, I was going to say that's a pretty like standard practice. If there's a company and part of your job for them is to travel, they usually take the initiative to say, yeah, we're paying for your travel for the company. How many people is it in the company that travel? um well it's a pretty big company i think there's well even more reason for them to up front you the money yeah but there's probably i bet close to 100 around the country okay so that's what i would do plan a if for some reason they don't change their policy but you still love it and you still want to stay plan b gus would be that you then have to have a work account that But you're going to have to kind of act like you are, you know, getting out of debt.

1:30:03Rachel Cruze:Like with the same level of sacrifice and stuff to put$1 ,500 or so away in a separate account. And that account is there for when you travel. But you have to be, I would make it a goal to be on the front end of it versus being in the hole financially. And this is your work. So I almost would pause the debt snowball and save up that extra$1 ,000,$1 ,500. so you can keep working so you can keep this going this job and the arrangement is is that you spend out of that account and that's how I would do it I wouldn't go in the hole and then wait for them to fill the in the hole I would be on a on a solid foundation does that make sense yeah almost like a second emergency fund yeah yeah that's what I would do because I had a job that was like that uh when I worked on cruise ships you would go travel and some of them would give you a stipend up front, but it was never enough.

1:30:57And so you're having to go through, you know, and go from your own money. So Rachel is actually exactly right. I mean, some jobs just won't budge on that. And if you're fine with it, great. But if you're not, you know, I could totally understand wanting to get the money up front. Yeah.

1:31:14Rachel Cruze:Yeah. Yeah. I wouldn't, I would feel uneasy about charging all of this and then just waiting for them. Yeah. Because the credit, I mean, the credit card's in your name, all of it. Like, there's just more risk on your end. Definitely don't do a credit card. Ugh. Yeah. You know? How much debt do you have? So, right now, I have student loans and my truck and I'm about$46 ,000. Okay. How much do you make a month?

1:31:44Let's see. I make$80 ,000 a year. Post-tax, I make about$3 ,200. Sorry, $5 ,200 a month.

1:31:51Rachel Cruze:Okay. How much margin do you have right now? If you just did like food, shelter, utilities, transportation, health care, like all your main expenses, how much extra do you have per month? I'm not entirely sure. My wife and I, we just had a baby, so I need to recalculate that. Okay. Congratulations. That's exciting. I'm surprised you're even coherent to talk to us with a newborn. I know it's a lot. Okay, well, Gus, what we're going to do is we're going to give you EveryDollar premium. And this is our budgeting app. And you and your wife sit down this weekend and you guys create a monthly budget.

1:32:30Rachel Cruze:And the great thing about EveryDollar is you're able to see all of your expenses because they give you kind of a template to say, hey, here are the main expenses in life. You guys say, okay, here's what we make every month. And here's our expenses. What's our margin? Because you're going to want to know that number as well, Gus. to be able to know how fast you guys are going to be able to get out of debt. But for the interim, I would use that margin. And again, you guys are in debt. So there's no out to eat. There's no saving for vacations. There's no, I mean, there's nothing. Like you're cutting everything.

1:33:01Rachel Cruze:Cut subscriptions. Like it is scorched earth as you're getting out of debt. So when you see your budget, just delete a lot of the line items that you would have done. You're like, here, like how much margin can we get per month realistically? and if it takes you a month or two to save up that thousand dollars or two thousand dollars for your work I would make that priority number one and then take that extra whatever it is per month let's say it's a thousand bucks I don't know that you can get and start tackling this debt so that's kind of the process but you need to know that margin number Gus for you guys to really get on the same page and know like here's what we're shooting for every month and our goal of getting out of debt.

1:33:43Rachel Cruze:And so, yeah, if you'll hold on the line, our team will hook you up with a code and you guys can get a year of every dollar premium for free or treat. It's great. But yeah, this is a this is a tough one. And we've heard a lot about work with like reimbursements and expenses and like it's it is a thing. But if you can make it a workaround where you're more in control, that's the better off you're going to be. Come on, these big companies, they need to go ahead and pony up the cash. So bizarre.

1:34:17Thank you.

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1:35:38Rachel Cruze:Up next in New Mexico, we have Dee on the line. Hi, Dee. Welcome to the show. Hi, how are you? We're doing great. How can we help today? Okay. My husband is going on deployment here shortly. Okay. And my question is he's going to make quite a bit more than he makes normally. So we don't want to change our budget. But my question is this. We both have a student loan debt. That's really the only debt we have. But he has the option of public service loan forgiveness, and I have nothing as a stay-at-home mom. Should we focus on paying mine with the debt snowball or doing it jointly? The public service pay off, what does that entail?

1:36:27Rachel Cruze:Give me some of the details around that. If you pay the minimum payment due and you make those 10 years of payments, they will forgive the rest of the money. Okay, so it's over the 10-year mark. It's nothing specific with the military where they'll pay it off after like six months of deployment. It's over 10 years. OK, so there's a lot changing with that right now, D. Well, I can tell you this. I can tell you the current the current stats on that is very low, like less than two percent. Actually get it. Yes, actually get it done. And now with new administration, we're seeing those tighten up even more.

1:37:03And it's kind of indeterminable what what will be and what will not be on that. So for those reasons alone, I would not depend on that. I would just take both of your loans together and list them smallest to largest.

1:37:16Rachel Cruze:And I don't want you in debt for 10 years either. Even if they were forgivable in 10 years, I want you out of it. Yeah, absolutely. Yes, but what Jade was just saying was, yeah, listing them smallest to largest. So how much will he be making when he's deployed? Like, what will the margin be per month? We're having a surplus of 38, I want to say. I wrote down these notes and they're all other things. No, you're fine. You're fine. That's great. Well, he's a police officer in his day life. And so his day job and that is we're just going based on the guaranteed 40 hours. They do a lot of times get overtime, but we don't want to budget based on what if.

1:37:56Sure. So his actual take home is$36.90 with the police plus or minus. And then he gets his normally National Guardsmen pay at about$5.50 a month. But in the National Guard, he's going to make, on a deployment, he'll make$3 ,758 per paycheck, so times two.

1:38:20Rachel Cruze:Okay. And he'll keep his police officer's salary going when he's deployed? No. No, that will be cut. He is switching only to the salary. They do keep your job for you, but you don't get paid. Get paid, obviously. Okay. Okay. And then how much? It was a surplus of almost$4 ,600 over the course of that year. Okay. Okay. And how much student loan debt is there? Jointly, we have$1 ,108 ,58, and$0.49. Wait, say$110 ,000? Yes,$858 ,49. Okay. Mine was$63 ,000, and I've got it down to$48 ,000 online. Yeah, that's great. Yeah. I mean, I go back to what I said before. Just make sure you guys go through these and really do do them smallest to largest as opposed to his versus hers, because then you are going to get that momentum that we want and you're going to get those quicker wins.

1:39:17It's hard to look at a mountain of 63 ,000 and say, OK, that's what's next. But if you break it up and go, you know, OK, the next one is 4000 and the next one after that is 6000, then it is a lot easier to handle mentally and money wise.

1:39:31Rachel Cruze:Yeah, for sure. Well, thanks, Steve, for the call. And thanks for your husband's sacrifice and yours. Yeah, as a spouse of someone being deployed. It's a real sacrifice. So we appreciate you guys so much for what you do for our country. Up next, we have Greg in Albany, New York. Albany. Albany. Listen to me. Albany. Hey, Greg, welcome to the show. Hi, thanks for taking my call. Absolutely. How can we help? I was curious if there was ever an instance where a whole life policy made sense. I just, I don't understand why they exist because they seem to be, as you guys say, bad investments and bad, not really good at insurance policy.

1:40:08So I'm just kind of curious where they came from or why they exist or if there's ever an instance where it might make sense. Well, yeah, I would say the only time I know we've ever told someone to get a whole life

1:40:20Rachel Cruze:policy is if they had a terminal illness and they didn't have insurance in place. It's pretty much impossible to get term life in that case. And for some whole life insurance companies, you're able to still get insurance. Even if there is a condition from a health perspective, it's much easier to get whole life than term life. Because we would say get life insurance like we want that for you. And so sometimes people don't qualify for term because of the state of their health. so that would be the only instance we've ever said because to your point it is like it's such a rip-off product and honestly they they they prey on people that don't have all the information because the way they sell it and the way it's presented sounds incredible it sounds like this great product that's going to help but I'm you know so whether it's the side of like oh I get I get life insurance through my whole life or the savings and investing that comes with it and all of it so the way they package it um make it sound like it's a great deal to the consumer or where the truth is and it's a way oh sorry no you're good no it's just very expensive compared to term life and what you could be investing yeah and i think for the companies that do it i think it's a way for them to get into investing without having a securities license like they're able to sell an investment product without actually being a licensed investment yeah you know professional yeah so i think that's also where there's a little bit of a what i'll say oh gray area yeah it's a big red flag yeah for sure you know um because yeah it's still a product and at the end of the day you have to remember folks are trying to make money out here so i mean that's really the short end of the the answer yeah but it's such a well marketed product that people don't look into the fine print and the details and the other options too because i do think life insurance is one of those sectors in life that you know you can easily prey on fear and greed yeah and it's like here's something that's going to be you know great for you financially and also you know the fear of oh gosh if something happens so um we are a proponent of life insurance though so i do want people to hear us say that but term life insurance is what we promote and you want about 10 times your annual income if you're a stay-at-home parent we recommend getting half a million or even 700 ,000 on you, even as a stay-at-home parent, but you can check out Xander Insurance.

1:42:47Rachel Cruze:They are the company that we recommend because they do a great job at shopping multiple insurance companies and not just sticking with one to get you the best rate. It's the way Winston and I have our term life insurance. We did it through Xander and it's fantastic. And just to clarify, you know, the way that the reason that we're saying term life is because 100 % then of your premium is going towards your benefit, right? Whereas with whole life is being divided up. And the reason we don't like it is because they're taking half of your premium, which is what you pay every month for the policy.

1:43:22They're putting part of it to your benefit, your death benefit, which is what your family would receive if you passed away. And the other part goes towards what's called a cash value amount that's being invested. and that investment, the reason we don't like it is because the rate of return on that investment is very, very poor, like really bad. Some of them are like 4%, not good at all. And the biggest thing is that cash value amount, you don't get that and your family doesn't, you surely don't get it if you pass away, but your family doesn't get it if you pass away either. So the only way that you get access to that cash value is if you were to borrow against it, which is like, why would you do that?

1:43:59The whole point is to not be in debt. The other way is if you were to just cash out the policy, which of that, again, what was the point of even having it if you're cashing it out? Right. And so that's what happens here. It's just it's not a well thought through product. So if anybody was wondering, hey, why don't you do this? And if you really were to take the amount that goes towards that cash value investment, if you invested it yourself. Yes. In a good growth stock mutual fund, what we would suggest, you're going to get upwards of a 10 % return, which obviously you can see why would you take a 4 % return when you can choose a 10 % and choose what it's invested in.

1:44:37So hopefully I made a good case for. Yeah, a lot more control.

1:44:41Rachel Cruze:Oh, yeah. And you guys, if you don't have life insurance, again, please get life insurance. Please. It is. It's one of the saddest calls that I think we get on the Ramsey show is the spouse passes. and the other spouse is left to deal with everything and there's no money. And so set your family up well and term life is inexpensive. And yeah, use the difference of what you would have paid for whole life to invest it yourself. And you'll make twice as much money, which is what we want for you. So this is The Ramsey Show.

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1:46:18Rachel Cruze:if you are between comparing quotes and trying to figure out coverage that you need when it comes to your home and auto insurance it can be pretty overwhelming and it can be very pricey and And so if you let a Ramsey Trusted Pro do the hard work for you, they are the best because they shop rates, bundle policies, and get you the right coverage, saving you time and money. So for the smarter way to shop for your insurance, your home and auto, go to RamseySolutions.com slash bundle, RamseySolutions.com slash bundle, or click the link in the description if you are watching on YouTube or podcast. All right, let's go to Loretta in Ohio.

1:47:00Rachel Cruze:Hi, Loretta. Welcome to the show. Hello. Thank you so much for taking my call. Absolutely. How can we help today? So my husband has a job that he loves, provides very well for our family. He brings in approximately$1.15 a year. Loves his job, however, has a lot of headache with it. He has a high position in the company, and so he has a lot of the headache of the company. And so recently we have been thinking about branching out on our own. We just aren't sure if it's financially the right time for our family to do so. What kind of business is it that you guys would branch out to? So he has been in the automotive business, auto and fleet, like working on cars for almost 15 years now.

1:47:49He's been working with an employer now for 10 years, which happens to be my brother. So that kind of makes it a little bit sickier. Oh, yeah. A little bit. Yes. But he's also, I mean, they respect each other. We don't think that there would be any hard feelings. However, I mean, the two of them kind of, my brother branched out on his own. And six months later, my husband started working for him. So they've kind of built the business from the ground. And he just, my brother is a lot of the time not there at the business. And so my husband really just kind of takes it under his wings. and does that.

1:48:28And he does really well with it. He's really good at his job. Gets treated well.

1:48:33Rachel Cruze:I mean, with nothing bad to say about the company. What would it... Oh, go ahead. So what would you guys be doing? You said you're going to branch out. Have you guys done anything on your own sidewise that you have started and that you were kind of going to merge into? Or would this be like... Because I don't want it to be a light switch. Yeah, no, he'd be in the same business. So we're thinking about starting our own auto. business. In the same town? Basically. It would be a couple of towns over. So I mean, as far as taking clients or anything like that is not the plan. We do, we have talked to somebody that is willing to put up a shop and rent it out for us.

1:49:14And so we would be paying rent for that for the company. In the beginning, real estate where we're at is really expensive. So that kind of has been out of the option for us to be buying and building. So we have a place that we can rent.

1:49:28Rachel Cruze:We've looked into equipment and things like that. However, we would need to be getting a loan. Oh, that's the kicker. Tell us how much it would take. That's the kicker. We're hoping we can do it between$150 ,000 and$200 ,000. And we don't have any debt personally for our family. We've paid off all expenses except for our mortgage. And we have a mortgage we started with 485 years ago, and we are down to 240 now. So can I clarify with you? Because I love that you paid off the debt, but it's not going to convince me to tell you to go into 200 ,000 of debt. With the automotive, I want to make sure I have the right thing in my head of what it is.

1:50:11Explain it more. It's not he's working on cars. it's what is it or is it that he's working on cars when they started he worked on cars for almost eight years that he mechanically would fix them so we expect in the beginning of us starting our own thing he would need to go back to doing that okay right and kind of build himself up to where he's at right now and he's more than willing to do that but right now he is strictly in the office for the business that he's at he does talks with customers he has a great relationship with, he's kind of the glue for the clients and the business, basically.

1:50:47Rachel Cruze:And he has a gift of speaking with people. Okay, so tell me this, Loretta, what's causing him to not, does he just want to own his own thing? Is that like one of the main motivations? I'm just wondering if he can scratch this itch within the gig that he has, so you don't have to take$200 ,000 of debt, because you guys can't afford to start a business right now, the Ramsey way, at least. And so is there a shift that he can make within this business? Because it sounds like him and your brother have a really great relationship, the way you set it up, which makes sense. Like we, I work in a family business.

1:51:20Rachel Cruze:I'm like, there is a way to do it in a healthy way that you respect each other. So is there some shifting that can happen either from pay or his position, or is it that he just wants to completely do his own thing and not have to handle? Because if he's good at it, he's going to end up growing his own thing. And I'm scared he's going to be right back in the position he's now in a sense as an owner but that's even more risk and more stress that you put on yes and i think it's not so much he's not looking to get rid of the stress or okay he just wants it to be his responsibility of the business without actually owning it yeah okay okay that makes sense on it can i ask a question so you said it'd be a couple of towns away sure is it like um is it a situation where if he if he wanted to if let's say you guys move and it's 45 minutes away could he start kind of building up a clientele in another town whilst he's working elsewhere if it's not pulling clients do you see what I'm saying if it's if it's not competing with the other business can he start small is there a way that he can yeah you know on his off days kind of start doing this yeah on a small scale and you guys build up some extra income from this kind of looking at it as a side hustle yeah um could he do that like is there a place I know you have to machinery and different things but like is there I don't know any creative ways to do that in one way yes maybe but in another we would also have to you would still have to buy your car lists and things like that and those I mean you're looking at 20 30 000 per list but what if he rented out a place that was already like is there a way that he can rent out this this was already an auto body shop and we're just renting it?

1:53:06Yeah. Um, I mean, I guess we haven't really thought about it in that way. It's just, um, him leading this company, he has no reservations. Um, if I'm being honest, like he, and I know like he'll thrive if he does this. Um, I'm the one that is kind of holding back. Um, and here's the kicker also in, I'm one semester into nursing school as a mom of three. And so when I made this commitment to do nursing school, we really wanted to go through it without taking any loans. I don't want any student loan debt. And are you? No, I haven't. And but I'm, I'm scared that if he does this, and we pour everything into the business, and then we'll just get overwhelmed.

1:53:47Rachel Cruze:Yeah, it's a lot doing a lot. And it's a lot of Yeah, I think that if I were in your shoes, if this was Jade and Sam, I probably would want to have the conversation of, here's the thing. I understand that you're getting anxious where you're at. This is the season that I'm going to school. And I don't think that we can do both of these at the same time. I'd like to finish the course that we set. And if we do that, we might look up and we may have saved a lot more towards your goal. I think we do both of our things, but I think we stay the course. I finished school. We save what we can. And then we're able to tackle Because to your point, he's feeling stressed right now, but he's not in a toxic work environment.

1:54:28Nothing is on fire.

1:54:29Rachel Cruze:So Loretta, when you start nursing, how long will it take you to graduate? Two years? Four years? I'm not going full time because of the kids. I have a three-year-old that's not in school yet. So we're looking between three and four. Okay. Okay. And then when you graduate, are you going to be working 40 hours a week? What are you going to be doing? um i'd love to by then my kids would be old enough i've always been very career oriented i love having that for myself um and so as of now that's the plan yes okay um yeah i don't know lori it just it because the because the ideal would be like you start working as a nurse and you're bringing in a great paycheck he's bringing in 115 and you guys cash flow this thing but it's going to be a while so that's that's the problem but you called the ramsey show and we move at the speed of cash even at business and you're moving at the speed of cash with your degree yes and so i think you've set the precedent for that that you can then say to him can we please do the same thing yep with this business and i will say we kind of threw out some creative options and you said we hadn't even thought of that that's the beauty about not living with debt when you don't have debt as an option suddenly you have to think of other options right outside the box it forces you to and so sit down and have some yeah some dreaming because it sounds like from a value standpoint you guys are going against your values on a dream and that is a red flag for me.

1:56:07Thank you.

1:56:45Rachel Cruze:Dorothy Berry. Courage is fear that has said its prayers. There you go. Okay, I'm with it. It took me a minute, but I got it. Yeah, we'll go. Some of these quotes, you got to read it twice. You got to read it twice to really let it sink in. All right, let's have Christina from Baltimore. She is up next. Hi, Christina. Welcome to the show. Hi. Hello. Hello. How can we help today? Yes. So I'm calling because my husband, he's not the best person in regards to finances, the most responsible person in regards to finances. So we've kind of been having a bit of trouble on his end. for some years now, actually.

1:57:39And due to that, I was the one basically holding majority of the weight. He would contribute, but it was minimal. So I was more so, you know, picking up the weight for us and for the household. And it was under the pretense of when he kind of get things together and kind of get back on his feet. Of course, things will be better. He will contribute more. But what ended up happening is not too long ago, I actually ended up finding out that he received a nice sum of money. And he decided to intentionally not tell me anything about it. How much? Gosh. It was about$20 ,000. Good night. Wow. Yeah, that's an offense.

1:58:29That hurts. Yeah, very much. Very, very much. I mean, I've been doing a lot. And we have a son who, first year of college, I've been the sole person who's been, you know, contributing to that and doing everything in regards to that with no help at all from my husband. What does he do, Christina? What's his job? Or what does he do when he is working? Well, he's a plumber. And, you know, he also like does side jobs, like he had his own business at some point. So he also, you know, has that going on on the side, but his main job is a plumber. So do you think that he's earning money and you just don't know what he's earning and he's just giving you bits and pieces?

1:59:28Or is he just not working? He's just not doing many hours? He's definitely working. He makes decent money. And so it's not really the money that's the issue. It's his management of the money that's the issue.

1:59:43Rachel Cruze:Okay. So you have separate funds. And what's he doing with it? that you're saying it's mismanaged? So is he deeply in debt? Is he spending everything? For the most part, he pays majority of what you can consider, or what he would more so consider, like his bills, kind of his bills that he came into the marriage with. So, of course, he pays those, whether it's debt or his car note, things like that, which was another issue that we had because his car note is like way too high. We agreed before marriage that he would get something else that would bring the car note down when we got married. How long have you been married?

2:00:28It's been six years. So you, I mean, what you're describing is not a combined financial situation. When you say to him, you know, hey, I really, are you saying to him that you want, what are you saying to him? Are you saying, I'd like to combine our money together so we can, you know, be on one page? Are you saying, hey, Leroy, you got to get busy. Like, you got to, you know, what's the conversation that's being had so we can understand? Well, there's been many conversations, but overall, the way things have been going is not at all what they were supposed to be. Initially, we're supposed to be doing everything together.

2:01:11even if it's kind of splitting the bills half and half. So we're supposed to be doing everything together. And when you bring that to him, what does he say? His thing is just the way things are going for him financially, he just felt like he can't. So he's doing what he felt like he only can do. And that's his reasoning. But that doesn't have to do with, so if you said to him, hey, I want all of our money to go into one account. There's a lot of confusion here. You're saying one thing. I'm not saying I have an expectation. My only expectation is for our money to be together right now. If you said that to him, what would he say?

2:01:56Well, at this point, once I found out about the money that he received and did not tell me about, we got into an argument and he did not come home. Okay. Oh, boy. Okay. So this is not money. This is not a money.

2:02:10Rachel Cruze:And it was his defense. Well, our money's separate. I got my money. You got your money. Did he just see his like complete just ownership of his own thing and didn't feel the need to tell you because of that? That's basically what he said. So, yeah. So to Jade's point, Christina, this is a massive marital situation that you have two people in a marriage and a marriage is a union. It's one. It's a united covenant that we make together. And one person in the marriage is wanting to do their own thing. And that's becoming in conflict with the value of marriage of what you were wanting out of a spouse.

2:02:51Rachel Cruze:And so, yeah, I mean, I think in order to save this, this is a classic example. People say money fights and money problems cause divorce, that it's not really the money thing. It exposes the brokenness within the marriage, which is what's happening to you guys. a level of secrecy out of entitlement of his own thing over here. You're over here wanting something completely different. So your value and your outlook on how marriage and how we should function is completely separate. And so I want that fixed. Do you guys have kids together? We do. You do. Okay. So what I would do, I mean, I would, I would work so hard, which I know you are.

2:03:30Rachel Cruze:You're, I can tell, I can hear it in your voice. You're exhausted. You're exhausted. Have you guys done marriage counseling or therapy together?

2:03:39Rachel Cruze:No, not exactly. Okay, so that would be my next step, Christina. And if he's not willing to do that, I would say you do what you can on your end. And then there gets to be a place where a spouse ends up not even really even being a spouse. I mean, like it ends up being. Partner, just roommates. Yeah, it becomes a roommate situation. And then that's where people make really tough calls. And I don't want that for you. My prayer would be that there's redemption and that you guys can find a united front. But you may just need a third party. Because even in the call, Christina, I'll be honest, I was trying to keep up with everything you were saying.

2:04:13Rachel Cruze:And it's a little bit of a spider web situation feeling of what he's thinking about his, I don't know, I can't quite see clarity. And sometimes, Christina, you're living in this mess and in this fog and in this chaos and bringing in a professional third party to sit down with you guys and start really working through the issues. Because I think what you're going to find pretty quickly is that it's not money issues. This is stemming from a lot of other places in his life and in your life because things are stirring up in you as they should and stuff with him. And there's like this level of control and protection he's wanting.

2:04:48Rachel Cruze:And I don't know, for the sake and the health of your marriage, that would be my next step. And I wish always in these calls, Jade, that we can help further. But I think there's a lot of deeper brokenness in this that you guys are going to have to have a long timeline to mend and to heal. And I hope that for you. You know, we always want that. We never want to. We don't want people to split up. And we certainly, you know, don't want them to split up over what's perceived to be just a money thing. Yes, yes. That's right. That's right. And so for both of you, my prayer is that you guys both want to fight for this marriage because it's not it's going to continue to go down this road and it's just going to get worse and worse.

2:05:28Rachel Cruze:And so hitting it head on, both of you and my prayer is that both of you want to work and find this unity. But I would get I would go to marriage counseling. That'd be my next step, Christina. But I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I feel that weight for you. And and I want that off. I want you guys to have a clear path of peace and prosperity in your marriage. Well, Jade, thank you for a great show. It was fun, Rachel. Thanks to everyone in the booth. And thank you, all of you watching and listening to the show. And remember to take control of your money and create a life you love.