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26:17Well, we were trying to take the value of all the things and competing with my friends, what do my friends get? And we were trying to make it a little bit more central to the fact of, what are we really celebrating at Christmas? You know? Is it just the gathering of things, and we get down on Christmas morning, and we just can't wait to see all the amazing stuff we got? We've lost sight of what Christmas is about. And so I'm with George. I think$500 per kid in your situation is nuts. It's too much. Yeah. Well, I'm a little nuts, so, you know. No, you're awesome. You're fine. Well, you've got a generous spirit.

26:55And right now, it's a luxury to be that generous with where we're at financially. And the kids can't understand that right now. I don't think you need to go to them and be like, hey, mom's broke. It's going to be a different—like, we don't need to be somber about it. Let them write a letter to Santa and say, hey, what's something fun that you would want to do? that Santa could grant you as a fun gift. And maybe they start thinking in terms of experience instead of stuff, and that might kind of flip a switch in their brain. Yeah, I mean, in the past we've always done, you know, quite a few of what you want and then something you need and something to do.

27:26Oh, and what if you did this? What if you said, I'm going to give you something, and then on top of that you're going to give something, and it lets them flex some generosity muscle. I love that. And you put that into the budget. Because I think that will distract them from the thing and make them go, man, that was actually more fun to give that person$10 or$50 than it was to get a thing. Stacey did that one year with our kids. They all got really great gifts and they had to choose one that they had to give away. Oh, that's fun. And she took them down to the children's hospital and it was a great experience.

27:56That's really cool. And it wasn't like, like we didn't cheat for them and go, here's the really ratty present and make it easy for them. You know, it was like something they had, they felt it. And that's a great idea. And I forgot that she did that yeah and maybe it's one big like bigger gift that they can all enjoy all three of them you know what i mean but i don't think everybody needs their separate thing to feel special i think we need to break that right now before it becomes a entitlement where they go what did you say you said a hundred a kid i feel like a hundred a kid is fair like 300 bucks all in what is a playstation 5 going for these days a used one i don't even know i would i would see what do you know what a used one goes for i couldn't tell you one of these nerds in the booth probably knows anybody in there i i know a brand new one's probably 600 700 is new you could probably find a used one for maybe 400 i just know that like three little boys like that a playstation that works that's pretty awesome and if you can get it in that budget then there's your hey guys here's what mom's doing she's paying off debt here's what do it but i got you all this and that's the gift that keeps on yeah i was right it's you're looking at uh i see one for 250 out here on Facebook Marketplace.

29:03There it is, 250 for the used PlayStation 5. By the way, James just got into his laptop quickly. I don't know if he's getting one for himself. I might buy one right now off Facebook Marketplace. Will the engineer, you have an opinion on this? Okay. He thinks it's a scam. It's a scam. Wow, way to trust. It's 500 for a used one? It's going for, that's closer. It's like 475. Super helpful guy in the lobby, giving me a lot of head shakes and thumbs up and down. He's very helpful. That's not even the cost of the game. I don't think he knows. I think he's too old to look that up. Will, you're saying$500?

29:37This is like price is right. This is fantastic. We got the audience involved. All right, I see you, sir. That's enough. Okay, go get a cookie. I would start exploring ideas, Aaron, and I would try to shy away from getting the expensive thing or getting each a thing that will appease them because nothing's going to appease them. They're always going to want for more. The next game, the next thing. But here's the deal. Here's the narrative. Those guys are not too young to understand that mom's going through something tough and that she loves them and that their quality of life is still the same.

30:07I think it's okay to teach them. I really do. They're going to be okay. I remember thinking that I had it all. And as I grew older, George, I realized how poor. My dad was a pastor of a small church. We had nothing. And I thought life was great. You didn't know any better. I didn't know any better. I had jeans with patches on them. You remember those? Oh, yeah. Yeah, simpler times. I thought it was normal. I thought everybody had patches on their knees. My final answer is let's do a dream day. And each kid gets to do a thing during that day. And we all experience it together. And we keep it in the budget at$300.

30:39And we get creative and have some fun. And they're going to remember that way more than a toy. Promise you that. There it is. Final word from Georgie Claus. The gift that keeps on giving. Ho, ho, ho.

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32:32All right, welcome back. This is really fun. From time to time, George, we get an opportunity because of the size of the show. And Dave's friends, right? F-O-D's, friends of Dave. And we get a chance to get some really special people in studio with us because they're doing great things. And this is another one of those days in studio with George and I right now. the one, the only, the icon, Bear Grylls, ladies and gentlemen. So that's really fun. Bear, welcome. So kind. That's such a nice introduction. Thank you. Well, I got to tell you, having talked to Bear, we recorded a show a little bit earlier for Front Row Seat.

33:05That'll be coming out. Looking forward to that. Bear could read the phone book and I'd be inspired. Yeah. How much of your success do you attribute to a great accent? I don't know. Probably a little bit of it. I think we all stand on the shoulders of giants. I think maybe that's one of them. Maybe that's one of the pillars in English accent. I don't think it's the reason for it. And my name, actually, maybe. That's true. The name, let's be honest, you're rather handsome. I'll take the compliment. I'm comfortable saying that. And then you throw in the accent. How do you fail? Yeah. And then you've got talent, character, you know?

33:39He's tough. Entertainment value. Yeah. You got it all, Barry. You are so kind. You make anyone feel better. I appreciate it. Well, we're trying to. But you might be thinking he's here to talk about one of his newest shows. He's not. In fact, this is a brand new book came out this week. It's called The Greatest Story Ever Told. And this is a fantastic book. Just came out this week, wherever books are available. And I think this might surprise some. It won't surprise others who have followed your journey, know that you are a man of faith. What is behind? What is this story? And what's behind it?

34:12Well, it's telling the story of Christ as a like a as a thriller, you know, just start to finish. because I think so many people, myself included, you might not just like read the Bible. You know, if you have faith, the Bible obviously is like milk and honey. It's beautiful, but it's straight. It's, you know, and I think so many people I meet who A, have never read it, but also don't know the story. You know, we tend to know stories, maybe like the nativity or the crucifixion or the Good Samaritan. And I just realized out of all the millions of books that have been written over the years, nobody's ever written the story of Christ just like as a short, punchy thriller that kind of introduces people to the story of Yeshua, is what I call him in the book.

34:57So we take it, strip it right back away from the sanitized version sometimes we get of Christianity. And certainly that's what I was brought up with. It's like we had to go to church as a kid at school and everything was in Latin. and I just thought God speaks in Latin and he has white robes and generally looks quite angry. And for me, it's been a life journey realizing that the character of Jesus was just free and beautiful and radical and fun and everyday people just wanted to be with him and whose counterculture had turned everything else on his head and was healing and challenging. So that's been the journey.

35:37I wanted to write it in a book. It's been, to be honest, the most, it's been the hardest, but the best thing I feel I've ever done. I get more people responding to me about this than any TV show I've ever done. I've had, I mean, we published it a few months in the UK and it went straight in at number one. And I get messages all day, every day from people of every faith, every culture, all around the world. And they say the same thing, basically, which is I had no idea of the real story of Jesus. And as you know, it touches all of our lives. A real story like empowers our lives and is light and love.

36:16And like I say, proudest thing I've ever done. I love that. Well, I'm curious. We end every Ramsey show with this line. Remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. So we have an underpinning of faith at this company. And you've taken that everywhere you've went in Hollywood and Netflix. How do you sort of bring that faith underpinning into everything you do? Well, I really like that. I think it was St. Augustine that said, preach the gospel of Christ every day in all places to all people at all times, where necessary, use words.

36:51Yes. And I love that. I think it's trying how we live our lives. A little kindness is, you know, the wild does it so often as well. I think it's what I love about the show Running Wild I do is I get to introduce people to the great outdoors and that lights them up. And that's like, really, is that not wrapped up in faith and everything and connection and friendships and having an understanding and a love of each other and the outdoors as well? So I don't know. I like that part of it. But I kind of think it's a shame if faith just gets boxed in a corner of our lives to Sunday. You know, for you guys, as you know, so many of your listeners, it's like it's where we build our confidence and our hope and our aspirations, where we secure our futures, how we interact with people.

37:32And that was a Jesus that I got to learn about through this book. And we worked with some brilliant theologians from the Chosen TV show, from the Come and See Foundation, who have been incredible and supportive and encouraging for The Greatest Story Ever Told. But I feel like it's no longer my book. I feel like it's out there and it's touching lives. And I'd give everything else up in a heartbeat to have done this one. He's Bear Grylls. He's hanging out with us here on The Ramsey Show. the new book is The Greatest Story Ever Told. What I love about this is you did your homework. You dug in deep with theologians, and this is written in first person by five eyewitnesses.

38:10That makes this really fun. As you began to construct the book that way, was there something that surprised you? Maybe you didn't know as you began to put this together? I think just how human Jesus was. You know, we always get the idea of the... And also how human the disciples were. I mean, I always thought the disciples were like old. You know the average age of the disciples? 15 to 25. Wow. They were like just regular young guys and girls. And so I wanted to write the great story from eyewitness accounts. So we start with Mary, his mother, just nervous, young, scared, having a child out of wedlock, you know, becoming pregnant and her journey of faith and trust through to Thomas, who's super skeptical of this Yeshua who turns up on the scene and refuses to be persuaded by rumors and miracles.

39:04And then it goes to the friendship with this reckless, impulsive fisherman, Peter, through very clinical sort of John, and then eventually with Mary Magdalene, who's just young and broken and just had a life healed by this guy. And so it's their interactions, because I think all of us, this story, the greatest story ever told us, all of our stories wrapped up in it. You know, whoever we are, whether we're the nervous or the excited or the scared or the broken, he affirms and heals everywhere. And still to this day, we're looking at, we're 2 ,000, almost 2 ,000 years on. And we're talking about him and he's changing lives.

39:40And And long may that continue. You know, it's interesting. This is a bold claim. It's a pretty bold title when you think about it, to the cynics, because we have a wide audience. Some people are going, all right, I'm an atheist or I'm a cynic or whatever. What makes it the greatest story in your mind? Well, if it's true, you know, this isn't like could be the greatest story ever told or potentially the greatest story ever told. If this is true, it changes everything in all our lives, in all interactions, for all time. So it's like that I stand behind. This is, if it is true, this is the greatest story ever told.

40:19And I feel that in my life. You know, I have many struggles and doubts still, you know, all the time. But through it all, ever since I was a young teenager and I prayed a prayer under a tree, just saying, please, God, be with me. Amen. That was it. A light was lit. It's never gone out. It's helped me through my time with the Special Forces as a young soldier, through the summit of Everest and many jungles, deserts, mountains over the years since, through family life, through many moments. That light has never gone out. It's been the great empowering presence, and it's a privilege to be able to share it wider through this story.

40:55That's beautiful. Yeah, thinking about everything that you've done, I feel like you've got to believe in God to be doing some of the wild things you've done. And you've got to have a higher power, you know, fueling that journey. Is there something that you have coming up next that you're like, this scares me a little bit? Because you seem a guy who's fearless, who's ready for anything. I'm not fearless. And I have many, like I said, really genuinely many struggles, many doubts. It's like the journey of life, isn't it? But I love my job. You know, I still continue with the day job, but away from this, we've just finished filming season nine of Running Wild, which is going to be great.

41:29But this is in my heart. I love it. Well, I'm really inspired by the fact that you took this message using your gigantic platform and said, this is what I want to put out there. This is more important than any show, anything I could be doing. Well, people always ask, they go, what helped you on the summit of Everest or in these jungles and mountains? And I don't want to stand up and say, I did it on my own because I didn't. You know, I need like a human. It's like a glove without a hat. You know, without faith, we're just this limp thing, you know. But with that hand inside of ourselves, we can all live life.

42:02Bear, thank you for being with us. The book is The Greatest Story Ever Told on sale anywhere, everywhere you can find books. You're a good man. Thanks for being with us. Thanks, Bear. Thank you, guys. Thank you.

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43:22Welcome back to The Ramsey Show in the Fairwinds Credit Union studio. Alongside George Campbell, I'm Ken Coleman. So glad you all are with us. We're having fun today as we take on your heavy questions. George is going to help you manage the money. I'm going to help you try to make more money. Let's get to it. You ready to go, George? I'm pumped. Natalie is joining us in Sacramento. Natalie, how can we help? Hi. I was just curious if my husband and I should use part of our savings to start to pay off our loans faster, or if we should just keep that in the bank. Tell us more. How much do you have in the bank?

43:59My husband and I are both veterans. We have about$12 ,500 in savings. okay and what's your debt situation um we have about eighty seven thousand two hundred and ninety eight dollars in debt we have two student loans and a new car and a credit card okay give us those amounts walk as smallest to largest like we would be working through the debt snowball Yeah, the credit card is 1903, so 1903. The student loan is 19 ,581. The other one is 20 ,978. And then the car loan is 44 ,836. What is this car? Yeah. So it's a 2022 4Runner. And what is it worth, Kelly Blue Book value, do you know? I don't. Okay.

45:06Wow. How many miles is it? Just over$30 ,000. And it's a 2022. I'm going to do a little research, George. Okay, while you do that, what is your household income? So our income is, I have this, between the two paychecks is$4 ,960, and then we get VA disability, and that's about$4 ,080,$4 ,090. Okay, good. So we have a great income here because you guys are bringing home$9 ,000. Yeah. Correct? Yeah. Okay. So I think one thing that could alleviate this immediately, because you're asking the best way to pay this off. Yes, you should use your savings except$1 ,000. That's the baby steps. Baby step one,$1 ,000.

46:01Baby step two, attack the debt using the debt snowball. So anything that's not the$1 ,000 starter emergency fund, we're going to use to start knocking down this debt, because that'll knock out your credit cards and a good portion of one of the student loans. yeah and if i'm in your shoes and you really want to get out of the situation i would just sell this forerunner now you might be underwater on it which is what ken was angling at they are this is an estimate and i don't have all the details where you are in the market but you're underwater it's somewhere between 32 to 40 000 so that's your next homework assignment is figure out what you could sell this car for private party value so you can go to kbb.com and look at that to see hey, if we could sell it for$40 and we owe$44, great.

46:46We're going to use$4 ,000 of the savings to clear the title and maybe use some of the other money in savings to get a different car. Right? You need something to drive around in? Mm-hmm. You're both working full-time? Yeah. His truck is paid off, so it's just this. Now, my car died, so I had to get a new one. Hold on, hold on, Natalie. Whoa, whoa, whoa. You didn't have to get a$44. You didn't have to get a— That's fighting words. I know, I know. You didn't have to get that car. I know, I know. So what's your car payment? 60, wait,$667. All right, just for fun, I want you to just, you know, figure out what that would do to your monthly budget.

47:27That's a lot of money. You would get an$8 ,000, that's a net raise. So that's more like 11 or 12 ,000 gross. Yeah. So imagine I just started giving you a thousand bucks a month. Would you go yip-dee-dee-doo? Yeah. that's what selling that car will do for you and you have to look at it that way or else it's ken and george are mean they're not fun they're telling me it's unrealistic well it's not but you know getting a piece of junk that gets you from point a to point b for this season of your life this is for a season this is not like forever uh i i think that's huge for you what caused you guys to want to actually turn this ship around uh i've been listening to you guys on youtube a lot the past month.

48:12So we just got into your head because we didn't show up. You had to be kind of looking for us. We want to move out of California and we want to eventually adopt and get a house and all that. And I know we cannot do that with all this debt. We need to work on this debt now. Good. Is your husband on board? Is he as fired up as you are? Oh yeah, completely. And you've got the income. He's actually wanting me to spend more to pay towards the debt than we have been. What's stopping you? I've been trying to build up our savings. I'm thinking about putting money down on a house. No, no, no. That's too far in the future.

48:55I know. I see that now. I see that now. Well, but you've been listening to us for a month. So have you heard us talk about the baby steps? I don't want to just assume anything. Yes. Okay. And that's why I'm like, okay, well, I've done step one. Technically, I'm on step two, but I have part of step three. But I need to just stop and do it step by step. Well, you've got$12 ,500 in savings. Let's get right back to the start of your phone call as we've now dug into this. So what do we tell people to do if they've got$12 ,500 in savings and they have debt? What do we tell them? Pay it towards the debt.

49:29How much? How much do we take out of that$12 ,500? well i'm assuming it's going to be the 11.5 you got it tell her what she's won george uh raised to the tune of a thousand dollars once we sell this car so here's what i would consider doing instead of using these savings to pay down the debt i would get out of this car situation first and so you might be underwater by a few grand that's true let's let's use that to clean that up then we're going to take let's say another six or seven thousand and get yourself a used reliable car, do a pre-purchase inspection. It's probably going to have 100 ,000 plus miles on it.

50:05It's probably going to have some stains that you'd rather not see. But this is for a season. This is not your forever car. This is like a year or two max as we get to a place of financial stability. Because you told me you want to adopt. That's a big dream of yours, isn't it? You want to have your own place, your own house in a different state. That's a big dream of yours, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. So that dream is bigger than a vehicle. We can always get another car, can't we? Yeah. So most of that savings, or not most, but a good chunk of it's going to go to whatever this beater is, right? And I'm thinking a$5 ,000 car max.

50:40That clears half your debt. That's like cutting a jail sentence in half. And all that money, that car payment now goes into the debt snowball. That's huge. You can make some real ground up, can't you? yeah so your husband's right it's rare that we say this on the show it's mostly the wife is usually right and i've been married 27 years so i'm conditioned to say my wife is right but in this case your husband's right you need to be putting more into this and you guys are rice and beans if dave were here he'd be going you guys don't see the inside of a restaurant unless you're waiting tables and it's rice and beans beans and rice and you guys are just absolutely on fire to get this out of your life, that same intensity continues into that emergency fund of three to six months.

51:27Now we can begin to save for the house and begin to chart it. Check this out. You knock out this car, you got 42 left, and you start throwing four or five grand a month at it, you're done with this in eight months. Woo! I like that. And so this house is going to be a whole lot closer versus keeping this car around while it goes down in value, you stay underwater. I think this thing is tanking your financial future. Get rid of it. You know what Bear Grylls would say? What's that? Jolly good. Spot on. Not quite. I'm working on it.

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53:42All right, Gabe is up in Pittsburgh. Gabe, how can we help today? Hey, thank you for taking my call. Basically, I'm a first-year college student. I have$30 ,000 saved up from working in high school, and I'm basically wondering what I can do for passive income with this saved money I have while I'm in school right now. So, first of all, good job to save up$30 ,000 from high school. That's fantastic. Yeah, thank you. And you're going to graduate debt-free? Yeah, my parents are paying for school. Nice. So you want, if I understood your question right, you're asking us for our ideas on how to take some of the$30 ,000 and create some passive income.

54:28Is that what I'm hearing? Correct. So I'll just let, this is what I've done so far, but I'm sure there's stuff I could be doing better. I have$3 ,000 in a Roth. I have$10 ,000 in a CD that's paying out 4 % in a month, so I get$400 on that. I have another$10 ,000 in a money market, and then I have$7 ,000 in my savings. And I'm just playing around with a little bit of stocks. Okay. Well, you may not like my answer. And I can tell you, TikTokers and Instagrammers will hate my answer. And that's okay, because I don't care. I have interviewed over my time here at Ramsey alone a lot of people that are experts in passive income and I will tell you that every one of those people I'm looking at Will Rutter who's engineering today on the board he's heard me do a lot of these every one of them Will told me there's nothing passive about what I'm teaching The concept of passive income is I'm putting my money to work for me, and I'm not, you know, some people call it mailbox money.

55:30I like to joke about it. George has heard me say it a thousand times.

55:36And there's just not such a thing. So they'll go, okay, we know what passive income is, and I'm an expert in it, but it's not passive. There's a lot of work that goes into it or a lot of work that is on the front end of it that then gets you to the place where it's a Tim Ferriss thing, George, where it's a four-hour work week or whatever. And so I think of like a digital product. I created a digital product here at Ramsey. It's called the Get Clear Career Assessment. It's been very, very successful. It would meet the definition, George, of passive income in that people buy that all the time while I'm sleeping, traveling, doing this show right now, and it is being delivered off of a website with very little effort.

56:21But there was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears on the front end of that. So my answer is at this stage of your life, because you're in school, I'd love to hear if you've got a couple ideas and George and I can shark tank it. But my initial knee jerk, and George may disagree with me, George, my initial knee jerk is to actually have you tell him how we would have him start investing that. What's the best way to invest that 30? And let's go ahead and get that working for us over the next three to four years because that's going to give us some better options. I think you're in such a great place.

56:53That's what I recommend. George, is that too conservative? No. And Gabe, based on the way you're talking, you know a lot about finances and investing. You've done your homework. Now you're a little scattered. You've got your money all over the place and you're thinking about single stocks. And so my fear for someone like you is you're in the precipice of losing your lunch because you go, oh, dude, I could get 10x my money if I put it in crypto, maybe. Or you could lose it all tomorrow. So it's your choice. And so you get closer to gambling and speculation than you do investing. So back to your question, passive income.

57:24I totally agree with Ken. Instead of asking how can I make money, ask what value can I create based on my passions and skills? Now we can go, oh, that's a digital product. That's a, you know, for me, it was music. I did an album and I just got a sweet check for$10 this month, Ken. Well, you know what? Let's go ahead and plug. From work I did 10 years ago. Let's go ahead and plug the album because you did some hard work. Check it out on Spotify, Gabe. No, seriously, what's the album? It's called The Great Coward. I know, truthfully, I was a musician. I passed the life. I know you were. You're a good musician.

57:53And here's the thing, Gabe. I did that album and like Ford reached out to license the music on their YouTube channel And that made me more money than anybody streaming it on Spotify. How about that? So what I would do is go, what can I bring a value to the world, to people out there who have a problem? How do I solve that in a way that only I can do? That's going to get you a lot closer than following a TikTok that says to buy a laundromat and buy an ATM and do leverage real estate, which I'm scared is what you're going to fall into if you continue down the path. Do you have an idea? I had just put in like the 300 bucks into the stock market just because I was new to it.

58:31But I haven't even thought about doing like a crazy amount of getting into crypto. What's your goal here? I'm not like too risk oriented. I don't know. I mean, I miss work is really what it is. I'm mad that I can't make more money, but I'm in school. I'll be working every time as soon as I'm done. What are you in school for? I'm a first year nursing student at the University of Pittsburgh. Do you want to be a nurse? I want to be a nurse anesthetist. Great. So this is part of the journey, right? Yes, it's part of the journey, the first four. Also, are your parents cash-flowing all of that schooling?

59:07Because that's going to be pricey. Just undergrad, undergrad. Oh, that's what I'm getting at here, Gabe. So what's the graduate cost? I'm scared you're about to go$200 ,000 into debt post-grad. I'm a little nervous. This call changed, which is good. I mean, what's your plan? What is it going to cost you for your grad program? Well, you need it. After my four years, I would have to work for two years to get experience. I'd be getting a nursing salary. So I'd be making money in those two years as I'm getting my experience before I can even apply to graduate school. And then I should have a good bit saved up then.

59:41Okay, but let's pause. How much, I love this, but I want to get real numbers here. What do you, because every grad school costs different. It's different. And a lot of times we get sucked in, we humans, to the sizzle factor on a school when nobody cares. In fact, my wife just had knee surgery a couple weeks ago, and I was with her when the anesthetist came in. And you know what, George, neither one of us thought to ask where they went to school. So what are you thinking? What's the cost that you're looking at that you've researched? For graduate school, it's probably looking at around$100 ,000 to$150 ,000.

1:00:20All right, now here's the next question. Do you have the patience to work as a nurse for X amount of years to be able to fully cash flow that?

1:00:33No, you do not. And that's okay. But here's the deal. Yeah, it is a good question. I'll tell you why. Here, let me give you a little truth. This is my challenge to you. George, I know this from coaching so many people who weren't happy and wanted to get from point A to point B. Everybody, if I went on the street with a camera crew, you and I have done this before, and I said, hey, are you willing to do what it takes to get the dream job? Oh, yeah, absolutely. And then I go like this. Are you willing to wait as long as it takes? And the answer cools. And we just saw it with Gabe. Now, Gabe, that wasn't a gotcha question to make fun of you or to attack you.

1:01:06It was to make you see, wait a second. Now, I'm going to give the baton to George. Okay. He's the anchor here. He's going to sprint home on this one. Walk him through why you were afraid if he does what we just heard him say he's planning to do, which is take out a little bit of debt or some debt, walk him through that. Well, Gabe, you're going to take a step forward and three steps back. If you graduate with 200 grand in student loans, instead of being cash positive, which you are now. And so the goal for me, for you, is to stay in this position. And so now it is, that's why I was asking what your goal is, because most people that are younger just go, I want to have a million by the time I'm 25.

1:01:48And I go, why? They go, I don't know. I just feel like I'm running out of time. Yeah. And so you have time and you have a lot of skills. You're a really sharp guy. So now my goal is, how do I save up$150 ,000 three years from now? Well, he needs$100 ,000 to be able to cash flow. Gabe, did I hear you right? You need$100 ,000, right? Yeah, about$100 ,000. All right. So this$30 ,000, George, Gabe, this$30 ,000 sits in a good account. Like a high-yield savings account. A high-yield savings account because we're only needing 70 more. Now, in your first two or three years as a nurse, if you're living like nobody else, the question is, can you save up the other 70?

1:02:24The answer is yes. Yeah. George is a savings wizard. George, he could make... Is it high-yield savings? Yeah. Yeah, just a high... So the thing with your CD is your money's locked in there until it matures to whatever month you're locked into, 12 months. And so if you're going to need this money... Yeah, I did a four month. Four months. So high-yield savings, right now the rates are about 3.5%. If you want a great one, go to fairwinds.org. They've been a great partner of ours. They have an awesome high-yield savings account and checking bundle. I would open that up and just start stacking away money.

1:02:57Working, stacking away money. Every summer, I'm working, stacking away money. I would not get on Robinhood and choose some single stocks. I would not try to create passive income through a business. Right now, use the skills you have. Do what work you can do and just stack that money in a high-yield savings and cash flow college. I appreciate it, guys.

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1:05:07Today's question of the day is brought to you by our friends at Y-Refi. If your private student loans are in default, you need a lender who sees you and meets you where you are. Y-Refi offers low fixed rate plans based on your real ability to play. Learn more at Y-Refi.com slash Ramsey. That's the letter Y. refi.com. That's Y-R-E-F-Y.com slash Ramsey. It's not available in all states. Today's question comes from Nicholas in Washington. My parents, adult siblings, and I are all on a family phone plan, but live in different households. Everyone agreed to pay their portion to the sibling who is designated the account owner.

1:05:46A few years ago, I started paying the monthly bill to prevent recurring overdue bills and plan cancellations. Since then, that sibling hasn't paid their portion and when another sibling found out they stopped repaying their portion too i can and have been paying for both siblings what the heck the remaining siblings and parents pay regularly and everyone's aware of the situation to the point of joking about it at family reunions i want to maintain good relationships by prioritizing family over finances but is there a gentle way to convey that they're taking advantage of me or should i use dave's principle of gifting and not loaning money to family in this situation.

1:06:21Oh boy. Nicholas, you've become a doormat. Yeah, we don't gift when we're resentful and we think it's going to put a Band-Aid on it. This is not the spirit of giving. I don't understand why you haven't just shut down the account and go, all right, everyone, every man for himself. We're all grown adults. Let's get our own phone plans. They're not that expensive. That's where I went. Why are we as adults on the same cell phone plan? This is crazy. My parents, adult siblings, This is just a toxic codependency, and of course they're taking advantage of it. They realize they can get a free phone plan out of the deal and still be friends with you.

1:06:56I tell you what really rubbed me the wrong way is that everybody jokes about it. They're all laughing at him. Exactly. Ha, ha, ha, ha, sucker. They're not laughing with you. They're laughing at you. I think so. Yeah, I'd draw a line here and go, hey, guys, I'm going to get my own phone. My phone plan, I'm out. You guys can figure it out if you want to stay on this, but I am out of the situation. Just jump onto Boost Mobile. It's like$20 a month. It's not that expensive to have your own phone plan. There's really no benefit here for everyone being on the same plan in different households. It's messy.

1:07:30Yeah. Just the reading of the question showed you how complex this thing is. It shouldn't be complex. There should be a little here to get your phone plan paid. I'm an adult. I have my own cell phone plan. My siblings, they're adults. They have their own cell phone plan. What are we even talking about here? Makes my head hurt. Joseph is up in Los Angeles. Joseph, how can we help? Hi. My girlfriend slash fiance and I are planning to get married, and we're wondering how to combine our finances. Each of us has significant assets and debts. What kind of assets are we talking? They're almost all real estate.

1:08:10House, ADU, commercial building, raw land. and then some money in bank accounts. Okay. So you're wondering how do we combine this once we're married? What should we combine, how and when? Yeah, and things like how do we treat bank accounts, and we want your advice on how to do it. Well, what's the end goal here with all of these assets? Are you wanting to have them all paid off and in both of your names and build wealth together? Basically, we're using them for our retirement. We're older. I am retired. She'll be retired in five years. We need to live off the assets. Okay. So this income will go to both of you as one unit?

1:09:05Presumably, yeah. Okay. I was going to guess that's your advice. Yeah. Yeah, the simplest way, and this is what I did, is you have a checking account, she has a checking account, correct? Correct. I would transfer the money from her checking into your checking and make it a joint checking. And so her name would get added to yours. And then same with savings. You have one high yield savings account and that's our emergency fund. Maybe we have another high yield savings account with both of our names on it. And that's for sinking funds and whatever it is, property maintenance and repair funds. And I would have your names on everything.

1:09:36Because I think building wealth together is a whole lot more fun and you move a whole lot faster than playing tit for tat of, well, that's your property and my property is doing well, but stinks for you. Good luck. Which I don't think is the spirit of what's happening, but it what ends up happening when everything's split. Okay. So what I heard is two high yield accounts and one checking account, all of them with both our names on them. Yes. And then with the assets, I would go, okay, do we want to liquidate any of these properties as one a nuisance? Let's kind of combine all of our, our playing cards here and then see what the next best move is.

1:10:11Because the goal would be to get out of debt as soon as possible across the board. The debt that we're in is$1.2 million in debt. It is almost purely mortgage. Okay, because of the property. On all these houses, right? Yeah. And one of them said a fabulous interest rate, 2.75. Oh, and keep it until you die. Why even ever pay it off? Exactly. There we go. I was just trying to get you to say that out loud. He trapped you there. I don't think you realize, Joseph, you walked right into it. My face was telling a different story. No, here's the thing. If you're listening to our show, we know that debt equals risk.

1:10:49More debt equals more risk. $1.2 million as she's trying to enter retirement, there's a lot of risk here. And it might mean she works longer. Or one property takes a nosedive and there's some vacancy, there's a big repair. It's just going to add stress to this new marriage, especially in this later stage of life. I would personally want to simplify. So I would try to angle it as soon as we're married to go, how can we get rid of this debt in the next few years so that you can step into retirement with a whole lot of peace? How old are you? I'm 64. Okay. I was wondering because I thought I heard you say we want to live off these assets and you're not going to be able to live off of the rent.

1:11:28We start looking at all the numbers here. It's not that impressive. It just rarely is. So how much equity do you have in each of the properties?

1:11:38Um, let's see. There's a$5.5 million commercial building that's debt-free. Woo! Oh, that's great. How much is that cash flow? There's about$16 ,000 a month after all expenses and taxes and that. I strike what I said because it's rare we have somebody tell us they have a cash commercial building. What's your total net worth versus hers? hers uh mine's about 7.5 hers is about one name okay so combined we're already stepping into this with eight million plus net worth with a great income and so now we can just simplify and go all right can we get rid of one and become totally debt-free faster just to simplify our life not have any payments because you're still going to be breaking in 20 plus grand a month once this is all said and done right and oh by the way she's a teacher with a good retirement plan.

1:12:34Yes. Amazing. So with the commercial building alone, what do you anticipate your monthly expenses are once you guys get married?

1:12:45Let's see. I'm not talking about the debt. I'm talking about, because right now the debt's kind of on the table where I'm headed. I'm just curious, a comfortable life, paying the regular bills, what do you think you guys are going to need? And taking the debt payments out of it? Yes. Give me a second here. Carry the two. Yeah. He's got his eraser out. There's some zeros on the end of this math problem. I think we'd be real comfortable on 12. Right. So I'm just challenging you to go, okay, good on you with the commercial building. That's what we say. If that's what you're going to do, do it that way.

1:13:28because now you do have$16 ,000 in cash flow, and this thing's worth$5 million. You can unload it at any time. If you only have that, you get to live your retirement dream. That's the only property you own. But I would consolidate those other real estate pieces that have debt on them by selling them. I'd get rid of all that debt is what I mean, not consolidate. I would get rid of the debt and take what I'm going to make on that, consolidate all that profit, and invest that, and keep it simple. Then you're really cruising. That's what I would do. Right, George? Am I wrong? I mean, you're already on the path.

1:14:02You're just so close to being debt-free. It's sort of just a no-brainer to just simplify as you enter this new marriage, as she enters retirement. Man, you guys will be sitting pretty with a bunch of paid-for cash real estate. Dave Ramsey's smiling somewhere right now. I love it. Good job, Joseph. I hope this woman knows that she's got poor judgment other than you just being really wealthy. Close the deal, man. This is exciting. You guys are going to have a great life together and truly live like no one else. Get rid of the debt and live large.

1:15:08buying or selling your home is a big deal and uh boy depend on what headline uh headlines you're looking at every day there's a lot of conflicting data out there can scare you can create a lot of doubt. And this is a big decision. So we want to make the big decision with a lot of good information. And here are some of the latest trends. Median home prices dipped a bit last month to$426 ,000. That is typical as we head into the fall. And buyers have more options in negotiating power while sellers are facing more competition. Mortgage rates dipped slightly in September. And I will tell you just yesterday, we saw a dip this week.

1:15:47So, you know, what is that going to do? If they keep dipping a bit, people are going to start rushing back in to try to get a better rate. And that can make prices go up. So now might be a great time to get in if you're ready to learn more about the housing market trends and get free tools to help you buy or sell with confidence. We got you covered. Go to RamseySolutions.com slash market. That's RamseySolutions.com slash market. Joel is joining us now in Fairfax, Virginia. Joel, how can we help today? Hey, thanks for taking my call. How are you guys? We're having a blast today. What can we help you with?

1:16:25Well, let me, this is more of a what if question. So I know that when you buy a new car, loses value as soon as you drive it off a lot. My question is, what about restored classic muscle cars? My dad had one when I was growing up, and I happened to do some research, and I found that those have grown huge in value. And so I was kind of toying with the idea. I have a paid for 23 Bronco Sport. If I traded it in and got something that grows in value, would it help with net worth. And if it helps, I have numbers in front of me if you need those. Yeah. Give us some of the numbers. All right. I will be 56 in December, single, never married, no kids.

1:17:13I make $95 ,000 a year. I'm on baby step four. I unfortunately got a late start. So to play catch up, I'm setting aside 25 % of my pay. Net worth is about$194 ,000, including the Bronco Sport,$25 ,000 in a high-yield savings, 4.1%. $750 ,000 in checking because I just paid the bills. Another$1 ,000 in savings. And then I've got two 401ks that together are just north of$143 ,000. I'm renting because housing is just too crazy expensive. And I've moved so many times, it just never made sense. So that's pretty much it. And what is your goal? To retire by a certain age with a certain amount of money?

1:17:58well at this uh with the numbers i have at this uh stage in life i honestly don't have any plan on retiring i'm just going to keep working until i pretty much can't um i know in the past i've heard you know quote unquote no new cars until you have a million dollar net worth with my numbers i don't know when i would ever hit that number so i don't know if you guys can calculate that i don't how you figure that out. In your shoes, the basic question, should I invest in a classic muscle car? No. Okay. Under no circumstances will we consider that an investment. It's a liability disguised as a hobby, and maybe it grows in some value if you store it and maintain it perfectly, but I would not sell your perfectly good car.

1:18:45It's paid for, the Bronco? Yes, sir. And you're going to sell that to get a muscle car that you would then drive as your vehicle yeah i mean i'm not actively considering it now it was just a what if question so that's what i'm asking a second opinion well but in the what if it to george's point i didn't think that you were going to drive it i thought you were thinking about maybe flipping these things because oh no no this would have been my driver well but that's going to hurt its value um you're talking about i thought about These cars that get – I did some research while George was talking to you.

1:19:24A 1962 Shelby Cobra, which is an absolutely phenomenal machine. My gosh. Arr, arr, arr. I couldn't help myself, James. Exactly. I love old cars. Sold for a record$13.75 million, but it was the first Shelby Cobra ever made and was owned by Carroll Shelby. So I'm giving you the extreme here to back up George's point. And, you know, if you look at here's another one, a 1970 Plymouth Hemi Cuda convertible, believed to be the only surviving Canadian export version, sold for$2.7 million. So that's a lot less than$30 million. So they have to have like – it's not that they're just in good shape. At that kind of level, George, they have to be extremely rare, like a rookie baseball card of like a Babe Ruth.

1:20:14And it doesn't, you know, so George is right. And it's a luxury. It's a luxury hobby for people that can afford to put the money into these. Well, they're putting a ton of money into it. Even if they lose money on it, they're just happy because they're car people. But as a daily driver, and again, I'm in the long process, good Lord, it takes forever, of restoring a 1972 convertible Volkswagen car Magia. And she's a cherry. she's a beaut but it takes a lot of work and i i'm not going to tell you how much i've put into her so far and george knows i just got a quote to finish the interior and i was a little steep and at this stage i'm going i don't know if i want to do that ken clutched his pearls when he saw that yeah well but i i knew i didn't think it was going to be that much but i i'm going to drive that from time to time with stacy when the weather's really nice and right now it's like i'm going to get several other quotes and see if I can get that down.

1:21:03A few thousand dollars. All right. So I'm beating this thing to a pulp because you can get really feverish about an old car, but is it a great long-term investment? No, it isn't a great one. And it's only a good investment, George, if you are flipping these cars, right? To where you, again, you have the know-how. And at that point, you got to hang on to them for a pretty good while for them to appreciate in value over time. Not if you're flipping. That would have got to be my plan. Well, if you're going to fix them up. If you're restoring old ones, sure. That's what I'm saying. That's the only scenario where if you've got the equipment, you've got the know-how.

1:21:40Which takes a lot of cash flow to even do that. It does. So in your shoes, Joel, I would rather see you get into a house and stabilize your housing costs. Yeah. Because in the meantime, rent's going to keep going up. And so if you're 56, I would love to see you have a home by the time you retire to where it's not crippling you financially. So that becomes the goal. You have a great income. You did get a later start, but if you're good to work for the next decade, you can build some serious wealth. And so I might dial down some of that investing and get into a house faster because that housing market is also a moving target.

1:22:15You know, the average home price is over$400 ,000. If you wait another five years, it could be$600 ,000. Oh, yes. Well, where I'm at is half a mil already and I'm just like, oh, yeah. Exactly. So that's why I would dial back your investing to 15 % and then use that extra cash flow every dime you can to throw into a high-yield savings account. And within the next three years, work up a down payment and get yourself into a home. Okay. And the car dream I think is a cool dream. I would just separate it from, well, two birds, one stone. Get a cool classic car, drive it around. It becomes my retirement.

1:22:51That's a fool's errand. It's a fun car, and I think you can get one. I have to ask, if you had the money, what are you buying today? What is this classic mobile that you would be driving around in? Well, the guys and all the men in my dad's side of the family, we were big Buick guys. And so I was looking at probably a 71 or 72 GS convertible, something along those lines. Yeah. Have you looked into what those cost in decent shape? I'm just curious. Nice. I found a couple between$30 ,000 and$40 ,000. My father had a 1970 model. I've seen those go for anywhere from$80 ,000 to$130 ,000. Yeah, yeah.

1:23:32There you go. Well, look. I thought, eh, I'm going to aim a little lower. Yeah, but here's the deal. Down the road, when you get financially able to do it, you know, might be a fun nostalgic thing. But, again, you've got to treat it like any other car in the way we treat it. So thanks for calling. That's really interesting stuff. Yeah, George, you know, boy, oh, boy, you can get – boy, you can rack. the expenses up with an old car. You just can. It's a premium service. It truly is a hobby. I don't think many people have made it a quote unquote business or an investment. And sometimes you get lucky and you bought at the right time and it went up in value or you had the funds to really invest into it and you found the right buyer at the right time.

1:24:13But man, I would much rather stick to the stock market so I can retire one day. Yeah, absolutely right. But do you see yourself in an old car one day when you're in your 70s? One day. You know what I watch? I watch Father of the Bride and Steve Martin tooling around in that car. Made me go, that's what I want one day. See, now. Sign me up. All right, see. You know what? When I get the old gear done, I'm going to teach you how to drive a stick. That's what I have to start with and then let you drive. Boy, you've never done that, have you? No, no, no. No idea, folks. No idea. My car drives itself at this point.

1:24:54Many of you listen to The Ramsey Show because you're sick and tired of getting nowhere with your money. You work too hard to live paycheck to paycheck with no money in the bank. But here's the deal. Just listening to the show won't change that. If you want different results, you have to do something different. We've helped millions of people save money, ditch debt, and build wealth. And you can too. But you've got to have a game plan. and that begins with our Get Started assessment. Go to RamseySolutions.com slash start now, take the free quiz, and get your free step-by-step action plan. If you've had it with money stress and are ready to take control of your money for good, go to RamseySolutions.com slash start now.

1:25:48Welcome back to the Ramsey Show in the Fairwinds Credit Union Studio. Alongside George Campbell, I'm Ken Coleman. So excited that you are with us. 888-825-5225 is the phone number. Jeremy is up in Dallas, Texas. Jeremy, how can we help? Hello. Well, thank you guys very much. I just wanted to ask, do you guys think college students nowadays have a better chance of being just as or more successful than our parents in today's world. And I ask this because as a college student myself that's about to graduate, with no student debt, I have$50 ,000 saved, and I have a job lined up, fortunately. Unfortunately, we're proud of the state.

1:26:29I live in and away from family. I'm nervous to move out, and I know a lot of people my age and this situation feel the same way. But I know a lot of people are nervous and don't know if they can move out financially. But do you think people in today's world have the same chance that our parents did? And also people in my situation, what can you give to them that don't know if they can move out financially? Well, you do have the same chance. I don't think, you know, you get into a crazy game if you start going, well, what are the chances back in the 60s? And, you know, that probably seems like ancient history to you.

1:27:12But no, I think college students have the same exact chances of being successful. I think they have some things that are going in their favor. I think that older generations, you might be able to say, well, maybe they had a couple advantages because of this. But the one that sticks out to me, George, is the student loan issue that just was not a handicap to people that are older. But in your case, Jeremy, you're the asterisk. You don't have any debt. um so i think uh the the the second question is the one that we can tackle um and that is how do you overcome this barrier to entry this thought process that oh i can't live on my own or i can't move away uh george you want to tackle that one first i've got thoughts but oh yeah so what was your what's your job situation right now um well i'm from dallas but i have a job offer in a separate state away from family.

1:28:10I would get a stipend to take the position and move out. I'd also get a free vehicle and entry salary is$65 ,000 before. $65 ,000 with a car? And what's the stipend? $10 ,000. I mean, bro. And what is your actual fear here? Because there's not a math problem. Are you wondering, can I afford rent? I would prefer not to rent, but more of a mortgage. Why would you jump into a mortgage right out of college in a city you have never lived in? What's the rush? I guess it's just because my dad, he has always told me not to rent, and I guess that stuck with me in the back of my head. There it is. So dad said, renting is a waste of money, son.

1:29:00You should become a homeowner. Yeah. And that's in the back of your mind. Dad is not going to be proud of me if I rent. Yeah. And he's going to be telling me how much I need to get into a house every time I talk to him. Yeah. Is he covering your down payment?

1:29:19No, my girlfriend's mom, if she would be willing to go out with me, but if that's not the case, she would not like to move in. Okay, Jeremy, this entire call, you have sounded like somebody who's way ahead of the game and on top of it, and then you just threw the ultimate curveball. You're considering buying a house with your girlfriend's mom? Yeah. Does that sound in any way risky to you? I'm just trying to be serious. Do you think that sounds smart? No, not necessarily. Have you told your mom and dad that you're considering this? I have. And what'd they say? They trust her a lot, and they really like the family.

1:30:02And if she's willing to do that, they were fine with it. Okay, I'm going to bring George in because George loves to tell horror stories. George, let's fast forward. Let me crawl into the desk, get my jaw off the floor real quick. I got to tell you, Jeremy, this is absolutely ridiculous that your parents haven't freaked out over this. Your parents are good people. Are you trolling us? Jeremy, be honest. Oh, is this a fake call? No, I'm not. All right, George, where does this go? Let's say the girlfriend, take us down all the things that could go wrong, George. I'll play this out. You're going to call us in a year, and here's going to be the call.

1:30:37I sunk all of my money into buying a house with my girlfriend's mom, and we just broke up. What do I do? She wants to keep the house. Or I want to keep the house. Do you see where this is going? It's going to get messy real quick. You and her, you're not even the girlfriend, which we would tell you is stupid. This is the girlfriend's mom, which is next level stupid. Already planning to live with your future mother-in-law is just a bad plan, relationally. So, Jeremy, here's what I would do. It's not funny. I got to tell you, I don't think anything about this is funny. If I waved a magic wand, you would move out, take this job offer, rent, maybe even get a roommate or two to help you stomach the finances.

1:31:18and just learn to live on your own for a little while. Rent for a year or two. Keep stacking up that down payment with this new salary you have. And then a year or two from now, you have$100 ,000 saved. And that's actually a decent down payment on the cost of a home these days. And so once you get into that, do a 15-year fixed rate mortgage where the payment's no more than a quarter of your take-home pay. That's going to allow you to pay off that home really early. And then you're going to be financially free at a very young age. But if you shortcut it, that scares me because you're going to fall flat on your face and you are off to a great start here's what I don't understand I thought you said you were moving away from where you live yeah I would be so where does the girlfriend's mom come into the equation uh they live in Tennessee that's where you would be moving yes oh you're moving to be in the same place as your girlfriend?

1:32:13Yeah, yeah, and the job offer is there. So I kind of thought of it in this way as more of like a way around things so that I wouldn't have to pay. There's not, no, no. You think this is a way around something to whatever, not pay rent, be smarter her with your money, this is a way into a massive, massive pond of scum and disgustingness and danger and all kinds of stuff. You don't even know if this girl's the one for you, do you? You're absolutely right. Well, then what are you thinking? We don't even know if we want to marry her. I tell you what, if you were my younger brother, I'd reach through the phone and cuff you right upside the head.

1:32:59Because this is crazy talk. You are too smart for this. You've got a great job, no debt, a stipend, a free car. Just go date this girl and let's see if she is the one. Right. And then let's kind of check these boxes off. I mean, this is craziness to me. You know, like it's and by the way, I'm being fun. James Pruser looks like he's like he's going to swallow a frog. I wouldn't violently hit you. I'm just saying like I'm trying to go snap out of this. It's like this is somebody needs to kind of grab you and shake you and go, this could be a horrible, horrible mistake. All right. Here's the TLDR.

1:33:38Just slow down. Slow down. You've done such a good job. And now all of a sudden you want to go 90 miles an hour and you're going to get in a wreck if you live your life this way. So just rent for a year or two or three. How old? 22. Let's play this out. Oh, boy. At 25, you own a home. You know the average age of a homeowner in today's world? No. It's like 38 years old. So you're already so far ahead of the curve. You're already so much more successful than most Americans who are retired, who are broke. So if you just keep this up, live your life debt-free, rent on your own, get a house when it makes sense, and don't do it with anyone else unless you're married to them.

1:34:19That's the key, man. Good luck.

1:34:35You work your butt off for your money, but your money's never going to return the favor if all you do is hope for the best. If you're ready to learn how to make your money work for you, check out the SmartVestor program. SmartVestor can help you find advisors who specialize in retirement planning, charitable giving, advanced investing strategies, and more. Whatever your goals, your pro will take the time to explain your options so you never have to invest in anything you don't understand. Head to RamseySolutions.com slash SmartVestor to get connected. Ramsey Solutions is a paid, non-client promoter of participating pros.

1:35:12Learn more at RamseySolutions.com slash SmartVestor.

1:35:34Two weekends, George. Not one, but two. Two weekends are on sale now for Money and Marriage Getaway. It's three incredible days with your spouse here in Nashville, learning the tools to strengthen your connection and deepen your intimacy. Join Dr. John Deloney and Rachel Cruz in November or February. Early bird pricing is available now. Tickets start at$749 per couple. You can get those tickets for the lowest price before they end at RamseySolutions.com slash getaway. RamseySolutions.com slash getaway. Or you can click on the link in the show notes. And it's popped up on my schedule. I guess I'm going to be at the November and February one.

1:36:15I did see you on the lineup. Very excited. I might come see your talk. It looked like a good one. Can I tell them what it is? Yeah, sure. Okay, correct me if I'm wrong. It was how to win at home. Love and work? Home and work? I'm not sure. Something like that. It was kind of like a how to win at work without losing your life at home. You know what my speech title is. I just know what I'm talking about. I need that. It's a good sort of work-life marriage balance talk. Because, you know, a lot of people want to crush it at work and then their marriage suffers. Well, it's not a traditional talk, George.

1:36:46You're going to like this. What they have done is they have accumulated all the questions they've been getting at previous Money in Marriage getaways. Oh. And it's about, hey, my spouse is a workaholic. How do I support him? Or he feels lost. You know, it's that guy. So I'm taking some of the biggest questions, the ones that have been some of the most, and I'm teaching to those questions. I love that. So it should be fun. Very fun. And I'm told Mrs. Coleman might be making an appearance at the February one. Whoa. That's something to show up for. I'll tell you what. to know Stacey is the liker.

1:37:17That's worth the price of admission to see Stacey coming up there. I'm telling you right there. So there you go. Should be fun. Let's go to Tracy in Houston, Texas. Tracy, how can we help? Hi. Thanks for talking with me, first off. I have a situation going on to where we have a lot of credit card debt and just making the minimum payments. were kind of having to teeter between groceries or paying all the minimums. And I'm wanting to start the snowball rolling, but I don't have the extra money to put toward any of the smaller bills. And I was wondering if there was something that y 'all could, a suggestion or advice that y 'all could give me to help get that started.

1:38:04Well, the magic wand here is we need to make more income to have more margin. Now, we can cut expenses, too, and you probably should, but it sounds like there's an income problem. How much do you guys make a month? A month, we make about$4 ,700. What are the credit card minimums? Oh, my goodness. Just the minimums are almost$1 ,200. Okay, and you can't do that and cover the rest of your bills. Do you have a rent or mortgage? We have a mortgage. It's for$900 a month. Okay. So that's not the problem. Right. What got you into all this credit card debt? Well, my son lost his job, and he's a grown adult.

1:38:48He was staying with us, or he still is, staying with us. So he's helping pay, you know, bills and all those kind of good things. But he's actually looking to move out, and so I was like, I need to get this. No, but how much credit card debt total do we have? What's the balance? Total credit card is$29 ,500. What got us into$29 ,000 of credit card debt? I don't think it was your son. No, no, no, no. I am an undiagnosed shopaholic, and I'm working with a therapist on that now. Oh, wow. So it's just been, we would max out credit cards, get more credit cards, max those out and get more. Have you stopped the bleeding?

1:39:38Because we can't help you at all unless you decide I'm done borrowing money. Oh, yes. So have you cut up the cards? I'm actually thinking about closing the accounts, and I was going to get your opinion on that as well. Cut them up, close them, you'll still owe the money. We would have you cut them right now in the air. Yeah, do you have them with you? I don't. That's unfortunate. I would be more than happy to cut them up. Have you done a freeze on all of your credit? Yeah, on the credit bureaus? Yes. Yes, I have. So nobody can take out debt in your name, including you, without jumping through some hoops.

1:40:12Okay, what other debt do you have outside of the$29 in credit cards? I do have$11 ,000 in loans. Just personal loans? Yes, personal loans. Okay. Okay. And then the rest of it is just our monthly, you know, just our regular monthly bills, electric, gas. Okay. So no more debt outside of that. You got$40 ,000 in debt, plus you got the mortgage. Right. All right. And are you both working full-time? We do. All right. So who's making what? Because right now I'm seeing about a take-home pay per year, about$56 ,000. Yes, I make about$30 ,000 a year, and he makes about$32 ,000 a year. Why are the incomes so low?

1:40:56What are you guys doing for work? Well, we work for the county, and so the pay is lower, but the benefits at the end, if you retire with them, are greater. For example— We're not going to live long enough to see the benefits if we can't eat. I know. We have collectors knocking down our door, taking us to court, so screw the benefits. You guys need to go double your income. right okay okay um yeah during the tax season i do do um i prepare taxes and so that does bring in some extra that i'm wanting to throw at it are you an enrolled agent do you have some qualifications there no no i'm not an enrolled agent okay i'm just wondering i think you could go you know do that and make double tomorrow yeah you know okay let me just interject real quick You need to create some type of a visual, an exercise to where we identify what is it that I can do right now to make more money and just begin to create a possibilities list.

1:41:58George just gave you a really great suggestion there. But you have got to be able to see in order to believe that you can actually make more money. We've got to get that income up. And we can't be doing things that are like prospecting. well, if I spend this and I do this, then I might be able to make this. It's like, no, I need to exchange time for money right now. Right. And so to your question, I want to make sure I answer it. You don't have to juggle between do I make the credit card minimums or food. You always cover your four walls first. And if the credit cards don't get paid, they don't get paid.

1:42:30So four walls are your food, utilities, housing, transportation. And we're talking bare bones. This is not, well, I guess we're going to eat out instead of making the minimums. No, this is what I need to survive right now. How can we cut all of our expenses down to the bone? And then we'll get to the credit cards once we can create enough income and create enough margin to start to climb out of this. Okay, that sounds good. That's kind of where I was going. And that might mean some of them go to collections and you're going to have to deal with that later. And so you're just kind of kicking the can down the road, but you got to eat first.

1:43:03And so I don't care how much they're calling you, hassling you to make your payments. If you can't make it, you can't make it. Okay. Okay. And then the actually closing of the accounts is not, I mean, would that be okay? Because I know myself that I would just call and go, oh, well, I lost my card, you know. I mean, why are you saying you're going to go back into debt? She's saying it's possible. No, that's what I'm trying to, I'm trying to alleviate any possibility. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. You should close the accounts, freeze your credit, the whole nine yards, put up some accountability.

1:43:36Absolutely. Cut up all the cards. And then that's a line in the sand saying, I'm done. I'm never borrowing a dime on these cards again. Okay, great. And they're probably going to offer you some deal to try to stay. Just say, nope, I'm done. Cancel, cancel, cancel. I'm done. And you're still, of course, going to owe on those accounts, but at least you can't rack up any more debt and they won't send you offers for more line of credit to bless you with. Right, right. Yeah, I mean, like, I'm glad you're seeing a therapist, but I would get advice from the therapist on who can be in your life from an accountability standpoint.

1:44:08Boy, oh boy, you're going to have to take some extreme steps here, but you can do this. But you got to sit in the pain long enough to go, ooh, I don't ever want to experience this again. So whatever pain I'm trying to take care of with the shopping, oh, boy, I don't want to deal with that because it's creating more pain that I am not enjoying. And you're feeling it right now. So I appreciate the call. Glad you called us. Final thoughts, George, on this? I mean, you can try to at least call and negotiate your interest rates down for now to alleviate some of the pain and let them know, hey, I can't pay this.

1:44:43It's simply too much. The interest is racking up too fast. Can you work with me? That might at least let you get your head above water for a moment to start to actually make progress.

1:45:20What's up, guys? George Camel here. What if I told you that you had thousands of extra dollars hiding in your budget right now? Listen, I know how crazy that sounds. You're thinking, dude, I'm broke. My money's tighter than the middle seat on a spirit flight. But believe it or not, you've got more margin than you think. And our EveryDollar budgeting app helps you find it. In fact, the average person finds$3 ,015 on average in just the first 15 minutes. that's like giving yourself a huge raise without an awkward conversation with your boss now look this isn't magic you're not hitting the lottery this is just your money that we're helping you reclaim and reorganize and every dollar shows you how to make the most of it so you can make faster progress on your goals so don't miss out on thousands of dollars of margin go start every dollar for free by downloading the app in the app store or google play right now

1:46:21All right, we're going to go out into our lobby where Lexi is standing on the debt-free stage. Good afternoon, Lexi. How are you? I'm great. How are you? Good. Where are you from? I live in Melbourne, Florida, about an hour from Orlando. Oh, it's a lovely place. All right. Very nice. And I guess you're here to do a debt-free scream. That would be the assumption. All right, great. All right. Give us the numbers. How much did you pay off? I paid off$56 ,569 in student loans in a year and a half. Wow. A year and a half. That's getting with it. And what was your range of income? $120 ,000. Okay. And what do you do for a living?

1:46:57I'm a project manager for a corporate job, and I also dog sat on the side almost every single weekend and drove Uber every time I wasn't dog sitting. Nice. Okay. Which one's more lucrative? Like, what was your rates? Like, what were you pulling in per hour so people can understand what they could be making? Yeah, dog sitting. I mean, the corporate job made the most money, but dog sitting was the most, especially if there's multiple dogs. And I stay in the dog's house. Give us an idea. So you would show up on a Friday night after work and you dog sit. I said baby sit. You dog sit all through the weekend?

1:47:30Is that what a normal thing would be? Usually. Sometimes it's the whole week as well. My corporate job's remote. How much would you make? Give us an example of how much you'd make in one dog sitting job. In one, maybe$300 for a weekend. That's pretty good dough. That's not bad. And it's not like a lot of hands-on work. You've got to be there, make sure they're fed, make sure they get out. But it's not like you're hustling an Uber or Instacart. And you can leave them. You can't leave kids. So dog sitting is so much the best. You know what else? The dog isn't going to throw a fit and cry and all that stuff.

1:48:01Dog's happy to see you every time. And dog owners like me are happy to pay knowing someone wonderful is taking care of them the way we are. Isn't it extraordinary how much we Americans spend on our dogs? It's insane. But hey, it helps people become debt-free. I love that. It does. Okay, and then how many hours on a given week during this process of getting out of debt? It's a year and a half. Were you driving? How many hours a week on Uber? Uber was about three hours in the evenings, or I'd drive into late at night on weekends if I wasn't dog-sitting. Wow. So you didn't have - Maybe like 10 hours a week.

1:48:30You didn't have much of a life is what we're getting. Good for you. I moved to Florida two years ago when I started the journey, so my life was basically paying off the debt. And now I finally have community and friends. What happened a year and a half ago to start this intense journey? I was new to Florida, just got an apartment down there and renting. And I felt like I was drowning in the student loans. And I was thinking about what job I wanted to do. And I was like, I can't leave this job. I need to pay off the debt. And my parents recommended the Ramsey program. And by the first video, Dave was so motivating.

1:49:04I was like, I got to go gazelle. Wow. So only one video and you're all in. Yeah. So did you miss out on life? Did you have FOMO where you look back and go, man, that 18 months, I could have had some amazing memories and experiences. Yes, for sure. I missed a friend's bachelorette trip. One Christmas, I didn't buy anyone gifts. Thankfully, they didn't care that much. But you just got to be honest with your friends and your family is like, this is my goal. I'm going to go hardcore for at least a year. Took me a year and a half. I'll meet you next year on the next trip. And they were all like, okay cool like are you still friends with the girl group right like no one's gonna disown you no wow and they still you're still invited for christmas yes i gotta say that's impressive um that's a controversial move right there like the internet would have we don't care what the internet says but boy would they have an opinion on you not going you were you would have been a bridesmaid is that right did i catch that you just not go on the trip or the trip the yeah Oh, it was just a trip.

1:50:00You weren't saying no to being a bridesmaid. Right. I would have, though. I love it. Is this you at the wedding? We have the photo. Oh, there we go. What is this photo we see? Oh, this is just me and my, that's, I went to a meetup group in Florida and we made bouquets and that's where I met some of my girlfriends. Oh, that's fun. So there is life on the other side of gazelle intensity. That's what we need people to hear. And that was a free event. So just know that you can go and do free stuff. How'd you find like free events and things like that? Like Facebook groups. Okay. You and George are like, you guys might be.

1:50:33I love a free activity. Yeah, you guys are just kindred spirits. I enjoy it more because when I pay for an activity, I'm going, what does this cost me per minute to enjoy this thing? This is a rip off. Yeah, yeah. I can't get George to come out with a bunch of guys and just have a nice poker night. You couldn't pay me enough. He's at home on Facebook playing Words with Friends because it's free. So you guys. If I lose, at least it's not in front of my peers. That's what happens. So walk us through maybe what was maybe one of the most, you know, tough times. Was there a tough time for you? It was a low moment and you pressed through.

1:51:07Take us to that moment. Yeah, again, the time where I didn't have any friends yet in Florida and I was driving Uber. That's actually how I got a lot of my socialization. Since I work from home, I would talk to people in the car. The hardest part was showing up at the cruise port above Melbourne, Florida. I would drop people off for their cruises. And I was like, oh, I just want to jump on the ship and go with them. Wow. But you know what? You can go on the Ramsey cruise in 2027. Yes. Yeah. All right. There you go. That's something to look forward to. Yeah. Well, you're impressive. Do you have any cheerleaders along the way that were like, I'm with you.

1:51:38I'll be here to cheer you on. Absolutely. My parents have been a huge help. They're the ones that recommended the program. And they're also, they're just paying off their mortgage now. They should be done by the end of this year. And then they'll be totally debt free. Did you sort of like kick their butt a little bit to put it in high gear when they saw you paying off debt? They're like, we got to get on it. Yeah, we've basically been racing to see who could make it to this stage first. And I got it. And you made it. Take that, Mom and Dad. Bragging rights. I like that. I guess they're going to be watching this later.

1:52:07Yes. It's so fun. All right. What is the key, in your opinion, your journey? What would you tell people the key is to getting out of debt? You have to get mad at the debt. Like get so frustrated at the money. Not at yourself. I'd say forgive yourself and move on. But as Dave motivated me, it's like the borrower slave to the lender. And you just have to get mad and do it motivates you to do anything you can to throw money at it. Wow. So make debt the villain, not the person in the mirror and carry the guilt and shame and go, of course, you got us into this mess. Instead, go, hey, debt, you're next.

1:52:41You're a thief. I'm coming for you. That's impressive. So what's next for you? Next, I would like to travel more since I haven't vacationed in a while. Yes. My family doesn't know it yet, but I'd like to pay for them to travel as well. I just want to do an all expenses paid thing, and I want to continue to help ladies with their emotions and finances as well. That's awesome. And what do you do for a living? A project manager. That's right, you said that. I also do life coaching on the side for ladies in their 20s to 40s. So here you are. You're how old? 30. You're 30 years of age. you're debt-free, you have a very good job.

1:53:19Project managers who are talented, they can go a lot of different directions. We see them all the way up to C-suite. There's just so much you can do with that experience and you're still very, very young. What does it emotionally feel like? How would you describe it to people that this is, here you are on the debt-free stage, this is the finish line for you. And before we hear you scream, what has been that emotional reality for you? Of being debt-free. Yeah. Yeah. It feels like a weight's been lifted off my shoulders and just knowing that no money is automatically going to come out of my account anymore.

1:53:51And I don't have to worry about, um, can I make a couple extra hundred dollars here and there? It's just so much more peaceful. I feel like I sleep better. And George, she's on the path. What would you say, uh, knowing what you know, her income, she now steps fully into, she's in baby step four, she's going after it. Uh, what, what does it look like a path to being a millionaire for her? Oh my goodness. Well, are you already investing that 15 %? Are you at that stage? Yes. Oh my goodness. So from 30 to 60, even that 30 year period of just investing 15 % of 120K. So you never get a raise. You're already going to be a multimillionaire.

1:54:25And so that's the good news. And so what you get to do now, especially at this age, you get to start dreaming big of like, what do I want? Where 35? Where am I going to be at 40? And so I'm just so excited for this path, especially because you got it so young people are watching going man i wish i figured this stuff out at 28 and just did the hard work because now i'm trying to clean up a mess that's been 30 years and so i this the future is so bright for you and i hope you inspire a lot of especially single people out there who go well i'll clean up the mess once i'm married once i got someone else to do this with it'll be easier and you went no i'm gonna do this on my own and so i'm so can i just say don't marry a dud dudd.

1:55:03I won't. You've worked too hard. No duds. Stay away duds. You're too short. No one with debt. No one. No no no not at all. You've done so much good work. Okay this is really fun. Let's get right to it. Lexi is here from Melbourne Florida. She paid off 56 ,500 and something something something something. She knows in a year and a half. Make it 120 ,000 dollars. Take it away Lexi. Let's hear your debt-free screen. Can you help count me down? Sure. You ready? Three, two, one. I'm debt-free! Yay! There you go. I love it. With the assist, by the way. I've never done an assist before. I like that. It's an alley-oop.

1:55:46I gotta tell you, I got nervous, James. It was a lot of pressure. I thought, I hope Ken can count down from three. Hopefully he remembers how to do it. Believe me, I struggled there at first. A lot of pressure. Way to go, Lexi.

1:56:01We'll be right back.

1:56:29Verse 18, command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. Our quote from Bill Murray, whatever you do, always give 100 % unless you're donating blood. Very clever. I like that. Why is that so stupid and so funny at the same time? That's just really, I love Bill Murray. Great, great, great quote today. Gary is waiting for us in Texas. Gary, how can we help? yes sir hi gary uh yes sir it's good to be here good to be here as well how can we help um uh i got a me and my wife got into this house and uh the house has started falling apart pretty rapidly and i've got behind on bills and house recently went into foreclosure and i'm wanting to know if there's a way that I can get out of it.

1:57:26Well, we hope so. Let's see if we can get out of it. How many payments have you missed? I think so far we've done this about five or six. In a row? Yes, sir. What's the total amount that you're behind?

1:57:45about about About$10 ,000 probably. I mean, it's$2 ,000 a month. Okay, so$10 ,000, we're behind. And you mentioned that the house is falling apart. Is that the reason why you're not able to pay the mortgage payment? Well, like I said, I've got behind on work. I've had some things happen in my life recently that have caused me to miss some work. And we kind of got behind on the house payment. And then the foundation's messing up. This is not long after we bought the house. So the ceiling started falling in. The heater went out during the first winter that we stayed here. I mean, all electricity started messing up on it.

1:58:31So were you cash-flowing these repairs? Did you go into debt for these repairs? What's your total financial picture now? Well, we're only about$3 ,000 in credit card debt, really. That's the only debt you have? there's besides the house of course now which is uh way too much for what it is what'd you guys bring in last month as far as income uh i make about eight thousand a month that's good income i'm so confused how you make eight grand a month and you couldn't make the two grand payment like you make that before making anything else yes i'm also helping uh helping my mom pay for a lot of stuff too because she's in bad health so you're going to be homeless to help mom out i mean the house was falling apart does what so i'd be well wait a second gary hold on gary we're all over the place and we got to get on the same page so let me just ask you a few questions to see if we can get some clear answers have you been cash flowing was what george asked have you been paying for the ceiling falling in the electricity going completely out all these things have you been paying to repair these things or are these things just sitting in disrepair?

1:59:45They're at the moment sitting in disrepair because they all started at one time. Where is all the money going that you're making? You're making$8 ,000. Is that the total amount of income or is your wife, is it a double income? What do we got? She doesn't make very, she only makes about maybe$2 ,000 a month. Bro, that's$10 ,000. That's$10 ,000. How much are you spending each month on your mom?

2:00:11I'm not entirely sure. I'd have to ask her. She keeps up with that. Hold on. Who keeps up with it? Mom? My wife. Oh, your wife keeps up with it. So, George, we have a budgeting problem. We don't even know where the money is. Gary, here's the good news. You could solve this in two months and just talk to the lender and say, hey, I know I'm 10 grand behind. I'm going to pay five grand a month for the next two months and catch up. That's right. Right. That's the actual solution here is to set up a repayment plan and actually communicate with the lender. But I'm confused. I think there's something deeper that you're not telling us about where this money is going.

2:00:45Because you don't have a lot of debt, and I don't think your expenses add up outside of that$2 ,000 mortgage, which you can't even make. Where is this$10 ,000 disappearing into? Because I don't think it's repairs either. I mean, we have money in our account, but... How much? Right now, probably about$5 ,000. But I'm saying like$120 ,000 slips through your hands every year. Do you understand? Why do you have$5 ,000 in your account right now when you are$10 ,000 behind on your mortgage? We just now started getting back up to where we were because I was only making – I haven't been at this new job for very long.

2:01:32I was only making about in between$4 ,000 a month, and then I recently got on to this new job. When was that?

2:01:44Just over a year ago. Okay, and you just told me that you've been behind on payments for five months while making$8 ,000. So something's not adding up here, Gary. But number one, you can't help mom right now. You're on the verge of losing your home. And so you need to call the lender today and say, hey, I've got five grand to give you, and I'll give you the next five grand next month. And then you do whatever it takes to come up with five grand next month. You understand? I mean, what am I supposed to do with her, though? With her? With mom? Yes. She needs to figure it out, because the long-term plan can't be I just fund mom's life while I can't make a mortgage payment.

2:02:23All right. Well, I'll just tell her to stop going to the hospital and stop having bad health. Well, I mean, she's going to rack up medical bills, right? Does she have Medicare? Yes, she has Medicare, but it's not covering her house and stuff like that. Okay, all right. So we're not trying to upset you, but you're only giving us, like, we're going to pull information out of you in order to help you. So we've got to talk. What is your mom's housing cost? So let's look at what is your – does she own her home? Is it a mortgage, yes or no? It's a mortgage. Okay, what is her mortgage? Uh, hers is about, I think,$1 ,200 a month.

2:02:59$1 ,200 a month. Okay, and what would you say outside of the mortgage are her monthly expenses, utilities and everything else? We're not talking health care right now.

2:03:11Uh, I'm not entirely sure with that. She covers that. I just help pay the house and stuff like that. Okay, you just help pay the house and stuff like that. You mean just the mortgage? Yes, sir. All right. but you can see we're trying to help you and you don't even know if your wife was on the phone sounds like we might get a better play the numbers so and i'm probably yeah but see gary i mean that kind of it needs to happen not kind of i don't know why i even said that you and your wife have got to get on the same page about where our money is going because the good news is with the new job george is right you can dig out of this mess but can i also say i don't think george is heartless george is one of the kindest people i know and you're you were kind of like well what am i supposed to do.

2:03:53Well, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. This is just because you're the good son and you are a good son. Does it mean that you put yourself in financial ruin? Your mom, that's a separate set of circumstances. And you then, do you have any siblings?

2:04:14Not really anymore. That's a pretty straightforward question. i'm i really like to talk about it a whole lot okay but uh recently i've recently i lost my brother okay i am so sorry but but what i'm trying to figure out is this is is this truly all on you and even then if you're the only surviving child to george i'm the only one that i'm the only one that'll help her at the moment i understand but my point is is you've got to sit with mom and go is it time for mom to sell the house and if mom sells the house we get rid of the$1 ,200 mortgage payment, but then where can she stay? You know, is she?

2:04:53What I was planning on doing was I was wanting to fix my house up and sell mine. And then I was going to buy hers since she's in bad health. You don't have any money. You're behind five house payments. I know, Gary, but like you've got to take care of your house before we can take care of mom. And first of all, you've got to get current on the mortgage payments. Who knows how much it's going to cost to fix this house that's falling apart? You've got to put your own mask on first is what this amounts to. You can't help someone from a place where you're weak, and you've got to get to a place of strength, which means you have financial stability.

2:05:28Then we can figure out mom's situation. But the truth is, we're doing a budget tonight. We could solve all of this. You've got$10 ,000 coming in. We need$2 ,000 for the mortgage,$1 ,200 for mom. There's still plenty of money left over, and you still haven't told us where it's disappearing to. So you and your wife need to come to Jesus' conversation, look at all the bank statements. It'll tell you real quick where this money's been going and what we should do about it next. Remember, there is ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that is to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.